Sailing out of New Orkeans

[jack87891]

Just got off a cruise on the Magic out of New Orleans . On the ship we heard some travel agents talking and saying Disney won’t “ever” be coming back to New Orleans. I know Disney is doing more out of Galveston , but any thoughts on why they wouldn’t go back to New Orleans ? For what it’s worth the terminal experience was very organized and smooth running

 

[auntlynne]

Never say “won’t ever.”

Why didn’t you run over and ask why not - for us.

 

[JM_97]

There might be contractual reasons

 

[jack87891]

Never say “won’t ever.”

Why didn’t you run over and ask why not - for us.

They said disney was having trouble filling the boats on the New Orleans cruises. That didn’t sound right as both cruises seemed full, however I don’t know if they had to offer gt rates

 

[gismo1554]

They said disney was having trouble filling the boats on the New Orleans cruises. That didn’t sound right as both cruises seemed full, however I don’t know if they had to offer gt rates

This is true. They had to do special offers on the NO cruises to get them to a decent capacity. With the port fees they have a break even point and this was difficult to obtain without discounts / special offers. They had similar issues with San Diego too but have used that in previous years as part of the off season for Alaska although this year there were a lot less cruises from SD as the Wonder went to Australia in its off season

 

[vakamalua]

No true. We did a Magic cruise out of NOLA in March '23. The ship was full; it was the most crowded cruise we had been on out of 15 DCL. Many families told us they loved doing these cruises since it was easier to drive to from either Port Canaveral or Galveston.

 

[happycamper47]

Their contract with FLL requires 2 ships part of the year so it may be going there instead.

 

[auntlynne]

No true. We did a Magic cruise out of NOLA in March '23. The ship was full; it was the most crowded cruise we had been on out of 15 DCL. Many families told us they loved doing these cruises since it was easier to drive to from either Port Canaveral or Galveston.

Are they shifting to Galveston? I see cruises from there.

This would take them to 2028, with options to extend.

“The Port of Galveston announced today that it has finalized a new agreement with Disney Cruise Line extending preferential berthing agreement rights at the Port for an additional 10 years with an option to renew for two additional five year periods effective November 1, 2018, according to a statement.

The new agreement outlines plans for a shared cruise terminal that will accommodate a ship equal to or larger than the Disney Magic and Wonder class of vessel.

Additionally, it is projected that over the first five years of the potential 20 year agreement, Disney will nearly double its sailings, the port said.”

Source: https://cruiseindustrynews.com/crui...to-10-year-agreement-with-disney-cruise-line/

New Orleans: Past news from Disney and the Port if NO said New Orleans would be a port of embarkation Winter/Spring 2024. That’s not happening. Hmm…

 

[European]

No true. We did a Magic cruise out of NOLA in March '23. The ship was full; it was the most crowded cruise we had been on out of 15 DCL. Many families told us they loved doing these cruises since it was easier to drive to from either Port Canaveral or Galveston.

I don’t know about March (considering there’s spring break in certain states?), but multiple cruises out of NOLA in January and February this year were on sale at a fairly low price and it took a long time before they were finally sold out.

I booked the January 31st cruise on August 6 (first day it went on sale) and it sold out maybe 2 weeks or so before sailing, with continually being on sale.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

I booked the January 31st cruise on August 6 (first day it went on sale) and it sold out maybe 2 weeks or so before sailing, with continually being on sale.

We were on that cruise as well, it was messy enough that wife said no more NOLA cruises. We booked it in Oct of 23 and paid a lot less than I would have expected that close to the cruise. They were offering GTY rates forever on it.

 

[European]

We were on that cruise as well, it was messy enough that wife said no more NOLA cruises. We booked it in Oct of 23 and paid a lot less than I would have expected that close to the cruise. They were offering GTY rates forever on it.

That cruise wasn’t the best, for sure. Don’t think I would want to do another cruise from NOLA either. Didn’t like the city and the crowds were different from all other DCL I have done.

 

[Nabas]

They said disney was having trouble filling the boats on the New Orleans cruises. That didn’t sound right as both cruises seemed full, however I don’t know if they had to offer gt rates

We had an extremely good guaranteed rate. Our 4-night cruise was more than $1000 less than the least expensive 4-night cruise out of Port Canaveral.

I asked and was told there were 2600 passengers on the Magic, nearly full. But for our cruise, DCL was offering the guaranteed rate stateroom rates for months.

 

[JM_97]

That cruise wasn’t the best, for sure. Don’t think I would want to do another cruise from NOLA either. Didn’t like the city and the crowds were different from all other DCL I have done.

Well New Orleans is a party city and Disney is not really a party cruise. It's just a different clientele.

 

[JM_97]

Are they shifting to Galveston? I see cruises from there.

This would take them to 2028, with options to extend.

“The Port of Galveston announced today that it has finalized a new agreement with Disney Cruise Line extending preferential berthing agreement rights at the Port for an additional 10 years with an option to renew for two additional five year periods effective November 1, 2018, according to a statement.

