What’s next for Wonder and Magic?

[_auroraborealis_]

All they are doing is looking at the next cruise for each ship that has not been cancelled YET. Doesn’t mean those cruises will happen as DCL is only cancelling a couple months at a time.

And I certainly wouldn't place strong odds on Newsom allowing cruise ship homeporting in California for a while.

States can close ports beyond CDC order.

 

[otten]

From what I read recently in the Orlando Sentinel the Magic will be cruising from Miami late March and the Wonders first cruise with passengers will be from San Diego.

That’s the current published schedule based on I cancelled cruises though. It means nothing right now. To cruise out of San Diego the Wonder has to go through the canal. The WBPC was just cancelled and the San Diego cruises aren’t lucrative enough to take the Wonder west without Alaska.

 

[JM_97]

Get used to the Magic being in Europe and the Wonder in Miami

 

[JM_97]

My guess is that the Dream and Fantasy will more or less do the same sailings?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

My guess is that the Dream and Fantasy will more or less do the same sailings?

Most of the Fantasy and Dream sailings are okay under the CDC order once they clear the regulatory hurdles. It would be a huge to-do to abbreviate all the 7-night sailings to turn them into 3/4 night sailings.

 

[Bjn10]

I’m in the wonder takes the Magic’s Miami sailings and west coast is cancelled

 

[otten]

According to public health in BC they think we are looking at late summer or fall for somewhat of a return to normal, being able to ditch masks etc. The goal is for 400k to be vaccinated by March. I don’t see cruises being allowed until that ‘return to normal’ happens.

 

[BartmanLA]

According to public health in BC they think we are looking at late summer or fall for somewhat of a return to normal, being able to ditch masks etc. The goal is for 400k to be vaccinated by March. I don’t see cruises being allowed until that ‘return to normal’ happens.

That's the key point, until Canada opens up Vancouver for cruises, there's no reason to send the Wonder to the West Coast, I know DCL would love to do a AK season, they make a TON of money off those cruises and it would be a ready cash revenue stream for them, but, until Canada reopens the cost of sending the Wonder through the Panama Canal (tolls and fee's can be upwards of $500,000 to $700,000) would be just to cost prohibitive. I think as others have said, now that the Dream has returned from Europe, they can focus on prepping each of the ships to qualify for the CDC's CSC and spend the duration getting ready for the "test" cruises. The Wonder could move to Miami and do some short cruises out of there until mid to late summer then relocate to either Galveston or New Orleans for the Winter season. By then hopefully the Magic will be able to do the WBTA trip and then can position to Miami from there. Of course this all is predicated on the Vaccine rollout globally to reach a point things can actually reopen and business can resume as close to normal as possible.

 

[DisneYE]

That's the key point, until Canada opens up Vancouver for cruises, there's no reason to send the Wonder to the West Coast, I know DCL would love to do a AK season, they make a TON of money off those cruises and it would be a ready cash revenue stream for them, but, until Canada reopens the cost of sending the Wonder through the Panama Canal (tolls and fee's can be upwards of $500,000 to $700,000) would be just to cost prohibitive. I think as others have said, now that the Dream has returned from Europe, they can focus on prepping each of the ships to qualify for the CDC's CSC and spend the duration getting ready for the "test" cruises. The Wonder could move to Miami and do some short cruises out of there until mid to late summer then relocate to either Galveston or New Orleans for the Winter season. By then hopefully the Magic will be able to do the WBTA trip and then can position to Miami from there. Of course this all is predicated on the Vaccine rollout globally to reach a point things can actually reopen and business can resume as close to normal as possible.

