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World's biggest cruise ship being scuttled before launch


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https://www.dailywire.com/news/see-it-biggest-cruise-ship-ever-built-could-be-scuttled-before-it-ever-sails?utm_source=wnd&utm_medium=wnd&utm_campaign=syndicated

Can't figure out who would invest in a $1.8B supership with no home.    Its a 9,000 passenger super ship that's almost complete with no place to go but scrap!

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The problem is the ship is fully designed and includes a layout that the original buyer planned.  You can't gut a ship and remove walls like in commercial buildings on land.  The entire ship is engineered based on the original design.  Modifying that in any way requires re-engineering the whole design as it impacts weight and balance which can impact ship handling and stability.  For example you can't gut an empty space in the middle and create a promenade where the space didn't exist already.  

For this reason not many companies look at this as an option.  The exception is NCL.  NCL has used this strategy to acquire ships at a fraction of the cost.  This explains the inconsistency across their fleet and something that drives some loyal guests bonkers.   

An acquisition in this scenario is right from NCL's playbook but they are in terrible financial shape right now.  I'm sure they tried to find a borrower to loan them more money for the acquisition so I'm guessing they couldn't find anyone willing to float them the money or it would be already announced.

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How about considering just the logistics.  How many ports can accept a ship that large? I don't know anything about the layout but it could also be just too crowded. I know a lot of people live in very large cities but many people really don't enjoy such crowds.

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It's interesting how the specs of the ships has been changed over time.

When first announced at 201,000 GT that grew to 208,000 GT but the cabin count remained around 2,500.  At double occupancy original specs called for 5,000 passengers.

https://www.offshore-energy.biz/mv-werften-starts-construction-of-1st-global-class-ship/

Somewhere along the way that grew to 9,500 passengers but still only 2,503 cabins.  That yields an average of 3.8 guest per cabin.  

https://www.mv-werften.com/de/news-und-presse/news/mv-werften-beginnt-bau-des-zweiten-kreuzfahrtschiffes-der-global-class.html

It was very bold of them to assume they could consistently fill the ship with 3 and 4 guests per cabin.  

At 208,000 GT they were to have less space compared to Oasis class, 12% smaller than Wonder, yet 2,500 more guests in that smaller space.  More of the internal space was to be allocated to casinos.  

These ships were designed specifically for China.  Between the cabin capacity and the space allocated to casinos it would be hard to imagine them successful in a role other than casino cruises.  The ships weren't designed to be destinations themselves as the west understand that concept or to visit destinations in the vacation market.  They were designed to be massive floating casinos where the casino was the destination.  

I have a hard time imaging any mass market cruise line finding a place in the fleet for such vessels. 

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20 hours ago, twangster said:

It's interesting how the specs of the ships has been changed over time.

When first announced at 201,000 GT that grew to 208,000 GT but the cabin count remained around 2,500.  At double occupancy original specs called for 5,000 passengers.

https://www.offshore-energy.biz/mv-werften-starts-construction-of-1st-global-class-ship/

Somewhere along the way that grew to 9,500 passengers but still only 2,503 cabins.  That yields an average of 3.8 guest per cabin.  

https://www.mv-werften.com/de/news-und-presse/news/mv-werften-beginnt-bau-des-zweiten-kreuzfahrtschiffes-der-global-class.html

It was very bold of them to assume they could consistently fill the ship with 3 and 4 guests per cabin.  

At 208,000 GT they were to have less space compared to Oasis class, 12% smaller than Wonder, yet 2,500 more guests in that smaller space.  More of the internal space was to be allocated to casinos.  

These ships were designed specifically for China.  Between the cabin capacity and the space allocated to casinos it would be hard to imagine them successful in a role other than casino cruises.  The ships weren't designed to be destinations themselves as the west understand that concept or to visit destinations in the vacation market.  They were designed to be massive floating casinos where the casino was the destination.  

I have a hard time imaging any mass market cruise line finding a place in the fleet for such vessels. 

Birthing is part of the load, but they also have to accommodate "life raft" space for 9000+ - as well as all the other "hotel infrastructure" for that bump.

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  • 4 months later...

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