San Diego Cruises 2021

[PrincessShmoo]

CC is owned by DCL. They are not going to Nassau which is their usual stop.

Castaway Cay is in the Bahamas, regardless of who owns it. I believe Disney has a lease on it, however, and doesn't actually own it.

 

[jrapps]

Disney has a 99 year lease on the island. It is part of the Bahamas and thus a visit to it satisfies the Passenger Vessel Services Act which requires a stop in a foreign port.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castaway_Cay

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Disney has a 99 year lease on the island. It is part of the Bahamas and thus a visit to it satisfies the Passenger Vessel Services Act which requires a stop in a foreign port.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castaway_Cay

Correct.

When talking EBPC however, CC would not be PVSA compliant. The rules for closed loop vs. point to point kick in.

 

[KVH]

And in other news, the blog just announced new sailings for Dec '22 for the Magic out of Galveston. Which generates a lot of questions since a bunch of us have been waiting for next fall's EBPC. At first I was like:


But there is also NOLA so it's not like they would crowd each other. Then again, it seems very duplicative to have 2 boats doing the same westerns that they never have done before. But why would they do this? And why just for the one month? So then your mind wanders and "wonders" whether there is some ulterior motive and there won't be any other ship in the gulf next winter. And then I'm like:


This stuff will drive you crazy . . .

 

[Sykes]

But there is also NOLA so it's not like they would crowd each other. Then again, it seems very duplicative to have 2 boats doing the same westerns that they never have done before. But why would they do this? And why just for the one month?

I don't have an answer for why just one month, but now that there will be three large ships sailing from Florida it makes sense to me that they'd try deploying the smaller ships to other smaller markets. Maybe it's just a trial balloon to see what kind of demand is there?

 

[HiStitch626]

I don't have an answer for why just one month, but now that there will be three large ships sailing from Florida it makes sense to me that they'd try deploying the smaller ships to other smaller markets. Maybe it's just a trial balloon to see what kind of demand is there?

Or maybe the Wonder will stay long on the west coast.

 

[KVH]

I think anything is possible at this point. Especially when since they haven't announced next year's EBPC yet. Makes ya think . . .

 

[J Cannon Kellerman]

I think anything is possible at this point. Especially when since they haven't announced next year's EBPC yet. Makes ya think . . .

I am wondering if the plan was for Wonder to go into dry dock for updates since I do not think any cruise were announced for the Wonder after mid-October of 2022.

Does anyone know when the last time Wonder was in dry dock?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Does anyone know when the last time Wonder was in dry dock?

2019
https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2019/09/a-glimpse-of-the-disney-wonder-in-a-victoria-dry-dock/

 

[cmiller412]

Currently Baja California is level 4 in the local scale. This allows non-essential operations. I can't find any data that says any of the ports DCL will sail to (Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Puerta Vallarta, and Mazatlan) are closed.

The first cruise out of SD is 9/24. It's a 2N to Ensenada. Per previous social media posts the Wonder has a berth agreement in Port Everglades through 8/20. A revenue cruise through the Panama Canal is 14 nights, but that includes 5 days in port. It's probably safe to assume that a non-revenue transit would take about 10 days. So, it's possible that the Wonder could be in SD the beginning of September. There have also been posts from CMs saying that they are flying in to SD the end of August. That would line up with them quarantining for two weeks before starting test cruises.

I think the first indication will be if and when the Wonder leaves Port Everglades for SD. If they haven't left in two weeks I would start to get worried.

That would be incredibly tight to have the crew boarding the ship mid September for test cruises (unless I’m reading what you said wrong?) when the first cruise is scheduled for 9/24. We’re scheduled to sail out of SD mid Oct, but it’s hard for me to see Disney sending the Wonder across the Panama Canal twice with no paying passengers just to do 6-7 weeks of cruises out of San Diego. I keep seeing people post about Wonder crew posting they are heading to SD in late August? Who is posting this and who are a few accounts that are good to follow? Just curious? Thx!

 

[JWelch62]

That would be incredibly tight to have the crew boarding the ship mid September for test cruises (unless I’m reading what you said wrong?) when the first cruise is scheduled for 9/24. We’re scheduled to sail out of SD mid Oct, but it’s hard for me to see Disney sending the Wonder across the Panama Canal twice with no paying passengers just to do 6-7 weeks of cruises out of San Diego. I keep seeing people post about Wonder crew posting they are heading to SD in late August? Who is posting this and who are a few accounts that are good to follow? Just curious? Thx!

