Disney Treasure — September 2025 — The *almost* Halloween cruise (complete)

[morethanfairytales]

My partner and I recently sailed on the Treasure — a first for both of us — and loved a lot of things about our sailing. Here's a recap!

A bit of background: I'm a lifelong Disney Parks fan and fairly recent cruiser. Past cruises have included the Disney Magic (1998), RC Enchantment of the Seas (2018), and the Disney Wish (2023 + 2024). Although I enjoy Disney cruises for their own sake (the theming! The food! The relative peace & quiet!), I typically use them to get some extra time to work on personal writing projects. It may not be the most glamorous reason to take a cruise, but treating that time away from home as a personal writing retreat has felt like a small luxury. I was excited about what a seven-night sailing might offer, too, since my recent four-night sailings on the Wish felt frustratingly short.

My partner, B., has a more contentious relationship with cruising. Until this year, his only experience had been on Carnival, and it was one of those "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" kind of situations. Despite swearing off all future cruises, he started dropping hints that he "wouldn't mind" trying it again and "could definitely occupy himself" while I was writing, so we ended up making it a couples' trip after all.

If you want to skip the full breakdown of each day, here are the highlights (and lowlights) from our week on the Treasure...

What we loved:​

• Overall ship layout + theming​
• Live music @ Scat Cat Lounge​
• Plaza de Coco​
• Palo Steakhouse​
• The Tale of Moana​
• Match Your Mate​
• Jumbeaux's Sweets (pro tip: birthday cake gelato + a chocolate cone)​
• All of the coffee spots: Heihei Café, Jade Cricket Café, Cove Café​
• Pixie dusting our neighbors!​

What we skipped:​

• Deck parties + fireworks at sea​
• Character meet-and-greets​
• Pools + AquaMouse​
• Seas the Adventure​
• Port excursions​
• Spa services​
• Alcohol tastings​
• Brunch at Palo / Enchanté​
• Getting off the ship in Falmouth, Jamaica​

What we wouldn't do again:

• Spa / shopping raffles
• Bingo (B. and I might disagree on this one)
• Beauty and the Beast
• Haunted Mansion Parlor
• Walk around Cozumel, Mexico
• Mickey churro waffles
• Room service "secret menu" cookies

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 5: Pre-cruise arrival

We flew into MCO a day early and, after a 5:00 a.m. wake-up time and a six-hour flight from the West Coast, went straight to our resort: Disney's Coronado Springs. This was already a welcome change from last year, when the airline lost my suitcase and I pulled an all-nighter at the airport right before my cruise (something I hope never to experience again!).



Normally, I book a hotel closer to the cruise terminal to cut down on potential traffic on embarkation day, but staying on WDW property allowed us to secure a slightly earlier PAT (12:00 p.m. instead of 1:15 p.m.), and we got the added bonus of starting our trip off with some extra Disney magic. Add to that the fact that I could just show up and get on the bus the next morning — without having to plan for an Uber or factor in any other logistics or delays — and this was a no-brainer.

While we should have used our first night to catch up on sleep and repack for the cruise, both B. and I are guilty of trying to do too much in too little time. After settling into our room, we explored the resort for a couple of hours, checked out all of the Halloween merch at Panchito's, and grabbed dinner at Maya Grill before catching the bus to Disney Springs for some late-night window shopping. The dinner, by the way, was among the best I've had at WDW, and I don't think we ate anything better on our entire trip than the queso chorizo fundido. It was that good.



Had we not been about to leave for a seven-night cruise, we might have done far more damage at Disney Springs — especially in the two-story Uniqlo, which put our hometown Uniqlo to shame. Since I was already at the point of having to sit on my suitcase to close it, however, we kept things light: a goofy photostrip at the Rainforest Café photobooth and a Snow White ornament from the Christmas shop that I just couldn't pass up.

With that, we closed out our shopping trip with some ill-advised, almost-midnight coffee from Starbucks, then headed back to the resort to get a few hours of sleep before our morning bus ride.​

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 6: Embarkation day

We woke up bright and early at 6:00 a.m. to prepare for luggage pickup, which got to our room around 7:45. After our suitcases were tagged and taken away, we walked over to Barcelona Lounge to meet up with the rest of the DCL group and check in for our bus transfer. (An added bonus: we had plenty of time to sit and have a cup of coffee, which was a necessity after going to bed around 1:00 a.m. the night before. )



The bus ride itself was smooth and quick, and we arrived at the cruise terminal about 30-ish minutes before Boarding Group #5 was called, which gave us just enough time to connect to the wifi, check our MDR rotation, and review some of the plans that were available that day.

