Disney Dream 2018, which weekends have the fewest passengers?

I've always loved cruising Disney with my family and grandchildren (that are now 22 & 25) in prior years. But, I would like to do a weekend cruise all by myself to just relax, read on my balcony, and hopefully have fewer passengers on board. I know Dream's capacity can go from 2,500 to 4,000. Is it possible to find out which weekend cruises in which months might have the fewest passengers so I could go ahead and book a cabin?

I'm not sure where you got your numbers as to capacity. The Dream has 1250 guest staterooms. MOST of these cabins can hold 4 people, although a few will hold only 3 and a few will hold more than 4. On a cruise of this length, it would be quite rare to have more than a few people cruising solo in a cabin.

The bottom line is that the Dream normally cruises with 3800-4000 guests. The Magic and Wonder are "full" at 2500 and max out at 2700 (this meaning every bed is full). The Dream really doesn't have much of an off season as many people can get a little time off work or school for the short cruises that she does. And DCL almost always fills their ships; the only question is at what fare. If the ship isn't filling at normal rates, the line will offer discounts to CMs, travel agents, FL residents, military, etc. in order to fill the ship. If your goal is to hang out on your balcony, you really won't care how many people are on the ship--you won't see or deal with them. But if your goal is to hang out on your balcony, I don't know why you would pay the rates that DCL charges--you can get the same ocean and similar balcony on many other lines for half the cost. And there is no cost reduction for cruising solo--you pay the full 2 person fare, but only one set of port charges and government fees.

All that said, crowds are a little less and rates a little lower when traditional schools are in session.

I'm not sure where you got your numbers as to capacity. The Dream has 1250 guest staterooms. MOST of these cabins can hold 4 people' date=' although a few will hold only 3 and a few will hold more than 4. On a cruise of this length, it would be quite rare to have more than a few people cruising solo in a cabin.

 

The bottom line is that the Dream normally cruises with 3800-4000 guests. The Magic and Wonder are "full" at 2500 and max out at 2700 (this meaning every bed is full). The Dream really doesn't have much of an off season as many people can get a little time off work or school for the short cruises that she does. And DCL almost always fills their ships; the only question is at what fare. If the ship isn't filling at normal rates, the line will offer discounts to CMs, travel agents, FL residents, military, etc. in order to fill the ship. If your goal is to hang out on your balcony, you really won't care how many people are on the ship--you won't see or deal with them. But if your goal is to hang out on your balcony, I don't know why you would pay the rates that DCL charges--you can get the same ocean and similar balcony on many other lines for half the cost. And there is no cost reduction for cruising solo--you pay the full 2 person fare, but only one set of port charges and government fees.

 

All that said, crowds are a little less and rates a little lower when traditional schools are in session.[/quote']

 

FYI only, I got the passenger counts from the Cruise Critic's Disney Dream's main page under "Ship's Facts" as it says 2,500 dbl (meaning double occupancy), and then it says 4,000 max, meaning maximum occupancy. The reason I wouldn't go on RCCL's ship that travels out of Port Canaveral is that it's the oldest ship remaining in their fleet, and the ratings are not that good (including CDC's ratings). I wouldn't want to do Carnival's weekend cruises out of the same port is because it's more of a party ship. I'll try calling Disney's cruise line to ask if they have any data that shows which weekends in 2018 have the lowest (typical from prior years) passenger counts.

OK, I see where you got it...but very relatively few people cruise on the Dream with only 2 people per room, and almost none cruise with 1 person per room. The Dream typically cruises at over 150%. I've found published figures of 152% and 157% for different years. 100% = 2 persons per cabin, a figure over 150% means that they average slightly more than 3 persons per cabin. That places "normal" occupancy above 3750 (1250 X 3).

Again, the least occupied times are when traditional schools are in session. This is September after Labor Day, January and the beginning of February, etc. In late February you have the President's Day holiday and many private schools take that whole week off. In October, you get into teacher prep and parent-teacher conference days, meaning no school for kids and again, some locations take an entire week off. In March, the 6 week period of "spring break" starts. The same weeks that are traditionally the lowest fully paid occupancy are also the times of lowest fares and the most likely to have last minute discount (restricted) rates.

We went on the Dream May 1 of this year which was intentionally for lower price and crowds (after spring breaks and just before southern schools letting out). The families on board mostly had young preschool age children, plus there were a number of adults without children. What did surprise me was the number of international tourists, mostly from Japan.

While the ship seemed "full" it never felt crowded, mostly because we didn't spend time in the child areas such as family pools and character lines. The adult outdoor decks were simply lovely and provided quite an oasis of tranquility for us. Surprisingly few people in the pool, hot tub or occupying the lovely cushioned loungers. Serenity Bay at Castaway Cay was the other oasis we enjoyed.

I think late April to early May or Sept would be ideal times to avoid peak occupancy. Best advice is to scan prices because Disney excels at forecasting demand.

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You picked up on a key point--while the ships nearly always cruise "full," the age ranges of the children vary widely. This DOES make a difference as when the ship is full of the pre-school and early elementary crowd, there are very few kids running around unsupervised. During school breaks there are lots of tweens (who have always seemed to be the problem IMHO) and teens with free run of the vessel.

Example--we once cruised on "President's Week." The teen counselor told us that she had 5 pages of participating teens, while the week before she'd had not even half a page. Parents of the little kids take advantage of the cheaper prices while school is in session.

Thanks for all of this valuable insight. I just would appreciate a more "quiet and peaceful" weekend cruise in memory of my mother that passed away from her breast cancer returning. When she realized it had come back, and spread throughout her body and had less than three months to live, her only goal was one last Disney cruise. So I booked the most expensive balcony cabin I could afford and we never left the room (she was too weak). And I really wished that Disney's room service menu was better (like RCCL's, and Celebrity, and HAL's), as we never left our cabin except to get on and off the ship. She just wanted one last Disney experience, so it will be a "bittersweet" experience for me to book a cruise to go without her...but I know she would want me to. Mom and I did a HAL Alaska cruise three years earlier and met a lady that took the identical week-long cruise every year in memory of her mother that had passed away because that was the last cruise they ever took together. Thanks again for all of your help and insight.

I hope however you choose to remember your mom helps heal your heart. In 2003 we completed our previously planned Disney World family trip after learning my dad had terminal cancer. After that it was hard to tap into the many happy memories of traveling there with him when he was well so I gave up going back. Wherever we went I had a happy memory replaced with sadness of seeing him so very sick on that trip. Maybe some day I'll be able to reconnect with that joy but losing one's parents is more painful than I ever expected. I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm guardian to my youngest sister who is special needs and a Disney nut so my compromise was to join my love of cruising with her love of Disney, thus our first DCL cruise on the Dream in May. Your post helped me realize our trip was more therapeutic than I realized. Thank you