Help for new cruiser. :-)

[Beca]

I have been a member of these boards for a LONG time, but have never cruised before. We are thinking of taking our first cruise, and I have a few questions that I was hoping some of you super-experienced people could help answer.
1. Looking at the cruise itineraries, I don't see any cruises listed for June 14-19, 2024 and October 26-31 on the Magic. I have searched several times and find nothing. I am not sure if these ships are taken off-line for scheduled maintenance, but I would be really surprised if DCL would take a ship out of service on Halloween Day.

Can anyone help to see if they can find cruises listed on the Magic for those dates (not sure if I am just overlooking them), and also help me understand how scheduled maintenance works on these ships (how often this happens, etc.).

Thank you in advance!!

 

[Grandma4ever]

I looked and the best I can do for the magic is 10/21 to 10/26 or 10/31 to 11/5. It appears that you are looking for a span that you will not find. You can call DCL, and they can help you find a cruise that will work best for you.

As far as dry dock goes each ship goes in every few years. The length of time a ship is out of commission depends on how much work they want to get done. Just paint and carpet might only be a week or two but if they are redesigning any of the areas it can be out several months.

When it comes to booking a cruise, I pick the ports I want to visit then see which ship is going to them. Then I pick a month I would prefer to cruise and look for a cruise that I can make work. I hope this is helpful and that you are able to find one that will work with your times available. Do NOT do less than a 4-day cruise. Today I will not do less than a 7-day cruise.

 

[Calantha]

The missing week in June is a DVC cruise to Lighthouse Point, since the New Lighthouse Point cruises are just kicking off at that time. If you check it out on the DCL blog, there are more details.

Seems odd that there’s no cruise over Halloween but I wouldn’t think that that would be long enough to do any sort of maintenance, there could be some other sort of special event cruise happening then too.

 

[lanejudy]

Just a guess - but the October dates could be a charter, possibly TCM.

 

[Geomom]

Just a guess - but the October dates could be a charter, possibly TCM.

I think that's a good guess. This year the TCM charter leaves on 11/6 on the Magic. I don't think they'll announce it for 2024 until the 2023 happens.

 

[Lillebelle]

I like this site for being able to get a good sense of what each of the ships is doing when since Disney makes finding this information extremely tedious:

https://www.mousesavers.com/disney-...-cruise-schedule-sail-dates-ports-more/#magic

According to that list, Oct 26-31 is a Western Caribbean that stops at Cozumel and Castaway Cay. I don't know if it's not showing up on the site because it's sold out, because it's a charter as has been suggested, or if it's the site being weird (which I do feel happens sometimes).

Regarding your maintenance question, you can find some threads by searching for 'dry dock'. This one suggests that it's every few years; the Magic just had a dry dock refurbishment this year so I would be surprised if it was scheduled for much next year.

Also, you didn't ask, but if you're looking at booking a cruise, I highly recommend booking through a Dreams Unlimited travel agent

 

[iloveeeyore]

I use an internet-based large cruise TA to find cruises I want before contacting my personal TA to book. I dont think I'm allowed to share the site here. Try googling discount cruises. You have to establish an account using your email address. This method allows finding virtually every cruise that is bookable (a few elite lines don't participate).

I found the one on the Magic out of Ft. Lauderdale 10/26-31, 2024. It's a 5- nighter that does Cozumel and Castaway Cay with 2 days at sea (no Lighthouse Point). The site is showing all major categories available, so it does not appear to be sold out.

Good luck and have fun planning!