Because this was B.'s first Disney cruise, I didn't want to overwhelm him with all of the activities and events that were going on, so we decided to play everything by ear. For the first hour or so that we were onboard, he explored the ship on his own while I waited in line at Triton Lounge to make some dining requests for a private MDR table and a Palo dinner reservation, the latter of which had gotten slightly messed up with Disney's online system (in a nutshell: we were only able to secure two solo reservations at different times on the same night, rather than a table for two). Thankfully, this sailing ended up being fairly light, so getting those requests approved was super easy — and I even overheard other guests getting last-minute Palo, Enchanté, brunch, and specialty seating requests in, too.

One of the best parts about booking a pre-Halloween sailing is that we got all the benefits of the seasonal decor without the crowd levels that a holiday sailing brings. The Halloween "Ginger tree" was set out in the Grand Hall, there were villain decals on many of the portholes, and throughout our sailing, cast members were hard at work rehearsing for new shows (something we were allowed to watch, but warned very strictly not to take any photos or videos of).



I haven't been on any holiday sailings yet, so I can't say how similar or different this is to other festivities on other Disney ships, but it was really cute to experience. Also worth noting: they weren't playing Halloween music or selling any Halloween merch (nor would I have expected them to), so it felt fairly "autumn-light" overall.

After wandering through the ship for a while, we made it to our room on Deck 8 to start unpacking. I had filled my carry-on with as much room decor as I could fit, and wanted to get everything set up before the muster drill at 3:55 p.m. Our room was themed to Up, so I tried to make the space feel as homey as Carl and Ellie's house — with plenty of personal touches from our own home, too. This was the first time either of us had sailed with a verandah room before… and I've gotta say, it won't be the last.



When muster was checked off the list, we walked around some of the lower decks until the ship set sail. I know this is a hot take, but I personally don't enjoy the bigger parties on Deck 11 (including the sailaway party and pirate night festivities), mostly because of the crowds + humid weather. And, with 99% of the ship's passengers on the higher decks, the rest of the ship felt comparatively empty, which made for a very peaceful send-off.

By this point, B. was ready to check out some of the events around the ship, so we made our way over to Sarabi for some of their spa and shopping raffles. Despite never having won anything before, B.'s name was picked twice — once at each raffle — which felt like insane luck right off the bat. After reading the fine print and doing some research of our own, however, we decided against purchasing any jewelry or higher-end spa services, since $50 off of several hundred dollars is still… several hundred dollars more than we were wanting to spend at the time.

We ended up getting another 4-5 spa vouchers in our stateroom door over the course of the cruise, so it's possible that Disney just hadn't gotten enough prebookings in for this sailing. Anything that wasn't directly addressed to us (and therefore not easily redeemable by another passenger) was handed to someone else who might want it, in the hopes that they could put it to better use than we could.

Once the raffles concluded, we wandered through the rest of the shops, grabbed coffee, then returned to the room to change for our dinner at 1923. Our servers on this sailing were lovely and fairly hands-off, giving us a lot of time to chat between courses. (This isn't a complaint, by the way — the dining room was packed and every table in our section seemed to be far busier than ours.)

For our first dinner, I ordered the ahi tuna, green circle chicken, and burrata (for dessert). The chicken was one of the best things I ate on the cruise, and by far my favorite dish at 1923 — purely for the decadent Yukon potato fondant alone. B. ordered the tri-color tortelloni, peppered filet mignon, and the fudge sundae.

This, apparently, is also when I stopped taking photos for the rest of the evening, but B. and I had fun wandering around the ship after dinner (though both of us were really struggling to keep our eyes open at this point!). Thankfully, we still had six full days ahead of us — enough to keep our FOMO at bay for one more night.​

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 7: Sea day

Perhaps another hot take: sea days are my favorite. The ship feels most alive on these days, and there's none of the hectic quality that comes with docking in port. It felt like a great way to ease into this week, too.



I started the morning with a quick workout at Senses Fitness; something I always meant to make more use of during previous cruises, but never really got around to trying out. On this sailing, the treadmills and ellipticals were about 75-90% full around 8:00 a.m., though attendance tended to thin out during port days. Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone was left standing around waiting for a machine, and the pretty views and fresh fruit made the workout worth it (well, that and using all of my workout time to play Pokémon TCG Pocket).

Back at the room, B. received our first — and only — room service breakfast delivery of the week: chocolate milk, toast, and some pastries. We meant to take advantage of this more often, but neither of us are particularly hungry in the morning, and were often either out of the stateroom completely or fast asleep during most of the offered delivery windows.

