J_Keeble

They've had four ships stationed there for months.  Must have liked it ? 
P&O has used Barbados as a homeport.  During the time the RC ships spent there some local authorities probably whispered sweet nothings in Captain Johnny's ear.  
They didn't want Grandeur doing more of the same competing with so many in the RCI fleet for the Caribbean market.  Also sends a message to San Juan.  Checks a lot of boxes.  

Like we saw with Empress when they thought outside of the box and built routes beyond the cookie cutter mainstream this is sort of the same.  A lot of destinations not normally reached by Royal's fleet so something different to garner attention.  
I don't think this is in anyway related to the CDC.  Hedging one small ship doesn't really accomplish anything in terms of bypassing the CDC.  The target audience will result in a lot of Americans on board but some Brits as well given the easy flights to the former British territory.  The Concorde used to fly between London and Bridgetown and one remains in a museum at the airport there.  No doubt the homeport will appeal to some Brits as well.   
Cool move.  

I booked the Dec 5 sailing. YOLO Book It

WOW!
These are great itineries and as a UK resident flights are only £300 across the pond!
Furthermore what is Grandeur doing this year? i cant see anything before December?

My wife and I are in our 50's ..... we don't need all the "bells and whistles" to enjoy ourselves.  Plus, our kids are grown, so, the fewer kids the better.  It's smaller, more intimate, just a slower pace, which is what we love.  Just show us where the bar, the food, and pool are, and we're good.  Even at night, we love going to the front of the ship and star gaze (We constantly watch it when the ISS goes over when we're at home in the central Appalachians.)

Who knows ... things seem to be in a state of flux right now.  For those of us that love Lady G, it's very comforting to know that there is a plan for her..... and there are some AWESOME new ports and itineraries to choose from.  Assuming these become popular, hopefully she'll be sticking around for a while.

They're up.. Dec 2021 - April 2022
 
 

Alright calm yourself down! you seem to relish off the bad news!

Alright calm yourself down! you seem to relish off the bad news!

Alright calm yourself down! you seem to relish off the bad news!

Oh.....i would be 100% ok with that..no issues at all.....but in this political climate, i don't think that is going to happen at all. If it was an option, i would be there yesterday
But there is no rational or reasonable discussions around it...its all or nothing with no middle ground for the most part(except in Florida it seems and maybe a few others states)
 
Only thing that is going to allow me to ever travel again from Canada is mass vaccinations.......

Or just accept the risk and get on with it.
I would be happy to get on Mariner of the Seas today exactly as it was in May of 2019. The capacity was light and combine that with some mask wearing and sanitizer stations and its exactly the same risk profile as everything else in Florida these days ...

Realist....glass half empty kinda view here.
 
Much better to temper expectations moving forward than for people to have a unrealistic blind sense of optimism for something that probably wont happen...no?!?

Alright calm yourself down! you seem to relish off the bad news!

Don't want to say i told you so but..lol
 
So Cruises cancelled till May now and I am guessing that it would be 90 days after that before they could resume regular sailings.....so fall at the earliest now really.

Feel sorry for you.....I would be stressed and upset at this point if I had my wedding booked for a cruise in Sept....I don't think it will have anything to do with maintenance delaying or stopping your cruise wedding.......Covid will ruin it before anything else does!?

Nice one Jim. Hope to see you on board... 

Congrats on your future wedding... 

The 26th!!!!!
 
when i say married we are getting married in Sorrento on Day 6 and then a big party onboard and through the week!

All royal ships heading to the UK! leaving just empress for Americans!

Voyager has a transition line between the two colors that makes it more obvious.  I also think there is more saturation to the blue on her.

Exactly... I never knew Allure's hull was painted blue until I arrived at the port! ?
When you're up close it's obvious...

 
As you mentioned, distance, brightness/color/angle of the light, and angle of view makes it harder to distinguish on Allure's hull painted with the lighter blue color...

Older ships still are white. 
From certain angles or under the right lighting conditions sometimes the blue can be very obvious or less apparent.    Voyager recently received a blue hull paint job that seems to be very evident.  That's partially because the transition from white up high to blue on lower decks doesn't follow the natural lines of the ship.   
On Quantum class the transition occurs at a place so that the white and blue paint are not directly right next to each other.  The human brain perceives this differently compared to Voyager where there is a hard paint transition plain to see on the side of the ship.

We are booked on the Easter weekend sailing out of Southampton on Odyssey so keeping everything crossed ?

BBC article published 15 mins ago:
"The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.
British regulator, the MHRA, says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe for roll out next week.
Immunisations could start within days for people in high priority groups.
The UK has already ordered 40m doses - enough to vaccinate 20m people, with two shots each.
Around 10m doses should be available soon, with the first doses arriving in the UK in the coming days."
Here is a link to the full article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55145696
Dare I say it but that light at the end of the tunnel appears to be getting brighter ??