The Magic is Coming Back (in the US)!

Earlier this month, Disney announced that the Disney Magic will resume cruises from Miami on October 28th!  While this is good news, Disney has canceled two cruises on the Magic before the 28th, one starting on October 21st and one starting on October 24th.  The Magic will be going on mostly 4-night and 5-night cruises from Miami, but it's starting with a 3-night Halloween on the High Seas Bahamian cruise.  This cruise goes to Nassau and Castaway Cay, so the Magic isn't resuming just with Castaway Cay like the Dream and Fantasy did.  

I'm glad they're doing cruises that are a bit longer on the Magic, and while most future cruises weren't canceled, changes were made to some of the Magic's cruises.  Some ports of call that the Magic would have visited, like Grand Cayman, currently aren't open to cruise ships.  So, for a while after the Magic resumes cruises, it'll stop in the Bahamas on 4-night cruises and in Mexico on some 5-night cruises.  

Something else you may notice when looking at the Magic's cruises for the rest of this year and all of next year is that none of them go to Key West.  The Magic used to go to Key West quite frequently (the photo above was even taken in Key West), but it's not going at all now.  This isn't because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's because of a vote that restricts the size of cruise ships coming to Key West and some other legal drama.  If you're interested, the Disney Cruise Line Blog has a lot of information about Key West's situation, so definitely check it out.

To avoid trouble in Key West, all of the cruises that were planned to visit Key West have been altered.  My family is planning on going on the January 31st to February 5th 5-night Bahamian cruise on the Magic, and it originally included a stop at Key West.  However, DCL sent us an email alerting us that the itinerary was changed:

The email didn't say how our specific itinerary was changed, but after we checked the DCL website, we learned that the day at Key West was replaced with a second day at Castaway Cay!  Key West is cool, but I'd choose a second day at Castaway Cay over a day at Key West any day.  Thanks, Mickey!

As you may know, the Magic has actually resumed cruises already.  It's currently going on Magic at Sea cruises from the United Kingdom.  These cruises only go out to sea and don't stop at any ports, which is pretty boring.  The Magic will do a few more Magic at Sea cruises, then it'll make its way back to the United States.  It'll be the last of the four DCL ships to resume cruises from the United States (as long as DCL's plans don't change).  Cruises have been canceled for so long, and I'm happy that all of the DCL ships are finally coming back, even if they're not totally the same as before the start of the pandemic.  Restricted cruises are better than no cruises at all!

The Fantasy is Back!

Yesterday, September 11th, the Disney Fantasy started its first cruise with normal, paying passengers!  The Fantasy is the second DCL ship to resume cruises from the United States, following the Dream, which resumed cruises last month.  

The Fantasy is starting with a few 4-night Bahamian cruises, not 7-night Caribbean cruises like it would've done normally.  In addition to trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19, these cruises were likely shortened because many of the ports that the Fantasy would've visited on its 7-night cruises aren't currently open to cruise ships.  Well, at least all of the Fantasy's cruises in September (and some in October) will have two stops at Castaway Cay, which is awesome.  After the Fantasy returns from its current cruise, it will wait until Saturday, September 18th to start its next cruise.  It's doing this because the 4-night cruises that it's going on were originally 7-night cruises, and it was likely simplest to keep the Fantasy on the one-cruise-per-week schedule.

The Fantasy will begin cruises 7-nights or longer on October 9th.  However, as previously mentioned, not all of the ports it was scheduled to visit are open.  As a result, the itineraries have been altered and now include stops in Mexico and the Bahamas.

Yesterday's success means that half of the current DCL fleet has resumed cruises!  The Wonder is next.  It's planned to resume cruises from San Diego, California on October 1st.  The Magic is still doing Magic at Sea cruises from the UK, but it'll resume cruises that stop at places later in October.  Some interesting changes have been made, but that's a story for another post.  Keep your eye out for that!

