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Building cruise ships

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by DAKA, Aug 15, 2017.

  1. DAKA

    DAKA DOING VERY NICELY, THANK YOU

    Location:
    150 miles North of SOUTHERNMOST POINT IN THE US
    The last few years we have stopped flying to travel destinations, living in south FL it's so easy to get on a cruise ship, have a nice relaxing vacation and come back,get off the ship and be home in no time....no TSA or other B/S involved.
    So, I began to notice that all of these mega million dollar ships are being built in Europe....maybe POTUS could get some of this money spent here...we certainly have the capacity to build ships.
     
    DAKA, Aug 15, 2017
    #1
  2. Borla

    Borla Moderator Staff Member

    Part of the issue is that building a cruise ship and building a warship are extremely different. The shipyards that are most active in the US are heavily geared towards military applications, and cruise ship lines want companies/yards that are geared more towards luxury ships.

    For comparison, imagine you were building a massive high-end custom home, costing a few million dollars. If a contractor was really good at building huge warehouses, or shopping malls, would you assume that "he builds giant expensive buildings, so he can build my dream home"? Obviously not. The difference is similar between the ships that most US shipyards specialize in and the ships desired by cruise lines.
     
    Borla, Aug 15, 2017
    #2
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  3. DAKA

    DAKA DOING VERY NICELY, THANK YOU

    Location:
    150 miles North of SOUTHERNMOST POINT IN THE US
    All those new mega ships being built in France and Germany.....shame....I think "we" might be able to manage it...
     
    DAKA, Aug 15, 2017
    #3
  4. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    I thought they were built in Finland, shows what I know.

    I can't imagine us building anything that is world class. We build for masses, not for classes. First class US planes suck balls. First class European, Middle Eastern and Asian companies, bring it to levels unheard of.

    If they built them here, they would suck.
     
    cynthetiq, Aug 15, 2017
    #4
  5. omega

    omega Very Tilted

    Not true at all. You are looking at cosmetics, not at the base plane. That's just a designer going in and making a few changes. Commercial jets are built to incredibly high standards. The first viable commercial jet, the 707 was built by guys who designed planes for the military. Boeing sunk almost half their company into building this. So to make an impression, they chartered a beautiful yacht on a lake. Brought out executives from twa, pan am, and so forth. Had their prior military test pilot fly over. This guy had plans of his own to impress the execs. He flipped the plane upside down while flying and flew over them that way. Blew the execs away. Planes are built to incredibly high standards. But their interiors are just decorations. Just a gut job and a renovation. You want to fly United Arab Emirates? Sure, just pay 20k. Same with first class Korean air lines. Or whatever boutique sovereign airline you want. They build to that level because third world countries want to make an impression. Not that South Korea is anymore, but go back 20-30 years. We build ships to the same or better standards. The rest is just cosmetics.
     
    omega, Aug 15, 2017
    #5
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  6. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    Airbus planes are far better IMO, I was surprised at the Recaro seats were as comfortable this as they were. Back in the day the airline industry was better in the Americas. PanAm and the jet set lifestyle was something important and it was really comfortable to travel. But the US isn't into that it's about profits and squeezing more into the plane. You can call it cosmetic, but IMHO it's about profitability first.

    Okay, let's look at automobiles. European automobile build quality is far superior to American build quality. German cars with some of their issues in electronic qualities, still have superior build quality which cannot be matched by any of the luxe brands in the USA.
     
    cynthetiq, Aug 16, 2017
    #6
  7. DAKA

    DAKA DOING VERY NICELY, THANK YOU

    Location:
    150 miles North of SOUTHERNMOST POINT IN THE US
    On automobiles, I am a BMW "person" since my first a 1973 2002 tii, I have owned over 20 in the past.
    They have their problems also.
    That said, there are some very good quality automobiles available from "American" manufacturers, Buick Cadillac and Dodge come to mind...these have improved tremendously over the past 15 years, and for the money are pretty fine cars, and our pick up trucks are top notch....
    But talking about building ships in the US, we "should" be able to build a quality Cruise ship in this country...we have the know how and the skills....
     
    DAKA, Aug 16, 2017
    #7
  8. omega

    omega Very Tilted

    So what are
    Your comment on recaro seats totally proved my point on the cosmetics.
    As far as build quality, what metric or metrics are you using? How do you define build quality?
     
    omega, Aug 28, 2017
    #8