Mega-ship coming to Port Canaveral

[1disfan]

Royal Caribbean just announced that there newest mega-ship, the 142,000 ton Mariner of the Seas will be delivered in October 2003 and will sail out of Port Canaveral.

With this new ship and Holland America's Zaandam, this port is
really expanding.

Good for us central Florida locals and others, who don't care to go to south Florida to cruise.

Disney Magic- 2/01
Disney Wonder- 5/01
Disney Magic- 9/01
Disney Wonder- 12/01
Disney Wonder- 4/02
Disney Magic- 5/02
Disney Wonder- 7/02
RCL Sovereign- 11/02
Disney Wonder- 2/03

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Around a half year ago, Carnival announced that they will replace the 86,000-ton Carnival Pride with the new 110,000-ton Carnival Glory at Port Canaveral next summer. The Pride is similar in size to the Magic and Wonder. The Glory is much larger.

Click here for the press release.

 

[walter]

I would rather fly into MCO (comfort zone), than flying into Tampa,Miami,etc. Once we take another DCL cruise in Dec., we will wait a couple of years until we take another cruise. Then we would like to take one of these "mega" ships depending on their itinerary.

 

[bkline]

Unless it changed recently, Mariner is suppose to leave out of San Juan and do a Southern caribbean route: St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Marteen, Barbados, and St. Lucia.

 

[jel0511]

Here is a link to the press release from RCL...

Link to RCL press release

 

[Loudbmw]

Come next fall, we will have three "world class" ships (Magic, Carnival Glory, Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas) sailing 7-day cruises from Port Canaveral. That's over 5,000 cabins that need to get filled each and every week. I follow cruise prices a lot and it all adds up to one thing - heavy discounting during off-peak seasons.

Not to mention Orlando is a heck of a lot easier to fly into (and less expensive than MIA/FLL) and the opportunity to add a few days at Disney.

Competition is a great thing (for us that is).

Lou

 

[Buschfan]

Great news! I love cruising out of Tampa and Port Canaveral! Miami is just too hectic.. The added competition in the 7 day market will certainly put pressure on DCL's future pricing.

 

[bkline]

I'm just wondering if the addition of another ship at Port Canaverl will push Disney's decision about the European cruise next summer. That would decrease the competition during the summer months.

 

[FOJMO]

I'm with BUSCHFAN --I would live to see a Disney ship cruise out of Tampa -- right next door to me! In fact, I thought I heard that that may be a possibility in the next few years. You can still do WDW, too, since that's only about 1-1/2 hrs from Tampa.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by Loudbmw
Come next fall, we will have three "world class" ships (Magic, Carnival Glory, Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas) sailing 7-day cruises from Port Canaveral.

Make that four "world class ships, at least for part of the year. The new Holland America ms Zaandam has a fair number of 7-night cruises planned from Port Canaveral. See http://www.portcanaveral.org/floridafun/cruise/holland.htm and http://www.hollandamerica.com/fivestarfleet/zaandam.htm

Originally posted by bkline
I'm just wondering if the addition of another ship at Port Canaverl will push Disney's decision about the European cruise next summer. That would decrease the competition during the summer months.

DCL won't offer a European cruise next summer. DCL is selling cruises out of Port Canaveral on both ships for next summer. If a European cruise happens, it will be 2004. At least that's what the online survey said.

Originally posted by FOJMO
I'm with BUSCHFAN --I would live to see a Disney ship cruise out of Tampa -- right next door to me! In fact, I thought I heard that that may be a possibility in the next few years.

I really wouldn't expect that. The DCL cruise terminal at Port Canaveral is unused 4 days each each and Castaway Cay (conveniently served from Port Canaveral) is unused 4 days each week. Even if DCL wanted to base a third ship in Florida, what would would be the benefit to Disney to sink money into a new terminal in Tampa? And, most likely, if DCL expands the fleet, the new ship(s) will operate from West Coast ports such as Long Beach, Los Angeles, Seattle or Vancouver -- or from a European port such as Barcelona.