Castaway Cay 2.0 At Lighthouse Point, Eleuthera, Bahamas

There have been some reports that Disney Cruise Line is looking at purchasing another private beach in the Bahamas, potentially to address DCL's fleet expansion. I have linked below Scott Sander report from Disneycruiselineblog. The prospective location is Lighthouse Point in Eleuthera, Bahamas.

What do others know and think about this report? I know DCL has been reported to be looking in the Bahamas for some time. Personally, I am a bit skeptical, but that is because I had hoped the fleet expansion would be do drive new itineraries outside the Caribbean and Bahamas. I also wondered if Disney would create a DVC property in the Bahamas? DCL and DVC are part of the same Signature Experience management team.

In any case, a purchase of Lighthouse Point is controversial from an environmental standpoint and many locals, and others, are opposed. Would Disney be a good buyer from an environmental standpoint?

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2018/05/disney-cruise-line-potentially-looking-to-develop-lighthouse-point-eleuthera/

Oh my....not good news IMHO. First, there is enough private island time for DCL to dock 6 ships per week at Castaway Cay....depending on schedules. Like OP, I would hope that some of the ships would do other itineraries that would preclude docking at Castaway Cay. If the goal is for the new ships to do short cruises where they would stop at CC twice each week, the only way DCL would be short of docking days would be if all of the other 4 ships were also doing an itinerary that "wanted" to use CC. And honestly, I'd hate to see 2 ships doing 3/4 cruises.

Currently they have 2 ships "away" during the summer with the Magic in Europe and the Wonder in Alaska. So are they planning to have all the ships in the Caribbean/Bahamas during the rest of the year? Seems a bit short sighted IMHO. There is a whole world available. Personally, I think they'd make a small fortune with cruises in Asia. Many Japanese people are crazy about all things Disney. There is an expanding upper class in China that could afford a Disney cruise. And there are plenty of potential tie ins with the parks in these areas. Wherever they decide to cruise, I think that 6 ships in Florida is a mistake.

Secondly, my experience with so called "private islands" which were really a portion of an island owned by a cruise line has not been good. There have been issues with protests at the dock/port, issues of passengers being essentially required to walk thru a sales area, etc. Bottom line, if DCL leases the entire island, they can largely control what happens there. They can not control the actions of a few hundred (or thousand) people who live on an island if they rent/lease a small portion of that island.

i'm positive they'll tap into the asian market...exactly as you say - their love of disney and the tie in to the parks there..

and the chinese and japanese are very big spenders when it comes to vacations...

DCL already has a large market in middle eastern guests - very very very big spenders and i'm sure DCL will want to expand on that market as well.

On DD's magic in the med cruise two years ago, the second largest group after americans was guests from the gulf (saudi arabia, emirates, etc)...according to the crew it's a growing group....

there are lots of horizons out there for DCL to focus on and i'm sure they are...

I'm a cruise neophyte, but I suspect that from mid-November until mid-April, I'd expect Disney to have at least five and probably six of their ships in the Caribbean. Not necessarily from Port Canaveral; some might launch from Miami or Galveston. Where else would they run? I think weather is just not going to be condusive to other destinations in the winter time.

Now, after that, everything is open. Probably have two ships on the West Coast. And it's been speculated that one ship will be in the far east full time.

I'm a cruise neophyte, but I suspect that from mid-November until mid-April, I'd expect Disney to have at least five and probably six of their ships in the Caribbean. Not necessarily from Port Canaveral; some might launch from Miami or Galveston. Where else would they run? I think weather is just not going to be condusive to other destinations in the winter time.

 

Now, after that, everything is open. Probably have two ships on the West Coast. And it's been speculated that one ship will be in the far east full time.

Well, DCL didn't do well with their Mexican Riviera cruises a few years ago, but that's a winter time possibility....as is Hawaii. They could base a ship in Europe and do Northern Europe in the summer and Med/southern ports in the winter. There are cruise lines that have 20 ships and somehow manage to find places besides the Caribbean to cruise during the winter. South America? Australia? I still think Asia is the most likely, but we'll see.

I just don't know how many ships they can fill on the "same old, same old" itineraries after the first season with the new ships. There are lots of people who want to cruise on the new ship just to see it and be able to say they've done it. However, that doesn't give a realistic view of long term bookings.

Royal Caribbean only sails the Caribbean and Asia/Australia on their winter schedules.

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2018_2019/2018_2019_DeploymentSummary_Guide_final.pdf

I'll bet Disney follows suit.