5 nights Magic or 7 nights Fantasy???

[ajgardner]

We have been on the Fantasy 3 times and the Dream 2 times. We loved both ships, but did find that 4 nights was a little disappointing (in the sense that we felt we were just getting started and then had to get off). We are trying to plan our cruise for next year and would love to try a different ship to experience some new things. However, during the time we can go Magic is only offering 5 night cruises. Would this still feel too short? Would you choose 7 nights on the Fantady for the 4th time, or 5 nights on Magic for the first time?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have been on the Fantasy 3 times and the Dream 2 times. We loved both ships, but did find that 4 nights was a little disappointing (in the sense that we felt we were just getting started and then had to get off). We are trying to plan our cruise for next year and would love to try a different ship to experience some new things. However, during the time we can go Magic is only offering 5 night cruises. Would this still feel too short? Would you choose 7 nights on the Fantady for the 4th time, or 5 nights on Magic for the first time?

Generally, I'm in the "longer is better" camp. However, for this question I'd probably say the 5 night Magic would be the one I'd choose. Mostly because it'll be a new ship to you, as well as new shows to see.

 

[All about me]

I had the same choice in reverse so I made a pros and con list.

 

[Shanti]

We have been on the Fantasy 3 times and the Dream 2 times. We loved both ships, but did find that 4 nights was a little disappointing (in the sense that we felt we were just getting started and then had to get off). We are trying to plan our cruise for next year and would love to try a different ship to experience some new things. However, during the time we can go Magic is only offering 5 night cruises. Would this still feel too short? Would you choose 7 nights on the Fantady for the 4th time, or 5 nights on Magic for the first time?

7 nights on the Fantasy. I'm partial to the Dream-class ships.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Tha Magic has Tangled, and I would choose that, even though it’s only 5 nights.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Who is sailing? Kids?

There are more amenities on the larger ships and 7 nights are always better than 5. It would be no contest for me, I would pick the Fantasy. But, we have only sailed on the classics and I deeply covet the Fantasy so I am biased!

 

[lklgoodman]

I'm hoping to book a cruise on the Magic for 2020. The only reason I may not is because they don't do 7 nights. Like you, I feel like a 5 night will go by so quickly. We've only done 7 night cruises and I feel like they go by so fast, but I really want to see Tangle and eat at the Tangle theme restaurant. Maybe Disney will surprise us have the Magic do some 7 nights, but I doubt it. Since you want to try a new ship, you could see about doing a 7 night on the Wonder. This past March we did a 7 night EC (San Juan, St Maarten, and CC) on the Wonder. Tiana's restaurant is really good. I think the shows on the Wonder are a lot better than the ones on the Fantasy. Frozen was Amazing!! I would definitely book another cruise on the Wonder.

 

[anjuan]

In this situation I would do the Magic because it would be new for you. I just did the Magic after having done only the Fantasy twice and Dream. Granted, it was a 7 day Med cruise, I really enjoyed having a different ship to explore with new shows and restaurants, etc. Rapunzel's Royal Table was a lot of fund and I really enjoyed the Tangled show. My daughter seemed to have an easier time making friends on a smaller ship also. If you feel 5 days is too short of a vacation you could always add on a couple of days on land to your vacation as well.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We think 7 nights is too few. So I’d never do 5 nights. We have only done 10 nights or more in recent years.

 

[darnheather]

I love the Magic and it does have the new restaurant. But 5 nights is so short. Difficult choice!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

But 5 nights is so short.

Here's another choice, do a B2B on the Magic.

 

[ScooterScott44]

If you have only done the dream class ships it might be nice to try the classics. Generally I would always go with the longer cruise. It is bad subtracting two days but offsetting that by expericing something new could be helpful. If you find that you like the classic ships it opens a larger variety of cruise options (Med, Baltic, Norwegian, British Isles, Alaska, Panama Canal and transatlantic) that you cannot get at this time on the dream class.

The longer cruise is better for our family but we also perfer the classics so this would be a tough choice. I don’t envy your position. My guess is the 7 day is more pricy, so you could enhance the 5 day experience by bumping up in cabin category, special excursions or extras like wine packages, spa treatments or other things you might not normally consider while cruising.

 

[All about me]

Here's another choice, do a B2B on the Magic.

You are brilliant!!!

 

[ajgardner]

Who is sailing? Kids?

There are more amenities on the larger ships and 7 nights are always better than 5. It would be no contest for me, I would pick the Fantasy. But, we have only sailed on the classics and I deeply covet the Fantasy so I am biased!

We have a 13 year old and 17 year old. They love the clubs on Fantasy/Dream, not sure how the Magic will be. We love the Fantasy but we feel we need something new to see and experience. But 7 nights is what we want also...

