New Ship??

[Señor Ferrari]

That report was dated August 27, 2001. I would suspect that plans changed shortly after that date, as no announcement has been made that a shipyard has a new contract with Disney to build a ship.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by tap & dap

August 27: Industry rumours have Disney in talks with shipbuilders Fincantieri, Chantiers, Kvaerner and Meyer Werft for two new ships

Yes, but notice the date. Disney was indeed in talks with shipbuilders prior to 9/11, but it seems that they have tabled those talks since 9/11.

 

[TheTexasKid]

No references, just scuttlebutt from the inaugural Western Caribbean cruise. I wanted to post it at the rumor section of this board, but I might as well post it here. It has already been posted at another Disney message board, but I'll post it here as well, w/ a few addenda added.
"Disney Dreams" out of Port Canaveral bound for Los Angeles via the Panama Canal. 10- to 14-day itinerary.
Same size in length and width, so it can get through the canal locks, but 1 to 5 more decks.
"Build it, and they will come." Not only have the Imagineers finished the artistic renderings of what it will look like, but, that they have already started to build it.
This will be the 3rd Disny cruise ship. The 4th cruise ship will go to Asia, and the 5th cruise ship will go to Europe.
By "go to Asia," I mean that it will be homeported in Asia to tie in with Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, or both. But, a cruise between L.A. and Asia, with a stop in Hawaii, is not unseeable.
The 5th ship for Europe, supposedly will be homeported in southern France to tie in with Disneyland Paris, and it will cruise the Mediterranean. But, being of northern European descent, I rarther see it homeported in southern England, so it could cruise the waters of northern Europe. It still would tie in with Disneyland Paris, though.
As for a Disney cruise to Alaska . . . Alaska is such a hot area for cruising, a cruise from L.A. to Alaska, and back again, is seeable on a 14-day itinerary.
As for building it now, like many people, I think this is the wrong time to build one, but, on the other hand . . . It may be the right time. With so much shipyard space laying vacant, one can probably get it built cheaper and faster, then when shipyard space was at a premium.
As there being an excess number of cruise ships, the answer to that one lies in something Daniel Webster said, when he was asked why he wanted to be a lawyer, when there was an excess of lawyers already. He said: There is always room at the top." I presume the same thing could be said about Disney.
Enjoy all the rumors!

 

[Pugdog007]

Hey Tex... are you calling me scuttlebutt?

 

[Kaa]

I had a lengthy conversation with a DCL employee at WDW last week and she said the keel is being laid for the third ship, but did not divulge the name. Plans are for the ship to sail in 2006. We didn't discuss the itinerary, but she mentioned that the ship will be larger, but accommodate the same number of passengers. The additional space will be utilized by the children's programming (enlarging the club and lab - possibly Flounder's Reef). She also mentioned that the ship was designed to pass through the Panama Canal. Maybe the West Coast will be getting a ship at last?

 

[Michelle]

I definitely believe the West Coast is next.

But it will be several years.

 

[TheTexasKid]

No, Pugdog007. Unless you were in Cozumel on the inaugural Western Caribbean, as that is where I heard most of the scuttlebutt.
I would think that Flounder's Reef is the area most likely due for an expansion, as it was put in as something of an oversight, but, is still well used.
For personal reasons, I am still hoping for a proper library with music listening stations. That would also be a good area for the Internet Cafe, as opposed to wherever they got it now.
The cruise I would like to see is a Disney cruise around the world. Either Los Angeles to Los Angeles or Port Canaveral to Port Canaveral. Book a stateroom for the entire cruise or for one or more segments of the cruise.
Enjoy!

 

[Señor Ferrari]

Originally posted by Kaa
I had a lengthy conversation with a DCL employee at WDW last week and she said the keel is being laid for the third ship, but did not divulge the name. Plans are for the ship to sail in 2006.

I find this very hard to believe (as much as I would like to). As has been mentioned in this thread and others, no shipyard has announced a contract with Disney, much less that they have actually begun to lay the keel of a ship. Also, if the keel is currently being laid, the ship will be ready long before 2006. It takes a while to build a cruise ship, but not four years.

For example, the Cunard line announced a contract with Chantiers de L'Atlantique in early 2000 for the Queen Mary 2, which will be the largest cruise ship ever built at over 150,000 tons, and it is scheduled to be in service in late 2003. The March 2000 date was just the announcement of the contract. The keel isn't actually scheduled to be laid until next month.

If the keel has been laid for the so-called Disney Dream, it will be in service sooner than 2006.

Again, I'd love to see a Disney ship in service out of Los Angeles or San Diego sooner rather than later, but I'm very skeptical when I hear information like this and would just like to (try to) add a bit of perspective.

 

[AnnMorin]

Couldn't someone just ask DCL for a strait answer? Maybe I am naiive but I would think if a new ship was being built they would acknowledge it if asked?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by AnnMorin
Couldn't someone just ask DCL for a strait answer? Maybe I am naiive but I would think if a new ship was being built they would acknowledge it if asked?

It really depends on whom you ask.

Please take a look at the third note on page 1 of this thread, in which I paraphrase how Captain Hans answered this question during the 3/23/02 cruise. In short, his answer was that he expected an announcement within the year. (But there has not yet been an announcement.)

Some DCL cast members on the ship like to repeat the rumor that a new ship is already under construction and that it will be called the Disney Dream or the Disney Dreams. That rumor has been posted repeatedly on this board for over a year.

But it's extremely unlikely that a new ship is actually already under construction. Typically cruise lines have private negotiations with shipyards. When they sign a contract, there's a public announcement. Some months later (depending on when the shipyard has the production capacity and resources), construction begins. Even if a publicly held corporation and a major shipyard (typically a government owned or subsidized shipyard in Europe) wanted to keep a $350-500 million contract a secret, its unlikely they could do so. There are legal reporting issues, not to mention how impractical it would be to swear thousands of workers at the shipyard and its subcontractors to absolute secrecy. The press would find out, and it would be worldwide maritime news.