Disney Cruise Line has released yet another new discount, offering a stackable special offer on select sailings to Disney Visa Cardmembers. This is the latest of several special offers that are currently available, including others aimed at Floridians and Canadians, and this post shares a look at the options along with quick thoughts on more deals this year and in 2026.
As you might recall, DCL just had a 40% Off Sale on Halloween & Christmas Sailings! That lasted one week and was ostensibly for World Gratitude Day, a holiday I didn’t know existed until that deal. (New rule: it doesn’t count as a day worth celebrating if literally no one gets it off work–exceptions for days celebrating, food, pirates, and adorable animals.)
One thing that I found particularly interesting about that deep discount was the reader responses; we received several comments from DCL guests who didn’t save any money with the flash sale. When it comes to Walt Disney World discounts, this happens from time to time–and there are a variety of explanations. I don’t track DCL deals nearly as closely, but assumed it was due to dynamic pricing. However, there’s another potential explanation at play here.
Disney Cruise Line already released special offers on select ‘Categories with Restrictions’ sailings. From what I can tell, such a deal was released on August 25th, albeit maxing out at 30% off. It’s thus entirely possible someone booked under discount plus a lower dynamic rate, resulting in the flash sale being more expensive. We heard from plenty of readers and travel agents who did save big with the flash sale, so it wasn’t simply smoke and mirrors.
Anyway, I mention this because even through the flash sale ended, there’s another ‘Categories with Restrictions’ special offer, this time offering “up to 35% off select sailings. In quickly comparing the flash sale to the current offer, it looks like many of the same sailings are eligible. So all else being equal, it’s a slightly worse deal than the flash sale–but we don’t know if all else is equal because DCL uses dynamic pricing!
As always, with this deal guests select a Verandah, Oceanview or Inside stateroom under the Guaranteed Stateroom with Restrictions category. Disney Cruise Line will choose your stateroom for you, and it will be assigned closer to your embarkation date.
The ‘Categories with Restrictions’ special offer is one of several currently available, including targeted deals. The other notable general public offer is ‘50% Off 3rd & 4th Guests on Select Sailings.’ Under this deal, third and fourth guests in the same stateroom can join the adventure for 50% off the voyage fare on select sailings, including Very Merrytime Cruises.
This 50% off deal is available on select sailings aboard the Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wish between October 3, 2025 and March 30, 2026. So that deal actually does have a longer runway than the other special offers, which are for the Halloween on the High Seas and Very Merrytime Christmas cruise season.
Now, let’s turn to the new special offer available exclusively to Disney Visa Cardholders:
In Late 2025, Disney Visa Cardmembers can book a cruise on the Disney Wish, Disney Dream, Disney Magic or Disney Fantasy on select dates and receive $250 onboard credit.
Most notably, this special offer can be combined with the above-referenced ‘Categories with Restrictions’ offer and ‘50% 3rd and 4th Guest’ special offers. This offer is valid on select October, November and December 2025 dates – book now through December 1, 2025.
This being stackable is huge, and as a result, there’s the possibility that this Disney Visa special offer will match or surpass the recent flash sale. Definitely worth pricing out the current stackable special offers, even if you’re already booked with what seems like a “good” discount!
Here are eligible sailing dates for the Disney Visa Cardmember special offer for Late 2025:
Disney Magic
Disney Dream
- Nov. 3, 2025
- Nov. 8, 2025
- Nov. 12, 2025
- Nov. 17, 2025
- Nov. 26, 2025
- Dec. 8, 2025
- Dec. 15, 2025
- Dec. 19, 2025
- Dec. 26, 2025
Disney Fantasy
- Dec. 17, 2025
- Dec. 21, 2025
- Dec. 26, 2025
- Dec. 31, 2025
Disney Wish
- Oct. 17, 2025
- Oct. 20, 2025
- Oct. 24, 2025
- Oct. 27, 2025
- Oct. 31, 2025
- Nov. 3, 2025
- Dec. 19, 2025
- Dec. 22, 2025
- Dec. 26, 2025
As always, we highly recommend working with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. Be Our Guest Vacations is our preferred travel agency, and they have many agents with extensive cruise experience and expertise.
Using a travel agency is incredibly advantageous when it comes to cruising–most will provide on-board credits based upon the size of the booking, along with itinerary advice and suggestions for the cruise. They’ll also deal with Disney on your behalf and, speaking from experience, this can be invaluable when something goes wrong. Especially if, like me, you hate talking on the telephone.
Our Commentary
DCL’s ‘deluge of deals’ is something we first discussed in Rising Tide of Disney Cruise Line Discounts late last year that covered special offers for the first half of this year. I don’t want to rehash all of that, so the core thesis was that prices had skyrocketed for DCL over the last couple of years in the wake of lagged pent-up demand for cruising.
I’m also not going to rehash how we just wrapped up our daughter’s first Halloween on the High Seas cruise. A review of that is coming very soon. Late last year, we also revisited the Very Merrytime Christmas cruise and had a much more positive experience as a family with a toddler. (The last time I reviewed the holiday season sailings, my perspective was a tad harsh.
Point being, I’m curious whether there’s reader interest in a photo report or re-review of the Very Merrytime cruise, or a ‘versus’ post between the two. I’m not committing to anything just yet, just trying to gauge reader ‘demand’ for this type of thing. Disney Cruise Line posts are all over the map in popularity, and I seem to be a bad judge of what’ll resonate and what won’t!
As for added commentary about the exhaustion of pent-up demand, there isn’t much more to say that hasn’t already been said.
It makes complete sense that Disney Cruise Line would follow the same trajectory as Walt Disney World when it comes to special offers, just delayed by a couple of years. Walt Disney World is now firmly on the backside of pent-up demand, and pulling levers to entice visitors to return, and this summer’s pricing was the lowest we’d seen since 2018-2019.
It seems like the same story with Disney Cruise Line, but with a few new wrinkles added to the mix. The big one with DCL is the new ships that are coming or have come online. Walt Disney World has not meaningfully expanded park capacity in the last ~5 years. If anything, they’ve slightly reduced it, as reflected in attendance still being far below 2019. This seems purposeful, as they’re making up for the lower crowds with higher guest spending.
By contrast, Disney Cruise Line has more capacity now than it did in 2019 and there’s every incentive to fill all available staterooms (and with 3-4 people as opposed to 2!). That’s the case with the Wish and Treasure, and will be more so heading into 2026 with the Destiny and Adventure (although the latter is probably less relevant since it serves a new market).
Finally, there’s another wildcard: a potential inbound slowdown that seems to be gaining momentum. International travel to the United States is falling year-over-year according to the the U.S. Travel Association. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest dip in travel was from Canada, falling 20.2%. (Also unsurprising is that DCL is offering 25% off to entice Canadians.)
All of this could further impact DCL bookings…leading to more and better discounts in the future. Or it may not move the needle much. Regardless, it’s probably safe to say that DCL is not going to be buoyed by international travelers as was the case for Walt Disney World in 2024 when domestic pent-up demand was fizzling out, but lagged international pent-up demand was gaining momentum.
Disney Cruise Line is probably seeing demand dry up as consumers balk at higher prices. This is undoubtedly starting to show in forward bookings. This still hasn’t been discussed during quarterly earnings calls, but a lot can be masked by the introduction of new ships and desire to focus on the positive as opposed to negative.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the year-over-year revenue numbers are going to continue going up as long as Disney Cruise Line has new ships coming online and keeps opening up new reservations. Frankly, it would be cause for serious concern if DCL saw a downturn in raw numbers at any point between now and ~2030.
It’s kind of like Comcast and Epic Universe–there’s obviously going to be segment growth, when you add a new theme park or cruise ship that did not exist in the prior year. But is it performing at or below internal expectations? What about per capita spending, capacity or occupancy numbers–how are those trending? (I would also note that Disney keeps claiming that the Adventure is sold out for its opening season, which is not true; the maiden voyage still had availability prior to the delay!)
Ultimately, all of this is a good thing for consumers. Obviously, lower prices and bigger discounts are better. In this case, the biggest beneficiaries are relatively last-minute travelers, but that’s almost always the case with Disney Cruise Line discounts–the goal is filling staterooms that are a perishable good and would otherwise go empty. And it’s clear that targeted discounts to Floridians, Cast Members, Canadians, etc., won’t be enough, so we should see more general public deals!
The exhaustion of pent-up demand and Disney Cruise Line bring new capacity online via fleet expansion is fantastic for consumers. It should put downward pressure on pricing, and not just via discounts. DCL pricing has skyrocketed in recent years, to the point that rational consumers doing a cost-benefit analysis of Disney versus other cruise lines might have a tough time justifying the latter. Of course, with all things Disney, emotion comes into play just as much as cold, hard logic. But it’d nevertheless be nice for the objective comparison to pencil out a little more favorably!
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
Thoughts on this stackable new Disney Visa Cardholder deal on Disney Cruise Line sailings for Late 2025? Will you be taking advantage of this plus one of the other special offers? Have you done Halloween on the High Seas or Very Merrytime Christmas Cruises? What was your experience? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Hearing from you is fun and helpful, so if you have questions or thoughts, please share them below and we’ll try to respond!
