New ship rumors afloat & well!!!

[Diva of Dragons]

Hi All!!!
I went to my TA at AAA today to pay off our cruise. WOO HOOOOO!! While I was there, I asked her some questions about Alaska cruises (for future reference) and mentioned that I felt so spoiled by DCL that it would be tough not to spend a lot of the time comparing the ships etc...

Her response was..."I know. You have it really good on Disney. You know they're sending one of the ships out here don't you?"

I said, "Well, I know there have been rumors".

Her: "When the Disney rep was here, he said that they were beginning construction on a new ship (due in 2004) and that when it's done, one of their ships will be on the West coast. Thank goodness, because we TA's have been telling them for awhile that if they did that, the ship would always be full!"

Anyway, that's the gist of the conversation! If true, how awesome!!!! I just hope she hasn't been misinformed

 

[Diva of Dragons]

 

[akterrye]

I hope it stops in Seward. I would definately take a trip down there just to see a Disney Ship (and stop off at the SeaLife Center)!

 

[fireplug]

I hope this comes true some day. I wish they would tell us soon.

Steve

 

[Kimber1963]

I would love a Disney Alaska cruise!!!!!!!!! Who wouldn't????

 

[tezb]

I hope it;s on the West Coast. It is so much more expensive for us on the West Coast to travel to the EAst coast for a disney cruise. For a family of 5 it adds on about 2000.00 more dollars to the cruise!

 

[akterrye]

Hi, All. I just emailed the Alaska Dept. of Tourism to find out if Disney Cruise Lines has applied for a permit to sail in Alaskan waters. As soon as I hear anything, I'll post their response here.

 

[albiats]

I'd like to see another Disney ship built soon, and it makes sense that one of their ships would then be stationed on the West Coast.

It would be great if it did cruise to Alaska, and I'd be curious to see Captain Mickey in a Snow Parka for those early May and late September trips.

It also makes a lot of sense to me if it would be stationed close to DisneyLand. It would be a great addition and it would be a good choice to offer the Land and Sea combination, which has been very popular on the East Coast.

 

[DisneySlave]

It also makes a lot of sense to me if it would be stationed close to DisneyLand. It would be a great addition and it would be a good choice to offer the Land and Sea combination, which has been very popular on the East Coast.

They would have to make it a 13 day for a land and sea cruise because it takes a full 7 from Seattle to do a Alaska trip.Thats ok,the money and time I would save in air fare and flight time alone would make up the difference.

 

[PiperG]

What would be the trick to getting on the maiden voyage?

 

[albiats]

Originally posted by DisneySlave


They would have to make it a 13 day for a land and sea cruise because it takes a full 7 from Seattle to do a Alaska trip.Thats ok,the money and time I would save in air fare and flight time alone would make up the difference.

Sorry if I made it sound ambiguous.

I meant that it would make more sense to me if they did not do an Alaska trip and just did the standard 3 and 4 day cruises out of a Port that was near Anaheim and if they offered the Land portion with it, like they do from the East Coast now with the Disney Wonder.

 

[Pugdog007]

Rumor from CM's on the 5/25/02 sailing was that the new ship would be named DREAMS and would sail out of Port Canaveral, and that the MAGIC would be moved to CA.

Sounds good to me

 

[SDAngel101]

I would rather have it be a Disney Mexican Riviera Cruise, that goes down to baja Cali.. like to puerto viarta and everything. PLUS it would be all nice and warm all year long, won't have to worry about those iceburgs

 

[Diva of Dragons]

Hmm, the TA didn't mention any specific itinerary. It would make the most sense to leave from Los Angeles and do the Mexican "Riviera", in order to include DL in packages. But, maybe they could do Mexico in the winter and Alaska in the summer. Who knows? I just know that it will be great if they do bring a ship out here because then sooo many more of you DISers would travel this direction!!! I'l let you know if we hear anything new

 

[akterrye]

While I was there, I asked her some questions about Alaska cruises (for future reference) and mentioned that I felt so spoiled by DCL that it would be tough not to spend a lot of the time comparing the ships etc... Her response was..."I know. You have it really good on Disney. You know they're sending one of the ships out here don't you?"

