Guide to Meeting Characters on a Disney Cruise

Disney Cruises offer some of the best Disney character experiences available. From meetings and greetings with Mickey and Friends, to the Disney Princesses there are plenty of character visits to be had. And with certain events, and itinerary specific special meetings you can see Alaska Minnie and Mickey or characters in their Pirate outfits. No matter what you’ll be wanting a list to keep track of it all! Luckily, we’re here to help you with that. Read on for our guide to meeting characters on a Disney Cruise.

Disney Characters on a Disney Cruise

Found on every Disney Cruise Ship, there are an array of characters to see, meet and even have a little chat with! All ships feature Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Daisy and Chip and Dale. You can find this Disney Crew on every ship! While outfits may change depending on your itinerary or type of cruise, these Disney friends are always available for a meet and greet on a Disney Cruise.

Disney Princesses

The Disney Princesses too, are always on hand for their royal subjects, no matter the cruise, or ship. Often found in the Royal Gathering Ceremony, which is free, but does require a reservation, there are a few princesses you’ll always see. And a few more who may be visiting as a special treat. Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, and Tiana are almost always on hand. Jasmine, Aurora, Moana, and Rapunzel are also usually in the lineup for greetings.

Special Characters

Specialty Cruises, like those that are themed or take place during the holidays also have special character opportunities.

• A Disney Halloween on the High Seas Cruise includes Mickey and friends dressed up in Halloween costumes. Plus the Sanderson Sisters ( Minnie, Clarabelle and Daisy).
• Mickey’s Very Merrytime Disney Christmas Cruise includes Mickey and friends dressed up in Holiday sweaters, and Christmas outfits.
• A Disney Cruise to Alaska includes special outfits for Alaska Mickey and Minnie.
• If you’re sailing on a Disney Cruise to Europe, you can see Mickey and Friends in street performer and clown gear.
• When you take a Disney Cruise to the Caribbean, you get to be part of Pirate Night, which includes not only Mickey and Friends in pirate night outfits, but also Captain Hook and Smee!
• If you’re visiting Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay, then you can meet Disney Characters in their Island outfits throughout your beach day.

Pixar at Sea Characters

Disney Characters on a Pixar at Sea Cruise includes a variety of Pixar characters. Mike and Sully from Monster’s Inc., The Incredibles, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Jessie, Miguel from Coco, Russel and Dug from Up! as well as Joy and Sadness from Inside Out.

Marvel Characters

A Marvel Day at Sea cruise includes Captain America Sam Wilson, Mighty Thor, Shang-Chi, Ms. Marvel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Kate Bishop. And you’ll always see Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Thor, Loki, and Black Widow.

Check the My Disney Navigator App for Times

Almost always, you can find character meet and greets for your Disney Cruise in the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. It’s important to check this throughout the day as times and characters can sometimes be added at the last minute when possible.

To find out who is meeting when, you’ll just go into the “Daily Activities” portion of the app or more specifically, you can check the “Characters” section as well. The character will be listed along with their location. One caveat here though is that you don’t know what outfit they will be in. Sometimes you can guess based on the theme of the day (Pirate Night, or Glacier Day in Alaska, for example) but if you are really curious about their outfit beforehand, just as a cast member. Some people like to match the characters, so this can be good information to have ahead of time. 

Characters meet all over the ship including in the atrium, Deck 4, the upper decks, and even in the kids’s clubs on Disney ships.

Types of Character Meet and Greets on a Disney Cruise

Character Meet and Greets on a Disney Cruise are offered in a few different ways. General Meet and Greets, Roaming Characters, Scheduled Greetings, Character Dining Experiences, as well as Formal Night and Pirate Night opportunities give you a lot of options!

• Standard Greetings
• Prebooked Greetings
• Roaming Characters
• Dance Parties
• The Royal Gathering
• Pirate Night Characters
• Formal Night Characters
• Special Event Characters

Standard Greetings with Disney Cruise Characters

Standard Greetings for Disney Characters on a Cruise Ships are the most common and include a quick visit. These Disney Cruise character meet and greets are generally noted in the Disney Navigator App with a specified time and location to meet a certain character. For these you simply show up ( the earlier the better) and wait in line to see your character. These little character greetings are often short and if you don’t arrive early, you may miss it! You’ll note in the app that a character may be available for 10 minutes, but they usually hang around much longer than that. So, if interested, just head to the deck, and wait in line! It’s a great way to get a one on one with characters you may not otherwise see.

Pre-Booked Disney Character Meet and Greets

Pre-Booked Disney Character Meet and Greets are the ones you should reserve ahead of time. The Disney Princess Royal Gathering, the Royal Court Tea, and Olaf’s Royal Picnic all have character meetings, and all require a reservation. Of these, the Royal Gathering is free. The others are part of a more elaborate tea party like experience that costs quite a bit, and incudes a meal, and take home souvenirs.

Roaming Characters on a Disney Cruise

Sometimes you’ll see what are called Roaming Characters. This means the character is just walking around almost always with a handler. Sometimes they are just interacting with the environment or other guests. And sometimes they are kind of putting on a little “show”. An example of this is Dr. Strange. You may seem him trying to open a portal in the middle of the atrium. It provides a great opportunity to interact, take pics and grab video! Unless roaming characters look like they’re hightailing it to the breakroom, they are usually out and about to meet you and have fun.

