$250 Credit Extended into July

[peder]

Lastly Royal Caribbean recently launched the giant Utopia of the Seas in PC and I bet that is taking some of the possible Wish passengers away as well

And Royal is launching Star of the Seas out of Port Canaveral as well. I forget just how many new, massive ships have launched, and how many of them are serving the Caribbean cruise market.

 

[sponica]

DCL wanted their cake and to eat it, too. We just booked the Dream, and it's way cheaper on a cost-per-night than the Treasure, which we were also looking at, and the Dream's itinerary is much better with the two private islands. Probably some evidence that newer ships just by themselves aren't enough of an attraction, that itineraries still matter a great deal. Hopefully this is the start of a realignment of itineraries that includes more interesting destinations overall.

We're on the Treasure in mid/late August....but I booked it back in March 2024 (I think) with a placeholder and we liked the Wish so we wanted the Treasure. If we were more last minute planners, we might make different decisions.

 

[Cfabar1]

I have a few thoughts...

Called today, we did book a September Wish sailing with the Florida VGT rate. Price was very reasonable for a DCL cruise. Some sailings are eligible for the Chase and DVC benefits, but not all of them. The discounts are good, but the sticker price for these cruises is becoming staggering and I think unattainable for many families to even consider.

I think the DCL prices are getting too high overall, and the Wish does have some serious problems. That said, it still is a beautiful ship, and I know we will enjoy being on her again though we prefer the Dream/Fantasy class ships and enjoy the nostalgia of the Magic. I'd still rather be on a Disney ship than RCCL any day of the week...

DCL may need to consider just how many ships can they keep in FL at one time. Brightline makes it easy to get to PE from Orlando now. Also, for those flying down, I would personally rather fly into FLL and sail out of PE than fly into MCO (or MLB?) and have to make my way to PC and then you can sail on the Dream which is (though not always) generally cheaper to sail on than the Wish.

Even the Magic has had a lot of FL resident rates this summer. And, I hear everyone wanting longer and more unique itineraries, but... the 10 night on the Magic is offering FL Resident IGT/OGT rates. If I were DCL I'd be worried about filling the Fantasy next summer.

DCL has had a number of misses lately, all while pushing costs up, but I think the larger issue is the macro environment is not conducive to a massive expansion of supply and a desire for high margins and high costs. That said, I applaud DCL for keeping the ship experience relatively premium, and think that will serve them well over the long run.

 

[lmhall2000]

I wonder if it was just a colossally bad idea to put the Magic in PC with the Wish this summer and have the Magic run better itineraries. Just based on a spot check with my travel party preloaded, comparing a 5 night oceanview on the magic to a 4 night oceanview on the wish and the magic is only about 900 dollars more.

But the 4 night itineraries (Wish to CC, Magic to LC) the magic is a little cheaper comparing the verandah rates....but 500-1000 dollars cheaper for oceanview depending on the dates....If all I care about is pricing, I'm booking the Magic.

I received a lengthy survey last week that was primarily focused on key factors why we did NOT book Magic. So, they are paying attention to cruiser habits.
Our main reason was the stink issues and age of the ship- we have two traveling with us who have never sailed-chose the Wish for the bigger boat and less likelihood of plumbing issues.

 

[peder]

DCL has had a number of misses lately, all while pushing costs up, but I think the larger issue is the macro environment is not conducive to a massive expansion of supply and a desire for high margins and high costs. That said, I applaud DCL for keeping the ship experience relatively premium, and think that will serve them well over the long run.

I think they're falling behind a bit with the "hard product", the ship itself. While the staterooms on the Wish, for instance, are beautiful, they're really quite small and crowded. And DCL Concierge offers a lot less than the MSC Yacht Club and NCL Haven, for instance, so in terms of the "ship within a ship" concept, they're falling behind where the industry is going.

And in terms of onboard amenities, the pools are basically unusable for adults. They're too shallow and absolute human soup on a DCL cruise (and again, I'll point out that the MSC Yacht Club and NCL Haven both have real pools just for their suite guests that are also kid-friendly). When we were on the Wish, there really wasn't any time that the pools weren't overwhelmed with kids, nor any pool that was a "real" pool for actual swimming. MSC is plenty kid-friendly and they still have deep pools, without any issues either from a safety or cleanliness perspective.

And one more note on amenities: there aren't enough waterslides and big-ticket attractions. I think many cruising customers are now looking at ships like the Icon of the Seas and even the MSC World America and they see tons of premium attractions, and they're voting with their wallet over a Disney cruise. These customers are basically saying, yes, Castaway is great, and yes, the broadway-level shows are great, but I'm really looking for these other things more right now.

All of this is basically just to say that competition has really stepped up, both in terms of their product and their marketing efforts. Tough time for Disney to be expanding so much. I think they might regret introducing a 4th Wish-class ship. Seems like these ships should have been delivered 5 years earlier.