What Sets Disney Cruise Line Apart

Disney Cruise Line is expensive. I’m just going to state that right off. That said, there are people who aren’t rich (like me) who will continue to book with Disney. What is it that sets Disney Cruise Line apart? I’ll answer with two words: the people.

As you may know, I recently returned from a seven night cruise on the Disney Fantasy. The cruise was in honor of my parents, who died three months apart in 2021. This vacation was always out of reach for me financially, but we were determined to make it work.

The Crew Members showed me just how special the cruise was going to be almost immediately after we boarded. We had made some magnets that we put on our stateroom door. Two of them were pictures of my parents, and another had the words “in loving memory”. Our stateroom host, Eric, asked us as soon as he saw them about the pictures. We had many conversations with him throughout the week about the two people who made me who I am today. It was comforting.

Our Rotational Dining team was incredible as well. We bonded with them right away. We looked forward to seeing them each evening. We joked around, we were able to solve several of the puzzles, and we received excellent service. I miss them.

We received an unexpected surprise to show just how exceptional the Rotational Dining teams are. We ran into a member of the team from our first cruise. He remembered not only the ship we met him on (the Disney Magic), but also the year we sailed. It was good to catch up with someone who we thought we’d never see again. We weren’t a family that he saw for a few days and then forgot all about.

After the first day my daughter and I decided to have lunch at Flo’s V8 Cafe instead of at Cabanas. The choices at Cabanas weren’t that great for two vegetarians, one of which has a dairy allergy. (My pescatarian husband loved it.) We stopped by Flo’s and asked about making a special order. The staff there was incredible! They were one of the surprise highlights of our trip. I have to mention Nisa by name. She was always happy to see us, and we could tell she had a smile on her face under her mask.

There were other examples of exceptional service as well. There were simple things, such as talking to a character attendant, or waiting in line outside of Animator’s Palate to meet Chewbacca. The Crew Members were all wonderful.

We were talking on the way home after the cruise, and we didn’t meet one grumpy or disgruntled Crew Member our entire cruise. I know that everyone has their own personal struggles, but no one showed them at all. Part of me was nervous before the cruise, since it was in honor of my parents. Because of the Crew Members, we had an incredible week.