Disney Destiny apparently will set sail in 2025
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It feels like they are setting up to do another ridiculously priced maiden voyage over peak Christmas time. We were ready & eager to book the Treasure maiden voyage and hoping the ship wouldn’t sell out before Silver Castaway Cay members could book to be able to do it.
But those first sailing prices for the Treasure were just so insane, we passed on it, hoping this next one would be more within reach. But if they’re aiming for 2025, it’s gonna be Oct/Nov/Dec and even that is pushing it, it seems.
I am so curious to learn more about the Heroes vs. Villains theme they’re planning for it. Like, is there going to be a Villains Day at Sea?? That would be cool. I do have a concern that with going so heavy handed on One Theme to Rule Them All it could either go big & be epic or go home & be just corny lame-sauce. But I am definitely curious.
Well. They are a business first. 
I have no needs to be on any ship’s maiden voyage. I watched Titanic 
But in reality there’s often punch-list type stuff and logistics that aren’t smoothed out and I can’t imagine paying a premium for a not-quite-polished experience.
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I think we like the sound of saying we were on a maiden voyage more than we’d actually enjoy one, especially the paying for it part. 
Our server on the Wish had opened it in 2022 and when that came up her exact summary of how great it went was, “Got that t-shirt, almost burned it.” She & anyone else on the ship who it came up with were all very much hoping they wouldn’t be selected to move to the Treasure for its maiden/inaugural voyages. So that definitely gave us the perspective that it wasn’t all that, so maybe we won’t ever do one. But dang it, we have a DCL Bingo Board we made for our cruise habit after we came back from our first one & immediately booked a 2nd & one of the squares is “Sail a Maiden Voyage.”
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Really not seeing how this can be a theme for a cruise ship…I’ll have to see how this plays out.
Definitely not into the 3 IPs they seem to be focusing on. Lion King is overdone IMHO (and also is some of the themeing on the Treasure), and have never been into Hercules or 101 Dalmatians, so they’re going to have to really wow with other things and/or itineraries for me to consider this one.
This is the second one in a row that the themeing does nothing for me (almost the third…I’m still not bowled over by the Wish, but it wasn’t an instant no) - though to be fair it was the promo video they did for the Treasure that did nothing for me…all that emphasis on family and the solo guy being all mopey, making it read like they don’t want solos. But then darn them for announcing the Haunted Mansion lounge and the Moana show. So… Never say never, but it’s not looking hopeful for the Destiny and me.
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I literally gasped when I watched those parts because I was like, “Uhhh, your solo cruisers pay DOUBLE OCCUPANCY and you just said whaaat???” It was very icky.
But I love a lot of the theming they’re adding to the Treasure, Aladdin/Jasmine and both the Haunted Mansion and Jungle Skipper Society lounges, plus it will still have the Marvel dinner & interactive games in Oceaneer. I’m also pretty sure a Coco dinner with the music will be some sort of mix of fun & sentiment. The music of Coco makes me well up with emotion so a full dining experience dedicated to it sounds awesome. And we did love the Wish so we’re super excited to see the Treasure as its sister.
So we had one of the entertainment staff on the Wish who was super dynamic & talked a TON whenever she ran trivia. We knew if she was hosting that the trivia would run over. But she was fun. One of the things she chatted about (several times over our days on the ship) was that DCL should have a Villains Day at Sea. Her idea was that the morning announcements show a Villain takeover, then all day announcements ship-wide done by villains. All character meets & movies, crafts & trivia be villain focused and then at night have a Villains vs. Heroes deck party where Mickey, Minnie & the gang take it back, good triumphs over evil, etc. And then everything goes back as it was. So when Destiny’s theme was announced to be Heroes and Villains I imagined it to be very much something like that.
But I do agree the IPs they are announcing are… definitely not mainstream. Hercules and Lion King are family favorites over here but Hercules and 101 Dalmations are so minor and not ones with a huge cult following so I don’t necessarily understand why they chose those. Probably for their villains? Or they were tired of using a certain set of characters & wanted to branch out?
I’m sure we’ll get on the Destiny at some point, but I’m also in no rush right now.
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I could definitely see a Villains DAY. I’m just not seeing how it works as a theme for a whole ship. They may surprise me.
I was on a Disney-based livestream last night and a lot of the discussion was the announcement of the name and the video. They froze on the final image of the hallway with doors with icons on them. Haunted Mansion, Black Panther, Spiderman, Pirates, and… Edna Mode. I can see how Black Panther and Spiderman fit into the theme. I guess Edna being the costumer for Heroes? But not sure how Haunted Mansion and Pirates fit into it.
You may be right with those being the Villains predominantly.It’s funny the Lion King inclusion…I definitely don’t think of Heroes and Villains when I think of Lion King. I know Cruella and Hades are regular features in Villains things…and I know Scar is a Villain, but I don’t put him in the upper echelon there. I’d think Maleficent. LOL. (Then again they have Sleeping Beauty themed rooms and suite(s) on the Wish…)
This’ll be interesting to see.
I do feel like any changes will just be themeatic since they haven’t really had time to do any major design changes (it can be done…Celebrity is reportedly making some design changes for Xcel - their 5th in the Edge Class - but they’ve had more time between ships and each successive sister has had some changes) addressing the concerns people have had about the Wish. (Full disclosure, I’ve not sailed the Wish yet…that’ll be 11/29. Just going by reports and reviews I’ve read by passengers and heard from a crew member (my sister).)
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