Where will the new Disney ships go?

[J9sling]

Maybe this question has been asked before but I was wondering if there are plans in place regarding departure ports for the new ships Disney is introducing to their fleet. I have been reading the RCCL boards for a while since we were cruising on the Mariner and have heard that the Mariner is leaving Port Canaveral in early 2009. There are no announcements made as of yet what will replace the Mariner (speculation is a Freedom class ... one that has the splash park and Flowrider). It got me wondering what Disney's plans are for the future.

Anyone have the scoop?

[gatour]

No official announcements, and even if they have an internal plan they could change between now and then.

My thoughts are that when the first ship comes online it will take over either the Magic or Wonder's schedule, with the replaced ship being sent to the West Coast. I am leaning that it would take over Magic's seven day run as that is the industry norm.

[gatour]

No official announcements, and even if they have an internal plan they could change between now and then.

My thoughts are that when the first ship comes online it will take over either the Magic or Wonder's schedule, with the replaced ship being sent to the West Coast. I am leaning that it would take over Magic's seven day run as that is the industry norm.

[cruiserbryce]

I think a lot of it hinges on how the Medit. cruises go this summer

[waterrats]

I think the ships would stay on the East Coast. I think that maybe Disney would move one of the ships over to Tampa. Disney will still want families to make a Disney land and sea vacation so keeping the ships close to home will help families do just that.

[metrowon]

Magic has done the milage trips for years, Magic starts the easy 3/4 day Bahamian cruises. Wonder to West coast for summers only, or Alaskan? Could be a new one does an around the world? Maybe a couple trans Atlantic? Who really cares? One thing is certain, we will have more options. As was qouted in the Srarface Movie, "THE World is Yours." Let's cruise! Metrowon

[Capt_BJ]

On another board it was passed that what the current DCL Captains are saying is that the new ships will use Port Canaveral with the existing ships moving to different ports.....

in other words: to be determined

[rainbowfish1969]

I so much more like DL and would love to do a land and sea there. Alaska would be incredible too

[Rudi610]

... on my part. But I would bet money that the first new ship will replace one of the current ships at Port Canaveral with either the Wonder or Magic going to California. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that both of the new ships are both post-Panamax, which means they cannot fit through the Panama Canal. So I would guess (not betting yet on this one) that the second new ship will also home port out of Port Canaveral with the other Wonder/Magic heading to California. This would put the 2 older ships on the west coast, and the 2 newer ones in Florida. Lots on scenarios can happen here. In California, both older ships can do the combination 3/4 night or 7 night Mexican Riviera cruises in winter with one of the ships heading to Alaska in summer. Or . . . one of the newer ships heads to Europe in summer and one of the older ships comes back through the canal and shares the 3/4 night and 7 night caribbean cruises with the remaining newer ship (leaving one of the older ships on the west coast). The older ship would then go back to the west coast when the other ship returns from Europe. Some much can happen. One of the 4 ships could also do SE Asia cruises to tie in with Hong Kong and Tokyo Disneys.

See how carried away I can get?

[tinkerme1]

Here is some of the info on the Disney ships:

"Disney Announces Expansion of Successful Cruise Business
Two New Ships will More than Double Passenger Capacity


The Walt Disney Company plans to expand its successful cruise business by adding two new ocean liners, President and CEO Bob Iger announced today. Scheduled to launch in 2011 and 2012, the ships will more than double the passenger capacity for Disney Cruise Line® to meet the sustained demand for Disney's family cruise vacations.

The new 122,000-ton cruise liners will be two decks taller than the existing 83,000-ton ships, the Disney Magic® and the Disney Wonder®. Each ship will have 1,250 staterooms. Specific design plans and itineraries for the yet-unnamed ships are still in development and will be unveiled at a later date."

[Julia_E]

Hi,

The Mexican Riviera would be my first idea and I agree that it depends on the Med cruises' success this summer. Alaska is a great idea and maybe they will do a 10 day Southern Caribbean out of Pt. Canaveral with a few Panama Canal cruises, too.

It will be interesting to see what Disney does with these new ships.

Best Regards,
Julia
Blog: spasandadventures.wordpress.com

[lvsatman]

Best guess, the Magic will be relocated to the West Coast. This would allow them to sail to Mexico in the Winter out of L.A., and then sail Alaska in the Summer out of Seattle. They would then have the option of doing a couple 14-day Hawaii trips also.

[honeydog714]

on our last cruise we were told at the castaway club party it would be alaska :)

[cruiserbryce]

I would think that Alaska is a possibility...a ship going back and forth between Mex and Alaska would be great...but still too early to know for sure...I know that ay have been the info given to you but I cant imagine that castmember has all the info needed to be giving out those details

[crazydude]

I'm guessing the Medt. But I'm hoping they do use them for southern Caribbean cruises. Hawaii perhaps (leaving from Vancouver)?

