Sailings out of San Diego

[sukhakuli]

We are in the planning stages of our first Disney Cruise.

Does it seem like there aren't very many sailings out of San Diego lately? We wanted to go for Christmas, but the travel agent said there were no sailings. So we checked for spring break 2018 and there are only sailings in May. We are currently booked for September 24th 2017 but we really wanted to go later. I don't want to choose another port because we are a family of 6 and airfare for us can be a budget buster.

 

[MunFam]

There are not many cruises out of San Diego...period. Since we live a few blocks from the port, we are always watching for cruises (on any cruise line) to come up...and they just don't happen very often. The DCL ones that go in and out of San Diego are all "stopovers" as part of a re-positioning cruise between Alaska and the Caribbean, so you won't find them in the Summer or Winter.

 

[sukhakuli]

They had Christmas cruises last year, so I assumed they had them every year. I've been keeping an eye on the DCL cruises for the last few years, and it seems like the number of sailings out of San Diego are less this year than in years past. I'm wondering if this is a trend, which will affect if we keep this Sept booking or not.

We preferred sailing later in the year, plus we were on vacation when the dates came out for September and the cruise is already sold out. We have to have 2 staterooms, and we can't get connecting rooms, or an assignment, so our rooms might not be anywhere close. The TA said we might not even be able to eat at the same table. Some family trip, right? I'm probably freaking out over nothing, but we are spending a small fortune for a one week cruise and it feels like we are making a lot of concessions.

 

[ajo]

As the PP said, there are no DCL cruises out of San Diego in the winter or summer. In December 2016, the Wonder was in Galveston. It was not in San Diego.
Wish there were many more west coast cruises. Hopefully with the new ships this dream will come true!

 

[BartmanLA]

The Wonder will move from Florida to the West Coast this month, first leg will be the Westbound Panama Canal cruise departing Port Canaveral on 4/23/17, arriving in San Diego on 5/7/17, from there it will do a series of short Mexican Rivera cruises until 5/17/17 when it departs San Diego for Vancouver where it will remain through the rest of the summer season conducting Alaskan Coast cruises until September 11, 2017 when it returns to Florida via San Diego where it will remain in the Caribbean/Gulf region for the remainder of 2017.

 

[KristiMc]

They had Christmas cruises last year, so I assumed they had them every year. I've been keeping an eye on the DCL cruises for the last few years, and it seems like the number of sailings out of San Diego are less this year than in years past. I'm wondering if this is a trend, which will affect if we keep this Sept booking or not.

We preferred sailing later in the year, plus we were on vacation when the dates came out for September and the cruise is already sold out. We have to have 2 staterooms, and we can't get connecting rooms, or an assignment, so our rooms might not be anywhere close. The TA said we might not even be able to eat at the same table. Some family trip, right? I'm probably freaking out over nothing, but we are spending a small fortune for a one week cruise and it feels like we are making a lot of concessions.

I don't believe that DCL has ever been on the West Coast during Christmas.

 

[bbel]

I don't believe that DCL has ever been on the West Coast during Christmas.

Nope. They're usually heading back to the Caribbean by September/October time, so you'll be pushed to even get a Halloween cruise out of SD...

 

[cruisehopeful]

I don't believe that DCL has ever been on the West Coast during Christmas.

They actually did several years ago. There were Holiday cruises to Mexico. I think the following year, they didn't do any cruises to Mexico on the west coast. So, the prior year must have not sold well. Also, I believe they sailed round trip from Los Angeles and not from San Diego.

So we checked for spring break 2018 and there are only sailings in May. We are currently booked for September 24th 2017 but we really wanted to go later.

There are a couple sailings in April. Whether or not those fall on your spring break, idk. Please go to the Disney cruise website and leave all the dates open. Only choose the port of San Diego and you will see all the current cruises out of San Diego.

As the other posters mentioned, Disney only sails out of San Diego when they are moving their ship for their other cruises. Basically, they sail prior to and just after the Alaska cruise season. What they are offering now is actually quite a bit more than what they've offered for a few years. We get very limited itineraries for April/May and September/October. Hopefully, they will continue to add more dates if the current sailings sell out. However, it seems like only the 2 night sailings sell out.

 

[dclpluto]

when the new ships come I'm sure DCL will have more cruises from the west coast. But if the demand is not there they will definitely pull back some and try to make $$$ elsewhere.

 

[Msmit002]

when the new ships come I'm sure DCL will have more cruises from the west coast. But if the demand is not there they will definitely pull back some and try to make $$$ elsewhere.

This is exactly how DCL operates, versus other cruise lines. Other cruise lines have larger fleets, more embarkation ports, more choices for consumers. But, this also lowers their demand, most times they do not fill their ships and discounted passage is more the norm than the exception.

DCL, with their smaller fleet, watches their market base closely and offers sailings where they believe they will sell out their sailings - and they do a good job of it. That's why discounted passage isn't exactly common/given on any particular sailing.

DCL has two more ships in the works purely because they believe they NOW have the market base to fill those chips regularly. Whether or not any of the DCL fleet make a permanent move to the west coast or even further up the east coast remains to be seen.