Permanent Presence in Miami Being Explored

DCL is considering building a new terminal in Miami and offering cruises year-round from there beginning in 2023. Judging from the statistics and dates presented to the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, it seems reasonable to assume that either Dream or Fantasy (and perhaps both) would be homeported there once the new ships are placed in service from Port Canaveral.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2018/08/disney-cruise-line-exploring-new-terminal-and-year-round-sailings-at-portmiami/

It will be interesting to see what they decide to do in 2021-2023 as the new ships come out. So far, we have reports of a new "shared" terminal at Port Canaveral, in addition to the designated DCL terminal...and now a possible Miami terminal. There's nothing wrong with either of those, but I'd really like to see DCL cruise more of the world than they do currently.

If the new ships (fueled by LNG) are all out of Florida ports for the foreseeable future, then that leaves the existing ships to work other parts of the globe. In some discussions, speculation has drifted to how the new ships might have features (e.g., a casino) that have greater appeal for a global audience. With the new ships being in Florida, any new features will need to come through renovation of the existing fleet.

 

Disney has expanded its resorts in Orlando to the point that some think a 5th park is on the horizon. Maybe Disney sees DCL as its 5th park. Expanding transit plans between Orlando and Miami make a Miami-based ship a better fit into the Disney landscape.

If the new ships (fueled by LNG) are all out of Florida ports for the foreseeable future, then that leaves the existing ships to work other parts of the globe. In some discussions, speculation has drifted to how the new ships might have features (e.g., a casino) that have greater appeal for a global audience. With the new ships being in Florida, any new features will need to come through renovation of the existing fleet.

 

Disney has expanded its resorts in Orlando to the point that some think a 5th park is on the horizon. Maybe Disney sees DCL as its 5th park. Expanding transit plans between Orlando and Miami make a Miami-based ship a better fit into the Disney landscape.

Just my thought - if it's Disney, it's not going to have a casino.

Just my thought - if it's Disney, it's not going to have a casino.

I tend to agree with this. Unless Disney would begin to operate a ship or cruise line under another name, it won't have a casino. The Disney name will continue to be family friendly.....in much the same way that Disney and Pixar movies are family friendly, but Disney also owns Miramax and Touchstone. They don't seem to have any trouble filling ships without casinos, and obviously make up for the revenue that might be generated by their huge cruise fares when compared to other mid range cruise lines.

If the new ships (fueled by LNG) are all out of Florida ports for the foreseeable future, then that leaves the existing ships to work other parts of the globe. In some discussions, speculation has drifted to how the new ships might have features (e.g., a casino) that have greater appeal for a global audience. With the new ships being in Florida, any new features will need to come through renovation of the existing fleet.

 

Disney has expanded its resorts in Orlando to the point that some think a 5th park is on the horizon. Maybe Disney sees DCL as its 5th park. Expanding transit plans between Orlando and Miami make a Miami-based ship a better fit into the Disney landscape.

 

Oh man thats what i love about dcl. No stinky casinos. :(

It has been reported that DCL will be basing two ships in the Port of Miami by 2024:

 

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/two-ships-new-cruise-terminal-weighed-for-disney-at-portmiami.html

 

 

Prior to this, it was also reported that as part of the Port Canaveral terminal expansion, that DCL would base 2, and more likely, 3 ships in Port Canaveral.

 

 

This means that 5 of the 7 ships that are ultimately part of the DCL fleet will be based in Florida Ports. This creates a number of questions:

 

 

1. Is DCL shifting to a Florida-centric basing policy that focuses on cruises to the Bahamian and Caribbean regions? They are also looking at a second location for a private island which creates further indication that this might be the case.

2. What will happen to the other 2 ships, using the Wonder and Magic as the names for those other 2 ships?

3. Will the Wonder and Magic return to Bahamian/Caribbean regions with ports in say Texas and Puerto Rico during the winter season?

4. Will either the Wonder of Magic cruise around the world providing lots of itinerary variety for those who want options beyond Bahamian and Caribbean regions? Captain Henry mentioned this possibility during a Platinum and Gold Castaway Club reception during the 9 night Alaskan sailing earlier this summer.

5. What does this mean to cruising opportunities in Asia and Australia?

 

 

Many of the questions are unanswerable without speculating.

