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Ships to replace fantasy Class

amscene1

By amscene1,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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amscene1

amscene1

Posted
Posted

It looks like the 2.0 enhancements Have been green lighted for the fantasy class ships Elation and paridise only. One of two reasons I believe. 1. They are the two newest of the class 2. They are the only two that are fitted with the newer Azipod propulsion system. That being said, carnival has to be thinking of replacing the remaining 6 ships. (Fantasy, extasy, sensation, fascination, inspiration and imagination)

 

The former holiday class ships sailed 18, 21 and 24 years with carnival and the fantasy will be pushing 23 next year and the 5 others are right behind it. If I had to bet, I'm sure there is some big news coming soon about the future of these ships.

 

Don't get me wrong I have sailed imagination 7 times and it is one of my favorite ships. But I think that carnival has to do something here as this class ages. Any body else's thoughts or comments will be well appretiated!

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firefly333

firefly333

Posted
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I think you forgot one big thing .. these two fantasy class ships were on the west coast when the others got waterworks .. and these two only did not get waterworks so they will be the first two who get 2.0.

 

Why in the world would carnival put balconys on four of these fantasy class ships and waterworks recently .. and then get rid of them??

 

Your post makes no sense logically to me that carnival spent all that money on balconys and waterworks to get rid of them.

 

PS Ecstasy got both waterworks and the balconys added on and its the 2nd oldest .. to further blow your theory about these older ships. That probably cost more than the 2.0 add on of a bunch of bars.

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DanJ

DanJ

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I don't think you can just look back at a class of ship and say that because those were gone by a certain age that that age will be the approx lifespan of the rest of the fleet. By that measure the 16 year old Destiny should just be gliding through it's golden years instead of about to be ripped apart and dramtically changed.

 

The Tropicale, Jubilee, Celebration and Holiday simply were too small a group of ships to be able to generate good profits. Not to mention not having a big enough footprint to offer the amenities that people expect now. The Fantasy class are at least big enough to be able to add new things and still carry enough people to pay for it.

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MrFunInTheSun

MrFunInTheSun

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I don't think you can just look back at a class of ship and say that because those were gone by a certain age that that age will be the approx lifespan of the rest of the fleet. By that measure the 16 year old Destiny should just be gliding through it's golden years instead of about to be ripped apart and dramtically changed.

 

The Tropicale, Jubilee, Celebration and Holiday simply were too small a group of ships to be able to generate good profits. Not to mention not having a big enough footprint to offer the amenities that people expect now. The Fantasy class are at least big enough to be able to add new things and still carry enough people to pay for it.

 

Agree with this post and fireflys.

 

Also the Fantasy class is the perfect size ship to be able to depart from small ports and visit more of the islands that the mega ships have more difficulties visiting.

 

It makes sense for them to place those upgrades on those ships and "Modernize" them more so, as they "logistically" easier to be cash kings for Carnival.

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kingoftheicedragons

kingoftheicedragons

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I don't think Carnival is going to replace the Fantasy class ships anytime soon. They will definitely keep them around while the economy isn't as robust as it used to be--and as they contemplate the future of cruising.

 

Smaller ships are great for some ports. The question they are likely facing is--do they want to spend the money to build new small ships (when the trend is for larger ships) for these small ports or just refurbish what they have. I'm sure the hope is for ports to spend money to accommodate larger ships, but even if they do, that takes time and money on the part of the ports. So I think Carnival is trying to stretch the life of the smaller ships to extend to when more ports can handle the larger ships and/or see if the larger ships are as profitable as they'd like before committing to spending the amount of money it takes to build any ship.

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tef43

tef43

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That being said, carnival has to be thinking of replacing the remaining 6 ships.
Not going to happen anytime soon. As previously noted, Carnival has no new ships on order and the two ships designated for 2.0 were the only ones to *not* receive the EOF upgrades.

 

The Fantasy-class are our favorite ships.

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jcearth

jcearth

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The Fascination is getting some of the 2.0 upgrades when it goes into drydock in January:

 

Punchliner Brunch

Taste Bar

Hasbro, the Game Show

DJ Irie

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

Red Frog Rum Bar

 

This comes directly from Carnival's website -- I would imagine that more of the Fantasy class ships are going to receive the upgrades as well.

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fridaythe13th

fridaythe13th

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I'm amazed how much all of you know about these things! All I ever care about is the itinerary and a "larger" ship. I wouldn't be able to keep things straight as to what a ship had and what they have now. WOW.... :D

 

So..... why are they renaming the Destiny? That's something I do remember because our first cruise was on the Destiny. Are they keeping the swim-up bar? Maybe I'll have to check it out.

