Rackham

8 hours ago, MLH said:

I have been reading that it can be a cluster embarking inVancouver.  Any one have any recent experience?

Yeah, last week. Check in time was at 1:30 pm (wanted to explore Vancouver a little first). Breezed through check-in at 1:20 pm. Like literally walked in, they scanned my SetSail pass, and I was handed a Brilliance paper ticket to keep with me until getting aboard the ship. Here's where the hour+ ordeal begins. You'll take the ticket, walk outside, and downstairs for security screening first and then US immigration control. Keep the ticket because you'll be mixed in with passengers for any other ship also embarking for both. We had a Celerity ship and a Holland America ship also embarking along with us. The lines will snake back and forth like you're waiting for a theme park attraction and move about as quickly. Immigration control is the automated kiosks where you'll insert your passport, answer some questions, and take a biometric photo. If your passport and responses are accepted, you'll get a ticket to take to the person at the end of the immigration area. If you're "X"ed, you'll have to wait in another line to speak with someone personally. My passport and answers were approved, so I got to leave without lining up again. All in all, without any issues going though the process, it took approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes to clear and get aboard the ship.

Edit: You didn't ask, but while I'm thinking about it, the debarkation process went basically as you'd expect at any other port, but a Canadian customs declaration form is required to be submitted after getting off the ship. Said form, and instructions to fill it out, are provided by Royal on night 6 (or at least it was on my sailing). You might want to bring a pen as Royal didn't provide one. I do travel with one, so it wasn't an issue, but there were people in the terminal needing to fill theirs out at the checkpoint.

I wonder if it's a situation where Royal isn't planning on homeporting a ship in Norfolk yet, but is exploring their options with a limited amount of their vessels that can sail from Baltimore? So maybe Royal's made a visit and talked with people, however, there's not an immediate plan concerning the port over the next couple of years.

The issue I saw last week, with kids in the Solarium, on Brilliance was that with Park Cafe being in the Solarium, it was rarely an adults only space. I also think it was open to children (or the posted signs ignored or superseded) far more often than the posted signs allowed for, but I wasn't keeping track.

Smallest flow rider in the fleet aboard Brilliance.

Love from Brilliance. 

This isn't even a question. Oasis-class all the way. In other words, Symphony.

Symphony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFpcDuYKcBk

Navigator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9f32sctvt0

Ovation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY4oxVX2QIk

After looking at the two itineraries on Royal's website, I think I'd be booking the Hawaiian sailing. The itinerary overnights at Maui which provides a little bit more time to get to explore the island. The Big Island only gets 9 hours of tender, but with a bit of planning could still experience a bit of the land. Fly in a few days early to Oahu before embarkation and this itinerary would provide a nice taste of the islands. And that's before mentioning price. Lowest priced suite fare on this sailing, as of this post, is $3,185 versus an oceanview on Icon at $3,160. If we step down to a balcony on Ovation the fare is $1,213. The cost difference could make for some very nice excursions, onboard spending, and pre- and post-cruise experiences if you're looking to spend so much either way.

2 hours ago, ApexoftheSeas said:

Do you think a new class could be ordered to fill the gap?

With one step down in sizing, Royal has the Quantum classes, that have only 5 ships between them, which could be ordered. On the smaller end, there's rumors of a Discovery-class in the handy Panamax size to slot in between Voyager and Radiance classes as Royal's tiniest ships leave the fleet. There's really no reason to design another Oasis or Icon sized ship when both of those classes are no where near their end of life.

Sounds like an Ultra Spacious Ocean View.

From Harr: 

4 hours ago, deep1 said:

What about bears? 

That and the city are requesting that we don't use the local bus as residents depend on it for getting to work and tourists would overload the system.

 

Here's my position with Juneau apparently asking tourists not to use the bus to get to Mendenhall with the majority of people not following this stuff on Reddit. I would try to find another way to the glacier with the bus as a last resort. Knowing the Juneau is asking tourists to stay off the bus, them asking can lead to policy or route changes to discourage riders out to the visitor's center. With how high a priority visiting the glacier is for many, waiting till port to find alternative transportation to Mendenhall if the bus won't work will be too late. Keep the bus in mind, but don't stake a port day on it. 

