I’ll start by saying we booked this cruise late. Not casually late, either. Late enough that I was doing math on a calendar, because we wanted a family babymoon before baby boy #2 arrives and I had a hard deadline. Disney Cruise Line will not let you sail once you have entered your 24th week of pregnancy, and I was not about to miss that window by a few days!
So we managed to squeeze in seven nights aboard the Disney Treasure with our 2-year-old son, Gem*. I am so glad we did. This was a new ship for us. I loved a lot of it. There is one thing I did not particularly love, and I am going to tell you about that too, because you will not find it in any Disney Cruise Line brochure.
| FYI if sailing while pregnant: Most cruise lines, Disney Cruise Line included, will not let you sail if you enter your 24th week of pregnancy at any point during the cruise. Not at embarkation… at any point! So count forward to your DEBARKATION date when you are checking your window, NOT your sail date. That distinction is what decides whether a sailing works for you, and it is the thing people get wrong. Confirm the current policy when you book, since these details do change. |
Our Itinerary
| DAY | WHERE WE WERE |
| Day 1 | Embarkation at Port Canaveral |
| Day 2 | At sea |
| Day 3 | At sea |
| Day 4 | Tortola, British Virgin Islands |
| Day 5 | St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands |
| Day 6 | At sea |
| Day 7 | Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island |
| Day 8 | Debarkation at Port Canaveral |
Two sea days up front is a lot of sea day. Hear me out, though. With a toddler, I would tell you that is a feature and not a bug! It gave us time to find the splashpad area, learn the ship, and get into a rhythm before we had to be anywhere at a specific time.
Getting From the Resort to the Ship
If you read the first part of this journey, you know we spent the night before at All-Star Sports following Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Here is how that handoff went, because it is truly one of the smoothest things Disney does… and a lot of families do not know it exists!
We had a meeting spot in the resort lobby, and around 10:00 AM they started loading us onto the bus. Our luggage stayed in the hotel room. Disney came and picked it up from there. We did not carry a single piece of luggage from the resort to the ship, only the diaper bag.
Resort to Disney transportation to Port Canaveral, all of it seamless. Embarkation itself was seamless and smooth. If you are nervous about the logistics of pairing a park stay with a cruise, let’s talk! This is the piece that makes it all work out.
| PRO TIP: Book the transfer! Disney’s ground transfer between a Walt Disney World resort and Port Canaveral is not automatic. You add it when you book. It is one of the easiest yes decisions in cruise planning, especially with a little one. Children 2 and under are considered lap riders and do not require a car seat. |
The Ship Has Strollers, and Almost Nobody Tells You That
| This section contains affiliate links. If you use them, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only link services I personally use and love! |
We returned our Kingdom Strollers rental the morning of the cruise, which meant we boarded the Treasure with no stroller and a feral 2-year-old. So we went straight to Guest Services and asked for one.
They had a single stroller available for us. Doubles go much faster, so if you need one of those, get to Guest Services early on embarkation day rather than waiting until your first port!
It is not really a rental in the way you are thinking. Nothing goes on your bill up front. As far as I can tell, you are only charged if you fail to return the stroller by the end of the cruise. Bring it back and it costs you nothing.
I do not know the exact amount they charge for an unreturned stroller, so do not quote me on a number. The nursery MagicBand works the same way and that one I do know, so I have put it in the nursery section below.
Was it worth doing? For the ports, absolutely. It made Tortola possible on a day when our plans fell apart, and it earned its keep at Castaway Cay. On the ship itself, though, we barely touched it, because our son is very mobile and very active and would rather walk. But having it waiting for port days was for sure the right call.
| PRO TIP: If you are pairing a park stay with a cruise, this is the piece that makes the whole thing work. Rent a good stroller for your Walt Disney World days, return it the morning you sail. Then, grab one from Guest Services for your port days. You never have to bring your own stroller through an airport! We used Kingdom Strollers. |
Our Stateroom: Oceanview, Deck 2 MID, Room 2638
This room was a dream, and the reason why is going to sound like a mistake.
Deck 2 is also where the it’s a small world nursery and the kids’ club spaces are. When I saw that, my first thought was noise and foot traffic and a toddler who cannot nap. What I did not account for is that we were in the opposite hall. We got all of the convenience of being steps from the nursery and none of the hallway chaos!
An oceanview on deck 2 is a lower category than a verandah. Honestly, I did not miss the balcony I’m used to, and our toddler actually loved sitting in the porthole window. What I gained was a short walk to nursery drop-off with a kid who was already wearing me down, which mattered a great deal more to me!
| PRO TIP: Being close to the nursery and kids’ clubs is worth more than you think! Ask about which hall a room sits in, not just which deck. That one detail was the difference between a good location and a potentially loud one. |
The it’s a small world Nursery, Including the Night He Ran a Fever
Our son has utilized the nursery every sailing; I cannot say enough good things about it! The nannies were wonderful. Many of them are British and I fell a little in love with all of them. He went in happy and came out happy every single time.
