UK Staycation, Disney Cruise Lines

We took one of the Disney Cruise Lines UK Staycations from Tilbury, Essex in September 2021.

The UK Staycations were put on by Disney Cruise Lines during the COVID pandemic and the Disney Magic was stationed in Europe when the pandemic broke out.

The cruises sailed from multiple locations across the UK and were able to operate during COVID as they did not dock at ports. They essentially offered cruise lines the opportunity to plan the logistics around sailing with COVID restrictions in place while also providing an alternative holiday to a regular Staycation.

The Disney Cruise Lines UK Staycations were a fantastic opportunity for us to introduce our little one to cruising while also giving us the chance to experience a little Disney magic. As soon as I heard about them, I knew we had to go and I’m so happy we took the plunge and booked it.

Day One – Boarding Day

Boarding day for us was a Friday so we picked our daughter up a little early from school and got her changed into her ‘Disney outfit’ and left immediately for the cruise terminal.

We were so lucky as the cruise terminal was only a 20 minute drive away, as opposed to the 2 and a half hour drive we usually face to get to Southampton. The roads were clear and me and my little one were full of excitement for the entire drive.

Check in was quick and straightforward but extremely nerve-wracking waiting for our COVID test results to come through. Thankfully, we were cleared to board and we walked straight on to the ship.

The first activity as you step on board was a welcome aboard song and dance from Captain Mickey and Minnie. My little one looked thoroughly unimpressed but she did enjoy it, honest. From there we were taken to a lounge to log onto the ships WiFi and told how to complete the muster drill and sent on our way.

As soon as the muster drill was complete we were free. First stop was to go straight up to the buffet for a very late lunch.

After which we went to our cabin to put down our bags and retrieve our luggage and then we began touring the ship.

Unfortunately the UK Staycations didn’t include a sail away party but our little one was desperate to go up to the pool.

Before we knew it it was time for sail away and I must say there was something particularly magical about sailing from your home port and looking out for local attractions that you visit often.

We went back to our cabin to get changed for dinner then went for a tour of the ship before dinner. We had a slight mishap when I went to the toilet and the wall came crashing down on me. I spent the rest of the cruise with a big bruise and toilet anxiety but luckily that was the only accident of the holiday and it happened to me and not the little’un.

The before/after dinner show was Tangled. It really was an impressive production and was the first time I’ve really paid attention to the story line of Rapunzel. The songs and the singing were all very good and the lanterns actually made me well-up. The horse was really well done too, great costumes and sets.

Dinner for the first night was in Animator’s Palate. Dinner on a Disney Cruise is like nothing I’ve experienced anywhere else. The food is good but standard cruise-fare but the thing that really makes them stand out from the rest is the dinner entertainment.

Each restaurant goes above and beyond with regards to their theming and they have live entertainment throughout your meal.

The entertainment for Animator’s Palate is an interactive show where every diner is given a sheet on which to draw a character, these are then loaded into an animation which plays at the end of the meal.

Our daughter was enthralled to see her animation come to life and me and my other half were also secretly impressed too.

Day Two – Cinderella’s Royal Tea

This morning we were up early and went for breakfast at the buffet. We hadn’t had a chance to meet any of the characters the day before so we thought maybe our little one would like to do that… “no, swimming pool”. Ok, so swimming it is on this chilly day.

My daughter loved the swimming pool and hot tubs. The pool (in my opinion) wasn’t great, it was fairly small and once you were in it the high sides meant you couldn’t see anything outside of it. There were queuing systems in places (as a result of COVID restrictions) so you had to queue to get in and each session was only 15 minutes. A couple of times we were lucky and could run round and get straight back in on the next session but boy was it cold when you had to queue for that session.

There was a similar queuing arrangement for the hot tubs but I actually preferred that as it meant you got a hot tub to yourselves.

The Disney Magic actually has two water slides. One which is a sudden drop into a tube slide and the other which is more like a gentle slalom. My other half tried out the sudden drop slide and we could hear him scream from the pool, much to my daughter’s amusement. I wasn’t brave enough to try it so I stuck to the gentle one.

We had a ‘light’ lunch around the pool as we didn’t want to ruin our appetite as we had an afternoon tea booked in with Cinderella and friends.

After a few more hours spent in the pool it was time to head back to our cabin to get changed for the Royal Afternoon Tea, our daughter magically transformed into Sleeping Beauty and we were off.

Now the afternoon tea was the most expensive afternoon tea we have ever been to (and I’ve had champagne afternoon tea at the Dorchester) and it may have even been responsible for causing a rift but my reasoning is that our little one had missed out on so much during the pandemic and this would be a once in a life time experience with memories we’d treasure for ever…

It didn’t exactly play out like that, it was very sweet and the kids got some lovely gifts but I’m still not really sure it was worth the argument or cost.

