TUI to leave Sanford

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by thatdavieguy

I don't get why there's a big focus on the distance, it's not much further of a journey than travelling from Tampa airport and people go there for cheaper flights (It's 72 miles from Tampa Airport to Walmart at Old Lake Wilson Road, it's 78 from Melbourne Airport, the difference isn't great unless you're splitting hairs.)

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Well, yes. That's the point being made. You're assuming the flights will reduce in price to make them competitive with Tampa flights.

If the flights are significantly cheaper flying into Melbourne than they were to Sanford then I'm sure it will attract the sorts of people who currently consider flying to Tampa or even Miami to save money.

For those that currently don't even consider flights to Tampa because it's considered too far away, then changing the destination to Melbourne will put those people off. They will get direct/indirect flights to MCO instead.

And if the price does not reduce, and flights with other airlines to Tampa remain cheaper, then it will put people off. They will use the flights to Tampa instead.

Of course, for those people who just go into TUI's travel agents and say they want a package holiday to Orlando to visit Disney World, they will probably be unaware - or not care - how far away the airport is. And then they'll discover there's a 1.5 hour drive or coach journey ahead of them.

[bighal]

TUI won't have enough passengers arriving at MLB to fill a cruise ship so will still need to depend on passegers travelling from MCO/Sanford. Also they won't be having cruise ships leave Port Canaveral every day as they won't have enough ships. They will still need to depend on the vast majority of passengers who will be staying in the Disney/Universal areas to fill the flights. That is unless they change all their flights to arrive on the same day..

So this move is just about getting a cheaper deal than what Sanford was prepared to pay and if MCO offered them the same rates as MLB I bet they would have moved to MCO instead.

[thatdavieguy]

Originally Posted by bighal

TUI won't have enough passengers arriving at MLB to fill a cruise ship so will still need to depend on passegers travelling from MCO/Sanford. Also they won't be having cruise ships leave Port Canaveral every day as they won't have enough ships. They will still need to depend on the vast majority of passengers who will be staying in the Disney/Universal areas to fill the flights. That is unless they change all their flights to arrive on the same day..

So this move is just about getting a cheaper deal than what Sanford was prepared to pay and if MCO offered them the same rates as MLB I bet they would have moved to MCO instead.

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They won't be looking to fill a cruise ship from it, they know people will still want to go to Orlando but they are a travel company so they're giving customers options of what they can do on holiday.

TUI aren't just a UK company after all and what other cruise lines can offer their customers a full package deal in-house? Doing this gives them a unique offering for the North America & Caribbean market, it's possible that the deal to Melbourne may not be UK flights only, they may put all of their flights from Europe & Scandinavia into there too.

[cornishfrogboy]

I have picked a location, bang in the middle of the area that many are seeking (Magic Kingdom) and have researched the distance to likely Airports of arrival/departure. I think that they make interesting reading when planning a vacation. I have also included Melbourne.

I am an avid researcher when planning vacations and always seek to keep the cost down. I have placed an asterisk next to those that I have actually used.

MK to MCO. 26 Minutes 23 Miles. *
MK to Sanford 58 Mins 50 Miles. *
MK to Daytona Beach 1 hr 18 Mins 74 Miles. *
MK to Tampa Int 1 hr 18 Mins 77 Miles. *
MK to Melbourne FL 1 hr 24 Mins 81 Miles.
MK to F Lauderdale 3 hr 16 Mins 219 Miles.
MK to Miami Int 3 hr 33 Mins 237 Miles. *
MK to Pensacola 6 hr 30 Mins 454 Miles. *
MK to Atlanta 6 hr 39 Mins 454 Miles.

One of my cheapest ever flights was Daytona to London with just a 1 hr stopover in Atl. Daytona is seductively near to Orlando and actually rather less distance than on this sheet (I wasnt staying at Disney).

I have no idea what TUI will charge for Melbourne.