32 minutes ago, KristiZ said:

There’s a city bus that will drop you just over a mile from the Visitor Center. The walk is on a paved path, so no worries about traffic. Might be Route 3, if I recall. 

Someone over on Reddit apparently is part of the visitor bureau for Juneau. Bold face added.

"I operate Travel Juneau, the visitor bureau for the city. If you are inbound to Juneau after July 7, please be aware:

Transportation and tours to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and the area around it operate under annual permits through the USDA Forest Service. Because of record-breaking numbers of visitors to Alaska’s Capital City, all shuttle operators are approaching their annual limit. There is a small pool of combo tours to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center available for purchase same-day on the docks. We encourage your to consider taking a city or whale-watching tour, take in our award-winning state museum, or enjoy our walkable downtown.

Alternatives to the glacier shuttles include car rental, taxis, Uber or Lyft. Travel Juneau asks that visitors not use the municipal bus system. We appreciate your understanding!"

In response to why they're asking people not to use the bus.

"We've been asked by Capital Transit to discourage use of the public bus, as it's been displacing the residents who rely on it at various times of the day and especially on weekends. I have friends and family who ride the bus, and they frequently have to wait for another bus because the one they wanted was completely full."

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cruise/comments/14tm7n3/heads_up_no_walkup_shuttle_ticket_sales_in_juneau/

36 minutes ago, Jill said:

I was planning to book alaska in 2025 but now seriously considering Norway. It’s on our bucket list. I thought the changes in Norway were after the 2025 season. I hope so.  
 

I was all excited when it was thought odyssey was replacing anthem in the UK and I wanted to book Odyssey to Norway. Now the port schedule is saying Independence out of the UK. Guess I’ll know come this November when dates are released. 

The implantation of zero emission ships in Norway's World Heritage fjords has to start no later than 2026, but certain rules may go into effect before then. Quality information is somewhat hard to come by, but there is a chance certain rules might go into effect in 2025 which would prohibit Royal from running their ships in these fjords. We'll find out later this year if Royal will be able to run itineraries with these stops. Though due to the cruise contract, if Royal is uncertain themselves, they might go ahead and put itineraries with these ports on sale, then change the itinerary later (because the cruise contract allows them to) if they're unable to visit.

Since there was multiple posts with the discussion about June's C&A newsletter and not receiving a copy, here's what was sent out this morning about Utopia of the Seas. However, I don't think there's anything here we weren't already aware of.

3 hours ago, Michellebno said:

One of our expedited passports got held up due to the unprecedented demand this summer. It took well over the 7-9 weeks plastered on everyone’s sites. I called constantly from 8am-10pm for a week to get an in person appointment. There were none to be had across the country. I had to get my congressman involved and  they finally mailed it Monday. It’s arriving today or tomorrow - too late for us to make our sailing tomorrow.   What I don’t understand is why Royal Caribbean won’t allow us to rebook. They have availability for the next two weeks. I did everything humanly possible to make it on that ship. This is not my fault; we applied in April.  The airline let us rebook.   Now we’re out $3,000 and we don’t get a vacation. This really sucks!   Do I have any recourse at all?

Because with Royal, and I'm assuming other cruise lines as well, once you're inside the final payment date, there's cancellation penalties for switching cruises (and possibly a change fee on top). Inside of 30 days to the sailing, the cancellation penalty is 100% of your cruise fare which was spelled out in the cruise contract.

16 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

feeling we will be hearing about it 4Q23

Right there with you on hearing about it then if it's going to happen. Let marketing do their thing with Icon and Utopia right now, then the team can spin up marketing on Icon-2 and Allure AMP later in the year. Keep the Royal hype train chugging along.

More icon-class?

I'd be willing to bet on that.

Bigger class?

