Azamara in New Zealand

[excitedofharpenden]

Here's a link to a news story about Quest's arrival in Port Chalmers which includes a video interview with Philip Herbert. Interestingly Philip mentioned the Journey dry dock and its cost of US$25M. Don't think I've heard any actual figure mentioned before.

 

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/370953/boutique-cruise-country-manor-style

 

Phil

[rallydave]

Here's a link to a news story about Quest's arrival in Port Chalmers which includes a video interview with Philip Herbert. Interestingly Philip mentioned the Journey dry dock and its cost of US$25M. Don't think I've heard any actual figure mentioned before.

 

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/370953/boutique-cruise-country-manor-style

 

Phil

 

Thanks for this information Phil. Personally I don't see how everything we have been seeing thanks to all of Host Andy's efforts could have been done for the $25M mentioned. Really believe the number is much higher and what isn't mentioned is the loss of revenue from the ship being out of commission for almost 2 weeks and that is millions more.

 

Whatever the actual number is it looks to be a job well done and looking forward to Quest in mid August as our first and hopefully not the last cruise with Azamara. They will NEVER satisfy the wants of everybody and sure some of what might be shortcomings to some will become wonderful additions.

[excitedofharpenden]

Thanks for this information Phil. Personally I don't see how everything we have been seeing thanks to all of Host Andy's efforts could have been done for the $25M mentioned. Really believe the number is much higher........

 

Must admit that was my first thought too. I guessed at around US$40M-50M. It doesn't look to have been done cheaply.

 

Phil

[Andy]

Hi Everyone,

 

Phil : Thank you for posting the article.

 

At first blush, I too felt that $25 million seemed low... not even taking into consderation the 2 weeks of lost revenue, as Dave mentioned. At any rate, it appears the article has since been updated, with a $38.3 million figure mentioned. To me, that makes more sense - and it's interesting to see a dollar amount in print.

[rallydave]

Great that we are all on the same page about the dollar figure and glad they updated the dollar number to a more reasonable number.

 

To put things into some sort of comparison, Regent has announced refurbs to their 3 ships 2 a bit bigger and 1 smaller than the Azamara ships at a total of $125M for a refurb of I think 8 days or so.

 

If we do a comparison, the AZ figure of 38.3 is close to a third of the Regent number however, the Regent refurb is almost 1/2 the time of AZ and don't believe the Regent refurb is anywhere near the refurb of AZ which from pictures covers almost all of the ship.

 

Have to believe Regent is way too high or perhaps Azamara is too low. Performing a parametric estimate would show that the comparison of the two lines pricing is not comparable at all. My educated guess is that Azamara is still a lower number than the actual cost however, unless the two cruise lines include the costs of the refurbs in their financial statements, we will never know the actual costs.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Another perspective: Oceania announced that they are spending $40 million to bring the old Ocean Princess up to their latest standard. It was surely in worse shape than the Azamara ships, so $38.5 million is quite believable.

[marinaro44]

Another perspective: Oceania announced that they are spending $40 million to bring the old Ocean Princess up to their latest standard. It was surely in worse shape than the Azamara ships, so $38.5 million is quite believable.

Ocean Princess is in a sorry state, I regret to say. Having spent 35 days on her last winter, I can understand why Azamara passed on acquiring her.

[Zimbo]

US$25 million = NZ$38.5 million. The article is only reflecting the cost in New Zealand Dollar equivalent.

 

Whilst US$25 million seems a small amount, the majority of the work has been cosmetic in nature.

[rallydave]

US$25 million = NZ$38.5 million. The article is only reflecting the cost in New Zealand Dollar equivalent.

 

Whilst US$25 million seems a small amount, the majority of the work has been cosmetic in nature.

 

Thanks for that great clarification Zimbo. Looking forward to meeting you on Quest in August.

 

Difficult to come to grips with your "cosmetic" comment. It appears to me from my knot hole that tearing out suites, cabins, and public areas to the bare walls then rebuilding them is much more than simply cosmetic.

 

And, assuming you are correct with the conversion to NZ dollars, and the dollars that both Regent and Oceania are performing in US dollars, the $25M is an extremely low number for the number of days in dry dock as well as just the labor which was reported at about 11,000 hours per day and don't forget, a ship in dry dock is worked on 24/7. Then add in all of the materials, carpeting, big screen TV's, etc.

 

Believe the refit is a 13 day job and dividing the $25M by 13 days is about $1.5M per day. Using the 11,000 hours per day and a fully loaded labor rate of say $75/hour brings a labor cost of $825K per day and that is only for the shipboard labor.

 

So, IMHO, either Azamara is providing a very low dollar figure or Oceania/Regent are inflating their refurb number for whatever reason. Only the head shed knows for sure.

[Zimbo]

Thanks for that great clarification Zimbo. Looking forward to meeting you on Quest in August.

 

Difficult to come to grips with your "cosmetic" comment. It appears to me from my knot hole that tearing out suites, cabins, and public areas to the bare walls then rebuilding them is much more than simply cosmetic.

 

And, assuming you are correct with the conversion to NZ dollars, and the dollars that both Regent and Oceania are performing in US dollars, the $25M is an extremely low number for the number of days in dry dock as well as just the labor which was reported at about 11,000 hours per day and don't forget, a ship in dry dock is worked on 24/7. Then add in all of the materials, carpeting, big screen TV's, etc.

 

Believe the refit is a 13 day job and dividing the $25M by 13 days is about $1.5M per day. Using the 11,000 hours per day and a fully loaded labor rate of say $75/hour brings a labor cost of $825K per day and that is only for the shipboard labor.

 

So, IMHO, either Azamara is providing a very low dollar figure or Oceania/Regent are inflating their refurb number for whatever reason. Only the head shed knows for sure.

 

Dave, you may well be right. Your maths is convincing. My knowledge of refurbishment and labour costs in that part of the world is minimal. My "cosmetic" comment was based on the fact that the majority of the work that I have seen has been renewing surfaces - floors, walls, ceiling, and some new fittings and furniture.

 

Very little has been heavy structural work, where in my limited experience significant cost is incurred. Apart from the new Spa Suites and four(?) extra verandah cabins, there has been little work to the hull and existing inner structures and layout. For example, even the new bathrooms have just involved stripping existing fittings and installing new, but no new behind-the-scenes heavy plumbing, no footprint changes etc.

 

My original thinking was $25,000 all-in cost per cabin refurbishment (averaging across cabin types), at 350 cabins would come to around $8 million. This still leaves almost $17 million for work in other areas of the ship. But perhaps this is underestimating the actual scale and nature of the work.

 

Of course, this is not based on any inside knowledge, and only what I have observed in, and deducted from, the same images everyone else has seen. I am also not detracting from what has been undertaken - am a big fan of the changes and one of the reasons we booked with Azamara.

 

We should both be in a better position to inspect the work first-hand and discuss further in August! :D