Is a voyage on a Disney Cruise Line ship in your bucket record? You may discover a rising variety of choices when it comes time to select an itinerary.
Whereas the cruising arm of Disney has lengthy centered totally on voyages to the Caribbean and the Bahamas, with year-round sailings to these locations out of Florida, it additionally now gives a comparatively wide selection of seasonal sailings to Alaska, the Mexican Riviera, Bermuda, Europe and Canada.
The family-friendly cruise model, notably, is increasing its footprint worldwide because it provides 4 new vessels in fast succession.
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Already, the primary of these ships, the two,508-passenger Disney Want, has arrived, boosting the scale of the Disney fleet from 4 ships to 5 and permitting for extra departures to the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe.
Two extra sister vessels to Disney Want are as a consequence of start crusing in 2024 and 2025, respectively, permitting for additional enlargement in Disney cruise itineraries. As well as, the road has one more new vessel coming in 2025 that is not associated to the opposite three. Known as Disney Journey, it is a one-off vessel initially designed for an Asian line, and it will sail in Asia (maybe catering largely to Asian vacationers; Disney has been mum to this point on the audience for it).
All these new ships arriving in fast succession will possible imply not simply extra departures to locations the place Disney Cruise Line is established but in addition sailings in new areas. For instance, Disney has by no means earlier than provided Asia sailings.
Listed below are our picks for the 5 greatest Disney cruise locations you’ll be able to go to with your loved ones.
Caribbean and Bahamas
Disney Cruise Line’s prime vacation spot has at all times been the Caribbean and the Bahamas. Since its founding greater than twenty years in the past, the model has based mostly the majority of its fleet in Florida to supply sailings to the islands. Port Canaveral, which is simply an hour away from Disney’s Orlando-area theme parks, has at all times been its largest hub.
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The road is especially recognized for three- and four-night cruises out of Port Canaveral to Castaway Cay and Nassau within the Bahamas. These brief getaways let households get a style of Disney cruising that some Disney followers pair with a keep at Disney World.
The cruise line additionally usually gives seven-night sailings out of Port Canaveral that go to Caribbean islands like St. Thomas and Tortola.
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In recent times, Disney has additionally constructed up its Caribbean and Bahamas cruise choices from different ports in Florida — initially Miami and, extra lately, Fort Lauderdale. The ships the road has based mostly in these ports usually supply four- and five-night sailings to Castaway Cay and one different port, corresponding to Cozumel or Grand Cayman.
As well as, Disney is providing a rising variety of Caribbean sailings out of Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans.
For 2024, the road could have 4 of its 5 ships — Disney Want, Disney Dream, Disney Magic and Disney Fantasy — crusing to the Bahamas and Caribbean out of one of many above ports, with their house bases typically shifting between them.
Disney Want, which is Disney’s latest ship, shall be based mostly in Port Canaveral year-round to function the road’s basic three- and four-night sailings to the Bahamas. These voyages are designed to be paired with a go to to close by Disney World for an extended Disney trip.
Disney Fantasy will even sail out of Port Canaveral to the Bahamas and Caribbean year-round, providing longer voyages.
Disney Dream will spend the beginning and the top of the yr crusing brief journeys to the Bahamas and Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale, with a stint in the course of the yr (from Could to October) crusing in Europe.
Disney Magic will take Disney Dream’s place crusing brief journeys to the Bahamas and Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale from Could to October. Throughout the early and late months of the yr, it will sail out of Galveston.
Come 2025, Disney could have 4 ships — Disney Fantasy, Disney Want, Disney Dream and Disney Magic — crusing three- to five-night getaways from Florida to the road’s Bahamian locations, together with its new non-public seashore vacation spot Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Level and its long-open non-public island Disney Castaway Cay. Disney Fantasy and Disney Want will function the journeys from Port Canaveral, whereas Disney Dream and Disney Magic will sail from Fort Lauderdale.
Earlier than taking on residence in Florida in April 2025, Disney Magic will even supply three months’ value of sailings out of Galveston, Texas, to Progreso and Cozumel in Mexico and Grand Cayman.
The entire 2025 sailings are already open for bookings.
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Mexico
Disney has in the reduction of on voyages out of San Diego for 2024, after rising its San Diego departures sharply in 2023. However it nonetheless gives a number of journeys to Mexico out of the town on Disney Marvel.
