What Your Family Can Expect From Your Stateroom & Stateroom Host | The Hardest Working Person on Your Disney Cruise

One of the distinguishing characteristics of a Disney cruise is the luxury factor. The grand lobby, the glass elevators, the exquisite foods, the private island… This even extends where most cruises stop: your stateroom. On a Disney cruise your stateroom is one of the largest. Though you won’t be spending most of your time here, it makes all the difference.

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Disney Cruise Stateroom & Stateroom Host
Disney Cruise Ships

Disney Cruise Stateroom

A standard interior stateroom on Disney boasts a minimum of 185 square feet. A standard oceanview Disney stateroom will offer you closer to 260 square feet with a giant porthole window. When comparing this to a standard hotel room that only offers you 325 square feet, and considering that you are on a boat in the middle of a huge body of water, that’s not too shabby.

During our cruise on the Disney Fantasy we opted for a 299 square foot verandah. The verandah opens up to the entire ocean. On Pirate Night you can hear the fireworks echoing off the horizon. In the middle of the night you can see the lights of passing cruise ships, and see the twinkling stars. You can read a book in the balmy Caribbean winds, or fresh fruit whilst contemplating flat earthers. We absolutely loved it.

Not only does Disney offer large staterooms, but they offer true queen beds. What does true mean? It means they don’t push two twin beds together and pretend that the gaping hole in the middle between the two beds isn’t a deterrent to a good night’s sleep. On our Carnival cruise, we shared two twins on our honeymoon – and that made up the entire room. On Disney the beds are also elevated (a new standard on most cruises) with plenty of room to store large suitcases underneath. Plus, you have a closet and a set of drawers in addition for unpacking and extra storage for items.

Each standard room fits three to four guests. The queen bed is divided from the other sleeping areas with a heavy privacy curtain. On the other side of the curtain sits a couch and a desk with a working area and extra cabinets, plus TV. The couch can be made up into a bed, except instead of a pull out that takes up all remaining space in the room, the cushions are simply replaced and the bed is made up. This even leaves room for a pack and play if needed. Otherwise, some rooms also offer a floating murphy bed that folds out of the wall above the couch. This is the fourth bed with a unique design still leaves a ton of space and it disappears every morning.

Disney offers 500 connecting rooms throughout the ship for families or groups traveling together. With our three children we have to be divided into two rooms, so this option is awesome! We stow all the kids in one room, and keep the second room entirely to ourselves. The doors are open between us and we can come and go. We’d much rather use this configuration than squeeze into a family room for five. Unless that family room is the 1,781 square foot concierge suite, which we can’t even fathom the likes of.

Each stateroom offers 1.5 bathrooms, divided between toilet and shower. Each has a sink and vanity, but one houses the shower/tub combo, and the other the toilet. It’s genius really. And we love having two bathrooms to get ready and use each day, and all the extra toiletries too! Still, I’m going to use the spa showers from now on.

Disney Cruise Stateroom Host

No one on a Disney cruise deserves more credit than the Stateroom Hosts! Every morning they stay out of site until you leave for breakfast, and miraculously, by the time you return, your bed is changed and made up, the couch is back in order, your things are organized and you have fresh towels and toiletries. When you return from dinner you’ll find your bed sheets pulled back, the couch and murphy bed made up for your kids, amazing towel animals covering the room and chocolates to boot! Not to mention, they have hand delivered your Navigator for the next day.

They do this every single day. Since we have voyaged on three different Disney Cruise Ships we have had different experiences each time. All our Stateroom Hosts were excellent, but on the Magic, we ran into our host quite often. He would always stop what he was doing, greet us with a giant smile and ask us what else we needed. One time we asked for extra conditioner, and he loaded us up! He knew our little boy loved chocolates and would always have extra chocolates ready at hand for him. He became a great friend! On the Wonder, our Stateroom Host worked more quietly and stealthily, but we didn’t have any complaints. On the Fantasy our Stateroom Host was originally from the Philippines and Gabriel loved chatting with him in Tagalog every chance he could get. He took towel folding to the next level! One day we had a monster crawling out of our toilet!

► For Kids: Your stateroom will be your home away from home for the duration of your cruise. Each door is heavy metal plated, and consequently, magnetic! It is Disney tradition to buy or make your own magnets to cover your doors when you first arrive. Kids will love designing your door, and recognizing it every time you come to the room, and recognizing their favorite rooms each time they pass by them. Use magnets to signify special events or celebrations; you can always tell who was recently married by their door decorations. Whiteboards are also common, and a fun way to give and receive notes from your fellow cruisers.

Then you have the Fish Extenders, which we’ve never participated in. These groups get together and exchange gifts – one per person, in each stateroom, per night. Our first cruise was 12 nights out of Europe, and we were already feeling overwhelmed. Our second cruise was preceding Christmas in Norway and we already had a suitcase for the Caribbean cruise, a suitcase of gifts, and a suitcase of winter clothes. Our third cruise, it felt like too much work.

► Nap-Time Version: No one on a Disney cruise deserves more credit than the Stateroom Hosts! They make up your room twice a day, decorate it with pillow animals and deliver chocolates every night with turndown service. Not to mention the rooms!

Read all about our favorite restaurants on board including Animator’s Palate, and Tiana’s Place (coming this week)!