On May 28, the Disney Magic left the port of San Pedro in California for the first
of 12 consecutive seven–night cruises to the Mexican Riviera. This voyage marks
the first time the Disney Cruise Line has sailed from California, nearly seven
years after the Magic first sailed from Port Canaveral in Florida.
At 5 p.m., the Disney Magic headed out to sea to the Mexican ports of Puerto Vallarta,
Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. The ship was surrounded by an entourage of U.S. Coast
Guard vessels, fire boats, private boats and personal watercraft trailing flying kites.
A helicopter circled overhead to photograph the departure, while two airplanes
towed banners—one from Disney Cruise Line and the other from the San Pedro
Port Authority—that welcomed the ship, which reached Los Angeles earlier that day.
Disney Cruise Line President Tom McAlpin stands on the fly bridge as the Disney Magic enters the port of Los Angeles for the first time. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Several hundred spectators—including cast members from Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort—lined the four acres of waterfront property on the Los Angeles Cruise Ship Promenade
and Ports O’ Call Village to wave Mickey Mouse glove–shaped signs (provided
by Disney) and hold “Bon Voyage” banners. The Magic‘s horn,
which plays the first seven notes of the popular Disney tune “When You
Wish Upon a Star” sounded a half–dozen times as the ship passed the cheering
crowds.
As the ship approached the breakwater, technicians launched two sets of rare
daytime fireworks from both sides of the canal, much to the delight of many
of the of ship’s 2,700 passengers, who delayed getting ready for dinner
or skipped the All Aboard show in order to watch this once–in–a–lifetime
moment from their stateroom veranda or the top few decks of the ship. The
ship then headed into open water and departed for Puerto Vallarta, a brand new
port–of–call for Disney.
The Disney Magic departs for its inaugural West Coast voyage. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Of course, Disney’s ship did not just magically appear in San Pedro. Earlier
that morning, the ship arrived from a 14–day repositioning cruise
from Florida, carrying just over 2,000 passengers to move the Magic from its usual berth in Florida to its temporary summer home in California. The Disney Cruise Line added
several firsts to its record books during the 5,000–nautical–mile
voyage, including its first 14–night cruise, its first trip through the Panama Canal,
its first visits to Curacao, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, and its first voyage on the
Pacific Ocean. The West Coast cruises were the Disney Cruise Line’s contribution
to the Happiest Celebration on Earth, the Disney Company’s global celebration
of Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary.
Tom McAlpin, president of the Disney Cruise Line, said, “We wanted to be
a part of the Happiest Celebration on Earth and what better way [to do that]
than to bring the ship out here and expose out guests to a whole new product
and introduce the Disney Cruise Line experience, because it is something that
is very unique.”
What’s new
Although Disney estimates that 30 to 35 percent of cruisers (cruise ship passengers) departing from Los Angeles
have previously sailed on either the Magic or the Wonder (Disney’s other cruise ship), new
policies, a new terminal, new shows and new ports mean that even Castaway Club
members—Disney’s term for repeat cruisers—have some surprises in store.
Precruise reservations
Disney now allows cruisers to make reservations online or by phone for Palo, its fine–dining establishment, and for the Vista
Spa before they embark on the ship, instead of trying to make
all of the arrangements in the first few hours aboard the ship. Guests who
are registered at disneycruise.com and have paid in full for their cruise can
make advance reservations online at disneycruise.com or by calling the Disney
Cruise Line at at (800) 951–3532.
McAlpin said, “That’s the trend in the industry. When you come on
the ship, people run around. We can now do that all online. We’re going
to give the consumer what they want. If they want to book through us, we’re
going to let them.” Passengers can also book shore excursions online, register
their children for the Oceaneer Lab and Club, and make baby–sitting reservations
at Flounder’s Reef Nursery.
Cruisers must be aware that some things may
be sold out before they even get the chance to register because different categories of guests are permitted to make reservations at varying times:
- Concierge–level cruisers: Up to 105 days before embarkation.
- Castaway Club members
(returning cruisers): Up to 90 days prior to embarkation.
- All other cruisers: 75 days prior to embarkation.
