Disney Cruise Line Updates Deposit and Cancellation Policies!

Disney Cruise Line Updates Deposit and Cancellation Policies!

Announcement by Disney:

Beginning June 18, the required deposit for Disney Cruise Line reservations is changing from 20% to 10% of the voyage fare for new bookings. For existing reservations made on or before June 17, 2025, the original 20% deposit remains in place in accordance with the terms agreed upon at the time of booking. Specific details for this update include:

Cancellation Fees

• Cancellation fees will follow the new deposit policy for sailings made on or after June 18, 2025.
• If a reservation is cancelled during the deposit cancellation fee period and the deposit was 10%, the cancellation fees will also be 10% of the voyage fare.
• Cancellation fees for guests who previously paid a 20% deposit will be 20% of the voyage fare.
• Per our existing policy, deposits will continue to be non-refundable for Concierge Guests.

Modifications

• If a Guest is outside the cancellation fee period and prefers to take advantage of the new 10% deposit policy, they may cancel and rebook their reservation under the updated terms.
• Standard cancellation fees may apply for reservations within the cancellation fee period, as outlined in our terms and conditions.

Onboard Placeholder Offers

• Guests who have booked a Placeholder Reservation will also see a change in the required deposit when they add a sail date to their reservation if the sailing is 7 nights or longer.
• Guests will only be required to pay a 5% deposit. If the reservation is cancelled in the deposit cancellation fee window, Guests will only be subject to a 5% cancellation fee.
• In addition to the deposit percentage change, there will no longer be a three day hold when converting Onboard Placeholder Offers through the Contact Center or when booking online. A deposit will now be due at the time of placeholder conversion now that placeholders can be converted online.

 

How does this affect cruisers booking:

DCL has made Deposit and Cancellation Policy changes that those that LOVE Disney Cruising will be happy with!! I held off posting this until I was able to call and confirm with DCL the Deposit Cancellation Policy.

 

Starting June 18^th, 2025, the initial deposit for Disney Cruises will be 10% instead of 20% of the cruise fare. If you are booking with a placeholder, you will only need to make a deposit of 5% of the cruise fare on cruises 7 nights or longer! Even with the placeholder you will need to make a 10% deposit on cruises shorter than 7-nightss. It will be much easier to make the deposit!

 

The Cancellation policy is basically the same. If you cancel your cruise after the Pay in Full Date you will be charged a cancellation fee that starts with the deposit amount. If you made your deposit before June 18^th, 2025, and the deposit was 20% you will lose 20% up to the full amount if you cancel in the last 2 weeks before the cruise. If you make a deposit after June 18^th, 2025, your starting cancellation fee is 10%, up to the full fare. If you book a 7-night cruise with a placeholder and the deposit is 5% you with have a starting cancellation fee of 5% up to the full fare.

 

This is EXTRA good news at this time!!! DCL should be releasing new itineraries for Fall 2026-Spring 2027 (late September 2026-May 2027) shortly!

Facts, Rumors/ Speculation, and Thoughts on the Disney Cruise Line Expansion

Facts, Rumors/ Speculation, and Thoughts on the Disney Cruise Line Expansion

Right now, it is an exciting time for DCL fans!!! Lots of known facts, rumors and speculation is going on. Let’s separate them so we know exactly what is known proven FACT vs Rumors/Speculation.

Known Facts:

Disney Cruise Line is expanding its fleet to 13 ships by 2031

They will have:

• 2 Classic-Class Ships
• 2 Dream-Class Ships
• 5 Wish-Class Ships
• 1 Global-Class Ship
• 3 Unnamed-Class Ships
• Wish-Class Destiny will join the fleet November 2025
• Disney Cruise Line is sending one new ship to Singapore, December 2025, Disney Adventure
• Disney Cruise Line is building and sending a new Wish-Class ship to Japan to be under the same company that owns and operates Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea.
• Wish-Class Ship Unnamed to come to the USA in 2027
• Wish-Class Unnamed ship to Japan in 2028
• New Unnamed-Class Ships to join the fleet 2029-2031

Disney Cruise Line has added 2 new year-round Ports:

• DCL has made an agreement starting Fall of 2027, they will be stopping at Catalina Island year-round.
• DCL has confirmed that they have made an agreement with the Port of Galveston to start sailing out of Galveston year-round starting 2027.
• Port Canaveral has too much cruise traffic and cannot handle more ships sailing out of there. Port Canaveral cannot expand to take on more traffic.
• Fort Lauderdale is also getting busy and nearing a limit to the number of ships and expandability.
• Disney Cruise Line popularity is growing.
• US West Coast and Gulf of Mexico cruising is growing.

Rumors and Speculation:

• Disney Cruise Line will leave Magic & Wonder (the 2 Classic-Class ships) on the West Coast most of the year.
• Disney Cruise Line may bring one or more of their Unnamed-Class ships to the West Coast.
• Magic and Wonder will continue going to Alaska.
• Wonder will continue going to Australia in the US winter.
• So far reports are saying a new Wish-Class Disney will call Galveston, Tx home port.
• One of the Dream-Class ships will most likely continue going to Europe in the Summers.

Why these Speculations:

• Only the Classic-Class ships and maybe the Unnamed-Class to be built can get through the Panama Canel. Dream and Wish-Class ships are too tall to go under the Bridge of Americas.
• The Magic and Wonder are specifically mentioned in the Catalina Island agreement. There is mention of possible “other” Disney ships.
• It looks like the Unnamed-Class ships could be small enough to pass through the Panama Canel so it would be able to come over to the West Coast. This is unconfirmed.
• The Australian Cruises are quite popular. I don’t see Disney stopping it. They may switch up ships but still DCL will go there.
• I believe 3 Wish-Class ships will be split between Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale Fl. along with a Dream-Class. With 5 or 6 ships there I believe DCL has reached it’s limit for keeping any other class ship there.
• With the addition of 3 new Unnamed-Class smaller ships there are lots of options. You could split them between Galveston, Tx and San Diego, Ca.
• Very sad speculation. Magic and Wonder are approaching 30 years old. 30 years is the expected useful life of a passenger cruise ship. After 30 years the ships smell on the inside, technology has passed them up and mechanical issues show up. It is possible that these two wave breaking ships may be decommissioned in the next 5-10 years. The newer smaller Unnamed-Class would take over for them.

 

New DCL Itineraries should be coming out in the next few weeks. Let me know if you would like to be on the list to be notified.

Info@PixieDustedMemoriesTravel.com