JasonOasis

The cruise season is already year around in certain parts of the European market. I 100% agree its is pure speculation and it's anyone's guess where Anthem will end up at with Odyssey taking over at Cape Liberty. But with both NCL and now Celebrity jumping onto the year around cruising out of Europe the market must be growing. It isn't infinite but something is happening the reason why US cruise lines are now doing year around cruising out of Europe. Time will tell if the rumors/speculation about Anthem are true or not but if the market continues to grow I don't see how Royal remains on the sidelines.

There is also speculation that Anthem might remain in Europe to do year around sailings. NCL is now doing year around sailings, I think Celebrity will join in on the action, there is speculation Royal might join this growing trend with Anthem. Royal has already expanded their European 2024 season with some ships not leaving Europe until November meaning those ships wouldn’t reach the US until a week or so before U.S.’s Thanksgiving holiday. Leaving Anthem in Europe to sail the Canary Islands and Portugal would allow Royal to compete with NCL and it would allow Royal to at least start their Mediterranean season earlier. NCL’s Mediterranean season will start in March thanks to the ship they are leave in Europe. Royal’s season can’t begin until Mid to late April, because March is still very much high season for cruises to the Caribbean from the U.S. But with European cruises becoming evermore popular with American’s I don’t think Royal wants to give NCL a 4-6 week advantage in the all important Mediterranean market. It is still cool in the Mediterranean in March and early April so Anthem would be a great ship to utilize in that market then reposition her to South Hampton when your Oasis Class ship, Odyssey, and Voyager Class ships arrive in April.

What drew me to Royal was they have something for everyone and that is what I fell in love with. There have always been kids/teenagers on Royal Caribbean ships but my husband and I always our long cruises when most of them should be in school. What I love about Royal are the people, we’ve been cruising with them since 2009 and if feels great to get on a ship and the crew regonize you like hey wheren’t you on Harmony last year. The friendliness of the staff on Royal ships keeps me coming back. I’ve been on some cruise lines where the staff was just mean, nasty and rude to guest. The entertainment on Royal especially on Voyager Class ships and higher is some of the best out there when compared to Carnival, NCL, even MSC. The one area in entertainment where MSC has Royal beat hands down is their Cirque Du Soleil show on Meraviglia. But take Quantum Class ships with Music Hall, I absolutely love doing 12 night cruises on Anthem out of Cape Liberty the bands they book to play in Music Hall I know I’m going to have a rock’s good time every night. I’ve done the zip line, the water slides the rock climbing wall, iFly they were great experiences but at 43 years old I’m at the point where if I do partake in these things on a cruise its great but if I don’t its no big deal. Now one thing I never miss out on on Quantum Class ships is bummer cars I’m sorry but I love me some bummer cars. Royal seems to have gotten their act together with the food, at least on this cruise I have no complaints about the food at all. That wasn’t the case for multiple cruises I took with Royal in 2021 and in 2022 where the food was simply terrible. So it is good to see quality food return. What continues to give me pause with booking a Celebrity cruise is I don’t know if it is to slow of an environment for me at this time. I know at some point in time I’m going to have to leave Royal for Celebrity or some other more upscale cruise line but at 43 years old is Celebrity the right cruise line for me at this time? That is the question that I don’t know the answer too just yet. But in all honesty if Royal were to release the schedule for Utopia I certainly would purchase a crown loft or owners suite in a heartbeat on Utopia. Although I’m not in any rush to get on Icon I certainly would book Utopia without thinking twice about it.

Nothing about Utopia yet. I get Royal wants to keep the focus on Icon and rightfully so as Utopia is just another Oasis Class Ship. However she is currently scheduled for delivery some time during the spring of 2024. Unless that delivery schedule slips or Royal intends on delaying taking delivery or delaying Utopia entry into service then perhaps by September or October of this year Royal will finally release some information on Utopia including putting some cruises on sail. Given the option I would for sure get on Utopia before getting on Icon. Utopia’s arrival and several other reasons are why I havent’ yet booked any cruises in 2024 on Icon.

I'm thinking of trying Celebrity as well. I'm on Symphony right now and Royal has gone all in on family cruising. I've never seen so many children especially on the suite deck. I love Royal but it has been hard to relax on this cruise with all these children running around the suite deck. I have a few more cruises booked on Royal a few weekend cruises but the major cruises are Wonder B2B in October and Symphony again in January of 2024. I was going to book Icon for either the summer of fall of 2024 but I've held off thus far because it just seems to busy . And do I really want to cruise on the ultimate family cruise ship in 2024 and all the children that come along with the words ultimate and family (that is a lot of children) is the question I keep asking myself. On the other hand I think Royal has paid attention to all the complaining about the food especially at speciality restaurants. On our longer cruises we always book the ultimate dinning package on weekend cruises we don't bother we just go to the main dinning room, and thus far Symphony has not disappointed even at Chops the food has been great. Its just the children and the amount of children on this cruise hasn't gone unnoticed at least by me.

