2 NEW ships coming!

[scgustafson]

Where was that from...? NO & SEA are sticking out and Im getting excited....! Talk me down if I need to be talked down, lol!

I believe Lesverts created this on their own as what they would like to see.

 

[Lesverts]

Where was that from...? NO & SEA are sticking out and Im getting excited....! Talk me down if I need to be talked down, lol!

Sorry should have made it more clear it is my best guest

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

I was on fantasy maiden voyage. Even paid for 1 bedroom concierge....which was less than a 1br in concierge now 4 years later.
It was awesome. We got so many gifts and got to hang out with all the Disney execs...iger, Holtz and so many more.
It was just the best.
Dw and I will start saving now.
To book was easy. Same as the rest, we booked morning it was released...18 months in advance. But then about 9 months later they decided to move the sailing up one week so we had to agree to move the week. We did!

Did platuim or gold members have 1st crack?

 

[squirk]

Where was that from...? NO & SEA are sticking out and Im getting excited....! Talk me down if I need to be talked down, lol!

Sorry should have made it more clear it is my best guest

There have been low-level rumors of DCL sailing out of New Orleans for a few years now. Speculation or not, I would be all over that like white on rice.

 

[Lesverts]

My reasoning behind what I postulated is as follows:

Seattle is becoming a more popular (and cheaper) choice then Vancouver. To get around US law, all the cruise ship has to do is make a stop in Victoria if going to Hawaii or go to Cabo San Lucas or Puerta Vallarta if doing a California Coast cruise.

New Orleans is upgrading their port, it has already attracted Carnival and Norwegian and it would be a great Gulf port to alternate with Galveston. The only drawback is the lack of good ports on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Veracruz is not exactly attractive. But it would mean easier and quicker access to Belize and Roatan.

The Caribbean is still the primary draw for families, especially newer North American cruisers (and lets face it, Disney is probably the worst line for perks for being a repeat guest). So a permanent winter port for either the Dream or Fantasy in San Juan is logical. Allowing easy access to do alternating Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire and Trinidad/Barbados/St. Lucia/St. Kitts/Grenada/Dominca/Martinique/St. Croix/St. Barts etc. Also if Disney was adventurous they could look at developing exclusive partnerships with either Saba or Statia to build an adequate tendering facility to give an exclusive island on their itinerary without having to build a lot of beach resort infrastructure.

I also just do not think with 6 ships that Disney can expand into Asia. Asians make a very small portion of the global cruising clientele and what clientele there is wants to be on ships that have more Asian-style amenities and offerings. We are still not sure how Royal Caribbean is going to do with multiple megaships over there. At most you could see some special Transpacific cruises between Hawaii and either Sydney or Auckland.

On the European side. A dedicated ship in the Mediterranean and one in the North Sea/Baltic Sea each summer would make sense. Allowing for more detailed cruises and potentially opening up Suez cruises or alternatively Istanbul/Cyrpus/Israel. Also Adriatic cruises would seem logical with the popularity of Croatia and the growing popularity of Albania and Montenegro.

 

[Partyof4LA]

There have been low-level rumors of DCL sailing out of New Orleans for a few years now. Speculation or not, I would be all over that like white on rice.

You and me both! We would probably be able to cruise yearly if they sailed out of New Orleans

 

[squirk]

You and me both! We would probably be able to cruise yearly if they sailed out of New Orleans

Yeah, just imagine how quick we could hit Platinum if they were shorter, relatively "cheaper" cruises out of NOLA.....

 

[Evil Queen 2]

Two new ships means that prices on the Magic/Wonder will be even better, so that makes me pleased as punch as those are the only ships I want to sail!

DH wondered if they would end up charging more for Magic / Wonder as an folks that like the smaller ships would book them over the larger ones. I figure booking those 2 in the future is going to depend on when and where they go. We love the smaller ships but also want different ports.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I really do not see prices going down. If DCL felt they were not able to keep price levels, why build more ships and end up charge less on all the ships.

My guess is that 2 or 3 ships will be moved to other markets, possibility the far east, Australia, South American and /or Europe/ west coast full time. That would leave 3 or 4 ships in home waters.

Chine is far from a sure thing. As pp have said their cruise market is just starting, lots of question marks. The Chinese economy is not doing well and the are not a sure thing either. Right now Hong Kong park is not doing well and that makes Shanghai a question mark as well.


AKK

 

[phinz]

You and me both! We would probably be able to cruise yearly if they sailed out of New Orleans

It's an hour and a half shorter drive for us, but we'd still be more likely to port out of Canaveral.

