Pixar & Marvel Days Back but Nothing for the Dream?

[dreamer17555]

I have to say, I'm happy to be wrong about MDAS going away. That said, I do think its return suggests DCL isn’t selling sailings quite as well as they’d hoped...It is not like DCL is spending the money to have these themes out of the goodness of their hearts. Still, I think placing MDAS on the Magic seems like a really smart move. That ship has historically struggled to fill out of Galveston—some sailings had VGT rates as early as six months out.

What I DO find puzzling is the complete lack of themed sailings on the Dream from January through March. All of the Dream's sailings during that period are short 3- or 4-night trips to the Bahamas (Nassau, Castaway, Lighthouse in some mix), which isn’t surprising- DCL seems to be really pushing those, even though Jan and early Feb is not exactly the best beach weather in the Bahamas.

Considering the Dream already had a bunch of discounts this past winter and is still showing lots of *GT rates well into mid-to-late July, I’m confused why DCL didn’t try adding something themed to help boost interest- At least on the 4 nights?. I get that short sailings are harder to make themed cruises work but DCL does it every fall with their HOTHS sailings...

But then again, I’ve always wondered about the appeal of 3-night sailings out of Ft. Lauderdale in general. It’s not close enough to the parks to make a land-and-sea combo convenient for new cruisers.

Is anyone else surprised the Dream has nothing special on the calendar?

 

[Dug720]

There's always been at least one ship that hasn't had them since the whole MDAS/PDAS/SWDAS thing started.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I was really really hoping for Pixar in April

 

[dreamer17555]

There's always been at least one ship that hasn't had them since the whole MDAS/PDAS/SWDAS thing started.

I get that- but I guess out of ships I think might have the most issues filling I would have thought the Dream over the Fantasy.

The Fantasy has lots of loyal fans and is sailing out of PC so those cruisers who don’t like the Wish class still have a ship near the parks.

The Dream however was offering *GT and other discounts even to fill the MDAS sailings this year…

 

[Dug720]

I get that- but I guess out of ships I think might have the most issues filling I would have thought the Dream over the Fantasy.

The Fantasy has lots of loyal fans and is sailing out of PC so those cruisers who don’t like the Wish class still have a ship near the parks.

The Dream however was offering *GT and other discounts even to fill the MDAS sailings this year…

Flip side, look at all the social media (and here) posts about "Should I skip the Magic" because of one cruise with sewage issues recently. It may well need that incentive for people to book.

Either way, I'll be really surprised if MDAS doesn't transfer to the Destiny when she starts, or at least after her first season - heck, she has Black Panther as the lobby statue.

 

[dreamer17555]

Flip side, look at all the social media (and here) posts about "Should I skip the Magic" because of one cruise with sewage issues recently. It may well need that incentive for people to book.

Either way, I'll be really surprised if MDAS doesn't transfer to the Destiny when she starts, or at least after her first season - heck, she has Black Panther as the lobby statue.

I get that. However, the magic is actually going to have Marvel Day at Sea on her so that will help. As far as I know, the fantasy doesn’t have any issues that would make people not want to sail on her besides the vibration issues that have been there for years and she is set for dry dock.

I think putting Marvel day at Sea on the magic makes a ton of sense. It’s something new for the people that sail out of Galveston that have had the magic year after a year.

I don’t quite understand why Pixar day is on the fantasy and not on the dream except for I guess cruise length… and I predict an abundance of *gt discounts on the Dream this Jan & Feb.


I don’t predict them needing to put Marvel day at sea on the destiny in the near future, unless the economy completely collapses. They already are going to have a heavy marvel influence there, including Marvel characters that we don’t get on the other ships besides MDAS like Loki. She is the newest ship out of North America for DCL. If Disney has trouble filling the Destiny, they have bigger problems.

 

[Kwami]

It would be nice to see SWDAS come back on the Dream. It used to be on the Fantasy, so moving it to the Dream should be easy enough.

 

[jimmymc]

A couple of thoughts:

It makes sense to have one theme for each ship, since that's a lot of extra characters, costumes, and sets you need to build and carry on the ship.

A full Marvel or Pixar day at sea usually has a lot more activities than a Halloween or Christmas sailing. On the holiday cruises, they frequently combine the special activities with a Nassau day, while Marvel and Pixar take up an entire sea day from breakfast to the late shows. So doing a Marvel or Pixar day on a 3 night, no sea day cruise probably wouldn't work logistically. And it wouldn't make sense to have all those extra things on-board to only use them every-other cruise.

I would love to see them do a Star Wars theme on the Dream, even if it wasn't the full sea day. Special evening show, characters, and fireworks that replace the typical pirate night things.

 

[dreamer17555]

A couple of thoughts:

It makes sense to have one theme for each ship, since that's a lot of extra characters, costumes, and sets you need to build and carry on the ship.

A full Marvel or Pixar day at sea usually has a lot more activities than a Halloween or Christmas sailing. On the holiday cruises, they frequently combine the special activities with a Nassau day, while Marvel and Pixar take up an entire sea day from breakfast to the late shows. So doing a Marvel or Pixar day on a 3 night, no sea day cruise probably wouldn't work logistically. And it wouldn't make sense to have all those extra things on-board to only use them every-other cruise.

I would love to see them do a Star Wars theme on the Dream, even if it wasn't the full sea day. Special evening show, characters, and fireworks that replace the typical pirate night things.

You are right about the Halloween and Merry time sailings being more in the evening and often a first night atrium show.

But as for having crew and not using them every cruise, they already have done MDAS and Pixar on every other cruise... only offering it on 5 night sailings and skipping it on the shorter 4 night ones. I feel like they could make it work on the 4 night sailings but I guess not.

I do agree that some sort of SWAS could be offered at least on the 4 night sailings on the Dream... even if it was parred down from previous years.

 

[jimmymc]

You are right about the Halloween and Merry time sailings being more in the evening and often a first night atrium show.

But as for having crew and not using them every cruise, they already have done MDAS and Pixar on every other cruise... only offering it on 5 night sailings and skipping it on the shorter 4 night ones. I feel like they could make it work on the 4 night sailings but I guess not.

I do agree that some sort of SWAS could be offered at least on the 4 night sailings on the Dream... even if it was parred down from previous years.

They definitely could make it work on the 4 nights. Maybe they're selling well enough at this point, or maybe they just want to get people on longer cruises.

While I never went on one, the feedback I heard is that Star Wars cruises had fewer activities than Marvel anyway. Replacing pirate night with a Star Wars menu, characters, and show seems like a no-brainer for select cruises.