Jamesszy94

I always like to say it depends. If you plan on spending lots of time in your room, I'd go with a Balcony, but if you're the kind of person who doesn't spend a lot of time in their room and use it just for sleeping, showering and changing in, then an Inside Cabin should be fine. When I sailed on Ovation back in 201 7, I found myself attending so many of the activities on board that I never really spent time in my room except to sleep, shower, sometimes maybe if I wanted to just relax, I'd watch a movie in my room, but other than that, I didn't really mind not having a balcony, but I guess it also depends on the itinerary, when I sailed on Celebrity during my Alaska cruise, a balcony was perfect because I could just see the incredible sights from my room, but the Ovation itinerary was basically the Indian Ocean lol..

1 hour ago, Linda R said:

I live in Montana and anywhere I take cruises in the US are 3 or 4 flights.   To go to Florida to cruise it takes 12-14 hours including the airport and plane time. I do fly also to Europe for cruises at least once a year, usually twice.  Those are longer yet, but worth it.    You just kinda get used to it.

I guess before now, I hadn't really thought about it, because I didn't really have money to go on cruises. But now that I'm working and have money, I am willing to actually spend money to cruise...

Must be so expensive though, having to fly to different ports each time or are domestic flights within the United States a lot cheaper?

There's so many cruises I want to go on, but plane tickets literally cost an arm and a leg just to get to that port...

I guess I'd be willing to travel more overseas if I had someone to go with me on cruises...but also there's the issue of money for me

Hoping one day to do a round trip of Europe!

The only time I travelled overseas for a cruise was when we did a 7N to Alaska from Vancouver on Celebrity Infinity WAY back in 2017

1 hour ago, CruisingOz said:

We live in Sydney, Australia, and are willing to fly.

This past January we flew to Barbados to board the Grandeur of the Seas for and amazing 14 night cruise. The flights were Sydney to LAX, LAX to Atlanta, Atlanta to Miami (30 hours including time between flights), four hours sleep at the Miami International airport hotel and finally Miami to Barbados (6 hours including check in and customs). I was worth the travel time.

Also done the 10 hour flight to Honolulu for the Transpacific back to Sydney, which we are doing again this year, and flew to Fairbanks Alaska, from Sydney to Hong Kong, HK to Vancouver, Vancouver to Fairbanks. Forgotten how many hours but we had a layover in HK and had an amazing 20 hours there. 

Itineraries are limited out of Sydney and Brisbane, and we try to seek out South Pacific itineraries which go somewhere different like Mare or Espiritu Santo (east coast Vanuatu), but they are rare.  Singapore is a shortish flight, and those destinations look great, so maybe consider those. I do love cruising out of Sydney as it is only a 20min train or drive, but it does get repeatitipve with the places to visit. 

 

Yeah, I looked at the South Pacific and the New Zealand ones and I actually considered booking those, but not sure about the current COVID protocols, especially in the smaller South Pacific ports. 

1 hour ago, steverk said:

Royal does occasional trips back to Australia.  These are repositioning cruises Alaska to/from Australia.

I'm booked on Quantum in April 2023 that goes from Brisbane to Honolulu.  Then B2B Honolulu to Vancouver.  If you're really daring, you can B2B that with Vancouver to Seattle.

Which leads me to the topic of this thread.  Since I'm flying to Brisbane for this cruise, I guess there really isn't a limit to how far I'll go.  Once I get on a plane, I'm there for the duration of the flight.

That said, Galveston is 30 minutes from my house.  I sail from there a lot.

I'll also say that I'm envious of Floridians.  A few hours by car and they have their choice of departure ports and destinations.  Galveston has very limited ports of call.

Funnily enough, I actually did have a look at the Honolulu to Sydney Transpacific cruise, I would just need to fly into Honolulu and then cruise back home to Sydney, just deciding if I want to sail on Enchantment or Ovation (I've already sailed on her back in 2017)

But also I don't know if I want to go solo or with someone. 

