When will DCL release the 2015 Alaska cruise dates? Thank you!
When will DCL release the 2015 Alaska cruise dates? Thank you!
There's a good chance for the Wonder to continue going to Alaska in 2015. Originally, the Wonder was going to do it's dry dock and get a nice facelift (and bigger buttocks) like the Magic is getting this coming fall.
But the Panama canal channel expansion will not be ready on time. The Magic cannot fit thru the channel until the expansion is complete.
But the Wonder's dry dock looks like it will be postponed as fall 2014 itineraries for it have been finalized and there are no breaks in the horizon. It might get the necessary inspections without having a full blown dry dock. Hence, it will still be able to fit thru the Panama canal and hence able to go to Alaska in 2015.
The Magic has been to the west coast before, why is it that she's now to large to fit through the Panama Canal? I know for awhile she did the Rivera cruises out of San Pedro.
The Magic? I thought that was the Wonder?
Any possibility they would change the port of departure from Vancouver to Seattle?
From a practical standpoint, the one disadvantage of Seattle is that they can't sail up or down the California coast to/from Seattle at the beginning or end of the Alaska season due to US cruising regulations (you can't sail from one US port to another in most circumstances), so for at least a couple of cruises per year they have to use Vancouver.
Both classic ships have been on the west coast, first the Magic, then the Wonder was repositioned there in January 2011. The plan was to keep the Wonder on the west coast permanently, but the Mexican Riviera cruises weren't selling well, so they were canceled and the Wonder has been sailing back and forth -- cruising Alaska in the summer, and the Caribbean in the winter.
Right now, the Magic is still "small" enough to fit through the Panama Canal, but after her refurb at the end of the summer season, she'll have a larger rear end. The Magic and the Wonder are the largest passenger ships to ever sail through the existing locks of the Canal, with very little "wiggle room." They use eight locomotives (4 on each side) keeping the ships on the straight and narrow, and Canal pilots come onboard to guide them through. When we cruised through the Canal on the Wonder in Jan 2011 a chip of concrete from the Canal was found in a port hole, and the ship needed some touch-up painting when she reached port.
Really? Wow that's pretty interesting. I thought the earlier post about making her "butt" bigger was just a joke since she's getting a refurb. Do you know what purpose making the rear end bigger has?
Stability. It's called a duck tail.
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Stability. It's called a duck tail.
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Is that like the retractable fins on the Dream class ships? And is it just under the water line or above it too?
No. Those are the stabilizers. A duck tail is added at the back of the ship. It's visible above the water line. There are lots of pics of renderings out there where u can see it.
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Okay I see what you mean now! But that still puts the Magic shorter than 1000 ft, which I thought was the max length for the canal.