New Disney Cruise Ships....Anybody heard anything new?

Cruise Travel magazine did a big article this month on new ships being built.
The new Disney ship being built in 2011 is the only one without a specific delivery month listed. There are other ships from the same shipyard with specific delivery months as late as September. Makes me wonder if delivery of the first ship isn't anticipated until late in 2011.
 
Cruise Travel magazine did a big article this month on new ships being built.
The new Disney ship being built in 2011 is the only one without a specific delivery month listed. There are other ships from the same shipyard with specific delivery months as late as September. Makes me wonder if delivery of the first ship isn't anticipated until late in 2011.

It's my understanding that they have not even started "physically" construction as of yet.

Rob
 
The future cruise CM on the Magic said last month that she wasn't even sure if they had started construction,but that 2011/2012 were the slated dates for one or both ships. (She also said that there was mention about having a possible excursion to see the ship being made if you were on certain Mediterranean cruises.)
 


We haven't heard ANYTHING yet, but our (very patient) travel agent is submitting a reservation request for us every couple of months.:cheer2:

Meanwhile, we're counting down to the Northern European Capitals and the return Transatlantic cruises!
 
The future cruise CM on the Magic said last month that she wasn't even sure if they had started construction,but that 2011/2012 were the slated dates for one or both ships. (She also said that there was mention about having a possible excursion to see the ship being made if you were on certain Mediterranean cruises.)

Should not say impossible but, it is a 6 hour drive from the port in Germany to the shipyard... this would be on one of the Baltic cruises..


would make for a very long day!
 


(She also said that there was mention about having a possible excursion to see the ship being made if you were on certain Mediterranean cruises.)

I would find this a little hard to believe, because DCL is being extremely secretive about the new ships. The shipyard, where they are being built, usually has a webcam showing construction of new ships, but I recall reading that DCL is not going to allow that.
 
I would find this a little hard to believe, because DCL is being extremely secretive about the new ships. The shipyard, where they are being built, usually has a webcam showing construction of new ships, but I recall reading that DCL is not going to allow that.

The "webcam" they show is not really a webcam either. They show ONE (1) picture each week. Still, the images are cool to watch over time. It stinks that DCL won't allow us one picture a week.
 
Originally Posted by Melrosgirl View Post
(She also said that there was mention about having a possible excursion to see the ship being made if you were on certain Mediterranean cruises.)


I would find this a little hard to believe, because DCL is being extremely secretive about the new ships. The shipyard, where they are being built, usually has a webcam showing construction of new ships, but I recall reading that DCL is not going to allow that.

No, it was said, at the press conference in NYC I believe, Dont know if DCL still has it on there site or not?

but I have heard it before... so I asked my German friend and he gave me the info posted above... ;)

That pretty much told me that that excursion was not going to happen...

ok a little more than 4 hours.....


Hi Pete,
the distance from Warnemünde to Papenburg is 439km/275mls and it takes about 4 1/2 hours as you can't use the Autobahn all the way and then you have to pass through four metropolitan areas.
It's definitely too much for a day trip while you're in port.
Talking about giving you a ride:
Even though Germany is a small country (About the size of Montana) from Frankfurt to Warnemünde it is 674km/422mls.

And to be honest: There's much nicer things to see than Papenburg when you're in Warnemünde. Rostock is a beautiful city and also Lübeck is worth a visit.
 
Cruise Travel magazine did a big article this month on new ships being built.
The new Disney ship being built in 2011 is the only one without a specific delivery month listed. There are other ships from the same shipyard with specific delivery months as late as September. Makes me wonder if delivery of the first ship isn't anticipated until late in 2011.

Thanks tvguy! I always wonder where these guys get their dates. They can be all over the place. Would you mind posting the dates they have for all of the undelivered Celebrity ships?

The September date for Celebrity S.678 makes me more inclined to believe that the Disney ship will be delivered earlier in the year. I think they may even undock (float the ship out of the construction building) the Disney ship in the fall of 2010. The way they do things at Meyer Werft are changing. First, you can kind of forget the AIDA ships at Meyer Werft. They are built in their own building and they will continue to turn out a ship every year.

