TUI to Restructure and Change Thomson Cruises!! - Announcmen & Plans in May

[kruzseeka]

And your point is what exactly ?

Its an old ship, and when you compare it to the brand new ships available to the US/Canada market, yes it is an old hand me down.

 

 

Gill's point exactly was to answer a question I had asked! :rolleyes:

[Sailaway487]

Just been reading something interesting on a German news site.

 

It had the slides used in the presentation in Feburary when TUI released their financial results. For the cruise slide, 1. It had splendour of the seas as the pic for Thomson (so if this slide was used surprised the info wasn't leaked) and 2. It mentioned how it wants to increase the overall fleet to 15 ships.

 

Currently it says Hapag Lloyd has 4, TUI 3 and Thomson 5. And TUI will grow to 8 when its new builds arrive. But then in total they'd have 17 ships, 2 over what they said they're total fleet will have. Therefore, I'd expect that to mean 2 ships from TUI would transfer over to Thomson and replace two current ships to keep the balance at 15.

 

I'd then expect MS1&2 to go to Thomson once TUI gets 7 and 8 of its new builds.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Sailaway487

[kruzseeka]

Just been reading something interesting on a German news site.

 

It had the slides used in the presentation in Feburary when TUI released their financial results. For the cruise slide, 1. It had splendour of the seas as the pic for Thomson (so if this slide was used surprised the info wasn't leaked) and 2. It mentioned how it wants to increase the overall fleet to 15 ships.

 

Currently it says Hapag Lloyd has 4, TUI 3 and Thomson 5. And TUI will grow to 8 when its new builds arrive. But then in total they'd have 17 ships, 2 over what they said they're total fleet will have. Therefore, I'd expect that to mean 2 ships from TUI would transfer over to Thomson and replace two current ships to keep the balance at 15.

 

I'd then expect MS1&2 to go to Thomson once TUI gets 7 and 8 of its new builds.

 

That would be another step in the right direction. Like you, very surprised the SoS news hadn't leaked earlier. Obviously not got someone as resourceful as you analysing the info! ;)

[davecttr]

If they transfer mein schiff 2 they will have to spend money installing a casino! They only have slots and no live table games or dealers :eek:

 

i will not touch a cruise ship without blackjack, roulette and poker.

 

apparently the germans don't gamble so the new mein schiffs don't have casinos either.

 

Mein schiff 1 does have a small casino but it is in the centre of the 'butlins' lounge so would need moving.

[geomagot]

i have always assumed (since the tui merger) that the old mein shiffs would eventually come over to thoms (where else could they go?)

 

they keep banging on about the splendour being the first step in their modernisation programs... so imo its almost a definite that they will be retiring all their old ships

 

if splendour is replacing ie… then its logical to assume that (eventually) it wont be the flagship of their fleet and any further new(er) ships for thoms will be even newer/bigger/better than splendour (mein thomson)

 

they may even roll out the ie ai casual island cruises style product on splendour? especially when the other thoms ships have been replaced (makes sense... ie is a successful product that fulfils a quite large market niche)... if i was an ie fan i'd be making vocals around thoms for them to consider just this? (island splendour);)

 

meantime I will wait (everso) patiently to see what happens next??

Edited March 10, 2015 by geomagot

[davecttr]

So here is the future Thomson fleet

 

Mein Schiff 1

Mein Schiff 2

Thomson Splendour

RCI Legend class

RCI Legend class

 

RCI still have a number of 'legends' to dispose of in the next few years.

 

One transfer a year from 2016 looks reasonable. however i hope TUI get the message that they HAVE TO SPEND MONEY on reconditioning the ships. Much cheaper than a new build but still a substantial investment.

[geomagot]

the british cruise market is quite a large market (and growing)

 

it wouldn’t surprise me if another operator stepped in to fill the gap left by island escape ..... easy jet/virgin/kuoni/emirates.....?? tui wont like that?:rolleyes: (louis will have some spare ships):p

[BaggersCruising]

the british cruise market is quite a large market (and growing)

 

it wouldn’t surprise me if another operator stepped in to fill the gap left by island escape ..... easy jet/virgin/kuoni/emirates.....?? tui wont like that?:rolleyes: (louis will have some spare ships):p

 

Easy have already had their hand in the cruise market a few years back, aiming solely at the British market, but mostly offering Greek cruises IIRC.

 

Virgin are entering the cruise market in the next few years with a couple of new builds, but will be based out of Miami, so unless they're running it in conjunction with Virgin Atlantic, and offering fly-cruises from the UK, then it will be more aimed at the American market, otherwise I'd have thought they'd have based a ship somewhere in the Caribbean if they were going for the UK market!

