I have to agree with Jaga here.

Constitution Refit is, in my opinion, the most beautiful ship the designers ever made. That is the ship that introduced me to Trek, and it is pretty much what I think of.

After that, though, Excelsior (in service for 80 years - of course that is awesome), another great design.

Of the rest - (any 24th cent. design), I love them all, as long as they aren't kitbashes! They just don't have that emotional attachment. to me,

Except for one scene - Most people I talked to don't like the music for Nemesis, but the best moment in the recent movies, in my opinion, was the beauty shot of the E with the same music that the refit was introduced with. That was a great moment, really tying up old and new for me.

I was wonder how to classify vulcan ships. I really like their design from 'Enterprise' series, but in that time they weren't in UFOP yet, and I don't know what happened with their shipyards when they joined. Did they continue to build their own projects or was constructing only ships approved by Starfleet?
Remember that all of classes you mentioned in this thread are Starfleet designs not Federation in general.

Anyway, when someone ask me what I like:

1. Sovereign

2. Defiant

3. Akira

4. NX

5. Galaxy

To be honest, I think that the Vulcan ship yards are still around, even at the time of Nemseis etc.

They have never been mentioned, (As far as i know) but there have been a few Vulcan ships floating around. I can't imagine the Vulcans accepting to scrap all their designs as soon as the Federation was formed, but I do imagine them perhaps altering their designs to coincide with the new Federation rules, or allowing the construction of a couple of ships in their yards.

Over time, as the races became closer, I imagine that the Vulcans would have concentrated more on Starfleet designs, than on truly 'Vulcan only' ships. Their shipyards may even have became less important over time, as the Vulcans concentrated more on Diplomacy and Research, but I doubt that they have been completely scrapped.

Chances are, they are more often used to build commercial ships, or they are used to refuel and repair vessels. Over time, other shipyards would have become more important (Like Utopia Planitia, and the Beta Antares fleetyards, once they were built and established) so this is probably why they have never been mentioned.

You have to bear in mind however, that my comments are not based on canon sources, since as far as I know, there aren't any. But if anyone knows otherwise, let us know. My comments are based on what I think is common sense, (And logic) that's all.

Even though its never mentioned, I wouldnt doubt theres a Starfleet shipyard in every MAJOR Federation member home system. I would think Starfleet's mindset would be trying to have as many shipyards in service making ships as possible, since the majority of their vessels are very time consuming to completely build. I really just cant see only a handful of shipyards (most based in Sol) being what has constructed all of Starfleet.

In regards to wether the Vulcans were building their own vessels or not. I believe that during the formation of the Federation, and the time shortly after, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellerites were probably all still designing and building their own vessels. But after the alliance had been around for some time, all member planets would have contributed their best engineering minds and designs to the construction of new fleet vessels, since these would be the vessels that would defend all of them. Any tech from one race that was better would be what would be used in the newer Starfleet designs (Vulcan engines over human engines, etc...).

Just my thoughts.