The Celebrity ships and the Disney ships will be built in the same building. A lot of what follows has been covered over the !!!!!!!!!!!!!! DCL Fleet Expansion in 2011 & 2012 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thread.

One thing I think you might have missed is the delivery dates for Celebrity previous to 2011:
Solstice Nov 2008
Equinox July 2009 - three months prior in the following year.
Eclipse June 2010 - one month prior in the following year
S. 678 FALL 2011 - Whoa... lost some time here. Why?
S. 679 FALL 2012 - Same time the following year?

There are a couple of little things that have changed. They extended the building they construct the ships in. It is now big enough to hold one and half of these monstrous ships. That has changed how soon they can start another ship in the same building. For instance, they laid the keel of Equinox only 4 days before Solstice was removed from the building. In the newly completed extension, they laid the keel to the Eclipse on Jan 23rd - a full 5 months before they expect to float Equinox out of the building. They have also hired 100 (or 200?) new workers.

What is really impressive to me is how fast they are building Celebrity Equinox. For those that don't know, all of the Celebrity ships being built here are 122,000-gt Solstice Class ships that are about the same size as the new Disney ships will be. The first ship took 512 days from the keel being laid to the day it was floated out of the building. It then took 97 more days to be delivered. Both of those numbers are really big, even for the first ship of a class. Meyer Werft currently has it posted on their website that they expect to move the Equinox down the River Ems in mid June. That obviously means they have to undock before that which implies they will take less than the 321 days it takes them to build one of the 70,000 GT AIDA ships. I would really question that they could build the ship that fast. But, you can see the "webcam" for yourself.

So, will these efficiencies continue when build 1.5 ships at a time? Probably not. Celebrity Eclipse is scheduled to be delivered in June of 2010. By my (maybe not so scientific) calculations, they'll need around 50 days to get the ship from the dock to delivered. We'll call that mid April. That is around 444 days of construction.

We know that they will start cutting steel on the Disney ship in March. We also know that they won't have any place to put a keel until they get Equinox out of the way in June. I think I'm being conservative saying they could lay the keel of the Disney ship in late August. That's almost 6 months of production time and a couple of months to get the building ready. So, take those same 444 days of construction you find a Disney ship floating out the back of the building a full month before the end of 2010. Another 60 days and you are only at the beginning of February 2011 for a delivery date.
 
Thanks tvguy! I always wonder where these guys get their dates. They can be all over the place. Would you mind posting the dates they have for all of the undelivered Celebrity ships?

Equinox July 2009 - three months prior in the following year.
Eclipse June 2010 - one month prior in the following year
S. 678 FALL 2011 - Whoa... lost some time here. Why?
S. 679 FALL 2012 - Same time the following year?
.

If you don't read Cruise Travel, I'd pick up the January/February issue, it's their annual Cruise Directory Issue. Great issue to have if you are a cruise fan.

Their chart differs a bit on Celebrity from what you have:
Equinox delivery August 2009
Eclipse June 2010
Unnamed Fall 2011 (ahead of the first new Disney Ship)
Unnamed Fall 2012 (again, ahead of the second new Disney Ship)

A footnote, both the unnamed Celebrity ships being built ahead of the Disney ships are 122,000 gross tons. The new Disney ships are 124,000 gross tons, so very similar in tonnage.
 
If you don't read Cruise Travel, I'd pick up the January/February issue, it's their annual Cruise Directory Issue. Great issue to have if you are a cruise fan.

Their chart differs a bit on Celebrity from what you have:
Equinox delivery August 2009
Eclipse June 2010
Unnamed Fall 2011 (ahead of the first new Disney Ship)
Unnamed Fall 2012 (again, ahead of the second new Disney Ship)

A footnote, both the unnamed Celebrity ships being built ahead of the Disney ships are 122,000 gross tons. The new Disney ships are 124,000 gross tons, so very similar in tonnage.

Thanks tvguy! That is interesting, as it tells me they probably used Dake's list (I use it too!) for their dates. However, I updated my dates from press releases directly from Meyer Werft :)

http://www.meyerwerft.de/page.asp?lang=e&main=3&subs=0&did=1617
In July 2009 the second of a total of five new ships for Celebrity Cruises - the 122,000-gt "Celebrity Equinox“ - will be delivered.