I would think they would be boarding the beginning of September. The posts I've seen have people coming in before the end of the month. If the ship gets here by September (leave Port Everglades 8/20, 10 day transit, arrive 8/31 - 9/1), and CMs start arriving late August, we could see CMs on board the first week of September. But, your point is valid. That's why I think if the Wonder does not depart for SD when it's berthing agreement expires on 8/20 then we are likely to have some if not all the SD cruises cancelled.

I've only seen screenshots from twitter and FB. (I deleted my FB account a while ago) It's been a while and I don't recall the names of the accounts. Sorry.

 

[disEAR]

Correct my if I’m wrong, but my assumption is with the CM arriving in late august. They’ll have a mandatory quarantine period before they can start training. Training will take place middle of September, including a test cruise before potentially sailing at the end of September or beginning of October.
Does this sound right to anyone who’s been keeping up with the other cruise ships?

 

[zeferjen]

Cast member on FB just confirmed she is boarding the wonder and sailing through the Panama canal to San diego!

 

[zeferjen]

I cropped out identifying information just in case it could get her in trouble

 

[JWelch62]

With the recent conversion of the Fantasy September 7N cruises to 4N, our Oct 1st 7N is now the first scheduled 7N cruise on DCL. There are currently 4N and 5N itineraries that we could be converted to (Cabo, Cabo/Ensenada). I'm not optimistic that our 7N will go as scheduled.

 

[dmbcrush5]

Last week I talked to my friend from Thailand who was a stateroom host on Fantasy. She has been called back to the Wonder on August 25th in San Diego. Once she lands, she has to get vaccinated, then quarantine in a hotel for 2 weeks. She'll be on the ship in mid-September.

 

[KVH]

I don't disagree with anyone about CM recalls. But would it have really hurt DCL to at least give SOME kind of date for the Wonder in today's update? 'Cause then I start thinking that if crew aren't back till September, and then they need to be trained up, figure sailings may start late September. And then they plan to EBPC ~one month later? Am I the only one who thinks this is odd?

 

[iannovich]

I don't disagree with anyone about CM recalls. But would it have really hurt DCL to at least give SOME kind of date for the Wonder in today's update? 'Cause then I start thinking that if crew aren't back till September, and then they need to be trained up, figure sailings may start late September. And then they plan to EBPC ~one month later? Am I the only one who thinks this is odd?

The Entertainment Cast members that I've seen post are on the ship right now rehearsing for the shows. I'm guessing that those crew members that need to be on board earlier for training (whether in Entertainment, Operations, Dining, or anywhere else) are already on board (or are joining shortly) and will use the time that they come through the canal as training time. We still have over a month. The shows probably need more training time than pretty much anything else I can think of.

It definitely would have been nice to hear a commitment to even a rough time frame. I think the first scheduled sail date is absolutely do-able and is most likely the scenario barring something crazy, but they could be shooting for mid Oct and we'd never know it. With the show rehearsals happening now though, I'd say they're still shooting for the dates as scheduled.... the itineraries and lengths of sailings may be another matter.

 

[otten]

I’m quite perplexed by what DCL’s plans might be here. Obviously if they are calling crew over to San Diego they intend to bring the Wonder there but then what? They can’t do what they are doing with the Dream or what they appear to plan to do with the Fantasy and stick to shorter sailings with just Castaway Cay. Doing the Wonder Mexico sailings is a whole different ball game.

I also can’t imagine them going ahead with a revenue 14 night sailing anytime soon. The ships that ended up stuck at sea were all longer sailings (and the Wonder was a day or two away from being one of them). I cannot imagine them taking that risk. So what is the decision making process of taking the Wonder west then? Do they perhaps intend to keep her there?

 

[JWelch62]

First scheduled cruise is a

I also can’t imagine them going ahead with a revenue 14 night sailing anytime soon. The ships that ended up stuck at sea were all longer sailings (and the Wonder was a day or two away from being one of them). I cannot imagine them taking that risk. So what is the decision making process of taking the Wonder west then? Do they perhaps intend to keep her there?

With the Magic taking the Galveston cruises in winter 2022, that's certainly possible. DCL hasn't made any announcements on NOLA, but can DCL support two ships operating in Gulf ports simultaneously? I'm sure they could, but do they want to? I'd love the Wonder to spend more time on the west coast.