Wonder Heading Back to Port Canaveral?

[bbel]

In California, no CMs are allowed off the ship for any reason.

Crew have been allowed off the Wonder to fly home.
But they're not allowed off for any other reason, just like every other port in the world right now with the exception of a handful of stops at castaway.

 

[closetmickey]

Nooooo! We’re local and have two short cruises booked in October

 

[T & R]

Theme Parks are phase 3 in CA.

Themeparks are in phase 3 but when asked specifically about Disneyland, Governor Newsom stated Disneyland can open "once therapeutics have been developed" which is the exact language used in phase 4. This is the problem when you rule by decree, it gets confusing because terms are not defined like they are in laws that are passed by a legislature. Even the decree makers get confused. This confusion caused CA HHSA Kate Folmar to clarify which phase Disney was in on 05/26 but I'm sure the decision to pull the Wonder was already made by then. Also Gov Newsom went on to state that he had no date in mind when phase 3 would be.

So DCL's option was to try to operate a business in that environment knowing CA and Canada are not interested in getting cruising going or they can go back to FL which is very interested in getting things going. Also, if you're going to reduce capacity on ships, you either got to cancel half of all the existing Dream/Fantasy cruises or you can pull over the Wonder and split the guests on each ship. Makes business sense.

 

[fishingfool999]

Wonder now left Ensenada anchorage and heading to Panama.
BALBOA (Port)

Country: Panama (PA)
Create notifications for this port
Latitude / Longitude: 8.9507855° / -79.565775°

ETA:
2020-06-07 05:00

 

[SamFaniam]

If Disney thinks there’s a market, and assuming the Caribbean islands open, perhaps they will add some cruises out of New Orleans or Galveston on the Wonder. She’s due back in to Galveston the end of November, so if they are bringing her back to the east side and canceling the PC cruise maybe they just bring her to Galveston earlier. It would appear that Cozumel is opening on July 1, so there might be some possibility of cruises to Mexico. Grand Cayman is closed until September 1. Jamaica hasn’t listed an official date, although their tourism minister said “summer”.

 

[bcwife76]

Nooooo! We’re local and have two short cruises booked in October

We are booked on the Oct 12 Wonder cruise out of SD which we already thought was tenuous at best....

 

[Andrew96]

The only thing that would keep from jumping from the Fantasy to the Wonder for our November cruise is our 4E balcony.

Same, I have room 5052 04E on the Fantasy in Sept. Would be hard to pass up.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Nooooo! We’re local and have two short cruises booked in October

Just because they are heading back through the canal (and I admit, I don't know how costly that is), doesn't meant they won't be back for the fall Mexican Riviera season if they are allowed to sail. Unless they are officially cancelling those cruises, then there is still hope.

 

[SamFaniam]

Just because they are heading back through the canal (and I admit, I don't know how costly that is), doesn't meant they won't be back for the fall Mexican Riviera season if they are allowed to sail. Unless they are officially cancelling those cruises, then there is still hope.

And, as she’s going through without guests, I would suppose the cost is lower. I think the cruise ships tend to pay higher transit fees because they want to go through in the daytime where everyone can see. If you make the transit wherever they can fit you, that probably saves money.

 

[jenmiller114]

And, as she’s going through without guests, I would suppose the cost is lower. I think the cruise ships tend to pay higher transit fees because they want to go through in the daytime where everyone can see. If you make the transit wherever they can fit you, that probably saves money.

That's true. We did the EBPC last year and he said that the fee is based on a number of factors including number of passengers and crew members. They even have to pay for empty beds but I don't think it's the same rate. DCL also pays a hefty premium to be guaranteed entry on a particular day and at a particular time. Obviously that isn't as important now so that is a signifiant cost savings. When we arrived the night before our transit, there were dozens of ships sitting out in the water waiting. We were told they could sit there for up to a month and that it's often cheaper to pay the people to sit and wait than pay the premium to be guaranteed entry on a certain date. Container ships are charged differently based on size of the ship, amount of cargo and a bunch of other factors. There was a huge container ship in front of us. I can't imagine what they paid. It was very interesting to hear. I took notes but dropped my phone in the water and lost them all.

