The Clock is Ticking.2 and 4 years and counting...........

[truck1]

Got bored today and did a little research. Assuming nothing changes, the first steel cutting for the 2 new builds should be in 2019 and 2021. Theres a couple of things I read on Meyer Werfts site that may change things a little bit, but if DCL and MW hold true, with out knowing when the actual delivery and Inugural will be, I'm guessing somewhere around the middle to late 2019 for the first new build and possibly same time frame for the 2nd. This is assuming a early 2021 Inaugural and the same for the next new build in 2023. What may affect the time line, is Carnival of all companies. Carnival is building 7 LNG cruise ships at the moment, and at least 1 was in MW in Bremerhaven for a 2020 delivery to Costa. that ship has been pushed back to 2021, along with a AIDA line ship. AIDA traditionally has been built in Dock 1, but its a toss up on what it will do with the schedule.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Got bored today and did a little research. Assuming nothing changes, the first steel cutting for the 2 new builds should be in 2019 and 2021. Theres a couple of things I read on Meyer Werfts site that may change things a little bit, but if DCL and MW hold true, with out knowing when the actual delivery and Inugural will be, I'm guessing somewhere around the middle to late 2019 for the first new build and possibly same time frame for the 2nd. This is assuming a early 2021 Inaugural and the same for the next new build in 2023. What may affect the time line, is Carnival of all companies. Carnival is building 7 LNG cruise ships at the moment, and at least 1 was in MW in Bremerhaven for a 2020 delivery to Costa. that ship has been pushed back to 2021, along with a AIDA line ship. AIDA traditionally has been built in Dock 1, but its a toss up on what it will do with the schedule.

So with the actual construction being 2 years off, is any active planning going on with regard to the new vessels? or still too early for that?

Carnival is adding 7? They already have something like 26. Are these replacing some of the older ships? Their older ships are routinely getting bad reviews from people that have sailed on them, so it would make sense to take them out of service. I've seen a lot of negative reviews on some of the older RCCL ships of late as well. They had a lifeboat fall off of one a couple weeks ago in Charleston.

 

[truck1]

So with the actual construction being 2 years off, is any active planning going on with regard to the new vessels? or still too early for that?

Carnival is adding 7? They already have something like 26. Are these replacing some of the older ships? Their older ships are routinely getting bad reviews from people that have sailed on them, so it would make sense to take them out of service. I've seen a lot of negative reviews on some of the older RCCL ships of late as well. They had a lifeboat fall off of one a couple weeks ago in Charleston.

Yes they are actively planning the ships. They are probably doing what they did last time around which is drawing everything out and when they get an idea, of what the final product would look like they'll do mock ups to see what it looks like in real time. They'll also plan all of the areas ship operational wise and get those aproved and get them to MW so material can be bought etc, the imagineers here in FL will get work orders for any thing uniquely Disney like the stern characters and all of the tech that runs the ship like sales pos Animators Tech etc.

Also far as the 7 new ships there spread out over Carnivals sub lines like Costa. And over the course of 4 years I think. Carnival itself is getting 3 new builds, with Princess, Costa and Holland each getting new ships. The 7 are only from MW and Meyer Turku.With 4 being LNG. Fincantieri has contracts on several ships. I think I counted a total of at least 12 new builds for all of Carnival and its subs.

For the lifeboats, the Dream I think dropped one early in her life. I forget where but she went 3 or 4 cruises without it.

Cruises are funny. They are only as good as the crew. Looking at the Magic class, they are holding there own against the Carnival Fascination class which are roughly the same age.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Yes they are actively planning the ships. They are probably doing what they did last time around which is drawing everything out and when they get an idea, of what the final product would look like they'll do mock ups to see what it looks like in real time. They'll also plan all of the areas ship operational wise and get those aproved and get them to MW so material can be bought etc, the imagineers here in FL will get work orders for any thing uniquely Disney like the stern characters and all of the tech that runs the ship like sales pos Animators Tech etc.

