March 10 announcement?

[Debers17]

It's not WAY later... I think there was about a week's lag time...

Thanks for the info! That makes me feel much better. We're ready to book it's just a matter of Disney releasing those sailing dates

 

[mrsklamc]

Is it possible something's not finalized? If not, why are they risking alienating people?

 

[mickeyfan1]

No one is being alienated, for goodness sake, this was a RUMOR. Nothing more. When DCL decides to open up bookings, they will. Next week a new rumor can start that the announcement will be on March 27th. Who knows if that is right. but if enpough people say it andit doesn't happen. will everyone be in a tizzy again.

If you want to book a cruise for 2012 and you can't find a date for a DCL cruise, go elsewhere. If you want a DCL cruise, you have to wait and see what is put out there.

 

[NancyIL]

So, we still have no idea where the Magic will be summer 2012, right?

I don't know where the Magic will be in the summer of 2012, but I believe it will sail from New York for awhile once the Fantasy arrives in the spring.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Am I understanding this correctly? Even if Disney releases the remaining dates for 2012 (we're looking to cruise the 4-night on the Dream in October), then I still won't be able to book a sailing until way later because I've never cruised with DCL before? That would really suck...

DCL is all over the board with lack of consistency on giving Platinum and Gold members time before everyone else to book. When the new CC levels were first introduced, P&G had about a week before everyone else including Silver. This past October, P&G only had one day before everyone else including Silver. This past February, no announcement was made and TA's received notice that anyone could call about the Fantasy and book for the remainder of 2012 no matter if you had never cruised on DCL or had cruised 80 times.

Most likely, once an official announcement is made for the rest of 2012, Platinum and Gold CC members will get one day to book before Silver (1 to 4 cruises sailed) and those who have never cruised before. So you should be just fine for being among the "first" to book a late 2012 Wonder/Magic or Dream cruise once they are announced.

I tried. The only sailings they gave me that were available were for the Fantasy. I would love to do a 7 night, but it's too much out of my price range since we also have to figure air from CA into the cost. We would actually do the Pacific cruise out of Long Beach, but the cruise doesn't come back down so we'd still have the same cost issue as the airfare one way from Vancouver to CA is the same cost as a roundtrip fare to FL. Done the Mexican Riviera cruise on Carnival a couple times, so that's not enticing enough anymore and really would like to do a Caribbean cruise.

Technically, the Dream does the Bahamas and not the Caribbean. Not a big difference except during colder months IMO.

No one is being alienated, for goodness sake, this was a RUMOR. Nothing more. When DCL decides to open up bookings, they will. Next week a new rumor can start that the announcement will be on March 27th. Who knows if that is right. but if enpough people say it andit doesn't happen. will everyone be in a tizzy again.

If you want to book a cruise for 2012 and you can't find a date for a DCL cruise, go elsewhere. If you want a DCL cruise, you have to wait and see what is put out there.

I don't know where the Magic will be in the summer of 2012, but I believe it will sail from New York for awhile once the Fantasy arrives in the spring.

I think you're right. I think it will sail from New York from April to September 2012 and move to Galveston for October through December. I just want to know if it will do a special Christmas cruise in 2012. I'd love a 10-day Christmas cruise.

 

[tufbuf]

What are the possible destinations if you are speculating it will sail from NY or Galveston? I'm just curious.... and eagerly waiting too like everyone else...

 

[mrsklamc]

No one is being alienated, for goodness sake......
If you want to book a cruise for 2012 and you can't find a date for a DCL cruise, go elsewhere.

I agree about booking elsewhere if you don't want to wait. But that's exactly what the word alienate means.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

What are the possible destinations if you are speculating it will sail from NY or Galveston? I'm just curious.... and eagerly waiting too like everyone else...

Honestly, I have no idea. I'm only speculating on New York due to the DCL surveys and the rumors that the Magic won't be returning to Europe in 2012.

I think it will be in Galveston as the Grand Cayman Port Authority has the Magic listed as being in port weekly from October through most of December 2012. That would seem to confirm that it could do Western Caribbean cruises in the late fall/early winter 2012 with a weekly stop at GC. My guess is that other stops would include Cozumel and one or two other stops (KW or CC???).

