Extra Guests Sail Free on Disney Cruise Line
There’s a new Disney Cruise Line discount in celebration of Disney+ Day: third and fourth guests set sail for FREE with two full-fare passengers in the same stateroom. In this post, we’ll share details of the unprecedented discount, why it’s likely being offered, and more.
Lots of synergistic stuff is happening for Disney+ Day at Disney Parks. Disneyland Resort in California, Disneyland Paris, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World are all getting decked out with festive décor, special character sightings, and photo opportunities. They’re also offering (or were, as it’ll be past tense by the time you read this) extra Early Entry.
There are also deals on Walt Disney World resorts for Disney+ Day. Earlier this morning, we shared those details in: Up to 20% Off Disney World Resorts at Christmas 2022 for Disney+ Subscribers. It’s a similar story with Disney Cruise Line, with one big difference: this discount is impressive instead of underwhelming!
If you’re not a Disney+ subscriber, you still should check out this discount. You don’t really need to “crunch the numbers” to determine if you would save more by one member of your party purchasing a Disney+ subscription if you don’t already have one. I can answer that for you right now: you would. That’ll cost you under $2 per month now, whereas this could save you hundreds of dollars or more on a cruise.
In order to access the page on Disneycruise.com with official discount details, you’ll need an active Disney+ account. We had some issues accessing the Walt Disney World deal earlier this morning, and offer some troubleshooting tips in that post. The TL;DR version of that is, failing all else, launch a private browsing window and login to Disneycruise.com with your Disney+ credentials.
Don’t worry if you can’t do that, or if you want a look at the special offer details before subscribing to the Disney+ streaming service, as we have those:
Set sail and save—third and fourth Guests of Disney+ subscribers sail free with 2 full-fare guests in each stateroom, for up to 2 staterooms, during select cruises in 2023.
This offer is available on select sailings on the Disney Magic, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy from January 2023 through April 2023, in stateroom categories 4A–11C.
Taxes, fees and port expenses for all Guests are not included and are due at time of final payment. Taxes, fees and port expenses are approximately $89–$202 per person depending on the itinerary selected (all amounts subject to change). Offer excludes suites and categories with restrictions (VGT, OGT and IGT). Offer only available to Disney+ subscribers who are residents of the US and Canada.
Disney+ subscriber can book up to 2 staterooms with this offer; 2 full-fare Guests must stay in each stateroom. The Disney+ subscriber must be the primary Guest on the reservation and must sail in one of the staterooms booked with the offer. Proof of Disney+ subscription required.
If Disney+ subscription cannot be verified, reservation will be cancelled with applicable fees. Cannot be combined with any other discount or promotions. Valid on new and existing reservations. Offer is subject to Disney Cruise Line Terms and Conditions.
The number of staterooms allocated for this offer is limited. Stateroom accommodations for four or more Guests are limited and based on availability at the time of booking.
View all eligible sailings and booking online by click here. You can also call Disney Cruise Line at (800) 951-3532 or contact your travel advisor. Online bookings are limited to 4 Guests per stateroom.
Our recommended Authorized Disney Vacation Planner provides an on-board credit based upon the size of the booking, and also offers itinerary advice, suggestions for the cruise, and assistance with booking port excursions and more.
The following sailings are blocked out, and are not eligible for this offer:
Disney Magic
- January 2, 2023
- March 13, 2023
- March 27, 2023
Disney Dream
- January 2, 2023
- April 10, 2023
Disney Fantasy
- March 11, 2023
- March 25, 2023
In terms of commentary, it’s pretty obvious that Disney Cruise Line is still struggling to fully recover based on the degree of discounting we’ve seen firsthand.
In addition to the general public special offers, there are a number of deeper discounts for Florida residents, US military personnel, Canadian residents, Cast Members, travel agents, and other affiliations of which I’m probably unaware.
Disney Cruise Line’s recent special offers prior to this Disney+ Day deal have included Halloween on the High Seas, Very Merry Time Christmas Cruises, Marvel Day at Sea, and other themed sailings. These discounts are still available, running between now and May 2023, with over 100 sailings discounted out of several departure cities including Port Canaveral and beyond.
Between around 2018 and early 2020, this degree of discounting simply was not occurring. Even during the ‘glory days’ of DCL deals, I don’t recall anything on par with what has been available in the last year. It’s a relatively unprecedented time for Disney Cruise Line deals, and it looks like it’ll last at least a few more months.
