Jamesszy94

Looks like Voyager could be sailing year round from Brisbane in 2025/2026...

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...

10 hours ago, twangster said:

I was comparing the markets on the basis of route stagnation, not the actual ports of call. 

Unless it's a casino comp I can't see myself booking a Royal ship to the Caribbean.  Yawn.  Same old stuff on every itinerary.  Just about every Royal itinerary in the Caribbean is all about beach, sun, water sports, etc.  No history.  No culture. 

Seriously repetitive.  Different island, same s***.  Is that you feel about Royal in Australia? 

Granted for many, especially those that have to suffer a miserable winter somewhere, beach, sun, water sports, etc. sounds pretty freaking great.

 

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.

9 hours ago, twangster said:

Curious what your expectations were that were not met.  Not trying to start or suggest anything.   

Do other lines have more diversity to better ports of call?

Are there new or unused ports of call that Royal mysteriously avoids?

 Trying to understand what Royal is missing that other lines do better with.

Florida even has itinerary stagnation but there are more ports of call reachable from Florida so it's more of a hidden issue unless you are a frequent cruiser.  California and Texas are subject to a lot of itinerary stagnation due partially to a lack reachable destinations that fit desirable cruise lengths.   Bayonne has very limited options for ports of call since it's so far North.  

What is Royal missing in Australia?

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.

4 hours ago, Chili said:

I have a feeling it won’t be Voyager but Adventure of the seas.

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.

9 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Test loads are up ahead of next week's release.

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

On 4/2/2024 at 11:12 PM, jeffmw said:

I respect everyone's opinions here. Most things in life are subjective.

I will say, however, the predominant nature of the responses 1) cite the fact that Quantum ships were developed for cold weather, and/or 2) appear to be written by people without young kids who are on cruises to have a mostly 'adult' experience. All of that is fine. It makes total sense for there to be cruise ships with more indoor options if they're going to be deployed outside of warmer climates. It also makes total sense for there to be cruises with more adult-driven experiences (although I'd argue the lack of Central Park and the Aqua Theater with no replacement is a bit underwhelming in that respect.)

However, for most of Odyssey's short history -- including this cruise I just went on -- it has been deployed in the Caribbean packed with families with young kids -- which is increasingly Royal's target demographic.

If I were taking a Celebrity Cruise in Alaska, Odyssey would be an amazing ship. But for a cruise full of kids needing things to do during two sea days, it underwhelmed. The SeaPlex continually kicking kids off the sport court to have adult sports competitions, giving the hundreds of kids no where to go on a ship built for cold weather, was particularly unideal. It was a Spring Break Caribbean cruise with no waterslides, no mini-golf, no sports court, no Boardwalk, no carousel, no Abyss, no ice rink, and no designated karaoke venue. It does, however, have a lot of specialty restaurants and a giant crane that you could pay to stand in and take pictures. To me, that wasn't an even trade.  

I also didn't mention the massive footprints of the Music Hall and Boleros. There are huge back areas of these venues far from the entrance, which serve no purpose other than to provide huge spaces for people to drink. Again -- great for a Celebrity or Virgin ship catering to adult experiences. Not ideal for one catering to families. 

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 

On 6/24/2023 at 10:54 PM, Cakemeister said:

I thought it was going to be Star and Joy, short names like Icon so they can paint the name in ginormous letters.

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/ 

11 hours ago, twangster said:

The next several scheduled cruises for Brilliance:

April 4 - 8 Night South Pacific

April 17 - 17 Night Transpacific

April 28 - 8 Night Hawaii

May 6 - 6 Night Alaska

Assuming they can get the issues fixed before April 

4 hours ago, Blake_Clayton said:

I was in the crowd when you asked this question I think (if it was the 12th march ovation sailing...) 

 

Yeah he pretty much said it wouldn't handled it. he did mention from memory something about potentially using port botany but NSW govt. wouldn't go for it 

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

4 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Don't hold your breath. The one that Royal do really consistently is repeat the same old itineraries year after year.

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. 

11 hours ago, twangster said:

When I have seen clear evidence of a new deployment and inquired at NextCruise they typically are clueless.  For something like Icon there were probably sales conferences to explain cabin types and so on so NC may have head some inside knowledge but probably not deployment dates or home port until it was imminent.

As far as existing ships moving to new home ports over the years I've yet to see any evidence NC has any insight before we do.  The rumors they've suggested have more often been proven incorrect in the end.  

It's always interesting to hear what they say but I wouldn't put a lot of value on their rumors.  

On more than one occasion I've raced down to NC and they didn't even know a ship was available for booking yet on a new deployment.  

Yeah, I basically took everything she said with a grain of salt. I just wanted to see if they had any extra insight. 

9 hours ago, Chili said:

I’m hoping we get a Radiance class in Sydney along with Anthem.

Has anyone worked out where Voyager is going after Brisbane season?

Now that’s the big question,It won’t be going to America and I don’t think it would suit Asia .
Is it staying here year round???

Maybe Dubai. .??

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.