News Construction Underway on Fourth Wish Class Ship

[DCBaker]

Disney Cruise Line has announced a steel cutting ceremony was held today for the fourth Wish class ship:

The first spark of magic is in the air! Today we honored the maritime tradition of steel cutting, meaning construction is underway for the fourth Wish class ship. A new journey is taking shape!

 

[vikescaper]

Any guesses on the name?

 

[invader]

Any guesses on the name?

Based on the press release using “spark” and “journey” - could it be Imagination?

 

[Surfin' Tuna]

The only good news about this, is that it means we're closer to the newest ships that won't be Wish class.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The only good news about this, is that it means we're closer to the newest ships that won't be Wish class.

I thought the exact same thing, I can’t wait to see what the next class of smaller ships looks like. We’re hoping the announced ships will regain the intimacy of the previous ships we felt the larger Wish class lacked.

 

[Andrew C]

Don’t expect a wrap around promenade deck. Hehe

 

[Surfin' Tuna]

I thought the exact same thing, I can’t wait to see what the next class of smaller ships looks like. We’re hoping the announced ships will regain the intimacy of the previous ships we felt the larger Wish class lacked.

I really hope they get these right, because the days are numbered for the first two. Plenty of time, but it is limited

 

[cjkeating]

Don’t expect a wrap around promenade deck. Hehe

After all the feedback they had better.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Hopefully they’ll put someone in charge of the next class who's actually been on a cruise, I still find that one of the most bone headed decisions ever. I understand wanting an outsiders opinion but can’t imagine a dumber decision than putting someone in charge of a multi billion project who doesn’t have experience with, or understand, what they’re being asked to design.

 

[Andrew C]

After all the feedback they had better.

That really isn't a thing on new ships across the industry...

 

[peter11435]

Hopefully they’ll put someone in charge of the next class who's actually been on a cruise, I still find that one of the most bone headed decisions ever. I understand wanting an outsiders opinion but can’t imagine a dumber decision than putting someone in charge of a multi billion project who doesn’t have experience with, or understand, what they’re being asked to design.

To be fair she wasn’t the one in charge of designing the structure and layout of the ship.

 

[cjkeating]

To be fair she wasn’t the one in charge of designing the structure and layout of the ship.

What role would be in charge of this?

 

[peter11435]

What role would be in charge of this?

Philip Gennotte

 

[cjkeating]

Philip Gennotte

Oh I remember him from the Wish documentary. He didn't seem like the Imagineer who would decide the specific layout of the ship down to where the bars/shops/restaurants would be located and their capacities etc? He seemed more like the Imagineer who tells designers what is and isn't practical to design when building a ship and then supervises the construction?

 

[peter11435]

Oh I remember him from the Wish documentary. He didn't seem like the Imagineer who would decide the specific layout of the ship down to where the bars/shops/restaurants would be located and their capacities etc? He seemed more like the Imagineer who tells designers what is and isn't practical to design when building a ship and then supervises the construction?

He is responsible for the design and engineering of the ship, its structure, and its layout. He is essentially the architect and structural engineer while Laura Cabo and her team are essentially interior designers.

 

[cjkeating]

He is responsible for the design and engineering of the ship, its structure, and its layout. He is essentially the architect and structural engineer while Laura Cabo and her team are essentially interior designers.

As nice as he seemed in the Wish video he either needs to take feedback well or find a job he’s better at. Unless you tell me he also did the Dream and Fantasy and if so someone needs to check he’s okay.

 

[peter11435]

As nice as he seemed in the Wish video he either needs to take feedback well or find a job he’s better at. Unless you tell me he also did the Dream and Fantasy and if so someone needs to check he’s okay.

Well it’s impossible to know how the feedback was taken until we see the next class of ships. The “issues” that people complain about require structural changes that just won’t happen with the same class of ship. And as pointed out earlier in the thread some of them like the promenade deck are things the industry itself has largely moved away from. I use “issues” in quotes because the irony is that the Wish class ships continue to score highest in the fleet amongst first time visitors.

Philip was not in his current role with Disney when the Dream and Fantasy were designed, however he was involved with both ships as he previously worked for Meyer Werft in various roles in architecture, engineering, and project management.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The “issues” that people complain about require structural changes that just won’t happen with the same class of ship.

I think this is true for 80% of the issues but some of the “questionable” design choices could be easily remedied even on the same class, the water slide being an easy example, one of the things we found disappointing on the Wish was the loss of the glass tubes and the views they offered, that’s an easy fix on future Wish class ships. We also found some of the signage and design issues just bizarre. Places where a door with glass exists on older ships are now solid doors with no signage, that just left us confused as to what’s on the other side and whether it was a guest door or a CM door. Many of our complaints about the Wish involve views, or lack of views, seeing the ocean and the countries is one of the biggest reasons we cruise, the Wish took away a lot of those views.

I haven’t been on the Treasure yet but the videos I’ve seen look like they addressed many of the cosmetic issues, I look forward to eventually getting on the Treasure and seeing what they have, and haven’t, improved.

 

[cjkeating]

I think this is true for 80% of the issues but some of the “questionable” design choices could be easily remedied even on the same class, the water slide being an easy example, one of the things we found disappointing on the Wish was the loss of the glass tubes and the views they offered, that’s an easy fix on future Wish class ships. We also found some of the signage and design issues just bizarre. Places where a door with glass exists on older ships are now solid doors with no signage, that just left us confused as to what’s on the other side and whether it was a guest door or a CM door. Many of our complaints about the Wish involve views, or lack of views, seeing the ocean and the countries is one of the biggest reasons we cruise, the Wish took away a lot of those views.

I haven’t been on the Treasure yet but the videos I’ve seen look like they addressed many of the cosmetic issues, I look forward to eventually getting on the Treasure and seeing what they have, and haven’t, improved.

I’ve only been on the Wish once for obvious reasons but I wonder if they have done anything about the door you can open straight into the spa/Rainforest Room area?

The stupid doors really cracked me up on the Wish as they were so hilarious bad. Some of the doors that were “Do Not Enter” yet if you opened them they just led to a public area on the other side of them.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I’ve only been on the Wish once for obvious reasons but I wonder if they have done anything about the door you can open straight into the spa/Rainforest Room area?

The stupid doors really cracked me up on the Wish as they were so hilarious bad. Some of the doors that were “Do Not Enter” yet if you opened them they just led to a public area on the other side of them.

We found the entrances to the specialty dining area very confusing also, you’d either have to walk up stairs through the buffet area or get off the elevator on deck 12 and then walk through completely unmarked doors. We stumbled across the sports court attempting to find the specialty dining, that was another odd area, had we not stumbled across it I don’t think we’d have known it even existed.

Many of this issues would be resolved on subsequent trips with a little ship knowledge but we weren’t impressed enough to sail on the Wish again either, which kind of makes familiarity solving problems irrelevant.