Magic - 10 night Eastern Caribbean

[tidefan]

Do most other cruise lines do this? We've only sailed DCL, but recently stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and having to check out towels was such a turn off for me.

RCL and Carnival, yes.

Princess, Virgin, Celebrity, and HAL, no.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Do most other cruise lines do this? We've only sailed DCL, but recently stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and having to check out towels was such a turn off for me.

Yes!! Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

I spent so much time asking my kids where they left their towels. It's a miracle we didn't end up paying $100 each cruise in "lost" towels. I had to be on them like a hawk.

As if I really want to keep their nasty towels stained with God knows what....

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

First time cruisers are willing to splurge with onboard spending, as if it's a once in a lifetime experience.
We thought that way on our 1st DCL cruise. This was back when all photos were printed and put on display in Shutters. Dh laughed at how my dad could not stand to put a single photo of any of us in the throw away bin, even if our eyes were closed or half of us were looking in different directions. He just couldn't let them go. At $20 each, I don't even want to know what his photo bill was.
We bought lots of pirate gear; the Flying Dutchman was still at CC. It was the height of the PoC craze.

Our first DCL cruise on the Magic, a 7-nt Eastern in window cabin on deck 2 was $3500 for 2 adults/2 children. At the time we thought that was outrageous and that it would be our only one. How things have changed.

 

[dreamer17555]

I disagree that DCL doesn't want\have a ton of repeat guests. I am in a bunch of FB groups for sailings and everyone once they disembark is like "we booked a placeholder and we can't wait to sail again!" In fact placeholders have been consistently offered for a while now where it took WDW forever to bring back bounce back offers.

The price on DCL is high but so are prices across the board. Also anytime there is a 10 night summer sailing out of FL that is always one of the highest priced DCL sailings from FL. It is popular and it doesn't matter what ship it is on.

 

[JM_97]

First time cruisers are willing to splurge with onboard spending, as if it's a once in a lifetime experience.
We thought that way on our 1st DCL cruise. This was back when all photos were printed and put on display in Shutters. Dh laughed at how my dad could not stand to put a single photo of any of us in the throw away bin, even if our eyes were closed or half of us were looking in different directions. He just couldn't let them go. At $20 each, I don't even want to know what his photo bill was.
We bought lots of pirate gear; the Flying Dutchman was still at CC. It was the height of the PoC craze.

Our first DCL cruise on the Magic, a 7-nt Eastern in window cabin on deck 2 was $3500 for 2 adults/2 children. At the time we thought that was outrageous and that it would be our only one. How things have changed.

$3500 on a 7 night Eastern might cover two adults now. Might.

 

[Cfabar1]

I disagree that DCL doesn't want\have a ton of repeat guests. I am in a bunch of FB groups for sailings and everyone once they disembark is like "we booked a placeholder and we can't wait to sail again!" In fact placeholders have been consistently offered for a while now where it took WDW forever to bring back bounce back offers.

The price on DCL is high but so are prices across the board. Also anytime there is a 10 night summer sailing out of FL that is always one of the highest priced DCL sailings from FL. It is popular and it doesn't matter what ship it is on.

Those are good points across the board - I agree. I think DCL brought the placeholders back right away because they had different operational issues related to restarting out of Covid than WDW. It is interesting that they have kept them around - even with soaring demand for DCL and cruising in general.

And yes, prices across the board are extremely high for cruises right now. DCL definitely is charging a premium, but they are maintaining high service standards at the moment that other lines are diminishing their standards.

My hunch is next time the economy softens some of this will get sorted out. I do think the Summer 2025 cruises are extremely high -- but keep in mind if DCL over priced them, they'll IGT/OGT/VGT the rooms and it will all work out in the end.

 

[DCLMP]

Just doing a quick search, of the cruises available for sale, over 50% of them are 4-nights or less. About 20% are 5-nights. About 5% are 6-night and 20% are 7-night. About 5% are 8-nights or longer.... most all these are repositioning cruises, some are very pricy extended European. There's a 9-day Alaska this year, 8-day Alaska next year and 10-day Caribbean (from PC) this and next year.

