Disney Treasure 7 day Western Caribbean cruise review

Considering a Disney cruise? Here is our complete Disney Treasure 7 day Western Caribbean cruise review!

We recently spent a wonderful week cruising on the Disney Treasure on their Western Caribbean route.

This was our second Disney cruise - 2 years ago we cruised the Eastern Caribbean route on the Fantasy.

Spoiler alert: we had a fabulous time.

In my opinion, a Disney cruise is the ultimate vacation with little kids. Everything is family-friendly, easy, clean, and nice. There are tons of options for everyone in the family - it's just a great vacation.

Let's take a look at why I love these cruises so much!

Is a Disney Cruise worth it?

The biggest question I have heard about our Disney cruise is - was it worth it? And I get it, these vacations come with a BIG price tag.

There is a high ticket price, but it does include everything you need on your trip.

You can spend more - at the Bippity Boppity Boutique, on drinks or premium coffees (soft drinks and drip coffee are included), on excursions, shopping - but you could also easily go on the ship and spend $0 extra.

For us, the cost was absolutely worth it, but it is a once every 2 years or so splurge.

Do not go into debt for a cruise!

There are a few ways to save on a Disney cruise:

• Book far in advance. Prices go up as cabins sell out. Sales are rare.
• Use a military or Florida resident discount.
• Book a "guaranteed" cabin where you don't pick your room, you are assigned a leftover room closer to the cruise.
• Book a shorter cruise
• Book an older ship
• Choose a date when schools are in session, prices are usually higher on school breaks
• Book an itinerary that starts and ends in 2 different ports, these are often the cheapest!
• Book an inside cabin

We, of course, booked a verandah cabin during summer break. But, this was the very first week of break. Just the next week, as more districts were out of school, the price went up $2,000. So check different weeks if you can be flexible!

Also note that when you book you only put down a deposit and then pay in full 120-90 days out depending on the cruise. So, that gives you time to pay monthly (or save monthly) if you prefer.

Disney Treasure 7 day Western Caribbean cruise review

Here are a ton of details about our trip and a deep dive into our experience!

Booking and Planning

You can book a Disney cruise yourself on their website, through a travel agent, or through Costco.

This time, we just booked it ourselves. We had a negative experience using a travel agent last time.

But, I think next time we will book through Costco!

I learned chatting with others on the ship that Costco often gives you a (pretty big!) Costco gift card for booking through them. If you are a member, look into it!

Embarkation Day

Embarkation is the process of getting on the ship. It is kind of overwhelming, so I wanted to chat about it.

You will be given a date, 30 days or more, before your cruise leaves to check in online. There, you will submit scanned copies of passports and other travel documents.

People stay up until midnight to do this in order to get better times for boarding- it's very competitive!

When you check in, you will be assigned a port arrival time, somewhere between 11:30am and 3pm, which is the time you can get in line to board the ship!

Arrival at the Port

You can ride a bus, uber, or drive to the port. We parked in the parking deck (about $150 for the week) and it was so easy. I love being able to hop in our car and leave when we get home!

You will give your bags to porters at the curb. They take your bags to the ship. They expect to be tipped - about $2 a bag is standard. I learned this the hard way last time, and made sure to have cash this time!

Check-In Process

Once your bags are taken and your time has arrived, you can get in line. This time, the lines went super quick - maybe 5 minutes of waiting total. It is a well-oiled machine.

You check in and scan your passports and port forms, then you go up the escalators to get onto the ship!

First Impressions of the Ship

You enter the ship in the main atrium. The Treasure features a 3 story atrium with beautiful Aladdin theming. It is so bright and cheerful, modern and clean. There is so much mosaic detail that just made it feel so special.

After oogling the atrium for a beat, we decided to head to lunch. We actually grabbed lunch poolside at Mickey's World of Foods, but the buffet Marceline's Market and one sit down restaurant are also options!

Activities and events on embarkation day

The two big events on the first day of your cruise are the Muster Drill and the Sail Away party.

The Muster Drill is basically an evacuation drill. You will be assigned a station and directed very clearly to your position. It's long and boring, you have to wait for everyone to get there. But, it is legally required before the boat can set sail.

About 45 minutes after the muster drill, they will have the Sail Away deck party. This is fun, even if you aren't into Mickey Mouse. Characters and dancers do a performance, they blast the horn, and announce "you are officially on vacation!" It's just a really fun kick off!

After that, you are free until dinner time. You will be assigned a restaurant - you rotate every night between the 3 dining rooms, but your waitstaff rotates with you!

There will be a show night 1 but it will not be a broadway show, a smaller show like magician, comedian, or singing group!

Accommodations

Rooms on a cruise are notoriously small. Disney does the best they can, but it's still on a ship!

