Jamesszy94

1 hour ago, Chili said:

I have a hunch that a Quantum might go to Ravenna and it’s probably Ovation.

Royal is building a new terminal there and I think they will increase capacity with a larger ship with a extended season.

And Voyager whose home port is Ravenna  is supposed to be coming here.

Why can't Royal build a new terminal in Australia!!! The OPT really needs a revamp!!! When will major corporations of the world realise we matter!!!! I feel like Australia never gets anything new!! Can Brisbane even fit an Oasis-class?

1 hour ago, mattymay said:

Ovation is a strange one. It does the usual Transpacific (Sydney-Honolulu-Vancouver) in Apr 2025, but then it doesn't make it to Alaska. That means there are 3 (Anthem, Quantum, Ovation) on the US west coast. So there is a chance that any of them could come back I guess, but Ovation has to go 'somewhere' for that 6 months? We might know more in Feb if they show up on the next round of releases.

I'm thinking maybe she's going into 6 months of dry dock so she can get upgrades or something maybe. Then at the end of 2025, she'll be back in Sydney with Quantum/Anthem and then Voyager goes back to US in April 2026? I guess like you said, we'll find out in Feb

3 hours ago, mattymay said:

I think he meant 25/26 season. Anthem is in Singapore until Mar 2025, then heads to Alaska to replace Ovation until Sep 2025.

The question is where does Anthem go after that? If you base the answer off previous years, then Alaska ships come to Australia, which would be Anthem and Quantum. But...throw in the poor Quantum sales, the carbon reduction @Chili has info on, and the Voyager returning rumor.. it's really hard to say!

Do we get 2 Quantum's and 1 Voyager? or will they reduce capacity and go with 1 Quantum and 1 Voyager?.. and if so which Quantum?

My uneducated guess is... that they have been reading this blog and see our constant whinging about the same old ships. So... it's Anthem in Sydney and Voyager in Brisbane. It's a long wait until April to find out.. although there might be some hints along the based on other releases.

Does that mean that after March 2025, Ovation will no longer come back to Sydney? Thank goodness! I mean don't get me wrong. I've sailed her twice and I like her a lot, but it's about time Royal changed it up a bit. I guess Aussies are just stuck with Quantum class for the foreseeable future!

(Come on Royal! Give us an Oasis-class or even a Freedom-class; at this point, I'll take Oasis... heck even Allure)

I feel like cruises sell better in Sydney, so they might give a Quantum to Sydney and then leaver Voyager in Brisbane like you said. Two Quantum's would also be nice I guess, one could go to the regular South Pacific/Australia/New Zealand cruises, and maybe the other one can go to Asia/more exotic destinations. I guess we have Brilliance here in Sydney too, but I think she's only down here for 2023/24? What even was the point of that? I know she replaced Enchantment, but was Enchantment supposed to homeport in Sydney long-term or something?

3 hours ago, mattymay said:

It just never got the Amp that Mariner and Navigator got which disappointed a lot of people here. 

"Maybe if we paint the hull RCI blue they won't notice" - someone at RCI

 

I have a Resilient Lady cruise next week out of Melbourne. Feel like I'm cheating on someone , but this is what happens when you don't change things up, people want to try new things. I am hopeful of the Voyager return.

Omg! I hope you enjoy your Resilient Lady cruise! Been looking at maybe sailing her, but prices are very expensive....

8 minutes ago, CruisingOz said:

I recieved a survey from Royal which was all about South Pacific options and to rate them. Places like Solomon Is. PNG, Apia, etc 

My dad really wants to visit Tuvalu.. because of the current rising sea levels...Too bad no cruise lines really go there.

I've never been to Noumea, Mystery Island, Vanuatu etc. They sound like great places, but every cruise line that cruises to the South Pacific is almost always those destinations and the occasional Fiji one... would be nice to visit other destinations in the Pacific... Nauru, Norfolk Island, PNG, Samoa etc.

1 minute ago, CruisingOz said:

Anthem will be here next season. Quantum is off to a full dry dock and Ovation is also due within the next uear or two

I thought Ovation was here until 2025? At least according to Royal's website... but then again, they've changed ships before last minute. I mean... I guess Anthem is a change? It is still a Quantum-class though, but I guess the entertainment might be slightly different and the decor... Is Anthem going to be based in Brisbane or Sydney?

12 minutes ago, Bubbleman7 said:

Jamesszy94,

Prices on the 11 night have just dropped. I was able to switch from my ocean view spacious up front cabin to a balcony at no charge. They were 1500 more when I booked back in January. Since I am going solo I was willing to do the cheaper cabin as I have to pay for double occupancy. The kids start back to school so that may be why so many open cabins.

Haha yes. I've been looking at these particular ones for a while now, hoping that balcony prices drop a bit more before I pull the trigger. I think if we're gonna sail to places like Milford/Dusky/Doubtful sound, you need a balcony, but my dad thinks getting a balcony is pointless and expensive when I'm basically paying for it. 

