One of our favorite parts of Disney Cruise Line is getting to meet characters. Royal Gathering is a special offering on Disney Cruise Line that allows you the chance to reserve a time to meet several characters (usually princesses). In this post we’ll walk through everything you need to know about this free but hard-to-book princess greeting. Read on to learn all about Royal Gathering on Disney Cruise Line!
Related Posts
This post focuses specifically on the Royal Gathering character greeting on Disney Cruise Line. We most recently experienced the gathering as part of a 3-Day Bahamas Cruise on the Disney Wish, which we reviewed here.
We also have a Complete Guide to Meeting Characters on Disney Cruise Line, which contains information relevant to all greeting types across Disney Cruise Line itineraries.
If your cruise is part of a larger trip that includes a visit to Walt Disney World, you might also be interested in reading more about meeting characters at Disney World.
Finally, if you’re new to cruising and want to learn more, we have a Guide to Picking the Best Disney Cruise.
Disney Cruise Line Royal Gathering Basics
Royal Gathering—previously known as The Princess Gathering—is a complimentary, reservation-required character interaction onboard many Disney Cruise Line ships and itineraries. You’ll be able to see if its available on your itinerary once you can see available activities, but—as discussed in great detail below—it has a later booking date than most activities.
While specific details vary, the Royal Gathering typically consists of greetings with five Disney princesses in the atrium of the ship. You’ll see below that our most recent experience took about 7 minutes total for the five greetings. Zoe met Rapunzel, Tiana, Belle, Moana, and Cinderella aboard the Disney Wish.
Besides the greeting itself, Royal Gathering is notable for being a tough-to-get reservation on Disney Cruise Line. While you’ll usually be able to lock it in with a basic amount of preparation, you should know what you’re getting into and specifically why unprepared people often miss out. So let’s move on to booking the Royal Gathering!
Booking Royal Gathering
Royal Gathering is one of the trickier things to book on Disney Cruise Line. Royal Gathering is free, which makes it quite popular. But it opens for booking later than most other onboard activities. Let’s start with a quick discussion of when it opens and how to fit that booking into your pre-cruise process.
How Much does Royal Gathering Cost?
Again—the Royal Gathering greeting on Disney Cruise Line is free, you just have to book it in advance. We have a separate post where we dig into every dollar we spent on this Disney Wish trip.
When does Disney Cruise Line Royal Gathering open for booking?
Disney Cruise Line’s Royal Gathering opens for booking 30 days before sail date at midnight Eastern Time for all cruisers, regardless of Castaway Club Level (but Concierge guests may be able to book sooner). Here are some important things to understand about this schedule…
The general timetable for activity booking on Disney Cruise Line has first-time cruisers booking activities 75 days prior to sailing, and repeat cruisers on earlier dates depending on their Castaway Club level. This is the schedule that applies to some other pre-booked character greetings, like Olaf’s Royal Picnic.
However, Royal Gathering does not follow this schedule. Here’s what Royal Gathering booking looked like when I booked other activities 90 days before a March 29, 2024 departure:
You can see that while other activities were available for booking, the Royal Gathering booking remained closed. Instead, it was set to open 30 days prior to our sail date. This is the date of booking for all cruisers except that Concierge guests may be able to book sooner (talk to your…concierge person). Always confirm your specific timetable by logging into your Disney Cruise Line account and checking the activity booking page.
Now, this 30-day figure might ring a bell, too. That’s because it coincides with another part of the pre-cruise process—Online Check-In. First time cruisers can complete online check-in (various legal / document things, plus picking your boarding time) 30 days before sailing. Repeat cruisers book earlier depending on their Castaway Club level.
Activity booking, Royal Gathering booking, and Online Check-In all begin at midnight Eastern Time on their respective dates. This means that first time cruisers will have a scheduling conflict when Royal Gathering and Online Check-In both open at midnight Eastern Time 30 days before sailing.
If you’re Castaway Club Silver or higher you won’t have to worry about this conflict because your check-in will open sooner. You’ll do Online Check In and then, some nights later, only have to care about Royal Gathering. You should still try and book Royal Gathering right when it opens.
As for first time cruisers, here are some tips. Historically, you have been able to book Royal Gathering before completing online check-in, and it is highly recommended you prioritize Royal Gathering. Preferably you have two devices (with two people, perhaps) to do both Online Check-In and Royal Gathering booking at the same time, as you’re trying to get your preferred Port Arrival (boarding) time as part of the online check-in process.
You should prepare for Royal Gathering to be fully booked within minutes. This means you need to go in knowing what days and what times you prefer.
Unfortunately, Disney does not publish available times ahead of time. With some research on your specific itinerary, you might be able to find out what’s available. You should also see available days in advance by visiting the “My Plans” section of the Disney Cruise Line website. As in the screenshot I shared earlier, you’ll see Royal Gathering listed on specific days but not open for booking when you check before the 30-day mark.
Generally, I believe morning times are available. Because Royal Gathering can be so popular, it’s most important to know what times you cannot do because of conflicts (i.e. Port Adventures). For a recent 3-Night Bahamas itinerary on the Disney Wish my flow chart went:
Prefer NOT Castaway Cay day, so we have as much island time as possible
Prefer Nassau day, because we aren’t getting off the ship
Prefer morning so that we can just go right after breakfast
I avoid Royal Gathering on Castaway Cay day
As for the actual booking itself, it’s the same as other activity bookings. You’ll select everyone who will be waiting in line (kids and adults) and select an available time. If your brain melts from all the stress around these Disney Cruise Line activity bookings, you might consider working with a travel advisor.
As always, if you don’t secure a reservation you have three options:
Keep trying prior to your cruise
Try in the app once you’re at your embarkation port
Visit Guest Services or Port Adventures when you board the ship
Our Royal Gathering Experience
We arrived at 8:45AM for our 9AM booking time. This was the earliest time (which I would 100% endorse), and the queue for the greeting was not yet setup. Cast Members starting putting up ropes a few minutes after we arrived and then scanned our room keys to start forming the queue just before 9AM.
Zoe wound up meeting five princesses from 9:02AM to 9:09AM — Rapunzel, Tiana, Belle, Moana, and Cinderella. You could probably move a little slower than Zoe, who basically stared silently for the minute while each princess talked to them. Specific princesses may vary when you visit.
Photos are taken by the professional Shutters photographers, but you’ll have to pay to get these. I’ve just accepted that Zoe loves meeting characters enough that I’m always going to get the complete photo package. You can take your own photos at the greetings, here are my photos and the professional (watermarked) ones below (keep in mind, Zoe knows to look at the professional camera, so I don’t get the best angles):
Conclusions
We overall had good luck meeting characters this cruise. We actually felt the lines were generally shorter than our less-crowed cruise aboard the Disney Wonder last August. But if you or your little one is really into collecting character greetings, you can’t do much better than meeting five princesses in a matter of minutes. The gathering can sort of fly by, which you might not like. Ours only took 7 minutes, though we didn’t feel rushed at all.
If you can get an early time just after breakfast, you probably aren’t cutting into your day much at all. Would I forego an excursion or time at a private Disney port for the Royal Gathering? Maybe not. But while Royal Gathering can be a challenge to book, I’d still try and fit it into every cruise hereon.