Does Disney Cruise Line Have Plans to Purchase Abandoned Cruise Ship?

[happycamper47]

Exactly. It just seems like a bunch of stereotypes are being thrown around at this point.

The original article says it was being built for the Asian Market..

ship that was originally being built to serve the cruise market in Asia.

 

[BK2014]

The original article says it was being built for the Asian Market..

ship that was originally being built to serve the cruise market in Asia.

Yes, but what does that have to do with the comments being about the what the Asian market supposedly wants?

 

[Kwami]

Yes, but what does that have to do with the comments being about the what the Asian market supposedly wants?

A lot of that also comes from the articles linked on the first page.

"Like her sister ship, Global 2 is also designed for the fast-growing Asian market. With 2,500 passenger cabins for up to 9,500 people and a crew of 2,200, the "Global Dream" and Global 2 are the first ships in the world to carry more than 10,000 people on board - making them the largest in the world in terms of passenger capacity. In terms of gross tonnage, too, they are the largest passenger ships ever built in Germany. With their extensive range of state-of-the-art digital technology, such as face and voice recognition or climate control and mood lighting via app, they are ideally geared to the progressive technical preferences of the Asian market."

So, lots of passengers and "high tech" features. Facial recognition is very widespread in China and is often used to pay for things, board subways, and so on, especially in the cities. It's not so common in other countries.

I don't think it's a stretch to assume that the ship has a casino. Gambling is something that's often "banned" in Asian countries, but nonetheless tolerated in certain forms or in certain places and it's not uncommon to vacation in these places. See, for example, Macau. That's actually not so different from here, though. I guess the question is whether a ship without a casino can be successful in the Chinese market.

 

[darnheather]

If they plan on keeping it in Asia I think it could make sense. Personally, I am not interested in cruising on a ship that big.

Exactly. Smaller ships is one of the reasons I started with DCL and stay with DCL. I have ZERO desire to be on a mega ship.

 

[iannovich]

I don't think it's a stretch to assume that the ship has a casino.

An article I read said that the Global Dream was originally intended to have a casino that spanned 1.5 decks.

 

[elsawasajedi]

Exactly. It just seems like a bunch of stereotypes are being thrown around at this point.

concur. the amount of things in this thread that get a pass is shocking to me. I got flagged for sarcasm on these boards in a different thread.

sarcasm=bad
soft racism=ok

apparently.


for me, this ship is way too big but I could see if they scrapped like a bunch of the cabins to put an actual nonkodding attraction on board (not just on the sun decks I am talking about an indoor one so it truly was like disney at sea, then I would be super geeked to try it.

 

[Jocelynaus]

I’m disappointed in some attitudes about this TBH. Would people prefer 2000 people are out do work and one of the largest ships goes to scrap metal rather than sailing because it appeals to someone other than them?

Honestly the ship looks cool: https://www.dreamcruises.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/190820_Global-Class-Flyer_EN_Preview.pdf

I read part of design for Asia was having larger staterooms for multigenerational families. The standard rooms are 20m2 (215sqf) and have a really similar layout to Disney ships.

If the rumour is true Disney will refit the furnishings and common areas for their aesthetic and usual amenities.

 

[goofy4prez]

I know I'm going to sound blunt here, but I really couldn't care less whether Disney is interested in this ship or not. I also really don't care where they put it if they were to complete the ship. If I don't care for it I'll select a different ship to go on. Case in point, I have not been on the Wish, but from what I have seen and read, I have absolutely no desire to step foot on that ship. Different strokes for different folks; and there is nothing wrong with that at all, and when it's all said and done nobody is wrong.

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

I’m disappointed in some attitudes about this TBH. Would people prefer 2000 people are out do work and one of the largest ships goes to scrap metal rather than sailing because it appeals to someone other than them?

Honestly the ship looks cool: https://www.dreamcruises.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/190820_Global-Class-Flyer_EN_Preview.pdf

I read part of design for Asia was having larger staterooms for multigenerational families. The standard rooms are 20m2 (215sqf) and have a really similar layout to Disney ships.

If the rumour is true Disney will refit the furnishings and common areas for their standard.

The description looks really nice! I think the Asian cruise ship references are only because it was intended for an Asian market. Disney could easily change the restaurants to be more American (if they wanted to). If Disney had this ship, I'd be interested if it was in destinations I would want (prefer Caribbean).

The theme park looks cool too. We are going on our first Disney Cruise next year. One thing that surprises me is that Disney does not have Disney rides on the ships (similar to the parks). They have the advanced water slides, but I think there could be more. It would drive up the costs, which is why we don't see more of it. But I think the experiences on Royal Caribbean are more attractive than DCL.

