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Which to choose: Magic 5 nights or Dream 4 nights?


mikeandkelli
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I'm getting ready to reschedule our spring break trip for 2020, and we have two options that could work.

 

There is the 4 night Disney Dream cruise out of Port Canaveral. We can pad it out with a couple days before and after at the parks. That was what we had originally planned before we had to scuttle our spring break 2019 plans.

 

The 5 night Disney Magic cruise out of Miami caught my eye when it was announced. It too would fit our schedule, and Cozumel sounds much more interesting than Nassau, plus we'd get two sea days. The down side is an extra two hours to drive to the parks from Miami after the cruise, and only having three days at the parks afterwards.

 

This is our first cruise, so I don't know whether the boat should make a difference or not. I suspect that it'll be easier to get Palo brunch reservations with 2 sea days on the Magic, though. We have 2 kids that will be 13 and 10 (almost 11).

 

Thoughts?

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I'm getting ready to reschedule our spring break trip for 2020, and we have two options that could work.

 

There is the 4 night Disney Dream cruise out of Port Canaveral. We can pad it out with a couple days before and after at the parks. That was what we had originally planned before we had to scuttle our spring break 2019 plans.

 

The 5 night Disney Magic cruise out of Miami caught my eye when it was announced. It too would fit our schedule, and Cozumel sounds much more interesting than Nassau, plus we'd get two sea days. The down side is an extra two hours to drive to the parks from Miami after the cruise, and only having three days at the parks afterwards.

 

This is our first cruise, so I don't know whether the boat should make a difference or not. I suspect that it'll be easier to get Palo brunch reservations with 2 sea days on the Magic, though. We have 2 kids that will be 13 and 10 (almost 11).

 

Thoughts?

My personal take - I'm firmly in the "longer is better" camp. 5 nights on the Magic wins over 4 nights on the Dream. I also prefer the smaller, Magic class ships.

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My personal take - I'm firmly in the "longer is better" camp. 5 nights on the Magic wins over 4 nights on the Dream. I also prefer the smaller, Magic class ships.

Well, the total vacation time is the same whether we take the 4 or 5 night cruise.

 

But I have noticed that there seems to be a general preference towards the smaller boats, despite seeming to have fewer amenities. ("Seeming" because there may be something I'm missing.) Whether it's crowding on the decks, boarding, dining or at Castaway Cay, people who'd done both seem to trend towards the smaller boats.

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I'm also in the "longer is better" camp, and the Magic is my favorite ship. The Dream is my least favorite. So for me, that would be an easy decision. Cozumel is definitely better than Nassau--almost anything is better than Nassau! It will definitely be easier to get adult activity reservations on the Magic with 2 sea days than on the Dream with one. Whether you decide to do the parks after the cruise or to do something else in Florida is rather a secondary decision. We like the parks, we love the ships.

 

It would be a "no brainer" for me.

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The Magic is my favorite ship and I'm also in the longer is better camp. A 5-night Magic cruise followed by a few nights in WDW sounds perfect to me! I've been on Castaway Cay on Fantasy, Dream and Magic cruises and it will definitely feel less crowded when in port with the Magic. The kids clubs are also less crowded and less chaotic.

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Well, we went ahead and booked ... the 4 nights on the Dream. My wife and I preferred the Magic and Cozumel, but when we discussed it with the kids, they were strongly in favor of the Dream. (They preferred an extra day at one of the Parks instead of an extra day on the boat. Plus one was a little nervous about being on the boat longer.)

 

We didn't really make a final decision until we got the prices from our travel agent today. We were distressed that the price of the 4 night Dream cruise increased 20% over similar dates for 2019, but it was still about $2400 less than the five night Magic cruise. (I was shocked, and double checked the fares at Costco, just to be sure there wasn't a mistake, even though our travel agent said she had double checked them.) Needless to say, that tilted our choice to our Dream.

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I'm getting ready to reschedule our spring break trip for 2020, and we have two options that could work.

 

There is the 4 night Disney Dream cruise out of Port Canaveral. We can pad it out with a couple days before and after at the parks. That was what we had originally planned before we had to scuttle our spring break 2019 plans.

 

The 5 night Disney Magic cruise out of Miami caught my eye when it was announced. It too would fit our schedule, and Cozumel sounds much more interesting than Nassau, plus we'd get two sea days. The down side is an extra two hours to drive to the parks from Miami after the cruise, and only having three days at the parks afterwards.

 

This is our first cruise, so I don't know whether the boat should make a difference or not. I suspect that it'll be easier to get Palo brunch reservations with 2 sea days on the Magic, though. We have 2 kids that will be 13 and 10 (almost 11).

 

Thoughts?

 

I would highly recommend the longer cruise every time! I once worked for a agency selling cruises. The longer the cruise the better your experience will be. Different groups of people go on different lengths of cruises. The longer the cruise the better ship, better food, better crew, etc, etc. I also believe any cruise, just like most vacations, are what you make them, your attitude and outlook will be the main factor. We have cruised in a suite and we have cruised in an inside cabin but we have always, always had a great time! What I hope for you and your friends is that whatever you choose that you have a Great time!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just booked the 5 night out of Miami for January 2020 with stops to GC and CC.  I have cruised on the Dream and Magic, out of PC or NYC.  

 

I like or love both ships.  Dream bigger, a little fancier but a lot more passengers.  The Magic, beautiful ship and less passengers.  And you have a point with extra sea days for Palo.  Just so you know, DCL holds some ressie back for onboard bookings.  So, no matter what trip you take, if you find Palo booked, you will probably be able to book once on board.

 

My family has never been to Miami, so that was a draw too.  Also, we have been on the Dream to CC and Nassau twice before out of PC.

 

More days is always better but you cannot go wrong with either cruise.  Cozumel is a very nice stop.  Good luck.

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On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 11:09 PM, mikeandkelli said:

Well, we went ahead and booked ... the 4 nights on the Dream. My wife and I preferred the Magic and Cozumel, but when we discussed it with the kids, they were strongly in favor of the Dream. (They preferred an extra day at one of the Parks instead of an extra day on the boat. Plus one was a little nervous about being on the boat longer.)

 

We didn't really make a final decision until we got the prices from our travel agent today. We were distressed that the price of the 4 night Dream cruise increased 20% over similar dates for 2019, but it was still about $2400 less than the five night Magic cruise. (I was shocked, and double checked the fares at Costco, just to be sure there wasn't a mistake, even though our travel agent said she had double checked them.) Needless to say, that tilted our choice to our Dream.

 

With that kind of difference in price, I think the Dream was really the better choice. $2400 for 1 more night is eek!

 

I also prefer going out of Port Canaveral instead of Miami (in fact, that's one of the reasons we ended up cancelling our Marvel days at sea cruise - just really hate sailing out of Miami). And the AquaDuck is great.

 

Don't stress - any cruise will be awesome.

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If the price difference was $1000-$1500, it would have been a tougher decision. Basically an extra day at sea or in Orlando at a park. Since my kids want to do the Magic Kingom, Hollywood Studios and both Universal parks, our kids definitely preferred the shorter cruise. Only so much you can squeeze into spring break.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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