 

[ACDSNY]

Another vote for keeping one on the west coast.

 

[truck1]

Heres my 2 psi.

1st, I think youll see at least 3 ships out of PC. All of the other lines have been doing it successfully for years now and are making a killing on it. I personally would have 2 ships following the same patterns that the Dream class are doing now, with the 3rd doing either an 8 or 10 day trip or an additional 3/4, and 1 going to Miami doing 10 day trips from there or Ft Lauderdale. This puts a ship almost a full day ahead of the ships out of PC and gives them a better chance of getting to islands that aren't touched now, like the ABCs, and some of the other southern Islands. Princess and Carnival do it now so its definitely doable.
1 ship will stay on the west coast, unless Mexico acts up again, That's the only reason that DCL didn't go there for a while. The cartels got out of hand, it got dangerous and DCL pulled out. The remaining ship, will stay with the alternating European/Carribean trips. Galveston may be a possibility, and I think it depends on how things work out this time. Port of NOLA, may be a possibility, but since DCL has yet to send a test ship there, it may be a while before we see that. It comes down to how much can DCL do from there. From what I understand, it takes 8 hours just to get to the Gulf. A typical 4 day cruise stops at 1 port. 5 makes 2 ports and 7 3. Kinda leaves CC out of the picture.

Yes. The Dream class will clear the Bridge of Americas. The only cruise ships that I know of that wont are the Oasis class. They are still too tall even with the telescoping funnels. I looked it up in another thread. I think by 6 feet.

The reason that lines are wetting ships once a year is that they are ordered well in advance. A typical non Disney line xlass has 5 or 6 ships in it, and are almost carbon copies. DCL only signed a letter of memorandum with MW, which is basically a letter of intent. They are taking a place in line. Behind what other ships that the yard is currently building. MW right now is completing 3 ships per year. Which means in the 5 year interval,up 15 new ships will debut before DCL.(I'm sure several of the ships in line are option ships that may or may not get built.) The 1 thing that is catching my attention is that the ships are 2 years apart. Should be closer to a year apart, unless either the yard is anticipating a yard overhaul or upgrade or the first ship is scheduled at the very end of 2021, and maiden will be early 22,( Think Fantasy. Launched around Halloween 2011 Maiden March of 2012) with the follow on ship early 23.

We were on the Fantasy Maiden and it was fantastic, and we cant wait to do it again. From all of the little gifts, to the big names and special events onboard. The one thing that DCL needs to get a handle on is if they promote a specific cruise as the Maiden, any cruises before, the shirts need to read preview cruise. We saw quite a few maiden voyage shirts with 3 or 4 day itins on them, before we got on the ship. The special limited editon merchandise was handled perfectly this time, and it was all ordered online before the cruise and you picked it up onboard.

 

[AquaDame]

My reasoning behind what I postulated is as follows:

Seattle is becoming a more popular (and cheaper) choice then Vancouver. To get around US law, all the cruise ship has to do is make a stop in Victoria if going to Hawaii or go to Cabo San Lucas or Puerta Vallarta if doing a California Coast cruise.

New Orleans is upgrading their port, it has already attracted Carnival and Norwegian and it would be a great Gulf port to alternate with Galveston. The only drawback is the lack of good ports on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Veracruz is not exactly attractive. But it would mean easier and quicker access to Belize and Roatan.

The Caribbean is still the primary draw for families, especially newer North American cruisers (and lets face it, Disney is probably the worst line for perks for being a repeat guest). So a permanent winter port for either the Dream or Fantasy in San Juan is logical. Allowing easy access to do alternating Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire and Trinidad/Barbados/St. Lucia/St. Kitts/Grenada/Dominca/Martinique/St. Croix/St. Barts etc. Also if Disney was adventurous they could look at developing exclusive partnerships with either Saba or Statia to build an adequate tendering facility to give an exclusive island on their itinerary without having to build a lot of beach resort infrastructure.

I also just do not think with 6 ships that Disney can expand into Asia. Asians make a very small portion of the global cruising clientele and what clientele there is wants to be on ships that have more Asian-style amenities and offerings. We are still not sure how Royal Caribbean is going to do with multiple megaships over there. At most you could see some special Transpacific cruises between Hawaii and either Sydney or Auckland.

On the European side. A dedicated ship in the Mediterranean and one in the North Sea/Baltic Sea each summer would make sense. Allowing for more detailed cruises and potentially opening up Suez cruises or alternatively Istanbul/Cyrpus/Israel. Also Adriatic cruises would seem logical with the popularity of Croatia and the growing popularity of Albania and Montenegro.

