First DCL cruise! WWYD: 5-nights on the Magic or the Dream?

I am SO excited to start planning for our first-ever Disney cruise in June 2025!

For my dates, I’ve found that I could do same itinerary (5 nights Bahamas, with a stop each in Nassau, Castaway Key and Lookout Cay/Lighthouse Point) on either the Disney Magic or the Disney Dream.

This is a multi-generational family trip: I’ll be traveling with my 75-yr old mom and my two daughters (10 and 8 yrs old). We live outside of the US and this trip is all about quality family time in a unique setting. We live abroad so we don’t see my mom as regularly as we’d like (only once or twice a year), so I’m looking for opportunities to have fun together, especially after losing my dad quite suddenly last year.

My parents discovered cruising when they first retired in Florida 20 yrs ago and went through a phase of cruising every year - so my mom has been on at least 10 cruises (though never Disney, and none in the past four years or so). I’ve cruised twice (on Celebrity/Carnival before kids), and it’ll be the first cruise for the kids.

We all love Disney and are particularly excited about live shows, themed dining and any other fun Disney-themed experiences (especially things we can all do together). We love Disney classics and many of the latest hits like Encanto, but are not into Marvel or Star Wars. The kids have no expectation/concept of what happens on a cruise, so will likely love any activity (including any water slide and any kids club). No one besides me is interested in fancy meals or drinking, so we will likely skip bars/lounges (unless hosting family-friendly activities) and upcharge dining.

I love that both ships have the Animators Palate experience, a live Disney montage show (Dream/Believe), and go to both Disney islands.

  • What is most tempting to me about the Magic: Rapunzel dining experience, Tangled live show, and the feeling of being on a smaller ship (maybe less crowded onboard and on the Disney islands?)
  • What is most tempting to me about the Dream: Beauty and the Beast live show, Midship Detective Agency, outdoor family recreation area like mini golf, and being on a newer ship with more to explore/more of a wow effect.

The dates of the Magic sailing are better for us. Pricing seems totally driven by availability rather than sailing dates, so it looks like oceanview stateroom is cheaper on the Magic dates (by $1000!) but a verandah room is cheaper on the Dream (by $900!) I was initially focused on verandah rooms only (I loved sitting out there and taking pictures when I cruised on Celebrity), but am now questioning the value.

I am sure either option will be amazing, but figured I should never miss an opportunity to consult with Liners :slight_smile: Let me know what you think/advise! What would you choose?

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ETA: Nevermind. I found that group after all.

Are you sure they are the same? When I looked at June 2025 (this summer), the Dream does 5-night Western Caribbean itineraries that do not go to Lookout Cay/Lighthouse Point nor Nassau. The Dream does 4-night cruises that do go to Nassau, but still no Lookout Cay/Lighthouse Point.

I was able to find a 5-night cruise on the Dream that goes to Nassau, and both islands. So they exist.

ETA: Although, I didn’t check the dates…so perhaps not in June? Wasn’t looking at that.

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You’re right. I must not have scrolled far enough down. I had the filters set to June 2025, Bahamas/Caribbean, and the Dream.

I’m looking at the Disney Magic itinerary sailing 27 June - 2 July out of Port Caneveral, and Disney Dream itinerary sailing 30 June - 5 July out of Fort Lauderdale. The order of stops is different, but the three destinations are the same.

The Magic also has the same itinerary one week prior, which I might consider if I go for the oceanview (the verandahs seem to be so sought after on that sailing that the price several thousand dollars more than on the other itineraries!)

We’ve sailed on the Wonder (Magic’s sister ship), the Dream and the Fantasy (Dream’s sister ship) and have just returned from a cruise on the Fantasy.

I don’t think you can go wrong with either option. We never found the Fantasy to be crowded except during the deck parties, but I think that would be the same on all ships. I would probably base my decision on which live show you’re more interested in, Tangled or Beauty & the Beast. Otherwise, I might consider if you think you would make use of the Midship Detective Agency and the outdoor mini-golf. They were both a lot of fun. Let me know if you have any questions.