For 2024, the 1,754-passenger vessel will supply a mixture of three- to seven-night sailings to Mexico throughout March and April. Shorter three- and four-night sailings usually function calls at Ensenada, Mexico, and California’s Catalina Island. Seven-night sailings embrace calls at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.
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The massive issue driving Disney’s cutbacks on sailings out of San Diego in 2024 is its new deal with voyages out of Australian ports. Disney Marvel will spend a lot of January and February crusing out of Australian ports after which return to the area in October for an additional season of Australia journeys.
Europe
Disney gives all kinds of itineraries in Europe each summer time, from Mediterranean voyages out of Barcelona and Civitavecchia, Italy (the port for Rome), to Northern Europe sailings out of Southampton, England.
Starting from seven to 11 nights, Disney’s Europe voyages annually usually happen on a single ship that sails from a number of house ports all through the season. For 2024, that ship would be the 2,500-passenger Disney Dream. The road has but to announce which of its ships will go to Europe in 2025.
Typical for the shorter itineraries the road gives in Europe are seven-night sailings out of Civitavecchia to the Greek Islands. These sailings cease in Mykonos, Santorini and Crete in Greece, in addition to Naples, Italy.
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An extended, 11-night itinerary beginning in Civitavecchia and ending in Barcelona consists of calls at Piraeus (the port for Athens), Santorini and Mykonos in Greece; Messina (on the island of Sicily), Naples and Livorno in Italy; and Toulon, France.
Amongst Northern Europe itineraries, Disney gives centered, weeklong sailings to Norway with calls on the Norwegian ports of Alesund, Nordfjordeid, Eidfjord and Stavanger.
Alaska
Disney doesn’t have a big presence in Alaska. The road sends only one ship to Alaska annually. Household-friendly cruise rivals Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line, in contrast, every ship three ships to Alaska annually, and Norwegian Cruise Line sends 5 vessels to the vacation spot.
Nonetheless, Disney followers will not really feel like they’re lacking out. The one vessel Disney sends to Alaska annually, the 1,754-passenger Disney Marvel, stays for almost the whole summer time season, from late June to mid-September and gives a distinctly Disney tackle The Final Frontier.
All the time starting and ending in Vancouver, British Columbia, and lasting seven nights, Disney’s Alaska sailings usually embrace stops at three of those 4 Alaska ports: Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Icy Strait Level (which three differ by departure date). Itineraries additionally embrace a go to to Stikine Icecap, which is south of Juneau.
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These are pretty typical ports for an Alaska cruise. However the (extra-charge) actions that Disney has organized for the ports aren’t at all times the identical as what different strains supply.
As one would possibly count on for Disney, the road has crafted a few of its shore excursions in Alaska ports with particular Disney touches, corresponding to Disney character appearances on the Liarsville Gold Rush Path Camp & Salmon Bake tour in Ketchikan. (Having achieved this one myself, I’ll say, for the document, that it is somewhat hokey; however it does get you a Disney character repair if that is your intention.)
One other shore tour with a Disney contact is the out of doors Household Scavenger Hunt at Icy Strait Level, the place individuals be a part of a neighborhood information on a hunt for gadgets corresponding to clam shells and native vegetation, in addition to a “particular shock” with a Disney theme.
Not like many strains, Disney doesn’t supply one-way sailings to Alaska from Vancouver or Seattle that may be paired with add-on land excursions to create an prolonged sea-and-land Alaska trip — one thing generally known as a “cruisetour.” If that is what you are in search of, and also you wish to follow a family-friendly line, you would possibly wish to think about the one-way cruisetour choices from Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line.
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Bermuda
Disney usually gives a minimum of one and typically a number of cruises to Bermuda every fall, starting from fast, five-night journeys to longer, eight-night sailings.
For the yr simply ending (2023), the road provided 4 such sailings, and it is provided much more than that in sure years. Alas, for the approaching yr (2024), Disney at the moment doesn’t have a single Bermuda crusing scheduled — a little bit of an anomaly.
That stated, we’d count on Disney to convey again its Bermuda sailings for 2025 or 2026. It has been such a mainstay of the model.
So … keep tuned.
Associated: The last word information to Disney Cruise Line
Backside line
Household-friend Disney Cruise Line is a comparatively small cruise model, with simply 5 ships (considered one of its largest rivals within the household cruise market, Royal Caribbean, has 26 vessels). However that does not imply its itinerary decisions are restricted. The road gives common sailings to the Caribbean and Bahamas, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Bermuda and Europe.
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