F1guynz

It sounds like you should have 14. If you logon to the website and look at your past cruises it will take you how many points were allocated for each cruise.

8 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

Change up the itineraries so it's not always South Pacific, Queensland or New Zealand

I don’t think there is much chance of that happening. It would be good if they added Fiji to the South Pacific itineraries as we haven’t been there.

currently the itineraries are very limited given the number of ports that did not reopen post Covid and still show no signs of opening.

4 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

Enchantment here in Sydney, but they changed it and we got Brilliance instead

Yes we were originally booked on Enchantment, and that worked out well for us as we ended up with the Royal Suite on Brilliance instead for our cruise last month.

In the past it has been released in March/April window.

On 11/27/2023 at 7:28 AM, smokeybandit said:

if you have family or friends in another cabin you can't get a photo of them for free.

Unless it is older ship like Brilliance of the Seas which still prints and displays them. In this case you can take any photo up for redemption as the photos aren't liked to any particular cabin.

I am sure I saw somewhere that you will soon be able to look at the photos from the app and also redeem your free voucher without having to go to one of the kiosks.

When sailing out of Sydney we have arrived early than our check-in time (we were in a suite) and because the ship was not ready there was an area with seating we had to wait to board. The passengers were boarded in the following order, B2B cruisers, Royal Suite, suites, C&A in tier level sequence.

If you arrive after the ship has started boarding, then it is just first come first served.

The option to hotspot was also greyed out for me on our recent cruise on Brilliance.

As well as the drinks available free on board (water, fruit punch, lemonade, iced tea, eta, coffee etc.) you can also bring 12 cans of soft drink with you and we normally bring a couple of small bottles of coke after port visits.

Hi @zcruiser you will get star class on these sailings as we have previously sailed in the Royal Loft Suite and have also booked Grand Loft Suite in March 2024 with our genie Hailey.

The genie will contact you about 30 days before the sailing to organise the experience with you.

21 hours ago, AndreaP43 said:

Will you live blog @F1guynz

Hi @AndreaP43, I will likely blog from that cruise as we will have Hailey as our genie again. We have a grand loft suite booked for this cruise.

Voyager is in Europe until at least November 25 as they have recently released those cruises. Seems like an odd choice to reposition from Rome to Australia at the end of 2025 as that would make for a short season when they normally start in October/November.

Danny from Harr travel speculated that Anthem may go to LA after Alaska and we may get Ovation year round.

I guess we will have to wait a few more months before anything concrete comes out.

31 minutes ago, twangster said:

Settings, General, Date & Time, disable "Set Automatically" then manually pick the departure port time zone and the time.

This is what I do.

yes i did this for my parents, I linked my reservation to theirs.

i could also buy a dining package on their behalf.

We are on Brilliance at the moment and have booked Voyager Italy and Croatia in 2025 through Next Cruise

36 minutes ago, EmersonNZ said:

Yep, we just booked a June 2025 8 night on Independance out of Southhampton.

We booked a 2025 sailing on Voyager out of Rome visiting `Italy and Croatia.

You will love independence, we did when we did our Canaries cruise.

It has been suggested Ovation will be replaced by Anthem by then which probably means Ovation will not be in Alaska.

Looking forward to our cruise on Brilliance next week. Nice to be on a small ship after a few sailings on Quantum and Ovation.

I would argue that a freedom class ship is better for families than Quantum. The main advantage Quantum has over Freedom class is Quantum's are more suited to colder weather and I think that is the primary reason we don't get one deployed here. Usually, the ships we get here complete Alaska seasons too, and that is probably another limiting factor for getting an Oasis class, as well as the lack on tendering ability for the South Pacific. 

Off the top of my head Independence had mini golf, water slides, flow rider, ice skating as free activities.

Apart from the flow rider and bumper cars most things cost on Quantum class on sea days and apart from restaurants doesn't have the variety that a Freedom class has.

To me the Freedom class is the perfect size and combination of activities.

We have done this in Star Class but I don't believe you can do it in a Grand Suite. It didn't come on a plank when we had it delivered, it came on a round plate with a plastic cover.

You could ask at the restaurant while you are on board as the worst that will happen is they will say no. 

11 hours ago, mattymay said:

Will probably just replace Anthem in Southampton

I see Independence has been confirmed for 2025 from Southampton.

Independence of the Seas to homeport in UK in 2025 | Travel Weekly

A quote from an old article from 2016

“Ovation of the Seas will be the fifth ship in the Royal Caribbean Australian fleet for winter 2016-17, joining four other Royal Caribbean ships – Voyager of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas in Sydney and Legend of the Seas in Brisbane”

The good old days with plenty of choice.

23 minutes ago, mattymay said:

I think it will be Anthem

You would hope so as Ovation would have been here for 10 years by then. At least Anthem will have some different shows.

We have booked it a couple of times after we have boarded. It is not usually super busy and the food was pleasant enough but was buffet style and not the table service we first had back in 2017.

I consider it good for a quick light meal.

I think in Asia it is more common depending on where you are sailing to. You get them back near the end of the cruise I believe.

Sometimes they divide the flowrider into 2 parts and have two people on it simultaneously.