 

And do we want another UK operator stepping in with some of Louis' old ships? It's taken us years to get rid of them old things ;):p:D

Edited March 10, 2015 by BaggersCruising

[geomagot]

imo there will always be a market in uk for low cost, no frills, casual, fun palace, all inclusive, island style cruises, a large part of the uk market likes/prefers that option

 

when ie goes... that will likely leave a big hole... the same hole that was left when ocean villiage/island star departed us and which thoms filled for a while until their fares started to align with p&o etc

 

thomsons/tui have realised that their ships cant cut it at those prices?... their solution... modernise the fleet (to keep up & keep the fares up)

 

imo that will leave a 'value no frills' hole in the uk cruising market? if thoms/tui dont fill that? someone will? imo

[BaggersCruising]

imo there will always be a market in uk for low cost, no frills, casual, fun palace, all inclusive, island style cruises, a large part of the uk market likes/prefers that option

 

when ie goes... that will likely leave a big hole... the same hole that was left when ocean villiage/island star departed us and which thoms filled for a while until their fares started to align with p&o etc

 

thomsons/tui have realised that their ships cant cut it at those prices?... their solution... modernise the fleet (to keep up & keep the fares up)

 

imo that will leave a 'value no frills' hole in the uk cruising market? if thoms/tui dont fill that? someone will? imo

 

Possibly, but i'm not sure Thomson wouldn't be pulling out of Island Cruises if it was profitable? Again, if it was profitable, would Carnival have pulled the plug from Ocean Village?

 

They're business model was mainly based on leasing ships (although they did own IE), and if they can't make a good profit from doing it that way I'm not sure others will either.

 

Thomson are still very informal cruises, and aren't exactly at the luxury end of the market but then their prices haven't been as budget as they should have been either the past few years.

 

Will be interesting to see what happens in the wider market though, maybe Louis will use their ships and set up a UK arm to compete with Thomson in the future?!?

[Sailaway487]

So here is the future Thomson fleet

 

Mein Schiff 1

Mein Schiff 2

Thomson Splendour

RCI Legend class

RCI Legend class

 

RCI still have a number of 'legends' to dispose of in the next few years.

 

One transfer a year from 2016 looks reasonable. however i hope TUI get the message that they HAVE TO SPEND MONEY on reconditioning the ships. Much cheaper than a new build but still a substantial investment.

 

I think that is probably what will happen.

[Sailaway487]

I see they've dropped Island Escape's price to sell again:

 

http://www.marine-consultant.com/p508.htm

 

Now after low-mid 20 million USD. A bit of a drop to the 75 that was asked at first! :eek:

[FOD1984]

Ok so last month a ship very similar to Splendour appeared in Thomson's ad on facebook (despite them ALWAYS using their own ships) and a couple of weeks later the Splendour was announced as a new addition to the fleet.

 

Has anyone seen their facebook today? It looks like a ship very similar to MSC Armonia. Do we think more acquisitions may be made? Interesting.

[davecttr]

Possibly, but i'm not sure Thomson wouldn't be pulling out of Island Cruises if it was profitable? Again, if it was profitable, would Carnival have pulled the plug from Ocean Village?

 

They're business model was mainly based on leasing ships (although they did own IE), and if they can't make a good profit from doing it that way I'm not sure others will either.

 

Thomson are still very informal cruises, and aren't exactly at the luxury end of the market but then their prices haven't been as budget as they should have been either the past few years.

 

Will be interesting to see what happens in the wider market though, maybe Louis will use their ships and set up a UK arm to compete with Thomson in the future?!?

As far as I understand it. Ocean Village was profitable, however given the situation with ship availability it was decided the ships would make considerably more profit if transferred to the Australian market.

 

I can't see Thomson using their best ship for low cost cruising. They will want to leverage the advantages of the Splendour to move slightly upmarket.

 

Their market is fly cruises and they will have noted that P&O have moved into that market. If P&O send a second ship to the med Thomson will have a british competitor.

[BaggersCruising]

I see they've dropped Island Escape's price to sell again:

 

http://www.marine-consultant.com/p508.htm

 

Now after low-mid 20 million USD. A bit of a drop to the 75 that was asked at first! :eek:

 

Well spotted! That is a bit of a drop, they must be desperate to get rid of her now then!

 

As far as I understand it. Ocean Village was profitable, however given the situation with ship availability it was decided the ships would make considerably more profit if transferred to the Australian market.

 

I can't see Thomson using their best ship for low cost cruising. They will want to leverage the advantages of the Splendour to move slightly upmarket.

 

Their market is fly cruises and they will have noted that P&O have moved into that market. If P&O send a second ship to the med Thomson will have a british competitor.

 

I completely agree, they won't be taking Splendour on as a budget ship, and they've already confirmed this on Facebook. It looks like the Island Cruises brand is disappearing!

[Grez]

Ok so last month a ship very similar to Splendour appeared in Thomson's ad on facebook (despite them ALWAYS using their own ships) and a couple of weeks later the Splendour was announced as a new addition to the fleet.