I have to believe it is in DCL's best interest to go ahead and transit the ship and drop of crew members on the way, if possible. If they can't do anything before September, they might as well sit and wait in Florida. If they can't sail out of California, then nothing has been wasted. If they can, they will likely return and do the riviera sailings and the EBPC transit. It would make sense to to the sailings that are booked and paid for rather than have another empty ship try to pick up itineraries at the last minute during off-peak season.

 

[otten]

We were on the WBPC in March and honestly I think that had the stoppage happened just a day or two earlier, we wouldn’t have gone through the canal. When we got off the ship I had a strong feeling that the Wonder would go back through the canal without doing a single cruise on the west coast.

I think having the Wonder alone on the west coast has been a challenge for Disney and I’m not surprised they’re trying to bring her back. HoweverI also don’t think she or any other cruise line will be sailing this fall. Even without various government restrictions (not just CA and Florida but every country they would be sailing to) no cruise line wants to be another Grand Princess or Diamond Princess or the Zaandam. I don’t think Disney even wants a repeat of the WBPC and until there is a vaccine or proven treatment there is too great a likelihood that that will happen.

 

[bobbiwoz]

 

[yowcruiser]

I sense that the two key factors are crew and the fact that it is unlikely that we will see anything longer than 7 days cruise for the foreseeable future, starting with 3/4 night cruises. Also, the Riviera cruises were offered at a deep discount pretty much every year I have seen them, so it could make sense to forgo to EBPC. The one thing with crew is that they can potentially pick up/drop off the Caribbean crew more easily that way, and any quarantining could be done onboard the ship.. For those wishing a repo to NOLA or Galveston, or earlier sailings out of these locations - not impossible, but unlikely. DCL has a much more developed infrastructure in PC and better control of the overall experience there than at any other location. Disney also has more resort space in Florida where they could bring crew back for quarantining purpose if flying was to be involved. (and CDC would slightly loosen up their requirement on crew movement). Potentially not as much space in Disneyland to do something similar.

 

[nancipants]

FYI, WDW did not work with the state of Florida to come up with a reopening plan. All the theme parks presented their plans to the Orange County Re-Entry Task Force, who then approved them. The plans were then sent to the governor's office and approved.

 

[T & R]

FYI, WDW did not work with the state of Florida to come up with a reopening plan. All the theme parks presented their plans to the Orange County Re-Entry Task Force, who then approved them. The plans were then sent to the governor's office and approved.

That sounds like working with the FL government to me. Both local and state FL government reviewed their plans and approved their re-opening. The FL government and governor could have said no, like CA has done. In contrast CA has said no and went on to say they have no date in mind when there will be a yes. Imagine trying to operate a business in a state like that.

 

[otten]

FYI, WDW did not work with the state of Florida to come up with a reopening plan. All the theme parks presented their plans to the Orange County Re-Entry Task Force, who then approved them. The plans were then sent to the governor's office and approved.

and we don’t know yet if the parks can reopen safely. We know they are reopening. Whether it is safe to do so will only be determined after they reopen. Florida is willing to risk it. California is not.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

FYI, WDW did not work with the state of Florida to come up with a reopening plan. All the theme parks presented their plans to the Orange County Re-Entry Task Force, who then approved them. The plans were then sent to the governor's office and approved.

While that is true... Disney was part of DeSantis' Re-Open Florida Task Force, and one news article (no, I no longer have the link) did note that cruises from Florida was at one point spoken about. With 4 major cruise ports, cruising is a big part of Florida's economy.

 

[Drfate102]

Just because they are heading back through the canal (and I admit, I don't know how costly that is), doesn't meant they won't be back for the fall Mexican Riviera season if they are allowed to sail. Unless they are officially cancelling those cruises, then there is still hope.