I'm wondering the same thing, as of right now starting with their November 2024 schedule and onward into 2025 Royal has 14 ships without a published schedule. I'm wondering if Utopia and to a certain extent China are the problem. I'm thinking Royal is probably trying to figure out if demand in China will be strong enough to justify sending an Oasis Class ship to China. If the answer is no and demand in China hasn't recovered to justify an Oasis Class ship Royal then has to figure out what to do with 6 Oasis Class ships and an Icon Class ship. Of course one Oasis Class ship will be sailing out of Galveston, but that still would leave 5 Oasis Class ships and Icon sailing out of Florida. It would be nice to see Royal homeport an Oasis Class in San Juan for the winter season and sail it to the Southern Caribbean or even to Columbia and ports of call near Panama canal (I know Oasis Class ships can't go through the canal) but if ports in the Southern Caribbean and Central America can handle an Oasis Class ship why not homeport a ship in San Juan. Whatever the wrench is that is holding up the winter 2024/2025 schedule Royal needs to figure it out fast and get their schedule up and open for sale. The competition already has most of their schedule posted and open for sale.

NCL's Getaway will sail out of New York during January and February of 2024 that ship has zero covered heated pools for every day guest. I think guest in the Haven may have a small covered pool, but all other pools are open to the elements. And the reason Royal is sending Odyssey to New York for the 2025 winter season is because NCL is sending Prima to New York for the 2025 winter season. Prima is definitely not a cold weather ship, there are no covered heated pools, the entire outside space on deck 8 on Prima will be useless in the dead of winter as will the outside areas on decks 16, 17, and 18 none of those pools are covered and the go cart track on 19 and 20 would only be able to be used if the weather corporates. Any type of snow, ice, or rain I would imagine would shut down the go carts until the ship is in warmer weather. Then there is MSC which is sending the Merviglia to New York for year around sailings. Now the Merviglia does have one covered but also very small indoor pool. But all other top levels of Merviglia including the exclusive Yacht Club on deck 20 at the front of the ship are all open to the elements. By sending Odyssey to New York for 2025 winter season it would appear as though Royal is simply responding to NCL and MSC's move and it is an admission that Anthem (which is a great ship) would be out of its league going up against Merviglia and Prima. The only ship Royal has that can go up against Prima and Merviglia in the dead of winter is Odyssey, putting an Oasis Class ship up in New York in January and February would be an epic fail. What we have going forward is all three of these cruise lines are either trying to one up each other or simply trying to keep up with the other when none of them will be using the right ship for the market during the winter season, and it is the guest that will pay the price with a diminished experience on their first day. On the two winter cruises I did on Anthem by the time I woke up the next morning the weather was in the mid-50's, that is still a bit to cold even for this Chicago boy to get into a outdoor pool but I did enjoy the outdoor space. But by the second morning it was in the upper-70s or sometimes even low-80's. But you still loose a day of pool fun and outdoor space relaxation because it can be a bit to cool to jump into that water and unless your coming from the upper Midwest or the upper plains 55 degrees is still cold. But for a Chicagoan like myself 55 degrees in January is shorts weather, it just not getting in the pool weather

I've sailed on Anthem four times twice during the cold winter months. The last time I was on Anthem was January 2022 for a 12 night Caribbean cruise and it was cold outside, but Anthem has both indoor and outdoor pools. The solarium is climate controlled and has pools, also on deck 14 behind the solarium there is another indoor pool under the retractable roof which is climate controlled. I noticed NCL has decided to leave one of their ships in Europe for year around cruising. In the colder months the NCL Sun sails out of Portugal and Spain to places in the Canary Islands. I was wondering if and/or when would Royal jump on this there is no reason to bring all your ships home from Europe during the winter. Another thing I noticed is NCL also has a ship sailing out of the Middle East the Jade has spent some time in South Africa and countries along Africa's eastern coast along with Madagascar and Seychelles before heading to the Middle East to visit countries like Oman, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Israel then will transit the Suez Canal before begin its Mediterranean season on March 9th. Royal's 2023 Mediterranean season doesn't even begin until mid-April more than a month after NCL's Jade arrival. Personally I love traveling to certain parts of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean during the winter months I don't have to deal with a ton of tourist, its not as hot, thing can be a bit cheaper and overall I have much more enjoyable experience. If Royal were to leave a ship in Southern Europe and sail from Europe year around I certainly would change my yearly winter cruise (which I normally take either in January or February) from the Caribbean to Southern Europe.

