!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DCL Fleet Expansion in 2011 & 2012 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sandgrace]

I love the idea of having an ice rink on the new ships, they could do some Disney on Ice Shows! It would also be great if they added a bowling alley, miniture golf, and a few small rides!

 

[Zandy595]

I was just reading about the new ships in the PassPorter... They think Disney might do a ship-to-stern promenade, like Royal Caribbean did on their newer ships. Also bigger kid's areas and more optional restaurants like Palo. And you probably won't see a rock climbing wall or surfing machine.

 

[aan1701]

Two words for the new ship: ADULT SLIDE

 

[Pansy]

Hope to book shortly after it sails if possible Off into the great unknown

 

[Zandy595]

Two words for the new ship: ADULT SLIDE

I'm with you!

 

[disneycruise05]

I was just reading about the new ships in the PassPorter... They think Disney might do a ship-to-stern promenade, like Royal Caribbean did on their newer ships. Also bigger kid's areas and more optional restaurants like Palo. And you probably won't see a rock climbing wall or surfing machine.

I have nothing against Disney having a promenade. It'll be a nice concept that they might be able to utilize by having a small parade or something. However, I hope they don't turn te new ships into DCL versions of RCCL ships.

If they were to do the promenade, I would like to see a tall atrium (more than 3 decks). Maybe even a Mary Blair type mural like at the Contempory with a DCL theme.

 

[aan1701]

I'm with you!

Thank you. It can't be that hard for them to put this in. I even think they could find a way to do it on the current ships when they go to dry dock.

 

[Queenofthecastle]

Whatever they do I hope they don't put the spa under the sports deck!

 

[Castillo Mom]

Any more rumors about the new ships? I've been lurking on the DIS every so often just to see if anyone has any info on booking, etc. We don't have a WDW or cruise planned any time soon other than in 2011 when my youngest graduates high school. For now short and frequent trips to Disneyland will have to do.

 

[tchoney]

And you probably won't see a rock climbing wall or surfing machine.

Thats A Bummer! My family would LOVE a rock climbing wall and surfing machine (flow rider!)

Two words for the new ship: ADULT SLIDE

AMEN!!!

Personally, I would like to see a Lazy River (not a donut!)
One that spans the entire floor of the boat, like a walking trail, but lazy river... with the occasional waterfall splash to keep me refreshed! haha A Girl Can Dream - Right!!!

A Swim-up Bar in the Adult Pool would be cool too...

 

[Keira1387]

Personally, I would like to see a Lazy River (not a donut!)
One that spans the entire floor of the boat, like a walking trail, but lazy river... with the occasional waterfall splash to keep me refreshed! haha A Girl Can Dream - Right!!!

A Swim-up Bar in the Adult Pool would be cool too...

I think a lazy river is such a good idea!!!

 

[LoriS]

A Swim-up Bar in the Adult Pool would be cool too...

I am all for a swim up pool bar!!!!!

 

[Gonecruisin]

ADULT SLIDE!!

I couldn't agree more. I was actually surprised that DCL doesn't have one. The big people are paying for it. The big people should have a slide, too. Now that would be fun!

 

[awoltoday]

I've been looking at this for a while now and it's been bothering me. Meyer Werft has been able to deliver 2 cruise ships per year for several years now. Suddenly, they have 3 cruise ships due to be delivered in 2011 and 2012 with the 3rd ship those years being the new Disney ships. So, I'm looking for a conspiracy theory... I freely admit that I am NOT a shipbuilding expert. Feel free to poke holes (or fun) at my ramblings. There are a lot of 'ifs ands or buts' here. But, that is the fun of the supposition... Have at it! Beat me up! And remember it's a working theory, so be a little nice

Scheduling
Meyer Werft has an obligation to deliver one 252m ship to Carnival (AIDA) every spring for 6 years (2 delivered so far). The ship yard is also building 5 Celebrity Solstice class ships. There will be one ship delivered each year through 2012.

On the order book listings I am seeing, the DCL ships are expected to be delivered in the spring of 2011 and 2012. Some quick calculations will give us some rough build dates. If you use 3/31/2011 as a delivery date and work backwards:

delivery: 3/31/2011
sea trials (45 days): 2/14/2011
undocking (15 days): 1/31/2011
keel laying (365 days = FAST build): 1/31/2010

1/31/2010. That sort of sounds like a long way off. Except there is no place to build the thing and building an entirely new dock will take a year or more and require the space to build it... Meyer Werft has not announced any such undertaking. Assuming a one year build on a new dock it would have to start building late this year or early next year.

