We just got off the Wonder's Hawaii cruise. It was a good cruise. Our captain was Captain Fabian. He was recently promoted from staff captain to overall captain. Recently he was on the Magic for a short time and before that in Germany working with the shipmakers on the Fantasy. He seemed to be willing to talk about future plans more so then others. One of our fellow DISboard cruisers has posted the following:
"Juicy" Rumors:
Okay, as with all rumors, we tend to take these with a grain of salt. The information came from multiple and from independent sources, so they struck a cord of genuineness with us. Suffice it to say that these were not communicated by the equivalent of a WDW "bus driver" :
1. The Magic and the Wonder are going in for extensive (six or more weeks) dry docks in 2013 and 2014 respectively. All of the restaurants and lounges on each ship will be gutted and rethemed. All public areas are being replaced. Although it will be impossible to duplicate all of what exists on the Dream and Fantasy, there will be a theme of consistency among all of the ships. Animator's Palate on both the Magic and Wonder will be reworked into the new version of the Dream and Fantasy.
2. Engineers are working very hard to add the Outlook Bar to the Magic, but because of the way it was built (apparently structurally different than the Wonder) it has so far been impossible to design and implement. If it can be done (a big if), it will be added in the next dry dock.
3. A new, permanent female manager is being hired for Palo on the Wonder. A new hire from another cruise line, she will replace the temporary, rotational manager system currently being used. (As an aside, Roy was our Palo manager and, even though he was temporary, he did a great job. Very professional.)
4.
DCL has already signed the options to build two new ships with the same German shipyard, even though there are denials to the contrary. DCL liked the efficiency and timeliness of the building of the Dream and the Fantasy. No public announcement will be made for some time, but the new ships will be smaller than the Dream and Fantasy, closer to the Wonder and Magic-sized ships (in the 90,000 to 95,000 ton range).
Captain Fabian, during his talk, mentioned that the life of the Magic and Wonder will likely be between 30 and 35 years, which is actually about ten years longer than most ships. He attributes this longevity to the amount of constant maintenance that is ongoing. Although we experienced some hiccups, let's hope it was the exception and not the rule.
Made me literally LOL!