It cost around $150k or more to go through the canal. Smaller yachts can go through for $800-$3,200 but they go through with a larger ship. You have to book your time that you want to go through, however, they keep a few slots open per day to auction off, which I know can go for as little as $90k, but usually goes for more than the standard price. If a working boat gets there earlier than expected, they could lose anywhere from $25k to $80k a day waiting for their time.

Fun fact, the cheapest that someone went through was 26 cents back in the 1920s(?) and he was swimming it.

 

[T & R]

and we don’t know yet if the parks can reopen safely.

You can say that about any business. Is Walmart safe?

Florida is not willing to "risk it", they're just giving the public, employees and legally licensed businesses the rights that they have under law. Florida understands that they are not the people's momma and people can determine for themselves whether or not they want to go to a themepark or work at a themepark. In a representative democracy we do not rule by decree. If the CA government feels it is not safe to go to themeparks, then do it the right way and vote on it or pass a law with their full-time state legislature. The problem I see with the way CA is handling it is that the governor is ruling by decree based on personal feelings of what is safe by cherry picking which businesses can be open and make money(Wal-Mart and liquor stores for example) and then which ones must close, go bankrupt and put those company's employees into unemployment poverty. My state does not have a full-time state legislature, ours only meets once every 2 yrs to make laws and then those reps have to go back to their normal civilian jobs and work under the laws that they helped create. I believe Florida has a similar deal where their legislative session is only a 60 day period once a year. So in times like these when our legislature is not in session, it makes sense that our governor has to step in. In a state like CA that does have a full-time state legislature with full-time tax payer salaried law makers, I do not understand why the CA people and the legislature are not saying anything about the fact that the voting for laws and regulations has been usurped with these ruling by decree orders from their governor.

Now before anybody howls about this post being political, the above spans all socio political groups. I am not advocating any specific political group nor can anybody tell what my political group is based on my post. The reason I bring the above issues up is I think it directly relates to the pulling of the Wonder from CA to FL. A business cannot operate in a state that is ruled by decree instead of ruled by law. What if DCL kept the Wonder in CA, they have no way to know if they can operate again and even if given the green light to operate, it could be yanked back again by another rule by decree. No legal business or employees should have to go through that kind of manufactured uncertainty.

 

[SamFaniam]

You can say that about any business. Is Walmart safe?

Florida is not willing to "risk it", they're just giving the public, employees and legally licensed businesses the rights that they have under law. Florida understands that they are not the people's momma and people can determine for themselves whether or not they want to go to a themepark or work at a themepark. In a representative democracy we do not rule by decree. If the CA government feels it is not safe to go to themeparks, then do it the right way and vote on it or pass a law with their full-time state legislature. The problem I see with the way CA is handling it is that the governor is ruling by decree based on personal feelings of what is safe by cherry picking which businesses can be open and make money(Wal-Mart and liquor stores for example) and then which ones must close, go bankrupt and put those company's employees into unemployment poverty. My state does not have a full-time state legislature, ours only meets once every 2 yrs to make laws and then those reps have to go back to their normal civilian jobs and work under the laws that they helped create. I believe Florida has a similar deal where their legislative session is only a 60 day period once a year. So in times like these when our legislature is not in session, it makes sense that our governor has to step in. In a state like CA that does have a full-time state legislature with full-time tax payer salaried law makers, I do not understand why the CA people and the legislature are not saying anything about the fact that the voting for laws and regulations has been usurped with these ruling by decree orders from their governor.

Now before anybody howls about this post being political, the above spans all socio political groups. I am not advocating any specific political group nor can anybody tell what my political group is based on my post. The reason I bring the above issues up is I think it directly relates to the pulling of the Wonder from CA to FL. A business cannot operate in a state that is ruled by decree instead of ruled by law. What if DCL kept the Wonder in CA, they have no way to know if they can operate again and even if given the green light to operate, it could be yanked back again by another rule by decree. No legal business or employees should have to go through that kind of manufactured uncertainty.

What direct information do you have about the reasons that DCL has for moving the Wonder?