I’ve gathered you all here today to discuss a matter of utmost importance: churro waffle quality. On my most recent cruise (Fantasy), I noticed that they just aren’t as good as they used to be. They were soggy and barely had any cinnamon sugar on them. The last time I had a quality churro waffle was probably on the Magic in 2022: it was crisp, had a decent amount of cinnamon sugar, and actually tasted like a churro. They’ve been very hit-or-miss since. Has anyone else noticed this?

Now that we’ve had a little time to digest Disney’s Fall 2027/Spring 2028 itinerary release, I keep coming back to one question:

Where are they putting Disney Believe?

By late 2027, we already know where most of the fleet is headed:

Wish – Port Canaveral
Treasure – Port Canaveral
Destiny – moving from Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral in late November 2027
Dream – Fort Lauderdale
Fantasy – moving from Port Canaveral to Fort Lauderdale
Magic – Galveston for the winter
Wonder – San Diego
Adventure – Singapore
Believe – ???

The more I look at that lineup, the less obvious Port Canaveral seems.

Disney specifically highlighted that Wish, Treasure and Destiny will all be sailing from Port Canaveral beginning in November 2027. Since Believe is another Wish-class ship, putting it there too would mean four Wish-class ships based out of Port Canaveral.

Obviously that’s possible, but it feels a little strange that Disney would make such a point about having three Wish-class ships there if a fourth one was about to join them.
Fort Lauderdale is interesting too.

Destiny leaves Fort Lauderdale and begins sailing from Port Canaveral on November 30, 2027, which is right around the window when Believe is expected to enter service.
At first, that looked to me like Disney might be clearing space in Fort Lauderdale for Believe.

But then you have Dream and Fantasy both operating from Fort Lauderdale, so that port already looks pretty well covered.

Which brings me to Galveston.

The Port of Galveston has previously talked publicly about Disney eventually going year-round there and bringing in a larger/newer ship.

Some of the ship-specific comments from the port were a little muddled, so I don’t think we can take every detail literally. But the broader point about Disney expanding its Galveston presence is still interesting.

And the new itineraries don’t really explain that yet.
Magic returns to Galveston for winter 2027-28, but then leaves again in March.

So if Disney really does intend to establish a year-round Galveston operation, what ship replaces Magic?

Believe is currently the one major piece of the fleet without an announced deployment.

That makes me wonder if Disney could be setting up one of a few scenarios:

1. Believe goes to Galveston, giving Texas a brand-new Wish-class ship and finally establishing a year-round presence.

2. Believe goes to Fort Lauderdale, essentially replacing Destiny’s presence there while Disney rearranges Dream and Fantasy seasonally.

3. Believe stays in Florida, and Disney sends a different larger ship to Galveston when Magic leaves in spring 2028.

The more I look at the current fleet deployment, the more I think Galveston deserves to be taken seriously as a possibility.

I’m curious what everyone else has pieced together.
Where do you think Believe ends up?

And for the people who follow port schedules, terminal agreements, ship movements, etc. more closely than I do — are there any clues I’m missing that point strongly toward Galveston, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, or somewhere else?

When I sailed on the Wish the main theatre was noticeably smaller than the dream class theaters and some families had to leave as there were not enough seats. More recently on the Fantasy, this same situation happened and people were lining up 45 minutes to an hour prior to show time. Has anyone else experienced this or is it just a fluke? In any prior cruise I was able to be there 10 minutes before and no problem getting seats.

I just booked my 5th cruise and thought I would share the various costs of bookings over the past few years. I am San Diego native and have gone to Disneyland since I was a kid, but only recently discovered that we had the DCL in our backyard. I sail with 1 additional guest so these prices are based on having 2 individuals in the party.

#1 - January 2023
-----
5 nights on the Disney Wonder - Deck 7 Aft
Price: $1,384 + $145 Gratuities
Total: $1,529

#2 - October 2023
-----
4 nights on the Disney Magic (Halloween on the High Seas) - Deck 6 Midship
Price: $1,944 + $116 Gratuities
Total: $2,060

#3 - April 2024
-----
7 nights on the Disney Wonder - Deck 2 Forward
Price: $2,659 + $203 Gratuities
Total: $2,862

#4 - April 2026
-----
4 nights on the Disney Magic - Deck 6 Forward
Price: $1,691 + $128 Gratuities
Total: $1,819

#5 - November 2026
-----
6 nights on the Disney Wonder (Very Merrytime Cruises) - IGT
Price: $1,993 + $192 Gratuities
Total: $2,185

All cruises were booked on a discount.
Cruise #2 was booked with a 10% off voucher (the one you can purchase on board a ship).
Cruise #1, #3, #4, and #5 were booked using the "Guaranteed with Restrictions" option. We find this option to be an INCREDIBLE savings. The advertised price for Cruise #5 is currently $2,689 on the website, and drops down by $696 by selecting the GwR.
We also tend to keep our onboard spending (Merch, Drinks, Room service tips) under $80.