Never say never, but I got a feeling Royal's hitting the current ship maximum when it comes to size and passenger count. While larger ships have economies of scale, they do require beefy shoreside support and enough staff to make them work. On back to back, fully booked Oasis sailings, Royal's needing to demebark and embark ~11,200 passengers and their luggage in maybe 12 hours. Refueling the ship and bringing new provisions aboard has to happen. Which means having suppliers who can reliably deliver or provide the shear quantities of food and fuel required. The port has to be able to screen and check-in approx. 5600 people within a narrow window of time. Larger ships will require additional shoreside peeps just to get people aboard in facilities probably not designed to handle that many. Next, the ship needs places to go. There's only so many ports which can handle an Oasis-class ship. Not just with docking, but also with shorex opportunities and things to do with that many people visiting at once (not to mention any other ships in port). 

2 hours ago, ApexoftheSeas said:

Galveston can fit an icon class. I wonder if an icon class will go to Europe.

I might be misunderstanding the European market for Royal, but I doubt an Icon-class will be positioned there for at least the first three ships. Europe is like Alaska in that it's port of call focused for the most part. The ship is less of the destination, versus in the Caribbean, so it doesn't make sense to run a ship class on these itineraries designed to draw people in due to the ship's resort amenities. Plus, Royal's going to want to run Icon-class where cruising and private island days are equal or greater than number of port days to maximize revenue capture too.

My bet is on Miami, Port Canaveral, and Galveston receiving the first three Icon-class ships.

July 16th on Brilliance.

Chart last updated July 5 at 11:09 pm.

I can't see Royal introducing adult only sailings. Royal's niche isn't adult only; it's multigenerational families and people looking for that style of resort. It's like asking Virgin to allow kids on some of their ships when that's not where they're placing themselves in the market.

I'm seeing the lowest price I've seen before for the DBP across multiple sailings at $64.99. 

The big thing during this sale, for me, isn't even 4th of July sale related. Dining finally went on sale for my holiday sailing and nabbed a Christmas Day lunch reservation at Chops for the usual Chops lunch price. Xmas dinner is $99.99; a personal sized bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne and a lobster tail isn't worth the upcharge. Not to mention missing the rare holiday menu in the MDR.

12 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

There's a travel agent website that has all the sale flyers posted.

I'm not sure if it's a no-no to post it (I'm not a travel agent but it's not password protected or anything). It has to do with always being loyal if you want to play around with google. Or maybe I'm just being silly and someone else will share it.

https://loyaltoyoualways.com/ ?The official RCCL travel agent site? I imagine it's kosher, because otherwise it'd require a password to see.

13 hours ago, Thumper44 said:

Does anyone know how Costa Maya got developed?  Because that kind of seems like the middle of nowhere.  

Did a Navy or oil pier or something exist there prior to the cruise ships and related development?

https://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/3867?lang=en

Parts of the article rewritten using ChatGPT to be less academic are found in the attached text file.

Costa Maya Article Rewrite.txt

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

Can someone post a URL?

CAS still hasn't figured out a way to send me any emails despite being signed up.  

The only URL I'm seeing is for the personalized edition. So I quickly made a redacted copy without my personal information.

3 hours ago, ApexoftheSeas said:

Do you think that Royal Caribbean could order more Icon class ships and/or a new class anytime soon?

Expected deliveries in 2025 and 2026 based on price and tonnage. 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-ship-orderbook/

Edit: Interestingly enough, missed the part until after posting about class, 2027 would be the 30th birthday for half of Vision-class. Would be a good year to introduce "The Ultimate Family Adventure" based on their current marketing speak.

Unless the Asian market has a stronger demand than I think it would for an Icon-class, another bet on Galveston, but going to do a side bet on Port Canaveral. Sailing Icon-2 from Texas has the potential to encourage bookings from mid-America from people who want to drive instead of fly to the port and people who think flying to Miami is too far versus Galveston. The Galveston terminal shouldn't have any issues handling that many passengers on turn around day and was designed to handle the ship class too. Placing an Icon class ship in Galveston also would help marketing with making people aware that Royal sails from the port; even if they don't book Icon part deux, the awareness could increase bookings there on other Royal ships.

Port Canaveral has the luxury of location nearby Orlando. While Utopia can capture the short cruise market, Icon-2 could capture the families looking for a short stay in O-town and a week aboard a ship.