Pirates IN the Caribbean Celebration on the Disney Dream

Guests on board any of the Disney Cruise Line ships look forward to the Pirates IN the Caribbean theme night and deck party.  Even when we weren’t “IN” the Caribbean but still on a Disney ship, we celebrated with the themed evening and all of the events.

If you would like to read about our previous Pirates IN the Caribbean party adventures, click here.  The rest of this post will be about the Pirates IN the Caribbean celebration on the Disney Dream.

Our Pirates IN the Caribbean celebration began even before dinner.  When we returned from our Sea Lion Encounter in Nassau—click here to read more—the list of events for the evening along with our Pirate bandanas were waiting for us in our stateroom.

We quickly cleaned up, changed clothes, grabbed the boy’s pirate costume and headed off to meet the first of many pirate characters located throughout the ship for the evening.

Captain Jack was greeting guests near the Walt Disney Theatre entrance on deck 3 near the shops. 

Still before our main seating dinner, we had family portraits taken with a more “tropical” feel.

The pirate theme continued at dinner with a special Pirates IN the Caribbean menu, which is the same in all the main dining rooms.  I always ask for seconds of the crab cakes.  Yummy!

The wait staff was in their pirate gear and there was a festive feeling throughout the whole ship.  You can feel the excitement.

The first portion of the “deck party” began shortly after dinner.  Guest getting read for the show roamed deck 11 and participated in various games with the Cast Member Pirates.  The boy was on deck 11, while we kept him in full view from deck 12. 

Soon it was time for the show--Mickey’s Pirates in the Caribbean which has a story, dancing, exciting plot, and audience participation.  Check out the videos below:

The show is slated to last about 25 minutes, which gives guests with either dining seating enough time to see the show.  Since we had the main dining seating, we headed off for a special showing of Cars 2 in 3D in the Walt Disney Theatre.

The movie was over in time for the 2^nd portion of the festivities, which is the Buccaneer Fireworks Blast, or fireworks at sea.  Like all things Disney, the fireworks are themed, timed to music, and include a bit of “show.”

The outside decks can get very crowded for the fireworks.  The boy had a great viewing spot and the husband and I stayed back—we were able to see him, but only portions of the fireworks.  Our position on Deck 12, gave an open opportunity for one of the “ghost” pirates to run up to me and slide on his knees for a bit of a scare!  The appearance of the “ghost” pirates means it is almost time for part 3 of the evening’s festivities—Club Pirate;  a dance party on decks 11 and 12.

This is when we began to make our exit, but not without taking in the special “pirate feast” being served in Cabanas on deck 11.  The evening wouldn’t be complete without a giant turkey leg or two and special desserts.  We divided and conquered on this one, with me going to get drinks at the drink station and the husband and the boy heading for the food.  We then met up in our stateroom for a late night snack.

This was the first time we had experienced the 3 part Pirate Night, which is, from my understanding, specifically designed for the Disney Dream.  Our take. . .  we didn’t like it.  We like the themed night, the food, the fireworks, the shows, and the characters.  It was just a lot of work to get here, there, then back again, etc. to make it to all parts of the events. 

On our other cruises, when it was pirate night, we staked out a spot to sit on the upper decks and took in all of the festivities at once.  Sort of a lazy way to celebrate, but we liked it!  The way it is happening on the Disney Dream, and I’m sure there are specific reasons, the evening was more stressful to make sure you hit the highlights.  It felt more like park touring than cruising. 

When I looked back at the previous post about Pirates IN the Caribbean parties on our previous cruises (click here to read more) I noticed more photos with characters, etc.  On Pirate Night on the Dream, we only met two pirate themed characters. 

We’ll look forward to Pirate Night on our next cruise.  We may do it a bit differently to bring back the “laid back” feel we had on our other cruises. 

Arrrrg you ready for your Disney Cruise?