Which then raises the question where is Anthem going? Is Anthem going to dry dock for maintenance work in early 2025 or is Royal redeploying her elsewhere?

I never had any issues using my wow band at any bar on RC ships that had wow bands and I never had an issue gaining access to my cabin using a wow band. Now for the onboard shops, spa and casino it would be nice if wow bands worked as currency like your seapass and is something that can be fixed through IT and programming. But of course we all know Royal's IT departments isn't exactly the best in the business. But for what the wow band does it is absolutely better than having to use your seapass for everything.

I'm sailing out this coming Saturday on Symphony, fingers crossed they are back onboard.

We are in the middle of inflation nation the price of everything has gone up. Have you seen the price of eggs recently? Now imagine how many eggs Royal Caribbean is using fleet wide every week? And that's just eggs that doesn't take into account any other food that is included in the price of the cruise. I'm the grocery shopper for my husband and I what use to cost me $150 dollars in groceries is now over $300 dollars for the same groceries. Next think about the cost of fuel which is still expensive and then labor cost have gone up, also something most people don't think about is the cost associated with with waste removal once the ship is back in its homeport. I know from working in the airline industry disposal of waste both garbage and human waste has gotten extremely expensive. If customers feel like they are being priced out of cruising I would suggest choosing a cabin in a lower category or chose an older ship. If you're looking to cruise on an Oasis Class, Quantum Class and for sure Icon class expect to pay a lot more money. Anyone expecting prices to come down over the next year or so is going to be greatly disappointed. My husband and I just decided to turn our October cruise on Wonder into a B2B they had one Crown Loft suite left it cost $13,560 dollars, a lot more than the Crown Loft we had already booked and paid for. At first we were going to book a junior suite at $3,982but dollars because their were no Grand Suites available we changed our minds and decided to pay the higher price because we wanted a Crown Loft, wanted access to the suite deck, and Wonder has less Crown Lofts/Grand Suites than any other Oasis Class ship. Since we were already book in a Crown Loft and we didn't want to play the RoyalUp game with so few suite we decided to just pay the price and enjoy our vacation. To go from a Crown Loft on week one to a junior suite on week two was a compromise we weren't willing to make so we paid the the higher price.

Oasis Class ships were designed from the ground up to feel spacious. Prior to covid the only time I personally felt like any Oasis Class ship felt crowed was after the emergency drill. Since cruising has resumed the e-muster has replaced the in person drill so the only time it feels crowded is during breakfast at Windjammers like an hour or two before they close. I've never really had an issue finding pool chairs on an Oasis Class ship, even on sea days, you may not get the spot you want but you can always find chairs at the pool. Since cruising resumed I've sailed on Freedom twice, Anthem, and on Harmony, Symphony and Wonder. In my opinion Harmony, Symphony and Wonder all felt less crowded than Freedom and Anthem because of how Oasis Class ships were designed. In 10 days I'll be boarding Symphony for another 7 night cruise, it look like the ship is nearly sold out, I think there might be a few interior cabins left but I'm looking forward to relaxing fun time.

There is a lot more to do on Oasis, there is a more entertainment on Oasis, and a lot more dinning options on Oasis than Explorer. You can't go wrong with either of these ships, I've personally cruised on both but Oasis offers a lot more onboard than Explorer. Also my husbands first cruise was on an Oasis Class ship the Allure of the Seas and he absolutely loved it hands down.

I agree, if I do get off the ship when in Nassau it's only for like an hour or two. The pandemic and subsequent shut down of the cruise industry has hurt Nassau and many local businesses and tour operators in Nassau have not returned so there is even less to do while in port. In my opinion outside of renovating the actual port the Bahamian Government has done nothing to reinvigorate Nassau and make it a city people actually want to explore. The last cruise my husband and I took in2022 we actually did get off and decided to walk around the city of Nassau nearly every 3 out of 5 businesses were closed and or boarded up. What has the local government or even the Bahamian National government done to entice people to come back and reopen their businesses. Cruise ships are back but I see no reason to get off the ship and spend my tourist dollars. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money and outside of rebuilding the port, it doesn't seem like any money has been spent in reviving Nassau. Then there is Paradise Island which in my opinion is overrated and over priced after visiting it a couple of times I'm like I'm over it. I think Nassau has long leaned on the allure of Paradise Island to get people off cruise ships and now a lot of repeat cruisers find themselves staying onboard because Paradise Island is on the decline.