Our room

We booked a family Verandah room, with a queen bed and bunk beds. The couch turns into the lower bunk and the upper bunk drops down from the ceiling.

The bathroom

I love that Disney rooms (except innie rooms) have double bathrooms. So, there are separate rooms for toilet+sink and shower+sink. This is great if you have multiple people getting ready at once!

The bathrooms are TIGHT - the doorways very slim. BUT I loved that this ship had a full bathtub, not just a rocketship shower like on our last cruise.

The verandah

My favorite part of our room was the balcony! This ship actually has balconies that curve outward on the side, so we had a slightly extra deep balcony, which was great.

I do wish they would put more comfortable seating out there, but we loved sitting and watching the ocean, especially in the evenings after the kids went to sleep.

It's also a great place to enjoy room service breakfast or snacks!

Eating on the Ship

There is so much food to be had on the ship! Here are the top options!

Breakfast

We usually ate breakfast at Marceline's Market, the buffet. It is NOT self serve, they scoop it for you, but you go to the section and pick what you'd like.

The food was SO good and there are so many options. Grab a window seat for the best view!

It does get crowded at peak times, so be prepared to hunt for a seat.

You can also go to a sit down restaurant for breakfast, but we never took the time to do this.

Finally, you can order room service breakfast! This is ideal if you have an early excursion. Fill out the order form the night before and hang on your door knob! Beware the time change: we moved time zones one night and our breakfast was an hour off!

Lunch

You have more options for lunch! All of the poolside food is available including: Goofy's Grill (hot dogs, burgers, chicken tenders and fries), Daisy's pizza pies, Donald's Cantina (Chipotle at sea, though no chips), and Mickey's Smoke Stack BBQ. This was our favorite - fast, kid friendly, and yummy!

You can also go to Marceline's for buffet. That was a lot of super heavy food but if that is what you seek, check it out. Marceline's is also the only place you're going to get a salad if you want that.

I highly recommend poolside food + Marceline's for dessert, and then a soft serve cone an hour later!

Dinner

For dinner, you will be assigned a restaurant each night. There are 3 restaurants, so you do each one twice, plus your first stop you will do for Pirate night.

Pirate night menu is the same at all restaurants, and then each restaurant has 2 normal dinner menus.

The restaurants are:

• 1923 - more "fancy", classic Disney decorated with sketches
• World of Marvel - Spiderman comes night 1 and there's a show on TVs each night
• Plaza de Coco - live Coco singing and skit each night.

All of the food was good, but Coco was my favorite! The butternut squash enchiladas are amazing!

If you want good seats for the show, in the app before your trip, request seats in the "center of the action!" We had a great view! If you request "private table" you will be in the corner - we learned this last time! We still had a private table, it was just right next to another.

Room Service

And of course, room service is always free. The menu is pretty limited, but we did enjoy wings and fries and cookies a few afternoons. There is also a cheese plate that is just OK. It's a decent late night snack.

Don't forget to tip your delivery people, $1 an item is standard. You can use cash or charge it to the room.

Onboard Entertainment

There are lots of options for entertainment on this ship. Of course, there are trivia games, sing alongs, and lots of character visits. But I want to take a minute to talk about the bigger evening shows.

Broadway Style Shows

One of my very favorite parts of a Disney cruise is the broadway style entertainment. It is truly amazing and so magical to witness.

The shows generally have a 2pm matinee, then play during each dinner (you attend the show opposite your dinner time).

On the Treasure, the shows are Seas the Adventure (a variety show), Beauty and the Beast, and Moana.

The shows were all amazing - but I think Seas the Adventure might have been our surprise favorite. It was fun and upbeat - with songs from many Disney movies - and a great way to kick off the trip.

Beauty in the Beast was great, and Moana was visually stunning - though I felt that one of the lead actors was weak and took away from the overall show.

These shows were a highlight, but know that people lined up one hour in advance at the door to get in. It was a bit of an ordeal to get seats, so just be prepared if you plan to attend!

Because they backload the two plays on this ship on the last two nights, with Moana being the day at Castaway Cay, people are more itching to go. Send someone to get in line early, but then everyone needs to be there when the line starts moving.

Other Shows

On the off-nights from the broadway shows, there are other entertainers in the Walt Disney Theater. There was a broadway singers show, a men's musical act, a magician, and a comedian.

These shows are generally not crowded - you can walk up at any time. The performers also often do smaller shows in the adults-only theater on their off nights!

Movie Theater

There are also 2 movie theaters onboard. They play Disney movies that are currently in theaters. For us, that mean Lilo and Stitch and Thunderbolts on repeat.

We enjoyed watching Lilo, but it would have been nice to have some other movies in the rotation so we could have gone again.

