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Say goodbye to Legend of the Seas


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Royal has agreed to sell Legend of the Seas to Thomson Cruises. The 21-year-old Legend will have all sailing after Feb 21, 2017 canceled. These sailings include cruises from Brisbane, Australia, and a summer schedule from Venice. Just this week I was looking at the cruise from Asia to Europe, and really thinking about booking it. Will need to make new plans, I liked the Legend, yes it was older and less flash but it was a great ship, to sail on.

 

I was told Royal plains to do a few cruises to get the ship from Australia to Spain to deliver the ship to the new owners. News reports say Three repositioning cruises will be offered beginning on February 20 from Brisbane; there will be an 11-night sailing from Brisbane to Singapore, a 10-night cruise from Singapore to Dubai, and a 13-night sailing from Dubai to Barcelona.

 

Should have checked the blog Matt already posted about this.

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2016/06/02/royal-caribbean-sell-legend-of-the-seas

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I think the one hold-out will be Enchantment ..... and the only saving grace was the extension .......

 

... Or perhaps Grandeur..... not sure if Radiance Class ships can fit under the Key Bridge (I-695) or the Bay Bridge coming out of Baltimore.

Of course, Grandeur could go and be replaced by a different Vision Class ship.....

 

Who knows, I'm still mourning the loss of Sovereign.... you never forget your first love.

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I think the one hold-out will be Enchantment ..... and the only saving grace was the extension .......

 

 

I agree with you on Enchantment. She's too well liked, and unique in that she was extended. 

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I believe it is becoming more about the number of passengers the ship can carry. It all comes down to revenue for the ship. 2000 passengers or  5000 passengers, still one captain, one hotel director, etc. The Royal model going forward seems to be the largest ships that can get into the ports. The only ships on order are Oasis and Quantum class ships. One of these ships allows for the same passengers as two of the smaller ships. The other issue is cost of upgrading these older ships to meet that standards Royal wants for the line. It was reported Royal spend 50 million dollars upgrading the Empress of the Seas, on a smaller ship like that it takes a long time to recover 50 million dollars. 

 

I really like the Legend size ships but I do not see them in the future for Royal.

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Royal is offering some really great pricing for the three cruises to bring the ship from Australia to Spain.  It is three cruises that total 33 days, it would be a great half a World Cruise if anyone wanted to do all 34 days. Or add the Australia  South Pacific and Fiji cruise for 12 days before and you have a 46 day tip.   The 34 day cruise can be done for cruise fare of US$3600 dollars plus port fees inside cabin, and the crazy thing is you can upgrade to a jr suite for about double the fare.

 

11 NIGHT BRISBANE TO SINGAPORE CRUISE
Legend of the Seas
Feb 20, 2017 
$699 pp inside cabin
 
10 NIGHT THE SPICE ROUTE CRUISE
Leaving from:  Singapore Arriving in:  Dubai, United Arab Emirates 
Legend of the Seas
3 Mar 2017 Sailing
$499 pp inside cabin
 
13 NIGHT SUEZ CANAL & THE MED CRUISE
Legend of the Seas
13 Mar 2017 Sailing
$599  pp inside cabin
 
Think about this a cruise fare of $53 dollars per day is a great value. It is a lot of time but for those who have ever though about maybe doing longer cruises this looks like a great trip. I do not have the time to do this many days but I will book the Singapore to Dubai cruise when I am on Voyager later this month. Its a great ship and change to do a wonderful trip.
 
I checked the rates today for this leg the pricing came out to this:
 
Inside $1215.00 Total with taxes
 
Outside $ 1414.00  Total with taxes
 
Balcony $ 1813.00 Total with taxes
 
Jr Suite  $ 2213.00 
 
10 days in a suite on a great ship, double C & A points, $110 pp / day is a normal cabin price in the Caribbean. For most cruisers the airfare will be more than the cruise. 
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Selling off Legend of the Seas does NOT make a lot of sense to me.

 

Stand back and take a look at what has happened particularly over the past 6 months:

 

 

 

Empress is brought back, upgraded, and prepared for Cuba itineraries. This I understand and agree with the necessity.

 

Majesty (equal in size to Empress) is given a bunch of upgrades and continues to sail the "rocking chair" route of Miami to Nassau for a number of more years. I sort of understand this.

 

Harmony (Oasis III) joins the fleet. Okie Doke, I like bright and shiny new things.

 

Ovation is brought into the fleet. OK, more bright and shiny...

 

RCL has contracts to purchase another two Oasis class and another two Quantum class ships in there next couple years. I am not completely convinced this is the proper thing to do for a bunch of reasons I won't get into here; but let's note, there is going to be continual near term impact. 

 

 

So, in my thinking; taking a look at all of this; why is it important to sell Legend? Why get rid of that one? Why get rid of any of them? They've brought back and paid a lot of money to revitalize smaller ships. Is it's traditional routes going to be taken over by an Oasis or Quantum class ship? lf so, then whatever new ship sailing those routes will not have the spectacular numbers as might be reported. 

 

Is Legend in the worst shape? Did RCL will receive good money for it? These "could" be possible motives. But I assume the Legend of the Seas is paid for and sails at capacity every week.

 

Taken as a whole I don't understand Royal's game plan, their MO, or why the knee-jerk reactions to spend billions upon billions.

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I sailed on  the Legend last August for 10 days, I can tell you first hand the ship is not in bad shape. It does not seem like a older ship, most things the passengers see look very new. You can tell it is old by design, and does have a few issues, the lifts are not as fast as current era ships, the layout is not as clean as the newer ships. 

 

Did have some issues based upon the age, Reynaline's key card need to be changed several times, in the end they changed the whole door lock system.  I do not think it is because the ships is falling apar,t because it is not. I believe the real issue is the number of passengers it can carry per cruise and the cost of operation per hour. Remember it has a much older engine and propulsion design, so higher fuel costs. And that means higher operating costs per guest carried.

 

I'm not happy it is leaving the fleet but I understand it from Royal's side. If the Legend could have been used in Cuba, it would have been moved to that port. But it is just to large for the current port setup. I do not think Royal brought the Empress back becasue it was a great ship. They did it because it works for the port size and they believed it would be a fast lower cost option.... So far they have been wrong with the idea of fast and lower cost.  

 

Never done a cruise with Royal on a ship going out of service, but I hope to do that with the Legend on its Singapore to Dubai cruise. So I will be able to see first hand if the service, staff and ship are below normal standards for Royal. Any other board members interest in this Spring 2017 cruise?

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I believe RCCL, as a whole, has decided on a succession plan for their ships and their other fleets. Eventually Majesty will go to Pullmantur, then all Sovereign class ships will be together. The older Celebrity ships will likely go to SkySea (their Asian joint venture) and TUI (the Galaxy class ships are currently spread between those two brands). And with Thomson now rebranding to TUI, I think they'll likely sell their 80's built ships and take the majority (if not all) of the Vision class ships. Leaving Radiance class as the babies of the RCI fleet.

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