17 minutes ago, CruisingOz said:

 

Royal pulled Radiance from Australia for the upcoming season, like many others we had cruises cancelled. The OPT have not updated their website. The first cruise back is Oct 29th with a 11 night NZ. We are on the sailing from Honolulu on the 9th October. So for this season out of Sydney, it will only be the one ship, Ovation

I figured that was the case, but wasn't sure. Thanks for the info

18 minutes ago, WAYNO said:

In the U.S., most of the cruise ports are on the East Coast or deep South.  From the West Coast, that could be a 5 hour flight, but problem is, there are few non stop flights.  So, it's not unusual for us to have to fly 5 hours to New York, Washington DC, or many other airports, just to switch planes and fly 3 or 4 more hours to Florida.  With layovers, it's often a 12+ hour day.  Compounding that, we're flying against the clock with a 3 hour time zone difference. It's difficult to impossible to leave Portland and get to the cruise ship in time to board, on the same day as the cruise.  It requires getting there the previous day, which could still be midnight or later, and sleeping the rest of the night in a motel.

But that's what we do.

 

I would also dearly love to cruise in Europe.  That's an extreme distance for us, and would require much more travel time and hotel arrangements to make the ship.  It's not in our cards soon, but someday we'd love to, and I'm not opposed to it.

I've tried looking at cruises that Royal Caribbean does (but cannot find anything, lol) where it's like a way one cruise so somewhere like Hawaii to Sydney and then I wouldn't have to buy a planet ticket back from Hawaii, I'd just have to buy a plane ticket there, and take the cruise back home lol.

17 minutes ago, WAYNO said:

In the U.S., most of the cruise ports are on the East Coast or deep South.  From the West Coast, that could be a 5 hour flight, but problem is, there are few non stop flights.  So, it's not unusual for us to have to fly 5 hours to New York, Washington DC, or many other airports, just to switch planes and fly 3 or 4 more hours to Florida.  With layovers, it's often a 12+ hour day.  Compounding that, we're flying against the clock with a 3 hour time zone difference. It's difficult to impossible to leave Portland and get to the cruise ship in time to board, on the same day as the cruise.  It requires getting there the previous day, which could still be midnight or later, and sleeping the rest of the night in a motel.

But that's what we do.

Yikes, I had no idea lol.

I figured in the United States, you'd just be able to get on a plane, fly to somewhere like Port Canaveral and get on the ships pretty easily, but seems like it's as much of a hassle as it is down here in Australia lol, but also.... I just wish the itineraries for Australian cruises were more varied, it's always either New Zealand, parts of Australia (which I've already been to) or the South Pacific (at least for Royal Caribbean that is, I know other cruise lines go to Asia and sometimes there's repositioning cruises but those are far and few)

I was having a look at the cruise timetable for the Overseas Passenger Terminal located in Circular Quay in Sydney and noticed a sailing for Radiance of the Seas...  but then when I had a look on Royal's website for cruises starting in October, the earliest one was October 29th.... what's the deal with this?

I'm guessing this was either a leftover cruise from before COVID and the cruising industry was shutdown in Australia and all Radiance sailings were cancelled or it's a mistake of some sort.

I know there are MANY ports around the United States where Royal Caribbean ships dock/leave from

But what's the farthest you guys would be willing to travel for a cruise? There's only really two cruise ports that RCI sails from here in Australia; Sydney & Brisbane - well technically there's a third; Perth, but I've never seen RCI ships leave from there, so I don't really count that one.

Brisbane is great, but it's also a 1.5 hour plane ride, which in the grand scheme of things doesn't seem that long, but the second closest port that isn't Sydney or Brisbane is Singapore... which is 8 hours away. 

6 hours ago, MoneyMan702 said:

We ended up booking Oasis, mostly due to itinerary and because we thought Oasis might suit him better at his age than a Quantum vessel. I definitely want to get on Odyssey or another Quantum-class ship someday relatively soon though. 

When you say you booked Oasis, do you mean Oasis-class (if so, which one? I'm guessing something other than Allure - Symphony? Wonder? Harmony? ) or Oasis of the Seas?  

