New ship annoucement

[StephenKay]

Hi there,

Now that the Fantasy is underway and the Dream has taken over the Wonder's old schedule what would Disney do with another ship, the story goes that 2 more options for cruise liners are already in place with the Papenburg shipyard?

If fact many CM's even talk about these options, wonder when or if it will be annouced anytime soon.

 

[MTmomma]

Hi there,

Now that the Fantasy is underway and the Dream has taken over the Wonder's old schedule what would Disney do with another ship, the story goes that 2 more options for cruise liners are already in place with the Papenburg shipyard?

If fact many CM's even talk about these options, wonder when or if it will be annouced anytime soon.

There is, in fact, a clause in the original Dream Class building contract that allows the option for two more Dream Class ships. The odds of this, however, with Meyer-Wherfts' current schedule, are pretty slim. The additional ships clause is aparently pretty common in the ship building industry. Anybody know if there was a clause in the Magic Class contract with Fincanteri? (spelling?)

 

[trimix]

I understand cargo and cruise ships are generally designed for a 30 year life span, but looking at other lines serving American ports it seems most ships tend to get retired after around 15 or 20 years in service. The Magic will turn 14 this year, and the Wonder is one year younger.

It makes a lot of sense for Disney to keep at least one Magic class ship as long as they can, or to purchase another ship of the same size when they retire the Magic and Wonder. There is a lot of business for them on the west coast of North America, but apparently not enough to keep the Wonder in the Pacific full time. Using the Panama Canal to move between Florida and California takes two weeks; taking the long route would require six weeks.

 

[MTmomma]

I understand cargo and cruise ships are generally designed for a 30 year life span, but looking at other lines serving American ports it seems most ships tend to get retired after around 15 or 20 years in service. The Magic will turn 14 this year, and the Wonder is one year younger.

It makes a lot of sense for Disney to keep at least one Magic class ship as long as they can, or to purchase another ship of the same size when they retire the Magic and Wonder. There is a lot of business for them on the west coast of North America, but apparently not enough to keep the Wonder in the Pacific full time. Using the Panama Canal to move between Florida and California takes two weeks; taking the long route would require six weeks.

I may be wrong, but arent they building another set of locks at the Panama Canal? This would open up the option to run a larger ship through on the same route.

Panama Canal Expansion Webcam link: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/webcams-works.html
What little I found in the last two minutes leads to the belief that the original locks will also be deepened and widened.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I may be wrong, but arent they building another set of locks at the Panama Canal? This would open up the option to run a larger ship through on the same route.

Panama Canal Expansion Webcam link: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/webcams-works.html
What little I found in the last two minutes leads to the belief that the original locks will also be deepened and widened.

Yes, they are building another set of locks in Panama, deeper and wider!

I read an article the other day, not sure where but I'll look for it, where Tom Stagg (Chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts) said something to the effect that they would love to add more ships but it's too soon to tell when they would add more!

 

[trimix]

The new locks are currently over budget and behind schedule - I know, not that unusual for a major construction project. The Dream class ships will easily fit into the new locks, but we will have to wait to see when the new locks are officially opened and what policies the Panamanians set for the two new lanes.

The lanes are being built primarily so east Asian shipments can go more directly to the US east coast instead of making a much longer run past Somali pirates then through the Suez Canal. I am sure they will eventually schedule cruise ship passages, but I suspect it will take one to two years after the new lanes are fully operational before they are confident enough about schedule keeping to reliably schedule cruise ships. By then the Magic could be 19 years old.

 

[SplashMountainManiac]

Bob Iger has repeatedly stated in the recent earnings calls that there will be no more major capital investments for the next few years aside from what's already been announced (Fantasyland, Shanghai DL, etc.) The odds of them spending another Billion on more cruise ships in the next few years are extremely low. Options almost always accompany new shipbuilding contracts, so any options that may exist with Meyer Werft are not really an indication of anything. In addition the Magic is scheduled for an extensive overhaul in 2013 according to the execs. Probably wouldn't replace the Magic right after an overhaul. Lastly, according to Disney's annual report, the depreciation age of buildings and ships is 40 years. (I am working on a valuation of The Walt Disney Company for my Masters) So probably no new ships for the time being. More time to enjoy the current ones .

 

[taaren]

Tom Staggs responded in the negatory on this in a recent Orlando Sentinel article.