 

[ChipNDale86]

I'm hoping to book a cruise on the Magic for 2020. The only reason I may not is because they don't do 7 nights. Like you, I feel like a 5 night will go by so quickly. We've only done 7 night cruises and I feel like they go by so fast, but I really want to see Tangle and eat at the Tangle theme restaurant. Maybe Disney will surprise us have the Magic do some 7 nights, but I doubt it. Since you want to try a new ship, you could see about doing a 7 night on the Wonder. This past March we did a 7 night EC (San Juan, St Maarten, and CC) on the Wonder. Tiana's restaurant is really good. I think the shows on the Wonder are a lot better than the ones on the Fantasy. Frozen was Amazing!! I would definitely book another cruise on the Wonder.

Just an FYI: The Magic does do 7-night cruises. We're doing one in November out of NYC and then I think most of the European ones are 7 or more nights. So obviously it depends on what time of year you can go & what itinerary you want to do, but there are 7-night options on the Magic.

To the OP: Our first cruise was a 7-night Fantasy cruise, and we recently did a 5-night Magic cruise. We loved both but when I had to choose, I'd choose a 7-night or a 5-night 100% of the time. I do understand where you're coming from since you've done the Fantasy so much. Tangled is our favorite Disney movie so we loved Rapunzel's Royal Table of the Tangled show, but that personally wouldn't be enough to get me to lose 2 additional nights.

 

[ajgardner]

Here's another choice, do a B2B on the Magic.

I thought of that, but it started to get pretty pricey. We have a discount from booking onboard but I believe that’d only apply to one of the sailings. Maybe I can play with the dates and take the kids out if school for a few days to get the price down.

 

[ajgardner]

Just an FYI: The Magic does do 7-night cruises. We're doing one in November out of NYC and then I think most of the European ones are 7 or more nights. So obviously it depends on what time of year you can go & what itinerary you want to do, but there are 7-night options on the Magic.

To the OP: Our first cruise was a 7-night Fantasy cruise, and we recently did a 5-night Magic cruise. We loved both but when I had to choose, I'd choose a 7-night or a 5-night 100% of the time. I do understand where you're coming from since you've done the Fantasy so much. Tangled is our favorite Disney movie so we loved Rapunzel's Royal Table of the Tangled show, but that personally wouldn't be enough to get me to lose 2 additional nights.

If you took the length of the cruises out of the picture, would you have a preference between the two ships?

 

[FSU Girl]

I've sailed on the Magic and the Dream. I think I liked the Dream more because it's a larger ship with more to do, but I did love the Magic too, although mine was a 7 night on it. I agree longer is better, but if you try out the Magic you will get all new shows, new restaurants, potentially new ports depending on where the two cruises are going. You could pair it with a few days at Disney World so the trip doesn't feel too short. I did that with my 4 night so it was the same length as doing a 7 night cruise and then the trip felt perfect.

 

[ChipNDale86]

If you took the length of the cruises out of the picture, would you have a preference between the two ships?

I would choose the Fantasy over the Magic but mainly because I just like the larger size. The small size of the atrium on the Wonder/Magic shocked us the first time because we only knew how big the Fantasy's was. The elevators are smaller, the Walt Disney Theater is smaller, etc. Of course there are fewer people on the smaller ships but I've never really felt that difference.

We tend to book based off itinerary. We've so far done: Eastern Caribbean on Fantasy, Alaska on Wonder, Miami-Castaway-Nassau on the Magic, and have NYC-Castaway-WDW and 2019 European booked on the Magic. So has you can see we're going to be on the Magic quite a bit. It's still a great ship but I'm constantly trying to figure out how we're going to get back on the Fantasy/Dream. Unfortunately the Dream only does 3/4 nights, and the Fantasy is pretty much only the Caribbean and we want to experience new stuff before going back there.

We booked the 5-night on the Magic in May because my fiance had a little bit of time off from school and we wanted a quick getaway and everything just lined up perfectly. We were a little scared we'd hate the 5-night and we absolutely didn't. We did find ourselves not getting as involved with the activities/getting to know the CMs better because we knew we'd get off soon. I think we had prepared ourselves so much for the fact that we'd be getting off a couple days earlier that by the time it rolled around we were fine but we'll pretty much always book 7-nights from here on out unless something just works out perfectly like it did in May. We can handle 5-nights, but not anything less than that. The pain of embarkation/debarkation just don't make a 3 or 4-night worth it in our opinion.

 

[mevelandry]

We have been on the Fantasy 3 times and the Dream 2 times. We loved both ships, but did find that 4 nights was a little disappointing (in the sense that we felt we were just getting started and then had to get off). We are trying to plan our cruise for next year and would love to try a different ship to experience some new things. However, during the time we can go Magic is only offering 5 night cruises. Would this still feel too short? Would you choose 7 nights on the Fantady for the 4th time, or 5 nights on Magic for the first time?

5 nights is pretty good. I'd say: You've been on the Fantasy 4 times. Try something new.