March 10 announcement?

[clten]

While I am not a fan of having a Port Canaveral stop from NY, I think DCL could make it interesting (but of course it will be overpriced). They have been adding a lot of Disney Exclusive excursions to their Port Adventure list. It would be interesting if they put together a day trip to WDW that included doing something that you couldn't normally do. (A DCL float in the afternoon parade filled with DCL passengers).

 

[clten]

Has DCL ever done a one way cruise without returning to the original port they embarked from? I highly doubt they would do this but I would love a land sea trip from N.Y.

For the same reason they can't do a one way trip from LA to Hawaii (needing a distant foreign port call on a one way between 2 US ports), they can't do a one way trip from NY to Port Canaveral.

Examples of one way trips DCL has made: Port Canaveral to/from LA; Port Canaveral to/from Barcelona.
Coming up one way from LA to Vancouver (no distant foreign port needed because the trip doesn't end in a US city).

 

[Viva Pataca]

I posted something a few days ago. They could have several combination of 5 days cruises mix and match with 4-days PC roundtrip to CC and Nassau. Something like this ....

New York
Sea
Sea
Castaway Cay
Port Canaveral

then...
Port Canaveral
Castaway Cay
Sea
Sea
New York

A New York roundtrip (ie., B2B) will be 8 nights with 2 stops at Castaway Cay included. Or people can choose to only do one way, then continue to WDW and fly back, or wait for a 4-days PC roundtrip back and sail back to New York.

Conversely, a roundtrip from Port Canaveral to New York can also be created with a B2B going the opposite way.

Is this feasible?

 

[clten]

I posted something a few days ago. They could have several combination of 5 days cruises mix and match with 4-days PC roundtrip to CC and Nassau. Something like this ....

New York
Sea
Sea
Castaway Cay
Port Canaveral

then...
Port Canaveral
Castaway Cay
Sea
Sea
New York

A New York roundtrip (ie., B2B) will be 8 nights with 2 stops at Castaway Cay included. Or people can choose to only do one way, then continue to WDW and fly back, or wait for a 4-days PC roundtrip back and sail back to New York.

Conversely, a roundtrip from Port Canaveral to New York can also be created with a B2B going the opposite way.

Is this feasible?

It's not feasible. As has been pointed out earlier in this thread, to do a one way between 2 US cities, you have to have a distant foreign port call. The Bahamas are not considered distant. So the cruise ship would have to return to the original port of origin (NY) with everyone who left from NY on that cruise or there are large penalties per passenger.

Cannot leave them in FL for a few days to get on a different sailing. That's providing transportation and is not allowed for foreign flagged ships.

 

[mrsklamc]

Ok so how about this? It's not happening for 2012 or we'd see it in the Honolulu port schedule but is there any chance of them reflagging as a US ship a la NCL America?

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

I would not make any assumptions about the eastern med until they announce 2012.....

Couldn't agree more. Everything on the board is rumors at this point. I am not going to take the word of some travel agent that they will not be in the Med.

When we talked to somebody from corporate, they mentioned leaking this kind of information would get you canned....so I am not certain who the well placed sources are at this time.

 

[WeLoveABD]

Couldn't agree more. Everything on the board is rumors at this point. I am not going to take the word of some travel agent that they will not be in the Med.

When we talked to somebody from corporate, they mentioned leaking this kind of information would get you canned....so I am not certain who the well placed sources are at this time.

Spot on! At this point I am still holding out for eastern med, can't see all four ships in the US and so far find the NY itineraries suggested to be a bit boring (too many days at sea). But--I'm cruising for the sites with the ship as a floating hotel, so the ship isn't the destination. Others like the ship life so I can understand why they would want sea days and convenience re port location. Just wish there was an official announcement re the official announcement!

 

[jdb in AZ]

How far away does a port have to be in order to be considered "distant?"

For a ship to be flagged as an American vessel, how much of the ship has to have been built in the USA? I would love for Disney to buy out NCL-America, but that's a distant dream. But Walt delighted in doing the impossible. 8^)

Other than the port reservations for Honolulu, are there any reservations at other Hawaiian ports?

 

[NancyIL]

Ok so how about this? It's not happening for 2012 or we'd see it in the Honolulu port schedule but is there any chance of them reflagging as a US ship a la NCL America?

