What onboard activities would you like to see?

[tvguy]

We did an 11 night Southern and there was ballroom dancing lessons/parties. Would LOVE to see that on shorter cruises. So much fun for all ages.

We often complain that the classic Disney movies aren't shown in the theater, only on Funnel Vision. It's great, but I'd love to watch Cinderella, or even newer classics like Princess and Frog in the theater again. There's only so many times I can ignore the bazillion offerings of the few first run movies in the theater, especially on Wish class with the 2 theaters

We cruised on the Magic in 2003 shortly after the first Pirates of the Caribbean was released. Saw it in the Buena Vista Theater one night during rough seas. An extra special effect on top of the movie special effects.

 

[imbelle]

I remember a really cool session in the theater with the performers giving details about how they put on the shows. I even got to try on one of the costumes (an 18th century "Marie Antoinette" type dress). Would love to see more of this kind of behind the scenes offerings.

 

[auntlynne]

Sing-a-long; think group karaoke. It doesn’t have to be a full-production like Frozen Sing-A-Long at Hollywood Studios. Although I would love that to be a thing on the cruise ships.

I would love to play Bunko. Just need tables and chairs, dice and a bunch of people.

Water aerobics, too.

A good tasting game. It would take a bunch of small sample cups. Let the audience all participate. Definitely avoid common allergens. This is something I see on Too Chef. We think we would be pretty good, but even chefs miss a bunch.

Basically, participation by the guests - not just watching.

I do enjoy the activity where a guest sits facing the audience and has a photo of someone/ thing famous behind them. They ask the audience yes/no questions to determine the identity. I guess that’s basically 20 Questions.

The quick arts and crafts are relaxing and seem good for family- or anyone-time.

 

[gatorlisa]

I'd like to see them try organized play for Lorcana (Disney & Ravensburger's newish trading card game). They don't really need to do much for it, other than to provide a block of time in a location with tables...maybe Cabanas in the late afternoon/evening once meal times there are over. I was hoping to try and organize something unofficial on a recent cruise, but finding an hour or two in a location with tables on a sea day was tough and it just never worked out.

 

[juxtapose]

Escape Rooms. Behind the scene tours, of the ship, shows, restaurants, anything. More in-depth crafts for tween/teens or adults. More characters out on the pool deck. Food/drink tastings for all ages.

Expand on the princess makeovers to include other characters from Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Channel (Descendents) etc to bring in more older kids/boys. My tween daughter would LOVE a Rey or Leia hairstyle with costume but has refused traditional princess anything since she was 7.

 

[kiford]

Or in Europe, on sea days, I would love a history lesson for some upcoming ports.

On all three European/Mediterranean we've done, a historian gave a lecture every night before a port. The historian on our Baltic cruise wove all of his lectures around the Hanseatic League, so not only was it helpful to know what to see in a port (although I'd already done some essential investigation before picking a tour), but it put every port into context with all of the other ports. We haven't done a European/Mediterranean cruise since 2015, so I don't know if they still do this, but I would hope so. Those were all 10+ day cruises, so I'm not sure if it's different for shorter cruises, but IMO it was a huge bonus and really enhanced the cruise and port visits.

 

[mcd2745]

Not a strict "activity" per se, but I would love for funnel vision to be 24hrs... I think 11-midnight for it to be over is too early.. tons of night owls on the ship, super early risers (me) that would love to go sit by the pool deck and watch whatever is on instead of turning the tv on in the SR and disturbing family at 4 am... didn't it use be that funnel vision was on until around 2 am?... I don't remember exactly but feels like that was the case..

LOL. We were West Coasters on an Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Magic with late seating dinner at 8:30 pm. After 10 pm, the ship was deserted. It was not uncommon for us to be the only ones up on the outside decks between midnight to 1 am watching the passing lights and enjoying the breeze and the smell of the ocean. We never really turned our body clocks around, so midnight was still like 9 pm for our bodies. Like I said we had late seating, and all our excursions were after 11 am, so we never really got on ships time. And my kids did miss the nightly midnight buffet on Disney that they got to love on HAL.
Now this WAS a sold out New Year's Eve cruise, and New Years Eve was an exception. The atrium was PACKED until midnight, and deserted at 12:05 am! Happy New Year and Good Night! Cracks me up that my first cruise, on a luxury French cruise line, the night club didn't even OPEN until 2 am

I’d love the adult pools and hot tub to be open until midnight. Not an activity per se, but something I think would be an amazing change.

YES!!! I've long advocated for more late night activities (and I really don't consider 11pm-midnight "late" - especially when on vacation). Could be as simple as scheduling more of the activities they already do (trivia, mixology, etc) later at night. They really need stuff to do after whatever takes place in the main lounge (Match Your Mate, other game-show type events, comedian/juggler/magician) at 10:30 which typically ends around 11:15pm. Why don't any movies start after that time? It's baffling that the last movie of the night usually starts 10:45 or 11pm. So it becomes an either/or thing. You have to choose between what's taking place in the lounge or the last movie. Due to their scheduling, both is not an option. And pools & hot tubs should generally be available 24/7.