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I personally think the AquaDunk vs. the AquaDuck is a big difference between these two, and the Dream is a huge winner over the Magic on that basis, IMO. I love the smaller feel of the Magic, but otherwise, I think the Dream is either equivalent or better in most respects. I also agree that you can’t go wrong with either one!!

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We went on the Dream for our first ever Disney cruise last year so I am very biased (however that was in the Mediterranean, not the Caribbean), and would say pick that one! We are taking our second cruise on the Fantasy in a month and I’m very excited as it’s essentially the same itinerary that you’re talking about - Nassau and both islands (we were debating between this sailing and the Treasure and after all the Treasure content I kind of wish we would be on that one but we’ve never seen the private islands so that was the bigger draw for me on this trip).

At some point I’d love to sail on the Magic because I have heard wonderful things about the Rapunzel dining and Tangled shows, but I really enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast show and all the other wonderful things about the Dream.

My kids were 9 and 11 on our last cruise and they LOVED it. DD9 loved everything about the kids club and DD11 had so much more fun at Edge than she had expected. Granted that was when it was still in the funnel which they have since changed, but they got to do so many cool things that she had fun telling us all about later on!

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I forgot that the Magic had the AquaDunk. Yes, that puts the Dream out front for me. The AquaDuck is great fun and the AquaDunk just looks scary!

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Thank you @paulasc @amywilkh for the reassurance that both are great options! I’ve played around a bit more with pricing (not just of itineraries but also flights, plus a quick obligatory stopover in Orlando on the way out to take advantage of the free water park on check-in day!) and the option on the Magic is logistically sufficiently superior that I’ve tentatively booked an oceanview stateroom for this one. BUT I have more than two months during which I can keep checking prices and playing around with options before I have to make any firm commitment, so let’s see :slight_smile:

The classic Disney feel of the Magic and its offerings really appeal to me, and I think soon my girls will be too old to get excited about something like the Rapunzel dinner show. And if they love cruising, I’ll just need to talk my husband into planning another cruise on one of the bigger and newer ships (I figure it’s easier to go in that order rather than the vice versa)!

I watched some videos of the Aqua Dunk and Aqua Duck and the former does look a bit scary/short, but thrilling and so will likely appeal to my girls (I have no doubt they’ll be excited about either of the two options, and about any of the kids clubs). Thanks @tiggerpal for reinforcing my excitement about the itinerary, and about the kids clubs. They’ve been to similar clubs in Europe, where we’ve stayed at a few “Kinderhotels” (super family-friendly with all-day child care including aqua parks, club activities - our favorite has both a trampoline park and a climbing wall - and even own-brand character meets/dances). They’ve loved these and often beg to stay longer instead of coming for dinner with us! I expect it’ll be the same on the cruise :slight_smile:

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I don’t think either would disappoint (I’ve never done Dream, just Wonder, Magic and Wish).
I would focus on whichever works better financially or logistically and then own it.
Let us all know which one you pick!!

FYI - my favorite stateroom category across cruise lines is an oceanview. They tend to be on lower levels so closer to the water line and also closer to the deck you disembark on in port.

I also consider 5-night cruises the PERFECT length.

If they love cruising there are so many lines with such variety of activities.

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Sounds like you’ve made a great pick for your family! I hope the kids love the Oceaneer’s Lab. Make sure they don’t miss dinner at Animator’s Palate. The show with guest’s drawings is a lot of fun.We coordinated ours to be the Incredibles family and whoever organized the show made fun use of that!

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My first cruise was on the Magic about 10 years ago, and I loved it! Kept me coming back for more. It absolutely makes sense to focus on logistics for your family and entertainment preferences as opposed to the physical ship. Can’t wait to hear about how it goes!

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I forgot to mention my trip report from our New Year’s cruise a few weeks ago. It’s in the La Cava section: Canucks on the High Seas

We don’t have young kids so a lot of it won’t be relevant to your family, but it may give you some ideas of things you can do on the ship!

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One of us! One of us! One of us! Cruise planning is my new full-time hobby/planning obsession :laughing:

So I have lots of thoughts, hopefully some are helpful to you.

The very best thing about the Magic (and the Wonder, probably too) is that the Animator’s Palate experience is SO good.