[JayPR]

Originally Posted by bighal

TUI won't have enough passengers arriving at MLB to fill a cruise ship so will still need to depend on passegers travelling from MCO/Sanford. Also they won't be having cruise ships leave Port Canaveral every day as they won't have enough ships. They will still need to depend on the vast majority of passengers who will be staying in the Disney/Universal areas to fill the flights. That is unless they change all their flights to arrive on the same day..

So this move is just about getting a cheaper deal than what Sanford was prepared to pay and if MCO offered them the same rates as MLB I bet they would have moved to MCO instead.

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Only one ship “Marella Discovery “ will be based/ leaving Port Canaveral and all sailings leave on a Sunday

5 sailings in May,August
4 sailings in June,July,Sept
3 sailings in October

Cruises not open to U.S. citizen (this includes those with dual citizenship) Passengers under the age of 21 can not travel on their own and must have someone on the booking that is 21 or over

[bighal]

Originally Posted by JayPR

Only one ship “Marella Discovery “ will be based/ leaving Port Canaveral and all sailings leave on a Sunday

5 sailings in May,August
4 sailings in June,July,Sept
3 sailings in October

Cruises not open to U.S. citizen (this includes those with dual citizenship) Passengers under the age of 21 can not travel on their own and must have someone on the booking that is 21 or over

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Sounds like a recipe for disaster in my opinion. Why not allow US citizens? Is that because it maybe going to Cuba?, I have no idea.

[JayPR]

Dont know why they are not allowing US citizens hal

It may well be cause one of the cruises calls at cuba.

[ManCity]

Originally Posted by JayPR

Cruises not open to U.S. citizen (this includes those with dual citizenship)

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The 'FloridaToday' and 'Fox35Orlando' websites think otherwise - I quote:

"Passengers on the Marella Discovery cruises out of Port Canaveral are expected to be a mix of Americans and residents of the United Kingdom."

"The ship is geared to mostly foreign travelers from the U.K. who can fly to Orlando and then set sail to the Caribbean and U.S. destinations, including Charleston and New Orleans, to get the full American experience.
The expectation is that the cruise will expand to include travelers in North America too."

According to the TUI website the cruises start in 2021 whilst TUI are still flying to SFB. It says they offer 4 itineraries, none of which go to Cuba. Their flight schedule only shows 3 flights from the UK on a Sunday. Allowing for those going to Disney, and other non-cruise stays, and flight only passengers, there won't be enough to fill anything like 1830 berths from those 3 flights alone.

It does appear you can book 'cruise only' with TUI and travel independently. MLB has 7 flights today (Thursday - 4DL,3AA) so you can go there indirect already (via VA/BA partners!) if you wish. SFB has 42 flights today, but only 2 are TUI and one of those is Amsterdam not UK. TUI don't have any flights at all for 4 months of the year (Dec-late March) so the total loss of business by SFB will actually be limited (3% maybe). By comparison, MCO has 470 flights today, with just 4 from the UK (3VA,1BA). TUI are important for the Dibb, but are tiny in the context of overall visitors to Central Florida. You might think they would want to attract people from the other 500 daily flights to their cruise too.

[Griff_389]

Just did a car hire price for comparison between Sanford and Melbourne.

For a full size car, in two weeks in Sept 2020, with Alamo...
Sanford: £691
Melbourne: £393

Similar price difference for other classes

Of course, once TUI move in, I expect the prices to increase dramatically, but thought it worth a mention.

As long as there isn't a price hike, Tui into Melbourne isn't going to make too much difference to me over Sanford in the grand scheme of things.
I can still get Premium upgrade way cheaper than I can with Virgin so I'll likely still use them.

[thatdavieguy]

Originally Posted by bighal

Sounds like a recipe for disaster in my opinion. Why not allow US citizens? Is that because it maybe going to Cuba?, I have no idea.

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Remember that TUI aren't only a UK operator, they sell holidays in numerous countries - they'll also sell via intermediaries, they'll get headcount filled and eventually look to ramp up.