Australian cruises?

[Douglas Dubh]

I was just reading the speculation about the Wonder going to Sydney, and was wondering what cruises out of Sydney would be like. Could you go up to Gold Coast and Cairns and back in a week? Melbourne? Tasmania? I would think going to New Zealand would be a bit far. Anyone have a good guess?

 

[Kangarucci]

Easily Sydney, Airlie Beach, Cairns (Great Barrier Reef) and back to Sydney. Think that it is an 8 night cruise. Sydney to New Zealand, a 10 night cruise.

 

[sarosbardining]

Hello, Yes I would love to take a trip on a cruise.

 

[asgur5]

Sydney seems an odd choice. Brisbane/gold coast would of been better and then they could go to cairns, whitsundays, barrier reef, fiji, new caledonia and vanuata all in the one trip. It would be the best trip in disneys fleet.

for some reason americans think sydney is a must do. Its a nanny state dump with old infrastructure. And its not near other cruising places of interest.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Brisbane/gold coast would of been better and then they could go to cairns, whitsundays, barrier reef, fiji, new caledonia and vanuata all in the one trip. I

How many days would that take though? Disney typically doesn’t do long cruises.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Disney probably want 4-5 day itineraries.

 

[Mommb]

Disney probably want 4-5 day itineraries.

That depends on whether the target market is people already in Australia (as on the UK “staycation” cruises on the Magic last year) or people taking a trip to Australia from the US or other countries. Historically, most DCL European cruises have been 7 nights or longer, so people from the US/Canada would feel the time involved to make the trip overseas was worthwhile. It is true that just getting to and from Australia from most of North America will require at least a full day each way, so that people with 1 week of vacation time could cruise for only 4-5 days, but I think the target audience will be people with more than a week to spend on a trip.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

That depends on whether the target market is people already in Australia (as on the UK “staycation” cruises on the Magic last year) or people taking a trip to Australia from the US or other countries. Historically, most DCL European cruises have been 7 nights or longer, so people from the US/Canada would feel the time involved to make the trip overseas was worthwhile. It is true that just getting to and from Australia from most of North America will require at least a full day each way, so that people with 1 week of vacation time could cruise for only 4-5 days, but I think the target audience will be people with more than a week to spend on a trip.

I would guess the main target will be regional visitors from ANZ and east Asian countries.

 

[mousefan73]

I really wonder if Disney can keep a ship floating in Australia based on the Australian demographic and possible Americans willing to make a 15+ our flight from LA down there. Since most Americans don’t live in California we’re looking at at least a 24-36 hour total trip time door-to-door.


My gut feeling is they won’t start sailing down there until China or Japan is opens That’s “only” a 12 hour flight total. There was always the rumors that they wanted to somehow do more for the Asian market anyways.

 

[Intr3pid]

You can look at the existing RCL itineraries to get an idea of what Disney might do. It's probably going to be GBR/Queensland coast, south to Tasmania and Victoria/NSW coast - and maybe one-off or two to NZ.

Doubtful that the Brisbane market can support a full season of Disney prices, so Sydney will likely be the home port. They could still do what they did with the UK staycation cruises - and move the ship around during the season.

 

[Royal Consort]

I really wonder if Disney can keep a ship floating in Australia based on the Australian demographic and possible Americans willing to make a 15+ our flight from LA down there. Since most Americans don’t live in California we’re looking at at least a 24-36 hour total trip time door-to-door.


My gut feeling is they won’t start sailing down there until China or Japan is opens That’s “only” a 12 hour flight total. There was always the rumors that they wanted to somehow do more for the Asian market anyways.

This won't be pitching to the Americans and Australia is a rather large cruise market per capita. Enough for DCL to sail over summer. DCL have a particular interest in the region:

According to Disney Cruise Line’s Jeff Van Laneveld, the Vice President of Marketing & Sales International, Disney Cruise Line may start sailings in Australia.
Mr Van Laneveld told Cruise Weekly: “Australia and New Zealand are big cruise markets with a strong affinity for Disney, so naturally that’s going to be a big focus for us going forward.

“We will need to expand beyond our current itineraries and markets.”

 

[bearette]

I think Sydney is a draw because it is where we can fly easily in and out of to embark.
Plus every add for Austalia has the Opera House.

 

[asgur5]

How many days would that take though? Disney typically doesn’t do long cruises.

True that would be a 10 day cruise. For shorter cruises though you definately dont want to do sydney as you could only do brisbane and maybe some of the islands off brisbane which arent all that amazing. From brisbane you can do cairns and the islands around the barrier reef on a short trip.

although time of year matters. In the middle of summer you want to be further south as its its wet season up north. So maybe thats why they choose sydney if they plan on doing the australian summer.

can they dock at lord howe island? That would be reachable from sydney on a short trip and an amazing island to visit.