The Dream/Fantasy’s Animator’s Palate is cute too but has a totally different feel (basically being a Turtle Talk w/ Crush at Sea) vs. the Magic/Wonder’s (a tribute to animation that ends in a Disney montage and a swell of Disney perfect music to cap it off & could vie with even HEA at MK on giving you all the Disney Feels).

On a 5 night cruise they won’t have enough nights to do the animate your own character which also seems so fun, but the show you do get is awesome.

Dream is my favorite stage show of all the Disney cruise shows we’ve seen and so again, the Magic wins out on this for me.

Also, the Twice Charmed: Twist on Cinderella’s Story (also on the Magic) is another of my favorite Disney cruise shows right up there with Dream.

The Rapunzel dining is also full of all the Disney Feels and fun. And if you LOVE Rapunzel, dining here might be better than the Animator’s Palate for you. And I still dream of the creme bulee cheesecake I chose for dessert that night.

Even though the Tangled show is #3 (of 3) for me on the Magic, it’s a quality show and again, if you like Rapunzel more than Belle, you’ll like it more than the BatB on the Dream.

So overall, if you’re going for the shows/dining experiences, the Magic is very much the cream of the crop for it.

And now I know it sounds like so far the Magic is my favorite ship, (and I 1000% would do the Magic again because it has such a great quality of shows/dinners), but my actual favorite is the Dream.

Why? Well Because I LOVE all the following about it:

  • Midship Detective
  • Mini-golf (my kids love love it)
  • The atrium to me is the most stunning and classically beautiful atriums & the Cinderella tile mosaics off to the side are gorgeous and a perfect photo backdrop
  • AquaDuck is so much better than the AquaDunk (but I’m not a huge water slide fan so it’s not a feature I miss as much as the rest).
  • Vista Cafe (a coffee/treat cafe near the atrium (the Magic doesn’t have an equivalent so you have to order super specialty coffees from bars/lounges or make it up to the adult only area to Cove Cafe for good coffee).
  • Confectionary/specialty gelato shop (the Dream has a Wreck-it-Ralph/Vanellope themed confectionary/gelato shop and the Magic has no equivalent).
  • The Cabanas areas on the Dream have again a gorgeous tile mosaic of Nemo that the Magic doesn’t have any equivalent to

But the Magic still is a great ship AND I have found that the Magic makes me more inclined to step away and enjoy the ports/private islands since I’m not trying to do as many activities since there are inherently a few less to try to tick off before the cruise is over with it being smaller. So with going to 2 islands that will help you maximize time there.

You very much feel it on the islands that there are less people and plenty of space and chairs to spread out. Also, going to the shows never felt at all competitive because the theater had ample seats.

On the other hand, the Dream it felt a lot more competitive to get seats and imperative that you show up at least 15+ min before to sit together for more than 2-3 people.

However, the atrium on the Magic and other general spaces for did feel smaller than the equivalents on the Dream so it wasn’t a ship-wide effect, there were some places (atrium and elevators especially) where it still felt quite crowded. But if you can take the stairs, that’s an easy way to avoid facing crowds in the elevator.

Also, I know you said your daughters will be happy with any of the Kids spaces just a few quick notes on it.

They both have very similar Lab spaces (with crafting areas, screen areas, animation areas) and both have a Pixie Hollow room with small tables for crafting/coloring and screens on the walls for entertainment and Andy’s room play area with figures of the Toy Story characters at a scale they would be if you were smaller than toy-sized.

Where they differ, the Magic’s Andy’s room includes a Slinky Dog Slide which my younger kids lost their mind about how cool the slide was. The Dream’s though has a lot more figures to climb on/play around and also has a few screens in that area too.

The Magic has a Marvel themed room where characters may come do some fun interactions/parties/meets. The Dream has a Star Wars area with an interactive flight simulator of the Millenium Falcon (it existed on the ships before the parks so I consider it a prototype they used to flesh out the idea of the ride for the parks).

The Dream also has an Infinity Game room (or at least did when we sailed in 2023, they might’ve redid it to Marvel now that the Infinity game is defunct/dead & they had stopped using that room to do much interactive gaming as the game was no longer relevant/existed).

