Why arent there any new Celebrity ships?

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

I already have this years cruise planned and in the early stages of planning next years.

 

Celebrity is on my list.

 

I was just looking over the fleet and wondering why Celebrity doesnt have any new ships? I know that a couple are coming soon, but why havent there been any recent additions?

 

I was wondering if RCI is so busy pumping money into the Royal Caribbean fleet that they are forgetting about their other brands?

 

What are your thoughts? :confused:

[Wayneair]

They do have two more coming on later this year. One I think is showing up in April/ MAy which will start with Bermuda and the other will start around the October/November time frame. They are smaller (but nicer) ships they aquired when RCI purchased a tour operator in Spain. They are called the Quest and the Journey. Check out the Celebrity site.

[Nancyquilts]

Interesting question. We always prefer ships a bit older so that most of the kinks are worked out. Nancy

[Drew B]

Journey and Quest are new to Celebrity, but they are not new ships. They have been around for a while sailing with a different line. Celebrity is a smaller line, period, than RCCI, Princess or Carnival. It makes selection much more difficult, as there are simply fewer options.

[dkjretired]

Journey and Quest are new to Celebrity, but they are not new ships. They have been around for a while sailing with a different line. Celebrity is a smaller line, period, than RCCI, Princess or Carnival. It makes selection much more difficult, as there are simply fewer options.

 

I do believe however that RCI neglected Celebrity for a couple of years while they were building the Voyager and Freedom class ships. Many on these boards were complaining about new ships.

[Drew B]

I just wish they'd spread them around a bit more. With 7 major ships (I'm not counting Xpedition class, which pretty much seems like a different line altogether), They could cover some different regions. It's kind of distressing that for 1/3 to 1/2 of the year (Summer into Fall) they have three ships in Alaska and four ships in Europe. Where's the variety? The ships are spread around much better in Winter/Spring, but it's not always as easy to get time off work then...

 

I'm looking forward to the Solstice-class ships for the variety, and while I'm afraid that they'll continue to load up those regions (Europe and Alaska), they'll hopefully at least move a couple of the C-Class ships and perhaps one M-Class ship to other areas.

[Rev22:17]

Ron,

 

I already have this years cruise planned and in the early stages of planning next years.

 

Celebrity is on my list.

 

I was just looking over the fleet and wondering why Celebrity doesnt have any new ships? I know that a couple are coming soon, but why havent there been any recent additions?

 

I was wondering if RCI is so busy pumping money into the Royal Caribbean fleet that they are forgetting about their other brands?

 

What are your thoughts? :confused:

 

Celebrity's Millennium class is still relatively new.

 

That said, there was a general apprehension in the cruise industry about the ability to fill more cruise capacity in the wake of the "9/11" attack. As a result of that uncertainty, most cruise lines deferred plans to order new vessels. Celebrity seems to have taken a bit longer than some other lines to place new orders in the wake of those events, but probably because the line was evaluating in which direction to move and considering new options rather than due to any slighting on the part of the parent (holding) company. Indeed, as a "premium" line, Celebrity generates far more profit than its sister lines on a "per passenger" basis so the financial incentive to grow Celebrity is very strong indeed.

 

Norm.

[jezzdogg]

With 3 new ships coming out in 2008-9-10 I would not be at all surprised if one is not permantly based in Europe.

RCCL just announced that the new ship for 2008 Independence(freedom class) home port would be Southhampton

Seems the carribbean is very soft and new home ports are being looked at

[Budwheat]

We just returned from one of the last planned cruises of the Zenith. We actually anchored next to one of the two "new", smaller ships, for which the Zenith will be traded ( I belive that was in Puerto Limon). The explanation from some crew members was that the smaller ships were a bit newer, had a much higher "luxury" level, and would operate more profitably for the line, even with smaller passenger loads than the Zenith.

 

We were told the Zenith, which needs some upgrading, will revert to the NY-Bermuda/Eastern Carib. run for the next several months, after which it will go to the Spanish line, and serve the Mediterrainan.

 

I do not know how accurate that prognostication is, though. ;)

[jessemon]

I already have this years cruise planned and in the early stages of planning next years.

