New Princess Ships

[Roses2]

Carnival is a publically held company and as such must show a profit to its investors.

 

When evaluating building new cruise ships the economic principle of economy of scale applies. That is the reason behind the development of the new class of giant ships carrying 3000-5000 passengers.

 

There certainly is room for the niche lines in the luxury class. However, Princess is a main stream line competing with HAL within the Carnival group and RCL on the outside. Ergo: look at the competition and they are going BIG.

 

It probably does not make good sense for Princess to order new smaller ships. They now have 3 R-class and 2 Panamax.

 

It is the business of Company management to maximize return to the stockholders or the stockholders get new management.

[chasetf]

.......It probably does not make good sense for Princess to order new smaller ships. They now have 3 R-class and 2 Panamax.

Minor point..... They now have 3 R-class and 5 Panamax (Coral / Island / Dawn / Sea / Sun)

[spongerob]

When evaluating building new cruise ships the economic principle of economy of scale applies. That is the reason behind the development of the new class of giant ships carrying 3000-5000 passengers.

I disagree with this point. Large ships might make a lot of sense from an operational point of view, but are limited in the areas that they can cruise due to restrictions with port facilities, on-shore logistics, etc. Princess attempted to be the leader in the Caribbean (I think they said they would "own" the Caribbean a few years ago) and look what's happened. They have eliminated summer sailings entirely, after building a class of ship originally intended to remain in the Caribbean year-round.

 

Conversely, the smaller ships typically sail full, book well in advance on many itineraries, and cabins sell at a premium compared to larger ships.

 

The mistake with the bigger ships is that they are geared towards satisfying one metric only - market share. Lower per diems mean that costs must be contained, so we see higher passenger/crew ratios, more added fees, and overall a reduction in service.

 

The ships that consistently get good ratings and have loyal followings tend to be on the smaller side. Satisfied customers generally translates into satisfied stockholders.

[jff50]

Minor point..... They now have 3 R-class and 5 Panamax (Coral / Island / Dawn / Sea / Sun)

I don't believe that Dawn, Sea and Sun are Panamax ships. Panamax works out to about 92,000 tons. Dawn, Sea and Sun are about 77,000 tons. While those 3 ships will fit through the canal, Panamax means that a ship is the maximum size that will fit through the canal. Coral and Island are panamax.

[DanJ]

The Sun class are a good 100 feet shorter than Panamax (about 965 feet is the longest a ship can be, by 105 feet wide).

[gopher's girl]

I would enjoy seeing a ship that's like a Caribbean "lite" - same range of amenities (also looking at the amenities of the Crown and Emerald) - while holding fewer passengers, at least in such a way that the ship seems more intimate. I do realize from a financial standpoint this is not the most cost-effective, but when you think about how many people on these boards (and we're only a fraction of cruisers) really enjoy the smaller ships and continue to cruise on the larger ones to obtain as many choices as possible, it seems like a good mix.

 

I am certainly interested in the next steps the cruising industry takes.

[Roses2]

We too love the smaller ships and had a wonderful cruise on the Royal Princess this year.

 

However, I believe that the ex-R ships (Princess, Oceana, Azmara) and the few other cruise ships that carry 700-1200 passengers are a true niche market.

 

Other than the ex-R class ships, many of the other smaller and older ships are being phased out of the market that caters to mainly American/Canadian passengers and are being transferred to other markets.

 

Even the luxury cruise lines new-builds are significantly larger than their current ships.

 

Scanning what is currently being built and what has been announced for the future, it appears that management of the cruise industry is opting to build large ships for the future.

 

They are the professionals we are the clients for their product. We may like the smaller ships, but the shareholders want return for their investments.

[marinearchit]

I wouldn't be suprised if Princess were to get at least ONE Vista-class ship at some point. That seems to be a popular design at the moment.

 

Then again, I also wouldn't be suprised to see Princess get a new class of ship that carries around 4,000+ passengers. A new class is also what I'm hopeing Princess gets.

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

I dont think we will see any sisters to existing designs. While that would be great, sometimes a change is in order. Although some say, if its not broke, dont fix it? Right? I think well see a different class, slightly larger than the Grand Class at about 130,000-140,000 tons. I dont think Princess wants to fall behind the other competitors.

[DanJ]

I would enjoy seeing a ship that's like a Caribbean "lite" - same range of amenities (also looking at the amenities of the Crown and Emerald) - while holding fewer passengers' date=' at least in such a way that the ship seems more intimate. [/quote']

 

 

They have that already. They're called the Grand, Golden, Star, Diamond and Sapphire.