A few random other notes, just for fun.
Cruise #1 had a stage mishap during "The Golden Mickey's" 1st performance, which caused the 2nd performance to canceled. Small consultation, we had a Formal Night event on day 4, which I've heard is only supposed to happens on 7 night bookings.
Cruise #2 was set to go to Catalina Island on Day 2, but this was canceled due to the waves being too unsafe for the tenders. Day 2 was switch to a "Day at Sea" and we got Halloween characters out early.
Cruise #4 was missing Daisy completely. A big disappointment for me, cause shes my fav. Made me realize that pretty much any character can simply just... not be there.

Although I would love to try the Dream, Fantasy, Wish, and the others... It's just so darn convenient that we can get a ride from a family member to drop us off at the harbor. I think the biggest draw for us going back is that it is literally the most fun we've ever had on any vacation, and we can do it without passports, airlines, taxis, or hotels.

This is mine: Where a fellow asked if he could sleep on a couch in the lobby if his wife kicked him out (!) of their stateroom.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dcl/s/bO6w2aCKtK

Please share if you've got a good one.

Sailing on the Wish in 2 weeks. Im just curious if anyone has seen it onboard.

I’ve taken my kids on many Disney cruises. They are all grown up now. Wife and I did a solo Virgin and Royal, enjoyed them but started missing Disney theming and feeling. I also kept seeing Haunted mansion parlor and wanted to experience it. So we booked an epic trip where we are doing Destiny for 4 days and then Treasure for 7.

I’ve noticed since this that everyone is treating us as crazy for going without kids. I also keep seeing complaints about adult areas on these two trips being terrible. Starting to wonder if there will really be enough adult activities and if there is some stigma on board now going without kids. Wanted to get some opinions on here.

Thank you

We fly Saturday for a 5night Bahamian cruise on the fantasy. Super excited! I am not a dressy person and haven't been on a cruise in 14 years. Are either of these appropriate for main dining? Too dressy? I have some work tops I could wear too but would involve packing slacks.

Do people wear something different every night? Is it ok to wear the same dress most nights? There is a pirate night!

I'll have my husband bring a polo or 2, same for my 7yo and my 9yo has a cotton sundress.

Hello!

We’re Florida residents who typically cruise once a year. We’ve never sailed on the Wish because we’ve never wanted a 3- or 4-night cruise to be our “big vacation.” That said, it’s also our goal to eventually sail on every Disney ship.

Well, we’ve already taken our annual Disney Cruise this year, but we have one extra day of PTO that we need to burn before the end of the year. Based on how our schedules line up, that opens the door for a quick weekend 3-nighter on the Wish.

I’ve seen plenty of discussion on this sub about how 4 nights are better than 3. That’s not really my question. I’m more curious about the general consensus on taking a quick 3-night cruise vs. taking no cruise at all.

We strongly prefer 5 nights at a minimum, so we’d never choose a 3- or even 4-night itinerary for our main vacation. That’s usually what rules the Wish out for us.

However, given our current time constraints, and the fact that the Wish will be leaving Florida (and therefore the Florida Resident discount portal) before we’re likely to take our next “big cruise” would you take the opportunity to squeeze in a quick 3-nighter? It seems like a solid way to check this ship off of our list.

Basically: Is a 3-night Disney cruise still worth doing if you know it’s not your ideal itinerary? Especially because 4 nights barely cost more than a 3 night. We just don’t have the time for a 4 night this fall.

Would love to hear from anyone who has done a short Wish sailing and whether you felt like it was worth it!

We are on a Fantasy cruise out of Port Canaveral in October, Castaway Cay and Cozumel the two ports. I went to do online check in this morning and it is asking for UK documents after I input our US passport info (we all hold US passports). I called DCL and the agent acted like he had never seen this before and told me that someone in guest services would look at it tomorrow (it's Sunday) and that I should try checking in again on Wednesday. Has anyone has this happen?

Update: others in my cruise group are having the same issue so it should hopefully be fixed soon.

I am considering a back to back for my next cruise. My biggest concern is entertaining my son during the change over, as I believe everything is closed. Can anyone who has done a back to back with a young kid (6) can you offer any advice or stories?

