JasonOasis

I just pulled this up today if you click on the link below it does show Crown Royal. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/beverage-packages/deluxe-beverage-packages-cruises.pdf That isn't to say it is back onboard every single ship in the fleet but it does seem like Crown Royal is making its return. Just a month or so ago I was on Freedom I didn't see any Crown Royal but it also isn't my drink of choice so I wasn't actively looking for it either.

This has nothing to do directly with Utopia but I just noticed that for the month of June and July Royal will have 2 Oasis Class ships in port at Port Canaveral, both Wonder and Oasis. Oasis arrival is 1pm and it is a port of call while Wonder of course is returning to its homeport. I'm wondering what berth will Oasis use? Also it is possible going forward for Royal to actually have 2 Oasis Class ships (Wonder and Utopia) homeporting at Port Carnaveral on the exact same day? Does Port Carnaveral have the resources that would allow for 2 Oasis Class ships to homeport and deal with all the craziness that comes along with turn around day not to mention all the other ships that homeport there as well?

A few days ago NCL announced it was canceling the entire winter 2023/24 European cruise season on Norwegian Epic and will instead redeploy Epic to the highly lucrative Caribbean market. Norwegian Epic had been schedule to spend the entire winter season sailing the Mediterranean doing 7 - 10 night cruises departing from places like Rome (Civitavecchia) Haifa Israel, and Lisbon Portugal, instead Epic will be redeployed to Port Canaveral and will do 7 night cruises to the Caribbean. According to NCL the cancellations are do to fleet redeployments but some industry insiders state it comes down to money and low bookings for Mediterranean cruises during the winter season. NCL is offering a full refund to effected passengers and a 20% FCC if guest book another European cruise or a 10% FCC if effected guest book any other cruise on any NCL ship. https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/NCL-cancels-winter-Norwegian-Epic# Has there ever been a time in recent years (not including COVID shutdown) where a cruise line cancels an entire season this close? We are only 6 months away from December 1st which is when Epic's winter 2023/24 season was scheduled to begin. According to another article Port Canaveral has the space to accommodate Epic but so far NCL hasn't released the new sailings as they are still working on which ports of call in the Caribbean to send Epic too.

Agreed its pass time for Bi Agreed it is pass time for bionic bar to go. While I've enjoy a few meals at Wonderland that space which is humongous could be put to better use as Giovanni's.

There is another side to that equation which Royal has to consider and that's sailings out of New York/New Jersey. I'm not sure when the school half term ends in England but if it is early November that is to late for Royal to leave an Oasis Class ship up in New York where over night lows can get as low as 3 degrees celsius or 39 degrees fahrenheit. Even though Odyssey isn't exactly a traditional cold weather ship she is more suited to sailing out of New York in during those cool fall and cold winter months than an Oasis Class ship.

They don't need a chief meteorologist they need to pay attention to the ones at the national weather center. That storm was forecasted days in advance and it was meandering off the coast of Northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina for a day or two but the forecast from the national weather center did call for it to move out by Sunday evening. Even though the storm was never forecast to become any thing tropical and it never did become tropical it was forecast as a severe thunder storm and wave height was forecast as well. Not to Monday morning quarterback Carnivals decision to push through the storm but I do have to wonder why they didn't just delay the ships arrival. I know that would have cost money but look at the alternative look at what happened where the entire lower decks and crew cabins flooded. Even though the ship was never in any danger until all of that is cleaned up what is the crew supposed to do?

Our last cruise was on Freedom but before that my husband and I booked a sort of last minute cruise on Symphony that set sail this past February. In November of 2022 when we started looking there were no suites available but when we booked the cruise just after Christmas there were several Junior Suites available and 4 Grand Suites. By the time we got someone from Royal on the phone there was only 1 Grand Suite left and still several Junior Suites. So people do book and then cancel or book and then downgrade. I don't see this as a money maker for Royal because what Royal wants is customers who are serious about sailing in a suite actually booking a suite.

