Alt Text 6
Navigation



 
Utilidors Audio Broadcasting :: View topic - New European Cruises Announced!

Utilidors Audio Broadcasting Forum Index Forum FAQ Search Usergroups Memberlist Profile Log in to check your private messages

New European Cruises Announced!

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Utilidors Audio Broadcasting Forum Index -> Disney Cruise Line
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
daguru
Pilot
Pilot


Joined: Feb 21, 2006
Posts: 4196
Location: Sanford, Fl

PostPosted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 3:14 pm    Post subject: New European Cruises Announced! Reply with quote

Disney announces new European cruise tours
Jason Garcia | Sentinel Staff Writer
12:00 PM EDT, October 6, 2008

Disney is sending its cruise ships farther afield than ever before.

The company announced this afternoon that it will send the 2,700-passenger Disney Magic cruise ship overseas for five months in 2010, for a series of sailings that will take it from Russia to Northern Africa. The April-through-September schedule will mark the longest stretch that a Disney cruise ship has yet spent away from its home port at Port Canaveral.

Disney's schedule includes eight 10- and 11-night tours through the Mediterranean, where the Magic spent the summer of 2007. But it will also feature the company's first sailings in Northern Europe, with four 12-night voyages that will take the ship from Dover, England, to St. Petersburg, Russia, with stops in half a dozen other countries.

"We had a huge success when we went to the Med the first time. And there were a lot of guests who, frankly, didn't have an opportunity to go," said Tom McAlpin, president of the Celebration-based Disney Cruise Line. McAlpin personally toured Northern European ports in June. "Now we're going back for an extended season."

In addition, while it has one ship overseas, Disney plans to shift its second ship, the Disney Wonder, to slightly longer sailings out of Port Canaveral. Instead of three- and four-night Caribbean trips, the Wonder will offer four- and five-night voyages with new stops in Key West and an extra stop at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas.

McAlpin said the shift is designed to accommodate families clamoring for longer Caribbean cruises in the summer, when children are out of school. "People just want a little more time," McAlpin said.

Disney's return trip to Europe comes as it is having two 4,000-passenger cruise ships built in Germany. While the company has committed to basing the new vessels at Port Canaveral for the first few years after they arrive in 2011 and 2012, Disney has been silent about where it plans to send the existing ships.

Some analysts have speculated that California and Europe are the most likely destinations. And Disney's scheduling so far -- it has twice sent the Magic to California, for the summers of 2005 and 2008, and has now announced its second stint in Europe -- suggests that both are strong possibilities.

McAlpin cautioned against drawing conclusions from the moves.

"I think you can read into it that we're exploring new waters and testing the levels of demand," he said. "But there are a lot more new frontiers."

McAlpin said Disney expects to reveal its 2011 plans for the Magic and Wonder in the latter half of next year.

Disney's 2010 schedule calls for the Magic to begin and end the season in the Mediterranean. Many of the ports Disney will visit remain the same from 2007 -- including the gateways to Rome, Florence and Nice, France -- but Disney has also added stops at the island nation of Malta; the French island of Corsica; and Tunis, the capital of Tunisia on the North African coast.

The Northern European sailings will be sandwiched in between, in June and July. Sailing out of England, each voyage will include stops in Oslo, Copenhagen, and the gateway port to Berlin, as well as either Helsinki, Finland, or Tallinn, Estonia. Each trip will also include an overnight stop in St. Petersburg, Russia, giving passengers an extended window to explore the storied city or plan a day trip to Moscow. McAlpin called the St. Petersburg stop "the gem of the itinerary."

Disney will also offer a pair of 14-night, one-way "repositioning" cruises that will take the Magic from Port Canaveral to Barcelona and back. McAlpin said Disney is studying special themes for the transatlantic voyages in hopes of boosting their appeal.

Beyond catering to Americans looking to visit Europe, the new overseas sailings will offer Disney a chance to begin marketing its cruise line directly to European travelers. Earlier this year, Disney Cruise Line opened an office in London with about 20 employees, in part to help the company better tap into the European cruise market.

"We're looking to explore marketing in Europe," McAlpin said. "That's not a primary focus. But it's certainly an opportunity."

Source: Orlando Sentinel; http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/orl-disney-cruise-100608,0,6817998.story


Here is the new schedule:
12-Night Northern European Capitals Cruise
11-Night Mediterranean Cruise
10-Night Mediterranean Cruise
7-Night Barcelona to Dover Cruise
8-Night Dover to Barcelona Cruise
14-Night Eastbound Transatlantic Cruise
14-Night Westbound Transatlantic Cruise

Click this link for the Disney Cruise line site, where you can actually book these cruises now! http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/dcl/en_US/cruises/overview?name=EuropeanCruisesLandingPage
_________________
Up or Down North, South, East, or West An Adventurer's Life is Best!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website AIM Address
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Utilidors Audio Broadcasting Forum Index -> Disney Cruise Line All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
 
Utilidors Audio Broadcasting / Utilidors.com / uabmagic.com are in no way affiliated with, endorsed or promoted by the Walt Disney Company or any of its subsidiaries.

All Music and requestable media Copyright the Walt Disney Company or their respective artists / Composers.


Page Generation: 0.05 Seconds
 
Copyright © Smeego.com Home Now Playing Site Forum Chat My Account Logout
Powered by the AutoTheme HTML Theme System
Page created in 0.053996 Seconds