A new kind of magic sails from Singapore: three nights aboard the Disney Adventure

As luxury travel experts, our advisors are often among the first to experience new journeys, trying them firsthand so they can recommend them with confidence to clients. So when Disney Cruise Line based its largest ship in Asia for the first time - the new Disney Adventure, now sailing from Singapore - it was one we wanted to experience firsthand. Made for time-poor families, multigenerational groups, couples and solo travellers alike, it sails round-trip from Marina Bay Cruise Centre over three and four nights and never docks anywhere along the way, because the ship itself is the destination. Each day brings its own themed lands to explore and each evening a different production, and at sea Disney does something no other cruise line in the world does: sends fireworks up over open water.

Abby Pezze sailed solo over three nights in July, and shares firsthand what a few nights aboard are really like - and what stood out.

I boarded the Disney Adventure a little unsure about a cruise that never calls at a port, with three days at sea and nowhere in particular to be. By the time I got off, I was completely won over - and already thinking of the clients I would send. Without the early starts and shore excursions of a normal cruise, you actually get the time to enjoy the ship itself, which is laid out as seven themed lands rather than standard decks, each with its own feel, so the days go in wandering from one to the next.

The evenings are what stay with me, and what I would tell clients to plan around. Remember is the big production, a new Disney and Pixar stage show built around WALL-E, and it is genuinely moving - I did not expect to be wiping my eyes at a cruise-ship show, but there I was. On another night, The Lion King: Celebration in the Sky takes things outdoors, a fireworks show set to the film’s music and narrated by Shah Rukh Khan, launched from the ship while you watch from the top deck. Disney is the only cruise line allowed to set off fireworks at sea and seeing them over open water is quite different to watching them over a harbour - the kind of moment I know my families would remember long after they got home.

There is a Marvel side too. Avengers Assemble! is performed outdoors in the Disney Imagination Garden, all live stunts and effects, and brings a completely different energy - one for my clients travelling with older kids and teenagers especially. Between the three, no two evenings felt the same.

Dining is better than the ship gets credit for, and Palo is the table I would book my clients into first. It is the adults-only Italian restaurant, and worth the small surcharge: a glass of champagne on arrival, lovely service, and dishes based on recipes passed down through the chef’s own family. For the families I look after, it is also a rare chance for parents to have a grown-up dinner while the kids are looked after elsewhere on board.

What struck me most, though, was the mix of guests. Multigenerational families had come from all over the world to sail together, some back-to-back, others adding the voyage onto a longer stay in Singapore - exactly the kind of trip I can see my own clients booking for a big family celebration. It was the best proof that the ship really is the destination: everyone there for the ship itself rather than a list of ports, with always something new to find. I would sail her again in a heartbeat, and it is exactly what I tell clients who ask whether a short Disney cruise is worth the trip.

If a short, high-magic sailing from Singapore sounds like your kind of trip, whether for the family or a few days of your own, Abby Pezze can tell you which cabins, dining and shows to book before you sail.