Deck Parties and Events

Finally, there are several deck parties on this ship! There was a Sail Away party, two Pirate night shows (earlier with Captain Hook for kids and a more "adult" one with Jack Sparrow at 10pm), and a Color Dance Party.

There are also some dance parties in the Grand Hall - just check your daily calendar for the times!

These parties are crowded and busy, but really fun. If you don't like crowds - use this as a time to do something else on the ship. But, if you want to be at the center of the action, you don't want to miss it!

Port of Calls

This ship stops at 3 ports, PLUS the private island Castaway Cay. There are 2 sea days.

While I strongly prefer the Eastern Caribbean route, we still enjoyed this trip.

The ports were:

1. Embarcation at Port Canaveral
2. Day at Sea
3. Cozumel, Mexico
4. Grand Cayman
5. Falmouth, Jamaica
6. Day at Sea
7. Castaway Cay
8. Debarcation at Port Canaveral

Our original plan was to stay on the boat in Jamaica. I had heard it was a meh port and we loved the idea of a quiet ship day with less people aboard.

But, mother nature had other plans. Our Grand Cayman day was very stormy and our excusrion (and many others) was cancelled due to pouring rain and lightning.

We went to the beach in the rain on our last cruise, which was not fun with 2 and 4 year olds, so I was honestly glad this one was cancelled!

We were able to use that day as a ship day and book a last minute beach excursion for Jamaica, so not all was lost. But such a good reminder not to be too attached to any one port or excursion - they can easily be cancelled!

Cozumel was okay as well. We did a dolphin excursion and it was a lot of standing around and waiting in the sun. The dolphins were great and the lunch and pools were fun after, too. But it's a reminder that these planned excursions do come with a lot of waiting around.

Of course, nothing beats Castaway Cay. It's a beautiful beach and it is so easy because everything is Disney and everything is included. No scrambling or planning needed, just an easy way to go with the flow!

Pools and Recreation

There are a ton of pools on the ship, but know that they are all tiny. You will feel like you are being cooked in human soup.

Most of the pools are very shallow, though there are 2 "plunge" pools in the main area. These were fun for the kids to float in life jackets in, though they could not easily see the movies playing on Funnel Vision (a giant screen on the funnel!) from them.

Our favorite pool was the Chip and Dale pool on the very front of the ship. This was 2 parallel pools, one 6 inches deep and one 2 feet deep. I told you they are small and shallow! But this area was quieter and beautiful with sea all around you.

My daughter also loved the Toy Store splash area. There are 2 small slides and lots of squirters. Note- this is max age 4 and they did enforce that via lifeguard, though a 5 year old could easily say they were 4 and get it, there was no official IDing.

Next to this area was Trixie's pool, a very shallow pool with a waterfall you could get under. My daughter loved going between Trixie's and the splash pad!

There are 2 waterslides on the ship.

Slide-o-saurus Rex is a yellow, spiral slide. You climb up 2 flights of stairs and slide down, one at a time, no float. This was fun but you have to lay down - anyone sitting up got stuck!

The big slide on the ship is the Aqua Mouse. This is called an "attraction at sea" because you ride up (in an inner tube for 2) a conveyor belt and watch a little mickey story on TVs in the tunnel before sliding down.

My son loved the Aqua Mouse and did it 10+ times. It did sometimes have very long line, it closed for "high wind" on some sea days, and I thought the ride was pretty short for the wait, but that's how it goes!

Kids Clubs

This ship has amazing kids clubs. There is a nursery for 3 and unders, a kids club, pre-teen club, and teen club.

I will focus on the kids club because that's the age my kids are.

You get to slide a spiral slide into the kids club - so cool - and there are tons of events scheduled in there. There is a Marvel section, a Star Wars section, a game where you build a virtual roller coaster and "ride" it, and a princess section. There's an indoor playground for the little kids.

We talked to so many families whose kids loved the club and didn't want to leave, even for dinner.

Our kids would not go to the kids club. My son literally lied on the carpet and cried when we said we were going to drop him off for 1 hour to do a scheduled activity it looked like he would really enjoy.

So, assess your kids and adjust your expectations accordingly. The reality is that our kids are used to being with us all the time, and I think my son was very anxious about being left. I think if he had had friends (other than his sister) it might have helped.

There are open house times when anyone can go check out the club. We did tour it day 1 as a family, and tried to hype it up to our kids. I think our daughter would have loved to have gone, if the son had not had such a negative reaction that turned her off it.

Character Interactions

One of the things that makes a Disney cruise unique are all of the character meet and greets.

I was impressed that the Treasure had a better variety of characters than we saw on the Fantasy.

