Ahoy, mateys! We had the chance to experience Disney Cruise Line’s famed Pirate Night a few weeks back, and on what better ship than the Disney TREASURE! Come sail with us through pirate-filled waters as we take you through our experience at Pirate Night aboard the Disney Treasure!

About This Post and Related Posts

This post is actually part of a series of posts chronicling our 7-Night Caribbean Cruise aboard the Disney Treasure. The rest of the trip is covered in “trip report” form, but I felt like Pirate Night is unique and deserving of its own post. Chronologically, this will fit in the middle of our forthcoming Part 4 of the cruise report.

Basics of Pirate Night on the Disney Treasure

Pirate Night is a night on most Disney Bahamas / Caribbean itineraries that is themed to pirates. There are a few ways to figure out which night will be Pirate Night. For starters, it doesn’t tend to vary much, so you can just consult forums / blog posts / social media about prior itineraries.

In our case, we were on a 7-Night Disney Treasure Western Caribbean itinerary and Pirate Night was on Day 4 - George Town, Grand Cayman.

A more direct approach is to look at the bookable activity schedule on your cruise reservation. The night that has Pirate Night will have the option to book pirate-themed makeovers at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, as shown above.

Pirate Night is not “Pirate Day.” The morning characters will not be in pirate outfits, and the activities on the ship will be normal during the day. On our itinerary, Pirate Night looks to have started around 2:30PM, and I’ll post the full schedule of pirate activities below.

Here are the core elements of Pirate Night:

Regular characters greet in pirate outfits
Special character greetings (like Captain Hook and Peter Pan)
Rotational dining has a pirate menu
Activities (game shows, trivia, kids’ club games) are pirate-themed
Pirate-themed photo ops in the Grand Hall
Deck 11 7:45PM show — Mickey and Minnie’s Pirates in the Caribbean
Deck 11 10:15PM show — Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party with fireworks at sea

Our Pirate Night Experience

We arrived back on the ship from an excursion at about 3PM. We hadn’t had lunch, so we grabbed a quick bite on Deck 11. The schedule with a late lunch actually worked out alright for us, because we were already set on skipping rotational dining during Pirate Night.

In case you missed it, on a 7-night Disney cruise you’ll eat at each of the three rotational dining restaurants at least twice, but 2+2+2=6, so a 7-night cruise will require dining at one of them a third time. That’s the restaurant that you’ll have your Pirate Night dinner at. On Pirate Night all the restaurants have the same pirate-themed menu.

There were a few reasons we planned to skip rotational dining on Pirate Night:

We’d already had this Pirate Night vegetarian entree on the Fantasy.
We had an awful experience at rotational dining on Pirate Night on the Disney Fantasy.
We wanted more time for non-food pirate things.
We were planning to skip rotational dining a few times anyways, so all things considered this seemed like a good one to skip (it wound up being the only one we skipped).

To be fair, your Pirate Night will probably feel more “packed” if you go to rotational dining. We did find the itinerary a little thin without dinner to build around (and being unwilling to wait in long character lines). The flip side is that with dinner, we knew we’d feel more rushed and antsy about not being out and about.

Minnie in pirate wear on the Disney Wish

Disney Treasure Pirate Night Activity Schedule

With that note, here’s the schedule of pirate-themed (i.e. not all) activities on the ship. I’ve bolded the two important shows and the rotational dining times—these are the times that will be “locked in” for most people. As always, the schedule for your visit may vary, check the app.

