Decorating your stateroom door is a big deal on Disney Cruise Line! Guests go all out with fairy lights, whiteboards and more, but just some cruise themed magnets are a great place to start. We love to collect new ones each time we sail!

Fish Extenders is a gift exchange program that is arranged by the Facebook group for your sailing (search the ship and dates you are sailing and somebody will have created the group). You will be allocated a group of cabins and will be told names, ages and favourite characters and you buy/make gifts for each cabin! You can be super creative, give things from your home town/country, or things that may be helpful on the cruise. We have received everything from blankets, to cups, to lego, to pop-up laundry baskets.

The name comes from the hook outside your door that you hang your baskets on for people to deliver the gifts to, which on the original ships is in the shape of a fish!

Room Service on DCL is free of charge, and there is so much choice. Once on board there will be a menu on the app for you to order from, but you can always ask for off-menu items (Mickey ice cream bars I’m looking at you) and they will see what they can do! Our favourite thing to do is get into our PJ’s in the evening and order milk and cookies before bed.

There will also be door hangers in your cabin for you to order room service breakfast, just tick the items you would like, choose the time slot and hang on your door the night before.

Although the food and drink itself is free of charge, it is customary to give a tip to the cast member delivering it to your cabin.

If you are sailing on the Fantasy or the Dream, do not miss out on the Midship Detective Agency Game. It is an interactive game where you work to solve cases. It takes you all over the ship to all decks in search of the clues, which can be found on interactive boards throughout the ship, with three cases to work through during your trip. Our kids LOVED this so much, it is a really clever system and a fab activity to do when on board.

The lines for the water rides can get super long as they are a really popular attraction on the pool decks. For a shorter wait, head to the slides on a port day when a lot of the guests will have left the ship to explore, or wait until late at night - this is our favourite time as the lights in the dark make it super fun!

Just like at the resorts, there are complimentary life jackets for use in the family pool areas, and amazing lifeguards looking out for your safety at all times.

There are also complimentary pool towels available for use on the pool decks, so no need to take your own from home or use the cabin towels! On the Alaska cruises there are also blankets for your use too, these are so cosy for sitting on deck to whale watch.

The menus at the restaurants on board are so big that sometimes it’s hard to choose, but fear not, you don’t need to! You can order as many plates as you like to try, in fact the servers will actually encourage this! There is no shame in ordering 3 desserts, that’s what vacations are for right?!

If there is nothing that takes the kids fancy on the children’s menus, they can also order from the adult one, or vice versa!

One of the most popular areas on the pool deck is always the ice-cream machine! Free soft serve ice-cream is available all day, and the flavours regularly change so you can try lots of different ones throughout your cruise. There are cones or tubs to choose from too!

If you don’t want something quite as cold but fancy a sweet treat, the specialty coffee shops (e.g. Cove Café) have pastries, croissants, cakes or marshmallow treats on offer at any time, these are also complimentary, just ask!

Whilst we’re talking about food, we had to give a special mention to the Churro Mickey Waffles. These are the best Mickey waffles you will ever eat, and are available on sea day breakfasts at Marceline Market/Cabanas.

They can also make these dairy free, just ask a server or attendant at the restaurant and they will have them made for you!

Each day on your cruise, there will be a discounted ‘Drink of the Day’, with both an alcoholic and non-alcoholic alternative available. The app will show what drink this is on the home page, and these are really good value at around $6. This will be available at any of the bars on board!

Disney doesn’t offer traditional drinks packages like other cruise lines, but they do have a Refillable Beer Mug package, which allows guests to purchase a 21-ounce mug that can be refilled for the price of a 16-ounce beer at bars serving draft beer. As well as saving money on the drinks purchase, it’s also a great souvenir to bring home too!

When sailing on an Alaska sailing, don’t miss the hot chocolate stands on top deck that come out on Glacier Day, and at other points throughout the cruise. There is nothing better than sipping on warm hot chocolate whilst watching the mountains and glaciers go by! They also have a Tervis cup option available to purchase which is a fab souvenir of the trip, and they will fill this at any point too.

The Sail Away parties are one of our favourite parts of the cruise, and the buzz of embarkation day just makes them so much fun. It can often be a little rushed to get up to top deck after your muster drill, but it is so worth the effort.

Dancing, singing, characters, and the famous horn blowing = magic!

Whilst on the topic of parties, keep an eye out on the app for the Atrium Character Dance Parties. These tend to be on sea days, and involve the characters rotating round the atrium, dancing with the guests and just having a full on party! These can get busy, so try and get there ahead of time if you can, and get ready to collect confetti at the end!