 

 

For us, with 23, soon to be 24 DCL cruises, while we love DCL, we are seeking itinerary variety. We have done an abundance of Bahamian and Caribbean cruising and will only return when family wants a quick and easy cruise to those regions. Answers to these questions that limit itinerary variety would potentially cause us to further investigate alternatives to cruising on DCL. On the other hand, if the Wonder and Magic cruise other parts of the world during all four seasons, this would be attractive for us.

I totally agree with the above. We have severely limited our DCL cruises in recent years as most of them fall into the "been there, done that" category. We've done several European itineraries, Alaska, and lots of Caribbean. We aren't interested unless DCL is doing something different, especially at their premium price point.

 

On the other hand, we've enjoyed cruises in Asia, etc. on other lines. We were hopeful that with ultimately 7 ships, DCL would expand to other parts of the world. If not....we're still in that "been there, done that, not interested" category.

 

The only thing that I can comment on is that DCL did very poorly on cruises out of Galveston when it booked entire seasons there. It ultimately got out of its agreement to do a full season but agreed to sporadic cruises docking there. I think, based on the history of these cruises not selling well and needing to be severely discounted, that they are unlikely to do more than occasional cruises from this port. Having ported at Puerto Rico, I can attest to the fact that this is a sub-optimal port. Ignoring the issues with the port itself (which is hard to do!), flights to PR are more costly than to Florida. To do a tie in with WDW, one has to fly from PR to MCO, perhaps adding an additional flight cost to people's plans.

 

My only guess, for now, is that DCL is intending to base all 5 ships in or near Florida during the winter and continue to send a ship to Europe and one to Alaska during the summer. I'm not sure what the plans might be when numbers 6 and 7 come out.

I totally agree with the above. We have severely limited our DCL cruises in recent years as most of them fall into the "been there' date=' done that" category. We've done several European itineraries, Alaska, and lots of Caribbean. We aren't interested unless DCL is doing something different, especially at their premium price point.

 

On the other hand, we've enjoyed cruises in Asia, etc. on other lines. We were hopeful that with ultimately 7 ships, DCL would expand to other parts of the world. If not....we're still in that "been there, done that, not interested" category.

 

The only thing that I can comment on is that DCL did very poorly on cruises out of Galveston when it booked entire seasons there. It ultimately got out of its agreement to do a full season but agreed to sporadic cruises docking there. I think, based on the history of these cruises not selling well and needing to be severely discounted, that they are unlikely to do more than occasional cruises from this port. Having ported at Puerto Rico, I can attest to the fact that this is a sub-optimal port. Ignoring the issues with the port itself (which is hard to do!), flights to PR are more costly than to Florida. To do a tie in with WDW, one has to fly from PR to MCO, perhaps adding an additional flight cost to people's plans.

 

My only guess, for now, is that DCL is intending to base all 5 ships in or near Florida during the winter and continue to send a ship to Europe and one to Alaska during the summer. I'm not sure what the plans might be when numbers 6 and 7 come out.[/quote']

 

I agree with Moki'smommy's comments on the Galveston and San Juan ports. Last time we were in Galveston, it felt very much like a temporary port facility. We actually saw luggage fall into the water beside the ship during our last visit there. The area around Houston is also subject to fog and other weather problems. We will be back there in early November at the conclusion of the EBPC, so perhaps we will have a different view, but I am not hopeful. San Juan has to be the most disorganized port from which we have ever embarked. Ground transportation was behind schedule, and luggage didn't arrive until right before early dinner. I was told the luggage was late coming over from the hotels. No surprise there, as we did not leave the luggage in the hotel room - we had to bring it down to the lobby. It was disorganized chaos! Puerto Rico suffers from having poor infrastructure. We do enjoy the Southern Caribbean ports more than Eastern and Western Caribbean. Maybe with 2 ships ultimately in Miami, they will have more frequent Southern Caribbean sailing. I can't imagine 5 ships in the Bahamas, Eastern and Western Caribbean.

 

I do wish DCL would communicate what their longer term cruising strategy might be, rather than have us speculate based on various press reports from cruise terminals. There are 3-4 threads on these boards, and more than one can count on other social media.

I think it is a big assumption to think that the Magic and Wonder will remain in the fleet. Considering they were built in 1998, they will be approaching 25 years old when these new ships come out. They will be old and reaching the end of their service lives. Will Disney keep one or both of them and send them to other parts of the world? Perhaps.

