J_Keeble

its the same that i would pay for going solo. all id save is the port taxes i believe 

Ah...okay, I guess that makes sense?  Maybe you should call and talk to RCCL and see if they can work with you.  Its alot of money to pay for a no show.

Why maintain a fleet of 30 ships when you can sail with just as many berths with fewer ships in the fleet?
That's 30 captains and staff captains, 30 sets of bridge officers and 30 hotel directors, all high paid salary positions.  Do more with less.
Royal's biggest problem is selling off the older inefficient ships while avoiding selling them to a competitor who will buy a ship at a fraction of a cost and compete with Royal in the Bahamas and Caribbean where Royal makes bank.  Cordella was a nice fit as they sail only in India.  No overlap.  TUI wants new ships for the same reasons why Royal does.  So for now it remains optimal to sail the old crud into the ground while carrying passengers and generating lower profits but avoiding giving a competitor the means to take business away for the price of a song.      

The purchaser will receive a refund to the cc used to purchase the Deluxe Beverage Package is the other person is a no show.

Once again, Rackham wins the internet today.  Way to go bringing in the numbers!  This is great analysis to bring the conversation.

That's what I want.  Maintain around 30 ships, maybe more!
My personal hope is that the Discovery project is going to be huge, like 10-12 ships.  Presumably this is from Meyer Werft in Germany (who built the Quantum class) or possibly Chantiers de L'Atlantique in France (who built the last several Oasis class).  Maybe both companies will be involved.
Meyer Turku in Finland (they build Icon) is also supposed to be working on a climate-neutral ship design projected for 2035.  I'm guessing that they build six to ten Icons and then switch to the newer design about a decade from now.
If that many new-design ship orders is too ambitious, I think another Quantum Ultra like Odyssey of the Seas would be great.  And order a couple new Edge-class ships while you're at it; Celebrity won't mind! 

Workers started the removal of the Skylight Chapel on Adventure yesterday. I asked if it will become an Escape Room (like on Mariner) but it is going to be converted to a conference room. 

The SeaPlex on Odyssey is a very different design while the earlier Q class ships have smaller pods that hang off the SeaPlex.  They can't implement a PM in those small pods so it would require major modification to add a PM to early Q class.  Weight is critical on a ship and the SeaPlex is at the top, so weight is even more critical.  It's a pretty significant re-engineering of the ship weight and balance, so not an easy undertaking.
Liberty is another matter.They must have plans to deploy her elsewhere in the future where a sports bar is less of a thing.

?I'm really surprised that  PLAYMAKERS  is not listed among the new additions especially for Ovation.  This Quantum class ship has a space above the SeaPlex that is not hardly used. That location on sister ship, Odyssey, has a great Playmakers with spectacular views!

Skipping-Labadee of the seas?

I booked a b2b on Oasis and it was cheaper than a 7 day cruise on Oasis.

I will not book any less than a 7 day on any Oasis class.

Hmm, you may be onto something.

Houdini of the Seas
Copperfield of the Seas
Blaine of the Seas
And the ship's revolutionary feature is making chair hogs disappear and elevators actually appear.

No Baltimore is very surprising

I'm a little surprised they aren't going to have an Icon-class ship do short cruises.
On another note, I wish they would rotate the ships a little bit more. I'm dying to go on Utopia but really don't want to do a 3 or 4-night Caribbean.

I love short cruises and I understand why Royal is placing more ships in the short cruise market 3-5 day.  We've decided to make September for the forceable future on Utopia B2B2B cruise (love Utopia) but I need them to release the full Caribbean schedule for November 2026. I don't want a 3-5 night cruise I want 7 nights B2B on an Oasis Class ship sailing out of Florida and not on Harmony.  If not I guess I'll have to go with Symphony out of Galveston which isn't bad but I Galveston is not my favorite port to depart from.  
We have our 2025 cruise booked we have our winter cruises for 2026 book and we also have Legend of the Seas booked for January 2027 but we have nothing book for November 2026 and that's when we like to go for 14 nights straight but 14 nights on Icon or Star is out of the question at those prices. Even though we make decent money I can justify the cost of 14 nights in a suite on Icon or Star. 

That looks like a very cool itinerary!

Serenade home porting from San Diego?

As are we in the UK, the ships they send seem to be getting older and older, and to think I moaned about having Anthem 3 years running!!

I think youll still have 20/30 years before you see them retire!

I don't see it happening any time soon. 

Even if they were aloud to sail to Cuba again, there are no Royal Caribbean ships small enough to do so there since they sold Empress and Majesty of the Seas.
Perhaps they could build a Discovery class ship that could sail there.

I am People, and I would 100% pay as much for a smaller ship *IF* the itineraries are compelling. I’m still hoping Royal moves forward with this 😉

Royal can save millions by leveraging the Edge class hull but with only 3k to 3.5k worth of passengers they'd have to charge a pretty penny to equal the margins they make on mega ships.
 People love medium size ships.  But is there enough love to pay more than or equal to Icon fares to sail a new medium sized ship? 
I can hear it now...
"There isn't as much to do as Icon, how can they can charge just as much?!?!?"  "No way I'm paying that!!!"  
Why would the board approve a near billion dollar expense for a new medium ship when that nearly pays for a new Icon ship?