Quantum class has not flopped in the west/Atlantic region. By mid-fall of 2024 Royal will have 6 Oasis Class ships sailing from ports in Florida and Galveston that is a lot of capacity. Add in Odyssey which is a Quantum Plus class ship that is a lot of capacity especially out of Florida where 5 of the 6 Oasis Class ships will be based. I still think at some point one of the 6 Oasis Class ships will reposition to China and perhaps Royal will reposition Spectrum back to Singapore and eventually bring Anthem back home to the US. However until demand has recovered in China to warrant a ship like Wonder Royal has decided to reposition Spectrum to China and Anthem to Singapore. I believe this is more Royal trying to find the right balance by making sure the have the right ships on the right itineraries to meet demand. Clearly the Chinese market is a huge market however it would seem as though Royal believes putting an Oasis Class ship in China right out of the gate in 2024 is too much and would rather reposition Spectrum. As has been discussed Singapore was the first country to allow cruising to resume and Royal was right there in Singapore with a Quantum Class ship. Obviously Royal isn't willing to cede the marketshare they have in Singapore to another cruise line while they rebuild in China. There options are clear they must replace Spectrum with another ship and the best ship that has nearly the same capacity as Spectrum is Anthem. What I wonder is what will replace Odyssey on Greek Isles, Mediterranean, and Israeli cruises come summer 2025?

I'm on Freedom right now enjoying a quick weekend cruise and the only thing you hear out of every child's mouth is I want to go on Icon, Icon, Icon, Icon, they all want Icon they have no idea how expensive Icon is for their parents. And according to Royal Icon of the Seas continues to set sales records. I agree with you Icon is expensive and I still haven't booked a cruise on Icon. Not because of the price but because I think it's going to be OVERRUN with children and I don't want to deal with that. However as long as Icon continues to sell at record pace I don't see Royal lowering the price for that ship. I think Utopia will be expensive then I'm hoping it won't be Icon expensive. I'm hoping it Royal will price it a bit closer to Wonder or Symphony due to the fact it's just another Oasis Class ship. Hopefully that along with the spotlight still being on Icon will keep Utopia prices from reaching Iconic levels. I've got my credit card ready for Utopia I'm looking at doing a B2B but in my opinion Royal can keep Icon, I'm in no rush to get on that cruise ship.

Port Canaveral continues to grow and expand. With Utopia heading to Port Canaveral I highly doubt we see Royal lower their prices. If any cruise line could keep Royal in check I would think it would be Carnival, NCL and even MSC. All have either homeport or intend to homeport their newer/newest largest ships at Port Canaveral and yet it has done nothing to keep prices in check, in fact it seems like prices are up across the board at all these cruise lines. It would be nice if Princess's arrival has an impact on prices out of Port Canaveral but I think the opposite will happen I think Princess (which of course is owned by Carnival Corporation) will adjust their prices to the higher price point that the market clearly shows it can support. Port Canaveral did just recently take the title of worlds busiest cruise port from PortMiami so these sky high cruise fares out of Central Florida are not impacting demand at all. And with the amount of debt the Carnival Corporation is in as aa result of the industry shutdown they probably appreciate Royal's higher fares as it makes it much easier for them to charge more than what they normally would especially if Princess plans to send one of their newest ships to Port Canaveral.

I think you've nailed it right here. I think in the past there probably were a lot of last minute cancellations and now Royal isn't seeing as many cancellations as before. In the airline industry when they oversell a flight and everyone shows up if they don't get enough volunteers to take whatever they are offering they then look at the cost of the ticket and they will deny boarding starting with the passenger/s who have purchased the cheapest ticket and work their way up from there. I don't agree with it I think it is wrong. Just because someone purchased a cheap ticket doesn't mean their plans aren't important but that is how the airlines work when they don't get volunteers to give up their seat. I don't know how Royal decides who cruise to cancel but they really need to lower the percentage they oversell these cruises.

I honestly don't know the answer to this but can the Port of Long Beach even handle an Oasis Class ship at their cruise terminals? I would love to see Royal do more out west perhaps they could send one of their Freedom Class ships out west to join Navigator permanently. If Royal has to build the infrastructure both at Long Beach and also at ports along the Baja peninsula and Western ports in Mexico just to accommodate on Oasis Class ship does any potential ROI (return on investment) outweigh the cost to bring an Oasis class ship out west to LA? Royal knows they will make money hand over fist in the Eastern, Western and Southern Caribbean which is why they continue to invest so much money in the Caribbean. Judging from the size of ships both NCL and Carnival sail out of LA Royal could place a Freedom Class or even a Quantum Class ship out west along side Navigator with minimum upfront cost.

OMG!!! If this is true that is awesome news I absolutely love Oasis Class ships can wait for Utopia to arrive. Putting the ship on an all-Bahamas itinerary sounds temporary (probably until they find her a permanent home) but I've got my credit card ready to book a crown loft on a B2B cruise.

