Atricks

Rail from this point in Cocoa to the Port itself has been discussed in the past, but there's a bunch of environmental concerns about expanding it across Merritt Island. This 10 year old article https://www.floridatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/12/11/controversy-grows-port-canaveral-rail-plan/20245383/ discusses the possibilities, including an option connecting the port with the existing Nasa Railway that's already on the island (but a bit out of the way as it goes through north of titusville) and also building it across from 528. Nasa railway barely ever gets used nowadays, and would be susceptible to blocks when rocket launches are going on, so a new set of bridges across from where the cocoa curve is is probably the best long term plan. I.e. it's come up before, but seems unlikely in the short term.

App now saying Norfolk as well

This story from a local news station in the Hampton Roads area mentions Royal has contacted the Half Moone Cruise Terminal at Norfolk about possibly using it for Vision, but no announcements one way or the other yet. https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/carnival-to-temporarily-move-baltimore-operations-to-norfolk/

Clearance will likely take a least a month (maybe a few weeks if they really pile on). The entire bridge and the cargo ship need to be cleared out. (cargo ship would need to get unloaded first) As for the bridge itself, the closest analog in the Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway collapse in between Bradenton and St. Pete in 1980 and that didn't reopen until 1987. It'll probably be years before they rebuild a bridge there. One key difference is Skyway had two spans so they just converted the undamaged one into a 2 lane road until the new one was built. Key bridge is gone in both directions. (They potentially may have an opportunity to make it taller to allow the bigger ships.. Bay bridge near Annapolis may still limit that though since it has about the same clearance )

Live feed of the bridge

The entertainment booking options just opened up tonight on our March 16th Icon cruise, and I've not seen mention of this show anywhere. Is this "Effectors 3"? Are we getting the first showing of it on Icon? I just don't know anything about it and haven't heard anything about it (booked it anyway since we were on both Odyssey and Wonder before the Effector shows were ready): Screencap of cruise planner below: (clicking on it provides no further info except times, we reserved the first one day 5 (cozumel) at 7pm)

Wonder, with the giant cowboy hat on the promenade, in Galveston when Star moves in to Port Canaveral seems like the most likely thing.

Saw this interview with Craig with Greg Fishel (retired meteorologist from WRAL TV in Raleigh, NC) Where they discuss the cruises a bit. Craig is a good asset for RC to have.

Ticket sale, may be worth it if you are heading from Orlando to Miami or Port Everglades on a longer cruise:

Today is the first official day, and the first trains with passengers are already en route. https://www.wesh.com/article/brightline-train-miami-orlando/45227586

Part of me is wondering if this is a trial balloon to see how much they can book up at the higher prices, especially releasing icon alone out this far. I think Icon will be the opposite of the typical rule of thumb for other ships about booking early. I know I'm going to wait it out, because if this approach falls flat, it'll probably drop.

It's a puzzle game they set up in the Fuel teen club next to the Seaplex (while it's closed for the teens) it's not a dedicated room. But it was a decent puzzle, and we managed to win it. (look under all the bean bags is the only hint I'll give). We did it on the may 29th cruise a few weeks ago.

Our travel agent just got this, so it's confirmed Freedom is doing the drydock then. For reference we were booked on the Nov 23, 2024 Sailing of Freedom. Nothing on the same date, but we're going to take them up on the New Years Eve Oasis one, which if I tried to book the same cabin type on that we had for Freedom was ten times the price, so it's a no-brainer with that type of price protection. I've avoided Christmas/New Years cruises in the past because they are usually out of sight price wise, but with this lateral move, I'll take it.

Prices are higher than the Wonder was for the same room types when it was brand new (comparing to the 2nd sailing trip I took on it), and that was for a 7 night. I think Royal is overplaying it here, but I get why. Going to hold off booking, but wish anyone well that does.

We booked the Nov 23, 2024 on Freedom of the Seas booked (8 night) and was wondering about this since it can't be booked anymore. Originally we thought it was a fluke, but you still can't book our sailing (or almost anything in Nov/Dec) for freedom, so I went looking, so I found this thread. And yep the thread is from April, but it's mid June and nothing new. This is on Madeiras page scheduled for when our cruise is supposed to be, but we still have it in the cruise planner. https://www.portosdamadeira.com/site/index.php/en/ports/wharf-reservations?page=9 But haven't heard anything from Royal (Travel agent hasn't either). I'd assume it's best to wait this out to see if Royal does offer anything and cancels out on us. Unless they offer to move to another ship (Utopia?) I'm wondering if it'll just be a refund and credit, or they will have a few options. The only thing that makes me think Utopia is they haven't said anything about this yet or released Utopia's (real) bookings. Nov 9 - Dec 29th is the window you can't book anything on Freedom.