2:30PM - Oceaneer Club - Pirate Games
2:45PM - Funnel Vision - Tinker Bell
3:00PM - Minnie Mouse
3:15PM - Peter Pan
3:30PM
- Captain Hook
- Goofy
3:45PM - Chip & Dale
4:00PM
- Donald Duck
- Pirate Crafts
4:15PM - Funnel Vision - Muppet Treasure Island
4:30PM - Mickey Mouse
5:00PM
- A Pirate's Life For Me (gameshow)
- Donald Duck
- Goofy
5:15PM
- Oceaneer Club - Captain Hook's Pirate Crew
- Grand Hall Pirate Photo Ops
5:30PM
- Daisy Duck
- Mickey Mouse
- Minnie Mouse
- Peter Pan
5:45PM - Rotational Dining First Seating
6:30PM - A Pirate’s Life For Me (gameshow)
7:15PM - Grand Hall Pirate Photo Ops
7:30PM
- Chip & Dale
- Stitch
- Edge - Pirate Games
- Pirate Trivia
7:45PM
- Mickey and Minnie's Pirates in the Caribbean (Deck 11 show)
- Royal Regalia - Pirate Night: Crack the Code
8:15PM - Rotational Dining Second Seating
8:30PM - A Pirate’s Life For Me (gameshow)
9:15PM
- Oceaneer Club - Captain Hook's Pirate Crew
- Goofy
- Minnie Mouse
9:30PM
- Chip & Dale
- Daisy Duck
- Peter Pan
- Grand Hall Pirate Photo Ops
- Pirate Trivia
- Vibe and Edge - A Pirate’s Life For Me (gameshow)
9:45PM - Mickey Mouse
10:00PM
- Captain Hook
- Donald Duck
- Stitch
- Oceaneer Club - Pirate Games
10:15PM - Pirate's Rockin' Parlay Party (Deck 11 show, Fireworks at Sea)
10:30PM - Learn to Draw Captain Hook
11:00PM - Match Your Matey! (18+) (gameshow)
11:15PM - Funnel Vision - Pirates Of the Caribbean
11:59PM - W-ARR Rockin' Pirates Radio (18+) (dance party, I think?)

The only thing I think is specifically worth calling out now is that if you’re not meeting any characters you’re going to have a somewhat leisurely time sticking to pirate activities. And keep in mind you probably won’t be repeating characters or activities either, so the 3X slots that go to A Pirate’s Life For Me are just going to be one time for you.

Crafting and a Movie

I’m not big into special outfits, but I’ll wear the Disney-provided pirate bandana. I had to have Emily put mine on “right”. Emily has bounded as Mr. Smee before but opted out of it this trip. And Zoe has a standard pirate-themed pajama set for just this occasion.

We started Pirate Night with a 4PM pirate-themed craft. This was a straightforward make-your-own treasure map activity. We’ve done it before on other ships, and while I think you could argue it’s a little too simple, I think there’s something to be said for having a family craft that’s accessible to almost the littlest cruisers. Even the easiest trivias / gameshows are a little over Zoe’s head, but this activity has been a hit a few times now.

After the craft, we headed up to Deck 11 where Muppet Treasure Island was showing on Funnel Vision. I honestly don’t know if I’d seen Muppet Treasure Island before I starting going on Disney Cruises, but now I absolutely love it. This is one of those easy wins for Disney. The Muppets have a core fan group that will be satisfied. People outside that group should be thrilled to see a great movie about pirates on Pirate Night!

You could argue instead for Peter Pan, maybe. And indeed, one of the Tinker Bell films was playing earlier. But Muppet Treasure Island is pirate-themed to the core and doesn’t come with a disclaimer at the beginning. In case you’re worried, Pirates of the Caribbean plays later in the evening.

But I can concede that Muppet Treasure Island—like all Muppet content—won’t be perfect for all ages (it’s appropriate, but the live action and witty humor will be lost on young kids). So while Emily and I mostly enjoyed the movie (we also stopped at Scat Cat Lounge for a quick drink), Zoe went to the Oceaneer Club for Captain Hook’s Pirate Crew. I’ve only now discovered this activity shares its name with a former activity at Disney World, and I can’t say whether it’s similar, but Zoe really enjoyed it.

Pirates League at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Right around 6PM we picked Zoe up for our surprise of the evening—a Pirate-Themed appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. This…did not quite go as expected.

As the saying goes, kids are scared of the darndest things. Our kid can apparently watch Fantastic Four, climb walls, and ride Tower of Terror, but the prospect of getting pirate-themed face paint is daunting. Specifically, Zoe was very concerned that the makeup artist was going to do the “zombie pirate”, which was decidedly too frightening to wear.

