Wonder refurbishment?

[truck1]

It's not all the electrical, but an additional supply to a tv monitor, a wall to mount the monitor behind, plus a picture feed from the cameras that they would have to locate forward, aft, port and starboard, that would need to have the animations overlaid onto them from all sent from one central area on the ship to all of the inside cabins.
A lot of work and a lot of cable!

Not really when you consider that they are only doing inside rooms. So out of 875 rooms, they may only be doing 200ish. Never really counted inside rooms on the Magic class. The big advantage is that most of the inside cabins are back to back, so dropping a cable and splitting it should be relatively easy.

 

[C6PT7]

Not really when you consider that they are only doing inside rooms. So out of 875 rooms, they may only be doing 200ish. Never really counted inside rooms on the Magic class. The big advantage is that most of the inside cabins are back to back, so dropping a cable and splitting it should be relatively easy.

Neither have I, but the insides are spread from deck 2, 5,6 & 7.
Cameras are around deck 4ish? on the dream class?
A power drop behind the bed isn't such an issue. But thats either a lot of media servers located around the ship being retro fitted in service spaces or one centralized server system from the broadcast center with distribution hubs forward, mid and aft?
Still seems like a lot of fiber and cat6 cabling for HD cams from bow to stern, port to starboard to me, but I know you know the difficulties of penetrating watertight bulkheads of fire zones and upper and lower decks better than I do.

 

[truck1]

Neither have I, but the insides are spread from deck 2, 5,6 & 7.
Cameras are around deck 4ish? on the dream class?
A power drop behind the bed isn't such an issue. But thats either a lot of media servers located around the ship being retro fitted in service spaces or one centralized server system from the broadcast center with distribution hubs forward, mid and aft?
Still seems like a lot of fiber and cat6 cabling for HD cams from bow to stern, port to starboard to me, but I know you know the difficulties of penetrating watertight bulkheads of fire zones and upper and lower decks better than I do.

I don't think theyd need that many. Maybe 1 per deck. Might even get away with 1 for 2 or 3 decks.They could easily run it with the fire detection system or phone system. Theres probably chases all over the decks for power,and any number of ships systems. Considering the ship already has cameras in those locations, half the work is already done.

 

[C6PT7]

I don't think theyd need that many. Maybe 1 per deck. Might even get away with 1 for 2 or 3 decks.They could easily run it with the fire detection system or phone system. Theres probably chases all over the decks for power,and any number of ships systems. Considering the ship already has cameras in those locations, half the work is already done.

Really? 1 media server for 2 or three decks not centrally located?
And those cameras are pointed for MOB situations aren't they? Not entertainment purposes?

 

[truck1]

Really? 1 media server for 2 or three decks not centrally located?
And those cameras are pointed for MOB situations aren't they? Not entertainment purposes?

Yep. Think of a hotel with multiple rooms on differnet floors. They don't have boxes in each room, its usually 1 for each floor or 2. All depends on what the boxes are rated for.
As far as cameras, theres 1 on the bridge already, and 1 on the stern. Theres several that already are on the sides. All theyd have to do is to pick 1 on each side that has the sea in it all the time, and use those cameras. They could even use wireless cameras and piggy back the secured wifi on the ship.

 

[C6PT7]

Yep. Think of a hotel with multiple rooms on differnet floors. They don't have boxes in each room, its usually 1 for each floor or 2. All depends on what the boxes are rated for.
As far as cameras, theres 1 on the bridge already, and 1 on the stern. Theres several that already are on the sides. All theyd have to do is to pick 1 on each side that has the sea in it all the time, and use those cameras. They could even use wireless cameras and piggy back the secured wifi on the ship.

Seriously?
Yes they hotels have boxes on each floor. Yes they don't have HD cams forward, aft, port or starboard.
Yes they don't overlay animated graphics over those images.
And MOB cams will be pointed along the ship not facing out like the dream class?
And they already distribute a SD "cable" system to tv's throughout the ship.
Wireless cameras? Did they do the same on the dream class?
If this is so easy, why did they not do this on the magic?

 

[C6PT7]

I agree to disagree @truck1.
You?

 

[truck1]

Seriously?
Yes they hotels have boxes on each floor. Yes they don't have HD cams forward, aft, port or starboard.
Yes they don't overlay animated graphics over those images.
And MOB cams will be pointed along the ship not facing out like the dream class?
And they already distribute a SD "cable" system to tv's throughout the ship.
Wireless cameras? Did they do the same on the dream class?
If this is so easy, why did they not do this on the magic?

It would basically be the same as a hotel setup. They have a splitter for however many rooms on that floor. In this case the incoming signal would be from the cameras feed central location. It would be even easier since assuming 200 rooms, 4 views, that's 50 rooms per camera. The cameras themselves could be wifi to the central location then go hard wire to the rooms. Theres tech rooms on just about every deck of the ship. Unless you happened to see one with the door open, youd never know they were there. The tech program is already on the Dream class. Look at Animators Palate. When Crush or Bruce moves from 1 screen to the next. And interacts with different tables. It could very easy be from room to room. Just more rooms.

As far as why they didn't do it on the Magic class, I cant answer that unless they want to keep some elements separate from 1 class to the next to give you a reason to sail on another ship. Then again from personal experience I wouldn't put too much faith in DCLs reasoning.

