Jamesszy94

Another live blog for me to live vicariously through... until either: a) Royal gives us Aussies an Oasis/Icon class ship. I refuse to fly to the US just to get on a 7 day cruise on an Oasis class. I have money, but I'm not THAT rich. b) I can experience a suite... I'm not poor or anything, but I don't have as much disposable income as some others...

I think we might be on the same cruise. Cruising to New Zealand 10 nights? If so yay! It depends when you get there, if you get there between say 10am to 1pm, that's usually when the lines are the longest, cause people wanna get onto the ship as early as possible and get to the pools, buffet etc. If you go after 2pm, there's usually no line. On all of my Royal sailings, I got to the port at around 1pm, and there was still a line, but it wasn't insane. YMMV.

Maybe they'll send us Utopia (Last minute changes are always possible!) As long as we get a new class of ship or something different that isn't a QN class, I'll be happy. I do hope that we get more exotic/different destinations. South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand cruises are starting to get boring, there's only so many times you can visit those ports. But then again... people visit PDCC many times...

Yeah, that's like still a long time, let's just focus on the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 season first! Here's hoping once Allure's finished getting her amp, they send her down to Australia! I guess everyone should sail Ovation/Quantum? one last time before she inevitably leaves the Australian market for good.

You never know! Stranger things have happened.

Either that or they're sending us Voyager and possibly a Radiance class... OR they're designing one of the "Discovery" class just for Australia market.. I guess we'll see in 2 months when Royal release their deployment!

But which port would Icon/Oasis homeport in? The OPT isn't exactly suited to host an Icon/Oasis sized ship... and White Bay is almost impossible lol

I've always said they should give us Allure!! Maybe the dry dock will remove the plants in the Royal Promenade!

My bid for an Oceanview got accepted..

Those prices I listed are in Australian Dollar, but also it's for a sailing that's in 2 months.

But! Carnival has Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee! Also the Are we really that safe though?

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When will cruise lines realise that there's a market for cruising in Australia (at least in Sydney, probably Brisbane too, if they changed up the itineraries or went to more exotic ports from Brisbane) and have better destinations/send better ships/send more ships/dock here year round. It's just P&O and Carnival that we're stuck with year round... P&O is a bit yikes to say the least and don't even get me started on Carnival, but then if we want to sail on any of the other cruise lines (Royal, Princess, Celebrity, Disney etc) we have to spend even more money to fly!! (During the southern autumn/winter season)

I would have tried Virigin, if she sailed from Sydney and if they did weekend cruises - Friday - Monday and went to more exotic locations. But their locations are just like every other cruise line that operates in Australia - New Zealand - Some combination of Adelaide/Tasmania/Melbourne/Brisbane/Eden But alas, 95% of their cruises left from Melbourne, but it also doesn't help that most of their cruises were one way and not a round trip.

Where are you hearing this rumor? I mean... it doesn't help that most of their sailings leave from Melbourne.

IIRC (I could be wrong)- Most of the Enchantment sailings were Sydney > Adelaide > Hobart > Sydney (or some combination of this) or to the South Pacific. I guess it makes sense that she was bad for Alaska and had to be replaced. I feel so bad for the Vision class ships... it's like when a parent plays favourites. Royal is focusing all their attention on Oasis and Icon and basically feels like they're abandoning the others. (Vision and to some extent Radiance and Voyager class) Imagine if Royal ever sent Grandeur or Rhapsody to Australia and were like "take it or leave it"

I know Enchantment was supposed to come to Sydney during the 2023-2024 cruise season but she was replaced with Brilliance, did Royal ever say what the reason for that was? But let's say *hypothetically* Voyager goes to Brisbane instead, what would Sydney get?! Utopia? Star? Wonder? Allure?! (I wish! But let me cope) How likely are they to send us Anthem (since they seem dead-set on only giving us QN class and they'd never give us Spectrum or Odyssey!) or a Freedom-class

We've had Voyager in Sydney before right? I remember looking at cruises many years ago and Voyager of the Seas was one of the options.

Probably just a COVID thing but maybe also a size thing? The P&O ships are significantly smaller than Ovation and Quantum and I know they sail to Dravuni Island and Lautoka. Likewise. It would be a nice change of itineraries. I remember on my last cruise asking the NC person why all the itineraries are the same - Tasmania/Adelaide - New Zealand - South Pacific And she said it's just whatever Royal decides which make sense, but she also said she agreed with me and wishes Royal would change up the itineraries. I really do hope Royal does go to more exotic ports. Maybe over to Perth, up to PNG, Solomon Islands, Norfolk Island. I guess it's hard for the bigger ships though Maybe we'll finally get more exotic ports when Voyager comes?returns? to Australia

Hopefully she and the other's that missed their amplifications will get them soon... (Adventure, Allure, Explorer and Liberty)

Yikes.. Unnamed Vessel, okay then. I guess Australia will forever be stuck with Quantum ships... until a bigger terminal is built for an Oasis-class. Hopefully they're not all just South Pacific cruises... I wonder if Royal ever sent us an Oasis class ship if there'd be more bookings from Brisbane...

Maybe they want people talking about Icon and they want all the focus to be on Icon right now. At least that's my guess

So Quantum/Anthem for Sydney? Radiance for Brisbane and Sydney Voyager for Brisbane only?

To me it sounds like they're going with a theme. Icon is like a thing or person that people know, a Star is also similar to that My bet for Icon 3 is something along the lines of Fame of the Seas or something Idol of the Seas?

What do we think they'll name Icon 3? One of the 24 trademarked ones? Or something new?