Just to provide an update the FAA delayed FLL's reopening until 9am this morning which is less than an hour from now. However the longest runway 10L/28R remains closed out of service, this leave just one runway 10R/28L which is shorter than 10L/28R as the only runway in operation for both departing and arriving flights. For now they don't expect to have both runways in operation at all today there has been no word on if the second runway will be open for operations tomorrow.

As of right now for tomorrow Friday April 14th FLL is currently showing 128 inbound cancellations for all airlines, expect this number to grow. The last update received from the FAA by the airline I work for still shows the airport reopening at 5am tomorrow morning and as it stands right now the airline that I work for is not showing a ton a cancellations, however I would say don't be deceived. On a normal day depending on the day of the week FLL sees anywhere between 550-620 daily arrivals from commercial passenger aircraft. There are a lot of airline employees needed to run an operation like that. With the amount of flooding Fort Lauderdale and surrounding communities experienced there are going to be a lot of employees (no matter the airline) that simply will not be able to make in to work on tomorrow for a variety of reasons. The people who make the decisions to cancel in advance or not cancel in advance most if not all of them work in the operation center that each airline has. And most operation centers are located within or near an airlines World Headquarters meaning the decision makers they are divorced from the actual operation that happens on the ground at the airport. Looking at the devastation that happened in Fort Lauderdale I know tomorrow is going to be a total mess at FLL. Even though as of right now the FAA still says the airport will reopen at 5 am there will be at least 150 additional cancellations at FLL if not more because without the ground staff in place to work arriving and departing flights it becomes difficult if not impossible for airlines to run their schedule. There will be a lot of last minute cancellations into FLL tomorrow once individual airlines station managers start looking at their call out list and realize the number of employees calling out, who aren't even able to get to work (assuming the station manager can get to work) and starts relaying that information to each individual airlines operation center the cancellations and those dreaded rolling delays are going to mount. Even if your flight is still showing on-time especially if your are scheduled to arrive at FLL before 12 or 1pm, I would for sure be calling the airline looking to rebook and fly into Miami, West Palm Beach, Melbourne, or even Orlando. What you want to try and avoid is a last minute cancellation where you are scrambling for options especially if you have a cruise leaving either tomorrow or Saturday. It is always better to be proactive than reactive and the time to be proactive is now because I can promise you the chances of FLL being back to anything close to normal tomorrow is slim to none. Also to those of you who have a cruise on Sunday and are planning to fly out into FLL on Saturday I would NOT let my guard down. When you have an airport like FLL shutdown for over 24 hours it take time for things to get back to 100% normal. Don't think you are in the clear simply because your flight isn't until Saturday, I would have a plan B ready to go, ready to execute to get to the pier on-time for Sunday just in case things go awry on Saturday. There probably won't be as many cancellations on Saturday as there will be tomorrow but I would be shocked if things were 100% normal come Saturday.

They are hard but I can't tell you how many times I've checked into a hotel and lay on the mattress and one or both sides of the mattress are depressed. You try sleeping in the middle of the mattress but then if you roll over in your sleep you fall into the rut made by other people. With the kind of turnaround cruise ships see a rock hard mattress is probably the only thing that can stand up to the abuse. If Royal were to use softer mattresses they would either have to constantly replace them which costs money or passengers allow passengers to sleep on deformed mattresses which isn't acceptable either.

I appreciate you bringing this up because we just sent out a memo to our flight attendants warning them that we are now seeing increasing wait times for passport renewals. Right now on average we are seeing a wait time of 8 to 9 weeks for normal processing. (Doesn't make for happy flight attendants when they have 40+ years are use to flying only international trips and now have to fly domestic trips for at least 2 months.) However for people with cruises especially European cruises this coming summer please check your passports now. If you think your passport is expiring or know it is expiring and you have a cruise especially European cruise the time to renew your passport is now. Even if you choose expedited processing your are probably looking at 4 to 5 weeks. The airline I work for didn't give us a reason why we are seeing this increase in wait times after seeing wait time decrease dramatically over the past year but here we are at 8 to 9 weeks for normal processing for passport renewal.

