Ship Life Cycle

[kappaman14]

I've seen a lot of speculation on other sites/blogs that Disney will retire the Magic & Wonder when the new ships come online. This seems counter-intuitive since they recently revamped both ships, and because they need the smaller ships for certain ports/destinations. But the ships also can't last forever, which leaves me wondering: is there any published life cycle for these ships, or precedent for length of service from other cruise companies?

 

[NS8VN]

RCL's Majesty of the Seas is six years older than the Magic and still in operation. People do love to speculate, and since I have no direct knowledge I am no different, but I see no reason they would retire a ship unless upkeep becomes too costly to justify keeping the ships running. Seven ships is far from a lot compared to other lines and DCL may want to expand in to other markets such as Asia so I don't see any reason they would retire them quite yet.

 

[bbel]

Well, DCL are advertising a fleet of 7, so I don't think they have any plans in the near future...

 

[com_op_2000]

A quick online search found:
MV Astoria - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Astoria
MV Astoria is a former ocean liner now operated as a cruise ship by Cruise & Maritime Voyages. She was ordered in 1944, and launched 9 September 1946, as Stockholm by Götaverken in Gothenburg for the Swedish America Line (SAL). During her almost seven decades of service she has passed through several ... world's second oldest active oceangoing passenger ship after Sea Cloud.

 

[GPaLarry]

If they do retire one, hope they send it here (Portland, OR) and we can make it into a permanent functioning fixture downtown, much like the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

 

[Marc D]

The cost of maintenance on older ships is higher, if only because they go in dry-dock every 1.5 years instead of every 5 years for the Dream-class ships (learned that during a DCL trivia). That being said, they will surely run with 7 ships, at least for a time in 2023. The graphic unveiled at D23 seems to point that way. I should have asked Mr Holtz (the president of DCL) He was 2 tables from me during our 12-nights British Isles cruise earlier this month.

 

[KashasMom]

Well, that would be unfortunate since it means prices would remain high and itineraries would remain....meh.

 

[mmouse37]

Back in the beginning DCL said they wanted a fleet of 12 (at least). I don't see the Magic or Wonder being retired any time soon. They have many, many years left on them.

MJ

 

[truck1]

Modern cruise ships are built with a life span in mind. DCLs ships are built with 40-50 years in mind, barring any major SOLAS changes. The Magic class is not quite halfway thru that.