[Duane T]

Maybe this question has been asked before but I was wondering if there are plans in place regarding departure ports for the new ships Disney is introducing to their fleet. I have been reading the RCCL boards for a while since we were cruising on the Mariner and have heard that the Mariner is leaving Port Canaveral in early 2009. There are no announcements made as of yet what will replace the Mariner (speculation is a Freedom class ... one that has the splash park and Flowrider). It got me wondering what Disney's plans are for the future.

Anyone have the scoop?

I just came back from the Mediterranean on Disney's Cruise Ship Magic. I asked several people (Captain, Cruise Director) if they could shed any light on where the new ships are going and when they are going to offer another Mediterranean cruise.

All the answers I got were nothing final has been announced but certainly send in any suggestions on the survey at the end of the cruise.

I called Disney Cruise over the weekend and got a similar answer as when I was on the ship. Another blog mentioned that wherever a Disney Resort exists (Paris, Japan, Hong Kong) would be part of future cruises.

I'm really looking forward for their next ports of destination in Europe or Asia!

[logan1_2000]

On another board it was passed that what the current DCL Captains are saying is that the new ships will use Port Canaveral with the existing ships moving to different ports.....

in other words: to be determined

I passed that around on DIS Board after returning from the Wonder cruise May 27-31, 2007. Capt. John on that cruise, at the Castaway Club reception, stated that the new ships would be home ported at Port Canaveral and that the two current ships would be permanently re-located at that time, to home ports that have not yet been determined. Capt. John mentioned the most obvious possiblities, though he said he was just speculating, but the west coast, europe, possible season cruises to Alaska, or even southern caribeean out of san juan. these were his guesses, but he sounded very factual that regardless of where the new home port(s) might be, the 2 new ships would home port in Port Canaveral, in proximity to WDW and Castaway Cay.

[NancyIL]

We loved our Alaska cruise last month, and I'm sure a Disney ship going there would be very attractive to many families. However, given the crowds that are already in Alaska each summer, I think the last thing the port towns need is another cruise ship.

[rrfsteve]

The Wonder is the main money maker right now, so it makes sense that they put a higher capacity, new ship on that route. I am assuming they will use the other new ship for the Magics current run.

Due to the over usage of the magic, I see her being re-located to LA. The wonder - which has much less ware (and a brand new Prop) would be used for varied cruises (like the experiments they have been doing with the magic).

[toodycat]

I received a survey from DCL a while back asking where else I would like their ships to sail. My choices were Europe and Alaska, but who knows what everyone else wrote? For a third choice, I would love a cruise that left out of NY and went to Canada. A southern Caribbean itinerary would also be great.

[CP3o]

Will Castaway Cay be able to handle the bigger ships? I think CocoCay couldn't handle RCL Freedom so they had to set up in Haiti. I prefer private islands like Castaway Cay and CocoCay.

[TheTexasKid]

Will Castaway Cay be able to handle the bigger ships? I think CocoCay couldn't handle RCL Freedom so they had to set up in Haiti. I prefer private islands like Castaway Cay and CocoCay.

That is a good question, and one I think that has yet to be asked. Does anybody have an answer for the question?

I know as little about where the new ships are going to go, as most people. But, like alot of people my guess is that one of the older ships will be based on the West Coast, if for no other reason than a tie-in to Disneyland and because cruises to the Mexican Riviera have proven so popular so far.

I would also like to see one of the ships cruise out of Puerto Rico, if only during part of the year, to extend Disney Cruise Line's reach in the Caribbean.
And cruises to Alaska, Bermuda, and northern Europe would also be nice.

[Ellanora]

This is a complete and utter guess, but just for the heck of it:

Either the Wonder will move to the West Coast for 3-4 day cruises OR the Magic will move to Tampa for 7 day cruises. Whichever one doesn't move will stay in Port Canaveral for 3-4 night cruises. One of the new ships will go in Port Canaveral for 7 night cruises and the other will go to the Mediterranean full time.

Like I said, complete guess. Although it wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the future, all of the ports above host Disney ships at the same time.

[gatour]

Will Castaway Cay be able to handle the bigger ships? I think CocoCay couldn't handle RCL Freedom so they had to set up in Haiti. I prefer private islands like Castaway Cay and CocoCay.

RCCL has had the Haiti "setup" for years and years. They have periodically cancelled stops due to local unrest.

