I spy with my little eye...Navigator from LA edition

[Tcruisin]

I’ve been waiting for Royal to sail out of my home port, so I’m personally excited and can’t wait to book! 
Though I too would be frustrated and scrambling. We are booked on Anthem Dec ‘21 (12 nights) fully paid. The fact that Royal is cancelling cruises in a way that may be best for them and not necessarily due to CDC guidelines is nerve-racking and I wonder should I consider sailing out of LA. Wait I already bought flights to get us to New Jersey in December  

[RoyalLaker]

Exciting times for those who live on the West Coast!

[twangster]

If I lived in California I would start thinking about giving thanks this fall in an all new way.

Turkey on a cruise anyone?

[GlowTheWeird]

13 minutes ago, twangster said:

If I lived in California I would start thinking about giving thanks this fall in an all new way.

Turkey on a cruise anyone?

Already thinking about that . Sounds like a win win to me

[twangster]

Thanksgiving week is a great week to cruise because you don't need to use as many days of PTO. 

It's such a great week to vacation that sometimes you need to ask your boss if you can slip out of work a little early on the Friday before.   

[smokeybandit]

Though if you have to fly to the port, Thanksgiving is an awful time since airfare is so jacked up

[twangster]

9 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Though if you have to fly to the port, Thanksgiving is an awful time since airfare is so jacked up

True, but flying in early, like on the Thursday before and flying home on the Friday after Thanksgiving can not be as busy.  

[cruisellama]

14 minutes ago, twangster said:

True, but flying in early, like on the Thursday before and flying home on the Friday after Thanksgiving can not be as busy.  

We're sailing most Thanksgiving weeks (when we're in business).  That's what we do and its a little more civil.

[AlmondFarmer]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

 

True, but flying in early, like on the Thursday before and flying home on the Friday after Thanksgiving can not be as busy.

Book flights the day they are released. (The tried and true cruise booking strategy) Major airlines are usually 11 months out. 
I have thanksgiving flights this fall which have tripled in price. 

[twangster]

31 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Book flights the day they are released. (The tried and true cruise booking strategy) Major airlines are usually 11 months out. 
I have thanksgiving flights this fall which have tripled in price. 

I was able to book award seats today for 34k miles.  Not bad really.

We'll see once Southwest opens up for this time period.  I may make the switch.    

[AlmondFarmer]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

We'll see once Southwest opens up for this time period.

Southwest is the Ace in the hole airline. 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

Getting excited as we inch closer to April 12th...hoping Navigator sailings get posted earlier in the week and not end of week!!  Funny, I looked at the cruise planner for my November cruise and since I was supposed to be on the Navigator for April 18, 2022...it says my cruise itinerary is LA to Catalina Island to Encenada!!   Now I just hope that April cruise gets moved this week to Freedom and our 12 staterooms (7 JS and 5 Spac Balc) will still be on same deck in close proximity!

[twangster]

40 minutes ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

Getting excited as we inch closer to April 12th...hoping Navigator sailings get posted earlier in the week and not end of week!!  Funny, I looked at the cruise planner for my November cruise and since I was supposed to be on the Navigator for April 18, 2022...it says my cruise itinerary is LA to Catalina Island to Encenada!!   Now I just hope that April cruise gets moved this week to Freedom and our 12 staterooms (7 JS and 5 Spac Balc) will still be on same deck in close proximity!

You are getting a sneak peek into Navigator's future schedule from her new home.

[IRMO12HD]

Possible update -- Cruise Planner for my reservation on Navigator for 29 November - 3 December 2021 (**WAS FLL-Nassau - Coco Cay - FLL) now shows as "Cancelled" but with a new itinerary -- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA - ENSENADA, MEXICO) in the title box.  

[twangster]

1 hour ago, IRMO12HD said:

Possible update -- Cruise Planner for my reservation on Navigator for 29 November - 3 December 2021 (**WAS FLL-Nassau - Coco Cay - FLL) now shows as "Cancelled" but with a new itinerary -- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA - ENSENADA, MEXICO) in the title box.  

Another piece of the puzzle.

[Taznremmy]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

If I lived in California I would start thinking about giving thanks this fall in an all new way.

Turkey on a cruise anyone?

Last year was the first year I haven't been on a cruise ship for T'Day in a long time.

[twangster]

26 minutes ago, Taznremmy said:

Last year was the first year I haven't been on a cruise ship for T'Day in a long time.

Welcome to the message boards!

A turkey dinner where you don't have to cook or clean up?  Sign me up!

[Taznremmy]

44 minutes ago, twangster said:

Welcome to the message boards!

A turkey dinner where you don't have to cook or clean up?  Sign me up!

Thanks!  I'm following everything I can find regarding Navigator coming to Calif.!  See you back on the other boards....

[Cruising With JT]

Ah! These posts are getting me excited! I also hope they release the itineraries earlier in the week versus making us wait until mid-week or end of week. Don't pull a 3/29 again  

I am wondering about how the 3/4/5 day sailings will be setup... will they do them in order? Like first sailing will be 3 nights, then 4 nights, then 5 nights, then 3 nights, 4 nights, 5 nights? Any thoughts on that? I am looking for the 5-nighter, ideally before Thanksgiving assuming they sail at the beginning of November.