There is always so much entertainment going on in the atrium (keep an eye on the app which has the packed schedule on), but the big crowd pleaser is Jack Jack’s Diaper Dash. If you have a crawling baby you can enter them to race against other babies, to the roar of the spectators that line all decks around the atrium. It really is one of the most fun events to spectate!

There are continuous character meets taking place around the ship for the whole cruise, some spontaneous but most are scheduled in the app. But the best time to meet your favourite characters is as soon as you board the ship! Most people’s priority is to explore and grab some lunch, so the queues for characters are often a lot shorter at this time. We have met lots just wandering around the decks too (deck 4 seems to be a hot spot for this!).

One of the pre-bookable events, which can usually be booked online 30 days before sailing), is the Princess Gathering. This is free, but time slots must be booked in advance. We’ve had a lot of success in booking onto this as soon as we board the ship if it was sold out at the 30 day mark so don’t worry if you don’t manage to book this before sailing!

3-4 princesses will gather in the atrium for pictures and autographs, though you won’t know which princesses these will be, and they rotate throughout the gathering too!

‘Til We Meet Again is kind of a character finale on the last evening of your cruise. An array of character, usually the classic crew plus some princesses wil do a final presentation on the staircase in the atrium and will then mingle amongst the crowd for photos! Be warned that this can get very busy and chaotic, but it’s a great way to get those final meets in!

If you are sailing on the Disney Wish, make sure to not miss out on the Kiss Goodnight at 10pm, 11pm and midnight, where a light show illuminates the ceiling in the atrium and chandelier, with ‘So This Is Love’ as the soundtrack.

Palo is one of the specialty restaurants on board all of the fleet of ships, and although it comes at an additional charge, it is not to be missed!

The food, service and ambience are all phenomenal, and brunch is only $50 per person for all-you-care-to-enjoy dishes plus a complimentary mimosa.

Reservations need to be booked in advance on your online check-in, but if you don’t manage to secure a reservation just head to guest services as soon as you get on board and they will try and find a slot for you.

All cruises, bar the Alaska sailings, will feature a pirate night. A pirate themed menu will be served across the restaurants, characters will be out and about in their pirate costumes, and a pirates of the caribbean show will be on top deck (think Captain Jack Sparrow abseiling from the funnel!). The finale of the evening is then a spectacular fireworks show, with Disney being the only cruise line with fireworks at sea!

Many guests get into the spirit and dress up to the nines for this evening, and complimentary pirate bandanas will be left in your cabin by your stateroom host too!

If you are planning your first Disney cruise, beware that it will not be your last! They are addictive!

When on the ship an option will appear on the app for you to book a ‘Placeholder’ on a future cruise. This involves putting a $250 deposit down which then give you a reduced deposit on sailings of & nights or more, and also gets you 10% off any sailing (with a couple of exceptions) within the next 2 years. You don’t need to choose which cruise this is at the time, but it holds a virtual space for you with those savings applied, for you to then apply to a cruise when you get home! You can do this for up to 2 cabins.

Not only are the DIsney Cruise Line beds some of the most comfortable you will ever sleep in, but they are practical too! The cabins have been brilliantly designed so that your lugagge can be stored under the beds when not in use, meaning you have more of that precious cabin space not taken up by bags!

As well as the Navigator app being a brilliant tool for planning your days whilst on the cruise, it also has a chat function for communicating with other members of your party using the ships free wi-fi.

Cast members in kids club will also notify you via the app when your children would like collecting.

If you are a Disney Vacation Member, be sure to stop by the DVC desk on board daily for your free gifts! These include things like magnets, caps, lip balms, magic band sliders etc, and the team are always super friendly. There will also be DVC Member meet ups listed in the app, usually with a special guest character appearance, and free cocktails too!

Most cruises will host a formal night, although there is no pressure to dress up for these! If you head to the atrium before dinner the senior crew and captain will be mingling, our kids always love to say they have met the captain! There is also free beer and cocktails on offer, servers will be walking around with trays of drinks to help yourself to!

Disney Cruise Line merch is very sought after, particularly specialty sailings like Alaska or Panama, and inaugural cruises, so if this is a priority to you then you will want to head to the shops and get in line before they open. On board stores can only be open when sailing and not when in port, check the app for daily opening times so that you don’t miss out!

When we were compiling this list of tips we kept joking that the Leek and Potato soup at Cabanas deserved a spot, but all joking aside you need to try this soup!! It’s the best leek and potato soup you’ll ever eat, and is only available on embarkation day! We chat about it as a group regularly, and can’t wait until we’re next on board to grab a bowl or 4 (each)!!