[CP3o]

They put a lot of money into building that dock for CC, I can't imagine them abandoning it the more I think about it. (Which is what would happen if it couldn't accomidate the larger ships and the smaller ships go elsewhere b/c they fit thru Panama canal.) CocoCay (RCL island) wasn't big enough for Freedom but was big enough for Voyager class ships so maybe we can assume CC will be able to handle the larger Disney ship. I think DCL new ships will still be a little smaller than RCL Voyager class.

[logan1_2000]

They put a lot of money into building that dock for CC, I can't imagine them abandoning it the more I think about it. (Which is what would happen if it couldn't accomidate the larger ships and the smaller ships go elsewhere b/c they fit thru Panama canal.) CocoCay (RCL island) wasn't big enough for Freedom but was big enough for Voyager class ships so maybe we can assume CC will be able to handle the larger Disney ship. I think DCL new ships will still be a little smaller than RCL Voyager class.

The voyager class have been listed at (and I'm going from memory, sorry for not looking it up) 138,000 -- 142,000 G.R.T., with I think at least some of the difference being the architectural changes to the balconies and the definitions of what space is measured and what space isn't. Or not. But that is the general range. I thought I recalled the new Disney ships being described as somewhere around 122,000 G.R.T.

Agree, they would be wise to continue to make the most of Castaway Cay.

[logan1_2000]

This is a complete and utter guess, but just for the heck of it:

Either the Wonder will move to the West Coast for 3-4 day cruises OR the Magic will move to Tampa for 7 day cruises. Whichever one doesn't move will stay in Port Canaveral for 3-4 night cruises. One of the new ships will go in Port Canaveral for 7 night cruises and the other will go to the Mediterranean full time.

Like I said, complete guess. Although it wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the future, all of the ports above host Disney ships at the same time.

When I was on the Wonder May 27-30, 2007, Captain John announced at the Castaway Club reception for returning DCL cruise guests that after the two new ships had been delivered, BOTH the Magic and the Wonder would be permanently relocated from Port Canaveral, as the facilities there can really only support two ships. No decision had been made on where the relocation ports would be, and so Capt. John was speculating that in consideration for new home ports for Magic and Wonder would be LA/west coast, as has happened for a couple summers including next year, possible alaska seasonal with mexico in the winter from there, as well as europe or even san juan for southern caribbean itineraries.

I would not think Tampa would be of much use--it would fail to allow DCL to broaden its itineraries very much to offer more variety--Tampa is useful for western caribbean, which is already offered from Port Canaveral. I don't know if there would be an issue with the sunshine skyway, though there might be as RCI, for example, has never brought anything newer than a vision class to that port, including the Radiance class which is somewhat close to the size of the DCL ships, maybe 10% more gross tonnage at 90,000 approx.

[Ellanora]

I would not think Tampa would be of much use--it would fail to allow DCL to broaden its itineraries very much to offer more variety--Tampa is useful for western caribbean, which is already offered from Port Canaveral. I don't know if there would be an issue with the sunshine skyway, though there might be as RCI, for example, has never brought anything newer than a vision class to that port, including the Radiance class which is somewhat close to the size of the DCL ships, maybe 10% more gross tonnage at 90,000 approx.

Don't know enough about the size limitations and the bridge to say, but my thought was that with Tampa, they could still run a bus from the Orlando parks just as they do with Port Canaveral, allowing for easy land/sea vacation packages, and also, would still be able to utilize Castaway Cay if they wanted. Also, if they hit all Western Caribbean from Tampa, they could add on some Southern Caribbean out of Port Canaveral, not just Eastern.

At any rate, like I said before, all guesswork. I'm just having fun with the possibilities. :)

[ronandannette]

I think the ships would stay on the East Coast. I think that maybe Disney would move one of the ships over to Tampa. Disney will still want families to make a Disney land and sea vacation so keeping the ships close to home will help families do just that.

Long Beach is also "close to home". We'd SERIOUSLY enjoy a land/sea package to Disneyland similar to the DW/Wonder ones from Florida. We love Disneyland and unlike DW, 3 days there is perfect to see and do pretty much everything. Carnival and RCCL are wildly successful with their Baja itineraries; I don't see how it could miss for Disney, providing the 3 DL hotels can handle the capacity.

We'd also like to try DCL to the Mexican Riviera, but against the competition they'd have to bring the prices into line. The few trips they've made for the past couple of summers are WAY, WAY too steep to pay just for the novelty of the ship. I imagine there would/will be similar issues with Alaska. (We actually ended up choosing Mariner of the Seas last summer over DCL as the price difference simply couldn't be justified).

Happy Sails,

Annette

[rrfsteve]

[quote=TheTexasKid;10852256]That is a good question, and one I think that has yet to be asked. Does anybody have an answer for the question? [quote]

Yes. The answer is... depth - yes & width - no. But that can be fixed easily.