When they send you the email it will contain all levels you can bid on. Don't get into a bidding war with yourself. Just put in a price you believe is reasonable, and a price they will accept and leave it. Also keep in mind since you said your cruise leaves in 2 months, that is spring break season ships will for sure be fuller during spring break if you want a real shot at that grand suite your bid has to be realistic. I noticed you said you have your hopes up for a grand suite. If that really is the case and the price is right you might want simply consider calling your travel agent or Royal directly and upgrading to the grand and avoid RoyalUp game all together.

Quick question What is Carnivals secret to their success out west of of LA where later this year they will be running 3 ships (Miracle, Radiance and Panorama) out of LA to basically the same markets. The exception is they have several 8 night cruises on Panorama that adds a destination not found on any of their 3, 4, 5, or 7 night cruises.

I understand what you're saying but if push comes to shove and Royal deems China isn't ready for an Oasis Class ship by the fall of 2024 there will be 6 Oasis Class ships setting sail from somewhere here in the US probably from somewhere in Florida. I doubt the parking situation is any better at PortMiami or Port Everglades and I doubt seriously Royal would have 2 Oasis Class ships departing from Galveston. I think Harmony stays in Galveston. Icon and an Oasis Class will sail from Miami Odyssey and an Oasis Class will sail from Fort Lauderdale Allure 3 and 4 night cruises from Port Canaveral Two other Oasis Class ships will set sail from Port Canaveral doing 7 night cruises. Is there any off site parking cruise guest can use if this situation were to come to fruition where there are essentially 3 Oasis Class ships setting sail from Port Canaveral? Living in Chicago I always fly to Florida for a cruise so parking has never effected me. But is there parking off site where Royal could perhaps run shuttles if need be?

If everything going forward remains on schedule Utopia isn't scheduled to be delivered until sometime in the spring of 2024. Royal would probably leave Utopia in Europe for the 2024 spring/summer season meaning the earliest Utopia might be relocated would be fall of 2024. Again this is assuming the construction schedule doesn't take a hit. So Royal has time and doesn't need to make any decisions about China for at least another 6-7 months. If Royal needs more time to make a decision about Utopia they could send Utopia to the US for the fall/winter season 2024/2025 after spending the spring/summer season in Europe. Allure most likely will continue doing 3 and 4 night cruises during the fall/winter 2024/2025 season Utopia or any other Oasis Class ship could easily set sail out of Port Canaveral on Saturday. Royals schedule out of Port Canaveral terminal 1 could look something like this; Allure on Fridays, Utopia on Saturdays, Wonder on Sundays, Allure on Mondays.

You might be on to something there, back in 2019 the cruise industry in Singapore welcomed over 1.8 million guest onto cruise ships out of Singapore. Many of the non-local guest came in from China, or Southeast Asia including India. In addition to the local Singaporean market both China and India were largest groups to set sail on cruise ships out of Singapore. But it is obvious the local market the few tourist who did come in 2022 are not enough to sustain this industry in Singapore. In 2019 Singapore as a whole had over 19 million tourist visit the nation. In 2022 the number of tourist who visited Singapore was a measly 4.6 million. I can not find any official numbers yet on how many people took a cruise in 2022 out of Singapore but if they only had 4.6 million tourist visit the nation I think it is safe to assume they didn't get anywhere close to the 1.8 million passengers the industry saw in 2019. From Japan down to Southeast Asia I think the recovery of the cruise industry and how quickly that recovery takes place depends on China. Many businesses from the cruise industry to the airline industry are all trying to pull rabbits out of their hats to make a few bucks throughout Asia while they wait for the recovery in China to begin with the hopes that China's recovery will then lift all boats through the whole of Asia.

I don't think there is much to talk about when it comes to Utopia. Oasis Class is my favorite class of ship (I just booked 2 days ago a last minute cruise in February on Symphony), so I'm not throwing shade but she will be the 6th Oasis Class ship to set sail. I'm not sure there is anymore groundbreaking Royal can do with Oasis Class. While there have been some minor variations when first launched between Oasis/Allure, and Harmony, then Harmony and Symphony, then Symphony and Wonder. I think Utopia will in many ways resemble Wonder it may or may not have more suites depending on how crowed Wonders suite deck gets. My one and so far only cruise on Wonder last year the suite deck didn't feel crowed at all. Royal may or they may not want to add a few more suites on Utopia. Also in my opinion when the time comes where Chinese market has rebounded and can support an Oasis Class ship I think either Wonder or Utopia will ultimately end up homeporting in China for the duration of its lifespan in Royals fleet.