Disney in addition to Disneyland Tokyo also has Shanghai Disneyland Park which is part of the sprawling Shanghai Disneyland Resort, which is another reason i'm scratching my head at their decision to base this ship in Singapore and not Shanghai at the semi-newly construction Shanghai international port. Disneyland Tokyo and Shanghai Disneyland Park do not have world wide appeal like Walt Disney World in Orlando but with over a billion people living in China Shanghai Disneyland Resort doesn't need to have world wide appeal. Disney over more than a decade has built their Shanghai resort into what it is today. I get U.S. - China relations are in the best place right now and by all accounts are heading in the wrong direction, but this ship isn't being marketed to Americans. I just don't understand the the Singapore link unless this is part of a larger plan to expand the Disney brand into Singapore using this ship. However, because there is literally no space within the tiny country of Singapore to put a Disneyland Singapore or an even larger Disneyland resort Disney has come up with this bold idea to use Global Dream. Since there is no space on land the ship becomes the vehicle Disney uses to expand their global reach and they finally will have a presence in Southeast Asia.

Europe can be a lot with young children. I did this same cruise that your booked on in the spring of 2019 and my husband and I booked every shore excursion through external companies. I forgot the tour group we used in Marseille but I do know we did a walking tour it was a very small group that included lunch and stopped by this soap shop where we were allowed to make our own soap with the help of a expert of course. I still have one of the soaps I made I told my husband we can't use it all we have to keep one as a souvenir. We used Viator (they have both an app and you can find them online) and booked tours through them in Mallorca and also Naples. In Naples we both wanted to go to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Royal was charging some outrageous price like $239 dollars per person and you would be on a bus with 40-50 other people I was like hell no. With Viator our tour group was only 6 people they picked us up from the pier in a Mercedes Benz luxury van that had recliners. We had a local driver that took us to all the places we wanted to go although lunch was no included he took us to this local restaurant in Sorrento and the price for our 10 hour tour was only like $115 dollars per person. In La Spezia we took off on our own and took the train to Florence (Royal was charging to much money to go to Florence on a bus) because I wanted to see and shop at the Ponte Vecchio and I also wanted to see the statue of David. Luckily back in 2019 the ship was in port something like 15 hours and we got up early to make sure we were off because we knew we faced a 2 hour 30 minute train ride. We are adventurous which is why we did this on our own but it was a very, very , very long day but it was worth minute of it. However I would NOT recommend you do this with small children, we were wore out by the time we got back to the ship however we made it back an hour prior to the all aboard time. In Civitavecchia we did the same thing we got off the ship and took the train to Rome. The train station in Civitavecchia is within walking distance of the port but there is also a shuttle. In 2019 the price for a one way ticket was around $5.00 (it was like 4 Euro which I think back then was like $5 dollars) and the ride to/from Rome was only 48 minutes (so a lot closer than La Spezia to/from Florence). Again because we are adventurous and because I had already been to Rome we took off on our own to explore Rome and have some lunch. It was great we saved a ton of money in both Florence and Rome by taking off on our own but I would not suggest people do that unless you are absolutely comfortable doing something like that, can navigate these European cities and streets, and lastly know without any doubt that you can absolutely get yourself back to the ship with at least an hour to spare before the all aboard time. Our last full day onboard was an at sea day and I don't think we even woke up until something like 2 or 3 pm we were so wore out from the previous days of just going, going, going. What I will say is this any Oasis Class cruise out of Barcelona is fun but pace yourself. That cruise in 2019 was our first European cruise we went to placing I had never been to before and I know I over did it by thinking I have to get it all in all at once on this cruise. I'm not sure why I thought that but end although we had fun and memories for a life time we did WAY TO MUCH. God willing there will always be another cruise so don't approach this cruise thinking you have to get it all in, in this one cruise because it can be a bit overwhelming especially if you're use to simply cruising the Caribbean and Mexico like we were.

So what ports can handle Disney's Global Dream ship? Global Dream has a width of 46.4 meters and a length of 342 meters, whereas Oasis Class ships have a width of 47 meters and a length of 360 meters. In terms of size those are some pretty close numbers, if Oasis is limited one would imagine Global Dream would be limited as well. Or does the slight variation in the numbers/size make all the difference Global Dream can reach ports because it is slightly smaller, while Oasis Class ships can't because they are ever to slightly bigger?

