2012 Cruise Dates

[danfromca]

At least one of the ships will be doing the Alaska itinerary as they have a 10 year contract. I would assume they will leave the Wonder on the west coast to do Alaska during the summer and MR the rest of the year. Is there is an EB PC cruise next year?

I find it very hard to believe that they have a 10 year contract for Alaska. I doubt they do 10 year contracts for anything.

 

[danfromca]

Bob Iger was quoted that the Magic will be an Ambassador ship, at the Dream unveiling. That to me sounds more like shell still be doing the 1 offs, like Hi, NY, etc.

Assuming that all of the US homeports have the same restrictions,as far as a number of sailings per year, dont look to see the Wonder do anything other than her MRs, or Aks. If anything its the Magic thatll get Hi.

That could be. Magic to Hawaii and Asia for 2012? Maybe....

 

[cindy18]

Can't understand why they would take the Magic to Hawaii if the Wonder is already on the West Coast. That's just not effective use of the ships. It's true that up until now the Magic has always done the 1-offs, but in 2012 there will be 4 ships and I think things are going to change up. It makes a lot of sense for the Wonder to go to Hawaii. We know she is only obligated to be ported in California for a certain number of times a year, leaving the summer free, and we know that DCL is slated to be in Hawaii in May and September. Sounds like the Wonder will go there to and from someplace else.

 

[gydell]

Doesn't matter to me which ship it is. I just want to sail from LA to Hawaii!

 

[kaseyC]

At least one of the ships will be doing the Alaska itinerary as they have a 10 year contract. I would assume they will leave the Wonder on the west coast to do Alaska during the summer and MR the rest of the year. Is there is an EB PC cruise next year?

DCL does not have a 10 yr contract for Alaska. They applied for a Glacier Bay NP permit that would have been for 10 yrs but DCL pulled out of consideration before the contracts were awarded.

 

[truck1]

To Cindy18:

Assuming the west coast ports are the same as far as contracts, then the Wonders name is on the contract to stay in Cali for a certain number of sailings.Same as the Dream and Fantasy. Both ships names are on the contract in PC for the first 3 years of their service, life then reverts to any combination of ships to make a certain number of sailings. Id have to go back and look. The Wonders San Pedro contract is for 2 years with a 3 year extension.( LA Times article)

Logically, with the current popularity of Panama canal crossings,(and DCLs current lack of) it actually makes sense, to bring the Magic over, for how ever long, run Hi, or Asia, or any where else. The other thing to keep in mind, and I havent seen anyone else comment yet, is that the dock space is tentative. DCL could pull it at any given moment.Like they did with the other Alaska contract.

The contract with Pc runs until 2022, and is already 2 years old.

This is an excerpt (from 2008) on the current contract with Pc from the Orlando Sentinel.

"Under its initial contract, Disney's two ships had to make at least 150 combined calls at Canaveral each year. If it fell short, Disney had to pay Canaveral to cover the lost revenue -- or allow the port to open Disney's nearly $30 million terminal to rival cruise lines.

The new pact has the same requirement, with one exception Disney ships have to make only 139 stops at Canaveral this year."(2008 the last time the Magic was in Europe)

"With the contract signed, Canaveral is scrambling to get started on more than $30 million in construction upgrades needed to handle two new ships Disney is having built in Germany. Each will be three decks taller and carry about 1,300 more passengers than Disney's existing ships, and the company has committed to basing the new liners in Brevard until at least the end of 2014.

 

[smeecanada]

At least one of the ships will be doing the Alaska itinerary as they have a 10 year contract. I would assume they will leave the Wonder on the west coast to do Alaska during the summer and MR the rest of the year. Is there is an EB PC cruise next year?

Never heard of the Wonder being tied to a 10 year contract. There is a 10 year contract for Glacier Bay - DCL pulled out of the running for that in late 2008/very early 2009. Forget exactly how long the San Pedro/LA contract is for, but it left a lot of flexibility for the Wonder to do other things.

 

[truck1]

Never heard of the Wonder being tied to a 10 year contract. There is a 10 year contract for Glacier Bay - DCL pulled out of the running for that in late 2008/very early 2009. Forget exactly how long the San Pedro/LA contract is for, but it left a lot of flexibility for the Wonder to do other things.

2 years with a 3 year extension.Not much inthe way of other things.

 

[danfromca]

2 years with a 3 year extension.Not much inthe way of other things.

Assuming the contract excludes summer (as it does this year), that leaves the Wonder free to do other routes during peak season.

 

[truck1]

Assuming the contract excludes summer (as it does this year), that leaves the Wonder free to do other routes during peak season.

True, but it depends on how the contract is worded. If (Key Word) it has the clause (both ports)about x amount of sailings, and the Wonders named, DCL is stuck with leaving the Wonder where she is,between the 2 ports.

 

[cindy18]

True, but it depends on how the contract is worded. If (Key Word) it has the clause (both ports)about x amount of sailings, and the Wonders named, DCL is stuck with leaving the Wonder where she is,between the 2 ports.

Somewhere in these boards, someone figured out exactly how many times each year the Wonder had to be in its new home port in California. I can't remember the number now, but it was clear that it was going to spend a part of every year away from LA. Speculation was that it would follow the path of 2011 and be elsewhere in the summers. Even if it has to be in Alaska in 2012, it still stands to reason (putting aside the finding a foreign port issue) that it could repo to Alaska via Hawaii, which would make the May and September tentative dates for Hawaii tie in perfectly.

There has been tremendous rumors about shifting to an Eastern Med itinerary in 2012, away from the Western Med, or about returning to the Baltics. I still think the Magic is going to return to Europe in 2012, just something different from what it has already done. On these boards, anyway, there has been tremendous enthusiasm for an Eastern Med cruise, and I suspect it would sell well. I agree that Panama Canal cruises are popular, but I think with 4 ships Disney wants to cover more geography, especially when 2 of them are committed to Florida.