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Rottweiler Puppy

Rottweiler Puppy

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Don't get me wrong I have sailed imagination 7 times and it is one of my favorite ships. But I think that carnival has to do something here as this class ages. Any body else's thoughts or comments will be well appretiated!

 

As long as they have no problems filling those ships, they will be around for a while longer. Once they have a hard time filling them I am sure they will look to newer options.

 

They recently had FL resident at $149 for an inside on the Imagniation. Those rates alone can keep it filled with Fl residents and the occasional tourist

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legion3

legion3

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All ships eventually have a finite cost effective cruising life. Like all machines they wear down and can be refurbed only so much. Once a ship no longer can no longer make profit the parent company moves on. Sometimes the ship gets reused by another company but like most things they struggle to keep working and have issues.

 

Few ships cruise beyond 25-30 years with their original companies. The economy will likelyeffect the fantasy class ships thus allowing them a little more sailing time.

 

Some of the most famous long service ships

Mauretania 1907-1935

Olympic 1911-1934

Queen Mary 1936-1967

 

Of course shipbuilding and materials have changed but ... what is the oldest cruise liner still with its original company? The fantasy? Probably. I know some of the older cruise ships like the nordic prince and cunard countess still sail under new flags. Thus they are going on 40 years.

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mitsguy2001

mitsguy2001

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Posted
I'm amazed how much all of you know about these things! All I ever care about is the itinerary and a "larger" ship. I wouldn't be able to keep things straight as to what a ship had and what they have now. WOW.... :D

 

So..... why are they renaming the Destiny? That's something I do remember because our first cruise was on the Destiny.

 

They are making extensive changes to the Destiny, and changing the name to the Sunshine. If you do a search on Sunshine, you'll find many threads about it, including a deck by deck comparison. Unfortunately, they seem to be removing a lot of public venues and replacing them with more staterooms.

 

Are they keeping the swim-up bar? Maybe I'll have to check it out.

 

I've never been on the Destiny. But based on posts here, the swim-up bar is long gone.

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zgwortz

zgwortz

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So..... why are they renaming the Destiny? That's something I do remember because our first cruise was on the Destiny. Are they keeping the swim-up bar? Maybe I'll have to check it out.

 

It's all marketing. The Destiny name is burdened by a legacy of mixed reviews. Since the remake on the Destiny is *so* extensive, I think they decided to rename it to give the ship a marketing boost, positioning it as a "new" ship and starting over with a more or less clean slate.

 

(It really is a pretty big rework -- although I'm skeptical about some of the changes. And no, the swim up bar isn't on the deck plans for the Sunshine.),

 

And if the changes go over well, they can redo the Triumph and Victory the same way and rename those as well as part of the new "Sunshine" class ships.

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glrounds

glrounds

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All ships eventually have a finite cost effective cruising life. Like all machines they wear down and can be refurbed only so much. Once a ship no longer can no longer make profit the parent company moves on. Sometimes the ship gets reused by another company but like most things they struggle to keep working and have issues.

 

Few ships cruise beyond 25-30 years with their original companies. The economy will likelyeffect the fantasy class ships thus allowing them a little more sailing time.

 

Some of the most famous long service ships

Mauretania 1907-1935

Olympic 1911-1934

Queen Mary 1936-1967

 

Of course shipbuilding and materials have changed but ... what is the oldest cruise liner still with its original company? The fantasy? Probably. I know some of the older cruise ships like the nordic prince and cunard countess still sail under new flags. Thus they are going on 40 years.

 

Excellent post. I agree COMPLETELY. The comments about the economy running the show these days is exactly the reason they are REFURBING older ships rather than selling them and building newer ones.

 

The number of ports is essentially the same and will remain so. The only way to INCREASE participation in cruising for the cruiselines is to BUILD BIGGER SHIPS. But the controlling factor RIGHT NOW is the HIGH COST of NEW SHIPS with a temporary decline in DEMAND causing the lower cabin pricing we see today.

 

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kingoftheicedragons

kingoftheicedragons

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The Fascination is getting some of the 2.0 upgrades when it goes into drydock in January:

 

Punchliner Brunch

Taste Bar

Hasbro, the Game Show

DJ Irie

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

Red Frog Rum Bar

 

This comes directly from Carnival's website -- I would imagine that more of the Fantasy class ships are going to receive the upgrades as well.

 

This is exciting, since we'll be cruising on the Fascination a couple of weeks after her drydock. I would have been more excited by Guy's Burgers and the Blue Iguana burritos, but the punchliner brunch and the taste bar will still be great.

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