New Disney Ships...Maybe

[GenieDana]

From a poster on CruiseCritic:

World Ocean and Cruise Liners Society's Bill Miller is reporting that Disney is currently seeking bids from European shipbuilding firms for two 90,000 GRT ships to supplement its fleet, with a goal of 6 to 8 ships in the planning stages

 

[CRSNDSNY]

:thewave:

YEAH!

 

[MarkRG]

They have been seeking bids on at least 1 more for over a year now. The story is they have been waiting on financial matters to be more favorable for the US dollar vs the Euro.

 

[GenieDana]

As much as I hate to say this, but the high cost of energy (gas) is probably going to help the exchange rate. Crude is now over $40 US a barrel (highest in 13 years). This will hurt EU more than it hurts us (US) in the long run, which could help the Dollar.

I think (I'm no economist) that we'll see favorable exchange rates (close to early 1999 levels) by next year.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

The UK has just increased its base rates, so we 'might' find the pound increasing in value against Dollar in the short term as our rates are well above Euro and Dollar

 

[Laura]

That would be good news. DCL is loooong overdue for an expansion.

 

[westjones]

Super! I wonder when they will be ready for sailing!
DJ

 

[musicalSaranader]

Sounds great! So, any ideas on what they're going to call the new ship(s)? My family and I decided a while ago that we think they're going to call the third one the "Disney Dreams," to go along with the Magic and the Wonder.

 

[Amberle3]

If they do call the third one "Dreams" or something in that vein that I suspect that's the one they'll station in California. We'll have the Magic and Wonder of Disney in FL, and California Dreamin'.

 

[WDWLVR]

Rest assured that when a new ship is built that it will be for the west coast. The new ship will be designed to be a west coast ship which means it can summer in Alaska - that wouldn't be easy with the Magic or the Wonder.

 

[ThreeCircles]

I don't think a new ship will be christened "Disney Dreams." It's plural. Aren't ship names always singular?

 

[ryan9]

The design for the new ships are out...I've seen video footage of the designs. Only one more deck than the current ships, a little larger in terms of tonnage but most importantly still Panama width. With the announcement earlier this week of 2 Panama & 12 West Coast Iteneries in 2005 (with VP Tom McAlpine making a surprise visit in St Thomas to announce it), I think this is a monumental decision...they could have went way bigger with new ships, but the West Coast awaits and so does Tokyo & Hong Kong. Tere are also talks of Meditteranian Cruises in the future. The company are waiting till after the Presidential Election in the hope that the dollar will strenghten against the Euro. The next ships will almost definetely be constructed in Italy like the first two. They thought about using Japanese yards but apparently those companies were not intereseted as they wouldn't make enough profit from Cruise ships. Once construction commences the ship will take anywhere between 36 & 38 months to complete! And the name...rumor has it to be the Disney Dream.

 

[musicalSaranader]

Originally posted by ThreeCircles
I don't think a new ship will be christened "Disney Dreams." It's plural. Aren't ship names always singular?

Ooh, good point, we hadn't thought of that!

 

[ThreeCircles]

Of course, it could be the Disney Dream. That's kinda got a nice ring to it!

 

[musicalSaranader]

It sure does!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by musicalSaranader
My family and I decided a while ago that we think they're going to call the third one the "Disney Dreams," to go along with the Magic and the Wonder.

If the OP is correct, DCL need to come up with names for two ships. On another board, someone insisted that the next ship would be called the Disney Believe.

I'll wait until DCL makes an official announcement before I believe anything. Until then, it's just a dream.

Originally posted by ryan9
The next ships will almost definetely be constructed in Italy like the first two. They thought about using Japanese yards but apparently those companies were not intereseted as they wouldn't make enough profit from Cruise ships.

Fincantieri in Italy built the first two Disney ships, but there are also shipyards in France, Germany, and Finland actively building cruise ships for he U.S. market.

One Japanese shipyard has been interested in building cruise ships. The new Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess are bothe from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. (But, perhaps after that experience, which included a devastating shipyard fire, Mitsubishi may no longer be interested in new cruise ship orders.)

For a list of new ships, see http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/other/new_build.asp