New York would open up lots of opportunities including longer cruises. They could go to Bermuda, CC San Juan and even PC. The longer cruises would be consistent with DCL's recent survey which floated the idea of changing the CC to be based on # of nights sailed. Again, pure speculation.

 

[kthomas618]

I was hoping when I got home from work I would see some 2012 info released
I was able to get a great deal on NCL Epic yesterday so I put down the deposit thinking we can cancel if Disney comes out with something over Christmas.We don't want to do the Fantasy since were doing the dream also in 2012 and are looking for something different.We have also looked into the Allure but they don't have there December 2012 available to book yet either.
since we can only travel over Christmas 2012 we don't have many options.
hoping Disney will come out with something in the US in December

Don't know if you care, but, we docked next to the Epic (we were on the Magic) last year. The Epic is a monster ship! We talked to some of it's passengers and they were asking about The Magic. They weren't impressed with The Epic. They said the pools were really crazy crowded as was everything else. They weren't very happy with their experience. Just thought I'd pass that along.

 

[NancyIL]

Don't know if you care, but, we docked next to the Epic (we were on the Magic) last year. The Epic is a monster ship! We talked to some of it's passengers and they were asking about The Magic. They weren't impressed with The Epic. They said the pools were really crazy crowded as was everything else. They weren't very happy with their experience. Just thought I'd pass that along.

They would say the same thing about the pools if they were on a Disney ship.

 

[Anal Annie]

No one is being alienated, for goodness sake, this was a RUMOR. Nothing more. When DCL decides to open up bookings, they will. Next week a new rumor can start that the announcement will be on March 27th. Who knows if that is right. but if enpough people say it andit doesn't happen. will everyone be in a tizzy again.

If you want to book a cruise for 2012 and you can't find a date for a DCL cruise, go elsewhere. If you want a DCL cruise, you have to wait and see what is put out there.

I agree...I mean it's not even summer 2011 yet. DCL has not ALWAYS announced itineraries 18+ months out. The first year they did the Mex. Riviera I think they released in May for the following year. For the summer of 2008 it was LATE Feb or EARLY March... Not sure what everyone's rush is all of sudden?! It's not like they're the last ones. I also think that when they release dates TOO early there's a vast majority of folks (aside from DISers) who DO NOT plan vacations at 16 months out. I think most people start planning under a year out. I think a lot of people book realllly far out who really don't KNOW if they can go or not then it increases the number of cancellations at the PIF date. Maybe they're trying to limit that to some degree.

 

[Kias]

Thanks, so that press conference replaces the rumored one for today? While I agree tha it might make sense to announce sailings for Europe in Europe what doesn't seem right is that they would schedule it for 10a.m. when the US will be asleep - regardless of where they are sailing from US residents are their core customers, why not schedule it for 4:30pm in Berlin when at least those in EST are in business hours...

How many US Travel Agents will get up at 4am to watch this?

Mel (in the UK so not needing to get up too early to wait for news!)
x

I threw the fuel on this fire, so let me chime in here.

This doesn't replace the rumored one for today. As far as I can figure out, the one rumored for today was from a TA who heard from a Disney Rep that there was going to be some sort of conference today. Which a conference is a far cry from a press release.

If there was a conference today, the TA's may not even be able to release the info. I don't know if the TA's have any non-disclosure contracts with Disney, so I'm just thinking out loud here. Take it with a grain of salt.

I started searching the net far and wide, as press releases are normally scheduled, and you can find an announcement somewhere.

The press conference scheduled for tomorrow in Berlin does absolutely make sense. That is a HUGE tradeshow that's going on in Berlin right now. There's about 7500 exhibitors, all in the vacation/travel industry. So if I were going to release some news, that's where I would do it at. Just like the auto companies typically release stuff at the NAIAS in Detroit, or when the electronic companies release stuff at CES in Vegas. It just makes sense.

Having said all that, it still doesn't mean they're going to release schedules tomorrow. They might just announce they're going to let the Navy have the Magic for target practice and let it sink to make an artificial reef! They might just say, "Hi we're DCL, we have boats!" Since all of Disney is scheduled for that release tomorrow. Who knows!!

