6 ms·

They spent 450,000 man hours to extend the ship from 195m to 210m long. That is a 7% increase in length. That seems like a lot of work for a tiny bit of gain.

WJW 6y ago
They will spend a lot more man-hours than that, since the 450.000 hours only included welding the ship back together. The article also mentioned that the operation represents about a 12% increase in passenger capacity, since it's mostly cabins and amenities rather than non-money generating stuff like engines or anchors. According to wikipedia passenger capacity went from 540 to 608 passengers. So let's do the math: The article states that "Pricing for the 7-day cruise starts at $5,600 per person." Presumably some passengers will pay more, let's assume an average of 6k/passenger/week. Assuming 45 sailings weeks per year (the rest being relocations and maintenance periods), the 68 extra passengers will bring in slightly over 18 million USD per year in extra revenue. Wages in Italy are not that high, so even assuming all workers are welders making the maximum from http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=105&loctype=1&job=6194&jobtype=3 http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=105&loct..., it would only be about 20 EUR/hour. That makes the price of the 450k manhours "only" 9m EUR, so it seems likely they'll make back the total price of the expansion quite quickly.
- VBprogrammer 6y ago
  I've no particular knowledge in this case but presumably they would undertake such work at a time when the ship was due or nearly due a refit.
- depaya 6y ago
  Your analysis doesn't include the engineering to make this possible, the materials and labor to create the new section, the fees associated with using the dry dock, the lost revenue while the ship was out of service... I find it hard to believe they will make it back quickly.
  - WJW 6y ago
    Yes, I made a few shortcuts. But is it really so hard to believe that the shipping company made a much more detailed analysis beforehand and decided it was worth it? It's not like you just YOLO a cruise ship into drydock and find out it's too expensive halfway through the project. (Insert joke about software engineering budget bloat here)
    - nikanj 6y ago
      In software the losses would not matter, Softbank would be happy to throw more money into the bonfire
pvaldes 6y ago
Is the volume increase what really counts.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  And the fact that it is pure payload as well as two restaurants. 100% of the ship's length is much more than the payload area.
jacquesm 6y ago
What strikes me about your comment is that you think that a cruise ship company and their army of consultants and engineers would not have done the required calculations to figure out that they would make substantial profit on this over the long term.
- underwater 6y ago
  I didn't say that. I thought it was interesting enough to mention. My assumption before reading the link was that it would have been a much more substantial change. It makes me wonder if the fixed cost of the operation was relatively small, or if there was an outside constraint that meant further lengthening was not possible or profitable.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    The fixed cost is 10's of millions, but the big thing to focus on is that 7% of the length of the ship is a much larger fraction of payload and that there are also two more restaurants included.

WJW 6y ago

They will spend a lot more man-hours than that, since the 450.000 hours only included welding the ship back together. The article also mentioned that the operation represents about a 12% increase in passenger capacity, since it's mostly cabins and amenities rather than non-money generating stuff like engines or anchors. According to wikipedia passenger capacity went from 540 to 608 passengers. So let's do the math: The article states that "Pricing for the 7-day cruise starts at $5,600 per person." Presumably some passengers will pay more, let's assume an average of 6k/passenger/week. Assuming 45 sailings weeks per year (the rest being relocations and maintenance periods), the 68 extra passengers will bring in slightly over 18 million USD per year in extra revenue. Wages in Italy are not that high, so even assuming all workers are welders making the maximum from http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=105&loctype=1&job=6194&jobtype=3 http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=105&loct..., it would only be about 20 EUR/hour. That makes the price of the 450k manhours "only" 9m EUR, so it seems likely they'll make back the total price of the expansion quite quickly.

VBprogrammer 6y ago
I've no particular knowledge in this case but presumably they would undertake such work at a time when the ship was due or nearly due a refit.
depaya 6y ago
Your analysis doesn't include the engineering to make this possible, the materials and labor to create the new section, the fees associated with using the dry dock, the lost revenue while the ship was out of service... I find it hard to believe they will make it back quickly.
- WJW 6y ago
  Yes, I made a few shortcuts. But is it really so hard to believe that the shipping company made a much more detailed analysis beforehand and decided it was worth it? It's not like you just YOLO a cruise ship into drydock and find out it's too expensive halfway through the project. (Insert joke about software engineering budget bloat here)
  - nikanj 6y ago
    In software the losses would not matter, Softbank would be happy to throw more money into the bonfire

pvaldes 6y ago

Is the volume increase what really counts.

jacquesm 6y ago
And the fact that it is pure payload as well as two restaurants. 100% of the ship's length is much more than the payload area.

jacquesm 6y ago

What strikes me about your comment is that you think that a cruise ship company and their army of consultants and engineers would not have done the required calculations to figure out that they would make substantial profit on this over the long term.

underwater 6y ago
I didn't say that. I thought it was interesting enough to mention. My assumption before reading the link was that it would have been a much more substantial change. It makes me wonder if the fixed cost of the operation was relatively small, or if there was an outside constraint that meant further lengthening was not possible or profitable.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  The fixed cost is 10's of millions, but the big thing to focus on is that 7% of the length of the ship is a much larger fraction of payload and that there are also two more restaurants included.