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Single FlowRider and other changes on Wonder of the Seas


gabeb848

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I just realized this, but did anyone else notice that there is only one FlowRider on the upcoming Wonder of the Seas? If so, what are your guys' thoughts about this? What do you think the area seems to be in the previews? A seating area for the Wipeout Bar, a new restaurant perhaps? Also, all of the aft-facing loft suites are gone... including the massive 1,500 square-foot Royal Loft Suite. I Wonder where that is now, maybe they took out some crown lofts? Maybe they aren't even in the crown anymore? I also noticed that the crown has 2 levels now... Finally, where did mini golf and the sports court go?! There are many changes to the newest member of the Oasis class, what are your opinions and observations?

wonderoftheseasaft.jpg

wonderoftheseasforward.webp

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  • gabeb848 changed the title to Single FlowRider and other changes on Wonder of the Seas

Welcome to the message boards!

Wonder is purpose built for Asia, specifically China.  That is a different market with different consumer expectations or vacation needs.  With a number of single flowrider ships being used in this market for several years they have a lot of data to understand how a single flowrider works in the region where this ship is intended to sail.   No ship in the Pacific has ever had two flowriders before and this has worked (or so it seems).

I can understand the desire to consider new and different use cases for all real estate on a ship.  The flowriders are popular but satisfy a single use case with no ability to use that space for anything else.  For long periods of the day or night they are unused.  I can understand the purpose of reviewing the practice of consuming space for two flowriders especially if the weather in a region or consumer trends don't support the need for two flowriders. 

There are many changes that we expect to see on Wonder including the deck 17/18 space where there is a crown of sorts on the first four Oasis class ships.  It appears this entire area is being reimagined on Wonder.  The market in China appears to enjoy dedicated suite areas that are off limits to non-suite guests.  Spectrum deviates from her sisters in the Quantum class in this regard.  My personal opinion or thoughts lead me to believe the deck 17/18 area on Wonder will be dedicated to suites in the same manner.  However that is speculation on my part.

Oasis first debuted in 2009 so it has a long track record of service.  At the same time Royal has been successful in China partly because they aren't just plunking a westernized ship into this market, they change the ships to satisfy market expectations for this region.  Between the two it is encouraging to see they aren't just creating a cookie cutter copy of her sisters but adapting the ship in the evolution of Oasis class.

Time will tell what changes Wonder will have.  First they'll want to have Odyssey be the focus of marketing hype and consumer excitement so I don't expect we will learn a lot about Wonder until after Odyssey has made her splash into service.  This is especially so since Wonder is expected to head straight to China and be there for some time so there is less reason to hype Wonder in the US media.

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6 hours ago, twangster said:

Welcome to the message boards!

Wonder is purpose built for Asia, specifically China.  That is a different market with different consumer expectations or vacation needs.  With a number of single flowrider ships being used in this market for several years they have a lot of data to understand how a single flowrider works in the region where this ship is intended to sail.   No ship in the Pacific has ever had two flowriders before and this has worked (or so it seems).

I can understand the desire to consider new and different use cases for all real estate on a ship.  The flowriders are popular but satisfy a single use case with no ability to use that space for anything else.  For long periods of the day or night they are unused.  I can understand the purpose of reviewing the practice of consuming space for two flowriders especially if the weather in a region or consumer trends don't support the need for two flowriders. 

There are many changes that we expect to see on Wonder including the deck 17/18 space where there is a crown of sorts on the first four Oasis class ships.  It appears this entire area is being reimagined on Wonder.  The market in China appears to enjoy dedicated suite areas that are off limits to non-suite guests.  Spectrum deviates from her sisters in the Quantum class in this regard.  My personal opinion or thoughts lead me to believe the deck 17/18 area on Wonder will be dedicated to suites in the same manner.  However that is speculation on my part.