There is no way the 4th and 5th celebrity ships SHOULD be built ahead of the Disney ships. Disney went out of their way to sign a letter of intent prior to signing contracts to guarantee themselves a place in the build order. Further, RCI (Celebrity) didn't order the 4th & 5th ships until after Disney actually signed contracts.

July 2006 - Celeb 3rd ship ordered (2010 delivery)
Feb 2007 - Disney Letter of intent signed.
April 2007 - Disney contracts signed.
May 2007 - Celeb 4th ship ordered (2011 delivery)
Feb 2008 - Celeb 5th Ship ordered (2012 delivery)

Further, Meyer Werft has announced the start of the first Disney ship with, "Production (first steel cutting) will commence in early March 2009."

Don't get me wrong here. I have NO insider information at all. But, all of the information I do have, points to the Disney ships being built first.
 
Thanks tvguy! That is interesting, as it tells me they probably used Dake's list (I use it too!) for their dates. However, I updated my dates from press releases directly from Meyer Werft :)

http://www.meyerwerft.de/page.asp?lang=e&main=3&subs=0&did=1617


There is no way the 4th and 5th celebrity ships SHOULD be built ahead of the Disney ships. Disney went out of their way to sign a letter of intent prior to signing contracts to guarantee themselves a place in the build order. Further, RCI (Celebrity) didn't order the 4th & 5th ships until after Disney actually signed contracts.

July 2006 - Celeb 3rd ship ordered (2010 delivery)
Feb 2007 - Disney Letter of intent signed.
April 2007 - Disney contracts signed.
May 2007 - Celeb 4th ship ordered (2011 delivery)
Feb 2008 - Celeb 5th Ship ordered (2012 delivery)

Further, Meyer Werft has announced the start of the first Disney ship with, "Production (first steel cutting) will commence in early March 2009."

Don't get me wrong here. I have NO insider information at all. But, all of the information I do have, points to the Disney ships being built first.

I think your time line and projections are probably spot on. The Celebrity Equinox will be delivered in July 2009. Celebrity has added an earlier 8 night Inaugural, instead of the original August 8, 2009 date.

Celebrity Equinox - 31st July 2009 – Fjords - 8nts
Southampton, Stavanger, Flam, Geiranger, Oslo, Southampton
On Sale
Feb 18

The above info was posted on Cruise Critic.
 
I think your time line and projections are probably spot on. The Celebrity Equinox will be delivered in July 2009. Celebrity has added an earlier 8 night Inaugural, instead of the original August 8, 2009 date.


The above info was posted on Cruise Critic.

Can't speak for the accuracy of Cruise Critic, but this is what is posted tonight on the Celebrity website.
"Celebrity Equinox Inaugural Date: Aug 08, 2009"
 
I would find this a little hard to believe, because DCL is being extremely secretive about the new ships. The shipyard, where they are being built, usually has a webcam showing construction of new ships, but I recall reading that DCL is not going to allow that.

This was announced by Disney on a webcast a few months ago...when they made the announcements for the European Cruises..
 
I only have a very little bit of information. At the 2/7-14/09 cruise Captn' Thord said they would be announcing the names by the end of this year 2009 at the castaway club meeting. But nothing else new, other than pushing the med cruises and all the special so everyone would come back again.

Just thought you might want to know.
 
I only have a very little bit of information. At the 2/7-14/09 cruise Captn' Thord said they would be announcing the names by the end of this year 2009 at the castaway club meeting. But nothing else new, other than pushing the med cruises and all the special so everyone would come back again.

Just thought you might want to know.

He actually said construction should start in August and expect some big events in Florida and New York in the September/October when they'll announce the names of the ships. He said the designs are getting down to the final details.

So we're moving along.
 
Can't speak for the accuracy of Cruise Critic, but this is what is posted tonight on the Celebrity website.
"Celebrity Equinox Inaugural Date: Aug 08, 2009"


I'm not surprised it's not on Celebrity's website. It looks like it was just announced in the UK. (Link below) Those websites are not updated nearly as often as message boards. Just like on the Dis, we usually know what's happening with DCL before it's officially announced.

http://www.cruisebusiness.com/index...ry&catid=48:top-headlines-category&Itemid=116
 

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