Last month at the D23 EXPO, the Disney Cruise Line announced that they
would begin offering cruises to Alaska & the Pacific Coast in the summer of 2011.
Disney Cruise Line President Karl Holz reveals the Line's new destination
at a special presentation last month at the D23 EXPO
Photo by Angela Ragno
To help make this happen, the Disney Wonder will leave its
current home in Port Canaveral, Florida and — after a dry-dock rehab (during
which several cold-weather-friendly modifications will be made) – will reposition to the West Coast in January of 2011. With 7-night cruises to
Alaska being offered during the summer months …
Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved
… and 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises taking place during
the winter.
While this was certainly good news for those of us who had
hoped to visit the Land of the Midnight Sun aboard a Disney ship, others are
thinking “Now, wait a minute. Didn’t I hear that Disney had withdrawn an application to sail in Alaska? Didn’t I read something like that earlier this year?”
Well, you’re not imagining things. Last year Disney did
indeed apply for a 10-year permit to sail in Glacier Bay National Park, a small
but spectacular harbor where several
large glaciers terminate.
Photo by Jason Boswell. Copyright National Park Service
Then came the news that you’re all remembering. On January
14, 2009, the U.S. National Park Service (which controls Glacier Bay National Park
in Alaska) issued a press release which said, in part, “Disney Cruise Line
submitted a proposal but withdrew from the competition.” It was this press
release that most Disney Cruise fans took to mean that their hopes of sailing
to Alaska with the Mouse were over for at least a decade.
So, what happened? Well, look carefully at the sentence
above from the National Park Service press release. Notice that last word,
“competition.” The National Park Service has drastically reduced the number of
cruise ships that it was allowing into Glacier Bay in recent years. More
importantly, they had placed numerous restrictions on those ships that were
allowed in due to issues involving overcrowding, visual pollution and water
pollution.
The National Park Service had also grown concerned with the
number of collisions, with sometimes
fatal results, involving cruise ships and the area’s growing whale population. Long
story short: There was now a fierce bidding and competitive process that every
cruise line who wished to sail into
Glacier Bay had to go through.
Copyright National Park Service
Here are several more quotes from that same January 14th
press release that might help shed some additional light on Disney’s decision
to pull out:
“The number of cruise ships entering the bay during the
prime season of June through August is limited to 153, with no more than two
per day, in order to protect park resources.Strong competition and excellent proposals from the cruise
ship industry will help minimize air and water pollution, focus ship-board
activities on understanding and enjoyment of Glacier Bay National Park and
provide fee revenue to sustain park research, resource monitoring and other
park operations.”Princess Cruises submitted the best proposal of the six
companies competing for the contracts … Princess proposed the use of turbine engines, low sulfur distillate fuel
and other strategies for reducing air pollution and to a ‘no discharge’ policy
to minimize water pollution. They committed to underwater sound signature
testing, developed a ‘whale strike avoidance program,’ offered a number of
enhancements to the interpretive/educational program focused on Glacier Bay,
and proposed a franchise fee of $12/passenger, $5 above the minimum.”
Copyright National Park Service
From these quotes we learn that there were six cruise lines
competing for a total of just 153 spots available in any given summer season to
visit Glacier Bay, and no more than two ships could enter on any given day. We can
also see that revenue generation is an important consideration in any of the
given proposals. Furthermore, those paragraphs from the press release above tell
us that some extensive and expensive modifications to ships and crew
procedures would have been required by winning bidders.
Copyright National Park Service
In the end, this was just too much hassle for Disney. Rather
than deal with trying to outbid others for limited space, modifying ships with
expensive new hardware, changing crew procedures, coordinating itineraries with
other competing cruise lines, and paying extra fees for access to Glacier Bay
National Park, they simply decided to forgo that one small corner of Alaska.
Which, quite honestly, isn’t that big of a deal. While
Glacier Bay is certainly awe-inspiring in its beauty, the actual path the
Disney Wonder will sail will take it just to the east of Glacier Bay on its way
to the port of call at Skagway.
Copyright National Park Service
In addition, those hoping to see a glacier close up will not
be disappointed as the Wonder will also sail to the spectacular Tracy Arm, a
30-mile long fjord which features the twin Sawyer Glaciers.
Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved
In the end, guests who choose to cruise to Alaska on the
Disney Cruise Line will still be treated to amazing scenery, abundant wildlife,
interesting ports of call, and the service & amenities for which the Disney
Cruise Line is famous, even without a stop at Glacier Bay.
Next time: Heard about the changes to Disney Cruise Line’s
Castaway Club? New membership levels of Silver, Gold, and Platinum were
introduced earlier this year, with benefits like a dedicated check-in line,
early booking privileges, and exclusive shipboard activities. However, there
may be a whole lot more to the story when the Disney Dream launches in 2011.
Scott Liljenquist is co-founder of Mouseketrips.com, the
world's best travel agency for Disney vacations. A graduate of the College of
Disney Knowledge, he suffers from a serious Disney Obsession Disorder. Unhappy
unless he's either on a Disney vacation or planning the next one, he can
usually be found helping his clients plan their own magical and memorable
vacations.If you are interested in your own Alaskan Disney Cruise, or
for further information on the other sorts of trips and tours that Mouseketrips
offers, contact Scott via the Mouseketrips website or at
scott@mouseketrips.com.