Oasis first debuted in 2009 so it has a long track record of service.  At the same time Royal has been successful in China partly because they aren't just plunking a westernized ship into this market, they change the ships to satisfy market expectations for this region.  Between the two it is encouraging to see they aren't just creating a cookie cutter copy of her sisters but adapting the ship in the evolution of Oasis class.

Time will tell what changes Wonder will have.  First they'll want to have Odyssey be the focus of marketing hype and consumer excitement so I don't expect we will learn a lot about Wonder until after Odyssey has made her splash into service.  This is especially so since Wonder is expected to head straight to China and be there for some time so there is less reason to hype Wonder in the US media.

Wow, I didn't think of all that. Very iinteresting.

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2 hours ago, Sharla said:

I don't know what that area is but it looks awesome! I'd be ok with it on the other ships too. I agree with @twangster that the flowriders, while awesome, take up a lot of space and are not used all day and night so I like the idea of one. 

Yeah, i think it was really more of a gimmick to have 2 flowriders.

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Ya know, I never gave much thought to amenity and activity differences in ships for different markets. As far as the sports court & mini-golf is concerned, doesn't that green patch look like a mini-golf area on the starboard side? Also it look like a couple of extra holes are on the port side.

Anyone else concerned that the Flow Rider appears to be flowing toward the rear and a little close to the edge? It almost looks like the "less weighty" among us (not me!) could be launched over and into the Aqua Theater!

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@gabeb848 I just spent a few minutes going over the rendering of Wonder of the Seas and if you notice the entire upper floor levels have been completely redesigned.  Look at the floor directly below the pool deck where the flow rider is located, on a US Oasis Class ship there are cabins on deck 16.  But looking at what I'm assuming is deck 16 on Wonder of the Seas it looks more like an upscale restaurant, or upscale gaming or perhaps maybe even shopping, it is hard to say with certainty but there for sure are no cabins where you would traditionally find cabins on other Oasis Class ships.

Also if you look at the full rendering of Wonder of the Seas you will notice another big difference.  You suggested they perhaps remove some crown loft suites I'm thinking just the opposite.  Look at the full picture of the ship instead of there only being one deck with cabins there are now two decks with cabins and both decks appear to be at least two stories high.  Looking at the pictures it looks like the crown lofts will now be located one deck below all Star Class suites on Wonder of the Seas.  Judging from the photos I'm thinking Wonder of the Seas may actually be taller than any US based Oasis Class ship.

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18 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

@gabeb848 I just spent a few minutes going over the rendering of Wonder of the Seas and if you notice the entire upper floor levels have been completely redesigned.  Look at the floor directly below the pool deck where the flow rider is located, on a US Oasis Class ship there are cabins on deck 16.  But looking at what I'm assuming is deck 16 on Wonder of the Seas it looks more like an upscale restaurant, or upscale gaming or perhaps maybe even shopping, it is hard to say with certainty but there for sure are no cabins where you would traditionally find cabins on other Oasis Class ships.

Also if you look at the full rendering of Wonder of the Seas you will notice another big difference.  You suggested they perhaps remove some crown loft suites I'm thinking just the opposite.  Look at the full picture of the ship instead of there only being one deck with cabins there are now two decks with cabins and both decks appear to be at least two stories high.  Looking at the pictures it looks like the crown lofts will now be located one deck below all Star Class suites on Wonder of the Seas. 

Although I agree, I must also disagree on the fact that there are 2 levels of lofts, I think the bottom level of the crown looks only single story. You may be right though, I can't wait for the deck plans to be released.

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20 hours ago, gabeb848 said:

I just realized this, but did anyone else notice that there is only one FlowRider on the upcoming Wonder of the Seas? If so, what are your guys' thoughts about this? What do you think the area seems to be in the previews? A seating area for the Wipeout Bar, a new restaurant perhaps? Also, all of the aft-facing loft suites are gone... including the massive 1,500 square-foot Royal Loft Suite. I Wonder where that is now, maybe they took out some crown lofts? Maybe they aren't even in the crown anymore? I also noticed that the crown has 2 levels now... Finally, where did mini golf and the sports court go?! There are many changes to the newest member of the Oasis class, what are your opinions and observations?

wonderoftheseasaft.jpg

wonderoftheseasforward.webp 594.58 kB · 4 downloads

I just realized that there aren't any solar panels on this ship, either, I wonder if they are just blending in, in a new spot, or just nonexistent.

