twangster

According to CLIA 15% of the US population has cruised before. The new to cruise is a very large market. Probably why Royal has been advertising during the NFL playoffs. The current generation of new to cruise aren't all one and done. Many of the new to cruise of this era only know current pricing. It's their normal. So when they come back they aren't thinking about cheaper cruises, this is how much it costs to them. It's all they know. So many of them book another since they enjoyed their first experience and they book longer ones the next time. They tell their friends how great it was and even more new to cruise join the party. And they tell three friends and they tell three friends. On the way to reaching 25% of the US population would mean another 34 million first timers. That's many years of supply. Unless the economy crashes or some other major event occurs the future for the cruise industry is pretty bright. Plus land vacations are not cheap alternatives. Buy three meals a day for a family of four on a seven day vacation. That adds up quickly. There is still great value in cruising even at higher rates.

Ships do move from time to time. The port they sail from and the region they sail in. In the cruise industry this is referred to as their deployment. When it becomes available to book, beyond that which can be booked currently, is referred to as the opening schedule. Icon for example is currently deployed in the Caribbean sailing from Miami. It has been deployed to Miami. Will it always be based in Miami? Perhaps it will be redeployed in 2027. It could move to Galveston. It could stay in Miami. We'll find out where Icon is deployed for 2027 once they open more Icon cruises for booking in the future. The date when they will make her available to book beyond her current available cruises is the opening schedule.

Bass would cause the rivets in the hull to loosen.

Call her. 867-5309

Awesome!

Mine is in parenthesis, but I already knew that. Given the number of instant rewards beyond the Prime cruise I'm good with my number. #winningwhilelosing

Me in Boleros But all kidding aside, loud entertainment at Royal is a known phenomenon. I used to think the now departed VP of Entertainment had hearing issues.

My certificates have come quickly lately but the points still take a while. Doesn't matter, I won't reach Signature, just something I've noticed along with quick rewards. I've been able to book comp cruises the day I debark a few times now.

Serenade cancelled a March cruise to this area so it could go into dry dock earlier than originally planned. Perhaps Explorer was offered as an alternate for the cancelled Serenade guests. If so they may have frozen excursions to try to map Serenade guests into the same or similar excursions once they are moved over to Explorer.

I suspect the bigger issue will be with the guest who thinks they're booked on a cruise but aren't. You can be a no-show for the casino cruise you shouldn't be on and that would be the end of that, but for the person who is supposed to be on that booking, possibly a spouse or friend of the casino player, when they show up at the terminal to check in they will be denied boarding. It's too late at that point to fix it, the manifest will have been sealed and submitted to all the relevant governments. Hopefully CR will reach out to the player who made the booking to confirm their cabin mate and get it fixed now.

No. The new system doesn't count how many are waiting for a car. It's still possible and likely at times a car shows up that is full already. The new destination elevators don't solve all elevator issues, it just tries to make them more efficient by grouping riders together that going to certain decks. It's not perfect.

The problem with LNG is that it is far from clean. No visible smoke doesn't make this fossil fuel truly clean. It's better than HFO but LNG still pollutes. It's cleaner, but not perfectly clean. As far as refueling there are many cruise ships now running on and refueling LNG in home ports around the world. Utopia in Port Canaveral and Icon in Miami are two examples of Royal ships. Smoking is not banned at Grills, a restaurant/bar very close to the ship at terminal one in Port Canaveral. Carnival's Mardi Gras also at Port Canaveral (terminal three) is very close to the public dock and boat ramps where people smoke. It's LNG. The problem with LNG is, right now anyways, it's the best option for trying to be green-er. Not truly clean, not the solution, but better than MGO or HFO. It takes a number of years for any new fuel systems to be ready for mass deployment. Other technologies work on small scales. Soon enough something will become readily available in a real world sense, we just aren't there yet.

Indy joined us across the pier a couple days ago. I was thinking of this thread so I took some pictures to help illustrate the issue. This platform around the MDR might not do well going through a lock.

There certainly is a lot about the original locks that makes for a very interesting day. The level of engineering given the construction equipment available at the time is amazing. The politics and backstory surrounding America's involvement and acquisition is also very interesting. I have enjoyed both Vision class and Radiance class transits. Radiance blocked off aft access due to the way the cables connect to the bollards of the ship while on Vision we were free to walk around the aft and see the lock gates behind the ship up close. The use of the mules in the original locks adds a lot to the experience. PC Mule.mp4 The height difference is pretty clear in this video. While the new locks don't use mules there is a lot of equipment and items like signs, lights and safety railings near the ships that transit the new locks. Once you add a safety buffer to the actual physical clearances the new locks and newer Royal ships aren't compatible.

