Disney Cruise Line Ships at a Glance
Is taking a Disney Cruise on your horizon? Well, if you’re never done it before, you may have some questions about the four ships in the DCL fleet.
Do you ever find yourself trying to remember what the differences are between the four Disney Cruise Line ships? I know I do. When we write the Unofficial Guide To Disney Cruise Line each year, I constantly have to go back to confirm who has Star Wars and who has Avengers? Which bar is O’Gill’s and which is Crown & Fin? Which dining room features Ariel and which has Tiana? With that in mind, we’re sharing our cheat sheet to the DCL ships.
| Magic | Wonder | Dream | Fantasy | |||
| Size | ||||||
| Decks | 11 | 11 | 14 | 14 | ||
| Capacity – guests |
2713 | 2713 | 4000 | 4000 | ||
| Capacity – Crew |
950 | 950 | 1458 | 1458 | ||
| Itineraries | ||||||
| Cruise Length | varies | varies | 3,4,5 | 7 to 11 | ||
| Summer | Europe | Alaska, California, Hawaii | Bahamas | Caribbean | ||
| Rest of year |
Caribbean | Caribbean | Bahamas | Caribbean | ||
| Special cruises | Marvel Days at Sea Repositioning (trans-Atlantic) |
Repositioning (Panama Canal) | DVC Member | Star Wars Days at Sea |
||
| Technology | ||||||
| Midship Detective Agency |
No | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| Virtual Portholes |
No | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| Animation Magic |
Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| DCL app | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Dining | ||||||
| Rotational Dining | Rapunzel’s Lumiere’s Animator’s Palate |
Tiana’s Triton’s Animator’s Palate |
Enchanted Garden Royal Palace Animator’s Palate |
Enchanted Garden Royal Court Animator’s Palate |
||
| Other | Vanellope’s Senses Juice Bar Vista Cafe |
Sweet on You Vista Cafe |
||||
| Pools | ||||||
| AquaDuck | No | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| AquaDunk | Yes | No | No | No | ||
| Twist N Spout |
Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
| AquaLab extended splash area |
Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ||
| Kids | ||||||
| Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Kids’ club theme |
Marvel-Avengers | Marvel-Avengers/Spiderman | Star Wars | Pixar | ||
| Adults | ||||||
| Dining | Palo | Palo | Palo, Remy | Palo, Remy | ||
| Adult Area | After Hours: Fathoms O’Gill’s Keys |
After Hours: Azure Crown & Fin Cadillac Lounge |
The District: Evolution Pub 687 Pink Skyline District Lounge |
Europa: The Tube O’Gill’s Ooh La La Skyline La Piazza |
||
| Other Bar | Meridian | Meridian | ||||
| Spa | Senses* | Senses* | Senses | Senses | ||
| Unique to ship |
Outlook Café | |||||
| Other | ||||||
| Built | 1998 (refurb 2013, 2018) | 1999 (refurb 2016) | 2012 (refurb 2015) | 2013 (refurb 2017) | ||
| Lobby statue |
Mickey | Ariel | Donald | Minnie | ||
* while all the spas on DCL are named “Senses,” there are big differences in their execution. The spas on the Dream and Fantasy are more modern and feature a much nicer Rainforest.
Are you planning a Disney cruise? Still have questions about the ships? Talk about it in the comments!
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This is incredibly helpful!
The Wonder does feature the Animation Magic show, we had it last month on our cruise.
Hi! This is a great list!
I thought the Wonder received the Animation Magic show as part of the last dry dock.
Going on the Fantasy in March. Anybody have an updated beer list? The selection we saw in Hollywood Studios has my hopes up.
In February of 2016 the Fantasy had all mainstream/commercial macro beers. Heineken, Bud and Bud light, Miller Lite, corona, etc
Here’s a chart with the live shows: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/cruise-planning/live-stage-shows/. The other entertainers (magicians, jugglers, ventriloquists, etc) vary depending on the cruise…as far as I know, there’s no way to know in advance who will be performing.
Thanks!
This is great information – it would be also be helpful if you could include a rundown of the entertainment (current shows, in particular)
I think it will be its own article (also the DCL Blog does a great job, as mentioned before), but mostly I really needed to finish this article and the shows are complicated to list out (because of the different itinerary lengths). Thanks for reading!
Thanks!
As far as saving money, the cheapest ones will always be during the peak of hurricane season, in September. I don’t like high chances of bad weather, so I think the value of those are actually iffy. I prefer the next cheapest ones, in January (except for New Years), or early December, where you can do a special Very Merrytime cruise for much less than you would closer to Christmas. And you can see from the Fare Tracker on this site that it’s almost always cheapest to book as far in advance as possible, usually at least a year in advance, as prices rise steadily after that.
Great info – thanks! Do you have tips for booking at off-peak weeks to save $$$?
Super blogger Tammy has a whole article on ways to save money on your fare. http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/02/18/10-ways-find-best-deal-disney-cruise/
And here’s an article from Len looking at the best time to book – http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/08/18/book-early-saves-money-disney-cruise-doesnt/
And another by me -http://blog.touringplans.com/2015/01/28/least-expensive-disney-cruise/
Thanks for the reminder that we can update this content and thanks for reading!