New 2020 Disney Cruise Line Itineraries: Hawaii & New Orleans
Disney Cruise Line announced its itineraries and ports for 2020, including a brand-new home port in New Orleans (with Caribbean and Bahamian sailings!) plus returns to Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In this post, we’ll offer some general press release style info on the new Disney Cruise Line ports of call and destinations, followed by our thoughts and some tips for booking.
The exciting Disney Cruise Line news all concerns the Disney Wonder, which will be the ship repositioning to make New Orleans its home port in early 2020 for six cruises during this limited-time season from Louisiana (Western Caribbean and Bahamian cruises before a 14-night Panama Canal voyage). The Wonder will also return to San Juan for Southern Caribbean sailings, and seven sailings to Baja and Mexican Riviera from San Diego. Finally, after a five-year hiatus, the Disney Wonder returns to Hawaii with two cruises around the Hawaiian Islands (to or from Vancouver).
In addition to the new DCL itineraries, the other ships will keep doing their thing. Disney Magic will sail to the Bahamas and Western Caribbean before its Transatlantic cruise. Meanwhile, the Disney Dream and Fantasy will continue their popular Port Canaveral sailings through early 2020.
The first thing that jumped out at us when looking at these new itineraries were the Hawaiian Islands cruises. This seems like a convenient way to island-hop, and these sailings stop in a couple of new-to-us places in Hawaii. Then I saw that these sailings would be to or from Vancouver, and that instantly killed our interest.
We’re not really interested in doing 5 days at sea unless we get a killer deal on a repositioning cruise, and we’re betting the limited availability of these cruises will mean they don’t see steep discounts. I’d rather just do a different cruise line’s round-trip Honolulu itinerary, but that’s just me.
The New Orleans sailings also grabbed our attention. It’s been a while since we last visited New Orleans. I went several years in a row for conferences, and my impression was…not favorable. (Sorry!) However, that was before we got serious about traveling, and I’m somewhat interested in returning. I’d love to see what everyone else seems to see in New Orleans. Those Western Caribbean sailings are intriguing, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for deals there (not holding our breath on that one, though).
If you’re eager to book one of the unique or low supply sailings, we’d recommend booking on or as close to opening day as possible. General public booking begins October 4, 2018, with Castaway Club booking as follows:
- October 1: Platinum Castaway Club
- October 2: Gold Castaway Club
- October 3: Silver Castaway Club & Disney Vacation Club Members
Of these cruises, the only ones I’d be in a rush to book are the ones sailing from New Orleans. Six cruises is not that many, especially with a few unique itineraries. As it’s the first time Disney Cruise Line is sailing from Louisiana, I’d expect it to be popular with locals, as well as tourists who want to experience New Orleans for the first time.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hawaiian Islands itineraries are a different story. Even though some people will jump at the chance to visit, those 5 days at sea could be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. Only having two cruises like that could keep this from being a cruise that gets discounted, though.
On that related note, we’ve noticed a steady increase in deals for Disney Cruise Line over the last several months, which has culminated in an unprecedented number of discounted cruises right now. Most of these have been aimed at Florida and Canada residents, U.S. Military Personnel, or Cast Members, but there have been good general public offers as well. A good example of that is Disney Cruise Line’s current 20% off promo for IGT/VGT categories, which is a good deal for several cruises.
We didn’t think this merited its own blog post, but it is worth mentioning as discounts were pretty scarce for Disney Cruise Line last year, but have rebounded this year (at least for sailings we’ve checked). There was even an excellent deal on the Quebec City itineraries, which really piqued my interest, but they just didn’t work with our plans. If those sailings were a couple months later and the famed German Christmas Market was taking place, we would’ve dropped everything we were doing to go.
I don’t know how to explain the rise of discounts aboard Disney Cruise Line, but it is interesting that this is happening right around the same time as Walt Disney World is experiencing unexpectedly soft attendance. One explanation that would explain both is last year’s active Atlantic hurricane season, which made a lot of headlines. Another mutual explanation could be prices reaching a tipping point.
