It's official Disney cutting Galveston short

[lodge]

Originally Posted by brewcrew

With the additional ships at PC, Disney could offer a southern Carribean route. I'd go!

I would too!

[Plaid Princess]

Originally Posted by luv2sleep

Could be because of WDW I guess?

Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. I was trying to talk my group into doing a Galveston cruise as it's drive-able from California, I have family that I could Visit in TX on the way, and the cruises were so cheap! I also loved the idea of Jamaica as a stop on the cruise. (Not gonna lie, CC and Nassau are getting a bit boring.)

No one was interested, they all wanted to cruise from PC and go to WDW in addition to the cruise.

[Ariel224]

Originally Posted by violetmonarch

I am going to just chime in here and say that since cruising seems to be a lifestyle rather than just a vacation, meaning that once one gets a taste for it, they usually become regulars. Ergo, the regular attendance of those provide steady money for the cruise line AND for that particular port. I think that if Disney had stayed in Galveston just a bit longer, and built up some regular clientele, they would have reaped the benefits, as well as the people that never thought they would cruise. This was giving people with money to spend in a new vacation style, an option. By taking it away, kind of just lost out on a good thing. Just saying.

Interesting points. We were on the Fantasy last month and have definitely been bitten by the cruise bug. I for one am really disappointed that ONLY the Fantasy is offering 7 night cruises in early 2014. Though the Fantasy is an amazing ship, we really want to try one of the classic ships for the next cruise. Since we have to spend so much to fly from the west coast, it just doesn't make sense for us to do anything less than 7 days. I would gladly have booked out of Galveston for our next one.

There is only one week a year that is "cruiseable" for us.....which means the current 7 night selections would always have us on a Western year after year. It would be nice if they had both the Fantasy and one of the classics doing 7 nights out of PC, each ship doing to opposite itinerary (like RCCL is currently doing with Oasis and Allure). Are you listening, DCL?

[beecody]

We just got off the Magic and were planning our next cruise... This is very sad to read

[Golden Rose]

Originally Posted by violetmonarch

I am going to just chime in here and say that since cruising seems to be a lifestyle rather than just a vacation, meaning that once one gets a taste for it, they usually become regulars. Ergo, the regular attendance of those provide steady money for the cruise line AND for that particular port. I think that if Disney had stayed in Galveston just a bit longer, and built up some regular clientele, they would have reaped the benefits, as well as the people that never thought they would cruise. This was giving people with money to spend in a new vacation style, an option. By taking it away, kind of just lost out on a good thing. Just saying.

I think it is true that many people develop a taste for cruising. I did when I was still a child and my mother took me on my first cruise, and my DH did on his first cruise which happened to be our honeymoon. There are lines we prefer and lines we don't book, but we tried our first Disney cruise last month because they came to Galveston and made it easy for us. We have a toddler, and have cruised with a baby, toddler, or young child for the past 7 years, so easy is definitely a plus.

I suspect we're part of a market segment DCL was hoping to tap by coming into Galveston. We book in advance, we cruise annually, and we pay full price for concierge cabins. In a sense, Disney was successful if their goal was to introduce regional cruisers to DCL.

We've raved about our trip enough that several of our family friends are now booking next year's Disney cruises out of Galveston. One family booked today, one is trying to find a date that will work with their extended family, and two others are talking about booking after the madness of the Christmas holidays calms down. Word of mouth is bringing in more Texans.

We are booked on the Wonder for next fall, and I hope they don't move the ship before then. We are definitely now in the category of "other lines are acceptable, but while we have young children, we prefer DCL." I hate that all their ships will be based out of Florida in at least the first part of 2014. We flat out won't do a Western Caribbean route out of Florida; we do them all the time out of Galveston. We would consider an interesting Southern Caribbean route, but Disney isn't offering one.

We have traditionally booked cruises for convenience, itineraries, and cruise line. With young children, we prefer not to have to fly, and if we're going to fly, it is generally going to be to do something really special (something like Alaska, Hawaii, or the Mediterranean.) We've been all over the western caribbean and through the panama canal from Galveston/Houston ports. Before we tried our Disney cruise, we generally looked first at what RCCL and Celebrity had in a region we wanted to cruise, since there are things we really enjoy about both lines and we enjoy the perks from being frequent cruisers. Now we will look first at what DCL has in a region, and we may actually consider booking a cruise to try out a particular ship.

DCL has a good product, Texans just aren't used to paying the higher prices for a route they've been doing for years. I think DCL's higher prices actually turned out to be worth paying for what you get, but it takes time for sufficient word of mouth to build in a region. I'm sorry they are pulling out before they have time to reap the benefits.

[RedSox68]

Originally Posted by jlwhitney

They have done 10 day southern carribbean in the past....been quite a few years now. But I think from Miami they can do 7 night ones that get down there.

