Is Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser worth it?

If you’re a Star Wars fan, taking a cruise on Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser Halcyon is an absolute must!  If you’re not a Star Wars fan, what planet have you been living on for the past 50 years? If you’ve ever thought of going to Comic Con for Star Wars, a galactic cruise on the Halcyon is almost a prerequisite. Disney has done a superb job with this experience. There are many on-ship activities and an off-ship excursion to keep you busy.  But every activity is optional, so you can make your own adventures. In the end, whether you choose total immersion or just relax through the cruise, this Disney Galactic Starship experience is just plain fun for everyone.

From the moment you arrive at the departure terminal and board your shuttlecraft to the Halcyon, you are immersed in the Disney fantasy of taking an intergalactic cruise through the stars. Of course your cruise may be caught up in the fight between the First Order and the rebellion, so you must remain vigilant. In order to help, you might tune up your lightsaber skills or get a tour of the battle stations on the bridge in case you’re needed to defend the ship. In any event, there’s plenty to do to keep busy for your two night cruise. You can only book two night cruises on the Halcyon, but this was more than enough fun.  And as on all good cruises, there is plenty of food and drink, with a lot of it from other planets.  I especially liked visiting the Sublight Lounge for galactic cocktails. Tanya booked us a special Libations class with the bartender, which is a special opportunity as it only holds 10 people.

Tanya bought the cruise as my Christmas present last year but the Starcruiser at Disney World in Florida did not open until March 2022. August was the first availability for the cruise and I couldn’t wait!  Tanya… not so much of a Star Wars nerd, might have suggested once or twice that I take my daughter Meghan who makes a living producing professional video gaming events. But, in the end we watched the pertinent Star Wars movies (specifically episodes 7,8 and 9) and Tanya became much more motivated. In fact, she became quite the Star Wars aficionado competing mightily on missions and creating “out of this galaxy” fashions for our nights onboard. Her normal good looks became intergalactic. Oh, I guess I have to admit she earned more credits than I did on her mission. 🙁  She also was pretty adept wielding her lightsaber.

You don’t have to choose your role in the two-day cruise, you just choose activities you find interesting and “the Force will guide you” to your destiny, be it with the First Order, the resistance or becoming a scoundrel or smuggler. You can choose to help out some of the characters you meet by following tasks they send to you on your data pad (iPhone) via the Play Disney app.  Among the on-board activities are lightsaber training, tours of the bridge, learning to play Sabacc (the card game that won Hans Solo the Millennium Falcon), meeting the crew and more. 

 On day two of your cruise, you are able to board a shuttle ship an go on a mission to Batuu (aka Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios). There you get first priority to ride the Millennium Falcon and Rise of the Resistance, alone almost worth the entire cost of your starship cruise. You can also choose to follow requests from  Lt. Croy of the First Order or various members of the resistance or or ship crew for credits and fun. The requests come to you as chat messages on your Data Pad. We ran around looking for items to scan and help our cause.

The entire Disney crew is marvelous! They will not break character for your entire journey. The main characters interact heavily with the passengers. Lt. Croy always remembered my name and sat with Tanya and I at the SubLight lounge telling us about the merits of the First Order. Chewy always had a contingent of “younglings” following him around. If a crew member asks where you are from, Jakku, Stewjon, Tatooine, Alderaan, Corellia or Naboo are all acceptable answers. If you answer them with “Earth”, they’ll tell you they never heard of it. You’ll see many familiar characters on your voyage along with some new ones.  Rae and Kylo Ren are there along with Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Storm Troopers aplenty.  Some of the new ones are Lt. Croy, Gaya (a diva who provides on board entertainment of great singing performances), Starship Captain Riyola Keevan, Lenka Mok the cruise director, Sammy the ship’s engineer and others.

We had a terrific time and I’ve never had such a great Christmas Present my whole life. I can’t thank Tanya enough for getting me such a great gift! If you are a Star Wars fan, you really need to combine this with a trip to Disney World to get your Star Wars fix. If you only know a bit about the Star Wars story, you’ll learn more and still enjoy yourself. In short, we definitely think its worth it if you are up for a splurge.

If you are interested in this experience, click HERE to book it. Also, be sure to check out our latest cruise on the Disney Wish and our family trip with the grandchildren to Walt Disney World.

xoxo – Pete

Galactic Starcruiser pics from our stay in August 2022

There are only 100 rooms on the Halcyon. This ensures lots of interaction with characters and small crowds.

Breakfast and Lunch are cafeteria style service. Dinner is full service. All dining experiences take place in the main dining hall. Dinner is done in two seatings:      5:30 PM and 8:00 PM. We did the 8 PM seating.

The Libations class is truly out of this world. This is an extra cost per person. Only 10 spots available! TIP: Book this experience as soon as your board the Halcyon.

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