Bring back South America, I would love for Royal to cruise out of Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro,

I actually took a 12 night cruise on Anthem out of Cape Liberty in late January 2022, iFly was free for the first session and I booked it in advance through the cruise planner but missed my time frame however they let me reschedule onboard. The first session is free, I think if you want to go a second time then you have to pay for iFly. The Northstar is free only while in port I also booked that in advance through the cruise planner. I'm assuming you're doing the Orlando, Nassau and Coco Cay 7 night cruise in the spring. I like all three of those ports I always find something to do either through the ship or on my own in Orlando and Nassau. My only complaint about Orlando is Royal doesn't give passengers enough time while in port. I wish the ship would arrive at Port Canaveral at 9 or 10 am instead of the current schedule which has the ship arriving in the afternoon.

NCL just announced service cut back beginning January 8, 2023. For any passenger not staying in a Haven Suite their housekeeping will be reduced to once daily across the entire fleet. NCL will roll this change out over the next few months but expects the roll out to be done by March 31, 2023. NCL is claiming they are making this change to be more environmentally friendly and that may be part of the reason but according to Cruise Hive this move is nothing more than a cost cutting move, which will save NCL an unspecified amount of money. As this change is rolled out there is some good news and bad news for NCL employees. NCL has Stateroom Attendants and Junior Stateroom Attendants, as these changes are rolled out NCL will phase out the Junior Stateroom Attendant position in accordance with the employees contract this will result in a slight pay increase for all current Junior Stateroom Attendants. However for NCL employees who already are Stateroom Attendants according to Cruise Hive they will see their pay CUT. Right now Stateroom Attendants on NCL ships make more money than Junior Stateroom Attendants, this new change will result all Stateroom Attendants making the same amount of money. Those who have already been promoted to Stateroom Attendant through dedication and longevity are about to see their paychecks get smaller a notion that probably isn't going to go over well with some long term NCL employees. All of this despite the fact NCL is raising gratuities across the board for all passengers in non-Haven suites to $20 dollars beginning January 1st, to $4 dollar per person per day increase. Passengers in Haven suites will see their gratuities increase to $25 dollars per person per day but thus far Haven passengers will NOT see a decrease in service to their staterooms. Cruise Hive speculates this move by NCL could result in fewer stateroom attendants since they would only be cleaning rooms once a day. Lets not forget NCL just a few weeks ago announce a 9% reduction in its shoreside staff in a similar move that was painted as a benefit for passengers. https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-line-cuts-back-on-passenger-service/91452 With cruise fares being up across the board, I think the last thing people want to see are these cuts to service while having to pay higher gratuities. I completely understand cruise lines took on a ton of debt to stay afloat during the pandemic and entire shut down of their industry but with all of these service cuts on top of the increases we've seen in cruise fares, gratuities, beverage packages ECT are cruise lines running the risk of delivering themselves a self inflicted wound? As popular as cruising has become over the past 11-13 years customers could easily revert back to other types of vacation if they perceive that cruising is no longer the value that really help grow the industries popularity. I'm a cruise loyalist, I enjoy cruising right now the price isn't a deterrent for me. But can this industry with all of these mega ships, new ships survive off loyalist alone or do they need to keep attracting new customers and repeat customers who may not necessarily be loyalist like many of us on this site are?

Southwest has hubs in ATL, BWI, MDW, DEN, HOU, BNA, OAK, PHX, and STL, they don't like to call them hubs but any airport where thousands of passengers make connections on the same carrier every day is a hub. There CEO says its going to take a week to get things back on track so for anyone who has a cruise leaving over the next 2-4 days flying out of Southwest I hope they have a back up plan to reach the port. Today Southwest has canceled 2,362 flights, it is a slight improvement over yesterdays 2,510 flights that were canceled, which was an improvement over the day before where 2,749 flights were canceled and the day prior over 3,000 SWA flights were canceled. It is slow, tedious work because Southwest thus far has refuse to update their crew scheduling technology all of it has to be done manually which is mind boggling that an airline the size of Southwest was still doing crew scheduling and crew tracking manually. I've have some flight attendant friends who work for Southwest who were literally on hold trying to get through to crew scheduling for over 30 hours. I work for a different carrier in Chicago and when I walk past our crew scheduling department at our WHQ it always looks like organized chaos, nonstop phone calls and that's with the help of automation and technology. I can imagine what is going on right now at at both pilot and flight attendant crew scheduling for Southwest where they are having to do all of this manually.