Unique 2014 (and some 2013) Sailings You May Have Overlooked

Tuesday’s itinerary announcement has brought us some interesting and unique sailings.  The spotlight has been pointed mostly at the new Greek Isles and Southern Caribbean sailings, so I decided to focus on some of the more unique sailings.  On the surface, it may look like the regular old itineraries, but there are some interesting components lying within the variants of each itinerary.  First off, there are repositioning cruises that are not clearly labeled.  On the West Coast, there is a new home port in San Diego that was overshadowed by the announcement of home ports in Venice and San Juan. And then, there is a one time only sailing to Sitka, Alaska.  Finally, there are a couple 2-night cruises available from San Diego and Miami offering a quick getaway or an extension to a longer sailing.

In order to provide a complete picture, I am going to include all future cruises even if they were already available to book.

Castaway Cay Double Dip Sailings

Not all four and five night sailings are the same, such is the case with these five itineraries which have two stops at Castaway Cay, which are frequently referred to as a Double Dip.  Some of these itineraries even have back-to-back days at Castaway Cay. Do not get to excited; you will not get to spend the evening on the island as the ship will leave around 4:30 PM and return again to dock in the morning.

Magic

  • 10/20/2013 • 5-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Magic – Itinerary A

Wonder

  • 9/26/2014 • 5-Night Bahamian Cruise Disney Wonder – Itinerary B
  • 10/1/2014 • 5-Night Bahamian Cruise Disney Wonder – Itinerary A
  • 10/6/2014 • 4-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Wonder – Itinerary C

If you have 14 nights to spare, you can Back-to-Back-to-Back the above sailings, all which all have two stops at Castaway Cay.  One could potentially spend 6 of 14 days at Castaway Cay.

Dream

  • 11/13/2014 • 4-Night Bahamian Cruise – Itinerary F

Dream Meetings with the Magic & Wonder

Every once in while, you will find yourself in port with another Disney ship.  With four ships in the fleet, you would think that it would be more common, but this is not the case.  In 2014, there will be 9 occurrences where the Dream will meet up with one of her older sisters in Nassau.  Below are the actual dates when the ships will be in port taking first and second place in any horn battles.

Dream & Magic Meetings

  • 1/3/2014

Dream & Wonder Meetings

  • 1/17/2014
  • 1/31/2014
  • 2/14/2014
  • 2/28/2014
  • 3/14/2014
  • 3/28/2014
  • 4/11/2014
  • 4/25/2014

Repositioning Cruises

Most of the time when you hear of a repositioning cruise, you think Panama Canal or Transatlantic; but there are also some shorter versions with much less fanfare.  Unfortunately, there are no repositioning cruise available for when the Magic repositions from Miami to Port Canaveral or when the Wonder leaves Galveston for Miami in January 2014, or when the Magic repositions from San Juan to Miami in October 2014. I’m sure we can all agree that the crew deserves a break, albeit brief.

Transatlantic Cruises

  • Galveston to Barcelona  • 5/18/2013 • 14-Night Eastbound Transatlantic Cruise on Disney Magic – Itinerary A
  • Port Canaveral to Barcelona • 5/19/2014 • 12-Night Eastbound Transatlantic Cruise on Disney Magic – Itinerary A
  • Barcelona to San Juan • 9/6/2014 • 14-Night Westbound Transatlantic Cruise

Panama Canal Cruises

  • Los Angeles to Galveston    9/14/2013 • 14-Night Eastbound Panama Canal Cruise on Disney Wonder – Itinerary B
  • Miami to San Diego • 5/2/2014 • 15-Night Westbound Panama Canal Cruise on Disney Wonder
  • San Diego to Port Canaveral • 9/12/2014 • 14-Night Eastbound Panama Canal Cruise on Disney Wonder – Itinerary C

California Coast Repositioning Cruises

  • 5/20/2013 • 7-Night Los Angeles to Vancouver Cruise
  • 9/9/2013 • 5-Night Vancouver to Los Angeles Cruise on Disney Wonder
  • 5/19/2014 • 5-Night San Diego to Vancouver Cruise Disney Wonder
  • 9/8/2014 • 4-Night Vancouver to San Diego Cruise Disney Wonder

Mediterranean Repositioning Cruises

The Mediterranean cruises in 2014 will be split between Barcelona and Venice.  This results in 2 repositioning cruises, but the itinerary names that Disney Cruise Line decided to use do not do a good job at identifying these sailings as repositioning cruises.

