Sirwalterraleigh
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DCL Buys Unfinished Mega Cruise Ship - Genting Golden Dream ???
- Thread starter monothingie
- Start date
Disone
Well-Known Member
Having said that, a long time Disney Cruise line cast member that I associated with many times since he was my head server did share with me on my wish cruise There was strong speculation / "bus driver" rumors about one of the three ships being canceled. This was based on the wish getting some pretty negative reviews. It's not rating well. Having been on it I will say it's a better ship than it gets credit for but I do understand why it's getting dinged.
One of the articles here states " The ship’s previous owner filed for bankruptcy before completing the vessel, enabling Disney Cruise Line to secure it at a favorable price and within the capital expenditure guidance The Walt Disney Company provided on its recent earnings call. "
I do wonder if that is code for they took the money for one of the three Triton ships and spent it on this instead. It seems odd that they would add capital expenditures while they are announcing layoffs and budget cutting and hiring freezes and no travel expenses.
But you're probably right, it's probably intended as an eighth ship. Either way, I do believe this will move up the end date to the both the magic and the wonder. Their crew to passenger ratio is higher, their engines are less efficient and older, and their approaching 25 years old. Pretty old for a cruise ship. I will miss them sorely as they are easily my favorite ships in the fleet.
Last quarterly call had Capex going up, as if they had committed to buying another ship or something.
The weasely worded 'hiring freeze' announcement was a reaction to Wall Street dumping on Disney for not having D+ profitable (even though Disney has said for three years that profitability would come in 2024).
So... boat purchase happened way before any 'cuts' (as if there will be any significant cuts to begin with as Disney's plan is to continue to do loss-leading to grow).
The weasely worded 'hiring freeze' announcement was a reaction to Wall Street dumping on Disney for not having D+ profitable (even though Disney has said for three years that profitability would come in 2024).
So... boat purchase happened way before any 'cuts' (as if there will be any significant cuts to begin with as Disney's plan is to continue to do loss-leading to grow).
deix15x8
Active Member
The concept art is a bit concerning. This ship is so far along that major structural changes to the interior aren't going to be easy or cheap. They can probably convert cabins to a room, but anything beyond a single deck box filled with support beams will likely not be an easy thing to do. The concept art shows some changes above the bridge and some balcony accenting added, but not much structurally. The ugly tacked on set of 6 funnels look like someone's photoshop so hopefully this isn't close to final design. If it is, it's a bad sign of what Disney is potentially willing to accept. Global Dream was a budget ship trying to maximize capacity with a double occupancy of 6,000 and max of 9,000. That's more than Royal Caribbean's Oasis class in a smaller ship. It was to be the highest capacity of any ship when announced and the design was rather simple compared to other modern ships. If you look at Icon of the Seas Royal Caribbean hid all the extra pipes on the top deck fairly well, but she has 5 of them (at least). Even Carnival Mardi Gras blends them into the design nicely, but left them visible as pipes. Global Dream just left them there and instead of investing in improving them like other lines have done it appears Disney just plopped a large traditional funnel over each one which makes it worse.
spectrodanny
Active Member
if they are SMART, they'll name the new ship the Disney AQUAsition
peter11435
Well-Known Member
Disney fans are a highly critical and vocal group. While the Wish certainly has some issues that need to be addressed it’s a far better ship than some want you to believe. It’s biggest offense is simply being different and things not being exactly how and where regulars are used to. Currently the Wish scores highest in the fleet among first time cruisers and first time Disney Cruisers but lowest in the fleet among repeat a Disney guests.
Disney will work to correct some of the issues the Wish has and will make changes where appropriate to the other two triton class builds. Guest reaction to the Wish will cause modifications to future builds not cancellation. Similar to how many changes were made for the Disney Fantasy.
The money for this is separate from Triton. The capital expenses previously mentioned in the earnings call already accounted for this so it’s not really an add. They include that text in the release to reassure investors that capex was not further increasing because of this.
esskay
Well-Known Member
This seems like a no brainer. They get a ready made superstructure and can fit it however they like and get it launched far sooner and cheaper than a full build.
Some of the comments here seem to think they've bought a fully kittted out ship and it wont look like a Disney ship - far from it, its a big empty box right now, they can fit the whole thing out however they see fit. Chances are its going to be a European cruiser so once done will be very much in their current style (although maybe with a bit of insulation and heating tweaks for when its freezing cold!).
Everyones a critic but come on, we've got basically nothing to go by, speculating that it's going to be awful or in some way hampered because its partially built is pretty silly at this early stage of development.
Some of the comments here seem to think they've bought a fully kittted out ship and it wont look like a Disney ship - far from it, its a big empty box right now, they can fit the whole thing out however they see fit. Chances are its going to be a European cruiser so once done will be very much in their current style (although maybe with a bit of insulation and heating tweaks for when its freezing cold!).
Everyones a critic but come on, we've got basically nothing to go by, speculating that it's going to be awful or in some way hampered because its partially built is pretty silly at this early stage of development.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
7th probably, with Triton 2 sliding back in the timeline and being the 8th.
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
Wait seriously? Those funnels are iconic. I think people see them as a feature, not a bug. They harken back to the old ocean liners like the RMS Queen Mary.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
I’m assuming you mean Triton 3 and yeah I agree. There is a good possibility this becomes the seventh ship to come online with Triton 3 being number 8
peter11435
Well-Known Member
The distances involved don’t really make that conducive to a frequent itinerary.
Disone
Well-Known Member
Great insights, I did say the ship is better than The ratings it's getting. That wasn't lip service.
Good point. I wonder if Disney plan to create another island destination near Okinawa.
DCLcruiser
Well-Known Member
I wonder what that really means, "not suitable for 'western' cruise markets." Are the rooms smaller? Casino? Lots of red paint and pictures of Xi?
What exactly could be different on an "eastern" cruise ship?
SaucyBoy
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
We were on Quantum this past August for our Alaska cruise, omg you're gonna have such a great time on the ship!!
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
I was under the impression it is mostly cosmetic. Dining, entertainment and activities geared towards Asian guests. Although I believe many of the ships out there were designed to cater to cruises in both warn and cold climates.
RCL is not doing China in 2023, if that says anything...
Royal Caribbean Not Returning to China Anytime Soon - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News
The Royal Caribbean Group is not returning to China in 2023, said the company’s President and CEO Jason Liberty. Instead, Royal Caribbean is now expecting to resume operations in the Asian country before the end of 2025, he added during Thursday’s third quarter earnings call. Previously an...
www.cruiseindustrynews.com
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
Nice, this is great to hear! We were going back and forth between this ship and one with Celebrity. In the end, my wife preferred the itinerary on the Quantum and the price was right. The ship looks great, and we are excited to visit Alaska for the first time.
