CruisingOz

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.

One CocoCay in the world is enough.  It's a great thing they have done especially as a stop close to Florida.  Labadee doesn't need to be CoCoLabadee either, different is good. 
CocoCay as built doesn't suit the South Pacific and I don't think the intention was to create that. 

On the surface it seems like Royal made the Lelepa deal with one governing body but now the Chief wants in on the action.  I can't imagine the Chief would be taking the position stated if they were already in the loop. 
“We don’t want them to approach a middle person instead of the rightful owner. With close collaboration I think its ok to visit but approach the rightful people of the land.”
It makes me wonder what's going on in the local politics of Lelepa.  It doesn't seem like the Chief or the tribe was involved in the original deal.  
Royal maybe finding itself in the middle of a squabble between local factions and if that gets ugly enough they could back out.

Sounds like the Chief wants to be the person directing the process.  It's not so much that the Chief is against the project or that it's the tribe versus a big multinational corporation, the Chief just wants to be in control of it, ensuring they aren't locked out or watching from the sidelines.   Seems reasonable.

Wasn't it QLD?
Edit: Looks like it was only a recommendation to wear them indoors.

I have a friend booked on a Princess cruise and he has received an email with their updated mask policy.
”In response to the increasing Covid cases in Australia caused by the spread of new sub variants we have updated the mark wearing policy for your voyage”
”guests are required to wear masks on board while indoors and we recommend guests wear face masks while outdoors on board where larger numbers of people are congregating”
it sounds like P&O Australia (also a Carnival brand) are also implementing this policy.
I wonder if Royal will follow suit or whether they will maintain their existing policies. I hope the status quo prevails.
Having caught Covid on our last cruise I am still happy to not wear a mask indoors and take my chances. The weird thing is on land you can have Covid and not need to isolate at all but when it comes to cruise ships it is all doom and gloom by the media if there are higher number of cases.
Times have moved on from the Diamond and Ruby Princess and for most people Covid is now no worse than a cold outbreak on a ship.
 

Royal is back in Sydney.
This is probably the closest we will get to a oasis class in Sydney.

Happy to enjoy the ship. I just hope it docks so passengers can disembark and we can board