How to Choose a Disney Cruise

How to Choose a Disney Cruise

As of the end of this year Disney Cruise Line will have 6 ships active in the fleet. By 2025 there will be 8 ships in the fleet. Between 2028 and 2031 DCL will add 5 more and have 13 ships! So how do you choose what ship to sail?

 

First decide what is most important to you. Are the Ports more important than the ship or is the ship the attraction? If it is ports/destinations, then look for where you wish to go. If it is ship, look to what Class of ship you wish to sail. You can also decide by Departure Port, looking for a port near your home or near a Disney Park so you can do a Land/Sea vacation. You should also consider length of cruise. Only one ship does consistent 7-Night itineraries. Starting in December2024, that will be the Treasure out of Port Canaveral. Some ships only do 3 & 4-Night Cruises. Some do 3, 4, 5, and a few 7-Night cruises. 2 times a year a ship does a 13-14-Night Transatlantic. A ship or maybe 2 will do 2 Panama Canal 14-Night cruises. Wonder often does 2 13-Night cruises to/from Hawaii and a 13-14-Night South Pacific cruise to Australia with a return of the same. Wonder also does 7 and 9 day Alaskan Cruises as well.

 

Disney currently has 3 different classes of ships and 6 ships in the fleet. By 2031 DCL may have 5 classes of ships.

Here are the classes of ships and information of the ships of each class:

Class - Classic/Magic Class

Ships - Magic and Wonder

Number of Staterooms – 875

Passenger Capacity – 2700

These are the oldest and most loved of the Disney Ships built in 1998 & 1999. When Magic was built she was the 5^th largest ship at sea, but is now considered a small cruise ship. Wonder is her near identical twin.

 

Class - Dream

Ships – Dream and Fantasy

Number of Staterooms – 1,250

Passenger Capacity – 4,000

These beautiful ships came into service in 2011 & 2012. They were the first ships of the fleet to have a water coaster, the AquaDuck. They only have 1 restaurant with a show with 2 beautiful fancy restaurants.

 

Class – Wish/Triton

Ships – Wish, Treasure (December 2024)

Number of Staterooms – 1,254

Passenger Capacity – 4,000

These ships are the newest. Wish came into service in 2022, and Treasure joined the fleet in October 2024. Treasure will take its Maiden Voyage December 21^st, 2024. These ships have 2 restaurants with wonderful shows. The downside to these ships is they have no Midship Elevator. This makes it harder for those with mobility issues to navigate the ship.

 

Coming between 2025 & 2031

Class – Wish/Triton

Ships – Destiny (2025), Unnamed (Ordered in 2024 for the Oriental Land Company Sailing from Tokyo, Japan in 2028.)

Number of Staterooms – 1,254

Passenger Capacity – 4,000

These ships are identical to the Wish and Treasure. Destiny will join the fleet November of 2025 and the Maiden Voyage is November 20^th, 2025. The unnamed ship will be built by 2028 and sail out of the Tokyo, Japan. If it does well the Oriental Land Company will order more. Building of this ship should start in late 2025 or early 2026.

 

Class – Global/Adventure (This is a unique one of a kind Disney Ship as it was purchased half built from auction when a Chinese Cruise Line went out of business during the Covid Pandemic.

Ships – Adventure (2025) (Sailing from Singapore until at least 2030/31.)

Number of Staterooms – 2,111

Passenger Capacity – 6,700

Adventure started out named the Global Dream for a Chinese Cruise Line. It will have 6 Main Restaurants that will be broken down into 2 three restaurant rotational dining experiences. There are 7 themed areas. This ship will sail from Singapore starting December 2025.

 

There are 4 more ships yet to be named and Class/Design unknown to be built by 2031. These ships were ordered in 2024. There is not enough information at this time to speculate Passenger Capacity or even where they will sail from.

 

At this time there are always 2 ships sailing out of Port Canaveral, Florida with 1 or 2 out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Depending on the “season” Disney has ships in the Mediterranean/Europe, Vancouver, Canada going to Alaska, San Diego, California, Australia, and Gulf of Mexico (Galveston/New Orleans). So you can take a Disney Cruise almost anywhere in the world!

 

When choosing a Disney Ship, you may wish to look at Restaurants and Shows to see if they have are ones you are particularly interested in. An example is for the Frozen fan Wish has the Arrendale Frozen Dining Experience. Several of the ships have a Frozen live stage play. Magic has a Rapunzel themed restaurant and Wonder has Princess Tiana’s Place. One thing to understand is there are 1-2 restaurants on each ship with entertainment in the Main Restaurant with dinner! 2 ships only have 1 restaurant with entertainment, Dream and Fantasy have Animator’s Palate for a show while the other restaurants are just fancy and great restaurants. No matter if they have shows or not the food is always amazing!

 

Having been on all the ships, except the Wish/Triton Class my favorites are the Classic/Magic class. We love the nautical theming of the ship as a whole and they both have 2 restaurants with shows! Both have Animator’s Palate and then either Rapunzel or Tiana themed restaurants that have shows.

 

While the Wish/Triton class ships look amazing, and we know we would love the offerings for entertainment, experiences and restaurants we have our concerns about this class. The Main Restaurants are all amazing for the Disney Fan. Marvel has a restaurant on each ship, a Disney Movie gets a restaurant and then there is 1923, a 1920’s Glitz/Glam Hollywood theme with lots of Disney artwork on display. They have unique offerings, such as the AquaMouse, the first Disney Attraction at Sea. It is a water coaster, like the AquaDuck  with some Dark Ride video and water effects to tell a story. There is also an Alternate Reality game you can play on the app using your phone. You point the phone at a piece of art or maybe at the sky or water and it gives you clues to solve a riddle! All the other ships have 3 banks of elevators, Aft, Forward and Midship. This makes it easy to go up or down a deck and stay in the same area of the ship. This is important for those with mobility issues that limit or eliminate the use of stairs. From looking at deck plans, talking to those that have been on the ships and reading reviews I think those with mobility issues will find this class harder and more frustrating to navigate. Just imagine being in the Grand Hall (main lobby) midship, you know there is a shop or lounge you wish to go to one deck above. You have to go either to the forward or aft of the ship to get the elevator to go up because you can’t take the stairs. That could double the distance you need to go, and you already have mobility issues. I don’t believe the designers of the ship took this into consideration and it is a huge mistake.

 

But no matter what ship you choose you will have an amazing cruise experience!