Irrespective of the explanation, we’re pleased by this development, and hope this trend continues. We’ve scored some good deals on Disney Cruise Line over the years (and cover how you can do the same in our How to Save Money on Disney Cruise Line Sailings post), but haven’t had much luck over the last year–and paid more than we would’ve liked for our Alaska cruise. While that’s not really ‘on-topic’ for these new 2020 Disney Cruise Line itineraries, I think we can all agree that paying less rather than more is ideal!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these new and returning Disney Cruise Line itineraries? Any that appeal to you? Are you intrigued by the Hawaiian Islands sailings, or is the number of nights at sea a deal-breaker for you? Any thoughts on which you think might have good deals come along later, and which you’d recommend buying now? Do you think Disney Cruise Line is worth the premium pricing? Any other tips to add or recommendations? If you have questions or thoughts, please share them below in the comments!
For you in New Orleans Tom, I would recommend Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. Not so much the French Quarter Visitor Center on Decatur street, but the Barataria Preserve in Marrero, just a quick drive away. Wildlife and canals there make for a great walk/hike, and unbelievable photos. Just saying as I hear you share my fondness for National Parks.
Few lines have roundtrip Hawaii sailings due to the laws, but once you start looking at other line’s routes they are enticing!
Quebec City is way easier to get to than I expected. Open up your options into flying into Montreal if you haven’t already. I loved it.
Sailing from New Orleans around Mardis Gras is genius. More families will be likely to go since kids get some school days off.
There are many cruise lines that go out of the Los Angeles area and San Diego round-trip to Hawaii for 15 to 18 days there is Holland America out of San Diego round-trip many times to Hawaii there is also Carnival Cruise Lines and it goes out of Long Beach area many times and also the princess cruise lines which goes out of the Long Beach area many times also celebrity cruises does it. So I’m not sure what you meant when you said there’s not very many itineraries for Hawaii out of California three we have been on celebrity we have not tried yet all are excellent if you want to spend days it sees relaxing and really enjoying the quietness of the ocean and reading there’s so many things on the ship to do while you’re at see you keep busy and not realize that the day has gone by so fast…
I mean Hawaii start and finish cruises.
Norwegian Cruise Line does an island hopper type cruise departing and returning to Honolulu, it’s fabulous!
Hey Tom,
Got excited for the Hawaiian cruise to but want it to leave from California. I’d love for it to leave from around Anaheim and do similar to the Disney World paired Cruises.
For anyone who has access already for booking the trips out of New Orleans, can you give an indication on what the price range is? I’d like to know what I’m looking at before open booking occurs.
Where are the itineraries for the Hawaiian cruise?
Silly off topic question. How old is that picture of the ship docked at the pier? I was on the ship when it hit the pier in Nassau. If that is recent they did an excellent job repairing the damage.
Plus is the forum coming back?
We were on the Dream in early May, and there was no evidence of any damage. Ship was perfect!
Mardi Gras in 2020 is February 25th. These cruises are scheduled for February/March. I’ve yet to see any itineraries with dates matching up the scheduled cruises, but keep that Tuesday date in mind. For those interested, the parade season in New Orleans for the carnival season starts 12 days before Mardi Gras day, the 2nd Friday before Mardi Gras Day, which means that there will be a solid weekend of parades on February 14, 15 &16, 2020.
Parading takes a pause, and then restarts on Wednesday, February 19, 2020. There are constant parades every night for February 19, 20 & 21, 2020. There are parades all day and into the night on both Saturday and Sunday, February 22 & 23, 2020. There are night parades on Monday, February 24, 2020, with Mardi Gras and its daytime parades on February 25, 2020.
Please understand that the above schedule is for New Orleans proper, but there are also parades in surrounding suburbs and even further surrounding areas.
