F1guynz

Speaking to the crew on Ovation and also from other people who have sailed out of China (excluding Hong Kong) the splitting practice is quite common. Our concierge on Ovation said they had to tell people off for spitting on the carpet in the lounge. This is why the ship undergoes a deep clean before leaving from Singapore for Australia. From what people have told me it is a truly different experience when it comes to dining as the Chinese families eat together and expect all the food to come out at once. On Ovation this provides some challenges in the coastal kitchen. From what I understand Princess does not advertise their Chinese itineraries to westerners because the cultures are so different. I think RCI has a disclaimer but that is about it.

We just took a couple of photos on our phone and uploaded them. As long as the photo mainly has you in the frame it is fine. It only took us a couple of minutes to do. The photos they take at the port aren’t great quality so it not hard to improve on them doing it at home.

If you go to www.royalcaribbean.com.au or www.cruisesalefinder.co.nz you should be able to view the sailings there.

Independence of the Seas - 14 September 2019 Canaries Cruise

Voyager of the Seas - 19 February 2020 6 night Tasmanian cruise

I am interested in trying Voyager in 2020 as it will have undergone its Royal Amplified in 2019 before coming to Australia. We booked a cruise on Explorer when they came out last year (April) and have rebooked it 3 times since then. The best price we got was in September when it was $1,500 cheaper than the April launch price. That sale was their 40% birthday sale. I am not sure how the non-refundable deposit will impact our ability to rebook later if the price becomes cheaper.

RCI have announced their itineraries on the Australia / New Zealand website. It is the usual mix of Australia / NZ / Pacific Islands with a couple of new itineraries thrown in. There are quite few sampler cruises as well, more than ion previous years. You need to call them to book and they have introduced the dreaded non refundable deposit. Will Have a good look through tonight to see which one we will do. There are none leaving from New Zealand this time so it looks like another trip to Australia will be necessary.

I think because the next one is the Trans Pacific heading to Hawaii and then on to Vancouver. I think cancelling this one would have had a much greater knock on affect. I think more people would have flown in for TP and as TP is split into two cruises more people would be inconvenienced. Also with an Azipod issue maybe the ship can’t travel as quickly. Newcastle may have been the only port with facilities to fix the issue before heading off to Vancouver and Alaska.

I am sure Spectrum will be released separately at some point in the future. I am not actually which ships will end up in Australia now that Explorer has left. It would seem unlikely to have 2 Quantum ships (Ovation and Spectrum) in the same market. I think Radiance is certain, maybe Voyager will make a return and Spectrum. It is too hard to work out which ships do not have 2019/2020 itineraries too see who the candidates might be.

It will end in Sydney as the passengers have been told there is no change to the current itinerary.

There are 3 ships that sail from Australia and New Zealand: Ovation, Explorer and Radiance. Explorer does not come to New Zealand, it normally does Australia and the South Pacific whereas Ovation and Radiance come to NZ. Ovation is the newest of the ships and has some really cool features like iFly, FlowRider, North Star, Sea plex, bumper cars and plenty of specialty restaurants. radiance is the smallest ship and is slightly newer than Explorer. I would call that more of a traditional cruise ship, it doesn’t have a FlowRider or a lot of fancy stuff that Symphony has. It is more intimate and relaxing with trivia, bingo, rock climbing wall and mini golf to keep you amused. It has some nice pay dining venues like Chops, Izumi, Giovanni’s and Samba grill. It also has a nice dining room. Explorer is bigger and has a FlowRider and specialty restaurants. It has an ice skating rink and a large promenade with shops and restaurant. It also has the mini golf and rock climbing wall. We feel that Explorer offers us the best value but if the ship is more of a destination for you then Ovation maybe the way to go. It is definitely the largest and has the most choice in activities and entertainment.

If you are booking as soon as the schedule is released (I am assuming Oct 2019 is your Autumn) you shouldn’t have a problem finding the cabin you want. We normally book a suite and there are usually a choice. The only cruises I find that sell quickly are the once a year repositioning cruises. E.g. Singapore to Sydney, Hawaii to Sydney etc. I am not sure if Ovation is coming back to Australia / New Zealand in the 2nd half of 2019 as it maybe replaced by Spectrum. All should become clearer next week when the Australian season is released. China will not be released until June.

I agree when looking from the outside financially it is very fair compensation when you are emotionally invested in a cruise it must be extremely hard to deal with. We book a long time in advance so getting down to the last 3 days and then being advised it is cancelled would be difficult. At least for those living in Australia and New Zealand the flights aren’t so bad. I really feel for the people from the other side of the world who may have already departed for Australia. Very expensive for RCI as well paying 100% compensation for a whole ship. Well done to them for being that fair.

