The first time I attempted Cabanas breakfast with both kids by myself was on our second sailing, while Alan was up early doing something I cannot remember. Gracie wanted the waffles. Rory wanted to walk. The juice machine was at the far end. Someone had left a pile of berries on the floor near the egg station and Rory went down like a small tree.
He was fine. He is always fine. I, however, stood there holding a plate, watching him sit up on the floor with the confused expression of a person who does not yet understand why the floor sometimes betrays you, and made a mental note to always do Cabanas with two adults present.
We figured out the system after that. Here is what I know.
What Cabanas Is
Cabanas is the main buffet on the Disney Fantasy, located on Deck 11 at the aft of the ship with indoor and outdoor seating. It serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it is open on most days including sea days and port days. It is where you can go when you do not have a main dining room reservation or when the kids need food right now, which happens more often than you plan for.
The food at Cabanas is significantly better than what I expected from a cruise ship buffet. This is worth saying explicitly because cruise buffets have a reputation. The Fantasy’s Cabanas is fresh, varied, and genuinely good on most days. The breakfast spread in particular is one of the better buffet breakfasts I have had.
Breakfast at Cabanas
Breakfast is the meal we use Cabanas for most often. The main dining rooms do breakfast on certain mornings, but Cabanas is the reliable daily option.
What to expect at breakfast:
Eggs and hot items. Scrambled eggs, omelets made to order at a station, bacon, sausage, potatoes, French toast, waffles. The made-to-order omelet station usually has a short line in the first 30 minutes of opening. After that it backs up. If you want a custom omelet, go early or ask a crew member if there is a faster station.
Pastries and breads. Very good. The croissants are reliable. There are usually Mickey-shaped waffles at the waffle station, which is either a feature or a source of an argument with a 3-year-old depending on the morning and whether Gracie feels her waffle looks sufficiently Mickey-shaped.
Fruit. Good selection, usually fresh, cut into appropriate sizes for small kids.
Kids’ options. There are always items specifically for small children, including simpler choices that toddlers are more likely to eat. Cereal, plain toast, soft fruit. Rory found the Cocoa Puffs on day three and decided that was breakfast for the rest of the sailing.
The Logistics of Buffet With Two Toddlers
This is the part nobody writes about and the part that matters most.
With two kids who cannot hold their own plates and also cannot be trusted to stand still, there are two approaches:
The tag team. One adult holds the kids while the other gets food, then you switch. This requires two adults and coordination. It is the most functional system. Alan and I do this every time now.
The one-adult version. This requires a stroller with a safety harness or a kid who will sit in a high chair while you go back to the line. The staff at Cabanas are genuinely helpful and will often help situate kids if they see you are managing solo. Ask for a high chair immediately when you arrive. Grab one plate of things you know the kids will eat, get them settled, and then go back for adult food.
What does not work: bringing both kids to the buffet line together and trying to manage them while also holding plates. This is chaos. The berries on the floor moment was born from this approach.
Best Times to Go
Early. Cabanas opens for breakfast around 7am and the first 45 minutes are the calmest. The spread is freshest, the line is shortest, and there are good seating options. With toddlers who are often awake by 6:30 regardless, this works naturally.
Avoiding the 9 to 10am window. That is when the bulk of the ship decides it wants breakfast. The lines are longer, the hot items need to be replenished more frequently, and the indoor seating fills up fast.
On port days, very early or stay on the ship. On port days, the families getting off the ship early all go through Cabanas for a quick breakfast first. It is busy in a directed, purposeful way between 7:30 and 9am. If you are not in a rush to disembark, wait until after 9am and you will have more space.
What to Sit
The outdoor seating at the back of Cabanas, which overlooks the wake of the ship, is my favorite spot on the whole ship for a relaxed breakfast. It is covered, breezy, and has a view that does not get old. On sea days especially, I try to get a table out there.
The indoor seating is easier with toddlers because it is protected from the wind and the high chair situation is better. On our first sailing we mostly sat inside. By the second sailing we had figured out the outdoor section and it is worth the extra effort of keeping an eye on small people near railings.
Lunch and Dinner at Cabanas
We use Cabanas for lunch more than dinner. The lunch spread changes daily and has a themed focus each day, sometimes Caribbean cuisine, sometimes pasta-forward options, sometimes more American-style food. It is reliably good.
Dinner at Cabanas is available if you do not want to do rotational dining a particular night, but it has a slightly more limited spread than breakfast and lunch. We have used it once when Rory was having an off night and we needed dinner to be fast and low-stakes. It worked fine for that purpose.
The Ice Cream and Soft Serve
Adjacent to Cabanas or on the pool deck nearby, there is typically a soft serve ice cream station that is open during the day and is included in your cruise fare. This is not technically Cabanas but it is adjacent and it is the thing Gracie considers the main feature of Deck 11.
The soft serve is good. Plain vanilla, a chocolate option, and sometimes a swirl. I have no notes. It does what soft serve should do and Gracie has eaten it every day of every sailing and I consider it one of the best decisions Disney Cruise Line has made.
