KWofPerth

Seeing these itineraries and the deluded pricing attached to them is like seeing a boyfriend you've been thinking about breaking up with and he turns up with a man bun...yeaaaaah naaaaaah

Not very exciting itineraries and we will have been on Voyager in Croatia in September.
Now we need to wait for Asia release to see if there is anything enticing there, it would be cool to try Spectrum at least once.

No Fiji in the new itineraries from Brisbane. Lunganville is a new port but that is about it.

Me too! Definitely booking at least once, some longer South Pacific with extra ports from the usual would be perfect!
 
Maybe the Red Sea issue has worked in our favour this time, too hard to send it anywhere else so might as well keep it in Brisbane year round? I would definitely chose Voyager over Carnival Splendor and the P&O ships that are here in the winter.

Maybe I can finally convince my dad to cruise out of Brisbane now... his reasoning was that: it's the same ship as Ovation - so there's no point.

I'm happy to get a Voyager class back. Would be nice to have a Radiance too.

A Yowie or big foot or something? Are Yowies pink though?

Yep I saw the thing about Voyager sailing year round from Brisbane here @Chili. Yay to getting an older Quantum class than Ovation I guess 🤦🤷‍♂️

I like sailing other lines to try something different. 
Royal feels like home compared to other lines but if I never left home, home would get pretty boring. 
I don't have bad cruises on the other lines, they just don't feel like home.
Maybe it's good to try another line if for no other reason than to remind you what line suits you best.

I expect it will be quietly shelved at some point.

I had to look that up to see what Wiggles are. 😂

10th is a Wednesday which is when they are usually released.

I received a RC email today advertising Wiggles themed sailings for the summer of 2025-26 that will go on sale 10th of April. So lock that date in that itineraries open to the public. I don't remember if C&A members get access one day earlier still?

Only a couple more weeks until we finally know.
i really hate these staggered deployments as they make it difficult to plan holidays.
After the Australia cruises are released we have to wait for Singapore in May. 
I want to see them all so I can decide whether to travel further afield.

Talking to my agent today and he said Royal Caribbean don’t do the price drop match in Australia anymore.
The best he can offer is a refundable deposit.

If anyone's interested in China/Japan, Spectrum sailings out of Shanghai have just gone up on the website through to April 2026.

Something nice i stumbled on, the Concierge in the D-lounge has the ability, and power to handle many or most things that we would normally stand in line at guest services for. It took me less than 5 minutes to have them remove the daily from my account, and I handled everything with cash. Including tipping out that particular Concierge who was very helpful to us, and with whatever anyone needed from what I seen. As far as tipping out the laundry staff...that seems very far fetched to me. Have you ever been asked by a hotel or resort to tip out the laundry staff? Maybe, they added verbiage such as service fee's? I think that there should be no more tipping at all. Just give us a price for the cruise as a whole and the cruise line handle all of that back of the house agenda.  

@Matt has made the news in an article in the UK’s Daily Mail detailing his Empire Supper Club experience. 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-13115163/icon-seas-expensive-restaurant.html
Some good publicity there.

I expect it will be quietly shelved at some point.

I just finished my Sydney to Auckland cruise on Celebrity and had a wonderful time! For anyone from America is considering a similar cruise, I'm going to give a quick lessons learned.
1. Both Australia and New Zealand are beautiful countries with fun,  clean and safe cities. Both have extensive natural areas that are worth seeing.  Both are proud of their heritage and their native populations. Be sure to spend extra time there
2. Most places will take your credit card without issue. That's more true in Australia than New Zealand,  but you don't need a ton of local currency. 
3. I didn't see very many currency exchanges,  so bring some local currency with you.
4. People in both countries are very friendly and helpful.
5. Most of the New Zealand ports are industrial ports and require a shuttle bus to go ashore. On my itinerary the ones that required a shuttle were Dunedin, Wellington,  Napier and Christchurch.  Auckland, Bay of Islands and Tauranga did not require a shuttle.  On my cruise, the shuttle cost $10USD.
6. Do your research ahead of time.  Lots of stuff to do in each port, but you don't want to just wing it.
7. The plugs in Australia  and New Zealand are different than any other country I've ever experienced, but they are compatible with each other. Be sure to get the proper converters before coming on the trip.
I hope this helps someone.
To all the Aussies and Kiwis,  thanks for the great time!

Booked it last year for summer 2024.

In fairness Royal's executive team has a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders.  That comes way ahead of building ships that a small subset of return guest desire.  
I agree with your assessment though.  Most of my research now is going into exotic train journeys which come with stops at various places with excursions.  They are like a cruise on rails with very good food, like Michelin rated food.  My first train trip will take place this summer.  There is one in Peru, several across Australia and New Zealand that look really interesting.  Some of them are less than a balcony on Icon.  

This is strictly my opinion, and I'm sure someone here is going to try and correct me, but this is all I can see right now after reading this announcement. I thought Royal Caribbean had a debt to pay. They jacked their prices up so much on everything in order to pay this debt that I can't afford to cruise with them now.  Maybe I should thank them for this. Because of what they are charging, I'm branching out, I booked a Carnival cruise that was less expensive and goes to 3 ports I have not visited yet. Now instead of building a smaller ship like they had hinted at, they are now going to build another giant ship with a limited itinerary that you need to take out a second mortgage out in order to sail on, not to mention jacking up the prices again on every other ship in the fleet. And yes, I know the sailings will all sell out, but I won't be on them. And for those of you who do choose to buy them, more power to you.