Extended cruises have seen the largest growth in the industry in recent years, but not at Disney. Look at Carnival: 20% are 4-nights or less, 25% are 5- and 6-nights (split evenly), 15% are 7-nights and 40% are 8-nights or longer.

Pretty clear that the high cost of DCL limits most people to shorter cruises. Unless there's a recession, I don't expect that to change -- DCL will continue to chase the shorter cruises which are more practical for its base and yield higher revenues.

A lot of people combine the shorter cruises with park days which make it more expensive than a 7-day. There will be a lot of first time cruisers on the shorter cruises. I think it's also lets start with a short cruise and see if we like it aspect.

 

[katyringo]

We are booked on the 7 night one way reposition cruise on the magic in March 2025. When we booked in December it was about $1500 cheaper then it is now for our inside room. It's our first cruise and I'm in no way an expert.. but it seems the price was low because of the type of cruise, but then people started to notice it was 7 days with stops at both islands and it started to book up! For us we felt it was the best value for the price and our first Disney cruise.

People really like to dig on Disney cruise prices but honestly if I breakdown what we spent on 6-7 days at DisneyWorld it's very comparable.

 

[LAS2AMS]

A lot of people combine the shorter cruises with park days which make it more expensive than a 7-day. There will be a lot of first time cruisers on the shorter cruises. I think it's also lets start with a short cruise and see if we like it aspect.

When DCL debuted, Disney marketed it as a supplement to a WDW vacation. Unsurprisingly - most cruises were 5-days or less industry wide until the 2000s.

I’m sure there’s a significant number of people doing a duel vacation, but it’s clear from these forums and just talking with people on board they’re going just the cruise, and maybe a day in WDW.

 

[DCLMP]

When DCL debuted, Disney marketed it as a supplement to a WDW vacation. Unsurprisingly - most cruises were 5-days or less industry wide until the 2000s.

I’m sure there’s a significant number of people doing a duel vacation, but it’s clear from these forums and just talking with people on board they’re going just the cruise, and maybe a day in WDW.

I don't know if talking to people in these forums is an indictor of anything. This forum is pretty much the same group of people posting on multiple threads. My guess is that 99% of people cruising on DCL don't come here.

 

[Flossbolna]

I don't know if talking to people in these forums is an indictor of anything. This forum is pretty much the same group of people posting on multiple threads. My guess is that 99% of people cruising on DCL don't come here.

It used to be different. But Facebook has taken away a lot of traffic from these boards.

Not just the individual cruise’s groups but also the multitude of generic Disney cruising groups.

 

[DCLMP]

It used to be different. But Facebook has taken away a lot of traffic from these boards.

Not just the individual cruise’s groups but also the multitude of generic Disney cruising groups.

I don’t know anything about Facebook, but Reddit is my go to place when researching just about anything.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I don't know if talking to people in these forums is an indictor of anything. This forum is pretty much the same group of people posting on multiple threads. My guess is that 99% of people cruising on DCL don't come here.

I’m not talking about the regular members, or this board specifically, just transit posters on Internet forums in general. It’s very clear that most people aren’t doing duel WDW-DCL cruises these days.

I’m not surprised. With most shorter cruises selling north of $1,000/night, by the time you most people add excursions, activities, drinks, etc. and their airfare, transfers, et, they’re spending $8k-10k for a short vacation.

 

[DCLMP]

I’m not talking about the regular members, or this board specifically, just transit posters on Internet forums in general. It’s very clear that most people aren’t doing duel WDW-DCL cruises these days.

I’m not surprised. With most shorter cruises selling north of $1,000/night, by the time you most people add excursions, activities, drinks, etc. and their airfare, transfers, et, they’re spending $8k-10k for a short vacation.

I'm just curious. How is it "very clear". How would you find actually numbers on that. I would have no idea. I do know they have busses running from the Disney Resorts to the terminal. I've never seen a short cruise sell for 1000 a night. Are you saying per person or several people in one room. I just did a 4 night cruise out of San Diego during Spring break and paid 1900 for the two of us.

 

[JM_97]

I’m not talking about the regular members, or this board specifically, just transit posters on Internet forums in general. It’s very clear that most people aren’t doing duel WDW-DCL cruises these days.