No place to build
Meyer Werft has 2 covered dock areas. Dock 1 is 370m long. Dock 2 is 384m long. Dock 2 is currently under construction extending the dock by 120m, making it 504m long. Also not that this extension is announced shortly after DCL opens it's Papenburg office.

The hole in the schedule

Solstice Nov 2008
Equinox Summer 2009
Eclipse Summer 2010
<Hole>
X2011 Fall 2011
X2012 Fall 2012

Why do the 2011 & 2012 builds slip to fall when the previous 2 are able to be delivered on a 12 month (or less) interval? The 12 month interval is in itself a little mind boggling for a ship this size. Even the 70,000 GT AIDAdiva took 366 days from keel laying to undocking. The 122,000 GT Solstice was 512 days and 93,500GT Norwegian Gem was 421 days.

Also note that the SIXTH AIDA delivery is similarly delayed by a month or more the following year:
AIDAdiva April 16th 2007
AIDABella April 14th 2008
AIDALuna April 2009
UNNAMED April 2010
UNNAMED April 2011
UNNAMED May 2012

Holes in the holes? I have no idea where these guys get their dates for new builds! But, I'm guessing insider info...

OMG - build in multiple pieces AGAIN?

According to earlier reports, the new DCL ships should be 120 ft. longer than the Magic/Wonder. That comes to about 340m (964+120 * .3048). That is considerably longer than the Celebrity Solstice at 315m. There is clearly no room for the 3 required assembled ships in the 2 current docks.

AIDA ships 252m in dock I @ 370m (370-252 = 118)
Celeb ships 315m in Dock II @ 504m (504-315 = 189)
Disney Dream 340m (clearly larger than 118m or 189m)

This gives roughly 307m of workable dock space. Not quite enough to build a complete ship, but enough to build the vast majority of the vessel in separate floatable parts that could be moved together.

So, if you built the new ships in 2 or more pieces... The first piece could be built in the 118m of leftover space in dock I. This piece would have to be removed, or at least moved to the rear of the dock, in the spring when the AIDA ship was moved out of the dock - AIDA ships have been delivered in April each year, undocking in Feb or Mar.

When do they mate the parts? I have no idea. But, it could be more work could be done on the Solstice class ship after it has been removed from the shed. It would have to have a fairly complete shell and probably an operating power train. But, then most of the work would be done inside the ship. Perhaps the month and half the Solstice is spending outdoors is some sort of trial run at some of this? It undocked on August 10 and won't start sea trials until it's River Ems passage scheduled for Sept 29, 2008.

Other options
1) Assemble the ship outside of the covered dock area. Disney's top secret programs would NEVER allow this.
2) and 3) are pretty much the same. Build them someplace else. A new covered dock built in Papenburg or elsewhere. Either way it's not in the existing facilities.

Early delivery?
Assuming Meyer Werft can take advantage of their newly extended shed early in 2009, could we possibly see an early delivery of the first ship? I would think that the end of that previously noted Gap in the Solstice class schedule would be the time frame. That would make the ship deliverable in 2010.




Unrelated non-surprise discoveries
I'm not sure if it's been announced or not. I hadn't seen it anywhere official. Tillberg Design is once again working on the new DCL builds. This is no surprise as Tillberg Design worked on the Magic and is huge in the cruise industry. One of the more recent things they have worked on is the ice bar concept for NCL's F3 class ships.

Termöhlen Ship Interior Design lists as present projects for 2008 (http://www.termoehlen-design.com/Reference.pdf)

Ship: Disney 1
Owner: Disney Cruise Line
Yard: Meyer Werft S. 687
Designer: Tillberg Design
Area: Disabled Cabins
Our Part: Coordination & Constr. Drawings

It also appears on http://www.tillbergdesign.com/projects_marine.html

Disney C. L. Newbuid X 2 Disney Cruise Line New b. 2011/12 Meyer Werft, Germany


Yran & Storbraaten Architecture & Design are also working on the new ships according to http://www.avidcruiser.com/blog/2008/08/01/build-a-ship-regent-taps-guests/. Again, no surprise, as the company also worked on the Magic & Wonder.

No stranger to ships large or small, Petter Yran (pictured), president of Oslo-based Yran & Storbraaten, has had a hand in planning more than 100 vessels, beginning with the Sea Goddess ships in the early 1980s. Heading up Regent’s design efforts, he and his team also are currently at work on new ships for Disney Cruise Line, Seabourn Cruise Line and Oceania Cruises.

from a recent YSA project: http://www.ysa.no/projects/magellan.htm

Magellan marina (NOT Disney ship)

Magellan indoor pool (NOT Disney ship)

Features for the new ships
AND there will be an adult slide and a covered pool. Although the covered pool will only be accessible to those lucky folks in Disney Suite area. Yes, I made up the part about the adult slide and covered pool. Those are just my guesses It could look like that magellan design, though....