For the rest of the morning, we were occupied in our own corners of the ship. I headed over to Cove Café for a salted caramel coconut latte and some writing, while B. enjoyed his time in the stateroom with a new SteamDeck and Rogue One (pretty sure he watched approximately 500% more movies than I did on this trip). Between writing sprints, I spent a bit of time admiring the artwork adorning all of the staircase landings; my favorite were the flora and fauna concept art from the Enchanted Tiki Room.



At lunchtime, B. and I met back up at Mickey & Friends Festival of Foods — our go-to spot for the next few days, as we could never quite get the timing right for a long lunch at Marceline Market. We both enjoyed the barbecue and soft-serve ice cream; nothing spectacular on either end, but good enough to satisfy our appetites.

That was kind of the overall feeling we had about a lot of the quick-service options on the ship: the convenience can't be beat, and we were never hurting for options, but the quality of the food itself was just… okay at best. Had Festival of Foods and Marceline Market not been included in the price of our cruise, I doubt we would go out of our way to eat there again. Next time, I think we might try for the sit-down lunch option at one of the MDR restaurants instead.

After lunch, B. and I parted ways again. I split most of my writing time between Jade Cricket Café (a lot of coffee was consumed on this trip!), Skipper Society, and the lounge areas lining the Grand Hall, while B. enjoyed the comfort of our stateroom — with the perfect combo of room service chicken tenders, video games, and more Disney movies within arm's reach.



Since this was the first night that our sailing had scheduled a performance of Beauty & the Beast (both this show and The Tale of Moana were offered on two nights, for a total of four performances each), we got dressed for dinner a bit early and headed down to the Walt Disney Theatre around 5:30 p.m., about 30 minutes before it started. While there was a bit of a line ahead of us, we had no problem getting decent center seats in the lower half of the theatre.

I didn't realize until the show started that it was largely based on the live-action Beauty and the Beast (2017) — and though the performances from each cast member were truly, truly phenomenal — I would probably skip this production in the future, as I'm just too attached to the OG version. B., meanwhile, said that he really enjoyed the show, despite the fact that the woman next to him kept kicking him in the shin and the family directly in front of us insisted on stretching and standing up at frequent intervals. The show itself also needed to be reset about ~1 minute in, which was interesting to see — as best as we could figure out, they had some technical difficulties with the costume changes and the lighting.

For dinner on night #2 (which also happened to be formal night), we were at Worlds of Marvel. Both of our orders were fairly light this time: I got the lemon-marinated shrimp (fantastic) and grilled tuna steak (decent), and B. chose the steamed bao bun (something he insists, even now, "is not bao"), beef tenderloin, and Pym doughnut sundae.



There was nothing particularly bad about this meal, but we both wished that Disney had pushed the envelope a little more on the Marvel theming; it felt like a missed opportunity to have so much of the decor and entertainment be screen-based, rather than incorporating more dynamic elements and performances (like Arendelle or Plaza de Coco). It was funny watching Spider-Man tear through the restaurant at the end, though — we got a great, albeit blurry, "selfie" of him racing behind B. when the dessert trays were coming out.

Because it was formal night, there were several dance parties on the ship, including one in the Grand Hall. I don't know what I expected, but walking past the Fab Five dancing their hearts out — while literally everyone stood still around them — cracked me up.

For the rest of the evening, B. and I entertained ourselves at Match Your Mate, a goofy dating show-style game in which one half of each volunteer couple has to answer a series of questions about their relationship, from first-date details to their more intimate habits. As the title of the game suggests, the other half of the couple has to "match" their answer as closely as possible to be awarded points. I'd caught parts of this show on previous sailings, but really enjoyed showing it to B. We were in stitches by the end of the game, when one of the couples shared a story about the Norway pavilion in EPCOT that will haunt me for years to come (IYKYK).​

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 8: Cozumel, Mexico

About four days into our trip, we finally had our first port stop in Cozumel, Mexico. B. was excited to get off the ship as soon as he woke up, so he went off to explore the area while I finished up my workout, grabbed coffee at Cove Café, and worked on a series of poems I was trying to finish for the day.



We met back up around 12:30 p.m., and decided to go into Cozumel together so that B. could show me all of the spots he'd discovered — and I could get a much-needed break from work. Both of us were melting in the humidity, but we decided to walk along the waterfront for a while before ducking down some side streets: first, to check out Fine Art Workshop (a cute local art gallery), then COZ Coffee Roasting Company (I cut myself off from more coffee at this point, but their pastries looked great).

