At long last!
After years of ‘Will they? Won’t they?’ thinking about new ships for the Disney Cruise Lines fleet, the news of two major new-builds for DCL is very welcome indeed.
With the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder now almost 10 years old, it was something of a surprise to the rest of the cruise industry that DCL were not investing in new vessels, despite continued claims to have very high occupancy on all their sailings. The big question was, could Disney really support a cruise line into the future, when the future (in cruise terms) is all about having new ships?
Well, we now have an answer, and it is very impressive indeed. Not only have they announced two new ships, for 2011 and 2012, they are of the mgea-ship size that will make the Magic and Wonder look small-scale by comparison.
The two new-builds will both be 122,000 tons, as opposed to the original duo’s 83,000 - almost half as big again (in terms of cubic capacity, which is what modern cruise ship tonnage actually measures). They will also be built at the Meyer-Werft shipyard at Papenberg in Germany, one of the leaders in high-class large-ship design (and not in Italy, where the Magic and Wonder were built).
It is a shipyard I have visited several times and they have always turned out the highest quality, with an innovative touch. It is an ideal combination and looks to be a really smart and eye-catching move by Disney - at long last!
The actual details of the ships’ internal features and the ‘extras’ they are sure to have are not known as yet, but you can be certain there will be some wonderful new design elements, building on the cutting-edge features and innovation which the first two brought.
What does this mean for the two original ships? Almost certainly that they will be regular visitors to the West Coast and Europe from 2011. As the new ships take over the existing routes to the Bahamas and Caribbean, you can be fairly sure the two older vessels will undertake more adventurous routes to ensure they continue to appeal to both DCL’s existing audience and to completely new cruise customers.
Roll on 2011……….!
February 24th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
The Magic and Wonder will NOT be coming to the West Coast. They aren’t built for the colder water of the Pacific.
We’ve had them here before, but only on limited cruises. For a ship to be permanently berthed here it would have to have a much thicker hull. The maintenence would be cost prohibitive for Disney to have the two originals here.
We will be getting one of the new ones and my guess is Europe will get the other one. If that’s not the case, then We’ll get one and Florida will get the other. This would mean that either the Wonder or Magic would head to Europe.
Thanks for the story, though!
February 27th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Hi there Troy. I’m not quite sure where you get your facts from about the DCL ships not having a ‘thick enough’ hull for Pacific Ocean cruising, but my info (from DCL themselves) is fairly clear that they can operate just about anywhere in the world, including Alaska (although, without a magradome, or covered swimming pool, they are not likely to sail there).
DCL will be back on the West Coast again in 2008 and chances are very high of either the Magic or Wonder being there for extended periods once the new ships are in service. Both new ships would not fit through the Panama Canal, hence they would not be used for the West Coast, but DCL also do not consider the Los Angeles-Mexico routes an all-year option, either.
The existing cruise ethos is that you bring new ships into the most familiar routes close to home, while the older ones go further afield. That way you appeal to the widest possible audience. It is possible one of the new ships might operate a summer season in Europe, but I can’t see it going anywhere other than the Caribbean in winter, while its sister operates there year-round.
That would leave the Magic and Wonder free to offer more adventurous itineraries around the Caribbean, Panama Canal, West Coast, northern Europe and the eastern Med.
It is certainly an exciting prospect and one which should give DCL fans plenty of choice in future.