Disney Cruise Lines
Disney Cruise Lines features two state-of-the-art ships, offering three-, four-, seven-, and ten-night cruises from Cape Canaveral (located near Orlando) to destinations like Key West, Saint Martin, Saint Lucia, Antigua, Saint Thomas, San Juan, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Nassau, Grand Bahama Island, and Disney's own private island, called Castaway Cay. While these may sound like fun-filled and exotic destinations (which they are), getting there is more than half the fun. The Disney Cruise Line ships offer all kinds of activities and world-class service that will make your cruise a vacation you'll remember for a lifetime. In most cases, you can combine your Disney cruise with a several-day visit to the WDW Resort, thus creating the ultimate all-inclusive Disney vacation package.
The vacations available through Disney Cruise Lines are offered at a variety of prices (with special package deals always being made available through travel agents, online travel services, and directly through Disney Cruise Lines). Since this is a family-oriented cruise ship, accommodations and itineraries are available that cater to guests of all ages.
When you board either the Disney Magic or the Disney Wonder, you will find in your cabin a daily itinerary for what's happening aboard the ship. Each evening, the next day's itinerary will be delivered to your cabin.
FAST FACT
If you're leaving from the WDW Resort to the cruise ship, your baggage will be picked up at your hotel early in the morning on your day of departure and delivered directly to your stateroom aboard the ship. The bus ride from the WDW Resort to Cape Canaveral is about one hour and fifteen minutes. During the bus ride, an entertaining video will introduce you to shipboard activities and prepare you for your high-seas journey.
Meet Disney Characters
What would a Disney vacation be without seeing Mickey, Minnie, and the other Disney characters? Well, while sailing aboard either of Disney's cruise ships, you'll meet up with your favorite Disney characters many times. Plenty of photo opportunities are available. The majority of character appearances are preplanned and listed with your itinerary.
Extra Charges
While the majority of activities and the dining are all included within your cruise package, alcoholic beverages, bottled water, and soft drinks cost extra. (Soda and water are served free of charge within the dining rooms, however.) There's also a charge to play bingo onboard (because cash prizes are awarded), and separate charges apply for land-based excursions and tours when the ship stops at the various ports of call. All charges can be billed to your room (just like at the WDW Resort), so unless you leave the ship, there's no need to carry cash.
Castaway Cay
One of the highlights of a Disney Cruise Line vacation is the stop the ship makes at Disney's Castaway Cay, a 1,000-acre private island in the Abacos. During the one-day stop at this private tropical island paradise, guests enjoy an authentic island experience that features the Bahamas' best attributes, such as a half-mile-long beach area and a wide range of water sports and activities for families.
TRAVEL TIP
Kids and teens in particular will enjoy having their hair braided with beads while on the island (for an additional fee). If you want to have this done, don't wait until the end of the day. The line gets long in the afternoon, and the braiders stop taking new people about one hour before the ship's scheduled departure.
There's also a secluded mile-long pristine beach that provides the ideal place to relax and unwind, plus an adults-only beach, where older people can go to enjoy quiet time. Snorkeling, sailboat and kayak rentals, bike riding, massages on the beach, and live entertainment are among the ways guests spend their time on the island.
The Magic and the Wonder
If you and your family have already experienced a Disney World vacation and you're looking for something new, different, but equally exciting, set sail aboard the Disney Magic or Disney Wonder cruise ships.
Disney Cruise Line's first ship, Disney Magic, began service in mid-1998, with its cruises leaving from the $27 million glass-towered Disney terminal in Port Canaveral, Florida. On August 15, 1999, Disney Wonder made its maiden voyage. Both ships are similar and hold between 1,760 and 2,400 guests per voyage.
Both Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are 85,000-ton ships that were built at the Fincantieri Shipyards in Ancona and Marghera, Italy. Each ship was designed to cater to the vacation demands of four distinct audiences: kids, teens, families, and adults. Instead of relying on ship designers from Fincantieri Shipyards to design and then build the two ships, Disney tapped the talent of its own Imagineers, giving them the task of creating a totally unique cruise ship design that would result in guests' experiencing a cruise vacation that only Disney could offer. The result is that Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are among the most technologically advanced ships afloat.
HOT SPOT
If you're interested in experiencing the many different treatments and massages available within the onboard day spa, be sure to make your appointment within several hours of first boarding the ship. Appointments for massages, facials, and other treatments fill up immediately. These services cost extra — however, the facilities are equivalent to what you'd find at a world-class day spa on land.
The ships offer 875 staterooms (73 percent of which offer outside views) featuring more space and attention to detail than most other cruise ships in existence. Even the smallest of the ship's staterooms will easily accommodate three guests, with many staterooms designed for families of up to six people (using bunk beds). The state-rooms aboard both the Magic and the Wonder are 25 percent larger than the current industry average and have been designed to offer more storage and usable space than any other cruise ship accommodations. Many of the staterooms also feature a bathroom-and-a-half, featuring separate bath facilities. About 44 percent of the staterooms feature private verandas.