It all makes sense to me, except DCL already tried Alaska out of Seattle and for whatever reason they haven't gone back to it yet, seemingly preferring Vancouver. I'd love to at least have it as an option personally - especially if it meant doing something different such as having the Wonder do one ways up to Anchorage and back as the other cruise lines do while a second ship does round trips out of Seattle with the current stops for variety. I *think* the Alaskas do well enough to pull off at least a couple of those a year, especially if they add in some more Hawaii or Mexico itineraries to flesh out a second ship for the West Coast. Now I really AM day dreaming though...!

I would also just love to see a NO cruise that I could add on some days in the city with..!

 

[Bella29]

We are planning to cruise the med in the next 5 years, along the Panama Canal and Alaska. We would love to add Australia/New Zealand/Fiji and Hawaii to the list, and would also like to have more options in the Caribbean other than the standard Eastern/Western itineraries. We have zero interest in Asia or Mexico. Same for Galveston or New Orleans as they just make it take longer to get to the Caribbean and seem to only go Bahamas/Cozumel - two places I have seen more than enough of to last a lifetime. Just my opinions...ymmv!

 

[Lesverts]

Heres my 2 psi.

1st, I think youll see at least 3 ships out of PC. All of the other lines have been doing it successfully for years now and are making a killing on it. I personally would have 2 ships following the same patterns that the Dream class are doing now, with the 3rd doing either an 8 or 10 day trip or an additional 3/4, and 1 going to Miami doing 10 day trips from there or Ft Lauderdale. This puts a ship almost a full day ahead of the ships out of PC and gives them a better chance of getting to islands that aren't touched now, like the ABCs, and some of the other southern Islands. Princess and Carnival do it now so its definitely doable.
1 ship will stay on the west coast, unless Mexico acts up again, That's the only reason that DCL didn't go there for a while. The cartels got out of hand, it got dangerous and DCL pulled out. The remaining ship, will stay with the alternating European/Carribean trips. Galveston may be a possibility, and I think it depends on how things work out this time. Port of NOLA, may be a possibility, but since DCL has yet to send a test ship there, it may be a while before we see that. It comes down to how much can DCL do from there. From what I understand, it takes 8 hours just to get to the Gulf. A typical 4 day cruise stops at 1 port. 5 makes 2 ports and 7 3. Kinda leaves CC out of the picture.

Yes. The Dream class will clear the Bridge of Americas. The only cruise ships that I know of that wont are the Oasis class. They are still too tall even with the telescoping funnels. I looked it up in another thread. I think by 6 feet.

The reason that lines are wetting ships once a year is that they are ordered well in advance. A typical non Disney line xlass has 5 or 6 ships in it, and are almost carbon copies. DCL only signed a letter of memorandum with MW, which is basically a letter of intent. They are taking a place in line. Behind what other ships that the yard is currently building. MW right now is completing 3 ships per year. Which means in the 5 year interval,up 15 new ships will debut before DCL.(I'm sure several of the ships in line are option ships that may or may not get built.) The 1 thing that is catching my attention is that the ships are 2 years apart. Should be closer to a year apart, unless either the yard is anticipating a yard overhaul or upgrade or the first ship is scheduled at the very end of 2021, and maiden will be early 22,( Think Fantasy. Launched around Halloween 2011 Maiden March of 2012) with the follow on ship early 23.

We were on the Fantasy Maiden and it was fantastic, and we cant wait to do it again. From all of the little gifts, to the big names and special events onboard. The one thing that DCL needs to get a handle on is if they promote a specific cruise as the Maiden, any cruises before, the shirts need to read preview cruise. We saw quite a few maiden voyage shirts with 3 or 4 day itins on them, before we got on the ship. The special limited editon merchandise was handled perfectly this time, and it was all ordered online before the cruise and you picked it up onboard.

I still think it is wishful thinking that there will be a home ported ship on the West Coast. There aren't enough ports on the West Coast to justify sacrificing a ship when it can be making more money on the East Coast. There are only 2 ships from any major cruise company (Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America) that are home ported on the West Coast permanently. All other ships only summer in one of the ports. A ship in LA/SD/SF would either have to go to Vancouver/Victoria or somewhere in Mexico before they could go on to Hawaii or Alaska and the lack of Mexican coastal and Pacific Central America cruises on major lines means there isn't that large of a market. Disney can't be niche in their ports because they don't have the ships. And Disney isn't going to get into the business of 16 day plus cruises to make it to Lima, Guayaquil or Valparaiso which are the major South American ports.