Before heading back to the ship, we also browsed through a nearby 7-Eleven for snacks. I was more sleepy than hungry at this point, but grabbed a bag of Sabritas Adobadas for the stateroom, which turned out to be fantastic when I tried them… two days later.

Thinking about it now, I wish that we had planned to get a taxi or a tour to other parts of the island. While there were spots here and there that felt interesting, the plethora of souvenir shops, bars, and other tourist hotspots clustered around the pier just weren't our vibe, and it would have been nice to get a better sense of the area outside of those few blocks. Another drawback, though it was outside our control, was the fact that we visited Cozumel on a Monday — and the museum, as well as several local bakeries and shops, were closed for the day. Ah well.



As we were walking through one last market on our way back to the pier, a sudden rainstorm erupted over Cozumel — just enough to get us completely drenched before we could make it inside the ship. We saw quite a few people trying to wait out the rain underneath some of the canopies along the pier, but since we were already soaked (and I fully broke the sole of one of my boots trying to hustle down the sidewalk), we didn't have any options except to return to our stateroom, shower, and get some laundry done.

When the sun resurfaced (about 20 minutes later), we got some gorgeous views from our room — and the pier was once again full of people setting off to visit the city. B. had had enough of exploring for the day, so he chilled in the room while I returned to work for the afternoon.



I feel like I should explain a bit more about the work I was doing here, as I'm probably making it sound more tedious than it was. Usually, these writing "sprints" involved getting a latte at one of the walk-up coffee bars, then settling in at the lounge areas adjacent to the Grand Hall. I write most comfortably when I'm around other people — a habit I picked up after writing in cocktail bars back home — and loved getting to catch snippets of shows and character meet-and-greets while I'm wrestling with a new poem or working on grad school applications. (B. and I also had fun meeting up throughout the day to trade stories of the crashouts we witnessed on this cruise — there were a lot of them.)

Night #3 brought us to Plaza de Coco for the first time, which was our most-anticipated spot aboard the Treasure. Coco holds a very special place in my heart — without going into too much detail, it feels almost serendipitously connected to my own family roots in Mexico — and we both felt lucky that our first night at the restaurant coincided with our port day in Cozumel.

I'm happy to say that our expectations were met — and then some. Plaza de Coco had the warmest, most inviting atmosphere of the three MDRs, the ofrenda was gorgeous, and I was in love with the live mariachi music that played between the stage show segments. (I'm realizing as I write this recap that I often forgot to take photos of my favorite parts of the cruise; whoops!)

For dinner, I ordered the pumpkin seed and garbanzo bean hummus (fine), chicken tortilla soup (also fine, though B. complained that it tasted too much like canned pasta sauce), butternut squash enchilada (my FAVORITE entree on this cruise!), and flan de queso (good flavor; bad texture compared to regular flan). B. opted for the chorizo street croquettes (we both loved these), red and green lentil soup, beef short rib, and "Remember Me" sundae. Overall, it was probably the best meal we had all week — well, maybe second to Palo, anyway.

The wildest thing to happen during this dinner was at the very end. On this night, we were among the last 20 tables or so left in the restaurant, which is when we saw a man walk across the restaurant to grab a decorative skull sipper from an empty table.

I want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, since I know families often sail in bigger parties, and it's technically possible he was just picking it up for someone he knew. It would have been much easier to give him that benefit had he not been eying everyone else in the restaurant to make sure that no one was watching before he slipped it into his stroller. We had also seen the staff place this sipper on the table at the start of dinner, and whoever ordered it never showed up for their meal.

B., who was the one who pointed this out to me as it was happening, flagged down our server and explained the situation to them. I don't know if the guy was ever confronted about it, since we left the restaurant shortly afterward, but I hope that a replacement was delivered to the person who originally bought it. Also, just… don't be the guy who steals a $23 cup from another passenger. I don't care if they left it out all night; it's not yours for the taking (and honestly, if you can afford a week on the Treasure, you can afford a $23 cup yourself!).

After that whole kerfuffle, we headed back down to Deck 3 to catch some live music at Scat Cat Lounge. I forgot to keep close track of how many visits we spent here, but it felt like we wandered in almost every evening. One of my favorite parts of a Disney cruise is the abundance of live music — bands, solo performers, and dinner musicians included — and I wanted to take advantage of that as much as I could. Both of the piano players at Scat Cat are wildly talented, and it was fun to settle in with a drink (or in my case, the "Parisian" mocktail) and listen to sets themed to Disney Parks music, Broadway, and other popular tunes.​

 

[princesserin1350]

Looking forward to reading more of your report! Your photos are absolutely beautiful.

