So, about these Fantasy 10/11-day S. Carib cruises...

[squirk]

Is it the consensus that these cruises are just a by-product of the Fantasy dry-dock in May mucking up the usual 7-day schedule? Or is there a decent chance we will see these offered when Summer '18 is announced?

I am curious because my 10-y.o. daughter is crazy for the "Hamilton", you see, and a trip to Alexander Hamilton's birthplace of Nevis might snag me "Father of the Millenium" status.

 

[ImprovGal]

I don't think it's exactly either. I think they were testing the demand for a longer Caribbean itinerary out of Canaveral when the kids are on summer break. 10 + 11 = 3 * 7. They swapped three 7-night cruises for these 2 and since Magic and wonder are away, had the midweek slot available at Canaveral for the turn.

Since these cruises already went to an FLR discount before final payment, I would speculate that they are not selling as well as they'd hoped.

 

[squirk]

I don't think it's exactly either. I think they were testing the demand for a longer Caribbean itinerary out of Canaveral when the kids are on summer break. 10 + 11 = 3 * 7. They swapped three 7-night cruises for these 2 and since Magic and wonder are away, had the midweek slot available at Canaveral for the turn.

Since these cruises already went to an FLR discount before final payment, I would speculate that they are not selling as well as they'd hoped.

Thanks! Yes, they seemed pretty expensive, but then again, you had ~40%-60% more cruise time.

I should go break down those fares to a per-day cost and see how they compare to the per-day cost of a normal mid-June 7-day Fantasy cruise.

 

[apathetic]

They are very expensive, but sold pretty well. So they may do it again to mix things up. Maybe scouting popularity of different itineraries before the new ships come on line. You can do the S Caribb now, but have to leave out of Puerto Rico. The Wonder is a lot more reasonably priced, probably because it is in the school year.

 

[mhconley]

We would have loved to book one of the two itineraries but they are freakin' expensive. Even the FLR rates are more than double what our 11-night Southern next January on the Wonder will cost. The 11-night Southern on the Wonder is the 7-night Southern b2b with the 4-night San Juan to Port Canaveral that stops at Castaway Key.

Martin

 

[kaseyC]

Folks may have booked and deposited but they must not have kept them because they are already offering FLR resident rates and CM rates.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

Is it the consensus that these cruises are just a by-product of the Fantasy dry-dock in May mucking up the usual 7-day schedule? Or is there a decent chance we will see these offered when Summer '18 is announced?

I am curious because my 10-y.o. daughter is crazy for the "Hamilton", you see, and a trip to Alexander Hamilton's birthplace of Nevis might snag me "Father of the Millenium" status.

I asked my travel agent about similar itineraries in future years. Her view, without any inside info, was that they were not selling well (as evidenced by the discounting) so Disney probably would not offer them again.

 

[Flossbolna]

Disney has done crazy things that we thought they would not do - like going back to Galveston again and again. So, I think they might do a repeat of this summers Southern Caribbean cruises, but maybe at a different time during the summer or with different prices. Since this year's cruises will have their PIF date soon (it is 120 days for cruises of 10 nights or more), they can announce new itineraries for 2018 in early March for the same route at a lower price theoretically as the people who booked for 2017 are locked in. Not at all saying that I expect Disney to do that though!

There is a chance though that the 2017 cruises will get some *GT rates after the PIF dates. In the past those were usually higher than the FLR rates, but as @houseofduck recently pointed out on the discount thread, it has also happened that they lowered the FLR rates for cruises that were not selling. However, I have also seen DCL trying everything to not discount high profile cruises for the general public and instead just giving out even deeper discounts to those special groups like CMs and travel agents to avoid devaluing their product.

 

[godde8ss]

Thanks! Yes, they seemed pretty expensive, but then again, you had ~40%-60% more cruise time.

I should go break down those fares to a per-day cost and see how they compare to the per-day cost of a normal mid-June 7-day Fantasy cruise.

Out of curiosity, i did this, and there is no savings. Even with the discounts, this is averaging in the $300/night range, same as the June 7 day Fantasy averages. This is why I sail in Fall or Winter lol.

 

[squirk]

Out of curiosity, i did this, and there is no savings. Even with the discounts, this is averaging in the $300/night range, same as the June 7 day Fantasy averages. This is why I sail in Fall or Winter lol.

Thanks. I didn't think there would be a savings for the 10/11-day. Honestly, I expected those to have, if anything, a premium over the 7-day instead of a discount. Glad I was wrong.