5-Step Guide to Planning a Disney Cruise Vacation

A Disney cruise is a great way to spend time with your favorite characters while exploring different parts of the world.

You get the best of everything Disney has to offer on a cruise – themed staterooms, variety of dining options, shorter lineups to meet your favorite characters, excursions and activities for all types of travelers.

Thinking of sailing with Disney Cruise Line? Here’s how to plan a Disney cruise vacation in 5 easy steps:

1. Choose Your Itinerary

Disney Cruise Line consists of four ships

Disney Magic
Disney Wonder
Disney Dream
Disney Fantasy

DCL offers 3 to 15 night cruises and depending on your travel tastes, you can choose to explore these areas of the world by cruise ship:

Alaska
Bahamas
California Coast
Caribbean
Europe
Hawaii
Mexico
Panama Canal
Transatlantic

There are several re-positioning cruises available throughout the year as ships will change their location depending on season – for example, at the end of summer ships will start off in Europe and make their way back to the Caribbean for fall and winter.

These cruises are generally cheaper as guests purchase one way airline tickets as the starting point and ending point of the cruise are different.

There are 9 different embarkation points and make finding a cruise easy for DCL guests. They are:

Barcelona, Spain
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dover, England
Galveston, Texas
Miami, Florida
Port Canaveral, Florida
San Diego, California
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Vancouver, Canada

2. Select Sail Dates

Disney Cruise Line sails year round and like Disney World, school breaks and major holidays are when the ships fill up quickly.

For guests looking to avoid the crowds, booking a cruise during a slower season (when kids are in school or during hurricane season in the Caribbean – June to November) also means a higher chance of getting a discount or booking during a promotional period.

For example, an oceanview room during low season is the same price as an inside stateroom during high season.

3. Pick Your Room

Choosing a stateroom depends on your travel group size and the amenities you’re looking for in a cabin. Keep these eight things in mind when deciding which cabin or stateroom to book for your Disney cruise.

4. Reserve Your Cruise

There are several ways to book your Disney Cruise Line vacation. You can book directly on Disney Cruise Line’s website, reserve over the phone or work with your favorite travel agent.

Travel agencies may offer other incentives to clients on top of the general public offers you see on Disney Cruise Line’s site. They’ll include things like shipboard credit, complimentary photo packages or Disney related merchandise.

Wherever you decide to book your Disney cruise, you will need to make a deposit to hold spot and stateroom for that particular date – going rate is 20% of the cruise fare per person – but is refundable within a certain time period.

Guests booking suites or sailing on a specialty cruise may be required to make a larger deposit and these are normally non-refundable.

5. Start the Countdown

Now it’s time to start counting down. While the planning isn’t over, you’ve completed the most difficult part so it’s just the little stuff that needs finalizing. This includes: pre- and post-hotel and dining reservations (if a Walt Disney World visit before or after your cruise is part of your vacation itinerary), airfare, port transfers, souvenirs, and port excursions.