Disney Orders TWO new ships!

[WDW Monorail]

2 Summers ago, family friends of mine took a cruise to the carribean on RCI's Voyager of the Seas. They boarded at Port Bayonne and headed north instead of south. Later that night, there was an announcement that the ship was no longer going to the caribbean due to a hurricane (possibly Ivan?). They actually were taken to Halifax. What a big mess this caused.

Now lets get back to the Disney Orders TWO new ships! Thread.

[tahoebob54]

2 Summers ago, family friends of mine took a cruise to the carribean on RCI's Voyager of the Seas. They boarded at Port Bayonne and headed north instead of south. Later that night, there was an announcement that the ship was no longer going to the caribbean due to a hurricane (possibly Ivan?). They actually were taken to Halifax. What a big mess this caused.

Now lets get back to the Disney Orders TWO new ships! Thread.

That cruise in question was not the caribbean but to the Bahamas. It would have been a bigger mess if they sailed into a hurricane. You are right about getting back to Disney Orders TWO new ships!, its better that all the RCI bashing going on.

[DisneyMickey]

I have been on the Freedom of the Seas and for a large ship and over 4000 passengers it did not feel crowded at all. For a family, this ship had every amenity you could want and enough to keep the adults happy. There are some RCI ships I do not recommend, especially the Monarch or Majesty. RCI is more competition for Carnival and if it was a choice between those two I would take RCI. Celebrity has some nice ships and great service. Princess is a nice choice for middle of the road cruise line. NCL can be hit or miss.

Disney?

[Disneynut]

Now this is a real sad state of affairs. Those ships are by no means "aging" as they are less than 10 years old. Yet todays cruising public has been conditioned by the pissing match between Mickey Arison of Carnival and Richard Fain over at RCI

I could not agree more. I love both the Magic and Wonder and sail four times per year. I am fine with the Disney ships and will be for a number of years. When I referred to "aging" it was more about the perception of others and not my personal feelings. That said, I do think a large number consider the ships to be aging because they lack the "bling" of some of the other ships. I truly think Disney thought ahead by utilizing a classic feel and approach. The Waverider and ice skating rink will get old soon enough...

[WDW1974]

Okay, you have had your "I told you so" moment? Congratulations to you on being right. .

Thank you. And let me say I appreciate your personal note, but maybe that's just me being nice because I literally just got back from a nice night at DL!

I still believe it is an error on Disney's part as we have seen in the cruise industry so much overcapacity has led to many fire sales just to try and fill the ships. While intially these ships will do well as everybody will want to see the new ships, over time the prices will have to come down.

You will never see fire sales for DCL with four ships barring a world war or such. Just won't happen.

But, you're right in part, I would bet the special deals that only TAs and CMs usually get won't be the only truly GREAT DCL deals in the future. If the fourth ship winds up cruising out of Port Canaveral to start (the third is guaranteed going from SoCal), I would be you'll see some unheard of deals in certain slower periods like September/October.

But I don't think that's a terrible thing.

Certainly not like overbuilding at WDW, so you can get resort discounts year-round (some that are amazing ... like the $129 a night I recently paid at AKL).

As for making it through the Panama Canal, these must be long instead of wide ships. The two Grand Class Princess ships at only 109,000 gross tons cannot make it through and these two new ships are at 122,000. The expansion of the canal is not scheduled to be completed until 2015. As for the ship in Alaska, they will have some hurdles there with the government as current regulations will not allow a passenger ship of that tonnage to sail in Alaska waters, nor does Alaska have docking facilities for a passenger ship that large.

I'll be speaking with my 'insider' this week and see if he/she/it can help fill in more blanks. But Alaska is a definite (and I will be on the FIRST sailing! ... combining Alaska and Disney is like ice cream and hot fudge) and I know the ships are being designed to fit thru the canal.

I also know there isn't a set in stone destination for where the fourth ship will start sail from or where it will go. I think they're going to do the prudent thing and gather data from all these special Med and West Coast cruises in 07 and 08 (and look for a different special location for 09) before they make a firm choice.

But as we have seen, you have the inside scoop, so I will default to you and say great, I would love to see a new ship here and I hope the itineraries you mentioned are correct. It would make my job easier.

Another convert. I'd admit you were tougher than most. I'll also admit I was surprised by the timing, I was only made aware of it a few hours before it happened. I thought we had a few months to wait.

I'll also leave you with this: I've heard these ships will have one major feature the other two do not and it is something no one else at sea has ... something uniquely Disney. That's all I'll say until the design is approved, but I think folks here will be very, very impressed.

[WDW1974]

It is quite clear you don't like RCI. The problem I see how you were on the Explorer with 4000 when the Passenger Capacity is 3,114. Lets see Disney is building a smaller ship then the Explorer that will hold more people. I just don'd see how it all adds up. And the kids are just the same on RCI as they are on Disney.

No. I don't base my like/dislike of a company on one experience.

My only cruise with RCI was on the Explorer. The cabin was a mess, filthy carpet, dirty bathroom ... just rundown. I've never had that on DCL, NCL or Princess. And, since no cruise line ever wants to move you, they lie and say every cabin is full until you've complained for four days straight and suddenly ... oh yeah, we have some empty cabins after all.

Also, I went from NJ on a cruise when they had a school holiday and the place was overrun with tweens causing mayhem all over while mom and dad got plastered. Believe it or not, but kids have never been a problem on DCL because of all the areas for them ...the adults only areas on Explorer were not respected at all. They threatened to leave five families in Aruba due to their brats, and should have, but naturally didn't -- just took their cards away and ordered them to be with mom and dad at all times.

I have no idea what the actual capacity is. I'll trust your figure. But it was by far the largest ship I've ever been on and it really felt like a floating mall.

The food was mediocre (except in the $20 a person Italian place that was wonderful). The men's locker room was always dirty. Staff wasn't friendly.
About the only good thing was the entertainment, which was very good and just a notch or two below Disney.

[swrdfghtr]

Dinsey Cruises are lots of fun (gotta love that Cookie station on the top deck!). Kudos! I wonder what the name of the new ships will be... May I suggest "Enchantment" and "TDLFAN's"?

I'll vote for "Disney Dream" and "Disney Adventure." Although I like "Enchantment" it just reminds me of a Carnival ship I didn't particularly enjoy .

[WDW1974]

I like the Disney Spirit myself ...

[Morrigoon]

Lemme guess... a roller coaster? If they can do it on top of a highrise, why not on a boat?

[PragmaticIdealist]

Lemme guess... a roller coaster? If they can do it on top of a highrise, why not on a boat?

I can visualize motion-base simulators on a ship.

[Cmash95]

you dont need a motion base simulator on a ship, they are already moving.

[Morrigoon]

I think the point that they are "rides" that don't take up a lot of room. However, because of that, many folks like myself have come to associate them more with high-end arcades than with Disney-quality entertainment (despite the pressler-esque prevalence of themin the parks). I think a small coaster would have more re-rideability than a simulator, though a simulator would be far easier to put in. Hell, if your local Golf 'n Stuff can move one into their arcade, I guess Disney can move one onto their ship. And there's something to be said for that. Coaster would have a lot of unusual wear and tear too, due to shifting weight loads and the movement of the ship. Not to mention the hazards of salt water on metal track. So I guess a simulator makes more sense.