 

[morethanfairytales]

Looking forward to reading more of your report! Your photos are absolutely beautiful.

That's so kind, thank you!

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 9: George Town, Grand Cayman

Full confession: I cancelled all of our port excursions before we left on this cruise. Originally, we had planned the Starfish & Mangroves excursion for George Town, and the Chukka Horseback Ride & Swim for Falmouth, but after watching some video footage from both, it felt like they might not end up being the best use of our time or money.

(Had we been a bit more adventurous, I might have looked into other travel guides or taxi services to get us around the islands, but I erred on the side of caution + frugality this time. Maybe in the future!)

This was the first and only port on our sailing that required tendering to shore, so we headed down to the Walt Disney Theatre to have our stateroom keys checked and join a boarding group. Although we were the second or third non-excursion group slated to leave that morning, I nearly missed the tender after accidentally dropping my passport wallet — with every piece of important identification I had tucked inside it — in the theatre. The staff were lovely and just as panicked as I was, and helped me search row by row for it, which would have probably gone a lot faster had I remembered exactly where I was sitting. By the time it turned up, I was more embarrassed than relieved to see it again (but immensely grateful to the staff for helping me out!).



With all of my documents firmly in hand once more, we set off for George Town. This ended up being our favorite port on the cruise — and exploring it by foot felt like the right move for once. Prior to our trip, I had poked around Google Maps a little, so I knew there were several key spots I wanted to check out during our time on the island: Artifacts (an antique store that specializes in shipwreck salvage), the Cayman Islands National Museum, 3 Girls & a Kiln (a local artists' collective), and South West Collective (a waterfront café).

Artifacts was a small shop tucked along the waterfront, and seemed to mostly carry coins and other delicate ephemera, including some whimsically-carved pipes and jewelry. I picked up my favorite souvenir of the whole trip: a Kensitas silk flower. These were small pieces of embroidery that were woven in Holland and tucked inside Kensitas cigarette packets back in the 1930s; according to Artifacts, the Jacquard ribbon-weaving looms that made these tiny pieces possible have since been destroyed.

In the shop, they had several smaller embroidered patches to choose from, at about $30 USD, and slightly larger ones for $40 each (both options came pre-matted, with the original packaging attached to the back of the mat). I'm a sucker for any kind of niche history like this, so I brought one of the smaller ones home with me, framed it, and will hopefully get it up on our living room wall one of these days.



The other spots we visited were equally delightful. From 3 Girls & a Kiln, we picked up a book on island foliage, a crocheted lemon B. became obsessed with, and some bath salts. B. also took a moment to draw a little sketch for their art exchange cabinet, which was super cute. At the museum, he ended up with a full camera roll of bird photos (lol), and we practiced good posture while listening to the Cayman Islands' national anthem (part of an exhibit dedicated to its late composer-lyricist, Leila Ross-Shier). One of the smaller rooms doubled as an art gallery, which centered on the theme of "Memory": how local artists captured their shared histories and private / collective memories across generations.



Instead of heading back to the ship for lunch, we ducked into South West Collective, a café nestled on the top floor of what appeared to be a mostly-empty shopping mall and/or office area. B. ordered some of his favorite dishes — a garlic butter steak sandwich and a dirty Earl cold brew — and I went for one of their daily specials, a chicken curry bowl. Everything, from the service to the food to the views, was absolutely fantastic.



After lunch, we took separate tenders back to the ship, as B. wanted to poke around the shopping district a bit more and I wanted to get more writing done. Pirate Night also fell on this day, so it was fun to sit in the Grand Hall and watch everyone run around in their costumes before dinner. I caught an especially precious interaction between Chip and Dale and a very small buccaneer, who hadn't quite grasped the concept of hide-and-seek, but was trying his best.

Aside from donning the bandanas that were left in our stateroom, we didn't do much to get into the spirit of Pirate Night ourselves. We saw so many great outfits, however, that B. was inspired to come up with two potential cosplays for his next cruise, which I look forward to seeing.

We were back at 1923 for dinner, but since everyone got the same menus this evening, it didn't seem to matter too much where we ended up. Still full from lunch, I did my best to work through a deep-fried crab cake, strip loin, and "bananas in paradise" (banana bread with hazelnut filling), and B. had two helpings of the crab cakes before picking at a noodle stir-fry, sirloin steak, and a "complimentary" caramel macadamia nut cheesecake tart (our server was sad he didn't order anything for dessert, so she brought this out as a surprise).

