Jamesszy94

I thought it was supposed to be coming out today - April 8th? or is it April 8th United States time... Wednesday would be the 10th.

How do we know it's actually Matt? It could be his doppleganger...

Ah, yeah, fair enough then. I was mainly just saying that because of how many ships are in the United States that there's more route variation in a way. Honestly, once you've been to Adelaide and Tasmania for the 194871209451294th time, like you said, it seriously gets repetitive. I guess those types of cruises aren't aimed for me. Maybe it's time to try different cruise lines that sail to more exotic destinations.

Carnival and P&O Australia goes to ports like Moreton Island, Fraser Island etc, and P&O goes to Fiji. P&O also goes to Norfolk Island. But what do I know. You can't really compare ports in the United States to Australia imo, because while, yes, you still need to travel to get to other ports around the US, at least the other ports still have some variety in their itineraries. Unlike Australia where we literally only have Quantum and Ovation and they basically have identical itineraries.

Either way... it's the same old itineraries seems like. Hopefully Royal surprises us, but at this point, I'm not getting my hopes up.

South Pacific again... I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up for new itineraries.

Could it have been that you went during school holidays/holiday season? I sailed on the Disney Wonder a few months ago with my niece and nephew and they seemed to have a great time - even though the Wonder is like 30% smaller than the Wish - ergo less things to do - but they seemed to still be entertained by all the meet and greet characters, the shows and just the general vibe of the ship. I guess it depends on how small your children are - I've noticed that young kids are entertained easily.

I was about to ask what's this... totally forgetting that it was April 1st and thought it was a legit thing then saw the float in the water...

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/06/17/royal-caribbean-trademarks-9-potential-cruise-ship-names https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/12/22/royal-caribbean-trademarks-names-possible-new-cruise-ships Lots of names to choose from for Oasis 7 Name one of the ships Monarch of the Seas then have her be based in Great Britain only

Looks like you guessed it. What do we think they'll call Oasis 7?

Pretty sure noone knows at this point, AFAIK, news of Utopia is still pretty scarce. Check out this website. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/utopia-of-the-seas/

Assuming they can get the issues fixed before April

I didn’t ask the question, but yeah, March 12 sailing. Anything bigger will probably not be able to fit into the harbour. Unless they upgrade the OPT, Quantum class is the largest class that could fit.

So in terms of size what are we thinking? Smaller than Freedom-class but larger than Voyager-class? Or same as Voyager class? The Edge and the Apex are ~130,000 GT but the Beyond is ~140,000 GT

That's a real shame. There's so many ports Royal could visit (Moreton Island, Fraser Island (Carnival I know for a fact visits Moreton Island and I know P&O visits Fraser Island and Norfolk), LHI, PNG, Kimberley region just to name a few) but I guess they have to worry about the logistics and whether or not they can get into the ports. At least it'll be nice to visit the same ports on a different ship - somewhat of a difference experience I suppose.

I just got off Ovation yesterday, from what I could remember from the total of 3 times I was on the pool deck, I think I vaguely remember an area for babies or at least I saw babies splashing around, I could be wrong though and don't quote me on this. I wasn't really paying attention to the pool deck area if I'm being honest, I don't really frequent the pools on cruise ships..

Shame about Brilliance having to cut the cruise short, I can only imagine how many disgruntled guess there's going to be, but stuff happens and it's out of our control. At least they're getting compensated and the compensation is actually decent.

I'm just hoping that when we finally get the new deployment in a couple of weeks time, that we see more variation of the ports instead of the usual Adelaide/Tasmania, South Pacific or New Zealand cruises.

I got off the Ovation of the Seas yesterday after 10 nights. Food was hit and miss. Some nights the MDR had great food - other nights, it was pretty bad. WJ is definitely not great - same thing every morning/lunch/ and basically dinner except they change up maybe 1 or 2 stations for their "themed" nights. PLUS DID I MENTION THEY HAVE FOUR ENTIRE STATIONS JUST FOR SALAD. Izumi's was good though I guess it just depends if you're a picky eater.

Yeah, I basically took everything she said with a grain of salt. I just wanted to see if they had any extra insight. Well, at the session with the captains and the officers on my recent OV cruise - a question was asked about putting a ship here all year around, I vaguely remember the captain or the hotel director? Saying that Royal has been talking about putting a ship in Australia year round but nothing has come to fruition yet because of a lot of logistical issues or something. So yeah, I doubt Voyager is staying here year round. We just have to wait and see I guess. But also I have a feeling she won't go to Dubai - with the current political situation going on around the Red Sea. I know Dubai isn't in the Red Sea - but it's still in the Middle East and that entire region is basically unstable at the moment.

