Second DC, ship ?'s

[Jesslm80]

I'm trying to plan our second Disney Cruise for our family (DH, DS 10, DS 6, ages at time of trip). In September 2015 we did our first Disney Cruise (Dream, 4night), we are hooked. This year we will take our first trip to Disney World for a week.

We are looking at booking our 2017 cruise this May. We did the Dream our first trip, it went to Nassau and Castaway Cay. We would like to still depart from Port Canaveral (because we drive there) for a 7 night cruise to the Eastern or Southern Caribbean (but I think that only departs from San Juan). I would like to try a different ship, but I'm worried a smaller ship won't be as amazing as the Dream.

For those that have done other ships, how did it feel going from the Dream to the smaller ships? Did you like one ship more than the other?

Does what ship you get matter to you when booking? Or is it the destinations? We just don't wanna do Mexico or the Bahamas again. So that limits us.

Not sure if it matters, but we will be cruising in September or October.

Thanks for your help.

 

[ahain]

If you want to sail from Port Canaveral - try the Fantasy, which does 7 night E & W Caribbean cruises from PC. Fantasy is my favorite ship and is basically identical to the Dream as far a layout, etc.
I prefer the Fantasy largely because she does longer cruises which feel more relaxed...even the servers and SR attendants seem more relaxed to me. We have not been on the Magic but have been on the Wonder. The Wonder is a beautiful ship and many on these boards prefer the smaller DCL ships. I prefer the larger "Dream class" ships.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm trying to plan our second Disney Cruise for our family (DH, DS 10, DS 6, ages at time of trip). In September 2015 we did our first Disney Cruise (Dream, 4night), we are hooked. This year we will take our first trip to Disney World for a week.

We are looking at booking our 2017 cruise this May. We did the Dream our first trip, it went to Nassau and Castaway Cay. We would like to still depart from Port Canaveral (because we drive there) for a 7 night cruise to the Eastern or Southern Caribbean (but I think that only departs from San Juan). I would like to try a different ship, but I'm worried a smaller ship won't be as amazing as the Dream.

For those that have done other ships, how did it feel going from the Dream to the smaller ships? Did you like one ship more than the other?

Does what ship you get matter to you when booking? Or is it the destinations? We just don't wanna do Mexico or the Bahamas again. So that limits us.

Not sure if it matters, but we will be cruising in September or October.

Thanks for your help.

While we didn't go from the Dream class to the Magic class ships (we sailed the Magic & Wonder before doing the Dream & Fantasy), we prefer the smaller Magic class ship more. Actually we prefer the original Magic class design better, but ship size (2000 guests as opposed to 3500 guests onboard) is, in my opinion, a better fit for us.

We book our cruises based on itinerary first, so that's what we'd be looking at.

Sept/Oct in the Caribbean is hurricane season, just so you know.

 

[Jesslm80]

While we didn't go from the Dream class to the Magic class ships (we sailed the Magic & Wonder before doing the Dream & Fantasy), we prefer the smaller Magic class ship more. Actually we prefer the original Magic class design better, but ship size (2000 guests as opposed to 3500 guests onboard) is, in my opinion, a better fit for us.

We book our cruises based on itinerary first, so that's what we'd be looking at.

Sept/Oct in the Caribbean is hurricane season, just so you know.

We cruised in September last year. We missed a hurricane by a few weeks. Not fun timing. But my husband is active duty marine corps so we have to plan our trips then. I wish we didn't.

 

[Jesslm80]

If you want to sail from Port Canaveral - try the Fantasy, which does 7 night E & W Caribbean cruises from PC. Fantasy is my favorite ship and is basically identical to the Dream as far a layout, etc.
I prefer the Fantasy largely because she does longer cruises which feel more relaxed...even the servers and SR attendants seem more relaxed to me. We have not been on the Magic but have been on the Wonder. The Wonder is a beautiful ship and many on these boards prefer the smaller DCL ships. I prefer the larger "Dream class" ships.

Have you been on both the dream and fantasy? My next question is did you feel like you were repeating your cruise? Was it still just as amazing?

 

[ahain]

Have you been on both the dream and fantasy? My next question is did you feel like you were repeating your cruise? Was it still just as amazing?

There was really no comparison.... a 7 night is sooooo much better than a 3 or 4 night! And the Dream goes to the Bahamas (3 or 4 nights), whereas the Fantasy goes to the Eastern and Western Caribbean (all 7 nights, I believe) We've done the Dream to the Bahamas 3x (one 3-night and two 4 nights). If we do it again, it will be just to "cruise" and go to Castaway Cay - we probably won't even get off the ship in Nassau. On the Fantasy, we did the Eastern itinerary the first time (St Maarten, St Thomas and Castaway Cay). LOVED it. 3 sea days makes it incredibly relaxing and allows you to really get to know the ship and enjoy the onboard activities. Next week, we'll leave on the Fantasy for a Western (Star Wars) with stops at Grand Cayman, Cozumel & Castaway Cay) and again, 3 glorious sea days.

Still as amazing?? YES!!! Absolutely!

 

[Bishoparc]

Have you been on both the dream and fantasy? My next question is did you feel like you were repeating your cruise? Was it still just as amazing?

Hi there, my wife and I did our first cruise on the Dream (3 night Bahamas) last September and just completed our second cruise (same exact one) in late January of this year. For us, it still hasn't gotten old (as can be seen by the fact we have 3 additional cruises scheduled on the Dream for this year lol). Our second one, even though it was exactly the same itinerary and ship, felt like a whole new experience. Different "magic" happened for us on this cruise as compared to the first. For example on this last one Crush talked to our table in Animators Palate as to where in the first cruise he didn't (and I was the lucky one to get singled out at our table lol) We meet some amazing people that were our table mates on this last one as to where we first sailed with my wife's parents. We now have 4 new friends we didn't have before.

