twangster

Only speculation.

I have an Ovation transpacific cruise in the spring of 2025 that has been closed for new bookings for a couple of months now.  

Between Quantum cancelling the Hawaii Southbound cruise in 2024 and Ovation closing the Northbound transpacific set for a few months later it starts to form a picture of new deployments in the works.  

We'll only know for sure once Royal opens 2024 - 2025 bookings for these ships.  However something is up.   

It's also possible an incident occured on the ship, such as a small fire, that escaped making it to the media.  The shipyard and the cruise line try very hard to keep negative incidents out of the news.   

It was interesting to me that Royal finished Icon early but avoided the temptation to sell a few early "pre-inaugural" cruises to the public.

We'll probably never know what really happened to the Sun Princess to cause a late delay this close to the finish line.  Maybe it's on the shipyard.  Too much bravado and not enough project management.  

Very unfortunate and surprised they had to wait until now to make the call to delay.  

7 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

No airline would have wanted a new type rating though due to pilot training concerns.

That's a trend for all commercial aviation.  

There was a time that a significant number of airline pilots came from the Air Force.   Very disciplined, highly trained, highly capable, many hours of flight time.

Today there are significant numbers of younger pilots who have no military background and a fraction of the flight hours or training.  And that's on Delta.  

The airlines have been calling on the FAA to allow even lesser trained with fewer hours to qualify.

So much for training right?  Who needs training to fly a plane right?  Just ask the families of the MAX victims.  

1 minute ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

LOL,  Who can even hear the voice announcements ?  I never can....  but at least they're trying, I guess.

A voicemail in the phone system?  

Ironically I couldn't delete the message and everyday the message waiting light on my phone was illuminated.  Every day I  listened to the top tier reminder voicemail, again.

On Mariner the LA broadcast a Top Tier voicemail to all eligible guests. 

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

But with better trained pilots, despite what Boeing did with MCAS, there wouldn't have been any crashes. 

Boeing desperately wanted the MAX to share the type rating with some previous 737 types so that pilots wouldn't need to be specifically trained and type rated for the MAX.   The idea was that pilots who flew other 737 could walk into the cockpit of a MAX and fly it with minimal if any training required.    This would help sell the MAX to airlines that already had 737s in their fleets.

In hindsight it's clear that should not have been allowed.  Boeing should have been required to create a new type rating for the MAX.  That would have led to more pilot training including on MCAS.  

g.delta.com is a legitimate domain for Delta.   I’ve seen it dozens of times with flight updates.  

Million miler on DL. 

This goes to show do not fly in the day of the cruise and now maybe the day before is not the positive approach it used to be.  

While Boeing is the subject in the spotlight right now, six months from now another manufacturer could be.  

33 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The affected MAX 9s can fly again

 

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/faa-says-boeing-737-max-9-planes-can-return-service-after-inspections-2024-01-24/

Nearly two weeks later and with hundreds of thousands of passengers impacted, including me with an unexpected stay in a hub city recently. Better than dead I guess.  

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

The FAA is playing games with Boeing. They know this is an isolated incident, otherwise they'd have grounded the 737-900 fleet, too.

I thought they expanded inspections to include the 900ER that uses the same door plug as the MAX9.  

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna134986
 

The Boeing 737-900ER is used by Alaska, Delta and a number of overseas airlines. It is older than the 737 Max 9 involved in the Alaska Airlines flight, but it uses the same door plug design, the FAA said. 

There are 380 of the 737-900ER planes in service worldwide, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News. Boeing said in a statement on the inspections: "We fully support the FAA and our customers in this action."

15 minutes ago, RCLblue10 said:

I do not have a drink package.  When I order a gin and tonic using my cabin card, is the tip included?  Do I get a paper receipt showing just the drink cost?  If no tip is showing on receipt do I then add a tip amount to it or just hand the waiter/bartender some cash?  thank you

 

18% gratuity is added to drinks that are pay as you go.  
 

You will see it on the paper receipt that includes a line to add more if so inclined. 
 

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Noise complaints for stuff like this typically come from the same people over and over.

The same people that move close to an airport then complain it's too loud

 

 

That was likely the VuVuzelas associated with football and Messi.   

This has long been a hack that works sometimes.  The store doesn't always know you are a consecutive cruiser especially on the last night close to when the store is closing for the last night.    

If you booked through select Royal websites such as North America then re-pricing may be an option.  Other countries not so much.

