Originally posted by lrodk
The DCL began formal talks with various European Shipbuilders last August. DCL president Matt Ouimet expects to finalize a deal for a new ship(s) by the end of this summer/fall, with a fromal announcement shortly thereafter. Delivery is expected sometime in 2005. Stay tuned for more details.
Here's a link to the announcement made last year:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87702&highlight=cruise
That's an interesting thread from last year. But that thread was from before 9/11. And, even then, all that was confirmed was that there was planning going on, and that there were talks with shipyards. (I've talked to a couple of car dealers over the past year, but I never followed through and ordered a new car.)
At a Navigator Series session on the 3/23/02 Magic cruise, Captain Hans Mateboer explained that a year earlier, DCL assembled a team of people to plan another ship. Such planning would, of course, include discussions with shipyards. Captain Hans further explained that the events of 9/11 stopped the fleet expansion project. That's not surprising. The optimisitc news was that Captain Hans still expected an announcemnet in the near future.
I, too, believe that DCL will build another ship -- in fact, my guess is that they'll build two new ships from the same set of plans. Michael Eisner is under pressure to turn The Walt Disney Company back into a growth company. Although I suspect that he's reluctant to make the huge capital investment, expanding the DCL fleet might be one of the best ways to increase revenue and profits in the the Parks and Resorts segment, now that the hotel market at WDW appears to be saturated. And the timing now could be very good because the pipeline of cruise orders from other lines is drying up, so shipyards might be willing negotiate prices that are favorable to Disney -- especially because the European shipyards tend to be government subsidized or even government owned, and the governments has a strong interest in keeping the shipyard workers working. Also, capital is "cheap" now due to the low interest rates, which improves the chances of putting together a spreadsheet that projects decent profits.
I just take exception with the those who have posted (at various times on this board and the DIS DCL board) that a new DCL ship is already under construction or even that a new DCL ship is a certainty.
Seriously, you bring up an interesting point. I wonder if there are any islands off the Mexican Rivera that may be used. Does anyone know that part of the world?