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@gabeb848 I went back and looked at the photos, how high do you think the ceilings are inside Windjammers market place?  As many times as I've been on an Oasis Class ship I've never actually paid attention to the ceiling height in Windjammers.  How ever tall the ceilings are in Windjammers is how tall the ceilings will be on the lower suites on Wonder of the Seas, because the lower level suites are located where Windjammers is located on all other Oasis Class vessels.  And it would appear Windjammers has be relocated down to deck 16.  But from the pictures either Windjammers is going to be huge or Royal Caribbean will re-locate other venues to the deck 16.

You might be right crown lofts may only be one level on Wonder of the Seas.

The more I look at the renderings the more differences I'm noticing between Wonder and other Oasis Class ships.

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@JasonOasis I'm going tosay 11ft because it seems about as high as my kitchen. I don't usually pay any attention to the ceiling either, i'm usually looking at my plate of way too much food.? This is such a great point though, I wonder if they're expanding to deck 2 for more now, since it's so different. I also keep finding new things every time I look at the animation, it's my wallpaper!

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I've mentioned above how Wonder is being purpose built for China but we also have to realize that all of her sisters in class were purpose built for the Caribbean.  

Everything about Oasis class up to this point has worked well in the Caribbean because these ships were designed for the Caribbean.  While they do send them to Europe when it's time for their mandatory 5 year dry dock these ships aren't designed for Europe.  Most of it works okay in a Mediterranean summer but if they were building these ships to sail year round in the Med you bet there would be a number of differences.  The same can be said for Oasis from New York which hasn't happened yet.

I am looking forward to deck plans finally becoming available to understand the change in suite locations.  On her sister Grand Suites are found on many decks from 6 and above.  Given the general suite amenities found on deck 17 (suite lounge, suite concierge, suite sun deck, suite restaurant Coastal Kitchen) one disadvantage of the current approach is that it leaves the Grand Suite guest disconnected from suite resources.  

As we look at Wonder it appears that suite cabins such as Grand Suites (or Golden Suites as they are called in China) may be located on deck 16 and that is possibly a suite restaurant aft facing in the renderings on deck 16.  A suite outdoor area could possibly be that open air area aft facing on deck 17.  

Up to this point on her sisters in class the aft facing Crown Loft suites always felt unappealing to me because of the proximity to the sports deck.  You can literally hold a conversation with a stranger on the sports deck from them.  The side facing lofted suites were in my mind the proper Crown Loft suites.  

On Wonder the deck 17 suites appear to gain height as you move forward leading me to believe there will still be lofted suites to be had on Wonder.  The forward facing area on deck 17 however appears solid with a few small triangles cut into the face. 

FB_IMG_1570717829097.jpg.b0f9203ac3ba8f6

So many questions will be answered once the deck plans are revealed.

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Construction of Wonder is tracked in a thread over at CC.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2407590-wonder-of-the-seas-blocks-are-in-the-house/

From the first hint at a name and the arrival of blocks in the shipyard through to tidbits of pictures and video put on social media by the workers in the shipyard you can see her develop.

This thread started in 2017 before she was named so it's interesting to see both ship and user interpretation evolve over the years since.

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13 hours ago, twangster said:

Construction of Wonder is tracked in a thread over at CC.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2407590-wonder-of-the-seas-blocks-are-in-the-house/

From the first hint at a name and the arrival of blocks in the shipyard through to tidbits of pictures and video put on social media by the workers in the shipyard you can see her develop.

This thread started in 2017 before she was named so it's interesting to see both ship and user interpretation evolve over the years since.

What about triangles? I got it all until there.

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