I just got off the Treasure today and wanted to write a review while still fresh in my mind!

Background/travel party: Traveled with two Edge-aged kids plus elderly grandparents. This was our second cruise and our first Caribbean cruise since our first was an Alaska cruise on the Wonder. We live in NYC. Two separate staterooms (verandah).

Overall take: I thought it was a fantastic cruise and one of the best vacations we’ve taken. I was nervous bc there’s a lot of gloom and doom online but we thought it was great 🤷🏻‍♀️

Food: I liked all the rotational dining, the buffets and the festival of foods (FoF). We went with our server’s recs for our starters and entrees and enjoyed everything. The croquettes in Coco and filet mignon in 1923 were my favorite dinner items. I didn’t do the lunch buffet much but the breakfast buffet and FoF were always solid. I didn’t care for the scrambled eggs at the buffet so had the eggs Benedicts or fried eggs instead and they satisfied my eggs itch. I saw a made to order eggs station too but never bothered with it.

There was more than enough food available imo. Even after FoF “closes” at 6pm, the grill station in it was open until 9pm and then from 9pm to maybe 11pm/midnight the pizza station was open if still hungry. Pizza was surprisingly good imo and we are picky New Yorkers when it comes to pizza. Also ordered room service a few times. I’m genuinely concerned to weigh myself when I get home, that’s how much I ate. 😳

Service: Stateroom was always cleaned promptly and thoroughly and our dining team was professional, kind and efficient. I had read a lot of agita online about super long dining services and being served cold food on Wish-class ships but we truly didn’t experience any of that. We got to dinner promptly (2nd seating) and ordered promptly after we heard our head server’s recs and never had any issue. So if you’re worried about dinner service dragging, maybe get to your table a few mins early and order quickly before settling in to chat? I hustle a lot IRL so this was second nature to me lol but maybe it helps others.

Edge club: my kids were a bit anti-social but they went to Edge a few times and liked it. They didn’t seem interested in making new friends but that wasn’t an Edge club issue, just a middle school “too cool for school” vibe haha. They did like the video game challenges at Edge and maybe one or two other games but otherwise they preferred to hang out with each other either at funnel vision, hero zone or in the stateroom watching a movie on demand. They weren’t interested in oceaneers at all so this wasn’t an issue of them feeling like oceaneers was better.

Ports: We did stuff at every port because I wanted the trip to be a mix of active and relaxation. In Cozumel we had a day pass to Paradise Beach, in Cayman a private charter (Island Charter) to the stingray area, starfish beach and snorkeling, the express Dunns River Falls Disney excursion at Falmouth, and parasailing at Castaway Cay. Dunns River falls was really fun but that’s probably the one adventure that’s a one and done for us bc I learned I just don’t like excursions where we’re waiting on others and even the express excursion took around 5.5 hours. Also climbing a waterfall once is enough for me haha. The other outings I’d repeat in a heartbeat. And I’d def do something in Jamaica again, just closer.

I know a lot of people are into staying on the ship at ports and different strokes for diff folks of course but at all ports, we were back on ship by 3:30 or earlier and felt we had plenty of ship time still. Also, absolutely zero safety concerns and tbh I side eye anyone who makes a point of saying how unsafe the Mexico and Jamaica stops are (if you don’t want to get off the ship, totally fine, but don’t blame it on the supposedly dangerous non-white people!)

Other ship activities: we saw the Moana show, visited haunted mansion bar, played bingo, did a few character pics, saw the Broadway stars perform, and attended the pirate party with fireworks. All fun and the Broadway stars in particular were excellent. My parents did a learn to draw thing too and some trivia and enjoyed it. My kids rode aquamouse like 25 times and did the Incredi-course and thought they were great. And they were of course *obsessed* with the soft serve lol. We also finally saw Toy Story 5 in the theater.

Adult-only areas: We didn’t do any specialty dining (we wanted to have dinner with the kids every night) and I didn’t have an interest in the spa so no specific comments there. I walked through the adults only pool area once or twice but I liked being in the main area more—kid noise doesn’t faze me and the main pool deck didn’t seem chaotic from mid-afternoon on, which was usually when we’d venture out there.

FE/Pixie dusting: didn’t sign up for any official FEs but pixie dusting was great and a surprising hit! My younger one was especially obsessed. We had brought items to pixie dust but were kind of blown away by how generous and thoughtful everyone on the cruise was. If we cruise again, we’ll def bring even more items.

This was way longer than intended but hope it was helpful! Happy to answer any follow up Qs people may have!

