Last week we boarded the Halcyon for a 3-night, 2-day adventure on Walt Disney World’s new, exciting offering, “Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser.” It’s no secret that this experience comes with a pretty sizeable price tag attached to it, but is the adventure worth the cost? We’re going to walk you through our 3-day stay from start to finish and let you decide for yourself! Want to watch our experience unfold in real-time? Click here.
Ready? Let’s start the boarding process.
Guests can board the Halcyon at 1 pm on arrival day, but many people will arrive early to get a good space in line. We arrived around 12:30 pm and had about 15 guests ahead of us in the boarding process which moved along very quickly once it began. (If you’ve ever been on a cruise vacation, the Starcruiser is treated exactly the same way; you’ll pick up on the practices and verbiage right away!) Upon checking in, a crew member will take your luggage for you and it will be delivered to your room shortly after. Guests will receive an exclusive MagicBand with the Chandrila Starline logo on it, which is to be worn throughout the experience; these will unlock your cabin door, as well as be used to scan in for missions around the Starcruiser, and payment for your included meal on Batuu. Once the boarding process begins, guests will go through security, watch a short safety briefing video, and board their 5-minute transport up to the Halcyon.
Upon arriving on board, a crew member will greet you in the atrium and personally escort you to your cabin! Our luggage was being delivered at the same time which was great! You can check out the photos below of our standard cabin that sleeps 5 people! (a murphy bed unfolds from under the television) Each room has its own window out into the galaxy which was my favorite feature! It’s also worth noting that the bathroom and shower areas had pocket doors that could separate each section, which made the room really ideal for sharing with friends or family! You can also watch a live room tour right here!
If you haven’t already downloaded the PLAY Disney Parks app, now is the time to do it! Download the app, log in using your My Disney Experience app credentials, and you’ll see the Star Wars datapad pop up for you once on board! You’ll use this data pad all cruise long to participate in missions, talk with crew members and characters, and ultimately decide where your loyalty lies: the Resistance, or the First Order? This is such a cool way to really get involved in the story, meet the characters, and earn virtual badges throughout your trip!
You’ll also want to keep your datapad handy, as it will tell you what events you have coming up next on your schedule! Each guest is assigned their own time for activities such as lightsaber and bridge training, and even dinner seating! Just like a cruise, there is a first and second seating for dinner in the Crown of Corelia Dining Room. Your party will be seated at the same table with your same waiter both nights, as well! Dinner is served family style, this way you get to sample a little bit of everything on the menu! Depending upon your party size (there were 4 of us) you may find the portions a bit small for sharing with your group. If you do feel that you need more, or you’d like more of a particular entree, you can always request it! Again, like a cruise, both dinners are included in the cost of your trip.
Also included is my favorite spot on the Halcyon: The Sublight Lounge! Here you can order included snacks & appetizers, or indulge in themed libations available both with and without alcohol. (Soft drinks and food are included, all other drinks alcoholic/nonalcoholic are an extra expense.) The Sublight Lounge is also home to the Sabacc table; a galactic, poker-like game that guests can learn to play on board. There is even a Sabacc tournament on Day 2, should you feel lucky!
Now let’s chat about your port of call, Batuu. You may have visited before, but never by transport of the Halcyon! When you wake up on Day 2, a breakfast buffet, with blue & green milk stations, will be available in the dining room for all guests to come and go as they please. You will have an assigned time to board your transport (ours was around 8:30 am) so be sure to hit the buffet beforehand! (There is a grab & go breakfast option available, as well.) Before boarding your transport, all guests are given a Chandrila Starline Passenger pin to wear (or just to keep) which I thought was really cool. Your transport to Batuu only takes about 5-10 minutes, where you will disembark for your excursion! Each guest is given a Lightning Lane pass for both Millenium Falcon Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance. These passes are NOT timed, so you may use them anytime you like that day. Additionally while on Batuu, passengers will have a credit preloaded onto their MagicBand that will get them an entree & drink (alcohol included) at either Ronto Roasters OR Docking Bay 7. I highly recommend trying a Ronto Wrap & a Tatooine Sunset drink (nonalcoholic, like a flavored iced tea) from Ronto Roasters! When you book your Starcruiser experience, you will have the option to request a reservation at Oga’s Cantina; a 45-minute bar experience on Batuu! If you’ve never been to Oga’s, it would be a cool add-on to your day! Guests have until around 4-4:30 pm on Batuu but can come back to the Starcruiser anytime they want throughout the day. We made sure to be back in time for our next scheduled activity: Bridge Training!
All passengers will be assigned a time for Bridge and Lightsaber Training exercises; for our group, Lightsaber Training was on day one! Groups are relatively small for the lightsaber class which is really nice. You’ll have a trainer that will teach you many positions and moves to use with the lightsaber, as well as how to help your team block with shields! The room was really dark, so in place of photos you can check out our youtube video here and fast forward to 26:47 if you want to see more in-depth! Bridge Training was on day two for us, and was about an hour long! Each group will be assigned to a team, and you will make your way around the room to eventually work on each task that is covered by the bridge: weapons, loaders, systems, navigation, and shields! This was incredibly cool, you can watch more of our training in the youtube video, as well!
Without spoiling too much of the story, like we may or may not have done in our YouTube video (whoops!) we had such a great time! The experience is really authentic and real; it was so cool to be walking up to your cabin and passing a few stormtroopers on the stairs! The characters were out all the time, walking around and engaging with guests. I got to meet the captain of the Halcyon, S-K, the Halcyon’s resident droid, and even a couple of stormtroopers stopped for photos while on patrol! It truly felt like stepping inside of a Star Wars movie, from beginning to end.
*Cue John Williams*
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