DCL MAGIC JULY AUGUST 2005 ANY MORE NEWS? About This Page:

[ANDREW]

I am in the UK traveled on the magic before, and looking to book a Magic cruise in our school holidays July>August 2005, our flight brouchures come out in April, flights in holidays book fast. I see a lot of comment on moving the magic, any news where, and when will it be annouced. Tried to E.mail DCL but they just gave a standard reply call 1-800 which cannot be called from UK. Thanks,

[DisneyFamily]

Andrew,

We're in the UK too and I have been following the 'Where will the Magic be in Summer 2005' on both this message board and the DISBoards too.

From what I've read, the clever money is on the Magic moving from Florida to California somtime around the end of May (after May 14th). It will then run 3 and 4 night cruises out of California presumably with some sort of Disneyland 50th anniversary theme. Finally it will head back to Orlando sometime around late August in time to start a 7-night Carribean cruise on September 3rd.

I have read that an announcement will be made in March but also read that an announcement may be made in May!!

We would love to book on the Magic for next year on one of the 're-positioning' cruises which are rumoured to be 10-day cruises via the Panama canal. My fear is that the cruises will be announced and start selling out before the UK operators get their act together.

At the moment I think our best option is to book the cruise direct with Disney and then book the flights separately. I'm not sure what the UK operators will offer (if anything around the re-positioning cruises).

I believe (and need to check) that a cruise booked via Disney's website can be cancelled with no loss of money (up to a cut-off date) - but I need to research that.

I hope some of this has helped, and I'm sure others will correct me if I've got any of my fact/rumours wrong.

Paul.

[Dave Marx]

Even if you could call the 1-800 number, they wouldn't have an answer for you. If there was any firm information, you'd have already read it here.

Disney has not announced when they'll announce this information. They don't do that. The only time we get any advanced hint of such an announcement is when they're gathering the press for a special event. So far, nobody's been invited to a special event, and they send out invitations at least one month in advance.

My own sense is that they'll announce this later, not sooner. They don't like giving folks an excuse to delay this year's vacation until next year. If they announce this before summer folks might delay their 2004 Disneyland trips until 2005.

[ANDREW]

Thank yo for your replys, the issue is that UK tour operators usally issue first addtion brouchures in April so there information is based on the previous year. Whilst Disney might wish to avoid loosing business this year against next, It is loosing business the other way. Last year, I considered DCL for August & Christmas, but as the annucement was late I booked alternative holidays, however would have loved to go on either the summer specials in 2004 or the Christmas cruise, but to avoid loosing out on flights in school holidays, booked and am now commited.

[ANDREW]

Reading a few other sites there was a newspaper report on Friday 27th, from a DCL spokesperson saying there would be new iteneries in the summer of 2005, but Port canaveral would remain the year round port of the Disney cruise line.

Working out the gap in 2005, it is 120 days, time for say 12 10 day cruises such as the Chirstmas one this year, the only problem with that would be it would be in port with the Wonder 3/4 times.

I read that they said the length of cruises would be adjusted as well, as they have a high number of return cruisers.

On all of the DCL sites I have seen peole are very keen to know what is going on.

In the UK the problem is we have to organise our own flights and make sure they meet up with the itinery.

Many pepole are going with the move to LA in calafornia, i think though the follwing is against this;-

The cost of setting up Port canaveral
The cost of setting up Caterway Cay
The staff at Port Canveral, what would they do if the magic moves?
The cruise line support coaches etc.
The extra overheads paying for the above elsewhere.

My guess is new Caribean itineries say 10/11 days for the summer, possiblly on the lines of the Chrismas Cruise.

I realy would like to book DCL in summer of 2005 just hope they make an annoucement soon.

[Dave Marx]

I understand how much you hope that the Magic will continue with the Atlantic/Caribbean routes during summer of 2005, and the difficulties this delay in announcement has upon UK cruisers. Unfortunately, I think it's very unlikely that they'll do this.

If the Magic were to stay in the Caribbean, there's no economic benefit to delaying the announcement. The sooner they get these itineraries out in circulation, the better, and there's no special reason for delaying the announcement.

The Disneyland 50th Anniversary celebration scenario "fits" better, because Disneyland has yet to announce its plans for that event-everything to do with that celebration will be announced at the same time, in typical Disney fashion. My guess is that DCL is quite unhappy about the delay in the Disneyland announcement (presuming that's the reason) - I'm sure they and the travel agencies would like to start selling the summer of '05 post-haste.

As to the circumstances you feel argue against the temporary move to California:

The cost of "setting up" Port Canaveral: The Port Canaveral port authorities built the cruise terminal - DCL simply pays a lease on the facilities, and docking fees whenever a ship is in port.

The cost of "setting up" Castaway Cay: Meaning the "capital costs" that were invested in the property? When allocated on a per sailing basis over the life of the asset, I doubt these costs are significant. Further, as capital costs are depreciated regardless of use, they continue to function as a (beneficial) tax deduction.

Castaway Cay is almost entirely staffed by crew from the ship. Those Bahamians that live and/or commute to the island (something like 24 people) are mostly maintenance workers - that work continues, regardless. There will probably be some reduction in work (post office, hair braiders, shore excursion staff - most of whom are free-lance or work for contractors), but as with the Port Canaveral crew (see below), DCL isn't likely to lose much sleep over this, any more than it would worry about the economic impact on other ports of call when they change itineraries (such as the decision to eliminate Freeport on the four-night itineraries).

The staff at Port Canaveral: If DCL is managed similarly to other Disney parks operations, the vast majority of Port Canaveral staff is "part-time casual" - meaning they work entirely at DCL's pleasure. Just as when the theme parks temporarily reduce staffing, I'd expect DCL will simply cut their schedules by one day per week (the Magic is only in port one day per week). While it's not nice to contemplate these fine folks getting one less day of work for the better part of three months, I doubt Disney management will lose much sleep over it. What's more, if the Magic did 10-night itineraries as you speculate, this staff would also work less than they do currently, although not to as great an extent.

Note also that the longshoremen (baggage & cargo handling) and other behind-the-scenes port workers are not DCL employees at all - they're hourly workers who may be assigned to any ship that's in port by the contractors they work for.

The DCL buses: These are owned and operated by Mears Transportation. Mears will make less money, and some of their part-time drivers will have less work. Again, DCL won't be concerned by this.

The "extra overheads:" These are mostly direct costs that will be paid regardless of where they cruise - port fees, temporary staffing, etc. What they don't pay in Port Canaveral, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Key West, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, they'll pay in Los Angeles and Mexico. These are all built into the cost of a cruise fare.

The basic economic truth is, the 3- and 4-night itineraries are more profitable than the 7-night itineraries. The majority of 3- and 4-night cruisers are spending the rest of their vacation week at Walt Disney World, while most 7-night cruisers do not. Hence, each of those short cruises still generates a full week of business for Disney Parks and Resorts. So long as Disney can keep the ships full on both coasts, two ships offering Land/Sea itineraries will be more profitable than the current situation, by as much as 25% (more, if you consider the higher lodging rates at Disneyland hotels).

[ANDREW]

Thanks for the full and very interesting comment on the above, I understand the logic, just hope they dicide and annouce sooner rather than later.