Disney Cruise Line: Bookings for early 2021 sailings go on sale Thursday
Disney Cruise sale season is here: Bookings for their early 2021 cruises open to the public on Thursday.
In its newly released itinerary announcement, Disney said it will continue to base its two largest ships – the 4,000-passenger Dream and Fantasy – at Port Canaveral. A third, Magic, will be based out of Miami.
Its fourth ship, Wonder, will have three home ports during the January to May 2021 time frame: Galveston, Texas; New Orleans; and San Diego.
2021 cruises from Port Canaveral
• The Disney Dream will sail three- and four-night Bahamian cruises.
• The Disney Fantasy will sail seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries.
From Miami
•The 2,713-passenger Disney Magic will sail three-, four- and five-night Bahamian and Western Caribbean cruises.
The cruises from Florida will include a stop at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, in the Bahamas.
Three home ports for Disney Wonder
The 2,713-passenger Disney Wonder will sail from three home ports in early 2021:
• From Galveston, Texas: The Wonder in January will sail four- and six-night Western Caribbean cruises from Galveston to Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico; as well as one seven-night departure that will include stops at Key West; Nassau, the Bahamas; and Castaway Cay.
• From New Orleans: The Wonder will sail from New Orleans from late January through February 2021. It will offer four- and five-night cruises to the Western Caribbean; three seven-night sailings to the Bahamas with a stop at Castaway Cay; an one 14-night Panama Canal cruise that will end in San Diego.
Disney said one of its sailings from New Orleans includes a visit to Progreso, Mexico, a new port of call for Disney on the Yucatan Peninsula.
• From San Diego: The Wonder will offer a variety of three- to seven-nights sailings from San Diego to Baja and the Mexican Riviera in March, April and May 2021.
• On May 12, 2021, the Wonder will leave San Diego on a five-night Pacific Coast cruise to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with stops in San Francisco and Victoria, British Columbia. That could set the stage for Alaskan cruises in the summer of 2021.
More: Disney Cruise Line to add fifth ship, Disney Wish, and second island destination in Bahamas
More: Port commissioners OK passenger gangway contract for Disney terminal to accommodate new ships
More: Disney Skyliner now open, giving resort guests high-flying transportation
More ships on the way
Two more Disney ships – which have not been named – are scheduled for delivery in 2022 and 2023.
All three of Disney's new ships will be powered by liquefied natural gas.
Brevard's seaport is attractive to Disney because of its proximity to Disney's Orlando-area theme parks. Hence, Disney is expanding its fleet, and also plans to expand its presence at Port Canaveral to three ships.
The Disney Wish is scheduled for delivery in late 2021, and is expected to begin cruises beginning in January 2022. Itineraries have not been disclosed.
More: Disney World, Disneyland to debut hundreds of vegan options. When are they coming?
Port Canaveral expands to accommodate bigger Disney presence
Port Canaveral is upgrading Cruise Terminals 8 and 10 — adjacent terminals on the port's north side — to accommodate Disney's expansion. That project, estimated to cost $46.5 million, is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2021.
As part of the deal, Disney will begin paying the port what's known as a "capital cost recovery charge" of $3.15 per passenger getting on or off a Disney ship at Port Canaveral. This charge is designed to reimburse the port for the $46.5 million in terminal upgrades.
Disney is one of four cruise companies with ships based at Port Canaveral, the world's second-busiest cruise port. The others are Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean.
For the port's 2019-20 budget year, which began Tuesday, Disney will have two ships based at Port Canaveral year-round – the Dream and the Fantasy – with a total of 156 voyages. It also will have two port-of-call stops by the Disney Magic.
Disney will generate total cruise-related revenue of $17.2 million for Port Canaveral in the current budget year, including $4.3 million from cruise parking, the port estimates.
Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com; Twitter: @bydaveberman
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Disney Cruise Line: Bookings for early 2021 sailings on sale Thursday