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The Wonder is Coming Back!

A couple of days ago, Disney announced that the Disney Wonder will finally resume cruises on October 1st, 2021!  This means that two Wonder cruises, starting on September 24th and September 26th, are now canceled.  To start, the Wonder will be going on 3-night and 4-night cruises from San Diego, California.  These 3-night cruises will stop at Ensenada, Mexico and spend one day at sea.  The 4-night itinerary will stop at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and spend three days at sea.  

The Wonder in San Diego on September 2nd, 2021.  My mom happened to be in San Diego when the Wonder arrived, so she and my aunt went to see it!  Thanks for the photo!

Originally, the Wonder was planned to begin a 7-night cruise on October 1st.  It was also planned to start some 5-night cruises on October 26th and October 31st.  However, these have been changed to 4-night cruises.  Everyone booked on these longer cruises that got changed was automatically booked on the 4-night cruise that starts on the same date as their original cruise.  Because they're now booked on a shorter cruise, these guests will be refunded for the amount of the cruise they're not going on.  People who remain booked on these altered cruises will receive an onboard credit and a 25% discount on a future cruise.  The DCL website doesn't mention how much the onboard credit will be worth.  Disney is doing something like this for the Fantasy's planned restart, and guests on those altered cruises will receive a $400 credit per stateroom, so maybe guests on the Wonder will get the same amount.  Also like the Fantasy, after these longer cruises end, the Wonder won't start a cruise later on the same day.  It'll wait until the originally-scheduled date of the next cruise, and then it'll begin another cruise.  It's kind of strange, but it was probably easier than changing the start date of other cruises.

Like the other ships' cruises, there will be restrictions on the Wonder.  Guests age 12 and older will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to sail on the Wonder.  Also, all guests (regardless of vaccination status) will need to take a COVID-19 test at the cruise terminal before boarding the ship.  This is a new measure that will apply to the three DCL ships (Wonder, Dream, and Fantasy) sailing from the United States starting September 13th.  The Magic at Sea cruises are different, but once the Magic returns to the US, it'll likely have to follow this rule.

Another restriction is that people who are not fully vaccinated will only be able to get off the ship in Ensenada or Cabo San Lucas if they are on a DCL Port Adventure.  The only people who aren't required to be vaccinated are kids under age 12.  Fully vaccinated guests are free to get off without a Port Adventure.  As a result of this, if a family wants to explore the port without a Port Adventure or go on a non-DCL excursion, but they have a child who isn't fully vaccinated, they'd have to leave their kid on the Wonder.  This restriction could really mess with some families' plans, but I guess Disney thinks it's necessary.  Unlike Castaway Cay, Disney can't control everything that happens in Cabo San Lucas or Ensenada.  

The Wonder will be cruising out of San Diego until November 5th, when it begins a 14-night Eastbound Panama Canal cruise.  It seemed crazy that a cruise this long will be happening, but there's a major restriction.  On this cruise,  everyone on the ship must be fully vaccinated to sail.  This means that, if the vaccination eligibility age doesn't get lower, nobody under age 12 will be on that cruise.  That's likely not a huge deal, since I've heard there typically aren't very many kids on those cruises because they're so long.  It would be a very interesting cruise to go on, as it would be weird seeing no young kids.  Since the minimum age for that cruise is currently 12, will the Oceaneer Club and Lab even be open?  They're normally for ages 3 to 12, but when I was 12, I chose to only go to Edge.  Maybe the Club and Lab will be repurposed as activity spaces for Edge and Vibe.  Anyway, to get on that cruise, all guests will be required to take a COVID-19 test at the cruise terminal.

With this announcement, all four DCL ships will be cruising at the same time when October arrives (as long as nothing crazy happens or DCL's plans change).  This hasn't happened since March of 2020, so I'm looking forward to that!  Also, thanks again to my mom and aunt for taking some awesome pictures of the Wonder in San Diego!