CruisingOz

Looking at the gifts section of my online planner and all of the sudden, cooler bags filled with various drinks have appeared. You can get them with water, beer, soda or hard seltzers!  Seems like a pretty cool little thing to have waiting in the room, water is 25, soda is 35 and beer\seltzers are 55.  Are these new, or have they just finally popped up for my cruise? 
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/account/cruise-planner/category/gifts?bookingId=4225955&shipCode=OA&sailDate=20230129

I know 24-25 season hasn’t been released,usually around March?
But there where port bookings on Sydney port authority and around some Australian ports for Vision of the seas .
 It would have been a place holder for a Radiance class ,probably Brilliance.
They have all disappeared ??
With Sydney’s congestion ,I would say it would be extremely hard ,if not impossible to replace them .

Yes, certainly looks nasty... good call to divert to NZ
 
 

I'd consider that a damn good alternative, almost a win.

I looks like Brilliance of the seas has been pulled out of Sydney for 24-25 season.  All port bookings for Sydney and the around Australia cruise have disappeared.
So only Ovation in Sydney for 24-25 season.
Hopefully it will turn up in Melbourne port bookings.

The weather got us. Could not get into Port Villa nor Mystery. Going back next week for another try via Quantum

Quantum got there today, I think it’s the second time for both ships this season.

The weather got us. Could not get into Port Villa nor Mystery. Going back next week for another try via Quantum

The weather got us. Could not get into Port Villa nor Mystery. Going back next week for another try via Quantum

Yes, if you pay to upgrade to a JS you will get the extra point for being in a suite.
If you upgrade via winning a RoyalUp you will not.

Celebrity Eclipse is now using Starlink for internet in the region.
https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/11190-celebrity-eclipse-internet-spacex-starlink-satellite-network
Royal ships can't be far behind.

The Aussie cruise market just can't win right now
 
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/01/viking-orion-hundreds-of-passengers-stranded-on-cruise-ship-off-south-australia

This season has been a bit of a disaster for the pacific islands especially for Quantum.
Today Quantum once again dropped Mystery Island, chattering to someone on board they blamed bad weather.The person onboard didn’t think the weather was that bad but none of the islanders turned up after the ship anchored.

Between Quantum and Ovation I think there has been only one successful visit to Mystery Island,which is the highlight of the pacific islands.
Carnival group  doesn’t seem to be having a problem ,I’m starting to think Royal has had a fallout with the locals.
Here’s a couple of snap shots off a local agent. Quantum is 20% discounted cheaper than Ovation  and Quantum’s not selling very well .
 

 

Voyager class is the biggest ship that can get into Melbourne. 
I believe Quantam has to much side wind cross section.
Its a narrow channel and if the wind is bad ,it could be a bit hazardous.
As for Melbourne as a home port ,it would have to be a hundred times better that Brisbane, especially for N.Z .
It might be just more Royal hype ,I just thought I would post it.

I think Voyager came to Melbourne a few times, probably the biggest to do so.

which ship? lol
Makes sense, all the other lines are starting to do it.

Interesting.. so maybe Melbourne as a home port in the future. Maybe even 2024-25 season?.. Would be perfect for a Radiance Class size vessel. 

Interesting the Ripcord is actually less than what you pay at a "land based" site.  Experienced it on land, but not on a ship.

Spring break cruising is expensive because of high demand.  During periods of high demand they may not be eager to fill the ship with casino freebies so your options may be limited.  If you can cruise during off peak season there are greater opportunities but then again cruising is cheaper off peak so that changes the math of gambling your way to lower cost cruising. 
If it was easy to get cheap cruises during peak season everyone would do it.     

Potential cancellations and port changes incoming.. 

@Pooch I wonder with a few beers under your belt would you be thinking differently???

@Pooch I wonder with a few beers under your belt would you be thinking differently???

At Playmakers on Oasis it actually printed out on both the copy i signed and duplicate that was provided to me.  Signing was a little hit or miss, but none of the other bars I signed at, Boleros; Schooner: Spotlight, had a count on the receipt like the one below has
 

There are likely other NZ ports that are Oasis capable but can you make an itinerary out of them that is optimized for this class?
Then there is the right sizing the ship to the itinerary.   They have enough sales data to know what size of ship can be sold to achieve desired load levels without having to discount to fill the ship week consistently week after week. 
It's not just about can they operate that route with an Oasis class in the black.  When they stand back and compare how much they could make with that same ship in a different market if they can make more money somewhere else then that is where the ship will go.  
How many NZ cruises are 7 nights from Oz?   They might only be able to make that work by using a NZ home port but now we talking about a whole other business case. 

Another potentially related bit of news comes from China where Carnival has floated out their first Chinese built Vista class ship.  It's set to sail beginning in 2023 servicing the Maritime Silk Road, assuming cruising restarts in China in 2023.
Royal was seeing some success in China before the pandemic.  Once cruising restarts in China (and it will eventually) now they face some new locally made competition that will take away some of Royal's market share in China.
The glass half full view is that Royal may need to out-wow Adora Cruises and they can do that with Oasis class.
The glass half empty view is that with reduced market share there may not be the market to sustain a mega ship and Spectrum.   
Depending on the business impact Royal could decide that Spectrum is new enough and wow enough to take on the new competition from Adora by itself and that could impact the reasoning to put an Oasis class into the Pacific.  
Time will tell.