I must have misunderstood...I thought your conversation with the TA implied an Alaskan cruise....sorry about that.

It would make sense to do Mexico in the winter and Alaska in the summer.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

I'm going to remain skeptical about a new Disney ship actually being built right now. I would love to be proven wrong, but I keep a pretty close eye on the cruise industry, and I cannot find any shipyard going on record, or any report of a contract for a newbuild for Disney.

Now, they may be in negotiations to lease a ship. Maybe one of Renaissance's old ships, but I haven't heard anything about this, either.

I would also love to see a Disney ship on the west coast year-round. They could position it in Alaska from May-October, and in LA or San Diego the rest of the year for Mexican Riviera cruises. I'd love to be able to drive to the Port of LA for a cruise rather than flying across the country.

 

[CRB#33]

When we were on our Wonder cruise in June, Cruise Director Rick made a specific comment about how wonderful these cruises are and how people like us make DCL grow and wouldn't it be terrific to see, maybe an Alaskan cruise in the near future?

Just a FYI.

 

[albiats]

Originally posted by Señor Ferrari
I'm going to remain skeptical about a new Disney ship actually being built right now. I would love to be proven wrong, but I keep a pretty close eye on the cruise industry, and I cannot find any shipyard going on record, or any report of a contract for a newbuild for Disney.

Now, they may be in negotiations to lease a ship. Maybe one of Renaissance's old ships, but I haven't heard anything about this, either.

The theory of using a Renaissance Ship is one that I used to believe was a good idea too. But on Monday, I started a new thread about Renaissance Cruise Lines after I received an email announcment about the line starting back up again.

Here's a link to that thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=244258


hth

 

[Señor Ferrari]

Originally posted by albiats


The theory of using a Renaissance Ship is one that I used to believe was a good idea too. But on Monday, I started a new thread about Renaissance Cruise Lines after I received an email announcment about the line starting back up again.

I was interested in that thread and did a little research. Cruise News Daily reported that the name was purchased by a former CEO of Renaissance, but that no ships were actually attached to it as yet.

The ships they did own were seized by the banks holding the notes on them, and any equity the line had in them was gone as a result of the liquidation. As I noted in that thread, two of them are still in Tahiti, impounded by the local authorities due to a huge debt to that port Authority. The others are in France, I believe.

I personally don't think that Disney would lease an existing ship. From what I understand, they are very particular about the design of their ships (as Fincantieri shipyard can attest!), so I don't know that they would feel that an existing ship would fit their needs, especially one of Renaissance's ships, since they were designed to go to exotic ports of call and didn't really cater to the family cruise market.

 

[el_tigre]

Being an Angeleno, I have been hoping for some time that Disney would move a ship out here, although I think that could be deadly on my finances. I was on the Wonder last month but I just don't see our family going to Florida every year. Then again, we loved it so much we've booked a 7-day next August, so I might be hooked.

While I love reading these rumors of a new ship on the West Coast, I too will believe it when it's announced. That said, I also gotta think it's much more logical for cuises to go out of Los Angeles than Alaska. On the flip side, maybe Disney doesn't care about logic. Here are the reasons:

1. I think the demographic most likely to go on an Alaskan cruise is a more elderly couple that probably has no or grown children. Disney's largest demographic, families with children, would probably more likely be attracted to beach and tropical locations. Might be completely wrong here, but I've always had that impression.

2. Disney loves the land/sea packages with WDW. You couldn't do that in Alaska but it's a snap to do that in L.A. with Disneyland.

3. The local support you'd get from an L.A. based cruise is much greater than it would be in Alaska. Heck, the city of Los Angeles alone has a population ten times greater than all of Alaska. It seemed that on the Wonder, a large percentage of people were from Florida; Californians would very like have a greater presence on a Mexican cruise just because of ease of travel. For an Alaskan cruise, everyone travels.

Obviously, I know as little as everyone else, but I think Disney would probably base a ship in L.A. before trying other locations on the West Coast. Speaking for myself, the lure of Disney in Alaska would get me there eventually, but I could see myself trying it once and then favoring the Caribbean from then on. With a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise, I guarantee I would be on that boat at least once a year.

Just my 2 cents.