Try Midship Detective at Night
This was a happy accident just like my post about Castaway Cay. After a lonnnngggg day all I craved was some sleep. So I was on a direct road to our room to get ready for bed but our girls had a different agenda. At this point we are all in our pajamas but my girls seemed to have some excess energy to burn. Our room sounded like this-“Shhhhh!  People are trying to sleep, stop jumping, do not hang on that, you just ate, get from under there, etc etc. Ok get your shoes on!  Where are we going?  Lets do Mid ship detective”. Around 11pm off we went and it was awesome.  It took us all around the ship. Every nook and cranny, stem to stern, forward to aft!  Little areas we would have walked right past any other time were now a part of our cruise experience. The ship was quiet except for some tweens hanging out in various areas playing on their phones and a few other families enjoying cracking the case as the Midship Detective too. It burned some energy for the kids and it was a great family activity. It was a good way to learn to navigate the ship and find (not so) hidden treasures onboard. If this is something you may want to do I would suggest try it the first night that way you have a idea of what the ship layout is without all of the distractions.

Free Drinks
Captain’s Night is full of families looking dapper in their cruise formal best. Men looking handsome while the women look lovely and the kids break the adorable meter. It is a great reason to pull out that perfect dress and suit you have been holding on to and enjoy the free drinks. Yes I said free drinks!  During the captain’s night it is a great opportunity to take advantage of the cocktails being served throughout the atrium. Wait staff walk around offering cocktails, beers, and even nonalcoholic while you are waiting to have your photos taken. You can mingle with other cruisers that you have met on the ship. The time span is short-usually about a hour. So this a great time to drink up. 

Use Your Camera
If you been on other cruise lines in the past, professional photo opportunities are only allowed with the photographer’s camera. Now granted, other cruise lines do not have Disney characters everywhere!  DCL does have professional photographers there to take your photo with Mickey-the difference is you can use your camera freely to take the pictures. You are probably thinking, “What if I want my whole family in the photo?” Do not worry, there are cast members stationed with the characters ready and willing to capture the moment. The only time there will not be a cast member to take a picture for you is during the evening at the photo stations with the fancy backdrops or maybe if a character is randomly walking around the ship. Either way, it is great because you do not have to purchase all the photos at the end of the cruise. You can have most of them or all on your phone for free and just purchase the ones you would like to have.