The Magic has a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Disney Jr. themed room with small tables for younger kids to use craft at with screens at their disposal.

And finally, the Dream has 2 light-up play floors with constellations overhead that is another fun space for games/interacting with the play floor and characters come to do meets/dance parties.

On the Magic there was open space similar in size to the light-up dance floor area where characters could still come do meets/dance parties, but it didn’t have the light-up play floors. However, the Magic I remember my kids played a lot of GAGA ball as a kids club activity and they’ve never played it on any ship before or since.

It definitely goes by availability and also, the Dream has an Oceanview category that has the bigger Family Deluxe cagetory (that either sleep 5 or have extra space equivalent to where that extra sleeping surface would be) AND the portholes in those are GIANT floor to ceiling with a small window seat. They look amazing and we booked this kind of room on the Dream’s sister ship (the Fantasy) for our next sailing. I’m STOKED to try it out.

Regardless, like @QwertySC Oceanview is my favorite category for the coziness of the view from our room.

Verandah’s are nice but unless we see that they are more cost-efficient than Oceanview, we’ve not looked for them. Also, we’ve never felt like we’ve been too far away from a space where we could pop out onto a public deck if we wanted/needed fresh air as well as views.

And then finally, I see you’ve landed on the Magic which is a great choice! Highly recommend. One more note on the Magic before I close.

When we sailed the Magic they had just started up on activity exclusive ot the Magic, called a Celebration of Encanto. At the activity there was sing-a-longs/crafts/trivia all themed to Encanto & when we sailed both Mirabel & Bruno came towards the end and did meet & greets with those that participated in the activities. Based on the most recent Navigator on DisneyCruiseLineBlog that I linked below, it looks like that’s still happening (was on their second sea day in the D Lounge at 2:15pm) and there was at least one other time that I saw that Mirabel met on my quick scan through the whole pack.

Looking at a Navigator from past sailings will give you a good idea of what activities as possible to be scheduled. And then once on the ship you’ll want to confirm what they do actually schedule but you’ll know more of what you want to look for. And I love going to DisneyCruiseBlog’s section of personal navigators to peruse and craft basic plans for each day/highlight activities to watch out for.

So excuse my novel, but if you have any questions or want any other opinions, fire away! Happy to share!

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The other thing that comes into play for me is connecting staterooms. Since I want connecting over any other feature, it will often guide my booking.

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This is us exactly. The verandah rooms we’ve gotten have mostly been driven by that being where the best options are for connecting rooms (and sometimes they are the “less” desirable of the verandah options, i.e. have a lifeboat visible or some sort of obstruction so they are cheaper than what’s left of the Oceanview).

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This is amazing! Thanks so much for getting me even more excited about this trip - you are always so generous with your time/advice, and all of this is super useful. Please know that everything you told me before our DLR trip was spot on, so I’m closely taking notes.

I think this captures it perfectly, as does your “Disney Feels” comment. We don’t have a preference between Tangled and BatB per se, but I love the idea of a themed/live dining show on top the Animator’s Palate experience and the live shows (I know the Dream has Marvel, which is great if you’re a Marvel fan - but it’s not something we’ve ever had an opportunity to get into).

I do love the sound of the additional activities on the Dream and the photos of those giant porthole seats absolutely caught my attention… But I guess that just means that if we go with the Magic this time, we’ll need to plan another cruise after that, right?

This is brilliant! And if indeed they are still offering the Encanto experience (which I saw Molly attend in a Mammoth Club video) my kids will be super stoked. Me too!!

Thanks so much for the detailed descriptions of the kids clubs spaces too, they all sound awesome. Slinky Dog Dash is my youngest’s favorite attraction in WDW, so she will love that slide!

Excuse me while I go down a few more rabbit holes before I come back with more questions :slight_smile:

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Yaaas! You got that right!

So happy you were able to use my ramblings on about all things DLR/DCL helpful!

Can’t wait to hear more in your planning process and hopefully a report back on how the ship was too!

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Thanks, I loved reading it - it looked like a great trip! I’m trying to read as many Liner DCL trip reports as I could find and they are all incredibly useful.

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