 

[kaseyC]

Somewhere in these boards, someone figured out exactly how many times each year the Wonder had to be in its new home port in California. I can't remember the number now, but it was clear that it was going to spend a part of every year away from LA. Speculation was that it would follow the path of 2011 and be elsewhere in the summers. Even if it has to be in Alaska in 2012, it still stands to reason (putting aside the finding a foreign port issue) that it could repo to Alaska via Hawaii, which would make the May and September tentative dates for Hawaii tie in perfectly.

There has been tremendous rumors about shifting to an Eastern Med itinerary in 2012, away from the Western Med, or about returning to the Baltics. I still think the Magic is going to return to Europe in 2012, just something different from what it has already done. On these boards, anyway, there has been tremendous enthusiasm for an Eastern Med cruise, and I suspect it would sell well. I agree that Panama Canal cruises are popular, but I think with 4 ships Disney wants to cover more geography, especially when 2 of them are committed to Florida.

That poster was "awoltoday" and from his research and calculations it was 30 cruises per year.

30 cruises per year
Putting together a few pieces of publicly available information, I think I can approximate how many cruises Disney expects to make out of LA. In 2008, Disney made 12 Mexican Riviera cruises out of LA. They guaranteed $285,025 from the $6.25 passenger fee, which they count at BOTH embarkation AND disembarkation. This gets you a Minimum Annual Passenger Guarantee (MAPG)
of 22802 passengers. Remembering we have to count passengers at BOTH embarkation AND disembarkation, we'll have to count 26 times (twice for each Mexico cruise and once for each repo). This gets us to an estimated 1754 passengers per count. This is pretty close to 75% of 2400 passengers that was stated as the estimate for the 2011 contract during the Port of LA commission meeting last night (Yes, the DCL contract was approved!). So, if you take the 2011 contract numbers ($1,262,880, $12 PF, 52620 MAPG) and do a little simple math, you get an estimated 30 cruises out of LA in 2010. That is just about the number of weeks covering the non-summer season (Jan-Apr & Oct-Dec). To get the minimum number of LA Port stops, using 7 day cruises in consecutive weeks, Disney must have the Wonder in LA for a Sunday, June 05, 2011 cruise (they would get to count passengers from the repo & passengers boarding on Sunday, December 25, 2011).

Link to one of his posts below:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31402240&postcount=325

Like you I just cannot see DCL placing both the Wonder and the Magic out west even for a few specialty cruises. There has been quite a bit "chatter" about new European itineraries and IMO, that's where the Magic may be headed.

 

[NancyIL]

Doesn't matter to me which ship it is. I just want to sail from LA to Hawaii!

DCL can't do a one-way between LA and Hawaii without making a distant foreign port stop, and Ensenada, Mexico isn't distant. Hawaii is likely to be a stop on a longer repositioning cruise between LA and Vancouver at the beginning and end of the Alaska cruise season.

 

[Magic4UsZ's]

Oh my gosh, reading this is getting really complicated!!!
Im still a newbie to all the DCL lingo going on here, and am getting a headache trying to follow along, maybe ill try reading this in the morning

My question is this...with all that has been said here about the Magic and Wonder, do you think it is safe to say that the Dream and Fantasy is going to sail out of Port Canaveral in 2012 and go back to doing the 7 night caribbean sailings in the summer? (can you tell that is what Im hoping for?) It seems to me the last few years during the summer months one of the current ships is off in the med.I just can afford that now!

 

[truck1]

Yes. The Dream and Fantasy, are both tied to PC until 2014.By name. They are both named in the contract, and they both have a minumum set of sailings they have to meet.

By all accounts, 1 will do the 3,4,5s and the other 7s east and west. Which will get which is anyones guess, but the money is on the Dream staying with the 3/4/5 and the Fantasy will most likely get the 7s.

After that, the contract states that a combination of Disney ships will sail with a minumum nuber of sailings.

If DCL fails to meet the minumum number, the port can take the terminal from DCL and use it for other lines. Along with fines, which would total the monetary value of the missed sailings.

 

[Magic4UsZ's]

Thanks you!!!

Im going to keep hoping for 7 nighters in the summer of 2012!!!

Come on schedules!!!

 

[KrazyKat4DIS]

I am a newbie to DCL as well and am a bit confused myself.

We wanted to sail January 2012 on a 7 night Eastern Carribbean (we don't really care what ship since we've never been on any of them). Do people think this cruise will even be offered at that time??? Oh, I'm so nervous now...

 

[truck1]

Yes. Disney at least in the past, has kept the Magic doing the 7s during the winter and sent her to Europe or the west coast during the summer. At least 1 of the new ships will do the 7s, and its not out of the realm of impossibilities that the Magic may still be there doing longer or a different 7 day itinerary like canal trips or different carribean ports, then what is offered now.

 

[pillow]

Thanks you!!!

Im going to keep hoping for 7 nighters in the summer of 2012!!!

Come on schedules!!!

Are your kids out of school Thanksgiving week? We're out 3 of the 5 days, and we LOVE cruising then. The prices tend to be lower, and we don't mind pulling them out of school for just 2 days. And, if you can fly/drive in some time Friday, you can go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party the night before sailing!

Jodie

 

[mrosen]

Are your kids out of school Thanksgiving week? We're out 3 of the 5 days, and we LOVE cruising then. The prices tend to be lower, and we don't mind pulling them out of school for just 2 days. And, if you can fly/drive in some time Friday, you can go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party the night before sailing!

Jodie

I would have expected cruises over Thanksgiving to be more money. They aren't more as some other peak times?