Nope.

 

[NancyIL]

How far away does a port have to be in order to be considered "distant?"

For a ship to be flagged as an American vessel, how much of the ship has to have been built in the USA? I would love for Disney to buy out NCL-America, but that's a distant dream. But Walt delighted in doing the impossible. 8^)

Other than the port reservations for Honolulu, are there any reservations at other Hawaiian ports?

According to the link I posted previously to Wikipedia, the distant foreign port can't be in North America.

 

[taaren]

How far away does a port have to be in order to be considered "distant?"

For a ship to be flagged as an American vessel, how much of the ship has to have been built in the USA? I would love for Disney to buy out NCL-America, but that's a distant dream. But Walt delighted in doing the impossible. 8^)

Other than the port reservations for Honolulu, are there any reservations at other Hawaiian ports?

Cruise ships other than NCL America don't come into Hawaiian ports other than Oahu. They just drop anchor on our reefs in 'intl waters' usually about 1/8 to 1/4 mi off the neighbor islands and tender passengers onto shore to get around the 2 american port rule. This is also good bc places like Lahaina are much prettier and touristy than port areas like Kahului.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Spot on! At this point I am still holding out for eastern med, can't see all four ships in the US and so far find the NY itineraries suggested to be a bit boring (too many days at sea). But--I'm cruising for the sites with the ship as a floating hotel, so the ship isn't the destination. Others like the ship life so I can understand why they would want sea days and convenience re port location. Just wish there was an official announcement re the official announcement!

I agree - we like to use the ship as a floating hotel but the Med Cruise was so port intensive. If we had it to do all over again then we would sneak an extra beach day in rather than running around like maniacs.

As far as some of the home ports some have mentioned....here is my take

Galveston - makes no business sense at all to me. Would directly compete with the Florida ships. Could go to Cozumel or Costa Maya from there but not seeing it at all. Maybe could shoot down to Belize but too much overlap with Florida.

Baltimore - Hard to do shorter cruises out of Baltimore. Could go to Canada but if you are going to go to Canada why would you start in Baltimore.

New York - This at least makes some business sense to me. Huge population to draw from and could take only 1 sea day to get up towards Canada. Would seem to make sense as a summer orgin. I can not see them going south to Bermuda and CC from there - too many sea days. Most New Yorkers I know (grew up there but thankfully made my way to Colorado) want to go go go. A cruise with too many sea days would not be a huge hit with most New Yorkers.

LA - Could they possibly put 2 ships out there with one running down the Cabo itinerary and the other being special cruises? Personally, Hawaii is my favorite place in the world but I would not want to be confined to a day here and a day there. Again 4 sea days in a row is an awful lot. I just am not seeing Asia happening just yet.

 

[clten]

Cruise ships other than NCL America don't come into Hawaiian ports other than Oahu. They just drop anchor on our reefs in 'intl waters' usually about 1/8 to 1/4 mi off the neighbor islands and tender passengers onto shore to get around the 2 american port rule. This is also good bc places like Lahaina are much prettier and touristy than port areas like Kahului.

Anchoring off the coast of a port has little to do with "getting around" any laws and more to do with being able to safely dock in ports. I'm guessing the ones where you see tendering are too shallow for the larger cruise ships to dock in. 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile is not international waters. Hawaii's territorial waters extend at least 3 miles from the coasts of the islands.

 

[jdb in AZ]

If the Hawaiian ports are too shallow for the big ships, how does NCL-America (and America-Hawaii's Independence before that) manage to pull up to the ports at the other islands?

I can't help wondering if the American-flagged ships have a monopoly/ownership of the ports and/or the port fees for non-American-flagged ships are so outrageous the other cruise lines refuse to pay them?

I'm bummed about the tenders -- getting off the ship right at the dock is so much more convenient especially for wheelchair passengers.

Taaren's explanation of anchoring off-shore would explain why other Dis-Board fans haven't found any reservations for DCL at the other ports. I can't imagine that Disney would sail on past the other islands while they're "in the neighborhood."

 

[SanDeeKath]

Cruise ships other than NCL America don't come into Hawaiian ports other than Oahu. They just drop anchor on our reefs in 'intl waters' usually about 1/8 to 1/4 mi off the neighbor islands and tender passengers onto shore to get around the 2 american port rule. This is also good bc places like Lahaina are much prettier and touristy than port areas like Kahului.