It’s curious how the tables have turned when it comes to Walt Disney World v. DCL discounts. Between 2018 and 2020, deals at WDW were abundant and aggressive. Now, they’re relatively meager. Pent-up demand is still running strong for the parks, to the point that resort reservations are difficult even at full price for October through December 2022.
If you’re wondering what’s up with the DCL discounts, it’s due to health safety protocol. There are undoubtedly other contributing factors, but that’s the big one. This has discouraged some people from cruising while preventing others from doing so. With the end of testing for vaccinated guests, some members of the former group will have one big barrier removed later this month (or November 2022, in the case of the Disney Magic).
I’m one member of this group. Not to belabor the point or rehash commentary covered elsewhere, but I’ve been in “wait and see” mode when it comes to cruising for a while. There have been too many hoops to jump through, compromises to the on-board experience, and the potential risk of being denied boarding erroneously.
Recently, some of that has been dropped and I’ve cruised aboard the new Disney Wish. I found the pre-departure testing to be nerve-racking. I essentially didn’t engage in any indoor activities for nearly two weeks beforehand and even then was worried about testing positive. To be blunt, that’s not something I would do again–we would’ve cancelled upcoming sailings had the policy remained in place.
This may sound excessive, but I really didn’t want to deal with the hassle and uncertainty of being denied boarding. I enjoy cruising, but not enough to go through that repeatedly. Given the degree of discounting for cruises even as every other segment of the travel industry has been red hot, I cannot be alone in that sentiment.
In addition to people like me who didn’t want to deal with the hassles and headaches, there’s another huge pool of potential guests who flat-out cannot set sail aboard Disney Cruise Line at this time. There are undoubtedly others at the opposite end of the spectrum, who could cruise but would not out of concern about insufficient health safety measures aboard ships. I suspect the Diamond Princess and other incidents back in early 2020 have left lasting scars for some.
Whatever the causes, the end result is that the pool of potential customers for Disney Cruise Line is smaller than normal–even as DCL has expanded its fleet by adding another ship. More supply but less demand is a recipe for savings, and we’re seeing exactly that play out with this Disney+ Day deal and other recent special offers.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see how long these Disney Cruise Line discounts persist. My guess is as long as any health safety measures or restrictions remain in place, plus another 6 months or so. (Since very few people travel immediately upon booking.) In short, it’s a great time to set sail and take advantage of these unprecedented DCL discounts. It’s likely they’ll stick around until policies change (and also likely that policies will change very soon given their economic impact on DCL), so you probably have until at least May 2023 before rates start rising again.
Planning to set sail aboard one of the DCL ships? Read our comprehensive Disney Cruise Line Guide to prepare for your voyage, plus plan entertainment, activities & excursions, and learn what to expect from your Disney cruise! For personalized planning & recommendations, click here to get a cruise quote from a no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. They can find you all of the current discounts, and help you plan the details of your cruise.
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these Disney Cruise Line discounts for Disney+ Day? Will you be taking advantage of this special offer? Have you already booked one of the FL or CA resident or other deeply-discounted rates? If you booked this, do you think you ended up with a good price or do you feel like you’re overpaying? What was available or unavailable for your dates? Is this deal enough to convince you to book a cruise, or can you not justify DCL’s premium price points? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Nope. All the “cheap” (haha) cruises are going to the Caribbean (or the Bahamas). BORING! Now if they put their Norwegian Fjord cruise on sale, I’d be tempted.
Also – had no idea so many trolls read your column.
Thanks, Tom. We booked a 5 night cruise shortly after reading your original post. I actually happened to have a tab for the same sailing open from the day before, and it was more than $2500 cheaper than that tab! Still not sure it’s a great value, but probably got the per day cost for a verandah class room below what it would cost us to day a day at WDW between park tickets and room, and that’s before you even count F&B and Genie+ and ILL.
Your readership seems to skew aggressively anti-vaccination (especially for a disease that has killed over a million Americans and is still killing hundreds each day), but when I look at pricing for next years’ Alaska cruises and Europe sailings (with standard verandahs starting around $10k for a week on many sailings), I don’t think Disney is having any trouble filling its ships with parents who aren’t afraid of vaccinations. I’m looking forward to picking up dropped births at the holiday sailings cancellation deadlines if they policy stays in place! I think it should be in the next couple weeks?
