One Way Cruises

[JM_97]

We’ll be on this sailing, so I’m happy for the lower rates as well! I can see the reasons, with airfare and travel, that some may be dissuaded from a one-way, but we use miles and points and will be visiting family on both ends, so it’s perfect for us! San Juan is definitely worth taking an extra couple days on the front end and extending your vacation in combination with the 5-day sailing.

Yeah that's the main thing I'm trying to figure out is if the added expense of the one way flight and hotel in SJ is feasible because I love the itinerary and price. Plus it's a cruise you don't always get. There's plenty of 5 night sailings from Florida, but from what I can tell it's not often the Magic does this one specifically.

 

[motherdaughtercruisers]

Yeah that's the main thing I'm trying to figure out is if the added expense of the one way flight and hotel in SJ is feasible because I love the itinerary and price. Plus it's a cruise you don't always get. There's plenty of 5 night sailings from Florida, but from what I can tell it's not often the Magic does this one specifically.

Hotels have become pretty pricey post Covid in San Juan. So if that is a concern, definitely check that out.

 

[auntlynne]

Right now, air and hotels are not so bad for a 2-day pre-cruise arrival in San Juan In May 2.

Mid-level hotels (rather nice, newer ones) have nightly rates under $300. A lot will have a daily resort fee. Hyatt Place or House near the cruise port (across the water from Old San Juan), Hampton Inn or Embassy Suites near Carolina Beach / just north of the airport.

Our RT tickets to SJU last May were $1300 cash when we booked 5 weeks out (using about 77K miles). Those tickets jumped to $1600 before we flew. Same airport, OW, is offered at $525. Delta, Main seating.

 

[Erica1016]

We are doing this cruise out of San Juan. We’re currently looking into hotels or possibly an AirBnB. We’re feeling okay about that, but are trying to determine what to do about phone service to do Uber or to communicate with hotels/hosts. We have confirmed that our phones/service (we use Tracfone currently) will not work there.
Does anyone have suggestions? Are there other options if we can’t use our phones?

 

[motherdaughtercruisers]

We are doing this cruise out of San Juan. We’re currently looking into hotels or possibly an AirBnB. We’re feeling okay about that, but are trying to determine what to do about phone service to do Uber or to communicate with hotels/hosts. We have confirmed that our phones/service (we use Tracfone currently) will not work there.
Does anyone have suggestions? Are there other options if we can’t use our phones?

I’m pretty sure every time we have sailed out of San Juan we had the hotel call for someone for us. They are super reliable. Both the hotel and whoever they call.

 

[Travel60]

This has now peaked my interest because May actually is a good time for us since we don't have kids. Plus it's a more unique itinerary at a lower price. Fort Lauderdale is actually drivable so we would also only have one flight. It still would be cheaper than a lot of the other Disney cruises that time of year.

The only "con" could be I know there's mixed reviews of the Magic right now given her age.

I've sailed the Magic recently and my daughter & family are sailing her next week. She's wonderful

 

[DisneyConvert]

I was on the October 31 cruise from NYC to San Juan last year. A cast member at guest services told me that demand for repositioning cruises is always low. We weren't even half full. They combined the two dinner times into one, which was kind of annoying. But, the ship wasn't crowded, so that was good.

So, I guess that's why they're cheaper. Most people don't want to sail on repositioning cruises.

Of the 11 I've been on, I think 3 have been Repo's ...
Hawaii => Vancouver this coming March

 

[DisneyConvert]

I've been on many repositioning cruises and they haven't had to combine two dinner seatings into one. They may be a little lighter on cruisers but not much different than any other cruise where school is in session. I'm on a repo from NY to San Juan in November on the Dream and it is almost full. It is Jersey week though.

Hmm. Our NYC => SanJuan last Fall was ~40% full. Dinners and shows were combined. It was NOT crowded.
May have been the school/holiday calendar.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We are considering this cruise.

 

[NephieRN]

Hmm. Our NYC => SanJuan last Fall was ~40% full. Dinners and shows were combined. It was NOT crowded.
May have been the school/holiday calendar.

We’re on this years NYC to San Juan and I keep hearing about last years being empty and how awesome it was. Definitely doesn’t appear to be the case this year. Room prices continue to increase, minimal rooms available, no guarantee rates at less than 80 days out. I’m thinking maybe because it’s the dream and it’s during “Jersey week” that it’s more popular this year. Couple that with the fact that DCL didn’t announce any NYC cruises for next year and it seems like it’s gonna be pretty full.

 

[DisneyConvert]

We’re on this years NYC to San Juan and I keep hearing about last years being empty and how awesome it was. Definitely doesn’t appear to be the case this year. Room prices continue to increase, minimal rooms available, no guarantee rates at less than 80 days out. I’m thinking maybe because it’s the dream and it’s during “Jersey week” that it’s more popular this year. Couple that with the fact that DCL didn’t announce any NYC cruises for next year and it seems like it’s gonna be pretty full.

Jersey Week is made for the family-school-age demo. Pier88 is convenient, and San Juan back to EWR couldn't be easier (no customs or immigration).