Final thoughts addendum: Picton is kind of boring if you don't join a shore excursion - the main city centre can be walked around in a total of like 30 minutes, the outskirts of the city centre - there's not really much to see, it's all industrial buildings. It's definitely a one and done for me personally. Napier is very beautiful and definitely worth checking out - the Art Deco style buildings are beautiful and it was fascinating getting to know the history of Napier and the Hawkes Bay region and how they basically rebuilt from the ground (pun intended) up after the earthquake in 1931. It's definitely a port you can visit more than once and if I ever decide to sail to New Zealand again, definitely will be exploring more/joining a shore excursion to see the wineries Wellington is also a very beautiful city, but because it's the capital, it has a very "big" city feel. It's your typical big city with lots of shops, eateries, lots of people and lots of landmarks for you to check out. The most famous thing about Wellington is probably the cable car that takes you up the top to the Botanic Gardens/Space Observatory and you definitely get a nice view of Wellington - definitely worth checking out. The Sounds were the best part of the cruise, just sailing through the fjords of Dusky, Doubtful and especially Milford Sound was very breathtaking and I'd argue is even more beautiful than Alaska (Alaska is still amazing!) The weather was spectacular and definitely worth checking out if you ever get the chance.

Was talking to the NextCruise lady and I asked her about if Voyager was coming down to Sydney and she said that's what a lot of other passengers are saying and she said nothing has been confirmed yet. Nothing confirmed for Brisbane/didn't ask. I vaguely remember her mentioning Anthem as a possibility because she said Spectrum is going to China so Ovation is heading to Singapore

I think people worry too much about the dress code on a cruise line like Royal Caribbean. Just dress however you want, if you want to walk around topless in budgie smugglers, that's your prerogative, but I suppose don't expect people to not stare or laugh. I know there's lots of westerners/older generation people who do like to dress up and look their best, but then I also know people who just want to relax and wear whatever they want. If it was Cunard on the other hand.... be prepared to have the dress code enforced.

Welcome back! I never met you, but the 12 night on Odyssey sounds amazing! Please do a live blog when you finally sail Also congrats on 55 years young! Only 25 more years to go for me. Maybe I'll book a suite this year/next year to celebrate the big 30.

Final thoughts and OBSERAVATIONS: Earlier in the week, I mentioned that I feel like Mike wasn't as enthusiastic as Steve from Canada - but I take that back, Mike was super funny all the time and he was very friendly and made everyone laugh a lot. It was probably the first night and I shouldn't have made judgement so quickly This is my third time sailing Ovation of the Seas - and while she's a great ship and I love sailing on her, I found myself not doing as much as I did on previous sailings with her - I don't know if it's just because I was lazy or if it was because I'd already done everything and seen every show there was to see (the Broadway Style ones precisely). And most of the Trivia's were all the same more or less; Harry Potter, 70's/80's/90's Tunes, Scavenger Hunts, Star Wars - all the usual trivias. I don't know what it is. I'll be happy once we get a different ship and try a different sailing - I do hope Ovation comes back to Sydney though after the 2025-2026 Asia season - she's a great ship and I definitely do love sailing her, I just wish there was more variety in Sydney sailings. The Windjammer was definitely my least favorite part of the ship and even my dad agrees. We ate in the WJ mainly for breakfast and lunch - I had lunch a few times at Sorrento's and two70 though. But the thing about the Windjammer is that there's no variety - it's all the same food every. single. day. Chips, burgers, bacon, hash browns, sausages - they literally change one station and that's it, but even then it's like half a station. They occasionally put out things like tacos, tortillas etc, but everything else is the same and they have FOUR stations JUST FOR SALADS (TWO OF THEM ARE LITERALLY JUST FOR CHEESE AND HAM/PROSCUITTO ETC) AND FRUIT. Honestly, the food in the MDR was way nicer than the food in the Windjammer. It was a very nice sailing and to get away from reality and civilization if only for 10 days and I very much enjoyed the shows even if I'd seem them before - I like re-watching shows cause I know they change casts. They've kept Ovation in really good condition, all her decor is still very nice and she's very clean. There are parts of the ship that are starting to show some wear and tear though - like the carpet in the WJ is a bit dated and starting to mould, the stools in the casino are all worn and could use some replacing, and there are some parts of the ship that are starting to rust (but the rust can't be helped, it's just what happens when ships are exposed to seawater for too long). Also one of the lifts wasn't working the entire sailing which didn't help after the shows or when people were trying to get off the ship. I'm not sure if I'm just being cynical or if people are genuinely just lazy - I saw SO many able bodied people take the lifts JUST TO GET FROM the THIRD FLOOR to the FOURTH floor or they'd take the lift just for one level...honestly... just walk the stairs, it's a lot faster than waiting for the lifts.