Meeting Disney Characters During Dance Parties

The character dance parties are a ton of fun. And many times, you can meet characters and dance with them during this party. It’s usually very clear if you cannot dance with the characters, but more often than not, characters will disperse into the crowd and you can enjoy the party right alongside them. 

After the dance parties are over, they usually have a few moments of opportunity to get in line for meet and greets. These don’t usually last long, so be ready to get into the line of your favorite character. You can find out when the dance parties are held in the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App. 

The Royal Gathering on Disney Cruise

Love Disney Princesses? One of the best ways to meet Princesses on a Disney Cruise is during the Royal Gathering.  Formerly known as the Princess Gathering, the Royal Gathering is an event that happens on all Disney Cruises, where guests can meet multiple Princesses at once. Princesses meeting at this event change depending on the cruise but you can often meet 4-5 different princesses at one time. These include Cinderella, Belle, Tiana, Rapunzel, Moana, Ariel, and Jasmine and change depending on the itinerary.

The Royal Gathering is free. But you do need to have a reservation to attend. You can do this at midnight, 30 days before your cruise. Or you can try again once onboard as sometimes more openings become available.

Meeting Characters on Pirate Night

Pirate Night is such a fun experience! Most cruises that sail through the Caribbean will have a Pirate Night so it’s good to be prepared! Be sure to pack pirate type attire or a pirate costume so you’re ready for the festivities. One of the best parts about Pirate Night is the characters dressed in their Pirate attire! This is a great time to meet characters in different outfits. And you can often meet more rare characters, like Hook and Captain Smee during Pirate Night as well. 

Many characters will be in their Pirate outfits all day on the day of Pirate Night. So, feel free to try to get some meet and greets in before the evening so you’re not rushing around. 

Meeting Characters during Formal Night

If you’re sailing on a 7-night cruise or longer with Disney, there will be a formal night for your cruise. This can be a great opportunity to get formal family photos with your family all dressed up. Or even just give you the opportunity to be a little fancy for a night. During Formal night, the characters dress up too! You can find many of your favorite characters dressed in fancy dresses and even tuxes for this special evening. 

Meeting Characters at Dinner

Every Disney Cruise Ship has a character dining restaurant as part of it’s Rotational Dining Experience. As such, another Disney Cruise Character Experience you get onboard is during your dinner. Often including a little parade (like at Tiana’s Place on the Disney Wonder) or a Royal Greeting at your table (like at Arendelle on the Disney Wish) the character dining experience gives you an opportunity to grab a photo and get an autograph from Disney Characters during your dinner, after their performance. Here are the characters you can find at each character dining restaurant onboard Disney Cruise Ships.

• Tiana’s Place on the Disney Wonder: Tiana, Ray and the Band
• Rapunzel’s Royal Table on the Disney Magic: Rapunzel, Flynn, and the Ugly Duckling Crew
• Arendelle on the Disney Wish: Anna and Elsa
• Pride Lands on the Disney Destiny: Lion King Troupe
• Plaza de Coco on the Disney Treasure: Miguel and the Band

Disney Cruise Characters Photos and Autographs

There are a few ways you can get photos with characters on a Disney Cruise. And you always want to be ready for them! Because sometimes they just happen! Meeting Peter Pan on the stairs, and Minnie on deck, are common, so be ready with your camera, and phone.

Disney Cruise Photo Package

There are a few ways you can get photos with characters on a Disney Cruise. If you’re buying the photo package, you can get as many pictures taken by the onboard photographers as you’d like. These are included with your package. And if you’re not buying the photo package, you can still have your photos taken by the photographers as well, you’ll just have to pay for them individually once you have a chance to look them over. Just bring your Key to The World card with you and your photos will be linked!

Take your own Disney Character Pics

You can also opt to take your own photos and videos with a camera or phone. And most of the time, the characters’ handlers are more than happy to take your pictures or videos of you with the characters. I have to emphasize most of the time here. I have never been turned down by a handler to take a photo with my phone, but I have heard of an occasional instance where the Cast Member will not take a guest’s picture with their phone. So just be sure to have a backup plan! And if you only want a photo of the character (without you or a family member in it), you’re allowed to do that too!

How early should I arrive to meet characters on a Disney Cruise? 

That depends a lot on the character! There are some characters that have notoriously long lines on Disney cruises. The Sanderson Sisters on Halloween on the High Seas Cruises are a great example. These lines can easily be over an hour long. Any kind of Stitch meet and greet can be quite long. And the meet and greets on Glacier Day for Alaska itineraries are also very long. You’ll want to plan to be in line for these characters usually 30 minutes or more. Or as soon as you see the line forming. 

How long is a Disney Cruise Character Meet and Greet?

Otherwise, if it’s just a standard meet and greet, you usually can show up about 10 minutes beforehand and you’re likely to get to see the character meeting. Many character greetings are scheduled back-to-back in similar areas. So be sure to check the app for the times and see how can maximize your meet and greet times. 

So there you have it- all you need to know about meeting characters on Disney Cruise Line! For a look at which characters you might find on each ship, check out our Disney Cruise Ship Guides for each ship. Hopefully this post has been helpful as you plan your next Disney Cruise. Bon Voyage!