The thing is, the 11 night one is on January 29th.... I get off the Disney Wonder on January 23rd, so it's like, I'll be back to work for 6 days then gone again for 11 nights... I don't think my manager would really like that. 

I've been looking at this cruise or the one on March 12th.

The one on March 12 is 10 nights, but doesn't travel to Dunedin or Christchurch, whereas this 11 night one does. 

Enjoy your trip. I might see you onboard depending on which one we decide to book.

15 hours ago, Chili said:

I was on  it after the amp that you mentioned and what a botch they did.

I think they did the important legal stuff and run out of money.

Half the seats were recovered,some carpet was replaced but there was lots of ugly stuff. The suite lounge was only half painted and there was still masking tape hanging off the ceiling for months.
They supposed to put in a couple of new bars,like lime and coconut,playmaker but didn’t.

All that happened was a heap of new cabins where the solarium was and a water slide.

I believe they had another go at it in Europe recently but I don’t know about that.

Shame. Hopefully by the time Voyager comes to Australia, all of the problems will have been fixed. 

2 hours ago, mattymay said:

I've solved the lack of variety issue by booking Star of the Seas for 2026. Used up the entire years cruise budget in one go! 

But was it in a suite????

11 minutes ago, Chili said:

Voyager is a bit of a old wreck but it has class.

The first mega ship and I love the venation glass in the theatre.

What do you mean bit of an old wreck?? Her maiden Voyage was in 1999... of course she's going to show her age. As long as her interiors still look good and Royal Caribbean take care of her, that's all that matters. But also wasn't she literally removated amplified back in 2019???? I'm sure she's still got a good 10-15 years. I'm worried that they'll scrap the Vision class ships slowly in the next few years though... since they can longer keep up with the latest and greatest... hopefully Royal doesn't just stick to building bigger ships, would be nice if they started building medium sized ships again (smaller than Quantum/larger than Freedom)

20 minutes ago, ScottishRobbie said:

Speaking to the captain on Quantum this morning, that may well be the plan for Voyager  

If I remember correctly, Voyager has home ported in Sydney before... I remember we've had a Voyager class here before, but can't remember which one. But that would be good if they homeported all year around. We only have P&O and Carnival that homeport all year around... don't get me wrong P&O and Carnival are nice, but nowhere near the same as RCI..

I just hope that Voyager takes us to more exotic destinations - like Fiji or Asia

How likely is it that once Icon, Utopia and Star come online, they send us an Oasis-class ship...

52 minutes ago, mattymay said:

I've solved the lack of variety issue by booking Star of the Seas for 2026. Used up the entire years cruise budget in one go! 

Let's hope Qantas doesn't lose all your luggage again

I mean all good things must come to an end. At least she was put to good use under Celestyal! This is probably the beginning of the end for all the small ships. I wouldn't be surprised if Royal decided to scrap Grandeur soon. 

2 hours ago, Chili said:

I don’t know of any other destinations they could have. If they had a smaller ship here over winter P.N.G and the Solomon Islands would be a change.Cairns as a home  port over winter would be nice.

But I think we will see Royal downsizing and consolidating back to the U.S until they work out how to reduce Carbon emissions. There’s now talk of ramping up the reduction time to 2035 instead of 2050.

Another thing to bring into the equation is airline emissions ,they are being hit with the same carbon laws . It’s going to cost a lot more to come to Australia by air making it a less desirable destination.

As for alternative fuels,port Kembla and Tauranga has L.N.G ??
I think our best option is the talk of synthetic Ethanol being made here. I believe it’s made from water with solar power,similar to hydrogen.

The older ships could be converted to a Diesel / Ethanol fuel a bit like the E10 we put in our cars.

They had cruises to Asia back in 2016-2017, they could go to Asia again. Singapore, China, Japan etc.

Either way, I think Royal needs to either:

- Give us a new ship that's not a Quantum-class or give us a different Quantum class

- Change up the itineraries so it's not always South Pacific, Queensland or New Zealand

- Have one of their ships home port in Sydney/Brisbane all year around

On 11/16/2023 at 10:52 PM, F1guynz said:

Voyager is in Europe until at least November 25 as they have recently released those cruises. Seems like an odd choice to reposition from Rome to Australia at the end of 2025 as that would make for a short season when they normally start in October/November.

Danny from Harr travel speculated that Anthem may go to LA after Alaska and we may get Ovation year round.

I guess we will have to wait a few more months before anything concrete comes out.

They could also just decide to change the ship last minute - we were supposed to get Enchantment here in Sydney, but they changed it and we got Brilliance instead.

On 12/6/2023 at 5:17 PM, Chili said:

Royal Caribbean has disconnected there number in Sydney. That was 02 99375400 . There used to be switch board in north Sydney but all I can find is one mobile number.