One disadvantage of the late seating, at least on Pirate Night, is that you often get out a bit too late to secure a good spot for the deck party and fireworks. Personally, this didn't bother me (as I had already planned on skipping both), but B. was a bit disappointed after trying to rush up to Deck 11 — only to find everything absolutely packed.

Instead of cramming in with the rest of the crowd, we decided to get drinks at the Haunted Mansion Parlor, then walk over to Sarabi for Match Yer Matey. It was our first time really spending any time at the parlor thus far, and I loved looking for all of the little Easter eggs and details that were woven into different parts of the bar and seating areas.



The only real downside, honestly, was that the parlor felt more like an interactive experience than a bar you could relax at, as it was both too dark and too noisy to hear each other. We lingered long enough to catch most of the special effects, then made a quick exit for the show. While no one matched the hair-raising tales we'd heard at the first round of Match Your Mate on formal night, we still managed to learn way too much about our fellow passengers. It was good fodder for our own conversations later, too, as we talked about some of the more family-friendly answers we might use if we ended up on stage together.

Having thus exhausted our late-night entertainment options, we happily headed back to the stateroom to crash for the evening.​

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 10: Falmouth, Jamaica

On Wednesday, we rounded out our main port days with Falmouth. Neither B. nor I had been to Jamaica before, but the little I knew about Falmouth (that the tourist area is fairly small, that the city beyond it is not super safe to wander, etc.) deterred me from getting off the ship at all.

I slept in a bit, then went off to finish my morning routine, and B. ventured into port for a while by himself. He returned within about 30-40 minutes and said that there wasn't much to explore — which, from the view we had on our verandah, seemed to be true. We headed up to Deck 11 to grab lunch from Marceline Market and Festival of Foods, then returned to our room for more people-watching. Across the pier, Carnival Beyond had a fair number of passengers watching the port from their staterooms as well; it was the first and last time we'd see another ship docked so close to us all week.



The next few hours passed peacefully. B. napped, I ate most of the adobadas chips I'd saved from Cozumel, and was able to write a few poems while taking in the scenic landscape. Closer to our scheduled departure, I went down to the Deck 4 promenade to see the island from the opposite side of the ship, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that only 2-3 others were sitting outside, so it felt very much like I had the ship to myself for a bit.



After a relaxing afternoon, we got ready for our second dinner at Worlds of Marvel. This was their "Celebration of Heroes" offering, which turned out to be a lot of Marvel trivia and… not much else. Mostly, I just annoyed B. by hitting the button closest to me on our "quantum core" as soon as each question popped up, regardless of whether or not it mapped to the correct answer (hey, at least one of us had fun!). For what it's worth, I appreciated that the trivia ranged from really basic Marvel knowledge to some deeper cuts, although it felt like they could have varied the format of the questions a bit — even taking the limitations of a screen-based setting into account.

The menu, this time, was both great and not-so-great, depending on which course we were on. I ordered the ahi tuna poke (wonderful!) and wild mushroom and sweet onion strudel (horribly bland!), and B. got another grilled sirloin steak and the Marvel sundae. An order of the beef Wellington was sent to our table by mistake, too, which ended up being a much-appreciated alternative to the strudel.

While B. and I planned to play some card games after dinner, he unfortunately got a bad migraine and went back to the room to lay down. Thankfully, Mickey's Mainsail had Excedrin in stock, so I rushed that back to him, made sure the stateroom was comfortably dark and quiet, and gave him some space to sleep for a bit.

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention earlier: for this sailing, a group of passengers decided to play a lighthearted prank on their spouses, which involved several dozen men all unknowingly wearing the same shirt to dinner. My favorite interaction of the cruise was a random run-in with a passenger on our deck, which went something like this…

Passenger: Are you doing the shirt thing?
Me: No, but I've been enjoying seeing everyone in their shirts so far!
Passenger: I CAN'T FIND MY HUSBAND!



Fingers crossed it all worked out for her.​

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 11: Sea day #2

Another sea day — hurray!

This morning began as most of the others had: with a workout, coffee, and fully skipping breakfast. B. still wasn't feeling his best, but had mapped out a bunch of plans for us and made sure to get up in time for the 10k bingo, which started pre-sales around 10:15 a.m.



As expected, there was a fairly long line when we showed up, but we managed to get our tablets and some great front-row seats before Sarabi completely filled up. I appreciate how well-run the session was: everything went quickly and smoothly, and the crowd was in high spirits, though no one ended up taking the 10k home.

This also happened to be the only morning when Mickey churro waffles were being offered, so I raced up to Marceline Market just before it closed and scarfed a couple down. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about these waffles for months now, and it's possible that my expectations were a little too high.