 

[Kwami]

concur. the amount of things in this thread that get a pass is shocking to me. I got flagged for sarcasm on these boards in a different thread.

sarcasm=bad
soft racism=ok

Could you please point out an example of "soft racism" in this thread? I'm having a hard time finding it.

 

[AquaDame]

Could you please point out an example of "soft racism" in this thread? I'm having a hard time finding it.

I'd prefer folks not get into it frankly - if anyone finds this please report it to us mods as it shouldn't be tolerated. At least one remark has already been removed.

 

[Cheburashka]

Personally, I am not interested in cruising on a ship that big.

That's a lot of people jostling to get into one of the ship's few hot tubs. Doesn't seem like much of a getaway with that many people onboard.

 

[AquaDame]

That's a lot of people jostling to get into one of the ship's few hot tubs. Doesn't seem like much of a getaway with that many people onboard.

Unless they add more hot tubs to spread folks out... not that I would hold my breath for that!

 

[Cheburashka]

Unless they add more hot tubs to spread folks out... not that I would hold my breath for that!

Yeah after reading about the Wish, I wouldn't expect that either.

 

[PurplePencil]

Disney usually puts a lot of effort towards keeping things under wraps (ie ports having “unnamed vessel”) so I’m a bit confused by this. I think it’s possible that Disney was discussing purchasing the theme park aspects from the ship to repurpose and use on an existing ship.

If they do end up purchasing the entire ship, I’m very curious how they plan to uphold the Disney standards of service with such a large passenger count and small crew count. Any chance they would restrict books to asian market only?

 

[BruinEd03]

Adding this ship, DCL would end up doubling their fleet from 4 to 8 ships in a very short amount of time. Would be worth a gamble since the ship has already started being built and inflation/costs have risen since the initial order from the bankrupt company. Just a matter of if they can "steal it" at a fraction of the cost.

I agree. Based on this article, it looks like scrapping a cruise ship nets between $100 to $400 per ton. At $400 per ton, and 208,000 tons, that would be approximately $83,200,000 or $83 Million. That's about all that the company can recoup for that ship. My guess is that Disney pays a fractional amount of it above it for the ship as is (e.g., $100 million), and spend another $300 million retrofitting it to Disney's standards. That would be $400 million for a ship that's already built for a very specific market. By comparison, it is likely that the Disney Wish costs at least $1 Billion.

If the Asia market is a bust, they could repurpose the ship and remove the custom-market pieces out, and use it to sail in Australia. The point being that their capital outlay, or risk, is significantly less.

 

[Kwami]

By comparison, it is likely that the Disney Wish costs at least $1 Billion.

Eh, who knows? According to this article, Royal's Oasis class ships were about $1.3-1.4 billion. The Wish is much smaller than those ships (144K tons vs. 226K tons). Still, it was probably more than $400 million.

https://www.cruisehive.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-cruise-ship/70619

 

[BruinEd03]

Eh, who knows? According to this article, Royal's Oasis class ships were about $1.3-1.4 billion. The Wish is much smaller than those ships (144K tons vs. 226K tons). Still, it was probably more than $400 million.

https://www.cruisehive.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-cruise-ship/70619

This article stated that the Disney Fantasy cost $940 million 2012. This would suggest that the wish is $1 billion+

https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/disney-wish/

 

[Intr3pid]

If they can get this (or any) ship to sail between Tokyo, Shanghai, and HK - visiting the three parks in one 7-day itinerary, we will sign up in a heartbeat!

 

[nikem3]

I agree. Based on this article, it looks like scrapping a cruise ship nets between $100 to $400 per ton. At $400 per ton, and 208,000 tons, that would be approximately $83,200,000 or $83 Million. That's about all that the company can recoup for that ship. My guess is that Disney pays a fractional amount of it above it for the ship as is (e.g., $100 million), and spend another $300 million retrofitting it to Disney's standards. That would be $400 million for a ship that's already built for a very specific market. By comparison, it is likely that the Disney Wish costs at least $1 Billion.

If the Asia market is a bust, they could repurpose the ship and remove the custom-market pieces out, and use it to sail in Australia. The point being that their capital outlay, or risk, is significantly less.

Even if its not for the Asian market, they could repurpose the ship and have a completely new design. It has the first "theme park at sea". That seems very Disney to me if you retrofit it to Disney themes. It could also drive down prices for Disney cruises by having more volume to fill. As long as it doesn't compromise the "experience", I'd love to see them buy it. I've always wanted to see what Disney could do with a larger ship and more venues to fill. Plus maybe we can finally get some larger lounges.