Chili

One thing to think about is what kind of fuel would a smaller ship use ? If Royal was going to go to the expense of developing a new class of ship ,for service in 30 years time,it wouldn’t be a ship that burns dirty oil . At the moment the cleanest fuel is LNG and from what I believe it takes up a lot of room to store it . A smaller ship that runs on LNG would be down on cabin space and paying passengers. So I don’t think it would be economical. Wasn’t Icon originally supposed to have a hydrogen fuel cell ? That didn’t seem to happen ,maybe it might with Discovery class.

If you can afford it get a grand suite and you will get most of the benefits or as said link to a partner with an upper tier. My sweetheart has done 2 cruises and being my partner is Diamond plus.

Qantas has the spectrum repo ,pretty good deal.

It looks like Ovation will be going to Singapore for dry dock February 2026 . Any speculations? I’m hoping for a short season in Sydney and a new year repo from Sydney to Singapore.

As for Lelepa, I am constantly trawling Vanuatu news for anything but nothing. It appears Lelepa has hit a brick wall .

The queen has used Garden island,I think because they are honorary naval ships as they served in the Falklands war. I went past there yesterday and it was chock a block with navy ships so I don’t think the navy will be going anywhere. There was a proposal to build a terminal on the eastern side or the other side of the naval base. That would probably be the only solution as it’s public land.

Did you have a look at Quantum repo from Singapore? Prices are pretty good

We can forget about a Oasis class in Sydney for a while. The navy isn’t going to have cruise ships in a secure area. As for Brisbane hosting an Oasis, it physically can but there’s a few issues with local transport,accommodation and an ugly port.

I looks like they have scrapped the potential new Sydney cruise terminal in Botany Bay . https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/garden-island-best-site-for-cruise-terminal-after-yarra-bay-scuttled-20230526-p5dbi3.html

We are getting Celebrity Edge down here around Christmas and on to Alaska. Its coming through the Suez Canal from Europe. Can the edge class use the Panama Canal?

A captain on Ovation in Australia was talking about Discovery class . A ship somewhere between Radiance and Voyager class in size.

The Quantum repo from Singapore to Brisbane is available and the prices are pretty good. I got a balcony for 2 at $A1900 each

I was just chatting to a couple of people on CC from Australia and they said they just got a price drop match. So ,by that it’s still a goer.

I know about that but it looks a bit out of date. Everyone got a email about a month back about changes to your contract and conditions and I vaguely remember someone saying it affected booking conditions.

Does anyone know if we still get the price drop guarantee in a Australia? There has been a few changes over the last couple of months and there was that email saying the terms of your contract has changed . I was just wondering if anyone knew if there has been a change?

The only way I can see Lelepa happening is by Royal taking Carnival on board or Uncle Sam giving some foreign aid . They are talking about a wharf to take a Quantum or an Oasis class, how much would that cost let alone the resort on Lelepa. Port Vila ,the capital can’t even dock Ovation or Quantum and the dock there is in disrepair. I can’t see the sense of building a wharf 50 kilometre away on an island that’s going to be used 6 months of the year.The Vanuatu government is going to say let’s build a decent port in Vila first that everyone can use year round.

I have been trolling Lelepa for the last few years and my opinion is it’s gone cold. In my opinion, there’s not enough business to support the investment ,it’s not the Caribbean . A few ships for 6 months a year doesn’t warrant the massive investment.

Auckland has a few things going for it as a home port. It’s closer to Noumea and the islands than Australia I believe. So it would be good for Lelepa if we ever see it. N.Z is very popular with the North Americans and is 3 hours less flying time. I might see you on Brilliance to Kangaroo Island, I haven’t booked it but very close.

Someone posted on CC ,who says they are in the know??? Said That Anthem is going to Singapore and Spectrum may go back to Hong Kong.But that’s just a rumour. It would good to see a ship home ported in Auckland but how would they process passengers?

I thought there might have been a smaller ship in Melbourne but not so. I think Ovation will sell out pretty quickly in 24-25 .

I got Covid on Ovation a few weeks ago, I have had it before but it really knocked me around this time. We had dinner in the MDR at a large table.The woman sitting next to me said she had Covid. I thought she was joking and said so how did you just get on the ship? She said she lied, about 4 days later everyone that was at the table had Covid. Like you said why bother with people like that around.

There’s not much at Mystery Island, there’s a few locals doing snorkeling but just DIY

They do ,but I think the market is pretty well saturated. A Oasis or Icon 2 interporting between Singapore and Hong Kong would be a good money spinner. Especially if they could use a container terminal in Vietnam and Thailand along the way.

From what I understand global is about the length of spectrum. There was an article quoting RC Singapore that only Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong are the other Oasis capable ports in the area. If they could get the use of a couple of container terminals,say in Vietnam and Thailand .That would be a different story.

Unfortunately there’s only a couple of ports that could handle a oasis class. Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore is pretty limiting.