In 1999, Teen Besties Took a Disney Cruise. 25 Years Later, They Went Back—Here’s How Things Had Changed.

“You really had an impact on my life,” Kaitlyn Keohane, my daughter’s childhood best friend, told me as we sat on the white-sand beach at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas during a recent sailing on the newly launched 4,000-passenger Disney Treasure. “You helped me learn culture and travel and about the world,” she added. I teared up.

We had come to the same beach in 1999, aboard Disney Cruise Line’s second ship, the 2,400-passenger Disney Wonder, when Kaitlyn and my daughter, Erin Golden, were both 15. Also along for the ride had been my son, Eli, who was—to the girls, anyway—a pesky 12-year-old tagalong.

“Looking back, since I didn’t travel outside of New England much as a kid, that was definitely one of my core memories from that time,” said Kaitlyn, now a high-school honors and AP English teacher.

Time passes quickly, and in the years since that memorable trip, we experienced so many new chapters of life. Twenty-five years after our first visit together, we were now having an intimate talk on the beach while Kaitlyn’s three-year-old daughter Bea napped on a lounge chair and Erin, now a neuroscientist working for the University of Colorado, introduced my six-year-old granddaughter, Millie, to snorkeling in the clear turquoise sea.

Later, back on the Disney Treasure, a ship purpose-built for families, all three generations danced and giggled up a storm at a pirate-themed party where Mickey and Minnie appeared in full pirate regalia. One thing hadn’t changed in all those years: Disney Cruise Line still brought out the kid in all of us.

Courtesy of Fran Golden

The evolution of Disney cruises

In 1999, I wrote about how the Disney Wonder felt more like a cruise ship than its predecessor because it had a cruise director, a hotel director, and entertainment geared toward adults. In an early conceit, Disney had launched its first ship, 1998’s Disney Magic, with no cruise director, no hotel director, and no adults-only entertainment (all industry standards), causing some at the time to surmise that it was more of a floating theme park than a proper cruise ship. The company quickly updated its product.

Fast-forward to the Disney Treasure, a sister ship to 2022’s Disney Wish, and the sixth ship in the fleet. Today, the cruise line is purposely integrating references to its popular theme park attractions, but in an extremely sophisticated way—and not just for the kids.

As we experienced on our three-night media-preview sailing prior to the ship’s official launch in December, adults can indulge in smoky $20 cocktails at the Haunted Mansion Parlor, where—just as in the cult theme park ride—spirits appear in picture frames and as wisps in the air. Another lounge is inspired by the iconic Jungle Cruise ride, topped by a canopy of greenery, and yet another, with submarine decor, is a nod to the former 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction that was a Magic Kingdom fixture at Walt Disney World from 1971 to 1994.

Courtesy of Disney Cruise Line

The ship’s top-tier, 2,000-square-foot suite, a two-story affair built into the ship’s forward funnel—available to those willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a weeklong cruise—is based entirely on Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. Like the Disney Wish, Disney Treasure has its very own attraction: AquaMouse, a wet 760-foot ride with animation along tubes that wind high above the ship’s upper decks. The storyline this time is Mickey and Minnie explore a mysterious temple in search of a golden egg.

There are plenty of references to the Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars franchises throughout the ship, with live characters making frequent appearances, including in the ship’s main atrium, a three-story, Aladdin-themed Grand Hall. Millie and Bea both gushed at sightings of Princess Tiana and others.

When their moms were finally able to pull the girls out of the swimming pools—the ship has seven (including one reserved for adults)—we introduced them in short spurts to the complimentary Oceaneer Club kids’ program for ages 3 to 10, where play spaces include an interactive Marvel superhero academy and a Star Wars room modeled like a spaceship cargo bay. Both girls loved that they could access the club down a slide from the Grand Hall.

Millie enjoyed the games, even if her favorites were on smartpads. Bea loved the leveled-up arts and crafts, such as coloring a take-home pillowcase. Teens and tweens get their own snazzy club lounges (called Vibe for teens and Edge for tweens), and babysitting is available in a nursery for babies and toddlers ages 6 months to 3 years, for a fee.

The idea is that adult family members need downtime. And kids love to be with and play with other kids. So, everybody wins.

Courtesy of Disney Cruise Line

During our 1999 sailing, I remember hardly ever seeing the girls as they made friends in the teen club and enjoyed hanging out on their own, arguing with me about appropriate curfew times. During our latest trip, we were all so exhausted by the end of each day that there was no drama in sharing a verandah stateroom with queen-size bed and, separated by a curtain, a single sofa bed, a Murphy bed, and a bunk that pulled down from the ceiling.

A new era of dining and entertainment

While Disney has always been a level above in terms of dining and entertainment, 25 years after that first cruise, the restaurants and live shows are truly next-level on the Disney Treasure.

Every night families are assigned to a new restaurant, and their waitstaff travels with them. This way kids are presumably less bored, and the staff gets to know your likes and dislikes. In our case, Bea, ordering from kid’s menus, did not want anything green on her plate, while Millie, an only child used to fancy dining, ordered lobster and other dishes off the adult menu. She even tried the escargot at the California-inspired restaurant 1923, the ship’s fancier family restaurant, though she didn’t like it. (1923 was the year the Walt Disney Company was founded.)

Our favorite meal was accompanied by a mariachi band at the new Coco-themed restaurant, Plaza de Coco. There we were immersed in the Disney-Pixar movie’s fictional Mexican village of Santa Cecilia and entertained with a floor show starring Miguel and his family, played by live actors (there are two different dinner shows on a seven-night cruise).

Courtesy of Disney Cruise Line

Disney worked with cultural consultants, including artists from Oaxaca, to create an authentic Mexican atmosphere and a menu with dishes such as “chorizo street croquettes” with chili-lime crema, cotija cheese, and cilantro, and grilled snapper with fried yucca, refried beans, baby spinach, and pico de gallo. We ordered churros for dessert. The experience was delicious and fun.

Also in the rotational dining setup is Worlds of Marvel, first introduced on Disney Wish, which launched in 2022. Here, we were treated to a new interactive experience starring Rocket and Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy. They appear on-screen, and diners use a “quantum core” device on their tables to answer trivia questions about the Marvel Universe. It was completely over our heads, though Millie enjoyed pushing buttons on the gadget.

But the clear star of all the shows on Disney Treasure was Tale of Moana, the first-ever stage adaptation of the movie Moana. The Broadway-style musical featured a cast of dozens of performers as well as puppets up to 15 feet tall (the tallest was the goddess Te Fiti from the movie). The dancing, singing, and stagecraft were all jaw-droppingly amazing. It’s a good enough reason in and of itself to sail on this ship.

Moana 2, at the same time, had top billing in the ship’s cinemas, which show both first-run and classic Disney and Pixar movies.

Disney Treasure is clearly for movie fans, young and older, and that’s where it shines. Making memories is a bonus.

“When you’re 15 and on a Disney cruise with your best friend, it’s the greatest thing in the world,” reflected my daughter, Erin. “Now we have lived 25 years in between, some when we were close, some not, and this trip was an opportunity to build our friendship with our daughters.”

Since our sailing, Erin added, Bea has been referring to Millie as her “sister.”

To book: Disney Treasure sailings depart from Port Canaveral, near Orlando, alternating seven-night eastern and western Caribbean itineraries, from $7,184 for a family of four.