Fantasy or Magic

Hello,

My wife and I took our son on the Disney Dream last March (2017) and had the best vacation of our lives. We loved everything about our cruise on the Dream and were so sad leaving the ship... I think all three of us were a little choked up walking off! We got hooked on cruising and couldn't wait to go again. Long story short, we are looking at two options for March 2019. We will have our son, who will have just turned 5 by then, and our new daughter, who will be a little over one year old.

We are looking at 7 nights on the Fantasy or 5 nights on the Magic. The itineraries are:

* Fantasy: Canaveral, At Sea, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, At Sea, Castaway, Canaveral

* Magic: Miami, At Sea, Cozumel, At Sea, Castaway, Miami

Based on our prior experience, we are wanting to do an oceanview room either way. Other notes:

- We prefer Canaveral to Miami, if for no other reason than familiarity with MCO (never flown to MIA) and the Canaveral cruise port. (Advantage Fantasy)

- We felt like 4 nights wasn't enough on the Dream, but are afraid 7 nights might be too many. Maybe 5 is a happy medium, especially for our first big trip with an infant. (Advantage Magic - maybe)

- The Oceanview rooms on the Magic are a little smaller at 214 square feet, compared to 241 square feet on the Fantasy. (Advantage Fantasy)

- The Magic price is roughly $4,700, while the Fantasy is $6,700. While the Fantasy $2,000 more, the cost per day is actually almost identical, and again, the Fantasy offers a larger room at this price point. That extra space for a pack & play seems valuable, but it's still a huge price difference. (Advantage Magic)

- The ports don't impact our decision much; we are there for what the ship has to offer more than anything. From what I gather, Grand Cayman and Falmouth aren't a huge deal anyway, especially when we are traveling with such young children. We would likely treat at least one of these ports as a sea day, if not both. (No advantage?)

- The one port we would really like to hit some time is Key West, but unfortunately this Magic cruise doesn't stop there (its previous voyage does). I'm inclined to wait and sail on the Magic/Wonder when we can hit Key West. (Advantage Fantasy)

- The Fantasy cruise is Saturday-Saturday, while the Magic cruise is Sunday-Friday. Given my wife's work schedule, the earliest we could fly down is Friday evening. From Omaha, NE, there would almost certainly be a stop, which further increases the chances for problems. Doing the Sunday cruise would allow us a full Saturday to get down there. Even if we had flight troubles, we would be less likely to miss the cruise. (Advantage Magic)

- Aquaduck > Aquadunk... my son will love the former, too young for the latter (Advantage Fantasy)

- Smaller crowds are generally better (Advantage Magic)... But we do like new/fancy things (Advantage Fantasy-?)

As you can see, some of these factors have me leaning Fantasy, while others have me leaning Magic. Are there any other major differences between the ships we should consider? Keep in mind we would like to eventually cruise all of the Disney ships as our kids continue to grow.

Any advice you can provide comparing these two choices will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Ray

After 19 Disney cruises all I can say is I love both ships. But I would opt for as long as possible. Over the last several years we have never done less than 9. This summer we are doing an 11 night on the fantasy for 7 of us and then in sept 11 night transatlantic on the magic for 4 of us from Dover to NY. We have been to most ports so often we don’t even get off. We treat it Like a floating resort hotel and hit the aqua duck as much as possible while the ship is in port.

I love fantasy for the adult areas and the slides. I love magic for the old school ambiance.

I just know I would hate 5 day cruise. For me the time just goes by too fast.

Cedric (or was that Sophie :p) and I think alike. I would go for the longer cruise for all the reasons mentioned. Magic is also our favorite because it's so much more intimate, but the Fantasy has Remy in addition to Palo, the Aquaduck and Sweet On You. And in your case, with the Fantasy, you get two extra ports. We did Falmouth for the first time this past October and really liked it . And you're right about Port Canaveral. It is much nicer to sail out of.

Our very first cruise was a 5 night on the Magic March 2017. We did the Fantasy last week. My husband and I both preferred the Magic. Fantasy felt more chaotic but I imagine the Dream is worse so maybe that won't bother you. We booked another place holder and will do the Magic again or maybe Wonder.

We don't typically take long vacations, so we didn't feel like 5-nt was too short. We thought the food/menus options declined by the last 2-3 days on Fantasy.

The AquaDuck was fun but a little over- hyped. H and I each took our 5 yr old and few times, she preferred other things.

PC cruise terminal is a lot nicer than Miami but that wouldn't be a deciding factor for me. POM is a lot closer to the airport with cheaper transportation options.

The Magic is my favorite ship. That said, longer cruises are better than shorter. Your kids are too young for all the electronic bells and whistles on the Fantasy to really matter.

Miami vs PC--not a big deal. PC is prettier. It is a lot farther from the airport. Disney sets up all of their terminals to seriously resemble PC in terms of function--we've boarded at Dover, Port Everglades (emergency situation), Barcelona, Los Angeles, etc. The differences are in things like driving distance, transportation availability, parking, etc. Flying into Miami and getting to the ship is easy.

We booked a cruise yesterday; I'd gone to the extent of placing holds on both. It reached a point of "just pick one" when my pro/con lists were different but largely equal (I could make a case for either cruise). Look at your schedule, your list, and pick one.

Thanks to all, your replies helped us decide to book the Fantasy. I don't think that 7 nights will feel too long, it will likely be just what we need after over a year of no travel with our baby. We thought the 4 nights on the Dream flew by; we could have stayed for a lot longer. 5 just doesn't seem like enough. Also, coming from Omaha, flying into Orlando is actually a lot easier than flying into Miami. Many more options at much lower costs, with savings that far outweigh the longer trip to/from port.

Eva, your comments were very helpful, too, and I'm sure we will do the Magic some day on a different itinerary that hits some stops Fantasy/Dream don't go to (i.e. Key West). It came down to preferring the longer cruise, lack of intriguing ports on Magic, and a comparable cost per day on a newer ship. Other thoughts: I also agree that the AquaDuck is overhyped; it's a fairly short ride after a typically very long wait. However, I think our son will love it. He was too small to ride on it last time, but will be the perfect size in a year. I am also concerned about the dining options getting repetitive, but having never done a 7-day cruise we will just have to see. We do plan on doing Palo one night, so that may help, though I don't think think we would enjoy Remy (we are very 'meat & potatoes' type of people!).

Moki, thank you for putting things in perspective for me. The older I get, the more I slice and dice these decisions way too much, and sometimes you just have to choose and be happy with it. That's what we have done, and I'm sure we will hit the rest of the Disney ships as our children grow.

Thanks again!