Glad it's going to be full. More fun that way. We had a great (moderate) hike in Antigua that was a highlight.

 

[taggie4]

Hmm. Our NYC => SanJuan last Fall was ~40% full. Dinners and shows were combined. It was NOT crowded.
May have been the school/holiday calendar.

Interesting as we are on that cruise this fall. When/how did you discover it was less full?

 

[rainbowredpanda]

Is there a reason why one way repositioning cruises are less expensive than round trips? The Magic has a 1 way from San Juan to Fort Lauderdale next May and I was shocked at the price - in a good way! It's a 5 night cruise with stops in St. Thomas, Nassau, and Castaway Cay, and it is similarly priced to a 3 night Bahamas cruise.

They have to move the ship no matter what so having people on board is a bonus. They rather get people on board and hope they will spend money on board which is really where they make most of their money. They're also aware that fewer people want these cruises as there are additional costs (flights at least one way)

 

[dclpluto]

Love one way cruise been some of the best cruises I have been on. Did seven one way DCL cruises. Plus you can get some really good deals on one way cruises.

2 Panama Canal. One each way

2 transatlantic

1 Vancouver to hawaii

1 LA to Vancouver. This one seemed like a regular cruise nothing special.

1 NYC to Quebec

When you don’t have much money like me one way cruises can be your friend.

 

[DisneyConvert]

Interesting as we are on that cruise this fall. When/how did you discover it was less full?

One can check "availability" as if one is looking for various cabin classes . . .
One can ask a TA.
One can review the Disney Cruise Line Fare Tracker if one is a subscriber to Touring Plans . . .

Or one can board the ship blissfully unaware and then read the little note left in one's cabin explaining that the only MDRoom seating will be at 6xx pm, and the only WDWTheatre show will be at 8xx pm, and then say "M'uhhh?!"

 

[RedHead0186]

One can check "availability" as if one is looking for various cabin classes . . .
One can ask a TA.
One can review the Disney Cruise Line Fare Tracker if one is a subscriber to Touring Plans . . .

Or one can board the ship blissfully unaware and then read the little note left in one's cabin explaining that the only MDRoom seating will be at 6xx pm, and the only WDWTheatre show will be at 8xx pm, and then say "M'uhhh?!"

Keep in mind DCL doesn't always list all available staterooms on the website. They'll list at least some in all available stateroom categories, but not necessarily every single stateroom is available. So you can probably get a rough estimate of availability, but that's probably not the most accurate way.

 

[taggie4]

One can check "availability" as if one is looking for various cabin classes . . .
One can ask a TA.
One can review the Disney Cruise Line Fare Tracker if one is a subscriber to Touring Plans . . .

Or one can board the ship blissfully unaware and then read the little note left in one's cabin explaining that the only MDRoom seating will be at 6xx pm, and the only WDWTheatre show will be at 8xx pm, and then say "M'uhhh?!"

How do you do this one: One can check "availability" as if one is looking for various cabin classes . . .

I'm looking online and don't see an option for this. Thanks

 

[RedHead0186]

How do you do this one: One can check "availability" as if one is looking for various cabin classes . . .

I'm looking online and don't see an option for this. Thanks

Go as if you're actually trying to book a stateroom (pick a specific cruise, then go to select a stateroom). It'll show you a map of available staterooms for that category and location. It's a bit of a pain because you can only look at one stateroom type and ship location at a time, so it's a lot of clicking back and forth. But you can generally see how many staterooms are open. (Keep in mind though, as I noted above, DCL doesn't always list all available staterooms on the website so it might not be super accurate. But if will give you a general idea.)

 

[taggie4]

Go as if you're actually trying to book a stateroom (pick a specific cruise, then go to select a stateroom). It'll show you a map of available staterooms for that category and location. It's a bit of a pain because you can only look at one stateroom type and ship location at a time, so it's a lot of clicking back and forth. But you can generally see how many staterooms are open. (Keep in mind though, as I noted above, DCL doesn't always list all available staterooms on the website so it might not be super accurate. But if will give you a general idea.)

Thanks! Good to know. I decided to call as I had a dietary restriction to check on.

So for this fall out of 1250 rooms on the dream there are 28 left! So pretty full. Crazy how it can change from year to year.

 

[auntlynne]

We are doing this cruise out of San Juan. We’re currently looking into hotels or possibly an AirBnB. We’re feeling okay about that, but are trying to determine what to do about phone service to do Uber or to communicate with hotels/hosts. We have confirmed that our phones/service (we use Tracfone currently) will not work there.
Does anyone have suggestions? Are there other options if we can’t use our phones?

I am not a bot.

I am a phone service cheapskate. So I switched to Mint Mobile at a rate of a little more than $15/mo (on a yearly plan). That is 5GB of data and unlimited talk & text. They run off T-Mobile towers, which gives good coverage. There are no phones included (similar to how Tracfone works; I have used them at some point in my life).

You could use an old phone (on which you can have apps) and just get a second phone number for travel if you don’t want to give up your Tracfone account.

No problems with using this in San Juan or St Thomas in May.