(Like………. look. I'm not judging you if you like these, but… okay, fine, I'm judging you a little bit. Am I missing something? Were these just a bad batch? Did I get there too late? Do I just not have enough Disney magic in my soul?!?)

After bingo wrapped up, B. and I separated for what had quickly become our afternoon routine: coffee & writing for me, and a combination of trivia, soft-serve, video games, & movies in the stateroom for him. Besides the Halloween show rehearsals in the Grand Hall, it felt like a fairly quiet afternoon — with stunning views and plenty of sunshine.



I wrapped up my work a bit earlier than usual, since I was in a hurry to get ready for dinner and catch the early performance of The Tale of Moana (we showed up an hour before the show started, which I'd highly recommend to anyone trying to get good seats for this particular show). Besides Plaza de Coco, Moana was the offering I was most excited for on the Treasure — and it didn't disappoint.

When our cruise director told us that professional theatre reviewers said it was good enough for Broadway, he wasn't lying! The parts of the show that featured Maui and Tamatoa most prominently left a little to be desired, but I was absolutely bowled over by Moana and Tala's performances. On a production level, it felt like the most polished and dynamic show I've seen from DCL thus far.

Following the show, we were scheduled for our second night at Plaza de Coco, and both B. and I were really looking forward to it based on our first experience there. The theming for Día de los Muertos didn't disappoint, and we had some fun trying to fan out the paper marigolds left on our table, though B. was already wrestling with another headache by the time our meal arrived.

The food, this time, was more lackluster than we expected. Maybe it was due to the crowd levels on a sea day, the timing of the courses vs. the entertainment segments, or some other issue behind the scenes, but every dish came out cold. I went for the red chicken enchiladas, chilled avocado soup (so, so good), grilled seafood and tomato rice (also good!), pecan tart (all crust!), and B. ordered a beef birria empanada, chipotle black bean soup, Michoacán carnitas, and churros calientes.



I think we were equally let down by our respective desserts, which felt stale and imbalanced, but maybe we just needed to visit on a different night or try something else on the menu. B. also struggled to drink his cocktail, a tequila-mango concoction that was overrun with edible marigold petals. Sadly, even the fast-deflating candy straws couldn't save him from getting a mouthful of garnish every time he took a sip.

I mean, on the plus side… at least no one went around stealing drink sippers this time. That has to count for something.

Since B. wasn't feeling well, he returned to the room to rest for a bit longer, and I went off to Scat Cat Lounge for a quick nightcap, some reading, and a bit of piano music to finish out the night.​

 

[morethanfairytales]

September 12: Castaway Cay

It may be a DCL cliché at this point, but it's true: there are few things better than waking up to this view first thing in the morning.



For our last full day of the cruise, we docked in Castaway Cay, and despite the stormy seas from the previous night, it looked like we were finally due for some perfect beach weather.

I raced through my workout and picked up some coffee from Heihei Café before meeting B. back in the room so that we could get ready to head down to the pier. We decided to go out a bit earlier than normal — 9:30 a.m. or so — and managed to tour all of the gift shops and stake out some chairs along Serenity Bay before the crowds got too crazy.



This was my first time on Castaway Cay as an adult, since the previous two years saw some very rainy island weather. The last memory I have of being on the island was back in 1998, when I was… eight years old, so I was excited to see what the adult offerings were like.

For the most part, everything felt fairly relaxed and uncrowded. I got some reading done while B. went swimming, and we both opted out of the very, very long line for the adult-only BBQ — mostly because the sun was fully out at this point in the day (and with it, so were the crowds). Had this not been a working trip, I would have been tempted to rent some floats and spend more time out on the water, but with a full stateroom left to pack up — and even more writing left to do — I headed back to the ship early, with B. close behind.



For the rest of the morning, we packed up as much as we could and did a final load of laundry at Fairytale Fresh Laundry, which was on the opposite end of our deck. It's so nice having do-it-yourself laundry facilities onboard, especially for a sailing this long, though we had a few issues getting the machines to finish their cycles without stopping randomly. (Even stranger: we heard multiple reports of passengers' laundry getting misplaced or stolen.)

Although we were desperately trying to cram all of our stuff back into our suitcases at this point, I couldn't resist one last splurge: the ceramic steampunk planter both of us had been eying on the shelves of Treasures Untold all week. (It's since been put to good use as a paperweight of sorts.)

After packing up, I was feeling pretty bummed about having to say goodbye to the Treasure the next morning. The last day of any Disney cruise is always the most bittersweet, and while I expected to feel a little restless or homesick at this point in our sailing, I found myself wanting even more time on the ship. I left B. to finish working on his suitcase and spent much of the afternoon writing in my favorite spots, from Cove Café to Skipper Society.



