If that happens, what would it mean to the Disney Cruise Line? Does it make sense to keep it as part of the theme park business or might the new owners sell it off as well - to someone like Carnival Corp?

Anyone know how profitable and/or synergistic the cruise business is to Disney's other product lines?

Thoughts....

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CGT said: The comcast deal isn't going to happen, so don't even worry about it.

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What makes you think that? Mergers happen all the time, some not at this magnitude, but they still happen, if the can do what Carnival did; the merger will happen.

P.S. By the way, the proposal by Comcast is NOT a merger, it's a buy out.

[ 02-13-2004: Message edited by: CGT ]

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Originally posted by harborman:
Don't count this Comcast deal out,I don't think they have any interest in the Theme Parks or cruise line.
They want ESPN and ABC and the rights to all of the Disney pictures and procuction company.

The offer price is only an opening bid and will be revised several times. The real key for this deal to Comcast is ESPN, it cost them lots of bucks to get get the rights to broadcast ESPN over thier cable network and they would like to make sure they have control of the price and what they could charge other carriers.
It will be interesting to see what the Roberts brothers will do will the parks and cruise line.
Stay tuned.

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Rumor only, but I've heard that the Oriental Land Company (owners of Tokyo Disneyland) have expressed interest in purchasing Disney's theme park properties. If they do, the parks would benefit from OLC's high standards of service, management, and maintinenece,

There were rumours about a third ship last year, so I assume that they are successful filling the two they have got already?

I understand that Disney ships are very popular with adults who do not have children making up 50% of the bookings, as well as families.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

I rarely see big discounts on offer from Disney – maybe they do not need to do this to fill their cabins?

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Malcolm,
DCL is very successful, and I agree with the other poster they are currently one of the few profitable divisions of the Disney Corp. We can't say for certain as Disney does not provide divisional information. I also have no doubt that DCL is ready to order another new ship and even has a design completed, but things have not progressed as Disney senior is fearful of any capital expenditures right now.

I believe DCL and the Voyager class ships earn the highest per diems in the mass-market Caribbean market. It's rare that DCL discounts, and when they do it's nothing like the majors. I've never seen a $399 7-day cruise on Disney. It just doesn't happen. $799 is more like the discounted price.

As you know Disney has an almost cult following, and I believe the ships sail out full (even at those prices) every cruise. Not to mention the revenue they bring into WDW as most people combine the two vacations.

I don't see it happening though, because even if DCL were to be spun off, Carnival would have to leap more regulatory hurdles. Even if it were only two ships, the brand is strong. I also think RCI would be a better match to run a branded cruise line.

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Originally posted by NathanWLB:
I don't think Carnivore could handle something as unique as DCL. It doesn't fit their cookie cutter approach to building ships or running cruise lines. However I'm sure they'd love to own the brand.

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While they don't discount much, and the layout of the ships/cabins is different, under the covers I think you will find that the onboard product of Disney is run very similar to other cruise brands. They tried doing it their own way in the beginning and had numerous problems.

The solution? Bring in experienced senior staff from other cruise lines - many from HAL - and adopt some of their best practices. As much as they hoped running a ship would be similar to running a theme park, they found that there were many differences. A fair number of the crew I spoke with on our cruise had in fact worked contracts with other cruise lines.

Is it true that the Disney ships don't have casinos and that's why the rates are higher and you don't see much in the way of discounts for the DCL?
I know most cruise lines will offer great prices just to get you aboard then give you plenty of ways to spend the same as you paid for the cruise or more on extras.

Then they would get everything, use Disney packages in Florida and California and package them with a Disney vacation for everyone one of their brands! Have Carnival go to the Far East and have Carnival Disney Japan with Carnival Disney ships running out of Tokyo and Carnival Disney Europe with Costa Disney ships and Disney Great Britain with Cunard and the P&O ships. Plus run A 14 day package with a California Disney visit 5 nights in Hotel and visit Disney world, then sail to Vancouver and do a 7 day cruise on any of their brands and maybe they could even have a seasonal Disney in Alaska and run in the summer during cruise ship season and have a Westmark Hotel and use Westours/Holland America buses in Anchorage.

[ 02-20-2004: Message edited by: Royal Caribbean Cruiser ]