We’re embarking on the high seas today! Guest Author Victoria Kabakian is taking us to the Royal Court on the Disney Fantasy. Let’s sail away…!

One unique feature of Disney Cruise Line is its innovative Rotational Dining system, meaning that each night, guests alternate between three main dining rooms, and their servers follow them from room to room based on the pre-scheduled rotation.

The Disney Fantasy features the Enchanted Garden, Royal Court, and Animator’s Palate as its three main dining rooms. Of these three, Royal Court is the only one that serves table service options for all three meals of the day.

Atmosphere

Located just beyond the beautiful atrium on deck 4 of the ship, Royal Court is designed to capture the whimsy of nearly every fairytale princess imaginable. The vast dining room has a very regal look, and in its center, beneath a crystal chandelier, is a large round table surrounded by plush red chairs that are larger and more elegant than the others in the room. This focal point is just one of many sophisticated and regal-looking features throughout the room.

The remaining chairs in the dining room have crowns engraved in the woodwork, adding another small detail to a dining room already bursting at the seams with Disney princess love.

A major decorative element in Royal Court is the Disney princess-themed mosaics found throughout the space. They include beautiful renditions of scenes from Disney movies such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid.

The lighting around the dining room includes small spot lights as well as large gold-accented pieces atop golden pillars. The detailing in the lights depict golden leaves as well as roses at the top of the pillars, adding to the regal look of the room.

Other accents throughout the space include Cinderella’s carriage in more ways than one. Her carriage is featured prominently on platforms around the circumference of the center part of the dining room, but it also makes up the bread baskets used at Royal Court!

Breakfast Eats

As I mentioned earlier, Royal Court is the only dining room on the ship to feature table service meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. During my recent cruise, I made sure to visit Royal Court for each of these meals so I could share some insight on all of them.

First, let’s start with breakfast. The menu categories range from Delicious Fruit Yogurts to Healthy Options, Off the Griddle, From the Cold Galley and From the Hot Galley, as well as a Children’s Menu. Typical drink options are available, but I decided to start breakfast the same as I start most my meals on a Disney Cruise, and that’s with an iced tea. It’s light and refreshing, and always hits the spot.

Our server at breakfast suggested we try one of the yogurts to start, and even though we hadn’t planned on it, the Mango Mountain Hike sounded really intriguing. It’s almost like a mango yogurt smoothie/thick soup with granola in it, giving it a bit of texture and added flavor. Holy moly! This quickly became an obsession between both my sister and I, and I’ve even emailed Disney to see if I can get a recipe. Yum!

The bread service at breakfast features a variety of breakfast pastries that are offered tableside from a basket. I selected a pain au chocolat from the options. Although the chocolate was still soft, the pastry itself was also quite soft, not really flaky. It was tasty, but not the best pain au chocolat I’ve tried by a long shot.

For breakfast, we both selectedthe French Toast and Pineapple Stack which features layers of French toast and grilled pineapple. It’s not a huge portion (especially compared to what you can eat at the breakfast buffet upstairs), but it’s tasty. It’s also considerably light, since the French toast portion is minimal, and there’s tons of fruit on the plate, both on the stack and on the side. I usually go for more savory breakfasts, but this is a great choice if you have a sweet tooth.

We actually also ordered the Peanut Butter and Jelly Typhoon pancake off the children’s menu to take back to the stateroom for my nephew. Our server brought us the pancake at the end of the meal, covered in a silver dome (room service style), along with a side of fruit and utensils. He loved the pancake (and so did we). Who doesn’t love peanut butter and jelly, and on top of a pancake, no less?

Lunch Eats

Another day on the cruise, I stopped by Royal Court for lunch with my mom. The lunch menu changes daily and follows the same setup as dinner, offering basic bread service, appetizers, entrees, and desserts.

We decided to actually skip dessert, but share all three appetizer options instead. First up is the Assorted Seafood Sampler, which includes cold crab claws, shrimp, and marinated bay scallops. It’s very light and fresh without heavy seasoning. A bit of cocktail sauce offered on the side adds some extra zing.

The Vegetable Quesadilla is pretty straight-forward. I have a quesadilla obsession, so I couldn’t resist. The guacamole, sour cream, salsa definitely add more flavor to this small vegetarian-friendly starter.