It seems to me they maybe down sizing in Australia. There’s a lot of competition.

Personally, I think there's a lot of competition cause the other cruise lines change up their ships every few years!!! We've had Ovation for 7 years (in 2024)!!! And also all the destinations that Royal offers for Aussies are all the same now (it's literally either New Zealand, South Pacific or Queensland, there's no variety in the ports, it's not really surprising that Quantum hasn't sold well like mattymay said above.

But also...it's kind of hard for Aussies to go on Royal cruises if a single cruise season lasts only 6-7 months (Oct - April)

Truthfully, I've only been on Ovation.

Would love to try an Oasis... (come on Royal!! Bring an Oasis down to Australia) or a Voyager class, heck I'd like to try any other class of Royal ships.

Personally for me, I think the Quantum class is great, not too large where there's too many people, but not too small where there's not really much to do.

I guess most people these days prefer the Water slides, Board Walk, Aqua Theatre etc, and since Quantum class has none of those, I guess most people just don't bother....that's just my two cents though

43 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

What do you look for in a cruise? I have done one Princess because it was in our off season. (Australia) and said I may try another in 20 years. 

 

The atmosphere is different. Not in a good way. 

What was different about Princess that you didn't like? I'm just trying to see what my options are and what other people's experiences are like.

Honestly, I'm a very laid back person, as long as I can enjoy the views of the ocean, go to trivia, good food and nice shows and am just able to relax, I'll be a happy camper, I don't really care about water slides, zip lines, surf simulators etc - I can do these back on land, why pay thousands of dollars to get on a cruise ship to do something you can do on land - at least that's my opinion anyway. Also the destinations - I've always wanted to visit South Island, but I've calculated the costs and a 13 day trip around South Island by car/staying in hotels etc would be about the same price as a cruise fair.

1 hour ago, Traveling Mike said:

I have done 4 Princess cruises and have stopped doing them.  The last two Princess cruises I have been on I had the feeling they were for old people.  You need to understand I am 63 years old, and they made me feel out of place.  I like Royal Caribbean because they have a nice mixture of age groups most of the time.  Celebrity is different where there are not many kids but it does not feel like a cruise line for older people.

It's just that I've never tried Princess cruises and would like to try them. Majestic is smaller than the Freedom class but larger than the Voyager class so would like to try a ship of that size. But Brilliance on the other hand... I would gain C&A points.

There's two cruises going out of Sydney that both sail to New Zealand (I mostly want to see Dunedin and Dusky/Doubtful/Milford Sound)

One is a 13N out of Sydney on the Majestic Princess, the other is a 12N out of Sydney on Brilliance of the Seas

They both visit the same ports except for Picton - which MP  visits but BoS does not.

It's ~$250 difference. ($2799 (MP) vs $3050 (BOS) )

My dilemma is that, I know what I'm getting on Royal, but I've never been on Princess - just not sure which one I should sail. My dad doesn't care either way

Help!.

Why all the hate on Grandeur? I mean sure she's the oldest RCI ship, but any ship is better than no ship right?

You have to remember, Freedom and her sisters are 16, 15 (Liberty) and 14 (Indy) years old respectively, they're bound to show some wear and tear especially after the thousands of cruises they've had. It's a shame about Explorer's "amplification" though, hopefully once Royal has full recovered from the pandemic, they can give her a proper amp and give her the love she deserves, same with Allure. I wonder when/if Adventure will get her amp

41 minutes ago, Chili said:

I have 3 on Brilliance this season,I’m all quantumed out.  First one is Wednesday to kangaroo island.

Fair enough. Have fun on your Kangaroo Island cruise. My dad is the kind of person that doesn't care where we go and on which ship, I mean Ovation vs Brilliance... a no-brainer right?

By the way, it looks like Ovation will be in Australia until at least April of 2025 (since that's when our "Summer" cruise season ends.

4 minutes ago, Chili said:

I would be getting in a cruise on Brilliance,it won’t be coming back.

I would like to share a email but I’ve been told not too.

I take it you'll be on Brilliance then? 

If she's not coming back that's even more incentive to sail on her

5 hours ago, Big Tule said:

Well after Ovation this year and Brilliance next Jan it might be  our last Royal cruise...We tend to like the radiance class so will be looking further afield to cruise on smaller ships

I'm seriously considering sailing on Brilliance next year, seeing as how we've got no word on whether her season down here is a one and done, I don't mind if Ovation goes back to the US, I sailed on her this year and back in 2017, so I've been on her before.

At this point, I'll take any ship that isn't Ovation or Quantum (not that they aren't great ships, they are), but It would be nice to just change it up a bit... give us a Voyager back, or even give us  a Freedom class ship. I think RCCL has underestimated the cruising industry in Australia...