So, I think, everyone needs to relax a bit. Get your popcorn out.
Just wait it out! It will happen.

But really, what I want to know is WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO RELEASE 2013's SCHEDULE!?!?!?! AGGGHHHHHH I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!!!

 

[Kias]

<snip> Next week a new rumor can start ...<snip>

Can I start next weeks rumor?? I love starting rumors!

 

[tufbuf]

We booked our August 2010 Med cruise on Oct. 2008, 22 months before the sail date, so the announcement for the full itinerary for 2012 is a wee bit delayed.

 

[Tower]

WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO RELEASE 2013's SCHEDULE!?!?!?! AGGGHHHHHH I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!!!!!!

Thanks for that humour Kias! I had to print that out and read it to DW! She got a good chuckle out of it too!

 

[MickeyManiac]

Having said all that, it still doesn't mean they're going to release schedules tomorrow. They might just announce they're going to let the Navy have the Magic for target practice and let it sink to make an artificial reef! They might just say, "Hi we're DCL, we have boats!" Since all of Disney is scheduled for that release tomorrow. Who knows!!

So, I think, everyone needs to relax a bit. Get your popcorn out.
Just wait it out! It will happen.

But really, what I want to know is WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO RELEASE 2013's SCHEDULE!?!?!?! AGGGHHHHHH I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!!!
:

 

[lbgraves]

Thanks! When did the Dream 2011 fall rates come out for us regular folks? I know I made reservations in March of 2010 just can’t remember when they officially came out for everyone?

Am I understanding this correctly? Even if Disney releases the remaining dates for 2012 (we're looking to cruise the 4-night on the Dream in October), then I still won't be able to book a sailing until way later because I've never cruised with DCL before? That would really suck...

One benefit of the Castaway Club membership is being able to book new cruises earlier. Platinum and Gold members were able to book 7-10 days before Silver & the general public the first time they did this with the Alaska cruises in 2009. With the Fantasy the early booking only lasted one day.

A Mickey shaped toilet? thats funny! they could probably sell alot of those!

You know those would be disappearing from the ship.

 

[mmouse37]

What are the possible destinations if you are speculating it will sail from NY or Galveston? I'm just curious.... and eagerly waiting too like everyone else...

From New York:

Bermuda

San Juan
Tortola
St. Thomas
St. Maarten
Nassau
Great Stirrup Cay
Grand Turk
New Port, RI
Halifax, NS
St. John's, NL
Bar Harbor, ME
Gloucester, MA
Prince Edward Island
England - TA
Ireland - TA

There are tons of places to go from NY. You could do 5,6,7,8,9,10 day or longer cruises...just like other places.

MJ

 

[Tower]

From New York:

Bermuda

San Juan
Tortola
St. Thomas
St. Maarten
Nassau
Great Stirrup Cay
Grand Turk
New Port, RI
Halifax, NS
St. John's, NL
Bar Harbor, ME
Gloucester, MA
Prince Edward Island
England - TA
Ireland - TA

There are tons of places to go from NY. You could do 5,6,7,8,9,10 day or longer cruises...just like other places.

MJ

Don't forget Castaway Cay!!!

 

[DizDaddy]

Don't know if you care, but, we docked next to the Epic (we were on the Magic) last year. The Epic is a monster ship! We talked to some of it's passengers and they were asking about The Magic. They weren't impressed with The Epic. They said the pools were really crazy crowded as was everything else. They weren't very happy with their experience. Just thought I'd pass that along.

We sailed on both the Magic and the Epic last year. Loved both for very different reasons. Our Epic cruise was without kids, and was very relaxing. Disney was very face-paced.

At the end of each cruise week, we compared---with the Magic, we felt like we needed a vacation afterward----not a complaint, because we have since booked on the Fantasy and expect more of the same. At the end of the week with the Epic, we felt rested and ready for the week to end. We were not bored at all, and had a great time. Got to meet some great crew members.

We liked the open dining plan with NCL/Epic. We liked having service staff that moved with us on the Magic (and remain Facebook friends with, in contact nearly weekly).

The pools on the Epic----we tended to use on port days (partial day sightseeing, partial day enjoying the 'privacy' on the ship).

So, both ships were great for different reasons.