We saw:

• Mickey
• Minnie
• Pluto
• Goofy
• Daisy
• Donald
• Chip and Dale
• Stitch
• Captain Hook
• Captain Jack Sparrow
• Belle
• Moana
• Tiana
• Jasmine
• Aladdin
• Mirabel + Bruno

Some of these characters had different outfits for sail away, pirate night, formal night, and more!

I am still surprised that there is no Anna and Elsa, and that Marvel and Star Wars characters only appear briefly in the kids clubs.

The character meetings are fun for some kids, not of interest to others. They are listed in your app when and where they will be. If you really want to meet someone, prepare to line up 30 minutes in advance.

Several times, we were in line and a cast member came up and said, that character would be leaving you were now in line to see.... someone else. Which may or may not have been a hit.

Decide in advance if you care about characters, or if you only have certain ones you care about. You could spend your whole trip in line if that's all you wanted to do.

Extra Premium Activities

While you could absolutely go on a Disney Cruise and not spend a dollar, there are some things you can pay extra to do.

For example, there are Adults Only premium restaurants that you can make a dinner or brunch reservation at. Maybe one day for us!

There are also excursions you can book on shore for an extra cost. And, there is a spa and different alcohol tastings on board. We did not do any of the onboard upgrades this time!

What we did do was two kid-centered activities: the Bippity Boppity Boutique and the Adventure Tea.

Bippity Boppity Boutique

I let Rory watch a video about the Bippity Boppity Boutique a few months ago, and she has been OBSESSED with the idea ever since.

Kids (under 12) go in, pick a new dress, get their hair makeup and nails done, and become a princess.

This is an expensive endeavor - $219 including the dress - and literally lasted 20 minutes. She gets to keep the dress, jewelry, and makeup, but I was shocked at how quick it was.

While it was magical, I would not do it every time. This is an extra special treat.

Adventure Tea

The Adventure Tea was even more so. I am incredibly embarrased to admit how much we paid for this event - $250 per child and $75 per adult.

This was a mid-afternoon tea party for kids under 12, with an adult.

It started in the lobby and was led by Sage and Coriander, the ship's "adventure seekers" characters who led a lot of events on the ship.

They paraded around, sang a song, and then headed into the 1923 restaurant to enjoy tea.

There was no actual tea, but choices of two juices - one tropical and one mixed berries. We had a 3 tiered plate of treats (1 tray savory, 2 sweet), a basket of beignets, and giant cupcakes.

It was way too much food in the middle of the afternoon, especially considering we had lobster night in the same restaurant 3 hours later!

The tea involved a show where Sage and Coriander lead the kids through adventures, and different characters came in to each do a segment. There was Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Tianna, and Jasmine.

After the scripted bit, the characters came around and visited each kid 1:1 for about a minute. Rory loved the princess time!

It was cute, it was small (maybe 20 kids), and it lasted about an hour.

The kids also got a ton of gifts. This included backpacks, sashes, notebooks, a pen, crayons, a Pascal shoulder pet, a compass keychain, and binoculars.

Honestly, it was too much. I think they should have done Pascal (the one thing all the kids were most excited for), binoculars and compass (both of which they used during the program) and cut the price by $50. It was really just a lot more stuff for us to pack up and bring home.

This event was OK but the food was under-appreciated, the program was a little forced (my kids just don't get excited for Sage and Coriander) and I would not do it again.

Cruise Staff and Service

The staff on a Disney cruise are part of what makes it so great. They will go so far out of their way to be sure you have a wonderful time.

I love that the same two waitstaff serve all of your dinners. This really allows you to build a relationship with them - it's so sad to leave at the end of the week!

Everyone that we encountered was wonderful!

Themed Nights

There are a few themed nights on this cruise. Mainly, pirate night, formal night, and semi-formal night.

The second night of the cruise is formal night. Maybe a few people put on quite fancy outfits. Most are cocktail attire or less.

A lot of button down shirts (no tie, no jacket) on men and fancier sundresses on ladies. And of course, princess dresses for the girlies.

The 4th night of the cruise was pirate night. This get much higher participation, from t-shirts to full costumes.

They do sell some pirate things on the ship, at a premium price. Pack it with you if you can - and definitely try to participate!

The 6th night is semi-formal night. No one did this. Everyone looked cruise-casual to me. Don't sweat this one at all!

Debarkation

Once again, Disney has debarkation down to a science. We had breakfast in the Marvel restaurant at 6:45am (!) and were off the boat by 8.

You put your bags out into the hallway the night before and they are waiting for you once you get back to land.

The worst part is the sadness of leaving the ship!

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

We absolutely love this trip and will sing its praises loud and clear. Do I wish it were half the price? Yup, then we could do it every year. The first week of June was PERFECT weather and what a kick off to summer.

But, if you have the budget or can pick a cheaper week, I cannot recomend this trip enough!

Any more questions about the Disney Treasure?