Two New Ships for Disney Cruise Line (Announcement + Article by Dave) About This Page:

[jah272@yahoo.com]

I saw this announcement today on Maritimematters.com:
"March 3: Meyer Werft of Papenburg, Germany began steel cutting today for the first of two new 128,000 gt Disney cruise ships scheduled for completion in 2011 and 2012. The twin funneled vessels will resemble the DISNEY WONDER and MAGIC with long bows and rounded sterns (atop sponsons). Details and dimensions of the 1,250 stateroom ships have not been officially revealed."
It's official!

[modisney]

There's news out in San Diego/Los Angeles that they are bidding to be the homeport for one of the Disney ships starting in 2011. signonsandiego.com has a piece about this mentioning that DCL should announce later this month their decision between L.A. and San Diego. Interesting. Anyone else read or heard any of this. There was also a silmilar piece in a USA Today cruise piece. Since it's in more than once place, it seems to be more than a rumor. I guess anything is possible at this stage in the game.

[Dave Marx]

DCL did something similar about a year back. They made a well-publicized visit to Tampa to consider home-porting a ship or ships there, instead of Port Canaveral. I'm convinced it was simply a bargaining ploy, to get more from Port Canaveral. I think this is very much the same thing. I give Los Angeles a 90% chance of winning the "competition."

As a business matter, Los Angeles is a far better port for DCL than San Diego. It starts with the travel time for Land/Sea itineraries from Disneyland. It means a local DCL operations office can be near the port and still be located in Anaheim, Burbank, or Glendale (all places with large Disney facilities). The choice also includes matters like the number and variety of flights into the local airport, and the size of the regional "drive-to" population (how many Angelenos will decide to drive to San Diego when other cruise lines offer sailings from San Pedro or Long Beach).

What is interesting is the early 2011 date for the start of operations. This dovetails with reports that one of the DCL captains said something similar during a recent presentation on the Wonder. The Magic and Wonder went into service much later in the year, so I was expecting something similar this time around. Early 2011 is a much more exciting prospect for me. Among other things, it means we'll be able to bring out a 2011 cruise guide with loads of info about the new ship! (Boy, will we have our work cut out for us!)

[Anijac1412]

Oh how I would LOVE to be onboard one of the first sailings.... I guess I should starting saving up! I'm sooo curious about itineraries...

And Dave, that is REALLY exciting about the new guides!!! Lots of work yes, but boy will that ever be FUN!

[mouseclub4]

They named the new ships. I must say I was thrilled to get the email since I have been sitting on pins about it. We too really would love to sail on the 2011 ship. Here is the email we got.

Dear,
As part of the Disney Cruise Line® family, we want you to be among the first to know that our two new ships now have names—Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. Bob Iger, Walt Disney Company President and CEO, announced the official names today at the Disney shareholder meeting in Oakland, California.

Like Disney Magic® and Disney Wonder® before them, the names of the two newest ships in our fleet were chosen with care to celebrate Disney's unique heritage-creating incredible worlds of fantasy where dreams really do come true. Disney Dream is scheduled to launch in 2011, with Disney Fantasy following soon after in 2012.

SEE THE CUTTING EDGE.
Disney Imagineers and ship builders have been working full-steam ahead since we first announced our two new vessels in 2007. On March 2, 2009, construction on both began at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany with a special steel cutting ceremony. The very first cuts created Disney's signature, art deco-inspired scrollwork that will grace the bows of both new ships.

Click here to see a special podcast of this incredible event in Disney history.

MORE EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING.
More magic is happening every day, as our new ships get closer to completion and new wonders arrive on the horizon. For the latest news, design details, new itineraries, updates and more special magic created just for Castaway Club members, be sure to visit disneycruise.com/CastawayClub often or call 1-800-449-3380.

Hope to sail with you again soon!

Your friends at Disney Cruise Line

[kewbrickny]

Exciting news!

[Carol G]

I'm excited about the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream. Hopefully we can find out more when we go on our cruise in Dec. 09.

[-googles-]

I don't know if anybody answered this. Here are 2 links to the pages.
Port district courts Disney Cruise Line

Disney Cruise Line eyes San Diego, Los Angeles as hub for ship - Cruise Log - USATODAY.com

Tonya

Originally Posted by modisney

There's news out in San Diego/Los Angeles that they are bidding to be the homeport for one of the Disney ships starting in 2011. signonsandiego.com has a piece about this mentioning that DCL should announce later this month their decision between L.A. and San Diego. Interesting. Anyone else read or heard any of this. There was also a silmilar piece in a USA Today cruise piece. Since it's in more than once place, it seems to be more than a rumor. I guess anything is possible at this stage in the game.

[dworldluver]

Great news. Maybe will be able to do a cruise by the time these are in port

[TLisi]

I'm looking forward to them having a ship on the West Coast, period. 1/2 of our cruise costs are travel to Florida...now we'll be able to drive!!!!

[BeckiO5]

Dave and Jennifer thank you for the article and pictures of the new ships

[Disneydiana]

Very ! I hope they hurry up with those ships! I can't believe that they are just cutting the steel?!

[SkySkier]

When will 2011 bookings start to be taken?
We just did a Disney Wonder cruise and we are doing their Christmas one !!

[Dave Marx]

Usually, they'll start selling a new year about 15-18 months out. That means the first half of 2011 might go on sale by August/September of this year, and special summer itineraries for that year might be announced around December 2009/January 2010 (if there are any special summer itineraries). However, 2011 will be an unusual year, due to the arrival of the new ship and the repositioning of the Wonder to California. Will they announce earlier than usual to be sure they can sell all those additional staterooms? Will they hold back a while to maintain secrecy and build anticipation and demand? Who knows for sure?

[cfaletra]

We took a cruise on the Wonder in April and knowing that the new ships were comming in 2011 we booked our next cruise for December 4, 2010 with the 10% onboard discount (that was the latest date we could book at the time). We were told that we had till 75 days before that cruise to change the entire itinerary including going on one of the new ships. They also transferred it back to our travel agent (We use Marriott Rewards so that I can use my Marriott Points to lower the cost of the cruise) so I can benefit from the travel agent discount offers. The deposit was only $375. So easy even a caveman could do it !