Any rumor when 2014 dates come out?

[ruadisneyfan2]

Originally Posted by tajz90

What would you like to see that would make it less yawn worthy?

We live close to Galveston. Any and all cruise ships can leave Cozumel, Costa Maya and the like off their schedules.

I have to admit though, I'm not crazy about Caribbean ports. I'd like to see something a little more grand.

How about some 10-nt cruises to the Southern Caribbean for Aruba, Curacao, S.America, etc.? Anything besides the same 6 ports. How about doing all of us with school-age kids a favor and just cruise the PC back & forth a couple times during the summer just for the heck of it? There's no way we could pull our kids out for 2 weeks during the school year.
How about all the other islands named in that Beach Boys song?

[tajz90]

I'm good with South America. I'd like Hawaii when the kids aren't in school.

Anything and everything in Europe.

[disneymagicgirl]

Would also be nice if they would switch up the weeks for eastern and western itineraries sometimes, so that if you cruise the same week a few years in a row, you don't go to the same ports every time......for us it's a western over again.

[disneydreaming92701]

Originally Posted by Raspberry Beret

I don't know about that but IMO, it sure seems like they are having creativity issues with planning itineraries for more than two ships.

Yes I agree this isn't a too many ship issue this is a creativity and port issue. Shocking considering it is Disney.

[Susiesark]

Originally Posted by SG101

I agree as I'm on the West Coast as well, but I would love some 3 - 5 day Roundtrips from LA with ports of San Diego, Catalina, San Francisco. I don't care which combination, but I don't want to pay for airfare with these 1 way trips up or down the coast.

All us West-Coasters are on the same page. It's too expensive and time consuming to fly to another coast to cruise. I like the idea of the Pacific Coast cruise, maybe adding a stop in Santa Barbara (not keen on Catalina). The only problem with that itinerary is they would have to stop in a foreign port, and the only option is Ensenada. Of course, no one is forcing us to get off of the ship while we are docked.

[luv2sleep]

Originally Posted by Susiesark

All us West-Coasters are on the same page. It's too expensive and time consuming to fly to another coast to cruise. I like the idea of the Pacific Coast cruise, maybe adding a stop in Santa Barbara (not keen on Catalina). The only problem with that itinerary is they would have to stop in a foreign port, and the only option is Ensenada. Of course, no one is forcing us to get off of the ship while we are docked.

I'm with you.

[madscrapper]

I think it's a combination of a few factors:

1) Disney is associated with being a cruise for kids and with a lot of kids. That assumption drives away the adults without kids or those who want to cruise without their own kids. Disney needs to better market themselves to adults without driving away their bread and butter - families. Not saying it's easy, but to be competitive they should.

2) The itineraries are too repetitive. While no new countries are being discovered, Disney could do a better jobs of getting to a variety of the ones that exist. Vary the number of days - the longer crises seem to be selling in Europe (until the PIF date arrives) - why not try longer cruises here that can hit ports new to Disney

3) Even in Europe, the 7 nights are the same. We will be in Europe 2013 to visit family and I would love to do a Disney cruise - we did the Med in 2010. The 7 night cruise hit the same ports. Even in Europe there is nothing different for a 7 night cruise.

4) They are over-priced. Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean both have new ships and lots to offer for kids. Carnival is doing a lot to revamp their "party" image. Disney is charging a lot of money to go to the same places year after year. All 3 lines can offer Disney a run for their money.

We have loved our 2 Disney cruises, but both were at discounted rates booked after the paid-in-full date. I would love to cruise Disney again, but the price needs to be better as do the itineraries.

Jeannine

[MAJPLO]

Originally Posted by PrincessShmoo

I'm hoping that DCL will put a ship on the west coast, at least for a few cruises (besides Alaska). Since they are already coming to the west coast for the Alaska cruises, they could stick a couple of Pacific Coastal ones in, and maybe a Hawaii one, once in a while.

Meeee toooo. Leaving from the west coast would eliminate airfare for us and we'd be MUCH more likely to be able to cruise.

[MAJPLO]

Originally Posted by mellers

I live on the West Coast, and what I would like to see is, after the Alaska season, running a 7-day, "up-down-the-coast" cruise from Vancouver, BC, with overnights in San Francisco, a side trip to Catalina Island and ending up in San Diego or LA, through Christmas. It would pull in the snowbirds who need transportation to or from Vancouver and Seattle to the sun. Put together an "add-on" for Disneyland. For the worst part of winter, run a cruise roundtrip from San Francisco to Hawaii. Then, as it gets warmer in the spring, run one-ways between Vancouver and Hawaii until the Alaska season gets cooking again.

Also, now that the Wonder is headed for the East Coast, switch it out and send the Magic. It might be worth another round of Alaska if we could do it on a different ship.

Also living on the west coast I completely agree that I'd like to see a west coast based ship. Not on board with the Pacific Coast route-I live here so I don't want to pay cruise dollars for Disney to take me an hour away from where I spend everyday anyway. SF to Hawaii YES!!! I'd even go for Vancouver to Hawaii even though I'd have to pay for airfare. I have no interest in any Alaska cruise whatsoever. Maybe after I've cruised more and had my fill of the warm, sunny, tropical ports I could stomach Alaska. Otherwise, take me to Hawaii or out of the country!!!