I always thought the lack of activities and the ship being deserted by that time was a kind of "chicken or the egg?" scenario. Are there no activities because everyone retires to their staterooms by that time...or, does everyone retire to their staterooms because there are no activities? Well, the Wish indicated to me that it is more the latter since the Grand Hall fills up at midnight with people laying on the floor for the little kiss goodnight (I'm assuming this is still a thing). It shows that if guests are given something to do, even still at that hour, they will participate. So give us more!

At any time of day, I like a lot of what has been suggested already. The murder mystery thing over the course of the cruise OP mentioned sounds great. So do escape rooms, scavenger hunts and ship tours. On sea days, I'd like to see them do something in the WD theater that can draw a large amount of people away from the pool deck and help spread people out. I know other cruise lines do versions of popular game shows like Price is Right or Deal or no Deal. Something along those lines would be great.

 

[tvguy]

YES!!! I've long advocated for more late night activities (and I really don't consider 11pm-midnight "late" - especially when on vacation). Could be as simple as scheduling more of the activities they already do (trivia, mixology, etc) later at night. They really need stuff to do after whatever takes place in the main lounge (Match Your Mate, other game-show type events, comedian/juggler/magician) at 10:30 which typically ends around 11:15pm. Why don't any movies start after that time? It's baffling that the last movie of the night usually starts 10:45 or 11pm. So it becomes an either/or thing. You have to choose between what's taking place in the lounge or the last movie. Due to their scheduling, both is not an option. And pools & hot tubs should generally be available 24/7.

I always thought the lack of activities and the ship being deserted by that time was a kind of "chicken or the egg?" scenario. Are there no activities because everyone retires to their staterooms by that time...or, does everyone retire to their staterooms because there are no activities? Well, the Wish indicated to me that it is more the latter since the Grand Hall fills up at midnight with people laying on the floor for the little kiss goodnight (I'm assuming this is still a thing). It shows that if guests are given something to do, even still at that hour, they will participate. So give us more!

At any time of day, I like a lot of what has been suggested already. The murder mystery thing over the course of the cruise OP mentioned sounds great. So do escape rooms, scavenger hunts and ship tours. On sea days, I'd like to see them do something in the WD theater that can draw a large amount of people away from the pool deck and help spread people out. I know other cruise lines do versions of popular game shows like Price is Right or Deal or no Deal. Something along those lines would be great.

Well, to be honest, since cruising Disney we have cruised NCL America, HAL, and Celebrity and the situation was pretty much the same. People pretty much calling it a day by 10 pm, with a few people in the casino afterwards. I suspect that is the reason that they don't have Midnight buffets every night anymore.
And I was amazed on Disney how early some folks got up. There were kids running and screaming in the halls at 5:45 am on a SEA DAY. Mind you, at home my job started at 3 am for the last 13 years I worked, and sure didn't want to be up that early on vacation.

 

[Kit Jackson]

I do enjoy the activity where a guest sits facing the audience and has a photo of someone/ thing famous behind them. They ask the audience yes/no questions to determine the identity.

I love this. They do a version of this on Whose Line is it Anyway. One of the performers is in front of a green reporting on a news story, but he has no idea what it is. He has to guess what it is based on the comments/questions of the other performers on stage. I would love to see a Disney themed version of this. You include locations from the parks and locations or characters from classic Disney movies. You could do a special Marvel and/or Star Wars version.

 

[CamColt]

These are all great ideas everyone!

I'm thinking not of a new activity but I'd love to see them bring back "If I Were Not Upon the Sea". That always got the crowd roaring.

Or even to just have the cruise staff, specifically the ones who spend the nights in the adult area, do some form of entertainment, skit, type of thing. I know we had 1 cruise on the Wonder where the staff did a little thing, reviewing the cruise, sort of poking fun at it, on the last night. For examply they talked about Nassau day then 1 girl went back and forth yelling, "get your hair braided..." Then they talked about CC and some of the staff came out, doing a crab walk to imitate the crab races, etc... That was really funny!

 

[brentm77]

On all three European/Mediterranean we've done, a historian gave a lecture every night before a port. The historian on our Baltic cruise wove all of his lectures around the Hanseatic League, so not only was it helpful to know what to see in a port (although I'd already done some essential investigation before picking a tour), but it put every port into context with all of the other ports. We haven't done a European/Mediterranean cruise since 2015, so I don't know if they still do this, but I would hope so. Those were all 10+ day cruises, so I'm not sure if it's different for shorter cruises, but IMO it was a huge bonus and really enhanced the cruise and port visits.

That's really cool. DCL didn't have them on our Med cruise a couple of years ago.