FWIW, I do agree that the recent vax upload and testing system was annoying, but the process on Celebrity and Princess was very smooth, so it didn’t have to be *as bad* as it was on Disney.
@JenL, respectfully I think most people seem to be anti MANDATE as opposed to anti VACCINATE. Especially when things are mandated to make people “feel safe” instead actually keeping people safe. There is a difference. Not trying to start any fights just clarifying. Tom if I went too far I’m sure you’ll kick my comment off 😀 And seems pretty clear to me anyway that if Disney wasn’t hurting for bookings they’d never have extended this offer in an attempt to entice people to sail. It does save quite a bit of money. I’m guessing after they drop their vaccination and testing mandates we won’t see deals like this again but time will tell. Thanks for all the great posts Tom!!
I felt a little silly booking a cruise on the Dream this morning when we’re already doing a cruise on the Magic in October (NYC to Canada!) but this kind of deal doesn’t strike twice. We’ve been on the Dream more than any other ship and it’s not one we were itching to return to but it’s the one that worked best with my work schedule. So, I’ll finally be able to find out the question that’s we’ve all been waiting for answer on: Was that awkward Bob Iger segment in Golden Mickeys replaced with an awkward Bob Chapek segment or has that bit been cut altogether?
Disney needs to get with program and end vaccinations for 12+ passengers like 9 other cruise lines have. RCL Norwegian Holland America, etc. they’re all hurting for passengers. Bahamas doesn’t require vaccinations to visit so what’s the hold up? Not requiring testing on vaccinated passengers isn’t following any scientific data, they’re the ones who keep getting it!
Tom and Sarah, thanks for all the info you provide. We were looking at DCL options the past few weeks for what will be our first Disney cruise. The Disney+ special offer was perfectly timed for us and definitely tipped the scales for our decision. We booked two cabins for 4 adults and 3 kids early Thursday morning. With the Disney+ offer, we saved $2190 as compared with the day-before rate. Our five night cruise on the Dream during MLK week with a Marvel day at sea in verandah cabins comes to an average of $945 pp after the discount. We think that will be a solid value.
I will go on a Disney cruise as long as they do have mandates.
Because they don’t have them at the parks, I won’t go there.
There are those of us with compromised immune systems that people just don’t seem to care about.
You are spot on. We are DVC members and would love to do a cruise. But I will never step foot on one of their ships until ALL mandates are dropped! My family will never get the vaccine so unless it is dropped we will never cruise.
Thank you.
% agree
Same here!
I hate to tell you this but you are in the minority. People have moved on. There are definitely people out there who align with your thinking but the number of people who have moved on far surpasses it. A vaccinated person can spread it exactly the same as an unvaccinated person and can also get it just the same as an unvaccinated person. So there is no point in differentiating between vaccinated and unvaccinated.
Same. I’ve got two DCL cruises booked: a seven day in March and a ten day in July. Unless they drop all mandates I am cancelling both. I booked in the hopes that they will come to their senses but right now I’m just waiting.
100% agree. We’ve sailed 3 times and won’t ever again unless the mandates are dropped. It’s a joke at this point.
All of what you shared makes a ton of sense. The news coming off of cruise ships I think is what has a lot of folks apprehensive and holding back. While I think this is probably true of any travel, the online chatter in cruise forums shows a high level of people coming home from their trip with COVID. Whether its at higher rates than a Disney World vacation, I have no idea … but it seems like it is or may be.
You’re spot on. We’d love to go on a Disney cruise but won’t until all restrictions are dropped. Disney knows that’s the issue as well based on the very blunt surveys they push out if you get on the DCL website. It point blank asks if their mandates are the reason you’re sailing or the reason you won’t sail. Hope they drop all mandates sooner rather than later. We’re checking out other cruise lines. My husband always refused to cruise other lines as he felt he’d be disappointed after the amazing Disney cruises we’ve taken but is now willing to try other cheaper options. I can’t imagine paying the crazy high Disney cruise prices then spending the time before freaking out wondering if we’ll be let on or not. That’s not a vacation…
We were so excited to take advantage of this deal, but then only to find out they’re still requiring proof of vaccination. Oh well their loss, we won’t go until this nonsense is stopped.
You are correct in your assessments. We’re so anxious to cruise again on DCL and are in the pool of potential guests that can’t. Every week we check for news on protocols dropping off and it’s happening on other cruise lines. Starting to think about booking with another company but wishing Disney will drop all protocols so we can sail with them again!