We also tried the Citrus Fruit Cocktail, which is sweet and fresh, and features oranges and grapefruit. Consider it a nice palate cleanser before moving onto the next course.

My mom opted for the Lemon Chicken Salad, featuring a tropical Papaya and Coconut Lemongrass Dressing. She enjoyed the salad and thought it was light, fresh, and tasty. It’s definitely lighter than what I picked for lunch…

The Angus Chuck Burger is a ½-pound burger with your choice of toppings (mine included bacon and cheddar) with sides of French fries and coleslaw. My burger was cooked medium-rare, but even though it was nicely undercooked to my liking, it wasn’t particularly juicy or particularly seasoned. Here’s where having some bacon, cheese, and ketchup helps. This certainly isn’t the best burger I’ve had, but it hits the spot when faced with a burger craving at sea.

We actually dined at Royal Court twice for dinner, once with the regular Rotational Dining menu, and once for one of the special menus. I’ll discuss the main dinner menu, which is French.

Dinner Eats

First off, the bread offering at Royal Court is a Warm Herb Brioche with Olive Spread. The bread is rich and decadent, and already divided to make it easier to serve. The olive spread is fantastic and adds a Provençal element to the table.

To start, let’s begin with the Breaded and Deep Fried Brie with Orange and Cranberry Chutney. Brie is easily one of my favorite cheeses. It melts so beautifully. Imagine how magical it can be when breaded and fried! I also love sweet flavors with my Brie, honey being at the top of the list, but this chutney does a lovely job cutting through the richness of the cheese.

Next up is the Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp, another great choice for seafood lovers (it’s different from the one served at lunch and a bit more upscale). It’s nicely plated with fresh seafood flavors and a bit of sauce to compliment.

My appetizer choice at this meal was the Escargots Gratinee, which not only features the typical garlic butter and snails, but also finely chopped mushrooms in each cavity of the escargots dish. A soft baguette on the side is great for soaking up extra sauce. If you enjoy escargots, you will enjoy this, although I found it to be a touch on the salty side.

Moving on to the soup and salad course, the Potage Parmentier is a classic leek and potato soup. I didn’t get to try this, but my mom really enjoyed it.

I elected the Onion Soup Gratinee, another classic. Like my escargots appetizer, I found this to be a bit salty as well, but my love for gooey cheese and melted onions in broth really win me over regardless. It’s probably my favorite soup of all time and I just can’t resist!

For the main course, we’ll start with the Oven-Baked Salmon Royale. Its horseradish crust is delicious, and along with the Swiss chard and truffled cauliflower puree, I honestly wish I had ordered this myself. I tried a couple bites and it was yummy! Next time, I’m ordering this.

Another main course option is the Crispy Roasted Duck Breast with Cabbage, Bacon, Shallots, and Honey Parsnip Puree. I don’t remember getting a taste of this dish (just the photo), but I know my other family members enjoyed it.

For my entrée I selected the Roasted Rack of Lamb Medium with Dauphinoise Potatoes and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. The side dishes are good (although the Brussels sprouts are a little under cooked) and the lamb is quite tasty but the rack itself could have been trimmed a bit better. A lot of extra fat makes it difficult to get to the actual meat. I know Frenching the rack (removing the skin/meat/fat from between the ribs) is a lot of work, but it would have really made for a nicer presentation and less trimming that needs to be done at the table.

For dessert I selected the Peanut Butter Mousse, which is really dark chocolate mousse with peanut butter. It’s smooth, creamy, and hits the spot for any chocolate/peanut butter craving.

The Raspberry Mousse Slice with Green Tea Cream is actually one of the sugar-free dessert options, but my mom really enjoyed her selection and thought it wasn’t too rich or sweet.

Overall

From morning until night, Royal Court offers a variety of delicious options for table-service meals while cruising on the Disney Fantasy. Whether you have a Disney princess obsession or not, the elegant atmosphere at Royal Court sets the mood for a delicious meal any time of day.

Victoria is a Minnie Mouse-obsessed Disney enthusiast and food blogger at Mission: Food. She’s a classically trained cook with a soft-spot for cooking up Disney favorites in her kitchen when she isn’t park-hopping or sailing away on Disney Cruises.

There’s a lot of great choices here. Which dish would you first want to try at Royal Court? Let us know in the comments below!