All excellent points.
One thing is almost 100% for sure: barring some kind of miracle, like the virus suddenly dying down, there won't be any AK cruises in 2021. As @otten correctly indicates, there is no indication whatsoever that Canada will open its borders anytime soon. I don't think it'll happen at all in 2021, given the unrelenting number of cases in the US.
DCL should just scrap their Canada plans for 2021 and focus on short sailings out of the US and summer 2021 cruises in Europe (which are also at risk of not happening if the pandemic doesn't slow down in the EU starting in March)

 

[Intr3pid]

There is just not enough demand for the Caribbeans cruises in the summer for so many ships to be on this side of the pond. Disney has trouble selling its August cruises in normal times - once the hurricane season begins - so keeping even three ships on the east coast is a stretch.

They could run Bermuda or CC cruises out of NYC. It's normally a stretch but a lot of folks in the surrounding population centers don't want to fly and might be willing to take a cruise out of a nearby port.

If Europe does open up to US travel, there is also a possibility of sending Fantasy back over to Europe for the summer. Magic in Northern Europe and Fantasy in the Med.

 

[Snowwhyt]

That’s the current published schedule based on I cancelled cruises though. It means nothing right now. To cruise out of San Diego the Wonder has to go through the canal. The WBPC was just cancelled and the San Diego cruises aren’t lucrative enough to take the Wonder west without Alaska.

Do you feel west coast people won’t pay the price or just low attendance for time of year affecting San Diego? Low attendance could be a helpful during start up and could be helpful in social distance options. It’s not going to help if Disney needs to refund because they are overbooked to reach a lower attendance percentage. So maybe they are more likely to take a run out there?

And I have a weird question. Since I have not done The Panama Canal, I have no idea if it can be done. But can’t that be broken up into 2 seven day trips? Knowing only one of the two would get the Canal.

 

[BartmanLA]

Do you feel west coast people won’t pay the price or just low attendance for time of year affecting San Diego? Low attendance could be a helpful during start up and could be helpful in social distance options. It’s not going to help if Disney needs to refund because they are overbooked to reach a lower attendance percentage. So maybe they are more likely to take a run out there?

And I have a weird question. Since I have not done The Panama Canal, I have no idea if it can be done. But can’t that be broken up into 2 seven day trips? Knowing only one of the two would get the Canal.

Its logistically not really possible to "break" it up, it would require 2 completely separate itineraries and that means a terminal smack in the middle of the Panama Canal transit, and there's no real way to originate a itinerary in a foreign country like Panama. Also getting passengers there is practically impossible. The number of days just on the west side of the canal takes 6 days alone at minimum. So no it wouldn't be possible for 2 cruises to get passengers from New Orleans OR even Florida. It make the most economic sense to leave the Wonder on the East side until the WBPC 2022.

 

[otten]

Do you feel west coast people won’t pay the price or just low attendance for time of year affecting San Diego? Low attendance could be a helpful during start up and could be helpful in social distance options. It’s not going to help if Disney needs to refund because they are overbooked to reach a lower attendance percentage. So maybe they are more likely to take a run out there?

And I have a weird question. Since I have not done The Panama Canal, I have no idea if it can be done. But can’t that be broken up into 2 seven day trips? Knowing only one of the two would get the Canal.

Even if they could break it up the point of going through the canal is Alaska. The San Diego cruises aren’t lucrative enough to be worth the canal toll.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The SD cruises after an empty transit might lose more money than just keeping the Wonder quiet for a couple months with skeleton crew, even.

I genuinely don't see DCL trying to schedule and book new sailings on the Wonder east coast on 3 months notice or less. The logistics alone are a huge challenge, and then actually getting bookings is another thing. They would have to discount, and I don't think the short term benefit is enough to tamper with the brand like that.

 

[MN Dis Fans]

Our EBTA reservation May 9th has disappeared from the DCL website. Other parties booked on the same cruise are reporting the same. Our cruises from Barcelona after the 22nd May for the med are still appearing. It looks like the EBTA will be a NO GO!

 

[JM_97]

the 6 night on the Fantasy that was announced today looks really fun but I still want to know when these test cruises will start

edit: meant to put it in another discussion but I guess it works here too