Some of the other children were much more enthusiastic about the experience but my little one just looked fed up. I think she liked it enough she just didn’t love it and had no interest in engaging with any of the characters.

The food was just standard but of course the show throughout was very good and entertaining (I thought so, anyway). For the amount of money we spent on it I would have expected it to be my daughters favourite thing on the cruise, but when I asked her it wasn’t even in the top 3. I also would have expected the adults to get a glass of fizz as you would for a similar price at a world-famous hotel in London.

Never mind, it was fine but I certainly wouldn’t pay for it again even if it was for a nominal fee.

It was back to the pool afterwards before getting dressed for dinner and going to see Frozen on deck.

Dinner was in Rapunzel’s Round Table. The menu wasn’t exactly appealing to us tonight but once again, the entertainment throughout was really good.

Day Three – Character Meet and Greets

So by day 3 we still hadn’t attended any character meet and greets. We had seen a few characters on the stairwell when going to dinner but did not fancy the queue to get a photo in front of them.

Today, I was determined we would go and get our pictures with all the characters… but wait a minute, who is that over there? It’s Adam Hattan and Ooh Gary C from the Disney World Vlogs! I love them, so I did what any self respecting mother would do and pushed my sweet and very shy little 5 year old in front of them and asked for a photo (for her, obvs!) as I she really loves them. They were both very sweet and obliged and then Adam gave me her one of his pin badges moooornnninnnnnnng.

After that we went for our photos with Magician Mickey… but to be fair he was out-trumped.

Of course after we’d made our little one take some time out of the pool, we were hastily marched back there but did bump into a photographer as we were getting into the hot tub so got some lovely magic shots!

Dinner was served in Lumiere’s. I love Beauty and the Beast and actually got to take in the beautiful surroundings tonight. The dinner was nice BUT do not try the grey stuff as it isn’t delicious.

The show tonight was (I can’t remember the name) Disney Dream(?!) and it was by far the best show I’ve ever seen on a cruise. The storyline maybe wasn’t the best but all of the different snippets from much loved Disney films and the stage sets and songs were all outstanding.

Day Four – Disembarkation

So we started the day with my daughter in floods of tears as she wasn’t ready to leave the Disney Magic. The UK Staycation flew by and we’d all had a great time. For me, it was great to get back into cruising and really has awoken the ‘bug’.

We headed down for breakfast nice and early and disembarked with our luggage. We were off the ship by 8:30 and out little one was in school for 8:55am, she definitely had a touch of the post-cruise Monday morning blues, bless her. So I guess the only thing to do is start planning our next cruise!

Accommodation

We had booked an Outside cabin on a guaranteed basis and were very luck to get pixie-dusted with an upgrade to a balcony cabin.

So when you book a room on a cruise you generally have two options:

1. Pick a cabin grade and choose your cabin number and pay the going rate for cabins in that grade.
2. Pick a cabin-type on a guaranteed basis, you generally pay a lower fare but get the cabin type you booked (or higher) and the cruise line assign you a cabin.

The cabin was very nice and we had no complaints with it whatsoever. There was plenty of space for the three of us and it was nicely furnished.

The balcony was a nice feature for when you’re getting ready and want to step out for some fresh air, but seeing as it was only a 3 night cruise we didn’t send a great deal of time on there. Plus we were sailing just off South-East England so the weather wasn’t exactly hot.

So in conclusion…

If you haven’t been on a Disney Cruise and you’re wondering what you get for the extra money then the shows really are outstanding and I’d be happy if I’d paid out to see them in the West-End. The shows and dinner entertainment are definitely the big selling points for me over other cruise lines (of course, if meet and greets with Disney characters are your thing then they really are your only option to see them at sea).

The food in my opinion was good but very much on a par with Royal Caribbean, P&O and Princess, maybe not as good as Celebrity. The restaurants were really nice and there was a good choice of on-deck bites to eat.

The ship was nice but I definitely think the children’s pool was too small and there wasn’t very good visibility. I would have preferred the adult pool layout plus it looked bigger. The Disney Magic is quite old so maybe the newer/bigger Disney ships have better pools. The water slides and splash pad were nice little extras.

Activities seemed a bit non-existent when compared with the FlowRider/Bumper Cars/iFlight available on the Royal Caribbean ships but again these or similar activities may be available on newer ships. I suspect the entertainment schedules were restricted more than normal because of the restrictions in place. During the day it did feel like there wasn’t much to do other than go to the pool or enrol in the kids club.