Be aware that your exact category may or may not change relative to a similar cabin type in a different category.  The call is free so it never hurts to ask.

Here is the live trip report from my April canal trip last year:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2931177-live-from-radiance-apr-21-2023-the-panama-canal-canal-au-niveau-de-la-mer/#comment-65212305

Vision class has some appeal since you can walk around the aft of the ship while in the locks, on Radiance class they close the aft due to the cables in this area.  

Radiance has some appeal because the helipad is public and open to everyone.  It was a very popular area.

Vision class are showing their age so that may be a factor if one option included a Vision class ship.  Radiance class are also showing their age but are newer than Vision class.  

I've done the canal transit in October and April.  I can't say one was better or worse, I was lucky with weather on both.  

Rain statistics are great but you can't predict the weather based on prior statistics, rain is always possible in Panama.  It is a very wet destination which it needs to be since that is where the water that drives the canal comes from.   With the crazy weather patterns around the globe right now I'm not sure any conventional wisdom applies anywhere.

If one or the other was less expensive, offered better cabins or better travel on each end I'd go with the one that is better for those reasons.

3 hours ago, Azipod said:

Hi everyone!

Which cruises are planned after the Transpacific Cruise in 2025. 

After Vancouver May 8, 2025???  ALASKA??

we are booked from Honolulu to Vancouver

 

We are all waiting to find out what's next for Ovation.

17 hours ago, JFCruise said:

There is a one way on Quantum on April-May from Vancouver to Seattle. I know because I'm going.

When Ovation first visited Alaska in 2019 the repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Seattle went to Hubbard Glacier.  That's the only Hubbard visit by a Q class ship ever.  

Since then the Vancouver to Seattle repo cruises are no different compared to the Seattle round trip.  The Northbound Hawaii cruise has to end in Vancouver to stay legal with respect to the PVSA federal law otherwise they would end it in Seattle.  

I'm fairly certain the OP was looking to see more of Alaska which you do on the Seward-Vancouver or Vancouver-Seward  itineraries since you are not backtracking for half of the voyage.  

The Seattle Q class Alaska itineraries are still very enjoyable but you don't see as much of Alaska compared to the Vancouver-Seward/Seward-Vancouver itineraries.  

2 hours ago, CrznTxn said:

Congrats Patty! We are a ways off but are looking forward to our Pinnacle call up on-stage. The wife is ahead of me and will probably get there sooner as I send her on cruises more than I (she is retired and I am not). I am hoping you have the best adventures and wish you the best going forward.

Once your wife gets there, you will too.  Keep sending her on cruises! 

Just make sure CAS has you in a "relationship" so you earn her status as she levels up.  

PS - Putting here in a suite solo gets her (and you) there faster. 

On the front page of Royal Caribbean Blog you will find a search box.  Entering "Alaska" yields many blog posts and podcasts for this wonderful destination.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/search/node?keys=alaska

Quantum class are round trip from Seattle.  The one way ships are Radiance class (typically) from Seward & Vancouver.

"Best" is subjective.

Some people try to find the TA that offers the most OBC or other perks.

Some people value service and being able to interact with a TA on an on going basis over time.

In my experience booking nearly 100 cruises with one TA or another is that chasing the best perks works okay until there is an issue and you need a TA to invest time to address the issue.  It seems the TAs that give the most perks don't have a lot of money for them in these bookings. They often don't have time to invest in servicing bookings, their focus is achieving mass numbers of bookings.  As a result you suffer when things don't go perfectly.

Finding the best TA for me took some time.  I've had some less knowledgeable TAs to work through before finding one that worked well for my needs.  The best one for me resulted in a long term relationship where that TA came to know me and the types of cruising I was interested in.  With several cruises behind us she learned me and started to offer cruises she thought I might be interested in.  

1 hour ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

If everyone who has a later than lunchtime boarding time all decided to try to board early for lunch…the ones with the earlier boarding times would end up in a crowded mess!  

And then everyone complains on social media about the mess.

it's been happening for decades.  

I suggest focusing on itinerary, not a cruise line.

Try other cruise lines. 

You are not me, I am not you.  I have sailed other lines.  My likes and dislikes are unique to me.  My opinions are biased by my likes and dislikes. 

Had I never tried another cruise line I wouldn't have found Royal.  

Carnival, Norwegian, Royal and MSC are all similar lines competing in the mass cruise market.  Try them all and then think about what works best for you.