What's sad is, reading some of the other threads, we still haven't done everything there is to do onboard. While we do plan on taking a longer cruise next year, due to my wife and I's jobs we can only fit in these short ones and for us we absolutely love them and are totally addicted. I literally, just yesterday, booked us on the 4/29 sailing of the dream.

A couple of threads I would recommend for you:
Favorite Guilty Pleasure on DCL
How Many Disney cruises is too many?
My trip report of our second cruise on the Dream

Good luck in your planning and choosing!

 

[anricat]

We did our first cruise, a 3-night on the Dream in June 2014. We got home and booked on a bounce back offer on the Magic in October on a 5-night. We are officially fans of the smaller ships 100%

I was sort of worried we wouldn't like it as much. Literally the only thing we missed was the Midship Detective Agency. My daughter asked about it and I told her they didn't have it on the Magic and then she sort of looked bummed for about 5 seconds and asked what else there was to do. We really liked being able to get places more quickly on the ship. Everything felt more intimate, we ran into a lot of the same people and made friendships, places felt less crowded. We LOVED it.

We also really enjoyed the itinerary we chose on the Magic. We did Grand Cayman, Castaway Cay and two days at sea. I was initially also worried about sea days ("what will we do?!") but I loved them and had so much fun. Reports for both trips are in my signature. It's funny, at the end of my trip report for my first cruise I said I didn't think we'd cruise again for a few years. Well, evidently I was wrong and we're going to have cruised three times WITHIN three years by the time this year is out.

 

[DHSbutcher]

We've done 1 sailing on the magic, 8 sailings on the wonder, and 1 on the dream. Our trip on the dream was so rushed, I loved the ship but hated the experience. Our first cruise was on the magic, then sailed the wonder for every cruise after that. go figure. The wonder/magic are definitely my favorite. The smaller ship we prefer. I would like to sail on the Fantasy one day, but only if it does something other than eastern and western caribbean, as we've sailed those so many times.

 

[dclpluto]

We cruised in September last year. We missed a hurricane by a few weeks. Not fun timing. But my husband is active duty marine corps so we have to plan our trips then. I wish we didn't.

SEMPER FI

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I'm trying to plan our second Disney Cruise for our family (DH, DS 10, DS 6, ages at time of trip). In September 2015 we did our first Disney Cruise (Dream, 4night), we are hooked. This year we will take our first trip to Disney World for a week.

We are looking at booking our 2017 cruise this May. We did the Dream our first trip, it went to Nassau and Castaway Cay. We would like to still depart from Port Canaveral (because we drive there) for a 7 night cruise to the Eastern or Southern Caribbean (but I think that only departs from San Juan). I would like to try a different ship, but I'm worried a smaller ship won't be as amazing as the Dream.

For those that have done other ships, how did it feel going from the Dream to the smaller ships? Did you like one ship more than the other?

Does what ship you get matter to you when booking? Or is it the destinations? We just don't wanna do Mexico or the Bahamas again. So that limits us.

Not sure if it matters, but we will be cruising in September or October.

Thanks for your help.

We started on the Dream (3 night) and enjoyed it, then did a 7 night eastern on the Fantasy. Holy crap was it amazing!!! Absolutely loved it, did the western the following year. Most recently were on the Wonder.

My advice is to do the Fantasy. With that said, and as much as I LOVE the Fantasy, the Wonder was not a disappointment at all. The ship was beautiful and in great condition. We had some less than stellar dining room servers but that can happen any time on any ship.

If you have any doubts on the Fantasy, read the reviews on cruise critic, there's a good reason she has the best reviews of any mainstream ship, 93% of cruisers recommend her. That's higher than any ship period.

 

[Scherzermk]

My recommendation is to look at itineraries when they come out in March (hopefully) and book something. Don't wait until May or prices will go up. No one told me that when I was weighing all my options for my second cruise.

 

[kiford]

We've done 1 cruise on the Wonder (our first), 2 on the Dream and 6 on the Magic. We prefer the Magic/Wonder class over the Dream/Fantasy class. Not that there aren't things I liked and/or preferred on the Dream, but the Magic remains our favourite. The Magic has slightly larger staterooms, a more intimate feel, fewer people disembarking at the same time and the dining rooms have the tables spread out a bit more. The Magic has a piano bar which the Dream does not and we do spend time there. I prefer the Cove Cafe layout on the Magic. Until her re-imagining, the Magic had Topsiders instead of Cabanas which I preferred. I find the layout of Cabanas to be chaotic, I don't like that they no longer give you a tray and I hate having to ask a server to pick out food for you from behind a counter (yes, I know it's about sanitary conditions, but it's inconvenient).

The Dream has Remy, Meridian lounge, Midship Detective (didn't get a chance to play it, but I will eventually). I like the adult pool better (although not the hot tubs) and doors that open automatically onto deck instead of having to haul a heavy door open. I liked the Crush show which I didn't think I would but it was fun. I like the lobby bar - nice and open and good for people watching. I think that the Guest Services desk is in a better location and feels less crowded when you need to line up. I liked Pink.

Although we prefer the Magic, I wouldn't say that either ship class is better or worse than another class. Just different and you may develop a preference for one over the other either because of the differences, or because one was your first cruise and you have a certain nostalgia for it. But they're both great.