We’re not picky and really just wanted Zoe to be happy with the result, so we didn’t fight picking the simpler pirate beard, eye makeup, and eyepatch. The makeup artist was very concerned due to her assumption that Zoe was a girl, but we assured her it would be fine. (I know at least a few readers would like to know that when you walk into Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for any appointment your initial encounters will be very gender normative. Of course, they will pivot to whatever you request.)

In the end, Zoe was quite happy with the experience. We just had to be clear that there would not be any zombie makeup involved. I’d be open to doing it again, but for the price I’d probably check with Zoe in advance next time, and if we were just going to wind up with the simplest design, we’d probably skip it. There’s also an accessories bag that came with a sword, necklace, and earring.

Cruising Through Pirate Activities

After the makeover, we headed over the A Pirates Life for Me. This was a fun game show in Sarabi (“SA-RAH-BEEE”) that pitted one side of the room—the Bilge Rats—against the other—the Jolly Rogers in some pirate challenges. This one is held multiple times on Pirate Night, including age-restricted showings at Vibe and Edge. It’s worth making it to one of the shows.

While characters in pirate outfits get a lot of attention, I actually think it’s worth noting how much the entertainment team really shines on Pirate Night. It’s fun to see them adopt new looks and personas, and it shows their versatility and skill in a way that you don’t always notice when they’re, for example, hosting trivia (even though that requires them to be “on” just as much).

From the gameshow, we headed to the photo ops in the Grand Hall. The photo ops in the Grand Hall can graw big crowds on Disney cruises. Formal night and Pirate Night are the most popular, I think, and on any night specific backdrops are more popular than others, with some lines looking like they’d take at least half an hour. There were three blocks for these photo ops: 5:15PM to 6PM, 7:15PM to 8:30PM, and 9:30PM to 10:15PM.

I don’t know the specifics about any of these, and I guess it’s a good reminder that there’s a whole level of “hardcore Disney” or “hardcore Disney Cruise Line” fandom where people somehow know to line up for a specific photo op 30 minutes in advance. If you care about these things, you’ll need to wade into the usual forums.

We were the sixth group in line for the photo op we chose and we wound up waiting 12 minutes. Most of that was due to one group, but that’s also the sort of variance you expect, and I don’t think we can really complain about an average of two minutes per group.

While I may have my feelings on Club Cool etiquette, photo time etiquette is beyond my ken. People work really hard on (or pay a lot for, or both) their outfits and really love Pirate Night. I find it hard to know how to know exactly how many group configurations and poses they should be limited to.

But, y’know, keep it moving.

Mickey and Minnie’s Pirates in the Caribbean

Finishing our photos around 7:30PM, we headed up to Deck 11 for the 7:45PM show, Mickey and Minnie’s Pirates in the Caribbean. This is one of the two major shows on Pirate Night and the one that’s intended to be more for kids. The 15-minute show is a must-see and it’s one of those where you’ll definitely take home the song and dance.

While the show is must-see, it’s what comes after that I really want to talk about. After the show, from about 8PM to 8:30PM, was a dance party on Deck 11. This was a ton of fun when we did it on the Wish, and it was a ton of fun tonight. It’s a good opportunity for kids to run around and interact with each other in their pirate outfits. We were really disappointed when we were on the Disney Fantasy and nothing like this happened…

…but there’s the thing—Mickey and Minnie’s Pirates in the Caribbean is scheduled to end at 8:15PM, the last 15 minutes of which is the dance party, which would mean you’d be a little late for the second dinner time if you stayed until the scheduled end. The dance party actually went until 8:30PM, which means you’d be way late for the second dinner time if you stayed until the actual end.

Maybe this feels minor to you, but in our experience it was anything but. Zoe really loved the dance party, and I can’t fathom a world in which I’d want to cut that time short in favor of being on time for rotational dining (and I can’t fathom just being that late for rotational dining—imagine the looks!). I assume there’s a good reason for this scheduling, but I’m really glad we opted to skip rotational dining (we took a few minutes to have some burgers from Goofy’s Grill while we were on Deck 11 instead).

