Fact or Fiction - New Rumors!!!

[ClarabelleCow]

We had an assistant server earning his ears, and I over heard him telling the table next to us that Disney is building 2 more ships, but they are being built in Panama?? Makes sense since the Euro is so high, but do they build ships in Panama and if so, is there anyway to check this out?

 

[GenieDana]

We had an assistant server earning his ears, and I over heard him telling the table next to us that Disney is building 2 more ships, but they are being built in Panama?? Makes sense since the Euro is so high, but do they build ships in Panama and if so, is there anyway to check this out?

Pure fiction..Would you want to sail on a ship built in Panama?

Here is where you will see if/when it is announced:

http://corporate.disney.go.com/news/index.html

P.S. - The Euro / Dollar isn't coming down any time soon...many reasons why...China a big one.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I think a lot of people (cm's) love starting these things to see how quickly they can spread. They're just sitting back having a good laugh!

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Pure fiction..Would you want to sail on a ship built in Panama?

Here is where you will see if/when it is announced:

http://corporate.disney.go.com/news/index.html

I went to the website, no info at all on DCL??? Odd, they have parks and resorts, internet, movies, etc, but no cruise info?

 

[jrabbit]

DCL is offically part of the WDW resort.

 

[smchan]

P.S. - The Euro / Dollar isn't coming down any time soon...many reasons why...China a big one.

What's China got to do with the valuation of the dollar in Europe?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

We had an assistant server earning his ears, and I over heard him telling the table next to us that Disney is building 2 more ships, but they are being built in Panama?? Makes sense since the Euro is so high, but do they build ships in Panama and if so, is there anyway to check this out?

If "Disney is building 2 more ships" means that there are plans, then what the assistant server said is fact. Alas, those plans have been gathering dust for several years.

If "Disney is building 2 more ships" means that Disney has actually contracted with a shipyard, then what the assistant server said is fiction.

As far as the Panama connection is concerned, I think the assistant server misunderstood. The new ship design calls for the dimensions to comply with Panamax standards -- a length and width that will fit within the locks of the Panama Canal. The Magic and Wonder also comply with Panamax standards, but the new design is said to provide some additional usable capacity.

There are no shipyards in Panama capable of building modern cruise ships.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

horace - your probably right, he did say they would be like the current two ships, but a little larger in length? It sounded good, but Iknow ships are registered in Panama, but not built there? I never got around to asking him outright!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

horace - your probably right, he did say they would be like the current two ships, but a little larger in length? It sounded good, but Iknow ships are registered in Panama, but not built there? I never got around to asking him outright!

The Magic and Wonder are registered in the Bahamas, but they were built in Italy.

Cruise ships tend to have "flags of convenience." They're registered in places such as Panama and Liberia, but that doesn't mean they were built there, or that they have officers or crew from there. In fact, the Magic and Wonder are exceptions in that they regularly call on the Bahamas. I would venture to say that most Liberian registered cruise ships have never called on Liberia, and never will.

 

[krhardy]

just another reason that ships are registered in Bahamas: No passenger vessel is allowed to carry a USA flag if it was built outside of the USA. Some customs law. And if memory serves me correctly, there is not a ship yard in this country that can handle the constuction of a vessel this size. The only ones capable of that type of construction are under contract with the government to build military vessels. Sooo, when a ship is built in Europe, (where the shipyards can handle that construction), even if the company is American, it cannot carry an American flag. Thus the Bahamian registration.

 

[GenieDana]

What's China got to do with the valuation of the dollar in Europe?

Who do you think is financing our "national debt"? Too difficult to explain completely here (and I'm not an economist, but passing along my lay understanding of what I've read and heard on NPR, but The U.S. is borrowing billions from Chinese banks (besides the trade imbalance with them too boot), which increases the debt with China, which causes the dollar to devalue, which makes European currency more expensive on the world market by comparison, which as an effect results in the Dollar falling against Euro, which means European goods are more expensive here, which means U.S. imports less from Europe, which...and the Europeans don't want to loose the largest single world market - The U.S.

 

[02bBarbie]

just another reason that ships are registered in Bahamas: No passenger vessel is allowed to carry a USA flag if it was built outside of the USA.

That is not correct

Norwegian Cruise Line has two ships that carry are registered in the US..Pride of Aloha and Pride of America. I can't think of where Pride of Aloha was built (I know it was not the US) but Pride of America was built in Germany I think

 

[logan1_2000]

The NCL ships are the beneficiary of a special "deal" they worked with congress to get legislative exceptions for them. The Hull for the upcoming Pride of America was begun in the U.S. as part of a grand paln to be U.S. built and flagged and be able to cruise the Hawaiian islands w/o having to go thousands of miles out of the way and really waste everyone's time, as the traditional Hawaiian cruises have done for some years. Then the economy hit the wall, the recession, 9/11, everything else, and the company went bankrupt. So NCL buys the partly finished hull, works their deal which helps Hawaii which really suffered economically after 9/11 and got the right to U.S. flag the ship and rename one of their other ships as the Pride of Aloha, and these ships dont have to go to Fanning Island, but they are subject to U.S. Labor Laws for their crews. Which includes wage and hour laws. And I hear there are many reviews out there on the net that will say these ships are lacking in service, and they happen to be mostly crewed by Americans. But NCL is working on improving things. And the Hull is being finished in Germany, yes, where it actually sank while under construction from a huge storm that flooded its bottom three decks and delayed the new ship's launch by a year. I believe the legislation is the Jones Act, and is actually an absurd law that exists to protect the U.S. shipbuilding industry, which no longer exists so far as passenger cruise vessels go. But I think Congree has more pressing issues than making it legal for a cruise ship to Sail entire U.S. itineraries despite being foreign flagged. But a west coast cruise including San Francisco, Seattle, L.A., San Diego...why would that be such a bad thing just because the cruise ship was built elsewhere. The cruise lines are mostly publicly traded companies and the passengers would be U.S. citizens who would enjoy, and the port cities would add incremental tourism dollars.

Uh, so, what was the question? 'Scuse me while I step down off my soapbox. Must just be the tension of having another month to go before my next DCL cruise....