 

[jennypenny]

We were recently on the Wonder and the captain said the first ship would be delivered late 2010. We tried to pin him down and get him to be more specific but he said it depended on a lot of factors. He did imply that the builders were moving as fast as possible and guessed that there were financial incentives for delivering the ship early. just fyi

 

[nikkistevej]

Nice sleuthing!!! The features on the ship look so pretty!!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Thats A Bummer! My family would LOVE a rock climbing wall and surfing machine (flow rider!)

AMEN!!!

Personally, I would like to see a Lazy River (not a donut!)
One that spans the entire floor of the boat, like a walking trail, but lazy river... with the occasional waterfall splash to keep me refreshed! haha A Girl Can Dream - Right!!!

A Swim-up Bar in the Adult Pool would be cool too...

I think whoever posted is is PROBABLY right about the rock climbing wall and flow rider.. probably more risk that DCL is willing to take. But who knows!

I for one would LOVE to see a lazy river like you described. 2 cruises (one 15nt) and I have yet to get into any pool on DCL. I don't like the swimming like sardines aspect of it. I know I'd finally get in if it was a lazy river like you described! Us moms (meaning me, sister and friends I go to waterparks with here in Texas) absolutely love the lazy rivers! LOL

Hi all, I just wanted to throw some thoughts into the mix.

Admittedly I do not have a lot of cruise experience or experience with the Pacific ocean climate and sea temperament. But I'm thinking that if Disney were to bring one of the new ships to the West Coast they could access both Alaska and Hawaii.

If Alaska's cruise season is from May to September they could run that as a summer route (for all who want to see the wildlife in a more temperate atmosphere) and then run a Hawaiian cruise the remainder of the year (for beach lovers) it would access the best of all worlds for Disney thus maximizing their dollars.

Also keeping in mind that news has come out about a Disney resort in Hawaii and having a ship that travels there could benefit them even more. That the resort and the ships are due out about the same time is an interesting coincidence. Plus it could make an interesting connection between California and Hawaii for the Disney company as well.

Anyway having read the thread these were the thoughts that came to mind. All speculation of course.

Interesting. Everytime we were asked by officers during our last cruise- where we'd like to see new ships go... our answer was first Alaska, then Hawaii. We'll see!

It may not be possible if the proposed changes to the Passenger Vessels Services Act (PVSA) are enacted. Any of the coastwise cruises would be required to spend at least 48 hours in the foreign port AND the amount of time at the foreign port must be more than 50 percent of the total amount of time at the U.S. ports of call. If this interpretive rule is enacted as proposed, most of these Hawaii cruises will either become too lengthy or just cease to exist. This would also stop round trip Alaska cruises out of Seattle and San Francisco.

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/30nov20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/E7-22788.htm

Oh bummer, that does look like it would be vewy vewy difficult to manage or only super long cruises. But I do like the long cruises! LOL

 

[awoltoday]

I think whoever posted is is PROBABLY right about the rock climbing wall and flow rider.. probably more risk that DCL is willing to take. But who knows!

I'm thinking that the rock wall would be fine and not risky at all (especially after signing the appropriate forms). No idea on the flowrider, but it sounds like fun.

Oh bummer, that does look like it would be vewy vewy difficult to manage or only super long cruises. But I do like the long cruises! LOL

A lot changed between March and now. They took most of the teeth out of the PVSA changes. The last I saw it only included waters where LARGE U.S. flagged ships operated (in other words just Hawaii). Then I think foreign ports needed to be 1/3 total port time. But, I don't think they ever did anything after NCLA pulled all but their last ship out of the Hawaii market.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I'm thinking that the rock wall would be fine and not risky at all (especially after signing the appropriate forms). No idea on the flowrider, but it sounds like fun.

Oh I personally don't think the rock wall is risky either... they don't just let them climb freestyle do they? I don't think so. So it HAS to be less risk than say the rock wall type "mountain" they have at my children's elementary school playground. (and that one worries me, I imagine little kids falling off backwards off that thing. ugh)

I just meant I think DISNEY (DCL in this case) might "think" it's too risky and not want to bother with it....

I don't know a thing about the flow rider except I saw a video of it somewhere... that is probably more risk of injury, right? I dunno.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

from a recent YSA project: http://www.ysa.no/projects/magellan.htm

Magellan marina (NOT Disney ship)

I know that's not Disney ship- but I can't figure out how they do that. So they just pull that behind them when cruising?