It's more complicated than mere dimensions. There is also the matter of the Bridge of the Americas. More importantly the nature of the hull and sides of the ship matter as well. Royal likes to hang lifeboats off the sides of the ship. They also have things like promenade decks that wrap around the ship outside of the hull in places. Imagine such a deck or lifeboat protruding from the side of the ship as the ship lowers in a lock until this lifeboat or deck makes contact with the top of the lock walls, or things like light poles mounted on the ground beside a lock. If you look at the largest cruise ships that have gone through the new locks, namely NCL Breakaway Plus class, they have smooth sides, their lifeboats stow within the side profile of the ship. I have heard that once an exception was made that allowed a non-conforming cruise ship with protrusions to use the Panama Canal but it was risky and dangerous. If something had broken off the ship as it lowered and fallen into the lock they would have to cease operations, drain the lock and remove the debris. For the Panama Canal operators it's not worth the risk. They'd lose millions of dollars. In this photo you can see a deck extension welded to the side of the ship that supports the lifeboats and jogging track. Imagine the ship lowering as if the water level dropped to the point that platform supports reached the pier. As the ship continues to lower that platform would snap off and buckle. The Panama Canal has minimum overhang specifications to prevent parts of a ship from damaging the locks, light standards, signage, etc. Royal builds the new ships this way so they can maximize internal volume for guest areas. When you stow lifeboats inside the side profile of the ship you consume internal volume reducing real estate for guest venues. NCL did just that so that their Breakaway Plus class could use the canal. That's why these ships have slightly lower gross tonnage compared to Quantum class. They gave up internal volume (gross tonnage) so they could use the Panama Canal.

Yep, but I think it's not a road they'd like to try going down again.

Virgin planned to sail their ships there so it's possible for ships around that size to make it. 110k GT, 909' long, so one would think Vision class could fit. It had its challenges for a port but Empress and Majesty did not have azipods instead relying on their masters to be top notch mariners. I talked at length with the Empress Captain about it back when Empress was going there. Quite a few missed calls due to wind. She did stick out of the berth a bit but it was manageable. However the situation is pretty unstable for cruise lines. The original owners of the port facilities, before it was seized by the Cuban government, had since sued cruise lines that went there and used those facilities under sanction laws of the US. It was quite a mess. It's going to take a lot more than recent actions to get cruise lines back there, possibly ever. With a new administration coming to office, one that closed Cuba to US tourism last time around, it's unlikely to happen any time soon.

Wine at dinner in CK is included for guests in a full suite, just not Sea Class suites like most Junior Suites.

Orlando? LOL Which ship? (so we can warn them you are coming).

Never got an email but happened to check the website and saw this offer. 2025 SUMMERTIME SAILING S CRUISE FARE FOR 1 GUEST IN A DOUBLE OCCUPANCY OCEANVIEW OR INTERIOR STATEROOM ON SELECT SAILINGS + $25 FREEPLAY Woohoo! Cruise for 1 means paying for second guest even when solo. Book it while it's hot! On a side note, new slot machines on a few ships.

Royal can save millions by leveraging the Edge class hull but with only 3k to 3.5k worth of passengers they'd have to charge a pretty penny to equal the margins they make on mega ships. People love medium size ships. But is there enough love to pay more than or equal to Icon fares to sail a new medium sized ship? I can hear it now... "There isn't as much to do as Icon, how can they can charge just as much?!?!?" "No way I'm paying that!!!" Why would the board approve a near billion dollar expense for a new medium ship when that nearly pays for a new Icon ship?

If Discovery moves forward then ports like Baltimore and Tampa will be excluded unless they raise their bridges or move the cruise terminals to the ocean side of the bridge. If the Bay bridge can be replaced which is on the table and the Key bridge replaced with something higher then Baltimore could still be relevant for the cruise industry some time to come. I'm still not convinced Royal Caribbean International will go with something smaller than Quantum class. I suspect they would rather entice folks onto Celebrity and keep RCI mega focused to dominate the mass market segment. Time will tell.

Around the corner.

Correct.

You'll need an ETA to enter Australia and possibly a NZeTa for New Zealand if your TP stops in New Zealand. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/plan-a-cruise/travel-documents You can also try this website: https://visalink.com.au/ You need to check each country the ship will make a stop at for your citizenship. Make sure your passport is valid for at least 6 months beyond the date of return. I would not take advice from the internet including this post. You and only you are responsible to have all the required documents to board the ship.