Two new Disney Cruise Line ships??

[TP2000]

I also vote for calling one of these new ships the Disney Spirit.

With the complete collapse of the Mexican cruise market, I'm not surprised they want to build another new ship or two. They need ships that can be used on the Seattle-Alaska route, which even in summer needs a lot more protection from the elements than the Caribbean cruise ships provide. They need to build a custom ship to handle the Alaskan itineraries if they want to keep the Disney Cruise Line alive on the West Coast.

Disney has abandoned Southern California and the Mexican cruises, due to the extreme danger of travelling to Mexican ports. Luckily, Alaska and our good friends and neighbors in Canada are calling! But they'll need a dome installed over the pool and more heaters on the exterior decks and balconies.

 

[Nmoody1]

If I were Disney I'd go with MW again, as its cheaper to build a ship in Europe and the German economy is the most stable. They are certainly going to get more ship for their buck at the moment with the state of economies here in Europe.

I'm sure we'll be seeing something soon.... Probably announced next year though.

 

[Longhairbear]

I also vote for calling one of these new ships the Disney Spirit.

With the complete collapse of the Mexican cruise market, I'm not surprised they want to build another new ship or two. They need ships that can be used on the Seattle-Alaska route, which even in summer needs a lot more protection from the elements than the Caribbean cruise ships provide. They need to build a custom ship to handle the Alaskan itineraries if they want to keep the Disney Cruise Line alive on the West Coast.

Disney has abandoned Southern California and the Mexican cruises, due to the extreme danger of travelling to Mexican ports. Luckily, Alaska and our good friends and neighbors in Canada are calling! But they'll need a dome installed over the pool and more heaters on the exterior decks and balconies.

We had a fabulous cruise, our best vacation ever on the Wonder, on a 7 night cruise along the California coast. We stopped at San Francisco, and San Diego, and did some great onshore touring. We didn't get off the ship in Mexico, and very few did.
The Wonder did Alaskan, and Vancouver trips last year, and we'd love to go on those cruises.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I sense Carnival Cruises is going to have a hard time booking people. So, cruise seekers have some new places to look.

Carnival is down to $38.00 a day cruises now. Thier cancellations are way up and the bookings are way down!


That is less then Motel 6!

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Inquiring minds would love to know, how long does it take to pay off one of those bad boys??? Now THAT's interesting stuff!

Hi Sweetpee

It's really like a house mortgage.............the Magic and dream were originally based on 10 year pay off, both vessels payed off in under 8 years.....I don't know about the Dream class.

Whatever business plan DCL has, they can/could have also taken out a new mortgage if they wanted to.

The surveys taken and as reported online here, have repeatedly shown a lot of people like the Classic size vessels. A 100,000 ton middle size would give passengers' the comfort of the smaller size and the new techno and space for them.

One thing you have to remember about the RCL monster class is, yes they are building 1 or 2 more, but no one else seems to be rushing to build that big.

There are also problems with them. They are so big there are a very limited number of yards that can dry-dock them and a limited number of ports they can call in.


DCL original plan was for a 10 vessel fleet. Until the economy problems and the Mexican issues the plan was 2 vessels out of PC, one in Europe and 1 on the west coast. I have no information on how they would be deployed after the first 4, but I would believe if they build 2 more the classic vessels would go to the far east and Australia or maybe South America.

Time will tell us all!


AKK

 

[sweetpee_1993]

One thing you have to remember about the RCL monster class is, yes they are building 1 or 2 more, but no one else seems to be rushing to build that big.

Yep. We're booked on Allure for Thanksgiving week with the hubby's family this year. The others in the family aren't too keen on sailing with Mickey. So I have the monster ship to look forward to but I have my reservations. It's so big. Too big. I'm afraid of being overwhelmed. The size with the volume of people, I have a sneaking suspicion we'll miss that "at home w/friends" feel. I'm trying not to go into it biased but its hard. At some point I think there's too big even without all the logistical issues you mentioned. I'm excited to hear the new ships rumor picking up steam recently but I'm even more thrilled that there's a solid chance Disney won't go mega-big with the size.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Yep. We're booked on Allure for Thanksgiving week with the hubby's family this year. The others in the family aren't too keen on sailing with Mickey. So I have the monster ship to look forward to but I have my reservations. It's so big. Too big. I'm afraid of being overwhelmed. The size with the volume of people, I have a sneaking suspicion we'll miss that "at home w/friends" feel. I'm trying not to go into it biased but its hard. At some point I think there's too big even without all the logistical issues you mentioned. I'm excited to hear the new ships rumor picking up steam recently but I'm even more thrilled that there's a solid chance Disney won't go mega-big with the size.

I surely hope you have a great cruise! I do agree those are massive ships and I am not sure I would enjoy them.

We enjoyed RCL, the Freedom, is was a nice vessel and a good cruise, but the bottom line is were DCL people!


AKK

 

[MattM]

They can build a ship faster than a meet n greet tent...

Strange timing, I'm hearing DCL is underperforming at the moment

Interesting. I'm hearing that DCL is performing very well. Although by recent standards, that could just mean there is no sewage in the halls during your vacation. DCL for the Win!

