Rory fell asleep in his car seat somewhere around Kissimmee, which meant I spent the last forty minutes of the drive to Port Canaveral craning my neck to check if he was still breathing and whispering at Gracie to please stop asking if we were there yet. Alan had the Disney Fantasy pulled up on his phone to show her what “our boat” looked like. She studied it for a full ten seconds and then asked if she could watch Bluey instead.
That was the beginning of our 5-night Bahamian cruise on the Disney Fantasy, and honestly, I think it captures the whole experience pretty well. The ship was magnificent. The kids were three and two and fully unimpressed until the moment they weren’t, and then they were completely obsessed. And Alan and I came home feeling like we’d actually had a vacation, which has not always been true of our travels with small children.
Here is what this itinerary actually looks like with a toddler and a barely-not-toddler.
| Ship | Disney Fantasy |
| Length | 5 nights |
| Departure port | Port Canaveral, Florida |
| Ports | Nassau, Bahamas / Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point / Castaway Cay |
| At sea | 1 day |
| Ship capacity | ~4,000 guests |
| Best for | Families with kids 2 and up |
The Ship Itself
The Disney Fantasy launched in 2012 and holds about 4,000 guests across 14 passenger decks. It is one of the older ships in the fleet now, with the newer Wish and Treasure running considerably larger, but the Fantasy does not feel dated. Disney dry-docked it for a full renovation in 2023, and the staterooms and common areas are clean and fresh.
For families with kids under 5, the most important thing to know about this ship is that it has It’s a Small World Nursery on Deck 5. This is the drop-off care for kids aged 6 months to 3 years. It is staffed, safe, and costs an hourly fee (around $9 per hour per child when we sailed). It is not free. Reserve it before you board because it books out fast, especially on sea days. Rory spent two hours there on our sea day while Gracie was in the Oceaneer Club and Alan and I sat by a pool in silence. I cannot overstate how good that felt.
Gracie turned 3 two months before this cruise, which meant she qualified for the Oceaneer Club on Deck 5. She walked in on Day 2, saw the Toy Story-themed room (Andy’s Room), and that was basically it. She informed us she didn’t need us anymore. The Club has dress-up costumes, a stage, art activities, and a Monsters University section that had Rory trying to follow her in on the last day. The kids can have lunch and dinner in the Club, which means you can actually eat a full dinner together some nights without managing two sets of hands reaching across the table.
The AquaDuck water coaster is 765 feet long and winds around the upper decks. It is not for our kids yet. The height requirement is 42 inches, and both of mine are comfortably below that. We rode it once after the kids were in the nursery and the club. It is genuinely fun, the clear tube that hangs over the ocean is absurd in the best way, and now I understand why people talk about it constantly.
The pool deck has a water play area with pop jets and geysers, and this is where Rory spent a lot of time. No height requirement, shallow, interactive. He stood under a geyser and screamed with delight for what I estimated was eleven minutes straight.
Nassau: We Mostly Stayed on the Ship
I want to be honest about Nassau because I’ve read a lot of cruise blogs that make every port sound equally thrilling. Nassau is fine. It is a real city with a working port, and it is not the seamless, controlled experience of the Disney private islands.
We docked around 9:30 in the morning. Alan and I had loosely discussed Atlantis, but day passes run over $150 per adult and the major slides have height restrictions that would have excluded both kids. What Atlantis offers a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old is expensive marine exhibits and a lazy river. Not nothing, but not $300+ worth of value.
We walked off the ship, did a short loop through the Straw Market (expect persistent vendor pitches, not aggressive, but constant), grabbed a cold drink near the pier, and walked back in about ninety minutes. Then we got on the ship, ordered room service, and let the kids nap.
With the bulk of passengers ashore, the Fantasy was extremely quiet. Pools nearly empty. AquaDuck walk-on. The Oceaneer Club staff ratio was noticeably better. For the nap-schedule crowd, Nassau port day on a Disney ship is a gift.
If you want to go ashore with toddlers, Ardastra Gardens is a small zoo ten minutes from the pier by taxi. Stroller-friendly, lower-key than Atlantis, and a fraction of the cost. If your kids like animals more than water slides, it is a genuinely good stop.
Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point
Lighthouse Point is Disney’s newer private destination, opened in June 2024, and I had high expectations coming in. The reality is more nuanced.