Private craft (as well as U.S. Coast Guard vessels) escort the Disney Magic out to sea. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Embarkation
Unlike cruises departing from Port Canaveral, Disney is leasing space in a
cruise terminal in Los Angeles, resulting in slight differences. For example, instead of a giant Mickey Mouse archway and
a gangway leading into the deck 3 atrium, cruisers embark on deck 4. Passengers on the first West Coast
cruise reported that they were allowed onto the ship right at noon, which truly
represents an amazing feat for the ship’s crew, who had less than two hours
without passengers on board to prepare for the next wave.
New ports of call
For its West Coast cruises, the Magic visits three ports that
are new for Disney cruisers. “Our guests have very high expectations,” McAlpin said. “When they come off the ship, they think they are in Walt Disney World or the
parks. We need to make sure we train [the vendors]… that’s the kind of
things that we’ll do that other [cruise lines] won’t.”
Puerto Vallarta – The Disney Magic recorded another first when
the ship docked in Puerto Vallarta on May 31 (the ship did not stop there
during the repositioning cruise). The resort area offers water sports, dolphin
encounters, hiking, and shopping opportunities. While ship’s representatives
and local officials exchanged commemorative plaques and the Disney characters
visited local children, cruisers got to explore the town or venture out
on 16 Disney–organized shore excursions.
The Disney Magic can be spotted from several miles away, towering over the Mazatlan port. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Mazatlan – Its port area is highly industrial, but a short taxi
or bus ride takes visitors across the city to the waterfront, a prime resort area where they can see cliff
divers and enjoy roadside markets. A beautiful cathedral in the center of
town is a highlight for tourists, as is the nearby marketplace. The new marina
offers high–end sport fishing; excursions to Deer Island or Stone Island provide
additional opportunities for hiking or kayaking.
The Disney Magic is too large to dock in Cabo San Lucas, so passengers are ferried between the dock and the ship. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Cabo San Lucas – A very small port area, with just 41,000 residents.
The Magic must drop anchor in the bay, and transport passengers to
shore on small tender boats. This town on the southern extreme of Baja California is known for its picture–perfect beaches and luxury hotels. Sport fishing opportunities are available
here, along with sailing, water sports, equestrian and off–road excursions.
The market area is an easy walk from the pier, along with several waterfront
restaurants and bars.
Entertainment
Back on board, passengers get to enjoy a few new experiences for Disney cruisers.
During the repositioning cruise, Disney tested “Dark Waters,” a multi–day, interactive murder
mystery game. Jim Urry, director of entertainment for
the Disney Cruise Line, said that they were not expecting it to be huge. “But we had a following for three days and a massive crowd of people. We want
to try and work that into the seven–day cruises,” Urry said.
Young cruisers may have a few additional opportunities to interact with characters
in the near future. Urry, who was part of the original start–up team for the
Magic, said, “We opened up so many new products on this cruise. This
gives us a chance to use [the Disney characters] in a whole new light. We had
Belle and the Beast in Lumiere’s to interact with our guests.” During
the 14–day cruise, youth programing staffers contacted each of the young men
on the ship and invited them to attend “Pirate Training” before the
Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. “When we actually did pirates
night, they were all ready,” Urry said. Lumiere’s hosted a Princess party for young
ladies, in addition to the existing “Tea with Wendy Darling” and character
breakfast opportunities.
When adults storm the Oceaneer Lab, anything can happen. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Adults also got to enjoy new experiences during the 14–night cruise. Passengers
discovered an adults–onlynight scheduled for the Oceaneer
Lab, an area normally reserved for ages 8 to 12. This was the first time Disney
had ever allowed grown–ups into the lab without their children. During the evening
session, adults watched the “Fun with Gasses” presentation, made their
own beakers of Flubber, and explored the arts, crafts and computers that their
children enjoy during the cruise. The evening proved so popular that additional
crew members were summoned to help with the crowds, and a second night was scheduled
later in the cruise. All of these offerings might be expanded to future seven– and
10–day cruises.
Twice Charmed explores the premise that one of the stepsisters could have captured the Prince’s heart. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
The biggest addition is a new stage production, Twice Charmed,
which replaces Hercules the Muse–i–cal on the Disney Magic. Twice
Charmed is billed as a “New Twist on Cinderella’s Happily Ever After
Story.” Urry said, “It offers us a chance to turn the clock back
and see what happens if one of the ugly stepsisters ends up with Prince Charming.”
Franco DiFortunato is introduced as the latest Disney Villain. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Twice Charmed introduces Franco DiFortunato, the evil Fairy Godfather.
