Pirate Night on Disney Cruise Line is pretty much a signature cruise event. Favorite Disney characters don their best pirate attire for photo opportunities around the grand lobby. The ambient music around the ship switches to fun and favorite pirate-themed tunes to help set the mood. In the evening, out on the main pool deck, two pirate themed shows take place, the later one ending in fireworks at sea.
In addition, all three main dining rooms serve a special pirate-inspired dinner menu. To be fair and representative, the menu options are not limited to Caribbean pirates, but pirates all around the globe. Join us for dinner on the Disney Fantasy on Pirate Night!
Not Hardtack!
A little bit of a historical discrepency here. Yes, there are regular rolls, but in addition there are what we are told to be Johnny Cakes. Typically, Johnny Cakes are supposed to be flat. These in the basket are, well, it’s cornbread. Let’s just go along with it. In addition, a mango dip is served. Sadly, we’re not big mango fans, so the dip was described as “it’s okay I guess.” Your experience may vary.
The cornbread, despite not being completely accurate, was perfectly fine and not dry, which is a huge plus! The rolls were your typical crumbly Disney Cruise Line rolls. Good and solid, but of course makes a mess on the table.
Don’t worry, be crabby!
For an appetizer, we decided on the Deep Fried Calypso Crab Cake with a Cajun remoulade and lemon. Real crab? We’d like to think so. (they did have crab legs on the lunch buffet, after all). Overall, it was nice! It’s not going to be winning any awards, but of the appetizer menu options, this is our favorite.
The Cajun remoulade is a little zesty, so don’t be too heavy handed if you’re nervous about it being too spicy. The lemon, obviously, either for personal preference or to trick your kid into trying it to see their reaction. We’re not responsible if you do that. (our legal department made us say this)
Banana Bread What?!
We love a carrot soup! While there is also a chilled mango soup on the menu, we are suckers for the Carrot and Cilantro soup with, get this, Banana Bread Croutons! We love this soup and order it every time! Carrot soup is one of those rare treats that we seem to only have on Disney Cruise Line. If you recall, Arendelle on the Disney Wish also has a carrot soup that we love.
The banana bread croutons are so uniquely different that we can’t help but love it. In fact, we asked our server for an extra spoon so one of our tablemates could try one.
Lamb? On pirat..? Just go with it.
We’re not exactly sure how lamb fits in to pirate night, but we decided to give it a try anyway. Chevalle’s Lamb Shank slowly roasted in red wine, served with buttered green beans and parsnip mash. It wasn’t bad. The lamb was tender, don’t get us wrong. The green beans and parsnip mash were just as expected. Perhaps we simply weren’t in the mood for lamb like we thought we were. It was kind of like a lamb pot roast.
To tie the name back to pirate night: Chevalle is in reference to Captain Chevalle from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise. He mostly appears in the 3rd movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”.
Perhaps we should have taken our server’s suggestion and try the Jerk Chicken. He convinced us that he personally jerk-marianted the chicken for 48 hours, using his Grandma’s recipe. It was very convincing! Served with rice and peas, fried plantains, and a pinapple-chili salsa, the jerk chicken sounds like a Pirates of the Caribbean inspired dish that may have been the better choice. We’ll try it next time and get back to you.
In Paradise
Another recommendation is the Pirate Night staple dessert: Bananas in Paradise. Layered banana bread with hazlenut fudge filling. Like banana bread itself, this dessert is a little dense and heavy. If you were hoping to double up on desserts tonight, perhaps split this one with a friend so you still have room.
Speaking of…
Dessert number two! Another cake, because we’re a glutton for punishment. This Rum Sealed Chocolate Cake (that isn’t actually blue) has a raspberry filling that we loved very much! The cake wasn’t that memorable but the raspberry filling certainly was! We apologize for the bad lighting and tried to color correct it but this was the best we could do.
Both menus!
If you would like to take a look at the dinner and dessert menu for Pirate Night on the Disney Fantasy, please be our guest with the images below.
We’re done plundering.
Nobody warned us that being a pirate would be so filling. We’re stuffed! The only plank we want to walk is the one that leads us back to our room to recover. But alas, there is a pirate show happening on the main pool deck with fireworks afterwards!
In addition to the festivities, your stateroom attendant will drop off some banadanas in case you forgot your pirate outfit, or it was lost in the mail.
Woah, that’s cool!
We cannot end this Pirate Night article on a bandana picture, so here’s a really awesome picture from the next morning which we are assuming is a towel version of Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean!
And you thought they only did towel animals. We’ll see you next time!
Disney Rover 