Then on night three, he ran a fever.
The nursery contacted us right away. Not eventually. Right away. We picked him up, took him to the onboard medical center, and gave him Tylenol. Within 24 hours, the fever had come down, and he was medically cleared to go back to the nursery.
I want to be clear about why I am telling you this: nobody wants their kid to get sick on vacation. But the thing that could have wrecked our week instead became the moment I trusted this ship completely. They caught it, they called us, and there was a doctor down the hall. If you are on the fence about the nursery because you are nervous about handing your baby to a stranger on a boat, this is the part of the story that should reassure you!
| Our son was still not quite himself on day four, which is why we cancelled our Tortola excursion. More on that below. By St. Thomas, he was back to normal. |
What the nursery costs and how to book it
The nursery runs $10 per hour. You book hours ahead of time, before your cruise, and then add more once you are on board if you find you want them.
Book more than you think you need up front. Adding hours later is possible, but the popular time slots go early. You are competing with every other family on the ship who had the same idea. It is easier to have hours and not use them/cancel than to want them and find nothing available.
One practical thing nobody mentions: each child needs a MagicBand that they check in and out of the nursery/kids’ spaces with. Don’t have one? Disney will provide it! If you do not turn it back in before the end of the cruise, however, they charge your account $25. Put it somewhere you will not lose it on the last night, when you are packing and everything is chaos.
Dining Rotation
We started at Plaza de Coco, moved to 1923, then Worlds of Marvel, and rotated through in that order for the rest of the cruise.
Rotational dining is one of the genuinely great things about Disney Cruise Line, and it is even better with a toddler. Your servers move with you. By night two, they knew what he would eat, they knew he needed his food fast, and they had it waiting. That is not a small thing when you are trying to get a 2-year-old through a sit down dinner!
Plaza de Coco was our favorite, and not by a little
The room is beautifully decorated. There is live entertainment throughout the meal, a mariachi band, and a whole scene that plays out with Miguel and his grandmother. The food was good. But the reason it won for us is simpler than any of that.
It is LOUD. Which means your toddler fits right in, haha.
If you have ever tried to keep a 2-year-old quiet in a nice restaurant, you know how much energy that takes and how little of dinner you actually get to enjoy. At Plaza de Coco nobody notices, because there is a mariachi band. I ate an entire meal while it was still hot. It was glorious!
Entertainment: See Disney The Tale of Moana, and See the Matinee
Disney The Tale of Moana was the entertainment highlight of our week. It is a full Broadway-style production, and the way they use the huge live puppet on stage is genuinely impressive. I was not expecting to be that taken with it!
Here is the planning detail that made it work for us: they offered a matinee, which meant our son could come with us. We did not have to put him in the nursery for the later showing and we did not have to split up so one of us could see it.
A lot of families assume the big production shows are an evening thing you have to arrange childcare around. Check your DCL Navigator app for matinee times before you book nursery hours for a show slot. It is the difference between paying for childcare and just all going together.
| If you only see one thing on this ship, make it Disney The Tale of Moana! Check whether a matinee is offered on your sailing; ours was between 2-3 PM. Seeing it as a family beat seeing it as a couple, at least for us. |
The Pool and Splash Areas for Littles
The little kid water area is Toy Story themed, and I really enjoyed it. There was a decent amount of space for the kids to actually play, which is not always true on a cruise ship. We used the splashpad every single sea day.
If your kid is still in swim diapers, know before you go that there are rules about where they can and cannot get in the water on any cruise line. The splash areas designed for little ones are where you will spend your time, and on the Treasure that is a good place to be!
Port Days
St. Thomas: the land and sea excursion we loved
We booked Disney excursions for our port days. In St. Thomas, we did a land and sea tour. We took a ferry from St. Thomas over to St. John, then got on an open-air taxi and drove the island, stopping at different lookout points.
It was the right amount of activity for a family with a toddler. He was in and out of the multiple modes of transportation, there was always something to look at, and the open-air taxi kept him entertained in a way a closed bus never would have.
Tortola: the day our plans fell apart, and it was fine
Our son was still a little feverish on day four, so we cancelled our Tortola land and sea tour. I was disappointed for about an hour, and then I got over it.
We used the stroller and walked around the port instead. It is very tourist-friendly. There are a lot of shops, an open lawn/mall area, and live music playing. We honestly did not feel like we missed out on much here. If you get to Tortola and someone in your family is not up for a full excursion, the port itself is a perfectly good day!
How the cancellation actually went
We called Guest Services first thing that morning, before we had even pulled into port, as soon as we knew there was no version of this excursion that was going to work with a feverish 2-year-old.
