Any chance the new cruise line will go to Australia?

[Dreams&wishes]

Just wondering what everyone thinks on this topic.Do you think any of the new ships will have an Australian or south east Asian itinerary? Obviously living in Oz I would love to be able to do a DCL trip without having to travel to the states

 

[Firstof3]

New ships, highly doubtful. One of the oldest ships? Maybe. It sounds as if the Wonder may be shifting it's focus to more of the west coast of the states, not too far of a stretch to see it making a trip down under from there, likely during times it can't go to Alaska.

 

[fredandkell]

A friend of mine who is platinum Disney everything swears they will do an Asia route with Wonder.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

I think if they do it would be a great way to tap in the profitable Asian/Australian market.

 

[Ccll4]

I'm sure Asia is high on DCL's list of future ports.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just wondering what everyone thinks on this topic.Do you think any of the new ships will have an Australian or south east Asian itinerary? Obviously living in Oz I would love to be able to do a DCL trip without having to travel to the states

There's a big thread that's already addressed that:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/new-disney-ships-news-rumors-speculation-and-names.3545052/page-32
Starting at post 637 they discuss Asian itineraries.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We talked to a cruise director on the Magic a few months ago. We asked about Asia. His opinion was No because of the language barriers, with a heavily Asian guest list, and no casino. He said no cruise ship has ever been successful in Asia without a casino. And it’s hard to believe Disney would go that route. But you never know. Personally I would love it, doing a cruise that hit all the DLs in that part of the world.

 

[lilsonicfan]

DCL seems pretty conservative. They know their target market is happy to cruise from Florida due to WDW and they know the Bahamas and Caribbean are top sellers even though 2-4 of their 4 ships are there at all times. I highly doubt that the more interesting itineraries of Asia and Australia are on their list, but I stand to be corrected. I would love to see more west coast itineraries, being on the west coast myself. NCL recently spent a boatload of money to re-do an entire ship that had been designated for Asia but was a huge flop there. I feel like DCL wouldn't take that risk. And that ship had a casino!

 

[Husker Mike]

It would seem unlikely to have 7 ships in the Caribbean in the winter time. (Technically, you could leave one on the west coast.) You aren't cruising Europe in the winter, though maybe the Mediterranean. So I'd have to think that Disney would give the South Pacific a try.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

We talked to a cruise director on the Magic a few months ago. We asked about Asia. His opinion was No because of the language barriers, with a heavily Asian guest list, and no casino. He said no cruise ship has ever been successful in Asia without a casino. And it’s hard to believe Disney would go that route. But you never know. Personally I would love it, doing a cruise that hit all the DLs in that part of the world.

Yes I understand that and I totally agree. But Australia is an English speaking country with a culture that is very similar to the American one. So maybe they could do a cruise departing from Sydney and going to New Zealand or one departing from Sydney going to Singapore (English speaking country)

 

[KiwiSam]

This isn't directly relevant but perhaps an indication of Disney's interest in Oceania... My friend that works in Tourism in New Zealand said they were recently visited by ABD who were scoping activities for an Australia/New Zealand itinerary.

 

[ChicosWife]

If it goes to Australia, does it have to go to Asia too?

 

[ChicosWife]

I would think Hawaii would be a more profitable itinerary than Asia.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Me being very naive... could they do a Hawaii to Australia?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

This isn't directly relevant but perhaps an indication of Disney's interest in Oceania... My friend that works in Tourism in New Zealand said they were recently visited by ABD who were scoping activities for an Australia/New Zealand itinerary.

I would love for them to add New Zealand to the Australia ABD!

I do really hope DCL changes up the itineraries a bit with the introduction of the new ships and explores other areas of the world. IMHO, we really don't need more DCL Caribbean itineraries.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Me being very naive... could they do a Hawaii to Australia?

That would be a *very* long haul. Over 4300 nautical miles. At top speed on a direct path the transit is nearly 8 days long.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Me being very naive... could they do a Hawaii to Australia?

Legally? Yes.

But, as noted, that's a r-e-a-l-l-y long haul. Possibly a repo cruise from, say San Diego to Australia via Hawaii, Tahiti or other south Pacific islands.

We did a Hawaii/Tahiti round trip out of San Diego this year. 5 sea days to Hawaii, 2 days in Hawaii, 3 sea days to Kiribati (Fanning Island). From there to Australia is 4,964 miles, that would take (at least) 10 days.

 

[Intr3pid]

A few points to add:

1. DCL is VERY conservative. Their ships have very high operating costs, and they must see other mainstream North American cruise lines do it successfully before taking the plunge themselves.

2. IF they ever went to Australia/NZ, it would be the Wonder doing so on one of the following two routes with several one-way cruises:

Alaska > Hawaii > Japan > HK > Singapore > Australia/NZ
Alaska > Hawaii > FP/South Pacific >Australia/NZ

3. They key seasons to do so in are from Sep to mid Dec, or from Jan to early Mar. They really want all their ships in North America over the December holidays and March to April school breaks.

4. The ABD itineraries aren't a good representation of what the cruise line will do - and in fact, sometimes they will use ABD to rope in the regions where they don't want to take a ship.

5. Asian language barriers are irrelevant for Disney. The Shanghai and Tokyo DL have become two of their highest margin properties worldwide.

6. NCL's Asian troubles are often misquoted. They took the ship to Alaska because of the analyst pressure to deploy more capacity there in the summer. Growing pains, I suppose, before they really understood the Asian market! Recently, they have dropped $100 million on the Spirit to refurbish it exclusively for Japan and Asia.

 

[Dreams&wishes]

If it goes to Australia, does it have to go to Asia too?

Not really, plenty to see in Australia. I think it would be nice to have a cruise that does Sydney, Gold Coast, Airlie Beach(Whitsunday Islands/Great Barrier Reef) and then Tropical Cairns. This would be the Australian answer to a Caribbean cruise, short and sweet.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Not really, plenty to see in Australia. I think it would be nice to have a cruise that does Sydney, Gold Coast, Airlie Beach(Whitsunday Islands/Great Barrier Reef) and then Tropical Cairns. This would be the Australian answer to a Caribbean cruise, short and sweet.

There's plenty to see in New Zealand as well. Our Celebrity cruise started in Sydney then went south around New Zealand and ended up in Auckland.