The 52–minute show was written by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, who also
composed six original songs for the production. Composers Alan Lee Silva and
Timothy Mark Williams, director Joe Calarco, choreographer Karma Camp, set designer
James Kronzer, costume designer Helen Huang and lighting designer Chris Lee
fill out the production credits. Anne Hamburger, vice president of Disney Creative
Entertainment, oversaw the development from the first group reading eight months
ago to the premiere on the Disney Magic on May 26. Prior to bringing the show
onboard, the cast and crew rehearsed the show in Toronto, Canada.
Twice Charmed is presented exclusively on the Disney Magic for now. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
The Wonder is not replicating Twice Charmed anytime
soon. Urry said, “We’ve decided for the very
first time not to have a show on both ships. I’m not saying we won’t
move it over to the Wonder, but right now it is just on the Magic.”
Debarkation
Another first for the Magic, passengers exit the ship from deck 4 once they reach Los Angeles. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
The final morning of any cruise can be disconcerting, moreso when there is
a new disembarkation process for passengers and crew alike to learn. Cruisers returning to Port
Canaveral are encouraged to have breakfast and leave in shifts based
on dining seating, but can skip breakfast and leave the ship as soon
as it clears customs if they wish. Passengers in Los Angeles are assigned a
debarkation time, however, and cannot depart earlier. Passengers trying to disembark early
find that their luggage is still on the ship.
For the first arrival
in San Pedro, passengers with main dining seating were asked to report at assigned
times (7:00, 7:15 or 7:30) to the restaurant where they had dined the previous
evening. Once they arrived at the restaurant, they received stickers noting what time they could leave the ship—generally an hour later. The process
was repeated for passengers with the late seating—they were asked to come
to breakfast between 8:15 and 8:45, and were assigned departure times between
8:45 and 9:15. In reality, the disembarkation process was delayed, with some groups
getting off the ship 30 minutes later than planned.
The customs and immigration process is longer and more thorough in Los Angeles. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Passengers departed from deck 4 to head straight to customs and immigration.
Passengers with U.S. passports were sent to one line, while those with birth certificates
or foreign passports proceeded to another line. Unlike Port Canaveral
arrivals, where the customs officers seem to barely glance at arriving passengers,
every person passes through direct customs and immigration screening in Los
Angeles.
Newly arrived passengers wait for transportation from the Los Angeles terminal. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
Passengers claim their luggage on the lower level, where bags are grouped by
deck. Porters are available to help transport luggage to the parking lot, but
someone from each party must stand in line to wait for an available
porter. During the first disembarkation, passengers reported delays of up to three
hours until their luggage was unloaded from the ship, and terminal employees
admitted that there were some challenges.
Outside the terminal, taxis and shuttles are available, as well as stands for
Disney transportation to the Disneyland Resort. Passengers also reported problems
and delays using Disney transportation both to and from the terminal. Disney
dispatched three waves of buses to bring cruisers to the resort, but may have
underestimated the time needed to load the passengers—and their luggage—at the terminal. When the last set of buses reached the resort around 1:15
p.m., there were passengers still waiting for transportation to the port so they
could board the ship. All of these issues should probably work themselves out
in future cruises.
What’s missing
Some passengers were very disappointed to discover that Disney did not offer
weddings and vow renewal ceremonies on any of the West Coast cruises, or on
the two repositioning cruises. McAlpin noted that it was logically difficult to set up such arrangements when the cruise ship is only in the West Coast market for 12 weeks. “It’s not
that we don’t want to do it, it is just really hard to do it,” McAlpin said. “Back when we’re
in Florida, we tend to do those weddings [through Fairy Tale Weddings] and on
Castaway Cay and have the actual ceremony there, although it isn’t a legally
binding place. But as we grow to new markets, those are some things that we
would add, too.”
What’s next
McAlpin was careful to contain speculation about a permanent West Coast presence
for the cruise, and confirmed that the ships will not return to California in
2006. “I wouldn’t call it a trial run. When we poll our guests… when
we look at where we want to go next—we use comment cards and we use third–party
research to find out where is the demand. We learned that the highest demand
is where we are operating today [in the Caribbean]. The next demand is in California,
and we certainly have seen that… there have been high levels of demand
of Alaska and the Mediterranean.” McAlpin said they were very happy with
their level of bookings for the West Coast cruises. “[Disney has] a great relationship and partnership with [Los Angeles] port officials.