??? Tendering doesn't exempt you from the rule that you must be in a foreign port when traveling one way. Not sure what you mean by this but I can assure you that being 1/4 mile off port doesn't help get around any rules!

As for reflagging, the biggest limitation is that the employees are then all of a sudden subject to US wage and benefit laws. Right now, most employees on the ship make only tips or very little (on our last cruise on RCCL our cabin stewart was making $1.15 per hour according to him, and our waiter said he only received tips) and they work almost 18 hour days with no overtime. This would be in sharp contrast to the 8h days with mandatory overtime with minimum wage or higher for a US flagged ship employees. It's not something any cruise line can afford, sadly....

NCL's ship is not doing well either financially or service-wise. See some of the comments and reviews on Cruise Critic.

K

 

[NWmom]

If the Hawaiian ports are too shallow for the big ships, how does NCL-America (and America-Hawaii's Independence before that) manage to pull up to the ports at the other islands?

I cruised on the American Hawaii Independence in 1989 so I know that answer.
They did not dock at all the islands. They just let down anchor offshore. I clearly remember taking a tender in Kona on Hawaii. We had two excursions and it meant we could not get back to ship for lunch and there was not much around so we just had a very late lunch that day. (The horseback riding was worth it)

Honolulu- ship to dock
Lihue- ship to dock --walked over to friends that were meeting us
I don't remember what we did on Maui. It was 1989 fter all.

I hope that info helps someone.
NW

 

[Suz D]

You can cruise from one US port to another, as long as there is a foreign port stop in there somewhere. Roundtrip Alaska cruises from Seattle visit mostly US ports, plus one Canadian port (usually Victoria) to fulfill the foreign port requirement.

You can't begin a cruise in one US port and end in a different US port without the distant foreign port stop. If you miss the ship in Port Canaveral, you can't catch-up with it in Key West - but must board at the first foreign port.

It's all explained in that one bolded word. Thanks!

 

[Suz D]

I also wouldn't totally discount doing SOME itineraries with a stop at PC and a Disney trip. They already OWN the buses and as long as the other ships weren't there, this would use a resource that is now sitting idle and not doing anything. Hence a chance to make money.

The advantage being that multiple itineraries means fewer sailing of each which leads to higher demand due to the scarcity!!

The first part was exactly my reason for coming up with the sea, pc, kw, cc, sea, sea intinerary. Not because I felt it was the most exciting one because Key West is low on the list for us. I suggested it because it could be a big money maker for Disney.

The second part of your post is something that I was thinking as well. If they change it up a lot, they will have people cruise more often. We might do it more if we didn't always go the same places.

I do think that there are people who would go for one day at WDW as an excursion. When we cruise we always think that we'd like to go down a day early and do WDW but it never happens.

 

[Suz D]

I posted something a few days ago. They could have several combination of 5 days cruises mix and match with 4-days PC roundtrip to CC and Nassau. Something like this ....

New York
Sea
Sea
Castaway Cay
Port Canaveral

then...
Port Canaveral
Castaway Cay
Sea
Sea
New York

A New York roundtrip (ie., B2B) will be 8 nights with 2 stops at Castaway Cay included. Or people can choose to only do one way, then continue to WDW and fly back, or wait for a 4-days PC roundtrip back and sail back to New York.

Conversely, a roundtrip from Port Canaveral to New York can also be created with a B2B going the opposite way.

Is this feasible?

I think this would be fabulous for our famly (not necessarily for everyone but for us ). For an in our dreams trip I we'd the train to NYC, ship to PC, 8 days at Disney, board the ship back to NYC.

Or, cruise to PC, a week at Disney, fly home.

 

[denas]

According to the link I posted previously to Wikipedia, the distant foreign port can't be in North America.

I don't think that is true. I looked at doing a Celebrity cruise out of NJ this October that sails from NJ to San Juan and the only foreign port is St. Thomas which is still considered North America.

I have also looked at a NCL repositioning cruise from Tampa to NY and the only ports are in the Caribbean and Mexico which are considered North America.

Probably the person who wrote that on Wikipedia either didn't understand that Puerto Rico is the US or that the Caribbean and Mexico are also North America!!!