 

[Royal Consort]

Update: Disney Cruise Line will be participating in Australia's cruise trade show Cruise360 on August 25th for the first time.

"July 19, 2022 – A proud fleet of new cruise line exhibitors has joined this year’s Cruise360 Australasia Trade Show, joining well-known brands and destinations from around the world at the cruise industry’s biggest event of 2022.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has confirmed a full house of 44 major exhibitors at this year’s Trade Show, taking place in Sydney on August 25 as part of the 2022 Cruise360 Australasia conference.

First-time exhibitors at Cruise360 this year include MSC’s new luxury brand Explora Journeys, Disney Cruise Line, Heritage Expeditions, Quark Expeditions and Hapag Lloyd Cruises."
Source: https://www.cruising.org.au/ccms.r?Pageid=6022&tenid=CLIA&DispMode=goto|10447

Yeh, so this thing is happening guys.

 

[diablodancer]

Update: Disney Cruise Line will be participating in Australia's cruise trade show Cruise360 on August 25th for the first time.

"July 19, 2022 – A proud fleet of new cruise line exhibitors has joined this year’s Cruise360 Australasia Trade Show, joining well-known brands and destinations from around the world at the cruise industry’s biggest event of 2022.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has confirmed a full house of 44 major exhibitors at this year’s Trade Show, taking place in Sydney on August 25 as part of the 2022 Cruise360 Australasia conference.

First-time exhibitors at Cruise360 this year include MSC’s new luxury brand Explora Journeys, Disney Cruise Line, Heritage Expeditions, Quark Expeditions and Hapag Lloyd Cruises."
Source: https://www.cruising.org.au/ccms.r?Pageid=6022&tenid=CLIA&DispMode=goto|10447

Yeh, so this thing is happening guys.

Amazing news! So do we think it’s safe to assume an announcement will have been made by then?

 

[Kwami]

Amazing news! So do we think it’s safe to assume an announcement will have been made by then?

I wouldn't assume anything. Even if Disney is planning to enter the Australian market, they might not do so this year. Last time they held back the Wonder dates, they ended up announcing a bunch of normal cruises in the end. We'll see, though!

 

[JAM9842]

S

Update: Disney Cruise Line will be participating in Australia's cruise trade show Cruise360 on August 25th for the first time.

"July 19, 2022 – A proud fleet of new cruise line exhibitors has joined this year’s Cruise360 Australasia Trade Show, joining well-known brands and destinations from around the world at the cruise industry’s biggest event of 2022.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has confirmed a full house of 44 major exhibitors at this year’s Trade Show, taking place in Sydney on August 25 as part of the 2022 Cruise360 Australasia conference.

First-time exhibitors at Cruise360 this year include MSC’s new luxury brand Explora Journeys, Disney Cruise Line, Heritage Expeditions, Quark Expeditions and Hapag Lloyd Cruises."
Source: https://www.cruising.org.au/ccms.r?Pageid=6022&tenid=CLIA&DispMode=goto|10447

Yeh, so this thing is happening guys.

Soooooo exciting!!!

 

[Royal Consort]

I wouldn't assume anything. Even if Disney is planning to enter the Australian market, they might not do so this year. Last time they held back the Wonder dates, they ended up announcing a bunch of normal cruises in the end. We'll see, though!

1.Disney registered the business in Australia,
2. their marketing manager said Australia is their future market,
3. they held back the Wonder release (at peak Oz cruise time),
4. The Magic is taking the Wonder's spot on the west coast
5. we have an unnamed ship on the port of Sydney schedule for 3 months,
6. they're participating in a cruise trade show in August which they wouldn't do if they had nothing to offer the Aussie market.

We have more evidence here than we've had for other past rumoured sailings such as their return to Greece.

 

[DisneyPrince22]

Expect it to be announced at D23.

 

[Kwami]

1.Disney registered the business in Australia,
2. their marketing manager said Australia is their future market,
3. they held back the Wonder release (at peak Oz cruise time),
4. The Magic is taking the Wonder's spot on the west coast
5. we have an unnamed ship on the port of Sydney schedule for 3 months,
6. they're participating in a cruise trade show in August which they wouldn't do if they had nothing to offer the Aussie market.

We have more evidence here than we've had for other past rumoured sailings such as their return to Greece.

The unnamed ship dates in Sydney don't make any sense, though, unless Disney is planning a combination of short 4-night cruises and very long 16-night cruises from three different terminals in Sydney. If you find some unnamed ships in other ports that split those 16-night cruises into two 8-night cruises, then the dates become more believable.

It's very possible that Disney plans to enter the Australian market in 2023, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they waited until 2024 when they have a 6th ship.