Also far as the 7 new ships there spread out over Carnivals sub lines like Costa. And over the course of 4 years I think. Carnival itself is getting 3 new builds, with Princess, Costa and Holland each getting new ships. The 7 are only from MW and Meyer Turku.With 4 being LNG. Fincantieri has contracts on several ships. I think I counted a total of at least 12 new builds for all of Carnival and its subs.

For the lifeboats, the Dream I think dropped one early in her life. I forget where but she went 3 or 4 cruises without it.

Cruises are funny. They are only as good as the crew. Looking at the Magic class, they are holding there own against the Carnival Fascination class which are roughly the same age.

Do you know if the intention is to retire the magic class ships once the new ones are in service. Because by that time they'll be pretty old.

 

[truck1]

Probably not. The ships are designed for a lifespan of 40 to 50 years of service. They are barely 1/2 way thru their service life. If I had to guess, Theses will be additions to the fleet, and something will find a permanent home. Just throwing things out there, but the initial DCL plan was for 10 ships with at least 6 here in Fl. They can mix and match and add say the Magic to PC to do odd trips to places DCL doesn't go. Say 10 day southern trips or a 2nd 3/4/5 with 1 of the new builds. Or they could do alternating east wests opposite of what the bigger ships do. So yould have the Magic or Wonder, doing 3/4s or 7s on regular basis, with the 2 new builds, doing what the Dream and Fantasy are doing now, and the Dream going to Europe and Miami, the Fantasy out of Miami Year round with the Wonder or the Magic, going back to Alaska. DCLs business model has always been the lead ship( Magic) tries out different routes to see what works. She was the first thru the canal, first to Europe. The only thing she didn't do was Alaska. Most lines will take one of there smaller ships and try things out to see if its profitable or sustainable so if something does happen, its not that big of a hit.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Since Royal and Carnival have so many ships, they always seem to have cruises coming and going, mostly out of Florida. So I wonder if when Disney has more ships in service so that there are more options available, this is going to have the effect of bringing the prices down more to the RCCL level since there will be more supply?

 

[truck1]

Anything is possible. It all depends on what DCL has in mind when the new ships get here. I could be way off on my thinking also, if DCL continues on their business as usual instead of what is everyone else doing that we need to be doing.

 

[DizMagic]

From everything I have read, Alaska has been extremely popular (and profitable) for DCL. I hope one of the new ships, or Dream class ships replaces the Wonder there. Would love to go back to Alaska on DCL, but don't really want to sail Wonder again.

 

[truck1]

From everything I have read, Alaska has been extremely popular (and profitable) for DCL. I hope one of the new ships, or Dream class ships replaces the Wonder there. Would love to go back to Alaska on DCL, but don't really want to sail Wonder again.

Ive heard the same things about Alaska. Like I said its all up to DCl when the new ships get here. I don't foresee Alaska going away anytime soon.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

From everything I have read, Alaska has been extremely popular (and profitable) for DCL. I hope one of the new ships, or Dream class ships replaces the Wonder there. Would love to go back to Alaska on DCL, but don't really want to sail Wonder again.

I think the Dream class ships (and, therefore the new ships also) are too large for some of the Alaska ports. I could be wrong in that.

Plus they haven't been fitted with extra indoor viewing areas like the Wonder was.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

I think the Dream class ships (and, therefore the new ships also) are too large for some of the Alaska ports. I could be wrong in that.

Plus they haven't been fitted with extra indoor viewing areas like the Wonder was.

Extra indoor viewing areas? What are those? That sounds interesting.

 

[Pens Fan]

I think the Dream class ships (and, therefore the new ships also) are too large for some of the Alaska ports. I could be wrong in that.

Plus they haven't been fitted with extra indoor viewing areas like the Wonder was.

I used to think the same thing about the larger ships going to Alaska, but check out the NCL Bliss which will begin cruising in Alaska in 2018.
It's huge!! Personally (and it's just my opinion) I'd hate to see the Alaskan ports become inundated with huge ships. I was emailing back and forth with a tour guide we are using in Skagway this summer and she was commenting on the number of ships that would be in port that day. There will only be three which she said was manageable crowd wise, but that any more than that and it gets really crazy and hard to get away from the masses. If you start having multiple 4000 plus passenger ships coming in each day, it's bound to change the experience somewhat.