 

The new ships (including Dream and Fantasy) will have greater economies of scale and be cheaper to operate. The old ships will have more technical problems as they age. Also, it seems to me the more recently refurbished areas of the older ships may be less "Disney themed". Could that be so they can be more easily sold in the future? Actually all the hidden Mickeys and Disney themes is a barrier to selling them to another operator, so maybe they will sail on. Or maybe sail to the scrapyard.

 

Dave

I think it is a big assumption to think that the Magic and Wonder will remain in the fleet. Considering they were built in 1998, they will be approaching 25 years old when these new ships come out. They will be old and reaching the end of their service lives. Will Disney keep one or both of them and send them to other parts of the world? Perhaps.

 

The new ships (including Dream and Fantasy) will have greater economies of scale and be cheaper to operate. The old ships will have more technical problems as they age. Also, it seems to me the more recently refurbished areas of the older ships may be less "Disney themed". Could that be so they can be more easily sold in the future? Actually all the hidden Mickeys and Disney themes is a barrier to selling them to another operator, so maybe they will sail on. Or maybe sail to the scrapyard.

 

Dave

I would think DCL will keep the Magic class ships. If for no other reason than that they are smaller. Especially if they're going to look into other itineraries that include ports that don't accept large ships. Other cruiselines use their smaller ships for those, since they don't sell as well as the shorter ones also.

I can picture the classics being relocated more-or-less permanently to ports such as San Diego, Galveston, San Juan, etc., both of the Dream class being moved to Miami, and all three of the new ships operating out of Port Canaveral for at least the first couple of years. I seriously doubt the classics will ever be sold, but will go directly to the scrappers and only when they are totally beyond being operationally and financially salvageable.

It is actually not an assumption that the Magic and Wonder will stay in the fleet, as DCL has announced that the fleet will grow to seven ships:

 

https://dclnews.com/2017/07/15/disney-cruise-line-surprises-d23-fans-with-announcement-of-seventh-ship/

 

During our nine-night Alaskan Cruise this summer, Captain Henry talked about one of the ships sort of roaming the world, similar to what Shmoo indicates above. The concept of an around-the-world cruise was also discussed. There are many long time cruisers that prefer the classic ships, and having them move around the world (Europe, South America, Asia, South Pacific, Australia, etc.) would create significant itinerary variety that keeps long time cruisers on DCL. And, create new markets for future ships.

 

It’s always possible at some point that the Magic and/or Wonder could be retired, but DCL would be going off plan to do this. The classics ships are very well maintained, substantial re-imagination investment has been made on these ships, and they are a long-life asset, far beyond 25 years.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited September 19, 2018 by STHCruising

I think DCL will have to cover the following bases by 2023:

 

Port Canaveral (3) - one for 3 & 4 day cruises, one for 7 day cruises, and a third ship that could do either. They may all be able to share the same terminal if the itineraries are spaced correctly. I would expect one of these ships to serve New York seasonally. These will be the 3 LNG-powered ships, as Port Canaveral will have some infrastructure in place to support Carnival’s new build by 2020.

 

(4) Alaska/Mexican Riviera/Baja Mexico - this would likely all be the same ship, and Hawaii could be thrown into the mix as well.

 

(5) Galveston - This one would be just for the market size alone. I could see some Panama Canal itineraries being run out of this port as well.

 

(6) Europe - DCL can run a variety of itineraries, and a dedicated ship could be used to cater to European tastes that would not always sit well with American cruisers.

 

(7) Australia - Australians travel a lot, but ultimately there will be a set who will never venture to one of the parks in Asia, Europe, or America. This is a way for Disney to capture that segment, and capitalize on the growing cruise market in the region. This will also make it possible to enter Japan and China, even if only seasonally. If Magic or Wonder get retired circa 2033-2034 at around 35 years old after a decade of service Down Under, the ship will be on the right side of the planet to be recycled in India. It wouldn’t surprise me to see those ships make it into their 40s simply because the Disney brand carries enough value to keep an older ship highly profitable. I’m sure by then Disney will have rolled out several additional ships.

 

 

Sent from my eye phone using a three legged yak FFS

@Tenderpaw if I remember correctly, DCL designed the ships with a 50 year lifetime in mind, this is based on the steel chosen for the hull.

 

If anyone can sell nostalgia at a premium it's Disney. Look at the lines for Dumbo.

 

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk