Doing the DCL Grand Slam

In Disney Cruise Line fan parlance, a “Grand Slam” is sailing on all four DCL ships (Magic, Wonder, Dream, and Fantasy) in a one-year period. I was able to complete this once, in 2015, with just four days to spare. But with new ships being added to the fleet soon, I started wondering if I could do this again before the new vessels arrive and the hive mind has to invent new terminology.

How long would a Grand Slam take if I wanted to do it quickly? How much would it cost?

One factor confounding this pipe dream is that in 2020, neither the Magic nor the Wonder are sailing out of Port Canaveral as they have during parts of some years. That means some driving or air travel between ports would be needed to make this happen. And to accomplish this with low between-port travel costs, I’d need to undertake the project in the winter or spring when the Magic is in the United States (rather than her summer home in Europe) and the Wonder is near the East coast (rather than her summer home in Alaska).

I’m sure there’s some way to program a search for the most efficient way to schedule four cruises, one on each ship, but that’s not my skill set. (Feel free to chime in if you know a way to program this.) By my eye, the most time efficient way to achieve a DCL Grand Slam in 2020 would be:

• Disney Magic. February 6, 4-Night sailing from Miami, ending on February 10. Then drive immediately from Miami to Port Canaveral.
• Disney Dream. February 10, 4-Night sailing from Port Canaveral, ending on February 14. Hang out in Port Canaveral for a night.
• Disney Fantasy. February 15, 7-Night sailing from Port Canaveral, ending February 22. Drive or fly to New Orleans.
• Disney Wonder. February 27, 4-night sailing from New Orleans, ending March 2.

That’s all four ships, with 19 nights on board, accomplished in 26 days.

Looking at costs (all are priced for two adults in the least expensive inside stateroom available purchased at the end of July 2019), this would be:

• Magic $1,885
• Dream $2,182
• Fantasy $4,774
• Wonder $2,266
• For a total of $11,107

A similar, but slightly more expensive version, would be:

• Disney Wonder. January 26, 7-Night sailing from San Juan, ending on February 2. Then fly from San Juan to Miami.
• Disney Magic. February 6, 4-Night sailing from Miami, ending on February 10. Then drive immediately from Miami to Port Canaveral.
• Disney Dream. February 10, 4-Night sailing from Port Canaveral, ending on February 14. Hang out in Port Canaveral for a night.
• Disney Fantasy. February 15, 7-Night sailing from Port Canaveral, ending February 22.

The prices (again, all are priced for two adults in the least expensive inside stateroom available purchased at the end of July 2019) are:

• Wonder $3,188
• Magic $1,885
• Dream $2,182
• Fantasy $4,774

Here, for a total of $12,029, you get a Grand Slam with 22 nights at sea accomplished in exactly four weeks, with less driving than in the first version.

Given that there are plenty of single 7-night cruises that bump into this price range for concierge staterooms, and even some longer European cruises where a low-end verandah stateroom exceeds this range by several thousand dollars, spending a month completing a stunt starts to feel a lot less silly than it did at first glance.

Is something like this on your bucket list? Have you done a Grand Slam before? If so, how long did it take? Do you have a good name for doing five sailings in year? Let us know in the comments.