Guest Services passed our message along to the Port Adventures team on board, who cancelled our reservation as soon as we arrived. They were upfront that a same-day cancellation is not guaranteed BUT we had already been seen by medical, so they knew our son was legit sick, and they refunded us in full. No questions asked.
| PRO TIP: If you have to cancel a port adventure, call as early as you can. Do not wait until you are standing at the meeting point deciding. Same-day cancellation is not guaranteed, so do not assume you will get your money back. If illness is the reason, being seen by the onboard medical center puts it on the record. That is what made our refund so straightforward. |
Castaway Cay: a day of real highs and lows
We got off the ship at 9:15 AM, the second we were allowed to. We took some pictures. By the time we walked over to the beach, the lifeguards had closed it. Storms were moving in, and they asked everybody to take cover.
So we took cover at Spring-A-Leak, which is where our son wanted to be anyway. We hunkered down there for somewhere between an hour and a half and two hours while the thunderstorms rolled through.
And then it cleared, and we had a beautiful day at Castaway Cay.
We spent most of it at Spring-A-Leak, and then all three of us went into the beach water together. Our son walked right in. The water is calm and gentle and clear; it stays shallow far enough out that a 2-year-old can wade in a real distance without ever being over his head. That was the moment of the day for me. We had lunch after, and then reboarded the ship.
I am telling you about the storm because I want you to hear how it ended. We lost almost the entire morning to weather on Disney’s private island, on the last full day of our cruise, and it was still one of the best afternoons of the trip. If you get a weather day at Castaway Cay, you have not lost the day!
| TODDLER TIP: Spring-A-Leak was where our son wanted to be from the moment we arrived, storms or not. If your kid is a water-play kid rather than a sand-and-surf kid, plan to anchor your day there and treat the beach as a bonus. The beach water itself is about as toddler-friendly as ocean water gets. Calm, clear, and shallow for a long way out. |
The Honest Part: The Treasure Is Built for Kids More Than for Adults
The Treasure is a big, beautiful ship and the kids’ spaces are wonderful. That is the easy part of this review.
Here is what surprised me: the adult spaces sit right in the middle of everything.
You can be sitting in the Skipper Lounge having a drink and kids are running past you. Kids trying to walk into the Haunted Mansion Parlor while you are there for the adult spooky vibes you were promised. It is not that anybody is doing anything wrong. It is that the layout does not really separate the two.
The adult pool and adult deck features also felt limited to me. There are fewer of them, and they are small. On sea days, the 18+ deck was heavily used and very busy, which makes sense when the adult square footage is that tight and everybody has the same idea at the same time.
None of this ruined our cruise, though. We were traveling with a 2-year-old and I was pregnant; the adult scene was never going to be our week anyway! BUT if you are booking the Treasure specifically for adult time, whether that is a couples trip or you are counting on real breaks while your kids are in the clubs, go in with realistic expectations about how much of the ship is actually yours.
| It is my opinion this ship is built for families with young kids. Truly. The nursery, the kids clubs, and the Toy Story splash area are excellent, and the ship is designed around them. Adults-only groups, or parents whose whole plan is to drop the kids and disappear into a quiet lounge, should think twice about booking. That is harder here than you might expect! |
Advice for First-Time Treasure Families
I did not find the ship overwhelming, but I want to be honest about why. I already know I am sailing the Treasure again next summer on a Western itinerary, so I did not stress about missing a show or a character moment. I knew I would get another shot at it.
Most first-time families do not have that safety net, so here is the advice I would actually give: pick what you care about and focus on those things. There is A LOT to do on this ship, and you cannot do all of it. That is not a planning failure. It is math. The families who have the best time are the ones who choose three or four things that matter to them, do those well, and let the rest go.
If your kid has one character they love, prioritize that. If you have one show you want to see, build the day around it. Consider everything else a bonus!
Debarkation
Just as smooth as embarkation. We had breakfast, got off the ship, and picked up our luggage. There was a porter who took our bags to the Disney transportation bus, which brought us straight to the airport.
From the moment we left our resort room in Orlando to the moment we got back to the airport, we barely touched our own luggage. If you are traveling with a toddler and a stroller and a pregnant person, that is worth every penny of the transfer! I said what I said.
Would We Sail the Treasure Again?
Well, yeah. We already booked it. Next summer, Western Caribbean.
For a family with little kids, this ship delivers. The nursery is exceptional, the staterooms near the kids’ spaces are smarter than they sound, and the rotational dining makes toddler dinners survivable. Go in knowing the adult spaces are tighter than you expect, pick a handful of things to prioritize, and you will have a great week!
Thinking About a Disney Cruise?
This is what I do. I am an authorized Disney Vacation Planner with Genie Travel Company, and I filter through the noise so you don’t have to!
Which ship, which itinerary, which stateroom category, whether the nursery is worth it for your family, how to pair a park stay with a sailing. That is literally my job, and it costs you nothing. Disney and my agency pay my commission, so my planning services are complimentary to you.
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