Planning for a future family cruise (around 2025)

[mevelandry]

Hi guys,

Our Godson is born last week and I was speaking with my niece about how we'd like to do short DCL cruise with him (+the rest of their little family) when he's 2,5-3 years old and his older brother will be 5 years

DCL becoming more and more expensive, I was wondering if you knew which weeks tend to be the least expensive so we can make a choice.

We will most likely stay at the Hyatt or near the airport the day before the cruise as I don't think WDW is worth it for such young french-canadian kids anyway (the parents barely speak english and the kids will most likely only speak/understand french at that point).

We will most likely depart from Port Canaveral. We're looking at a 3 nights cruises.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Marthasor]

I would look at any months/weeks that schools are typically in session. For example, I am eyeing a Wish cruise in early Feb. 2023 for me and DH. The prices seem substantially lower because the dates do not fall around any school vacations or national holidays. If you know you want a 3-night, I would go on the DCL website and just pull up all the 3 nights that are currently available to give a sense of current rates.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Early September is generally good - too early for kids to pull from school, hurricane risks drive down costs.

 

[mevelandry]

What about early November?

 

[lanejudy]

New Jersey schools are off in early November as well as Veteran's Day (which may or may nor be time off for schools). I'd look at September/early October or January/early February for less expensive cruising. Keep in mind fall is hurricane season so a slight risk of itinerary changes but not usually a big impact; winter months could have travel (flights) impacted from the north.

 

[Rob1872]

It is all a supply and demand issue. When the kids are out of school, prices go up. When they are in school or it is prime hurricane season, prices go down.

If you plan on cruising in 2025, just look at the 2024 dates and prices when they all come out. That will give you a rough estimate of what the relative costs will be for different times.

There is no special date for the best value cruise. No one is going to say that a cruise that departs the week of January 17th will be the low price for the year.

 

[auntlynne]

Very funny - The week of Jan 17, 2023 is one of the three lowest priced for the Wish. And it was for the Magic in 2014. Martin Luther King Jr holiday falls on the Monday. But I digress.

One of the nice things of the Disney Cruise Line website is that that when you do a cruise search, they list the cheapest priced week first; pretty sure that would be for an inside cabin. (I am generalizing here, as cabin category prices can go up as they sell out.

Traditionally, most travel had shoulder seasons where demand is lower, with lower pricing. WDW used to have this, but they figured how to get more people to the parks with Run Disney events. Time shares in Hawaii still operate under these dates.

And a lot of my cruises have been in shoulder seasons - to get better prices.

January - Starting MLK weekend, going for about 3 weeks.

April, early May - after Easter and Easter school breaks. Just did April 25-30. Very few school age kids, but definitely preschoolers (they are missing that final 4-6 weeks of school). Our air temps were 80 in the Bahamas.

November - sometimes the first week.

December - the first week or two (depending when American Thanksgiving is; it’s the 4th Thursday, which means as early as Nov 22).

Prices can drop in September, due to hurricanes. Peak hurricane season starts in mid-August and runs 4-6 weeks. But cruise prices often don’t drop until after the first Monday in September (Labor Day). I sailed Sep 20-24 last year and fortunately had no weather issues. But it’s a gamble.

There may not be fixed dates, but there are trends. With the benefit of time on your side, you can check prices for a few years.

Hope you have a great time planning. And enjoy your godson.

 

[Calantha]

January - Starting MLK weekend, going for about 3 weeks.

We went this week in January on the Dream and we're doing it next year on the Wish. I love only needing to take 4 days off/DS only misses 4 days of school, to go out for the week. The prices seemed pretty reasonable.