 

Celebrity is on my list.

 

I was just looking over the fleet and wondering why Celebrity doesnt have any new ships? I know that a couple are coming soon' date=' but why havent there been any recent additions?

 

I was wondering if RCI is so busy pumping money into the Royal Caribbean fleet that they are forgetting about their other brands?

 

What are your thoughts? :confused:[/quote']Do you mean that the 4 they introduced in the last 6 years aren't new enough for you....

Wow...:eek:

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

Do you mean that the 4 they introduced in the last 6 years aren't new enough for you....

Wow...:eek:

 

Well let's see.

 

Zenith: 4-4-1992

Century: 12-20-1995

Galaxy: 12-21-1996

Mercury: 11-2-1997

Constellation: 5-12-2002

Infinity: 3-3-2001

Millennium: 6-17-2000

Summit: 10-01-2001

Xpedition: 1-1-2001

Journey: 5-1-2000

Quest: 11-1-2000

 

 

I guess my point here would be that the ships may be new to the Celebrity fleet, but they aren't NEW BUILDS.

 

RCI doesnt have a problem building these huge ships costing all kinds of money. Why arent they doing the same for Celebrity?

 

As far as the 9-11 argument, that may have been true at first, but it is almost 6 years later and it sure didnt make a difference to RCI or the other major lines. (You dont work at the White House do you?) JUST KIDDING. :D

 

There is nothing wrong with older ships. I was just wondering why the parent company isnt putting more money into new builds.

[Susan-M]

There is nothing wrong with older ships. I was just wondering why the parent company isnt putting more money into new builds.

 

I'm glad that they've chosen smaller ships for their last 3 acquistions .... it's such a nice experience compared to large ship cruising.

 

Xpedition was beautiful when we were on her this past November - it had just undergone decorating (carpet & upholstery) upgrades, and with the overhauls that they are doing on Quest and Journey, they will probably look like brand new ships.

 

Based on comments that I've read here, it seems that a lot of people are quite enthused about Journey and Quest.

[Rev22:17]

jezzdogg,

 

With 3 new ships coming out in 2008-9-10 I would not be at all surprised if one is not permantly based in Europe.

RCCL just announced that the new ship for 2008 Independence(freedom class) home port would be Southhampton

Seems the carribbean is very soft and new home ports are being looked at

 

By way of clarification of widely misused terminology, a ship's "home port" is the port of its registry. It's usually painted directly below the ship's name in the center of the stern. The home port of all Celebrity ships except MY Celebrity Xpedition and possibly MV Zenith is Nassau, Bahamas. IIRC, Nassau is also the home port of most of the Royal Caribbean fleet.

 

Note that very few ships actually operate from their home ports.

 

Norm.

[skwir]

The are two new builds in the works, the Solsace and Equinox. First one is due out in late 08

[dkjretired]

All of your points are right on target. The NEW BUILDS will not be on line for several years. From what I have observed on Celebrity ships and have read on these boards the money is not going to maintenance of the current fleet. The "new" pricing on these new ships may well spell the end for us old time X cruisers. As you said "very few companies still continue to use the 9-11 argument".

 

Although I believe RCI waited too long to order new ships, apparently you haven't been reading the various comments on these boards. Celebrity recently spent millions of dollars to redo completely the Century. The same is being done for Mercury and Galaxy and has been an ongoing work in progress. They are also spending millions of dollar to replace all the bedding. Just out of curiosity as a new poster why are all your posts negative about Celebrity right off the bat. It sounds very familiar to me.

 

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/celebrity/General_info/Flyers/07007006_MR_Refurbishment.pdf

 

Just as a correction on one of the above post, there are three new builds in the works..

[Susan-M]

It sounds very familiar to me.

 

 

That's because they are .... and you and I, along with quite a few others know why ;)

[carole47]

Also, after the Mercury leaves for Australia there won't be a Celebrity ship in So. California.

[Rev22:17]

skwir,

 

The are two new builds in the works' date=' the Solsace and Equinox. First one is due out in late 08[/quote']

 

Make that three. The third ship of the Solstice class will bear the name Eclipse, and will enter service in 2010.

 

Norm.