This evening should have been our third and final stop at 1923, but we had booked Palo Steakhouse to round out our trip instead. Of all the spots we could have chosen for our final night, I think this ended up being the most peaceful one — the restaurant was quiet and uncrowded, and our server was happy to let us take the wheel when it came to all of our menu choices (vs. something like Enchanté, which is a comparatively guided experience).

We both chose to forego the prix fixe option and ordered à la carte instead: for me, the herbed yellowfin tuna, osso buco, and chocolate soufflé, and for B., a negroni, the antipasto, and a prosciutto-burrata pizza. We tried our best to finish each of the dishes, and our server very graciously decided not to shame us when we inevitably fell short of that goal.



Although there were no particular standouts for each of us, the food was very good, and B. pointed out that the value for the price was much higher than we would have been able to find back home — a total win. Overall, I think I still prefer Palo to Enchanté, though it's difficult to properly compare two very different dining experiences.

Just after dinner, B. said that he needed to lay down again. I'm not sure what brought on the sudden rash of migraines, but I wish there was something more that we could have done to help him. He didn't think there was much point in visiting the infirmary, so he toughed it out with Excedrin and as much sleep as he could manage.

As I had the previous night, I spent a couple more hours in Scat Cat Lounge. One of the piano players was performing their last set on the Treasure — not just for this sailing, I think, but for a while — and it was a privilege to get to hear him perform here one last time. After that wrapped up, I returned to the room to check in on B., and we put a couple of Disney movies on before bracing ourselves for an early start to disembarkation day.

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[morethanfairytales]

September 13: Disembarkation

There's just no good way to end a Disney cruise.

Even a full week at sea — while absolutely luxurious — felt too short. B. was happier to be heading home than I was, but we still had a full travel day ahead of us, and wouldn't touch down in the West Coast until 8:00 p.m. or so.

Now, while I pride myself on being a decent trip planner, I will admit that I haven't found the perfect disembarkation day routine just yet. I've tried walking off the ship with my luggage (chaotic), going the concierge route (still somehow chaotic), booking an extra day at WDW (exhausting), taking Disney transportation (loud), taking an Uber to MCO (expensive), and toughing it out at the airport (also exhausting!). I truly don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer here; maybe there is no perfect solution to be had (except booking a back-to-back cruise, of course).

This time around, we put out our suitcases for luggage pickup the night before, then woke up around 7:00 a.m. to shower and get ready to disembark. I wasn't in any particular rush to get off the ship, especially knowing that we would just be ordering an Uber once we got outside, so we made our way over to Heihei Café for a final coffee, then walked down to 1923 for our assigned breakfast.

As a nice bonus, we also got to say goodbye to our serving team, whom we had missed at dinner the night before. Neither of us were very hungry at this hour, but it felt great to sit down — away from the long lines — for a little while. Between the two of us, we ordered mini chocolate chip muffins, muesli, an omelette, and even more coffee (more for B. than myself).

With breakfast taken care of, all that was left to do was get off of the ship. We had little trouble locating our suitcases, and the only real hitch in an otherwise smooth process was getting randomly pulled for some additional security screening. After that, it was about a 15-minute wait for an Uber, and another 40 minutes or so before we were dropped off at MCO.

The rest of the day, well… wasn't as fun as being on the Treasure. We showed up to the airport approximately 2.5 hours before we were able to check our suitcases, 4.5 hours before we were allowed to go through security, and six hours before our flight boarded. I thought about booking a day pass to the Hyatt at MCO, but the lounge areas in the airport were fine for killing time, and there were plenty of shops and restaurants around to keep us occupied. (Honestly, all I wanted was the biggest coffee Dunkin' sold + the ability to instantly teleport home.) Luckily for us, our flight left on time and passed quickly, and both of us were able to get a bit of sleep before the long commute home from the airport.

With that, our weeklong trip on the Treasure came to a (fairly anticlimactic) end! We both loved the ship, and have been talking nonstop about how much we miss it. I think it's safe to say I've persuaded B. to become a DCL fan.

Our next sailing is already booked for next summer, when we'll be in Europe on the Dream. It'll be another big first for us — our first sailing on a Dream-class ship — and I already can't wait.

If you've read along to the end, thanks for letting me talk your ear off! I'd love to hear about your experiences on the Treasure: the good, the bad, the Mickey-churro-waffle-ugly.

(And please, no matter what sailings you've been on so far, give me your disembarkation day tips. I need them desperately!)

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