 

Has anyone seen their facebook today? It looks like a ship very similar to MSC Armonia. Do we think more acquisitions may be made? Interesting.

 

Any chance of posting a picture of the ad or a link?

 

The 4 MSC Lirica class ships are all having or have had a lot of money spent on modernising them recently.

[BaggersCruising]

Any chance of posting a picture of the ad or a link?

 

The 4 MSC Lirica class ships are all having or have had a lot of money spent on modernising them recently.

 

I've never seen any of these "facebook ads" that people mention, including one apparently that featured a Vision class RCI ship.

 

I can't see one of those MSC ships coming across either, they've been stretching them, which has set them back quite a few million per ship (IIRC something in the region of $70m per ship) which they're not going to do to then sell it!

[davecttr]

MSC is an independant company and as far as i know, has no collaberation with any other cruise line. TUI has deals with Royal Caribbean so it will be their ships that transfer.

 

It is interesting to see how much MSC are spending on their 4 oldest ships, if you think being built between 2001 and 2004 is old. hoping that TUI will spend $35 million per ship for Thomson

 

Ha Ha - fat chance :mad:

[Sheila49]

I've never seen any of these "facebook ads" that people mention, including one apparently that featured a Vision class RCI ship.

 

I get one a day popping up on my news feed. No idea why, I must have clicked something at some time!

 

The last one was half an hour ago and it features the Majesty.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Sheila49

[mjsshipboy]

The Mein Schiff 1 & 2 are scheduled until spring 2017 on the Tui website.

 

It wouldn't be a horrid idea to bring them over. Royal Caribbean did a really nice job of the redesign and made them into very modern and funky-looking ships for Tui.

 

I forsee 2017 bringing at least one, if not 2 new ships to Thomson, maybe Legend from Royal Caribbean and Mein Schiff 1?

[davecttr]

If all this happens what will be the order of ships leaving?

 

Island Escape

?

?

?

?

[Grez]

I've never seen any of these "facebook ads" that people mention, including one apparently that featured a Vision class RCI ship.

 

I can't see one of those MSC ships coming across either, they've been stretching them, which has set them back quite a few million per ship (IIRC something in the region of $70m per ship) which they're not going to do to then sell it!

 

I agree, but I think there is still one ship that hasn't been modernised and due to be upgraded this year so you never know.

 

My initial thought was could it be Costa Classica in the picture, which is visually similar and was rumoured to be up for sale last year? Obviously there is the Thomson/Costa historical link with the Dream. However Classica has just undergone a massive refurb.

 

Although Costa did cancel the Grand Celebration's season at a moment's notice not so long ago and chartered it elsewhere after it had just undergone a refurb!

[dronnygirl]

P&O are definitely after the Thomson clients -this year we are trying Oceana which sails from Genoa round Italy to Venice. We fly with Thomson and don't see our bags from Birmingham until our cabin. The only difference with P&O is that there are 2 sea days. We looked at all the Thomson Med cruises for September and non of them were near the price we paid for P&O. We tried to compare as near as possible with cabins and position etc and no drinks package. The only extra is the tips, but this is covered by onboard credit that we received. The ship looks beautiful so we look forward to comparing with Celebrtion and Dream.

[BaggersCruising]

I get one a day popping up on my news feed. No idea why, I must have clicked something at some time!

 

The last one was half an hour ago and it features the Majesty.

 

I've liked the official Thomson Cruises and get the odd advert every so often, but haven't seen any not featuring one of their existing ships.

 

The Mein Schiff 1 & 2 are scheduled until spring 2017 on the Tui website.

 

It wouldn't be a horrid idea to bring them over. Royal Caribbean did a really nice job of the redesign and made them into very modern and funky-looking ships for Tui.

 

I forsee 2017 bringing at least one, if not 2 new ships to Thomson, maybe Legend from Royal Caribbean and Mein Schiff 1?

 

2017 would sound about right for replacing both the Majesty and Spirit as they're both chartered until then!

 

And I can't see Thomson spending $35m per ship, but then again I'd have not thought that they'd need to on Splendour (had a nice refurb just a handful of years ago) and MS 1 and 2 both looking nice. They'd still be better than their current offerings even if they were untouched!

[Sailaway487]

If all this happens what will be the order of ships leaving?

 

Island Escape

?

?

?

?

 

I think it will be the Louis ships next, probably Spirit at the end of summer 2016 as they don't usually use the ship for the winter, then Majesty at the end of winter 2016/17. Legend of the Seas to replace Spirit and Mein Schiff 1 to replace Majesty.

 

Keep Dream and Celebration slightly longer as they've had more investment, but them to go at the end of winter 2017/18, with Mein Schiff 2 and Grandeur of the Seas replacing these.

 

Whatever happens, I think Legend of the Seas and Mein Schiff 1 & 2 though will definitely be part of the fleet over the next 3 years.