To digress a bit further, scheduling issues around this show are partly what prompted us to skip rotational dining in the first place. On the Disney Fantasy a few months back, our earlier dinner just kept going and going and going until finally Zoe and I left everyone else to go get a good spot on the upper deck for the show. Even with the later dinner time this trip, we just didn’t want any potential pirate-dining conflicts, and it turns out we were surprisingly correct.

Filling Time Between Shows

After the dance party, given the choice between meeting characters and going to the Oceaneer Club, Zoe opted to meet Goofy.

If you look closely at the schedule you might think it’s a bit light here—there’s only A Pirate’s Life For Me between the 8:15PM dining time and the 9:15PM set of character greetings. But to get a decent time for those characters you’d want to be in line by 9PM at the absolute latest. That means an 8:30PM quick service dinner—right after the end of the dance party—won’t leave you a lot of unfilled time, even without rotational dining.

I got in line a little before 9PM, and Zoe wound up meeting Pirate Goofy at 9:19PM. (My lost photo request with Disney Cruise Line is pending for this one.) This left us enough time to head to Pirate Trivia at Skipper, where we actually were able to get a seat. Then it was onto Deck 11 for the second core piece of entertainment for the night—the 10:15PM Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party.

Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party and Fireworks at Sea

Now, one thing that’s notable about this show is that it is not Jack Sparrow’s Buccaneer Blast, the show that is featured on the older four ships. The Disney Wish and Treasure have gone with Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party, which is a much more straightforward rock-and-roll party.

I think a good reason for having this more straightforward show is just that it’s better for the older crowd that theoretically (more below) would be more likely to attend a 10:15PM show. Jack Sparrow’s Buccaneer Blast isn’t exactly “for kids”, but it has that fun hokey Disney energy. I don’t think it’s a mistake to just shed that with Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party. Zoe got to see Jack Sparrow’s Buccaneer Blast a few months back on the Fantasy and preferred it to Pirates Rockin’ Parlay Party, but not to any significant degree.

That said, what we’re really here for isn’t the music. It isn’t Jack Sparrow. It’s the famed fireworks at sea! Yes, as you will inevitably be told so many times, Disney is the only cruise line that offers fireworks at sea because of their special patented firework design that I guess doesn’t pollute the ocean.

You’ll also be told at least a few times that the show is off the starboard (right when facing forward; P-O-R-T is four letters, like L-E-F-T, and starboard is the other one) side of the ship, and there’s no bad views unless you stick yourself on the starboard side of Deck 11, where Deck 12 will block your view.

Deck 12 starboard probably has the best views, but we were fine from Deck 11 in the middle, too. The AquaMouse obstructed our view a bit (as seen above), but since this isn’t a particularly thematic show, we didn’t feel like the experience was ruined.

I honestly can’t say if the show went on after the fireworks or what the vibes were like, because the end of the fireworks meant it was time to hustle our little one to bed. There were still a few activities left on the schedule, most notably Pirates Of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl showing on Funnel Vision (if you want to stay up until about 1:30AM).

Conclusion

We made it a goal of this cruise to lean into Pirate Night a bit more than usual. While Emily and I stopped short of over-the-top outfits, Zoe got to do the Pirates League makeover in Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and we were all able to keep our schedules packed even while skipping the pirate menu at rotational dining.

While I’d maybe like to have met more characters, the pirate outfits make for long lines. Besides that, we really enjoyed how this night wound up. I can’t say we’ll necessarily skip dinner every Pirate Night going forward, but just about my favorite part of the night was seeing Zoe so excited to dance with the other kids.

It’s odd to say, but I think Disney could do more with Pirate Night. I’d like to see more temporary decorations and a schedule that’s a bit heavier on unique activities rather than pirate-themed regular activities. But I can’t at all say it’s necessary. We kept busy and had a great night, and I’m already pretty excited for our next Pirate Night! Maybe I’ll even try and stay up to watch Pirates of the Caribbean…