Certainly they would like us to be here more,” McAlpin said. “But they understand our situation.
As this business continues to grow, we’d love to see a ship here. But it’s too
early to commit to that.”
The Disney Magic visits Curacao on the way to Panama during its maiden positioning cruise; the ship returns this way once more in September. Photo byTony Phoenix.
McAlpin added that because people trust the Disney brand, and because the ships are mobile, the Disney Cruise Line can move the ships around to accommodate public demand. “We always looking
at opportunities to expand; we need to be in a position to be able to react
when opportunities present themselves,” he said.
One example of the Disney Cruise Line’s continued effort to respond to customer feedback is its new alternate Western Caribbean itinerary, which provides more time at Castaway Cay, a Disney–owned private island in the Bahamas. This itinerary starts in Castaway Cay,
then goes to Cozumel, then a new port called Costa Maya, and then returns to Castaway
Cay. What I call a modified Western.” This modified itinerary repeats every fourth cruise, on begins next year on May 27, and continues on June 24, July 22, August 16, October 14, November 11, and December 9. The Magic alternates between
the Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean itineraries on the other sailing
dates.
The Disney Magic approaches the first westbound lock of the Panama Canal. Photo by Tony Phoenix.
During a shipboard presentation on the repositioning cruise, McAlpin gave
passengers a sneak peek at other changes coming to the line. When the Magic
enters dry dock for refurbishment in October 2005, it will receive a giant new
screen on the aft section of the forward funnel to allow Disney to screen
movies under the stars, and incorporate added effects to the various deck shows.
McAlpin also joked that the screen will give passengers something to watch when
they sleep out on deck, as many did the evening before the Magic arrived
at the Panama Canal.
The Vista Spa is expanding during the renovation, with the aerobics room
getting converted into couples treatment rooms and the forward bridge overlook incorporated
into a larger area for cardio machines. The conference rooms on deck 2 will
be devoted to additional children’s programming, complete with a bridge simulator
where children can “practice” docking the ship. McAlpin acknowledged
that Internet access on the ships continues to be a challenge, and said that
wi-fi access might be the solution to crowding in the Internet cafe.
Castaway Cay will also receive a facelift. In consultation with the Living
Seas program at Epcot, Disney is establishing a stingray swim experience at
Castaway Cay, expected to open later this fall.
The midnight dessert buffet is always a treat. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
McAlpin says that nobody wants Disney to build additional ships more than he
does, but says that the timing is not right because of such factors as the exchange rate with the euro. However although Disney has neither ordered a ship nor has immediate plans to do so, it has already worked on a ship design, and is waiting for the right time. “Fortunately, we are part of a diversified company;
we have other ways of growing our business domestically. We aren’t dependent
only on growth of the cruise business,” he said. “We have luxuries that other cruise companies
may not have, because the only way they can expand is through the ships.”
A display of the gifts is presented to the Disney Magic at each new port along the route. Photo by Adrienne Vincent–Phoenix.
While Disney is certainly keeping its future plans under wraps, it seems
clear that there is a huge demand for the ships to explore new itineraries.
McAlpin noted that on the Panama Canal cruise, 68 percent of the passengers were Castaway
Club members. “It was phenomenal. It was like family. It was like homecoming,” he said.
Frequent cruisers have become creative in their efforts to have new Disney Cruise
experiences. A handful booked both the 14–day eastbound cruise and the first
West Coast cruise, earning them three weeks on the ship and two notches for
their “inaugural cruise” belts. Cruise staff report that some passengers
had booked two seven–night Caribbean cruises back–to–back, which gave them two
visits to Castaway Cay along with stops at five ports. With the introduction
of the new alternate itinerary next May, cruisers could potentially book three
consecutive Caribbean cruises, spend three weeks and visit six ports along with
four visits to Castaway Cay. But it seems that wherever Disney chooses to send
the Magic or the Wonder, there are crowds waiting to go along
for the ride.
The Disney Magic leaves Los Angeles one last time on August 20,
when it will retraces its route through the Panama Canal and back to Port Canaveral.
Space is available on every cruise except the one departing July 16, which celebrates Disneyland’s July 17 birthday. Prices start at $ 2,861 for two adults in a category 12
stateroom.
