shaydav19 Posted February 19, 2020 Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 Does anyone know why this ship is only doing 3 and 4 day cruises? There seems to be so much on the newly amped ship but not enough time to do it all? I'm thinking of booking the 4 night trip that gives you 2 days in Coco Cay just so I can explore the ship while more people get off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose City Cruiser Posted February 19, 2020 Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 I agree the 3/4 night itineraries are too short to enjoy the entire ship on one sailing. If possible, book a b2b. I was lucky enough to enjoy the newly Amp'd Navigator on a 9nt Southern Caribbean before it switched to 3/4 nighters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monctonguy Posted February 19, 2020 Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 This ship and Marnier are doing the 3/4 day cruises to Bahamas and Cococay......I am sure they did the amp with this in mind .....3 day cruises are pretty short to explore any ship no matter what the size imho.... I am back on her in April for a 3 night...looking forward to seeing the changes on the ship and Cococay for myself...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 19, 2020 Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 I agree with Montconguy. I think they refurbished the NAV and Mariner so that they improved the experience for 3 and 4 night cruisers. In the past, Royal (and many of the other cruise lines too, to be fair) have always used their older and frankly, worn down ships to do the short cruises. This move stepped up the short cruise experience to allow new cruisers to enjoy the BEST of Royal rather than the WORST of Royal. monctonguy and KenCP 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaydav19 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 23 minutes ago, Rose City Cruiser said: I agree the 3/4 night itineraries are too short to enjoy the entire ship on one sailing. If possible, book a b2b. I was lucky enough to enjoy the newly Amp'd Navigator on a 9nt Southern Caribbean before it switched to 3/4 nighters. a B2B would be great but this would be my 3rd cruise for the year and I don't think my boss values me THAT much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaydav19 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 Just now, WAAAYTOOO said: I agree with Montconguy. I think they refurbished the NAV and Mariner so that they improved the experience for 3 and 4 night cruisers. In the past, Royal (and many of the other cruise lines too, to be fair) have always used their older and frankly, worn down ships to do the short cruises. This move stepped up the short cruise experience to allow new cruisers to enjoy the BEST of Royal rather than the WORST of Royal. Well that's fair. It's a great deal right now with kids fly free so I'm thinking of taking daughter and niece (9 y.o.) which may be juuuust as much as I can stand! LOL. Blessed to be leaving in 25 days on Anthem, and then birthday cruise on Independence 08/22/2020. I'm in Maryland so I have only had the Grandeur experience and although lovely, I can certainly see the difference in the aging of the ships! Thanks for your insight! This blog is the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaydav19 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 24 minutes ago, monctonguy said: This ship and Marnier are doing the 3/4 day cruises to Bahamas and Cococay......I am sure they did the amp with this in mind .....3 day cruises are pretty short to explore any ship no matter what the size imho.... I am back on her in April for a 3 night...looking forward to seeing the changes on the ship and Cococay for myself...... certainly not enough time, but I am thinking of doing it at the end of November so i can take my niece and she can cruise free. Enjoy your trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 19, 2020 Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 Last summer we did a B2B on NAV over the 4th of July holiday. I found these 2 cruises to be particularly pricey on a per person/per day basis. I would probably NOT do it again but rather choose a different ship that was doing a regular 7 night itin. Don't get me wrong. The amplification on NAV was incredible. The best I have seen for any ship in the fleet...but I think for a 7 night cruise, you can do better on a different ship, price-wise. brianmorris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 I love that RC has Mariner and Navigator doing 3 and 4 night sailings. Prior to this, RC relegated its oldest, smallest ships to short sailings of this nature (Enchantment and Majesty). Many, many, many first timers pick these short sailings and now having Mariner or Navigator is such a vast improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 The vast majority of new cruise guests book their very first cruise on a short sailing to see if cruising is something they might enjoy. Historically cruise lines tended to put older and smaller ships in the short cruise market saving their best ships for longer cruises. The problem with that strategy is that new cruisers testing the waters are not exposed to the best product available. First impressions are very important so Royal bucked the industry trend and placed newly refreshed and very nice ships into the short cruise market. They did so at the same time they invested heavily into their private island Cococay. The combination of a better ship experience and a better destination experience has been a huge success that has paid dividends as new to cruise guests love their first cruise experience which leads to them booking longer cruises on other ships. While experienced cruisers would love to see these wonderful ships serving different destinations at the moment Royal is doing what is best for the business and cultivating a bigger fan base of loyal customers. teddy and Ampurp85 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 20 minutes ago, twangster said: The vast majority of new cruise guests book their very first cruise on a short sailing to see if cruising is something they might enjoy. Historically cruise lines tended to put older and smaller ships in the short cruise market saving their best ships for longer cruises. The problem with that strategy is that new cruisers testing the waters are not exposed to the best product available. First impressions are very important so Royal bucked the industry trend and placed newly refreshed and very nice ships into the short cruise market. They did so at the same time they invested heavily into their private island Cococay. The combination of a better ship experience and a better destination experience has been a huge success that has paid dividends as new to cruise guests love their first cruise experience which leads to them booking longer cruises on other ships. While experienced cruisers would love to see these wonderful ships serving different destinations at the moment Royal is doing what is best for the business and cultivating a bigger fan base of loyal customers. It also helps that Royal has a glut of ships at the moment... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 Our first cruise was a 5 night on newly amp’d Mariner. It was definitely a “toe in the water” kind of thing. Our experience was great and since that cruise in Jan 2019, we’ve done three more. Their business strategy works As far as Navigator and short cruises, we just booked that 4 nighter on her to bridge the gap to the two weeks on Liberty we’ve booked in 2021. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 2 minutes ago, teddy said: Our first cruise was a 5 night on newly amp’d Mariner. It was definitely a “toe in the water” kind of thing. Our experience was great and since that cruise in Jan 2019, we’ve done three more. Their business strategy works As far as Navigator and short cruises, we just booked that 4 nighter on her to bridge the gap to the two weeks on Liberty we’ve booked in 2021. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this....but you are totally, completely, solidly hooked on cruising. Full blown addict. Unfortunately, there is no cure....not that you would want one anyway. Welcome to the club. teddy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIDreamer96 Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 My first cruise was on Navigator for 3 nights to the Bahamas a while back. I think that an Amped ship of this size offering 3-4 nights is a great business model, because guests get their feet wet and if they really enjoy it, they'll book again with RC. I like to view 3-4 nights on these mid-sized RC ships as sampler cruises for first timers- nice, updated ship, good port at CocoCay, and not too big that you miss out on too much. RC was very smart to plan it this way, since I was a newbie on NAV and then booked another two cruises for the following year! teddy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted February 21, 2020 Report Share Posted February 21, 2020 17 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: It also helps that Royal has a glut of ships at the moment... I'm not sure I see that. Royal moves ships to where they make the most money. California is a good example. There is opportunity to put ships back into CA but at the moment those same ships can make more money elsewhere. There is opportunity to go year round in Australia. At the moment they make more money with those ships elsewhere. As you go around the world you can find examples all over. Some other cruise lines have a glut of ships with fleets much larger than Royal's. They find themselves going into small markets and finding places for their ships because they have to. Royal has a smaller fleet but higher revenue. That's in part because they are smart about where they place their ships. Having the most ships isn't smart business. Placing your ship efficiently to maximize revenue is smart business. The plan to amp Voyager class and place them into the short cruise market started 5 years ago in someone's head. It took time to research, plan, sell the idea and execute. I don't see this as response to a glut in time because of current world events. teddy and WAAAYTOOO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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