I stand by what I said, the most logical thing to do for Disney is to use all 6 ships in the Caribbean over the winter to increase port access and then reposition two to the West Coast and two to Europe over the summer.

 

[truck1]

I still think it is wishful thinking that there will be a home ported ship on the West Coast. There aren't enough ports on the West Coast to justify sacrificing a ship when it can be making more money on the East Coast. There are only 2 ships from any major cruise company (Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America) that are home ported on the West Coast permanently. All other ships only summer in one of the ports. A ship in LA/SD/SF would either have to go to Vancouver/Victoria or somewhere in Mexico before they could go on to Hawaii or Alaska and the lack of Mexican coastal and Pacific Central America cruises on major lines means there isn't that large of a market. Disney can't be niche in their ports because they don't have the ships. And Disney isn't going to get into the business of 16 day plus cruises to make it to Lima, Guayaquil or Valparaiso which are the major South American ports.

I stand by what I said, the most logical thing to do for Disney is to use all 6 ships in the Caribbean over the winter to increase port access and then reposition two to the West Coast and two to Europe over the summer.

From what GS told me, when I asked in July, the Wonder is sailing full almost all of the time in Alaska. The reason that shes been coming back here is Mexico. It started to get dangerous, the MR cruises started to drop off, so DCL pulled the plug and brought the Wonder home for the winter then sent her back. The Wonder did a dd in Vancouver. I want to say that they are going back in the near future to Mexico in addition to Alaska.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Yahoo!!!! Our oldest turns 13 in 2021, looks like a birthday cruise on a new ship would make a good pressie

@pepe3penelope year-round West Coast sailings now that they'll have 6 ships? lol

Oooh same with ours, had to do the math... how could my little baby turn 13 in 2021 but it's true! You are on to something, and it would be their first time in the teens club?

 

[ej119]

Well, 2021 would likely be our 1st "gold" sailing, and if we hit the Wonder in 2019 then we'll have completed our grand slam. So the timing works perfectly for me!

I'm going on the Magic for the first time this year and hopefully the Wonder in 2018 for my grand slam -- thrilled by the idea that one of the new ships will be my first "Gold" too (although might need a quick fix before 2021).

With the investment in these 2 new ships, I wonder if this will affect the reimagining currently scheduled on the Wonder later this year? I don't know if they can put it off much longer...

 

[truck1]

I'm going on the Magic for the first time this year and hopefully the Wonder in 2018 for my grand slam -- thrilled by the idea that one of the new ships will be my first "Gold" too (although might need a quick fix before 2021).

With the investment in these 2 new ships, I wonder if this will affect the reimagining currently scheduled on the Wonder later this year? I don't know if they can put it off much longer...

Not in the least. What happens with new ships is that they'll front several million for research and development, then pay the full price of the ship when its delivered. The yards typically lay out the capital for the ships and they get reimbursed so to speak. Sometimes there are multiple banks involved. But no it wont affect the Wonder at all. Her repairs have already been budgeted and all they are waiting on is the ship to takes its place in DD. They have to go to dd by rules and regs so there is no putting it off so to speak. The only real question is how far is Disney going to go with the reimagination of the Wonder.

 

[C6PT7]

I'm going on the Magic for the first time this year and hopefully the Wonder in 2018 for my grand slam -- thrilled by the idea that one of the new ships will be my first "Gold" too (although might need a quick fix before 2021).

With the investment in these 2 new ships, I wonder if this will affect the reimagining currently scheduled on the Wonder later this year? I don't know if they can put it off much longer...

Not in the least. What happens with new ships is that they'll front several million for research and development, then pay the full price of the ship when its delivered. The yards typically lay out the capital for the ships and they get reimbursed so to speak. Sometimes there are multiple banks involved. But no it wont affect the Wonder at all. Her repairs have already been budgeted and all they are waiting on is the ship to takes its place in DD. They have to go to dd by rules and regs so there is no putting it off so to speak. The only real question is how far is Disney going to go with the reimagination of the Wonder.

Since this announcement has been made before the wonder dry dock, I can see her budget for reimagining being cut. She will still have the necessary and mandatory checks and repairs made, but will they spend the $ millions on her with such a large loan repayment for the imagineering of the disney X class ships before they even begin to build them? This could be a coup for those that wish the wonder to remain as true to her original build as she is now, and not bastardised as the magic was into a mini dream?
Has there been a price on the new ships announced yet?