[deanimal]

Originally Posted by madscrapper

I think it's a combination of a few factors:

1) Disney is associated with being a cruise for kids and with a lot of kids. That assumption drives away the adults without kids or those who want to cruise without their own kids. Disney needs to better market themselves to adults without driving away their bread and butter - families. Not saying it's easy, but to be competitive they should.

2) The itineraries are too repetitive. While no new countries are being discovered, Disney could do a better jobs of getting to a variety of the ones that exist. Vary the number of days - the longer crises seem to be selling in Europe (until the PIF date arrives) - why not try longer cruises here that can hit ports new to Disney

3) Even in Europe, the 7 nights are the same. We will be in Europe 2013 to visit family and I would love to do a Disney cruise - we did the Med in 2010. The 7 night cruise hit the same ports. Even in Europe there is nothing different for a 7 night cruise.

4) They are over-priced. Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean both have new ships and lots to offer for kids. Carnival is doing a lot to revamp their "party" image. Disney is charging a lot of money to go to the same places year after year. All 3 lines can offer Disney a run for their money.

We have loved our 2 Disney cruises, but both were at discounted rates booked after the paid-in-full date. I would love to cruise Disney again, but the price needs to be better as do the itineraries.

Jeannine

Yes, yes, yes and yes.

The longer they wait to put out 2014, the more I'm inclined to agree with the people who say they over priced themselves into a corner in 2013. Price more reasonably in 2014 and a bunch of people jump ship from 2013, keep prices up and have trouble filling ships.

And how crazy is it that I've been on four cruises in my life, two caribbean, one Alaska (with other lines) and one Mexican riviera with DCL, and after our Feb Bahamas cruise I'll have been to almost every port DCL offers from North America. No wonder experienced cruisers are begging for new ports.

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Originally Posted by madscrapper

I think it's a combination of a few factors:

1) Disney is associated with being a cruise for kids and with a lot of kids. That assumption drives away the adults without kids or those who want to cruise without their own kids. Disney needs to better market themselves to adults without driving away their bread and butter - families. Not saying it's easy, but to be competitive they should.

But isn't Disney's overall business families. They market the parks to families. Why does the cruise line have to be different?

Originally Posted by madscrapper

2) The itineraries are too repetitive. While no new countries are being discovered, Disney could do a better jobs of getting to a variety of the ones that exist. Vary the number of days - the longer crises seem to be selling in Europe (until the PIF date arrives) - why not try longer cruises here that can hit ports new to Disney

Do other cruise lines change up their itinerates every year?

Originally Posted by madscrapper

3) Even in Europe, the 7 nights are the same. We will be in Europe 2013 to visit family and I would love to do a Disney cruise - we did the Med in 2010. The 7 night cruise hit the same ports. Even in Europe there is nothing different for a 7 night cruise.

Again as I’ll asked before do other cruise lines that sail in Europe change itinerates every year or do they do the same one?

[QUOTE=madscrapper;46847954]4) They are over-priced. Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean both have new ships and lots to offer for kids. Carnival is doing a lot to revamp their "party" image. Disney is charging a lot of money to go to the same places year after year. All 3 lines can offer Disney a run for their money.
/QUOTE]
True they do cost more but they don’t have things that other cruise lines do to make money like a casino or charging people for every drink they get on board even at self serve drink stations. I’m sure they would love to be able to charge as much as the lines you mentioned but at the same time they don’t want to put a casino on board to make up the difference.

[DahliaRW]

It seems that if the school issue is really hampering filling ships, thad Disney should start seeking out and soliciting those who have more flexible schedules. I'm thinking specials aimed at areas where school is year round and their breaks are different from the average school (i.e. Arizona?), those with children too young for school, or homeschoolers...

[PizzieDuster]

Originally Posted by MAJPLO

Meeee toooo. Leaving from the west coast would eliminate airfare for us and we'd be MUCH more likely to be able to cruise.

Meeee three!

[Ptwolfman]

Originally Posted by PizzieDuster

Meeee three!

Same here. As it is, we have to fly to the West Coast unless we want to leave from Vancouver or Galveston

[keishashadow]

Originally Posted by ruadisneyfan2

How about some 10-nt cruises to the Southern Caribbean for Aruba, Curacao, S.America, etc.? Anything besides the same 6 ports. How about doing all of us with school-age kids a favor and just cruise the PC back & forth a couple times during the summer just for the heck of it? There's no way we could pull our kids out for 2 weeks during the school year.
How about all the other islands named in that Beach Boys song?

Wonder if they've considered sailing out of SJU? They could offer 7 night cruises that include aruba & curacao as RCCL often does.

Why not a bermuda route? So many here post they don't get off the ship in ports anyway and with the sea days would spend more $ onboard. Not sure if it would be feasible to work in stop @ CC if sailing from PC though.

As an east-coaster, I'd like to see a short 3 or 4 day up the coast vs any Mexican itinerary; especially if it included a stop in San Francisco (wouldn't have to be closed loop to make me happy). Certainly would make it easy to tie in with DL trips.