Carnival Mega Ships ?

[southbayer]

Ok, first of all, I am not bashing Carnival. But I'm curious as to why they are not building the mega ships that it's competitor Royal Caribbean keeps pumping out ? Is there a stragedy that I'm missing here on Carnival's part ??

[Wennfred]

Ok, first of all, I am not bashing Carnival. But I'm curious as to why they are not building the mega ships that it's competitor Royal Caribbean keeps pumping out ? Is there a stragedy that I'm missing here on Carnival's part ??

 

Im thinking that Service will drop with that amount of people onboard.

[mrdood]

Ok, first of all, I am not bashing Carnival. But I'm curious as to why they are not building the mega ships that it's competitor Royal Caribbean keeps pumping out ? Is there a stragedy that I'm missing here on Carnival's part ??

 

What would you define as "mega" the LOS and FOS are not quite 20% larger than Liberty class... The new one at 160,000 tons will be 1.5 times larger than Liberty class - that is significant, but that is not built yet.

 

Personally I think it is a good business decision to keep making the popular size they are currently focused on, and wait and see what happens. There are some issues on how embarkation and debarkation will be handled for 5,000 passengers, Carnival's current terminals in Miami for example, can barely handle 3,000...

[CruiseCentric]

Here is how the Mikster feels.

 

http://blog.lipcon.com/2007/02/carnival_ceo_says_cruise_indus.html

 

 

 

"As we're adding ships of such big size, we're putting a lot of strain on that and we have to work with destinations and invest in destination to develop that infrastructure," Arison said.

 

 

Along with the infrastructure issue is the trend of building huge "superliners" led by Royal Caribbean, which currently has the largest cruise ship ever built, the 160,000-ton Freedom of the Seas. Royal Caribbean also has announced plans to build a 220,000-ton ship for $1.24 billion.

Carnival will present its new 110,000-ton ship Carnival Freedom on March 4 in Italy and has exercised its option for a 130,000-ton vessel. However, Arison seems content to let his main cruise competitor own the world's largest cruise ship.

 

 

"The reality is that we're looking to build the right products for our brands," Arison said. "There comes a time where there's so many inherent issues with size, flexibility, strain on infrastructure, we're putting a lot of strain on ports of call."

[CorbinCatFan]

I can't imagine tendering off of a 5,000 passenger ship.:confused:

[caribbean dreams]

I can't imagine tendering off of a 5,000 passenger ship.:confused:

 

And the larger the ship, the more you will have to be tendered in to the ports.

[JudyKa]

I can't imagine tendering off of a 5,000 passenger ship.:confused:

 

Me neither! Whew! What chaos that would be....

 

Really, I'm not saying this to act like the typical Carnival groupie; but sincerely I have NO desire to cruise on a ship that hugely populated. Sounds like chaos to me. Of course, that's just my preference now. As a young adult I just HAD to take my vacations where the crowds were.....not anymore! Now I look for uncomplicated calm and serenity. Can't imagine finding that on a close to 5,000 passenger ship....whew!

[Cruising89143]

Im thinking that Service will drop with that amount of people onboard.

 

There's not much difference now with Carnival's Conquest class and RCI's Freedom class as far as passengers. Carnival Freedom holds 2974 passengers double occupency and Liberty of the Seas holds 3634 passengers at double occupency. It depends on how many passengers the cruise lines want to place on their ships. Carnival has a much lower passenger to space ratio than it's competitors. The Liberty of the Seas is a good bit larger in size but only carries 660 more passengers.

[Cruising89143]

And the larger the ship, the more you will have to be tendered in to the ports.

 

 

The new Genesis class ships will be able to dock at any of the current islands the Freedom and Liberty of the Seas are using at this time. Also Richard Fain recently stated that by the time the Genesis enters service, Labadee will have a pier for the ship to dock. I don't see Genesis using any ports that require tendering.

[pacerzfan]

Quote:

"Personally I think it is a good business decision to keep making the popular size they are currently focused on, and wait and see what happens. There are some issues on how embarkation and debarkation will be handled for 5,000 passengers, Carnival's current terminals in Miami for example, can barely handle 3,000..."

Just what he said.......

[nothomeonacruise]

What's wrong with being a Carnival groupie?:D

[JudyKa]

What's wrong with being a Carnival groupie?:D

 

LOL.....nothing really at all. I just figured I would get a little buzz from that.....LOL!

[PA Dutchman]

Bigger is not always better. More people to embark and more to disembark. Look at the problems you can have now. Ports can't handle all the people with a few ships that would have 4 or 5 thousand more people. I'll stay with the size they have now. 5000 people tendering wow that will be fun.

[bakechef]

I was actually amazed when cruising the RCI voyager on how they handled the volume of people.

 

My biggest problem was that the ship was just huge, we had a very forward cabin, and it seemed to take forever to return to the cabin for something you forgot. The ship was beautiful, and amazing, but for me too big.

 

I am one who will not be running to cruise the genesis class or even the freedom class.

 

MAC

[pholter]

Can you imagine the airports now??? It's already too much for me going through Miami and San Juan, but imagine the cruise ships carrying another 2000 passengers each- nope, not for me.

 

I love the Destiny Class- the first of the mega liners and I'll stay with that as long as I can.

[DqALEX]

I can't imagine tendering off of a 5,000 passenger ship.:confused:

Thats when being Platinum will really help

[bigphilky]

I am sucker for the "BIG"! I am very much partial to Carnival never had a bad cruise! However the FOS & LOS intrigue me! would like to go just to say I have been. after watching the travel channel program about the FOS I thnk I would like to go. BTW Disney is building 2 120,000 ton ships. I am sure this is old news to the old CC members. I was excited to hear this because I am a Disney Vacation Club Member and I can use my membership points for cruises also! Can't December get here any sooner?