It won't effect any one looking to book or having already booked a Spring/Sumer 2023 European cruise from any EU country. ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) goes live in 2024. The purpose of ETIAS is so EU countries can keep better track of who is entering and exiting individual countries. Most individuals doing short terms stays in an EU country are allowed to remain for a total of 90 days after which you must leave the country. ETIAS must be obtained BEFORE you arrive into a EU country. The way the EU has set this up and the airlines have known for a few years this was coming is this if an individual shows up (for example to O'Hare) and they do not have ETIAS clearance the airline can not under any circumstances allow that individual to board the flight period end of discussion, the EU is very serious about this. When I look at the list of countries where the EU will require ETIAS I'm surprised that the U.S. is on this list considering some of the other countries that are listed. I didn't think the EU had a problem keeping track of and making sure U.S. citizens leave the country by the end of their 90th day. ETIAS is valid for up to 3 years, however, if your passport has less than 3 years to its expiration then ETIAS will expire when your passport expires. The charge for ETIAS for U.S. citizens right now is about $7-8 dollars depending on the exchange rates. For now what I know from working in the airline industry is that the U.S. for now does not intend to reciprocate by requiring EU citizens to obtain some sort of visa for travel into the U.S. but of course that could change.

The capacity of Dream will come down by 300 passengers. Under Genting design most staterooms would have been extremely small. What Disney has said is they will redesign many of the cabins making them bigger which will result in maximum capacity dropping down to around 6000 total guest.

I'm surprised they will homeport it in Singapore and not in Shanghai at the international cruise port. Without a doubt either Wonder or Utopia will go go Asia. Having 6 Oasis Class ships and 3 Icon Class ships in the US is too much. I think it is a given that at least one of these ships will end up in Asia by the time that Disney ship is delivered in mid-2025 if I'm not mistaken. With the amount of capacity Royal has coming online over the next few years it wouldn't surprise me as the cruise market recovers in Asia if at some point when the second Icon Class ship is delivered both Wonder and Utopia end up in the Asia/Australia market.

I just booked my first ever transatlantic cruise on Odyssey leaving on November 2024. I booked a I was going to book a Grand Suit but ended up booking the Owners Suite for just over $12,500 dollars total including taxes and fees. I recently booked and went on a last minute cruise this past February on Symphony and since it was book 3 weeks prior to departure and they only had one suite left (a Grand Suite) my husband and I paid a total of $7,793 dollars for a 7 night cruise. That is a lot of money for a Grand Suite but both my husband and I needed a vacation we had been working some crazy hours, we had the money already sitting in our special cruise account so we booked it even at the inflated price because we just needed to get out of Chicago. In my opinion there are still some great deals to be had and cruising is still a great value but now more than ever you have to book early. We locked in $12,500 dollars for a Owners Suite in my opinion is a deal especially on Odyssey where suites are a bit more expensive than on Oasis Class ships, for 14 nights that isn't bad. I just checked and the price has already gone up several thousand dollars anyone booking a Owners Suite on the same cruise will now pay nearly $16,000 dollars and I think that is because they only have 2 or 3 of those suites left on that cruise. On my February Symphony cruise I thought Royal had fixed the issues with their food quality. The cruises I took in 2021 and 2022 there were issues with food quality and with bars not being properly stocked. However on February cruise every bar was stocked and we had the UBP so both my husband and I were getting our moneys worth. There were food or quality issues at any of the speciality restaurants, the main dinning room, windjammers, Park Cafe or anywhere else. I thought the food was great, the portion sizes has always been the same. As others have pointed out Royal had to take on quite a bit of debt to stay afloat during the shut down. To pay down that debt they have to do something so if that means raising prices I'm okay with that because I don't want to see Royal end up in bankruptcy court. If you love cruising as much as I do your choices are clear, either book early to lock in a lower rate, book last minute pay the inflated rate especially if you are booking a balcony or a suite, book a stateroom in lower category than you normally would to save money, or lastly stop cruising altogether. In my mind cruising is still a great value and is still one of the best forms of vacation you can experience.

FionaMG is correct. I work for a major airline here in Chicago that partners with Lufthansa. When you arrive in FRA you need to follow the signs for passengers in transit, and since you are coming from the US you will clear immigration in FRA your first point of entry into the Schengen zone. It is very easy at FRA there are signs in several languages all over the place so it is nearly impossible for you to get lost make a wrong turn if you are reading and following the signs for passengers in transit. After clearing immigrations proceed to your next departure gate to BCN. I'm not sure how long your layover is at FRA but if you have a long layover (several hours) make sure you remain within the secure in transit area you can't leave and go explore Frankfurt if for example you have 6 hour layover. You must remain in the secure in transit area of the airport. Upon arrival at BCN you will claim your bags and proceed through customs. If you have nothing to declare going through customs is generally the same process like here in the States you grab your bags and proceed to the exit marked Nothing To Declare. However if you have something to declare by all means declare it, because the EU just like the United States is strict and has a zero tolerance policy. The time to declare something is before they pull you out of line for random luggage inspection not as they are going through your bags.