10 day ones would be hard to sell in the off season, but may sell in the summer and at christmas. but even then its hard for people to take that much time off of work.

We did the first 10-day Southern Caribbean on the Wonder. That sailing was in September and it was a pretty full ship from what I remember. Hardly any school kids or teenagers though -- mostly seniors and families with babies. But it was an awesome sailing and I'd do it again!

[ItAllStrtdWAMouse]

Originally Posted by WildernessMickey

No one has mentioned Alaska. Are those cruises considered a success, and will DCL be there again in the summer of 2014?

We just got off the Dream, and according to the future cruise desk not in 2014. Maybe 2015. We booked an Alaska for this summer, in case they do not go back.

[bunnyman]

Originally Posted by bmer1rick

See I learned something..

How about the cruises to nowhere and the coastal cruises that didn't go to PC? I would think they would have to position supplies in NYC wouldn't they??

Very late reply (sorry)...They only did three cruises to nowhere, with 9 five nighters to Canada and 8 Bahama cruises, so yes they would have had to have done some NYC provisioning. I know from other industry sources that cruise ships generally have an extra 3 to 5 days of provisions on board in case bad weather or other delays keep them out at sea for extended periods (most lines had these instances during Hurricane Sandy up and down the East Coast).

[BearChick]

I owned several small businesses in Galveston from 2006-2010, one of which was within short walking distance of the cruise terminal, so I'm very familiar with the ins and outs of Galveston cruising.

Carnival and RC have developed a true following out of Galveston, especially Carnival because a 4 day is so darned cheap. I think in time, Disney would have built up a strong following with families in the region. We were actually hoping to go next year just because we just had a new baby, but with the KSF promo AND the news that Disney is moving out of Galveston, we just booked an "emergency" cruise for next month. So many of my friends have said "oh, we have that in the plans for next year" and I've had to tell them they'll need to book a plane ticket to FL then. I had 2 friends actually book Feb and March cruises after they found out Disney was leaving. Almost no one knows Disney is pulling out of Galveston.

The thing that I'm afraid Disney didn't factor in is that Galveston is still recovering from Hurricane Ike. We lost almost everything and rebuilt. Then we got smacked by an economic downturn and the BP oil spill (which never made it to Galveston, but the media had everyone terrified to go to the beach, regardless of which beach they were headed for.) Only in the last year, with the opening of the Pleasure Pier and 5 years of rebuilding behind them are the crowds starting to return to Galveston.

I think if Disney could have hung on for another year or two, they would have seen more of the return of families to Galveston and they would have built themselves a following. I know there was a lot of interest in families I know being able to get the Disney experience without flying to one coast or the other, but because the price of the Disney cruise is higher than the other lines porting at Galveston and the economy kind of sucks, they were having to save for it. But they were saving and they were really wanting to go, most of them in 2014.

It's sad that Disney couldn't have held on another year or two. I think as Galveston's tourism industry continued to rebound from the hurricane and the economy, they would have found themselves a very popular niche at the Port of Galveston. At least we got in on it before they got out. We are really looking forward to going!

[violetmonarch]

Originally Posted by BearChick

I owned several small businesses in Galveston from 2006-2010, one of which was within short walking distance of the cruise terminal, so I'm very familiar with the ins and outs of Galveston cruising.

Carnival and RC have developed a true following out of Galveston, especially Carnival because a 4 day is so darned cheap. I think in time, Disney would have built up a strong following with families in the region. We were actually hoping to go next year just because we just had a new baby, but with the KSF promo AND the news that Disney is moving out of Galveston, we just booked an "emergency" cruise for next month. So many of my friends have said "oh, we have that in the plans for next year" and I've had to tell them they'll need to book a plane ticket to FL then. I had 2 friends actually book Feb and March cruises after they found out Disney was leaving. Almost no one knows Disney is pulling out of Galveston.

The thing that I'm afraid Disney didn't factor in is that Galveston is still recovering from Hurricane Ike. We lost almost everything and rebuilt. Then we got smacked by an economic downturn and the BP oil spill (which never made it to Galveston, but the media had everyone terrified to go to the beach, regardless of which beach they were headed for.) Only in the last year, with the opening of the Pleasure Pier and 5 years of rebuilding behind them are the crowds starting to return to Galveston.

I think if Disney could have hung on for another year or two, they would have seen more of the return of families to Galveston and they would have built themselves a following. I know there was a lot of interest in families I know being able to get the Disney experience without flying to one coast or the other, but because the price of the Disney cruise is higher than the other lines porting at Galveston and the economy kind of sucks, they were having to save for it. But they were saving and they were really wanting to go, most of them in 2014.

It's sad that Disney couldn't have held on another year or two. I think as Galveston's tourism industry continued to rebound from the hurricane and the economy, they would have found themselves a very popular niche at the Port of Galveston. At least we got in on it before they got out. We are really looking forward to going!

Well said, and I agree