Is it just me or has the arrival and availability of Disney Cruise Line out of Long Beach failed to garner much "buzz" locally? I didn't see one thing in the papers or on the TV news about the Disney Cruise Line arriving from Florida or departing on it's first Mexican cruise in the past 10 days. There's been a few mentions on the fansites; MP, LP, Miceage, Mouseinfo, etc., and a very few message board mentions. But the regular local media seems to not care one bit about Disney Cruise Line.

It just seems like what was supposed to be a "big deal" for the 50th is sort of a dud when it comes to PR and buzz. Maybe cruising is really sort of an East Coast and Midwest thing? I know my local family members, all demographically perfect for moderate to expensive cruise vacations, are all non-cruise people. None of my coworkers or friends go on cruises either. Are local SoCal residents not really interested in cruises as much as their counterparts back East? Or did Disney's PR machine stumble in their attempt to get people talking about Disney Cruise Line out of LA?

It just doesn't seem like many people care, even hard core Disneyland fans that are found on these types of message boards. There isn't much "buzz", is there?

A couple of local television stations had coverage on May 28th when the ship arrived from the Panama cruise, and then again that afternoon when the ship left for the first Mexico cruise. But that was a Saturday, which means most people missed it. KLOS ran live broadcasts from the ship as we were heading in from Panama. But no, there hasn't been a massive media campaign, and there are probably several reasons for that.

1) I don't think Disney has started creating "big buzz" for the cruise quite yet. There's no way they were going to encourage the media to interview the people departing the Panama cruise, given issues with baggage handling that morning. It was their first time in the new terminal, and there were lots of bugs to be worked out.

There were *very few* media outlets on even the press cruise to accompany the ship out for that first Mexico cruise. I believe the LA Times was the sole newspaper representative. There were several travel magazines, but they tend to have such long turns that you won't see those stories for weeks.

There is a media event this coming weekend to present the new stage show, and that will be the first time most local media have been allowed to step foot onto one of the Disney ships. I would expect to see more coverage next week.

2) This really isn't "newsworthy" for the LA market for more than a day or so. If Disney had announced that they were sending one of the ships here full time, representing billions and billions of dollars for the city, that would be one thing. But the press event last fall covered the economic impact this "flash in the pan" would have on the area, and perhaps the local media think they've said all they need to. After all, the ship is leaving in three months, and who knows when / if it will return.

3) I think Disney misstepped when they failed to buy commercial time on local stations. Tom McAlpin said that the cruise line relies on word of mouth advertising to fill the staterooms, and is able to divert money that would have been spent on advertising to other areas. That's great when you operate out of a market with great word of mouth, but they are newcomers here. It's like relocating a theme park and not advertising it because reviews of that theme park from it's former location were so great. Even if they didn't need to fill additional cabins and the ships were running at 100% capacity, which I do not believe is the case, they should have done more marketing here.

4) The California Disney fan is less likely to take Disney cruises only because it hasn't been an option for them. So there is likely to be less word of mouth among the locals, since so few have experienced the cruise line before.

I didn't consider myself a "cruiser" until I went on my first Disney cruise as part of a convention. Had I not wanted to attend that convention, there is no reason I would have stepped foot onto a cruise ship. For the most part, my friends and family did not cruise, and I really didn't have anyone telling me how great the cruises are.

Once we were on the ship, we were hooked. We booked our second cruise while still on the first, and booked our third cruise the second reservations for Panama opened up. We're taking our fourth cruise in November, which means I will have spent 1 month out of the past 13 on a Disney ship. That seems odd for a Californian, but not at all for a Floridian. Disney just hasn't been here long enough.

5) If I were going to take my first-ever Disney cruise, and had to choose between taking one of the LA routes and flying to WDW to take one of the Caribbean routes, I'd be on a plane. I think Disney overpriced the West coast cruises, especially given that there is no Castaway Cay experience. I realize that the West coast cruises are costing Disney way more than the Caribbean itinieraries do, but it's not a price increase I would want to pay.

My 5c.
AVP

But the regular local media seems to not care one bit about Disney Cruise Line.

Considering how many were at Disneyland on May 5, it is surprising -- but, then again, many of them thought THAT was the anniversary. Like AVP said, you should start seeing more after this weekend when the press are invited onboard the ship.

I heard about the cruise on a Mouseplanet when the 50th festivities were announced in May 2004. I jumped at the chance to take the Mexican cruise since I live in California. It's just more convenient for me. I think that advertising in the West (i.e. AZ, CA, NV, WA, OR) would have been really beneficial since I see cars with these license plates around DLR regularly. All of the local travel agencies have DCL displays in their windows promoting the Magic's arrival in CA. Word of mouth has probably filled those staterooms more than anything. I'd love to hear a trip report from someone who has cruised from FL versus the CA experience! :cool:

Are all the West Coast cruises sold out? I am wondering if they'd come down on the prices last minute if all the staterooms were not sold.