 

[Lee]

Yep. We're booked on Allure for Thanksgiving week with the hubby's family this year. The others in the family aren't too keen on sailing with Mickey. So I have the monster ship to look forward to but I have my reservations. It's so big. Too big. I'm afraid of being overwhelmed. The size with the volume of people, I have a sneaking suspicion we'll miss that "at home w/friends" feel. I'm trying not to go into it biased but its hard. At some point I think there's too big even without all the logistical issues you mentioned. I'm excited to hear the new ships rumor picking up steam recently but I'm even more thrilled that there's a solid chance Disney won't go mega-big with the size.

Having sailed on an Oasis class ship with RCCL, I can say that, for me at least, it was my favorite ship ever. Yeah, I liked it better than the Magic.

It's big, sure, but the way it broken up into....I guess neighborhoods is s good word, it really wasn't overwhelming at all. Beautiful ship.

 

[MattM]

Inquiring minds would love to know, how long does it take to pay off one of those bad boys??? Now THAT's interesting stuff!

I believe, and could be wrong, that it took less than 2 years for the Dream to become profitable and start contributing to earnings. Double check me on that.

 

[MattM]

I also vote for calling one of these new ships the Disney Spirit.

With the complete collapse of the Mexican cruise market, I'm not surprised they want to build another new ship or two. They need ships that can be used on the Seattle-Alaska route, which even in summer needs a lot more protection from the elements than the Caribbean cruise ships provide. They need to build a custom ship to handle the Alaskan itineraries if they want to keep the Disney Cruise Line alive on the West Coast.

Disney has abandoned Southern California and the Mexican cruises, due to the extreme danger of travelling to Mexican ports. Luckily, Alaska and our good friends and neighbors in Canada are calling! But they'll need a dome installed over the pool and more heaters on the exterior decks and balconies.

Thing is though, the Caribbean is where the money is in the cruise industry. That's why those other sailings are seasonal. There are plenty of Caribbean ports that Disney doesn't (wont?) dock that they could.

 

[GrumpyFan]

I somehow doubt 2 more ships are on the way, and here's why. As stated previously, cruises out of Canaveral sell well, and are usually fully booked, other ports struggle and must offer specials and discounts. Here's my opinion why, based partly on input from a friend who is a travel agent who books cruises out of Galveston. The cruises that sail out of Galveston are usually hitting the same ports that Carnival is hitting, but the Disney cruise is much more expensive, so it's tough to sell the same cruise when the competition is much less, at least it was this way before the Carnival Triumph incident. For Disney to offer something competitive out of Galveston or even New Orleans (in the future?), they need a bonus or something special to differentiate them from Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, something like a Castaway Cay. I'm not sure about California and West coast cruises to Alaska, and if they have the same problems, but for the Gulf Coast region, I think this is the problem and it might hinder development of new ships or sailings from this region.

 

[scpergj]

Having sailed on an Oasis class ship with RCCL, I can say that, for me at least, it was my favorite ship ever. Yeah, I liked it better than the Magic.

It's big, sure, but the way it broken up into....I guess neighborhoods is s good word, it really wasn't overwhelming at all. Beautiful ship.

My mom will be sailing on the Oasis next month with my aunt. We'll (that is, the rest of the family) will be rebuilding her kitchen while she is gone for a surprise...

 

[Master Yoda]

My mom will be sailing on the Oasis next month with my aunt. We'll (that is, the rest of the family) will be rebuilding her kitchen while she is gone for a surprise...

I'll be out of town this weekend and could really use some new cabinets in my kitchen. Just saying.....

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

My mom will be sailing on the Oasis next month with my aunt. We'll (that is, the rest of the family) will be rebuilding her kitchen while she is gone for a surprise...

Well done !.......Mom has a great family there!

 

[GrumpyFan]

Rumor is being propagated across multiple sites now, including Screamscape, so it's probably not true.

 

[scpergj]

I'll be out of town this weekend and could really use some new cabinets in my kitchen. Just saying.....

Trust me...you don't want her cabinets....

Oh, you mean new cabinets for you, too...tricky Jedi!

 

[scpergj]

Well done !.......Mom has a great family there!

Well, if her brother wasn't paying for most of it, it wouldn't happen...kitchens are expensive! [/end offtopic diversion]

You know...new ships are expensive too...(see what I did there??)

 

[tracyandalex]

Because we have not yet done many of the itineraries we are ok with DCL for now. That being said some new ships mid sized would be very welcomed by us. We have not yet been on the Fantasy, but with the Dream it just felt like there were more people but not necessarily more places for people to go. The pools were the worst and because the dining rooms were so large they lost some of that intimacy feel that we loved about the classic ships. On the other hand, we do miss some of the technology on the classic ships.

Does anyone know why DCL hasn't expanded their Caribbean ports more? I noticed they seem to be trying in 2014, but it also seems like they are trying one of everything to see what sticks.

P.S. we LOVE Castaway Cay and that keeps us on the Caribbean itineraries.

 

[Kobe!!]

They can build a ship faster than a meet n greet tent...

Strange timing, I'm hearing DCL is underperforming at the moment

Sad, but true. lol