From the RCI Facebook page: We regrettably announce that it will be necessary to cancel the upcoming 11-night cruise on Radiance of the Seas departing 6 April 2018. This is to conduct necessary repairs on the ship's Azipod propulsion system, which impacts the ships’ speed and ability to deliver future scheduled cruises. The ship’s guest services are currently fully operational, and there is no impact on the maneuverability of the ship or on the safety of our guests and crew as it returns to Sydney from its current Queensland coastal cruise. After exploring numerous repair options and to ensure readiness for future cruises, repairs will take place from 6 April to 17 April. We are currently in the process of informing all impacted guests and their travel agents. All guests will be provided with a full refund as well as a 100% Future Cruise Credit. We sincerely regret that we will be unable to deliver the Royal Caribbean cruise holiday that our guests were looking forward to. Our guest’s holiday time is very precious and we can assure you that we did not make this decision lightly. Guests should contact their local travel agent, or please feel free to call us on 1800 754 500.

Hopefully it will come down under to Australia and New Zealand. Cruises for this region will be announced week beginning 9th April.

That’s how I read it. Somebody said you could access them through the old url but that has not been my experience.

It his what I saw from from RCI on Facebook

I also thought this response was interesting.

Millie has provided an update on the Facebook page.

Hi, Normally we stay out by the airport (which is about a 30 minute trip to the port by train) as Circular Quay stop is a 5 minute walk from the cruise terminal. If you wanted to stay in central Sydney maybe you could look at somewhere like the Novotel. There are also the usual global brands like the Hilton, Four Seasons, Hyatt. These hotels will all be close to an underground station which will get you to Circular Quay. There are also plenty of taxis available. Public transport is pretty good in Sydney. We always arrive at the port early to make sure we are one of the first to board. U.S dollars wont be accepted by retailers in Sydney but when you are on the ship everything will be in U.S dollars. It is not necessary to tip in Australia but some people do tip on the ship even though this is normally included in the fare when purchasing the cruise from RCI Australia. Drinks will have 18% added automatically. Spa services do not have tips included. We have a cruise going to the South Pacific in March next year on Explorer. March is the 1st day of autumn here but the weather should still be okay. There is a chance of cyclones at this time of year and occasionally ships will have to skip port stops but for the most part the weather should be good and reasonably warm. We have been on Ovation and I would recommend that you book early for anything you want to do. E.g. the iFly and Northstar. They don't have a Broadway show on Ovation so you wont need to pre-book for shows apart from Pixels in the 270 lounge. If you want to ride the bumper cars I would suggest doing that on the first day before most people have boarded. The queue during the cruise can be quite long at the start but we found if you came in about halfway through a session the crowd had diminished a lot. Another good time to go is close to dinner. There are plenty of restaurants around the Sydney Opera house but there are a lot of people and it is very noisy, especially near to the weekend. As we normally fly in either the night before or on the day of the cruise we don't normally eat out much. I do really enjoy Doyles at Watson Bay which is a fish restaurant which is accessible by a water taxi or a ferry. There are some photos in my blog which should show you where the cruise terminal is in relation to the opera house.

Good progress today The cruise planner is now working properly. When you logon to your account and select the cruise planner it takes you in straight away without having to enter your reservation number.

I wonder what happens if you don’t pack at all. ?

Working in IT I can understand the possible issues with multiple accounts over all the different brands. However, I would have thought this would have come up during testing and they would have undertaken some kind of data cleansing before executing the migration. i am assuming they have a reasonable sized test system and it has a good sampling of production data. i agree they should have sent an email as well as FB post but we may get that email in the next day or so. i think people would be far more understanding if they had sent an email at the start of the upgrade and sent other communications as needed. Sure you would still get the “sort your sh*t out” posts but people tend to feel more lenient if they know there are issues and they are being worked on. At the end of day RCI want the website up and running just as quickly as we do. In the short term it impacts their business and customer good will. Nobody wants their brand being discussed on social media in a negative way. The media picks up on it and then it just snowballs Medium term people will move on so there should be no lasting damage done. i just hope the changes will be worth all the pain. I suspect for most existing customers they won’t be. New customers will know no different.

I just the cruise we want to book out of Southampton was on sale. At the moment when you try and book it is the rack rate with no discount applied. Eye wateringly expensive. i have never seen a cruise at full price before. I will just wait as not surprisingly none of the suites are selling at the moment.

At least we now know it is partly our fault ?