Also, on the indoor viewing area on the Wonder, I wonder (no pun intended) how much of that is actually left now that the concierge lounge took over part of the Outlook lounge. Hopefully still enough for steerage class to enjoy!

 

[truck1]

I think the Dream class ships (and, therefore the new ships also) are too large for some of the Alaska ports. I could be wrong in that.

Plus they haven't been fitted with extra indoor viewing areas like the Wonder was.

Typically what will limit a ship from a port, is the channel, a bridge, or pier size. Other then that there is nothing that will limit a ship going in to a port. Typically size isn't one of them unless its air draft or the width of the channel. Using KW as an example, the channel is only I think is 300 feet wide. When you look at the Dream class, they are 125 feet wide. Under most normal conditions, there isn't a problem. But in places like KW, where there is always a breeze, ships tend to crab (come in on an angel) thru the channel. So when the ships come thru the channel crabbing due to the wind that comfortable 90 feet on each side becomes more like 30. And when you look at the room a ship needs to stop or turn, it gets real uncomfortable real quick. There is a provision that under certain circumstances, the Dream class and Freedom class ships can go into KW. But the conditions have to be ideal. Like no wind. Which doesn't happen to often.

 

[ahain]

I heard that one of the good things about DCLs smaller ships in Alaska are that they can get into the tighter spaces - like at Tracy Arm, they can basically sail right up to the glacier, spin around a couple of times and sail back out. A friend of ours was on another line and their ship had to stop WAy back and they used tender boats to go up nearer the Glacier (as an excursion - for a price!)

Another note...I know it's purely speculation, but on our cruise on the Fantasy earlier this month, we were talking to CMs about the new ships and they shared that they were told that at least one of the ships would call somewhere in Asia home. They didn't not say their source, so I have no way to know if there is any validity to their comment.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Extra indoor viewing areas? What are those? That sounds interesting.

Well, they enclosed the upper area above Cove Cafe (port and starboard sides) initially. But, now, it seems that it's been taken over by the Concierge lounge.

 

[squirk]

Another note...I know it's purely speculation, but on our cruise on the Fantasy earlier this month, we were talking to CMs about the new ships and they shared that they were told that at least one of the ships would call somewhere in Asia home. They didn't not say their source, so I have no way to know if there is any validity to their comment.

I had suspected this as well. Given that RCCL sent one of its newest ships to Shanghai, I am guessing the Chinese cruise market is growing at a good clip. Seems only logical that DCL would want a piece of that action.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

When talking about one of the ships calling Asia home, specifically which port are we talking about? Asia is a big place.

 

[BartmanLA]

I don't know how saturated the market for DCL ships is in the United States, but I would speculate that they might consider basing one ship out of New York for more of the year to do the Canadian segments during the summer months before going to Europe, and possibly the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Diego or even San Francisco) as alternative home port for another ship, to possibly do trips to Hawaii (after porting in Mexico or Canada first) I don't know if they'd be spreading the fleet to international home ports until they get many more vessels built. IMHO anyway.

 

[ahain]

When talking about one of the ships calling Asia home, specifically which port are we talking about? Asia is a big place.

I have no clue....they didn't specify when sharing their info. Sorry

 

[bbel]

I'm not saying it's not true, but I wouldn't truly believe everything a CM tells you, especially at this point. Those that will know any info at this time won't be allowed to say, and any regular CM will probably only find out a little before any official announcements are made.
Like the whole Wonder dry dock rumours, the majority of the time a CM will give you info that a guest told them last cruise, and that guest probably heard it somewhere like here...
Sometimes things get lost in translation too. Literally with somewhere like DCL.

For example, the whole announcements of the new ships. CM officially found out when you guys did. Although we'd heard rumours, but hadn't we all...