  •  Barcelona to Venice • 6/14/2014 • 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (with Greece) on Disney Magic – Itinerary C
    12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (with Greece) on Disney Magic - Itinerary C (Barcelona to Venice) Map
  • Venice to Barcelona • 7/14/2014 • 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (with Greece) on Disney Magic – Itinerary D
    12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (with Greece) on Disney Magic - Itinerary D (Venice to Barcelona) Map

2-Night Cruises to Nowhere

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to cruise, but found yourself worried that you would get sea sick, or not willing to commit to a longer itinerary?  Then, these 2-night cruises may be right up your alley.  These sailings are wonderful opportunities for a quick mini vacation  if you live in the Miami or San Diego areas.  The other option would be to add one of these cruises on before or after a longer sailing (which we are doing on the first Miami sailing  in October this year).  Wondering what is offered on a two night sailing?  We have navigators available from a 2-Night Getaway New York Getaway Cruise to give you an idea of what was offered on previous sailings.  Two of the sailings spend a day a sea, but there is a Miami sailing which calls on Castaway Cay!

Miami

  • 10/25/2013 • 2-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Magic – Itinerary A (Sea)
    2-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Magic - Itinerary A Map
  • 10/20/2014 • 2 Night Bahamian Cruise Disney Magic Itinerary B (Castaway Cay)
    2 Night Bahamian Cruise Disney Magic Itinerary B Map

San Diego

  • 5/17/2014 • 2-Night Weekend Getaway Cruise Disney Wonder (Sea)
    2-Night Weekend Getaway Cruise Disney Wonder Itinerary Map

Visit Sitka, Alaska

To kick off the 2014 Alaskan cruises, the Wonder will sail on one 9-Night Alaskan Cruise.  This cruise offers an extra day at sea and a stop in Sitka, Alaska which sets it apart from the usual 7-night sailings that Disney Cruise Line typically does.

  • 5/24/2014 • 9-Night Alaskan Cruise Disney Wonder Itinerary A from Vancouver, Canada
    9 Night Alaskan Cruise Disney Wonder Itinerary A Map

What itinerary are you most excited about?  Which one or ones did you book?

8 Replies to “Unique 2014 (and some 2013) Sailings You May Have Overlooked”

  1. Blake Gilmore

    Thankyou for all the information some of which we can only find here. It is my wifes dream to experience a disney horn battle and see anouther disney ship while on a disney ship. I will have to try and suprise my wife. Now if we could just get Disney to do a Pirates Night on 2 ships close to each other – WOW ! Do you have any info on any other DCL special events aboard ships like Halloweeen etc…. I love your web page and again thank you !
    May All Your Sailings Be Disney Sailings !
    Blake

    Reply
    1. Richard

      I don’t know about any future event but I can tell you I’ve done Halloween on The Magic and it was so-so at best. It is fun to see the characters dressed up in Halloween costumes but other than some different photo ops it just another fun day on the ship. They do pass out candy for the kids but that is kept pretty minimal which I and most parents preferred.

      Reply
  2. Bob

    I think there’s a third empty repositioning cruise, October 18 – 20, 2014, San Juan Puerto Rico to Miami, FL, or am I missing something?

    Reply
  3. J

    Do you have any idea on were or not they will have the double dipping at castaway cay in 2015? Is this unique to 2014?

    Reply
    1. Scott Sanders Post author

      J, there are a few double dips on the Disney Dream in 2015.

      • 4-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Dream – Itinerary J – 6/22, 7/1, 7/15
      • 5-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Dream – Itinerary A – 6/26
      • 5-Night Bahamian Cruise on Disney Dream – Itinerary B – 7/5, 7/10, 7/19, 7/24, 7/29
      Reply

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