The new agreement outlines plans for a shared cruise terminal that will accommodate a ship equal to or larger than the Disney Magic and Wonder class of vessel.

Additionally, it is projected that over the first five years of the potential 20 year agreement, Disney will nearly double its sailings, the port said.”

Source: https://cruiseindustrynews.com/crui...to-10-year-agreement-with-disney-cruise-line/

New Orleans: Past news from Disney and the Port if NO said New Orleans would be a port of embarkation Winter/Spring 2024. That’s not happening. Hmm…

I would be shocked if the Wonder comes back to the Atlantic anytime soon (though I would not complain!) so I'm sure the Magic will continue to have lots of sailings from Galveston. It wouldn't shock me if the Fantasy or Dream spent a few months there too since they have more flexibility now.

 

[Nabas]

That cruise wasn’t the best, for sure. Don’t think I would want to do another cruise from NOLA either. Didn’t like the city and the crowds were different from all other DCL I have done.

We stayed in a very nice hotel in French Quarter (Hotel St Marie) for a very good Sunday night rate. We would stay there again.

We disliked the remote parking. The official DCL parking was a 5-minute bus ride from the terminal on a gravel open-air lot. Got lucky with the weather. It poured before we docked, and poured after we left. It would have sucked if we got caught in the downpour. Also waited for about 15 minutes for a bus back to the lot.

 

[MrMagoo]

We really didn't like the New Orleans terminal for disembarkation.

First, your luggage is separated in different rooms by character tags and you have to look at the sign above the door for your luggage area and they hold you outside the room in a narrow hall if the room gets too full. And they stop everyone at the first door but your luggage might be at the second door with no one waiting there. We took our time getting off the ship and the door to the room our luggage was in had already been shut with the sign outside taken down and we had to go through all the rooms looking for our luggage.

Then when you get outside for transportation, the waiting area for private transportation/taxi's is a mess!!!!
Not really any order there at all! There was an oval area kind of in the middle of some lanes of traffic for you to wait for your private transportation. It did not seem smart at all for people to have to walk through traffic lanes to get to their waiting area.

Getting through customs was really easy though. Maybe it was because we got off late but there was not much of a back-up. A lot easier than Port Canaveral.

Embarkation did not seem to bad either.

But we really didn't like the waiting area for private transportation after the cruise!
The only good thing about it was it was a covered area so if it was raining you wouldn't get wet!

 

[Lesverts]

Their contract with FLL requires 2 ships part of the year so it may be going there instead.

This is probably part of the reason.

Once the Treasure comes online at the end of the year:

Port Canaveral: Wish and Treasure year round
Port Everglades: Dream/Fantasy year round, Dream/Fantasy wintering
Galveston: Magic for majority of the year
San Juan: Magic for minority of the year
Wonder doing its ring of fire roaming.
Europe: Dream/Fantasy summering.

Probably just not enough ship to go around. Though I could see Disney maybe trying Tampa at some point.

And I cannot find it anywhere but I am pretty sure the Imagination or whatever realDCL Ship 7 is going to be called is going to be PC as well.

 

[auntlynne]

This is probably part of the reason.

Once the Treasure comes online at the end of the year:

Port Canaveral: Wish and Treasure year round
Port Everglades: Dream/Fantasy year round, Dream/Fantasy wintering
Galveston: Magic for majority of the year
San Juan: Magic for minority of the year
Wonder doing its ring of fire roaming.
Europe: Dream/Fantasy summering.

Probably just not enough ship to go around. Though I could see Disney maybe trying Tampa at some point.

And I cannot find it anywhere but I am pretty sure the Imagination or whatever realDCL Ship 7 is going to be called is going to be PC as well.

I see that “ring of fire roaming” - that is hilarious and so apt. It wasn’t wasted on me.

 

[European]

Well New Orleans is a party city and Disney is not really a party cruise. It's just a different clientele.

Right and I also felt extremely unsafe almost everywhere.

 

[European]

We really didn't like the New Orleans terminal for disembarkation.

First, your luggage is separated in different rooms by character tags and you have to look at the sign above the door for your luggage area and they hold you outside the room in a narrow hall if the room gets too full. And they stop everyone at the first door but your luggage might be at the second door with no one waiting there. We took our time getting off the ship and the door to the room our luggage was in had already been shut with the sign outside taken down and we had to go through all the rooms looking for our luggage.

Then when you get outside for transportation, the waiting area for private transportation/taxi's is a mess!!!!
Not really any order there at all! There was an oval area kind of in the middle of some lanes of traffic for you to wait for your private transportation. It did not seem smart at all for people to have to walk through traffic lanes to get to their waiting area.

Getting through customs was really easy though. Maybe it was because we got off late but there was not much of a back-up. A lot easier than Port Canaveral.

Embarkation did not seem to bad either.

But we really didn't like the waiting area for private transportation after the cruise!
The only good thing about it was it was a covered area so if it was raining you wouldn't get wet!

Happy I took Disney transportation then. I immediately got my luggage, customs was indeed smooth, the bus was waiting right near the entrance and we left not long after I got on it.