New Ship?

[tripletvan]

I have heard from time to time about Disney buying a third ship. It gets alot of postings and then seems to disappear. Will there ever be a new one or do we wait till Mr. Eisner is really gone?

 

[djs113]

Disney had been waiting for the Dollar to rally against the Euro, to make the price of the ship much cheaper to build

The ship would cost 30% more right now, purely based on the weaker $, then it would have costed 3 years ago to build

 

[jlowejd5]

I think it's got less to do wtih Eisner than with the dollar vs. the Euro. The general consensus is that the best (or only) shipyards with the capacity to build a third ship are going to be in Europe (Italy, mostly, maybe Portugal). The problem right now is that the dollar is very very weak against the Euro. And even with the bajillions that Disney makes, they know they have the ability to hold off for a little while and let things even out.

If there's no third ship, the demand stays high, and so can prices. There was a big report about a month ago about how the price of cruising has gone up 40% in a decade. But to my knowledge, the Disney ships sail at or very near capacity three times a week. So crazies like us keept the demand high.

Plus, with no third ship, they can do the special cruises (repo out and back, plus the west coast trips this summer). Those not only generate huge revenues, but also a lot of industry buzz and publicity. My guess is that if there is overwhelming demand for a permanent west coast ship, and their marketing predictions say they can both fill it weekly and keep the original two filled out of Florida, then maybe Disney will be more apt to suck it up and take the initial hit on the construction capital for the third ship.

If not, well, I dunno. Forecasts are mixed on which way the dollar is moving against the Euro. The stronger the dollar gets, then certainly the closer Disney will be to pulling the trigger.

It's my understanding that the plans for the as-yet unnamed third ship are mostly complete, so now it's just (as always) a question of money.

 

[GenieDana]

Also consider capacity of the likely shipyards to build Disney's next ship. Here is a site with the current orders and delivery dates:

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/other/new_build.asp

When Disney decides to expand the fleet, they still have significant design work to do prior to the beginning of any fabrication at a shipyard ("plans" do not equal "design" - a common misconception by many on this board). The mobilization from the announcement (contract) to keel laying can be anywhere from 6 months or more. Then, a year or more, for construction and fitting out.

For example, the RCCL Ultra Voyager (Freedom of the Seas) was announced early last year, keel was just laid in November 2004, but won't be delivered until summer 2006.