I’m not surprised. With most shorter cruises selling north of $1,000/night, by the time you most people add excursions, activities, drinks, etc. and their airfare, transfers, et, they’re spending $8k-10k for a short vacation.

Also keep in mind you also have so many more options with Disney Cruise Line. From 1999-2010, these were your options the vast majority of the time:

Disney Magic: 7 night Caribbean from Port Canaveral
Disney Wonder: 3 or 4 night Bahamas from Port Canaveral

That was it. Two ships doing two itineraries, unless it was a special event. So it was a lot easier to plan because you were so limited and you had to sail from the port an hour from Disney World. It just made sense to tack on a trip to Disney, especially if you were sailing on the Wonder.

Now you have different ships in different places. And while plenty of people still combine WDW and DCL, you don't see it as much because you have more options than you did for the first 11 or 12 years of the cruise line.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I'm just curious. How is it "very clear". How would you find actually numbers on that. I would have no idea. I do know they have busses running from the Disney Resorts to the terminal. I've never seen a short cruise sell for 1000 a night. Are you saying per person or several people in one room. I just did a 4 night cruise out of San Diego during Spring break and paid 1900 for the two of us.

Yes, my posts keep referring to families (3-4 people in a room) since that’s the bread and butter of DCL. I also said the number of people who do split WDW/DCL vacations isn’t insignificant but you can learn a lot from talking to people.

San Diego has the cheapest domestic DCL rates. The cruises out of Florida, even on the Dream / Fantasy / Magic, for similar days/dates sell for much higher.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Also keep in mind you also have so many more options with Disney Cruise Line. From 1999-2010, these were your options the vast majority of the time:

Disney Magic: 7 night Caribbean from Port Canaveral
Disney Wonder: 3 or 4 night Bahamas from Port Canaveral

That was it. Two ships doing two itineraries, unless it was a special event. So it was a lot easier to plan because you were so limited and you had to sail from the port an hour from Disney World. It just made sense to tack on a trip to Disney, especially if you were sailing on the Wonder.

Now you have different ships in different places. And while plenty of people still combine WDW and DCL, you don't see it as much because you have more options than you did for the first 11 or 12 years of the cruise line.

Magic also did mostly split cruises for years. Most cruises, industry wide, were 5-days or less until well into the 2000s. Disney marketed DCL as a supplement to WDW… we stayed at the Contemporary frequently in the late 90s/early 00 and it was the launching point for DCL and was heavy on ads for the cruise line.

 

[Flossbolna]

Magic also did mostly split cruises for years. Most cruises, industry wide, were 5-days or less until well into the 2000s. Disney marketed DCL as a supplement to WDW… we stayed at the Contemporary frequently in the late 90s/early 00 and it was the launching point for DCL and was heavy on ads for the cruise line.

Ever since the Wonder came online the Magic did 7 night cruises. The DCL blog has all the past itineraries as well: https://disneycruiselineblog.com/cruise-planning/itineraries/

Nothing between 2000 and 2014 for 3 and 4 night cruises out of PC (one cruise in 2005 and 2006 being the exception).

 

[DCLMP]

Magic also did mostly split cruises for years. Most cruises, industry wide, were 5-days or less until well into the 2000s. Disney marketed DCL as a supplement to WDW… we stayed at the Contemporary frequently in the late 90s/early 00 and it was the launching point for DCL and was heavy on ads for the cruise line.

We started out doing the resort and short cruise vacations. I don't think I would fly to Florida for a four day cruise. Even a 7 day I would add on a couple of nights at a resort. I guess it really depends on where you are coming from. I'm selective too. I look for the deals.

I have found cruising out of Texas there's are a lot of Texans and California a lot of Californians, New York ditto. Florida the same, but I do find more people come from all over for the PC cruises.

 

[Cfabar1]

We live a short drive from PC and a not huge drive from PE. A 3 day cruise makes sense for us - a great short "getaway" over the weekend.

I can't imagine flying across the country for a 3 night cruise. I'm sure people do it, but that just wouldn't work for us and our family situation.