Some might be wondering at the pairing of Disney, the premier family cruise line, and New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras’s party reputation is not overblown, but it is far from the entire story. In actuality, most of Mardi Gras is good family fun. Although some parades can get a bit PG/PG-13 on their float designs, and then there are those parades that embrace satire, it remains one of the best free things to keep kids occupied. Everyone gets free stuff. Kids love it! Now, in the French Quarter, especially Bourbon Street, anything goes, and does. All that means is locals know enough not to bring their kids there. The edges of the Quarter along the river are usually fine, especially Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral (where you can see why locals love “The Princess and the Frog”; so many details gotten right). But yes, nudity, top & bottom can be found easy as can be in the French Quarter. Which does not make it legal, but usually the cops aren’t going to bother unless it’s really disruptive and people have already been told to stop and didn’t.
There are, of course, plenty of other things to do in New Orleans: The National WWII Museum is ranked as one of the top museums in the country. The Audubon Nature Institute’s line of attractions are some of the best of their kind in the country: Audubon Zoo, The Aquarium of the Americas, and the Audubon Insectarium. There are walking tours of numerous parts of the city, including Haunted walking tours. New Orleans is ridiculously rich in architecture. Also, music, lots of it. Depending on the weather, river boat rides and swamp tours can be a lot of fun, and all that just touches the surface.
Finally, New Orleans is both one of the food capitals of the world and the place where the cocktail was invented. There are plenty of special events for foodies (aside from simply going to one of the world’s great restaurants that populate the city) to micro brewery tours (Abita Brewery, Madisonville, LA-not the only one, just the best one). If you’ve ever complained about weak drinks at WDW…well, you won’t have that complaint here. As for dining, from some of the world’s greatest restaurants to neighborhood joints, there is just top-to-bottom better food than most of the planet. Some of the most famous restaurants in the French Quarter are no longer the best in town (though they remain outstanding, for the most part), but are worth it to go to just for the history on display. In a year and half, things can change in a restaurant, so be sure to check on ratings before you make reservations (IMHO, the best remains Commander’s Palace, which is not in the French Quarter, and is one of the closest places to heaven on Earth that a foodie will ever find). But there are many, many other outstanding restaurants in the city, with New Orleans remaining on the cutting edge for fine dining, constantly producing outstanding new chefs who’ve put their mark on the food world.
New Orleans is a regular port of call, and has been for many years for a variety of cruise lines, so there’s an established cruise port terminal. Disney will fit right in.
What great tips for New Orleans! Thank you!
Some excellent info here. Thanks for the thorough, helpful comment!
Oh, boy. Egg on face. For some reason I put up the 2020 dates, and Disney will be cruising starting on February 7, 2019 (sold out in an hour). Sigh. So, ignore all those dates up above, and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Mardi Gras, 2019 is TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019.
First weekend of major parading: Fri., Sat., Sun., FEBRUARY 22, 23, 24, 2019. Parades at night Friday, day & night Saturday, mostly day Sunday.
Parading resumes nightly Wed., Thu., Fri., FEBRUARY 27 & 28, MARCH 1, 2019.
All Day Parades plus night parades weekend: Sat. & Sun. MARCH 2 & 3, 2019.
Evening/night parades, Mon. MARCH 4, 2019.
Mardi Gras Day: Day parades, Tuesday, MARCH 5, 2019.
FWIW, my mother-in-law took a Hawaiian cruise that left from the western US (I forget which city). They did not recommend it at all as they would have rather spent their days in Hawaii instead of on a boat.
Thanks for the feedback. We have no intentions of doing that itinerary (unless it’s ridiculously cheap), but would definitely do a round-trip Honolulu cruise if Disney ever offers that.
Round trip Honolulu is incredibly unlikely due to Maritime laws around staffing for Disney…
No foreign port means it has to be a completely U.S. crew. Would have to make a stop at the nearest foreign port in order to get around that, and I don’t have a good understanding of how much time that would take.