I'm assuming Oasis of the Seas but just double checking

5 hours ago, not easy being green said:

Please don't forget, United States is big and when you live near center of the US but not near a big city (think airports, or other kinds of transportation), then it also is not easy getting to ports.  Depending on the port it takes about over 7 hours.

About an hour drive to the nearest airport, then flying a day or more early, hotel transportation and also food, and even getting the Covid test is not easy where we live.  Costs add up fast, so I do understand your comments about Australia.  We always make the best of it, after all it is cruising and for now this is where all our vacation funds are for!! 

The closest port to me in Sydney is still 30-35 minutes by train....  but yes... time and money does add up quickly, between having to drive to the train station; or get dropped off, waiting for the train, walking another 15 minutes to the port and then waiting in line.... outside the terminal.

You're right about the United States being very big though, I forget that the middle of the US is far away from everything else and anyone that lives there needs to travel further  

5 hours ago, WAYNO said:

Even on the West Coast, Royal Caribbean cruise ships and destinations are scarce.  So, we nearly always have to travel to the East Coast to get on a boat.  As said, a day or two to get situated to an Eastern cruise port, and having to arrange covid proof as you're traveling, makes me appreciate very much the scarcity of cruises Down Under.  I also understand this is what we do, to do what we love.

I'm envious of the folks who can drive to a port in short order.  I would be on a ship far more regularly than I am now.

Likewise I am also envious of folks who can drive to their ports. I guess that's one of the downsides of cruising... if only we all lived near the cruise terminals....

I feel like it's much easier cruising on Royal Caribbean in the United States than say somewhere like Australia. You guys have most of the fleet there, and I feel like it's much easier to make travel plans there  (since you guys have many more ports there) Whereas in Australia, we only get two of the 23 ships at any given time (3 if we're lucky, lol) and the closest port that isn't Brisbane or Perth is like Singapore....which flying to cost almost as much as the cruise fare itself  

Alas, I guess that's one of the downsides of living down under! 

17 hours ago, RWDW1204 said:

People can bring trunks with them? Don't tell my wife. I've finally got her down to 2 suitcases for our 7 night cruises. 

Does she have one suitcase just for all her different shoes and makeup?

I believe, there's a section for that on the Royal Caribbean Blog's main webpage.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

You can filter by which ship, but not every single cruise compass is there (obviously, lol), and as far as I can see there's no 6-day cruise one, there is however, 7 day ones or shorter ones which might be similar? 

15 hours ago, EmersonNZ said:

I think we will eventually get an Oasis class ship in the region but I imagine it will once the 1st or 2nd Icon class sets sail. This will free up 1 or 2 Oasis class ships from the Caribbean market and they could be looking for a new port to call home.

Here's hoping... although....if things settle down in Asia, they might send one of them to Asia instead?

11 minutes ago, Matt said:

I think eventually there could be an Oasis Class if/when the cruise industry starts to truly recover financially and things go well for a few years.

You're probably right, but by then, Utopia and Icon will probably be out lol. Maybe Royal Caribbean will give Allure her amplification then send her down here! I mean Ovation is great and I sailed on her back in 2017, but I would LOVE to be able to cruise on at least one of the Oasis class ships!

Hi everyone, not sure if this is a repeat post (i.e. if this question has been asked before), and I'm new to this forum (so please be nice, lol)

I know for the 2022-2023 cruise season in Australia we get two ships from the Quantum class - Ovation and Quantum, and we get one from the Vision-class; Enchantment

I know in the past, we've had ships from the other classes, such as Voyager, Explorer, Radiance and I think we were supposed to get Serenade but that was cancelled due to... C19

Was just wondering, is there a particular reason why the Oasis class ships never come down under? It's not like Sydney/Brisbane/Perth are small ports

I just don't want to have to pay for flights to the United States.... just to experience one of the Oasis ships

Maybe in the future... Allure or Oasis will come down under - one can only dream  (Seeing as how Allure and Oasis are the oldest in the Oasis class) (I doubt the cruising market down here is popular enough for RCI to send us Wonder, Symphony or Harmony :P)