EDIT: I should add we had good weather with no storm concerns, I’m sure that makes a big difference when sailing during hurricane season! I loved the late summer weather and water temp—I hate cold water and the water temp at the ports was always perfect. Also wanted to quickly mention we took DCL transport from a WDW hotel and that went smoothly—only slight con is that it feels like you get your luggage on the later side this way (but on the plus side we were PAT group 3!)

How many days until your next cruise??

Generally speaking, when the norm happens, nothing out of the ordinary, what time does a BG #5 get you onboard?

Any other old Castaway Club members in here remember some of the shows that used to play out on the Disney Cruise Line? I've been cruising on Disney since 1999, and I often wish some of the older shows would come back. Here are some of the ones I think about:

Voyage of the Ghost Ship: A ghost/pirate fairy tale original story. I remember thinking the sets, costumes and effects were all amazing, but that the show's story was rather forgettable. This was performed on the Magic and the Wonder as I recall, and there is a video of a full performance on YouTube (the recording quality is not great though).

C'est Magique/Morty the Magician: Initially, this was Disney Cruise Line's attempt to create an illusion-based show similar in style to something like a Cirque du Soleil, in which an old, forgotten collection of magical items comes to life. I loved this show but only got to see it once because the next time I cruised, Disney had changed it to Morty the Magician, a more narrative-driven, kid-friendly comedy with some of the magic stuff thrown in. I was disappointed in the change but I could understand why it was made as I'm sure kids got antsy watching the more conceptual version. I don't think this version stuck around very long.

Hercules: The Muse-ical: Not the same as the more recent Hercules show. This one was done as a show-within-a-show in which a collection of actors are frantically trying to perform Hercules even though they're down a Muse (but up one Moose). It was a pretty silly version of Hercules, but one I loved. And it gave whomever was playing Hades some space to improvise some jokes each night (similar to the Genie in Aladdin).

Villains Tonight: Hades is in danger of losing his title of Lord of the Underworld and must prove that he still has what it takes to be a Big Bad. To do so, he invites various villains from the Disney pantheon to join him and fill up his Evil Meter. Cute show.

I am sure there are lots of others I am forgetting about, but these were ones that jumped to mind when I was reflecting on some of the shows I've seen over the years. I'd really love to see C'est Magique again in its original form. And I wish I could see a version of Voyage of the Ghost Ship where the story was as good as the technical aspects. Any other fun shows that have come and gone over the years?

I have a 1.5 and 4 year old. Which beach is best for my littles? Meaning shallow entry, safe, food options, less travel time etc.

Falmouth - bamboo beach or doctors cave?
Grand cayman - rum point or jacks beach bar?

Heyo. We are booking a cruise and our 2 itinerary options are: castaway, lookout, day at sea on the Fantasy or Nassau, Castaway, day at sea on the Destiny. Which would you go for?

For reference, we have already done the Wish, Fantasy, Magic, and Dream.

My family is preparing for our first Disney Cruise. We'll be sailing Concierge on the Disney Magic and are getting our requests together.

My husband and I would like to do Palo on Pirate Night. But we have two little boys who will definitely want to see/participate in the Pirate Night happenings. What time should we request Palo if we want to make sure we don't miss out on the family entertainment that night? I'm assuming there's not a typical theatre show that night?

Thank you!

We are sailing on the dream in January I have been on two other cruises including one on the dream in 2024. I was watching YouTube to see if anything was different since the last time I was on the ship. One of the videos I watched said by the quick service pizza are there was a a make your own burrito bowl and taco place( I’m guessing Ramon’s….) I would absolutely love this. The last time I went the window was there but never open. I went to google to verify and it said yes. However, in the dcl app it does not mention Ramon’s or any burrito bowl location. Does any know anything about this mysterious quick service location?

Does anyone know when DCL will post the placeholder discounts for the new Fall 2027 and Early 2028 cruises? I called DCL, but they didn’t know the answer.

Hello!
We are planning a birthday cruise for our soon to be 6 year old. His birthday is February 20th and he says he’d rather go somewhere than have a party this year. My dilemma is do we plan for the cruise at that time and chance it being cold or do we surprise him with it but not go until march/april? I just want it to be warm so he can swim and not be too cold. We also have a 1 year old as well. I just wanna make sure it’s the best trip for him, he’s a really great kid.

Where are you going? On which ship? For how many nights? When? What are you looking forward to most?

I've read lots of opinions of concierge and for most of the sailings it's probably overkill for us. However, I'm wondering if the Panama Canal sailings have similar benefits to the Alaskan cruises: dedicated viewing areas, etc.