As far as I am concerned, you can't have too many Celebrity ships.
TM
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CRUISES
Century 4/1998
Mercury 4/2000+4/2006+7/2007
Sensation 4/2002
Infinity 4/2003
Summit 4/2004+4/2005
Carnival Liberty New Year's Eve 2007
Liberty of the Seas 5/2008+11/2009
Solstice 4/2009
Oasis 4/2010
Allure 1/16/ 2011
Equinox 4/11/2011
They already have 2 more under construction - they are upgrading the millennoum-class to "solsticize" them. I doubt they will build two more now but it is possible.
This is the "Solstice-class" at first I thought you meant Holland America who has a real S-class.
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I am the editor, but I also speculate, ask questions and play devil's advocate. I reserve the right to change my mind.
They already have 2 more under construction - they are upgrading the millennoum-class to "solsticize" them. I doubt they will build two more now but it is possible.
This is the "Solstice-class" at first I thought you meant Holland America who has a real S-class.
This rumor is two additional S class ships to make it a total of 7.....
Just back from a short cruise on Eclipse, this was by far the very best cruise experience we have had....ship, staff, food, entertainment...everything was better than anything we have done since our last cruise on =X=!!
If they really considering that then my guess is that they may have a new idea for the Millennium class - maybe moving them to Europe for another cruise line.
But I tend to doubt this rumor right now -- they need to pay off the ships they have!! Not saying I couldn't be wrong, though.
__________________
I am the editor, but I also speculate, ask questions and play devil's advocate. I reserve the right to change my mind.
Does anyone wonder what the limit for the number of passengers a region can cope with? selfishly I am referring to the UK in general & Southampton in particular, we can have about 10+ ships a week, up to five a day, tens of thousands of people coming & going every day....I wonder where they all are coming from!
Does anyone wonder what the limit for the number of passengers a region can cope with? selfishly I am referring to the UK in general & Southampton in particular, we can have about 10+ ships a week, up to five a day, tens of thousands of people coming & going every day....I wonder where they all are coming from!
The real questions are (1) how many passengers the sightseeing companies that operate shore excursions in ports of call and airport transfers in turnaround ports can handle and (2) how many passengers the available flights into and out of the airports that serve the turnaround ports can handle. The port of Charlotte Amalie, on St. Thomas in the U. S. Virgin Islands, now has enough pier space to dock about a dozen ships per day, and the largest cruise ships in the world routinely call there.
Note, also, that many of the cruise lines arrange charter flights on turnaround day to increase capacity beyond that of regularly scheduled commercial flights.
BTW, Southampton is probably one of the least constrained turnaround ports because there's an aboundance of scheduled commercial flights into both Heathrow and Gatwick from both North America and the continent.
Hmmm ...Most of my cruises have been out of Southampton, & I would say that they have been almost 100% British passengers, this is why I wonder where all these passengers are coming from especially with Azura now requiring almost 3,000 people a trip.
If they really considering that then my guess is that they may have a new idea for the Millennium class - maybe moving them to Europe for another cruise line.
But I tend to doubt this rumor right now -- they need to pay off the ships they have!! Not saying I couldn't be wrong, though.
Paul:
I tend to doubt the rumor right now however I'll throw another element into the conversation. A well respected Cruise Director on Azamara made an announcement on a cruise that Azamara was building two new ships. Maybe the rumors are all getting mixed up. I tend to not believe the Azamara rumor since they can't even fill their current ships...
While on Equinox last January I also heard that Celebrity was planning a couple more S-class ships. In evolution it's grow or die. Now that Mercury is gone and TUI planning for a third ship (my beloved Century) I think X will attempt to expand. Azamara is following the Dodo. If it could not attract Celebrity cruisers to move sideways, it won't by increasing costs and cutting transferable perks and status...
While on Equinox last January I also heard that Celebrity was planning a couple more S-class ships.
That's correct. Celebrity has two more ships of the Celebrity Solstice class on order. The fourth vessel of the class, to be named Celebrity Silouette, will enter service in the spring of 2011. The fifth, as yet unnamed, will enter service in 2012.
Quote:
Originally Posted by You
In evolution it's grow or die. Now that Mercury is gone and TUI planning for a third ship (my beloved Century) I think X will attempt to expand.
There's no doubt that Celebrity will order more ships. The question is when.
At the shareholder's meeting last week, Mr. Fain responded to a question about returns to investors (either through resumption of dividends or through share buybacks) by saying that the company's most immediate priority is to restore its bond rating to investment grade. He went on to explain that the drop in revenues last year had caused certain ratios used by the bond rating services to drop below thresholds, triggering a lowering of the company's bond rating below investment grade. He added that the lower bond rating had not yet affected the terms under which the company could borrow money to finance purchases of new ships, but he expressed very clear concern that failure to fix the problem ASAP would have such an impact in the future. He left no doubt that fixing this problem is his most urgent priority.