 

[mevelandry]

Not gonna lie to you. We're going from two trips with balconies to an inside room on the wonder for the next trip... I would have loved having a magic porthole...

 

[C6PT7]

As far as why they didn't do it on the Magic class, I cant answer that unless they want to keep some elements separate from 1 class to the next to give you a reason to sail on another ship. Then again from personal experience I wouldn't put too much faith in DCLs reasoning.

truck1,

I disagree again unfortunately.
They made the magic as much like the dream of fantasy with the removal of the staircase, named the similarly redesigned buffet Cabanas, renamed studio sea d lounge, renamed diversions o'gills etc.

I think it is totally ROI.
How much extra can we charge for an inside room for the cost of installing a virtual porthole, and how quickly will it make a profit vs. other attractions or reimagining.

 

[truck1]

I'm not saying that they are deliberately not putting in the portholes to keep things different. All I'm saying is its a possibility. DCL has done a lot of backwards things with the new ships, that mas no sense.. For 1 is the cabin size. On the classics, DCL deliberately made the cabins bigger then industry standard for that size ship as a selling point. But with the Dream class they reverted to industry standard. Why? It makes no sense not to add 10 sq feet. Same thing with the portholes on the Magic class. With all of the tech available that Disney has either pioneered or has available, there's is no reason what so ever DCL can't add them to the Magic class. I like the layout of Cabanas but like their lack of imagination of itineraries they could have named 1 or 2 something different with a variation. 1 could be Cabanas with the Finding Nemo theme. 1 could be something from 20k similarly themed. 1 could be themed after The Little Mermaid. I'm afraid that DCL is starting to suffer from a lack of imagination.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm not saying that they are deliberately not putting in the portholes to keep things different. All I'm saying is its a possibility. DCL has done a lot of backwards things with the new ships, that mas no sense.. For 1 is the cabin size. On the classics, DCL deliberately made the cabins bigger then industry standard for that size ship as a selling point. But with the Dream class they reverted to industry standard. Why? It makes no sense not to add 10 sq feet. Same thing with the portholes on the Magic class. With all of the tech available that Disney has either pioneered or has available, there's is no reason what so ever DCL can't add them to the Magic class. I like the layout of Cabanas but like their lack of imagination of itineraries they could have named 1 or 2 something different with a variation. 1 could be Cabanas with the Finding Nemo theme. 1 could be something from 20k similarly themed. 1 could be themed after The Little Mermaid. I'm afraid that DCL is starting to suffer from a lack of imagination.

It seems they're trying to make all the ships look the same. And I think it's sad. I think each ship having it's own personality is a better idea.

 

[truck1]

It seems they're trying to make all the ships look the same. And I think it's sad. I think each ship having it's own personality is a better idea.

I agree. That's where I was going with the buffetts. I can see the way they are laid out, and work well on the ships. But they could easily theme them and name them differntly. Kind of like Triton and Lumieres. Same mdr different name and decorations. Personally I like the differences in the ships. It gave me a reason to try another routes and ships. And say remember here on the Magic or here on the Fantasy. Now I have to remember what ship because the names are becoming the same. There is no reason to go from the Dream to the Fantasy as they are carbon copies of each other. The shows and stops are about the only differences besides some clubs names. What go from the Fantasy to the Magic if they are both doing eastern caribs?

 

[Flossbolna]

One thought on the virtual portholes: One thing I noticed is that the price difference between inside rooms on Dream/Fantasy on the one hand and Magic/Wonder on the other are quite different (i.e. cheaper on the classic ships) for similar itineraries, but then oceanview and veranda staterooms are very similarly priced. So, it seems that the new technology does help them make more money. To me that would be a good reason for upgrading Magic/Wonder with virtual portholes. However, I was wondering if the reason for not doing that was actually to have more affordable staterooms available. Currently insides on Magic and Wonder during the winter season are the most affordable Disney cruises you can book. Those might be good entry levels for new customers and Disney might want to be able to keep offering those (relatively) lower prices. If they upgraded Magic/Wonder to virtual portholes, they would need to charge the higher inside rates like Dream or Fantasy.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I hope that at least the kids clubs are re-done during the dry dock. We were on the Magic prior to it's re-imagining, and the kids clubs were dark and out-dated compared to the Dream/Fantasy/new Magic.

 

[czmom]

I hope that at least the kids clubs are re-done during the dry dock. We were on the Magic prior to it's re-imagining, and the kids clubs were dark and out-dated compared to the Dream/Fantasy/new Magic.

I agree!

 

[busdriverbrad]

Has anyone heard when the dates for 2017 are coming out? Usually it's at the end of March. So really soon. Want to go in May 2017. Looking forward to renovated ship also

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Has anyone heard when the dates for 2017 are coming out? Usually it's at the end of March. So really soon. Want to go in May 2017. Looking forward to renovated ship also

Speculation is "any moment now".

 

[KayKayJS]

I wonder if they would add on demand? We're planning on Alaska 2017 but the on demand on the Dream was a favorite of ours.

 

[busdriverbrad]

Sailed on magic in Jan and really missed on demand. I don't we got to watch a full movie except in the theater. It was definitely the biggest thing we missed from the bigger ships.