I priced out 2 cruises (West Coast) for this summer for my family of 5 (3 of our 5 family members are under 8 years old) and it was about $9,000 total. So I passed, but would really love to go if the cruise was about 1/2 the quoted price.

Anyone get a good deal? I live in Vegas and have heard nothing about the DCL in Los Angeles in the media.

Are all the West Coast cruises sold out? I am wondering if they'd come down on the prices last minute if all the staterooms were not sold.

As of a few weeks ago, there were still soem cabins available -- exceot for the cruise on the 17th and the panama canal crossing. Disney rarely offers deals ... so finding them will be difficult. Although with these cruises, you never know. Based on price, it might almost be cheaper for you to take one of Florida cruises.

OK, so *maybe* I'm just a Disney freak, but I booked our cruise the morning that west coast itineraries became available. That was May 5, 2004, and I had already booked our hotel rooms for July 16 and 17, 2005 several months earlier. So, we go on the cruise, come back to LA, and then get to go to DL for its 50th. That's practically perfect in every way, if you ask me. ;)

For a deluxe family stateroom with verandah, with our family of 5 (three kids aged 9, 8, 9), it cost $9300. I called at about the time that people would have had to make their payments in hopes of finding that stateroom cheaper, but it didn't happen. I did find the same stateroom on the cruise a week later for $1500 more than we paid. The one-bedroom stateroom was available for the same week, but it was $3000 more, and well, that was just too spendy for our budget. As far as I know, our week is full.

I have never priced the family stateroom on the east coast cruises because, to me, it's a major deal/expense to fly all of us to the other coast. Flying chews up basically two days in transit, and then, if we went to Florida, there's no way my kids would be OK with *not* going to WDW. So, if you figure two days in transit, a week on the cruise ship, and maybe five days at WDW, then it's two weeks, and WOW! that's a *lotta* dough-ray-me!

To me, it didn't matter that there was no real advertising for these cruises. Actually, advertising would have only increased competition and perhaps made the prices yet more expensive. Who needs that?

OTOH, if it were a regular cruise line out of LA and the prices were much cheaper, I'd be really very OK with that. ;)

Are all the West Coast cruises sold out? I am wondering if they'd come down on the prices last minute if all the staterooms were not sold.


I priced out 2 cruises (West Coast) for this summer for my family of 5 (3 of our 5 family members are under 8 years old) and it was about $9,000 total. So I passed, but would really love to go if the cruise was about 1/2 the quoted price.

Anyone get a good deal? I live in Vegas and have heard nothing about the DCL in Los Angeles in the media.

5) If I were going to take my first-ever Disney cruise, and had to choose between taking one of the LA routes and flying to WDW to take one of the Caribbean routes, I'd be on a plane. I think Disney overpriced the West coast cruises, especially given that there is no Castaway Cay experience. I realize that the West coast cruises are costing Disney way more than the Caribbean itinieraries do, but it's not a price increase I would want to pay.


You hit it on the nose with that comment. My husband and I have researched cruises backwards and forwards when we planned our second cruise which was on Norwegian Cruise Lines (our first was on Disney Cruise). The Magic of course is nicer boat and newer than the ones we have permanently for the Mexican cruises out in LA and Long Beach but it is extremely overpriced. For the money on that cruise, you could take that money and go on a south or northbound cruise to Alaska (which have been traditionally more expensive out here). Also, the LA market is not into cruising. The people may be but the area is not well known for it and probably won't ever be.

5) If I were going to take my first-ever Disney cruise, and had to choose between taking one of the LA routes and flying to WDW to take one of the Caribbean routes, I'd be on a plane. I think Disney overpriced the West coast cruises, especially given that there is no Castaway Cay experience. I realize that the West coast cruises are costing Disney way more than the Caribbean itinieraries do, but it's not a price increase I would want to pay.

My 5c.
AVP

As you know, my dear AVP, we have considered going to FL for a cruise, but for us to fly there with three kids, it gets expensive.

The other negatives for us regarding a Florida cruise were:

*Basically two days in transit on the plane
*The inability to go to Florida and then not spend the better part of a week at WDW (I mean, how *do* I tell my 8 and 9 year olds that we can't go to WDW without guaranteeing therapy bills later?)
*The general hot/sticky weather at this time of year
*Um, hurricanes....

So, financially speaking, yes, the West Coast trips are more expensive on a direct comparison to the ones out of Florida, but when you add in the cost of flying five us to Florida and then spending another week at WDW, I think that the West Coast was a much better option. Totally a YMMV thing, though.

All that said, now that we've 'been there, done that,' I wouldn't do the same itinerary again (but we would go to Cabo San Lucas again on our own).