The destination sits at the southern tip of Eleuthera, one of the outer Bahamas islands. It is not a fully private island — Eleuthera has about 11,000 residents — but Disney developed the southern tip and it operates like a private beach day. The theming draws from Bahamian culture rather than Disney IP, which I actually appreciated. There were live Junkanoo performances (think bright costumes, percussion, genuine celebration), local art installations, and a menu at lunch that leaned Bahamian rather than American BBQ.
The pink sand is real and it is beautiful. Eleuthera’s beaches have a natural blush color from crushed coral mixed into the white sand. Gracie told everyone about the pink sand for three days after we got home.
Here is what nobody told me before we went: the pier walk to reach the island is long. We walked approximately a half mile along the pier before hitting the actual entrance. With a 2-year-old who wanted to be carried and a 3-year-old who was oscillating between sprinting and refusing to move, it was a lot. Disney has wagons available along the pier that you can use to pull small children, and we used one. Take the wagon.
The Rush Out Gush Out water play area was Rory’s equivalent of the Fantasy’s pool deck jets. It has a splash pad, two small slides, water drums the kids can play, and a separate section for younger children including swim-diaper age. Gracie and Rory were both in there within twenty minutes of arriving.
Sebastian’s Cove, the island kids club, starts at age 3. Gracie was eligible. She spent about an hour there and came out with a craft she’d made and strong opinions about a boy named Theo who had, apparently, taken her spot at the activity table.
Compared to Castaway Cay, Lighthouse Point is smaller, newer, and still finding its footing. The infrastructure isn’t as refined, the pier walk is a real inconvenience with little kids, and the water at the family beach is slightly more active (no breakwater). But the cultural experience is distinct and the pink sand is worth seeing. I wouldn’t rank it above Castaway Cay, but I wouldn’t skip it.
Castaway Cay: Still the Best Day of the Trip
The Disney Fantasy docks directly at Castaway Cay’s pier. You walk off the ship and you’re there. No tender boats, no pier walk, no logistics. Just a tram that runs every six minutes to the main family beach.
Castaway Cay has been doing this since 1998 and it shows. Every detail is worked out. Free stroller and wagon rentals at the kiosk near the ship, first-come-first-served. We showed up at 9 AM and grabbed a wagon for Rory. Cookie’s BBQ serves a full beach barbecue lunch included in the cruise fare. Chairs and umbrellas are set out on the beach. Towels are provided.
For Rory at 2 years old, Spring-a-Leak was the entire day. It’s a splash pad near the far end of the family beach with geysers, interactive spray elements, and jets low enough for a toddler to run through. He had the expression of a person who has seen God.
Gracie went to Scuttle’s Cove, the island kids club for ages 3 to 10. Staffed by Disney counselors. No reservation, no cost. Drop them off and they do Disney-themed games and activities. Alan and I had four hours at the adult Serenity Bay beach, accessible by a separate tram, where we read actual books like people who do not currently have a 2-year-old.
Pelican Plunge, the floating water park with the big slides, has a 38-inch minimum height requirement. Neither kid could use the slides. Rory could splash around in the shallow area near it, which was enough for him, but if your children are expecting a water park experience, calibrate expectations.
The whole day was easy. The ship is right there if you need something. Nap logistics are manageable because the tram back is fast and you can be onboard in ten minutes. We stayed until 4 PM, went back, and Rory slept through dinner.
The Honest Bottom Line
This itinerary works well for families with young kids, with one caveat: Nassau is the weak link when you’re traveling with toddlers, and you should go in knowing that. If you want three full beach days, this is not your cruise. If you’re okay spending Nassau day on a quiet ship with napping kids and shorter lines at everything, it’s actually a feature.
The Fantasy is a workhorse of a ship in the best sense. Familiar, well-run, the kind of place where the staff remembers your kids’ names by Day 3. The Oceaneer Club legitimately changed the tone of this trip for us. Having a place where Gracie could go and be three years old with other three-year-olds, supervised, while we did something else, made the whole week more sustainable.
Castaway Cay alone is worth a significant portion of this trip’s cost. Lighthouse Point is a worthwhile second stop. And the ship itself is genuinely good at what it does.
We’d sail the Fantasy again. Alan is already looking at the 7-night itinerary for 2027. I told him to wait until both kids are potty trained. He agreed that was reasonable. Then he opened the booking page anyway.
