I don't know if you've heard, but my 9-year-old is a Marvel SUPERFAN. I'm not even sure how it happened, since Francis and I are not really comic book people. On her own, she discovered and developed an encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel comic books and characters, and she has been begging for the Marvel Day at Sea cruise for years.
Before I get into the Marvel of Marvel Day at Sea, I want to mention the thing I think everyone on this cruise agreed on: Cruises are our new favorite way to hang with friends who live in different cities. This cruise had folks from St Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, and a family who lives on a sailboat on the West Coast. If we went to visit each other on land (or sailboat), real life obligations would be sure to intrude. Even if we meet up at Disneyland or Walt Disney World, are unlikely to spend hours relaxing. But on a cruise ship, we could put the kids in the Oceaneer Club and then sit on the adults' quiet deck talking for hours after dinner, which we did.
I did say that this was my least relaxing cruise, because I was following a Marvel kid all over the ship, but that specific adult time after dinner, when real life is far, far away, was definitely a highlight!
Now for Marvel stuff! We learned some important things on this cruise. First, the ticketed meet & greets are various mornings of the cruise, and the characters vary even from hour to hour, so you may want to do this more than once! For example, we saw Loki during the Asgardians Meet, and Groot during the Guardians meet, but it could have been other characters. These were on multiple mornings of the cruise, and I wished I had stayed on top of booking it multiple times.
Second: Don't snooze on the Marvel Creator panel if it's offered on your cruise! I thought that we would find people lined up for this and we'd have trouble getting seats for an impatient 9 & 10 year old, but the theater was half empty! They gave away kids books and a REAL set of Infinity Stones from East Continental Gems, and Lilly got to chat with theblerdgurl, Karama Horne, about Flerkins. So glad we made time for this one!
Third: I want a do-over for this reason alone, and we are talking about doing it again next year. The "Day at Sea" really starts the night before when you pull out of port, and ends around dinner time on your "at sea" day. Lilly was very focused on meeting friends at Oceaneers Club on the night before "at sea," and thus we missed out on saying hi to a lot of characters in the atrium. This experience DOES NOT REPEAT on the day at sea, and I wish that had been made more clear (it isn't even on the Navigator schedule, really). Ah well, I make mistakes so you don't have to. At least we stopped for Star Lord and Gamora, because we didn't see them again the next day!
Some of the favorite parts mentioned by our group: meeting all the characters, "extra magic" photo opportunities, seeing the Eye of Agamotto and Loki's Scepter made by East Continental Gems (museum pieces worth millions!), the aformentioned Creators panel, seeing Captain America: Brave New World the night before it came out, and the Strange Academy live show. Oh, and banana soft serve.
A note from Lilly: Hi, I would like to talk about MY favorite things. I LOVE just how many characters you can see and how much there is to do! Plus, if you are bored, you can play Midship Detective Agency. If you are a kid, you can go to the Oceaneers Club and Lab to play video games and do crafts. OK, back to mom.
If you're planning a future Marvel Day at Sea Cruise, I and my fellow Marvel geeks will have all the best tips for you so you make the most of your time and meet as many characters as possible! If you think it sounds fun to cruise with a group (it is!) then stay tuned for our next adventure, which will be a Halloween on the High Seas in 2026.
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