Something interesting my TA told me

[tecdavidt]

We ran into our TA this past weekend. It was the first time we had spoken since our March 20th cruise. We talked about the Magic moving to CA. She was angry they did it. She said CA cruises are hard to sell because the Caribbean cruises have so much more to offer as far as ports to visit. Interesting. She also said they need to build a third ship and replace the Magic in FL with that new ship and move the Magic to CA. She said the ships cruising the Caribbean get more wear and tear. It wouuld make since to position a brand new vessel in the Caribbean. Remember this is only her opinions.

It was her last comment that blew me away: it has been going around in the TA circles that ( ah, the old rumor mill) Disney is not happy the way the cruiseline has been performing buisiness wise as in profits!!! I couldn't believe that as well as she. She said Disney is the highest priced cruiseline in her class that includes Carnival, RCCL, Celebrity, NCL, Costa, and Princess. Both of us agreed that there is no way they aren't making money since the Disney cruises are selling out and they are the most expensive cruises.

So, have I missed something in the business finance pages about this? Have any of you heard about the unhappiness about performance financially by the DCL cruiseline? You read this board and I couldn't tell you how many threads have had the notion of a third or fourth ship. The repeat cruiser numbers are huge. DCL keeps raising prices and people pay. Any other TA's heard of this financial unhappiness? I always believed Disney struck gold when they decided to start a cruiseline. Any stockholders on this board? I thought moving the ship to CA was a good test market to see if a ship in CA would be worth it. Like I wrote, it blew me away. The fear that went through my mind was, OMG, what if they decide to get out of the cruise business.
Kathy

 

[Amberle3]

I've heard the same thing about Disney not being happy with the profits from DCL. I think that their original projections on profit were higher than they're actually pulling in, despite the fact that the ships are selling well.

The fact that the cruises are priced higher really has nothing to do with how much the line makes overall. The cruises are priced higher to try and offset the missing casino - it's possible that they underestimated the revenue that casinos bring in. Also I'm suspecting that perhaps they make less in alcohol sales than say a Carnival cruise would.

As for repeat cruisers, I don't think that they have a higher number of repeat cruisers than other lines. They do, statistically, have a higher number of first-time cruises. Many of those then look for other lines to cruise on, you'll see several posts from people here asking advice on other lines to try.

Do I think that they're not making a decent profit? No, I think they're doing just fine with the profit. I do think that they didn't have a realistic idea of what the profit was going to be when they embarked on this venture. I've also heard from a friend (who is some kind of division manager or something with Disney) that they were told at one of the planning meetings that Disney WILL be bringing in a third ship. So they must be content enough with the profits to be expanding.

Now what I'm wondering is if they'll ever consider putting a casino into the ships. I know they didn't include them in the first place because they didn't think it fit in with the "family" theme. But I wonder how many people would NOT take a Disney cruise because there was a casino on board?

 

[tecdavidt]

That is a good point with the missing casino profits. Other lines do make a bundle off of their casino area. We could care less if there is a casino or not but when we have been on Celebrity, Princess and Carnival we usually make our way into the casino areas. Very good point. I'll have to share that with my TA. Kathy

 

[ivanova]

On pricing, I agree. DCL is priced higher than other cruise lines because of the missing casino profits and alcohol sales (which is also why DCL lets you bring alcohol onboard, they don't count on their alcohol sales onboard so you bringing your own onboard don't "cut into their project profits").

I doubt they will EVER bring in a casino - it would be like dropping a casino in the middle of the Disneyland Hotel It just doesn't "fit" the rest of the theming.

 

[ThreeCircles]

I would have to agree with Susan 100% concerning the casino. I don't think it would fit at all with the theme of Disney Cruise Line. This makes me wonder, since DCL was fashioned in the image of the grand ocean liners of the past, did they have casinos or is the cruise ship-casino connection relatively new?

As far as DCL not living up to the projections of the Walt Disney Company or the Company not being happy with the cruise line, I don't know how anyone but individuals high in the company would know one way or the other. Disney tends to be pretty secretive about its business.

 

[Amberle3]

I don't think the casino would fit with the theming of the ships either (unless they make it a Pirates of the Caribbean themed casino), but that doesn't mean that Disney wouldn't consider putting one in to boost profits. Actually a PotC themed casino could be kinda fun.

I had thought that the old ocean-liners had casinos in them, but I've looked online and can't find any evidence of that. I did find an article that says that casinos were first put into cruise ships in the 70's.

I don't know how high up my friend with Disney is. I do know that he gets flown about the country every other month or so for planning meetings. Frankly I have no idea what his title is, I have a vague idea of what he does. I know that even if his particular area has nothing to do directly with financials, that these kinds of things get discussed at planning meetings.

 

[tecdavidt]

Well, this is a first. My thread got duplicated and split into two threads. Hm. Last night I only had one thread. Kathy

 

[thiscloud]

it's funny, i posted my casino poll based on the discussions on this thread, and then my new ship name poll was based on the discussion in the evil twin version of this thread and horace horsecollar's speculation of what disney would do with four ships!