 

[holula]

These are all great ideas everyone!

I'm thinking not of a new activity but I'd love to see them bring back "If I Were Not Upon the Sea". That always got the crowd roaring.

This was hilarious so I’m going to +1 this. I only saw it on a handful of cruises before they retired it. Even if they just added it to 7+ night cruises I think it would be a bit hit.

I really like the scavenger hunt idea. That would probably be easy to add into the app for each ship too.

 

[juxtapose]

Well, to be honest, since cruising Disney we have cruised NCL America, HAL, and Celebrity and the situation was pretty much the same. People pretty much calling it a day by 10 pm, with a few people in the casino afterwards. I suspect that is the reason that they don't have Midnight buffets every night anymore.
And I was amazed on Disney how early some folks got up. There were kids running and screaming in the halls at 5:45 am on a SEA DAY. Mind you, at home my job started at 3 am for the last 13 years I worked, and sure didn't want to be up that early on vacation.

I don't let me kids scream in the hall at any time of day, but my lovely son didn't sleep in past 6am on any vacation until age 7. We could keep him up until midnight and he'd still be up that early and he'd be incredibly cranky about it lol. I imagine they aren't up at 5:45am by choice.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

Ah well organised "European style" group treasure hunt. They could even do it on castaway or lighthouse

 

[MinnieInVA]

I'd love to see a tour of the bridge (retired Navy here, haha!)

 

[auntlynne]

Ah well organised "European style" group treasure hunt. They could even do it on castaway or lighthouse

What is “European style?” I picture lederhosen, beer, wine.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

What is “European style?” I picture lederhosen, beer, wine.

Lol that too but we have very large very scavenger hunts that are more intricate/sophisticated with more clues and things to collect along the way

 

[MomOTwins]

I would love a karaoke with ONLY disney songs, and much earlier in the day. We went to the family one and the kids were all struggling to stay up late and for every one child that did an adorable disney song there were a bunch of talentless vain drunk women singing “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus at the top of their lungs while the audience cringed and waited for the kids to have their turn. At aulani, they kept karaoke focused on the kids and disney songs and it was awesome! Plus we didn’t have to wait up until 11pm.

I’d also like it they did pool deck games like the do at the resorts on land. They could get some hula hoops, a limbo stick, musical chairs etc. It’d help lower the number of kids actually in the pool at a given time.

I also wish they would do a board game session. Have a bunch of simple games available in d lounge for an hour on a sea day and families can play if they need a quiet activity, or make new friends over chess, cards etc.

Forget drink tastings or dessert tastings—I want a guided cheese tasting in Remy/Enchante with the really good cheese and some dessert wines (port/ice wine). Semi-unwrapped babybels from the All Hands on Deck platter do not qualify.

Pirate night needs a costume/best pirate contest. Can make it funny with interviews the way they do with the questions at match your mate or making the contestants do their best pirate jig.

Also pirate night needs a musician doing sea shanties. Wellerman is big with my tweens at the moment.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I would love to have a naturalist/educator on the non-Alaska based itineraries. At least on longer ones. Learning about the wildlife and history of Alaska was one of the highlights of our cruise there. It made it so much more interesting. I wouldn't mind learning about sea life, the history of the islands we are visiting, etc. Or in Europe, on sea days, I would love a history lesson for some upcoming ports. If Disney sticks with it's no behind-the scenes tour, I would even love to have an engineer show some photos and explain the behind the scenes stuff on the ship. I like mixing education with vacation and with the right presenters, it can be very entertaining.

They did have this on both WBPC cruises we did. It was very interesting.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'd love to see a tour of the bridge (retired Navy here, haha!)

Oh I would love this so much, even if it were only for Pearl members, if they wanted to keep the numbers down. They offered it on Celebrity but charged I think $75 pp and dh was too annoyed to pay for it.

Something HAL did I'd like Disney to add. An Indonesian Crew Talent Show. Many played musical instruments I had never seen or heard of before. Some sang, and there were traditional Indonesian Dance routines. Our kids LOVED seeing our server, assistant server and cabin steward on stage.

They had a Crew Talent show in the WD Theater on both of our WBPC cruises. We were amazed at how well some could sing, dance and play instruments, who worked in jobs completely unrelated to those skills. We really enjoyed it.

Behind the scenes tours for sure! More cooking classes. Some dance classes (particularly the dances from the various shows & movies). More silent disco chances.

They did have Salsa lessons on our WBPC cruise on the Magic.


It seems many of these unusual activities that people want are on very long cruises; our WBPC cruises were 14 nights.

Another vote here for water aerobics. IIRC, the adult pools on the Magic/Wonder were both over my head. The ones on the Dream/Fantasy aren't deep enough. We'd have to commandeer the Goofy pool and I don't think I'd want to swim in that pool water that so many kids were packed into.