So realistically, I think that additional orders of more vessels probably are at least a year or two away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by You
Azamara is following the Dodo. If it could not attract Celebrity cruisers to move sideways, it won't by increasing costs and cutting transferable perks and status...
Azamara Club apparently is doing quite well, thank you, by drawing passengers from luxury lines like Crystal, Seaborne, and Silversea, mostly through word of mouth. The most recent changes to the company's product, like including beverages and gratuities in the cruise fare, are fully consistent with catering to the luxury segment of the market.
I'm sure that Azamara Club will order some new vessels. Again, the right question is when. This probably will depend, to some extent, on the time required to "fine tune" the concept for the clientel that it is drawing, which may take another year or two.
What is the result? Fantastic. Of course word of mouth takes time, but because the changes are all in place we can already gauge the results and our guests are giving us far higher ratings than we ever had before. In a recent survey Azamara registered the biggest increase in satisfaction ratings of any cruise line, and we rated nearly at the top of all cruise lines for satisfaction; where 300 is perfect we hit 288 to 291.
My take: Azamara Club has moved up to the "luxury" segment of the market, and now appears to be well positioned for growth going forward.
The Mercury is going to TUI - announcement has been made.
All M class ships will be Solsticized with the first one already done. To date, there are no new S class ship scheduled after the Silhouette is finished.
This is from Seminars I attended last week on the Solstice. Also, all Solstice class will be in Europe for the 2012 season as the Solstice is just not selling well enough to stay in the Caribbean.
__________________ 266 days at sea so far with many more to come. (Actually more - one of these days I'll count them properly.)
Radiance of the Seas - April 22/12 - Hawaii to Vancouver
41 cruises - too many to list however cruiselines are in no particular order:
Azamara
Uniworld
RCL
Princess
NCL
HAL
Cunard
Celebrity
and some unknown tub
The Mercury is going to TUI - announcement has been made.
All M class ships will be Solsticized with the first one already done. To date, there are no new S class ship scheduled after the Silhouette is finished.
This is from Seminars I attended last week on the Solstice. Also, all Solstice class will be in Europe for the 2012 season as the Solstice is just not selling well enough to stay in the Caribbean.
A fifth ship is going to be built once Silhouette is finished. There have been press releases from both Meyer/Werft and Celebrity as well as numerous references to it by Celebrity execs....
A fifth ship is going to be built once Silhouette is finished. There have been press releases from both Meyer/Werft and Celebrity as well as numerous references to it by Celebrity execs....
Nothing has been signed yet. I love this class of ship and would have no problem if that was all they built but it wasn't the info given to me last week.
__________________ 266 days at sea so far with many more to come. (Actually more - one of these days I'll count them properly.)
Radiance of the Seas - April 22/12 - Hawaii to Vancouver
41 cruises - too many to list however cruiselines are in no particular order:
Azamara
Uniworld
RCL
Princess
NCL
HAL
Cunard
Celebrity
and some unknown tub
Nothing has been signed yet. I love this class of ship and would have no problem if that was all they built but it wasn't the info given to me last week.
Apparently something was signed as per the below press release...
To date, there are no new S class ship scheduled after the Silhouette is finished.
I don't know where you are getting this, but it is not current. The [url=http://www.rclinvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=103045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1417841&highlight=press release announcing the most crent delivery[/url] contained the following.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Press Release
Celebrity's fleet currently consists of 10 ships. Its $3.7-billion investment in building five stylish Solstice Class ships between 2008-2012 represents the largest newbuild commitment for a single brand in industry history.
MV (GTS?) Celebrity Silouette will be the fourth ship of the Celebrity Solstice class, so there's one more after her.
I don't know where you are getting this, but it is not current. The [url=http://www.rclinvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=103045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1417841&highlight=press release announcing the most crent delivery[/url] contained the following.
MV (GTS?) Celebrity Silouette will be the fourth ship of the Celebrity Solstice class, so there's one more after her.
Norm.
And did you read my post abov this?
__________________ 266 days at sea so far with many more to come. (Actually more - one of these days I'll count them properly.)
Radiance of the Seas - April 22/12 - Hawaii to Vancouver
41 cruises - too many to list however cruiselines are in no particular order:
Azamara
Uniworld
RCL
Princess
NCL
HAL
Cunard
Celebrity
and some unknown tub
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