[twangster]

57 minutes ago, johnt83 said:

Ah! These posts are getting me excited! I also hope they release the itineraries earlier in the week versus making us wait until mid-week or end of week. Don't pull a 3/29 again  

I am wondering about how the 3/4/5 day sailings will be setup... will they do them in order? Like first sailing will be 3 nights, then 4 nights, then 5 nights, then 3 nights, 4 nights, 5 nights? Any thoughts on that? I am looking for the 5-nighter, ideally before Thanksgiving assuming they sail at the beginning of November.

I would expect 7 night voyages for holidays and other peak times with less frequent 5 night voyages that don't follow a pattern.  I would anticipate she'll mostly follow a 3 /4 rotation. 

 

[Cruising With JT]

16 minutes ago, twangster said:

I would expect 7 night voyages for holidays and other peak times with less frequent 5 night voyages that don't follow a pattern.  I would anticipate she'll mostly follow a 3 /4 rotation. 

 

Thanks twangster. I would be okay with the 4-nighters as well. I think 3 is too short! We'll see what options become available when itineraries are released. Definitely booking/depositing the day they are released though!!

[twangster]

The 3 nighters are to capture the weekend folks who want a quick and easy get away without significant impact to the work week or PTO.  Same as Florida really.  

4 night will depart Mondays

3 night will depart Fridays

Expect 7 nights for things like Thanksgiving, Christmas, NYE, etc.  These will carry a premium as holidays cruises always do.  

[Cruising With JT]

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

The 3 nighters are to capture the weekend folks who want a quick and easy get away without significant impact to the work week or PTO.  Same as Florida really.  

4 night will depart Mondays

3 night will depart Fridays

Expect 7 nights for things like Thanksgiving, Christmas, NYE, etc.  These will carry a premium as holidays cruises always do.  

Sounds good to me. Thinking of doing a 4 or 5-night cruise first followed by a 2-day visit to the happiest place on Earth in November.

[Cruising With JT]

@twangsterLooks like you're spot on with the 3 and 4-night itinerary predictions. I was checking Nav sailing in the Caribbean and all 3-nighters leave on Fridays and 4-nighters on Mondays. I so wish I lived in South Florida or LA... nothing like getting off of work early on a Friday and sailing away on a ship for a few nights before returning Monday morning and back to work...that's the life... one day... I am up here in Seattle and we've only been lucky once with a 3-nighter back in September 2018 on Explorer of the Seas. Left Friday, day at sea and Victoria and came back Monday morning... miss it and wish they did it more often up here in the Pacific Northwest.

[emmef]

15 hours ago, twangster said:

If I lived in California I would start thinking about giving thanks this fall in an all new way.

Turkey on a cruise anyone?

Cruised on Thanksgiving 3 years ago. Good fun! delicious meals.

[twangster]

sea-distances.org suggests the times below based on an average speed of 15 knots.  If she leaves Miami on Oct. 15:

Way 1: Oct. 26 
Way 2: Nov. 19 
Way 3: Nov. 19 

Way #1

Distance	4151 nautical miles VIA Panama Canal
Vessel speed	15 knots
Time	11 days 13 hours

Way #2

Distance	12536 nautical miles VIA Strait of Magellan
Vessel speed	15 knots
Time	34 days 20 hours

Way #3

Distance	12704 nautical miles VIA Cape Horn
Vessel speed	15 knots
Time	35 days 07 hours

 

Wanna place a bet?

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

9 hours ago, johnt83 said:

Thanks twangster. I would be okay with the 4-nighters as well. I think 3 is too short! We'll see what options become available when itineraries are released. Definitely booking/depositing the day they are released though!!

Totally agree with   !!!!!

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

On 4/7/2021 at 1:04 AM, RoyalLaker said:

Exciting times for those who live on the West Coast!

...and even for those who live on the East Coast!!   

[RoyalLaker]

4 hours ago, twangster said:

sea-distances.org suggests the times below based on an average speed of 15 knots.  If she leaves Miami on Oct. 15:

Way 1: Oct. 26 
Way 2: Nov. 19 
Way 3: Nov. 19 

Way #1

Distance	4151 nautical miles VIA Panama Canal
Vessel speed	15 knots
Time	11 days 13 hours

Way #2

Distance	12536 nautical miles VIA Strait of Magellan
Vessel speed	15 knots
Time	34 days 20 hours

Way #3

Distance	12704 nautical miles VIA Cape Horn
Vessel speed	15 knots
Time	35 days 07 hours

 

Wanna place a bet?

Before POLA took down their schedule they where showing a late October arrival NOS. Any new info on dry dock when and where?

[LifesEz]

I love all the Florida and East Coasters who say they would prefer NOS 7-Nights from LA because 3 and 4 nighters seem too short for a plane trip that far. Now they know how we West Coasters think.
NOS 3 and 4 Like in Miami will get the LA locals, but 7-Nights or more will draw even the Rockies to LA.
Denver and Salt Lake are major airports with Non-Stops to LAX. Much preferred to Long Beach (LGB) for Carnival.
I will so welcome RCL to SoCal. Not just because it gives us a local option, but because it gives us a local option of the best cruise line. 

[twangster]

2 hours ago, RoyalLaker said:

Before POLA took down their schedule they where showing a late October arrival NOS. Any new info on dry dock when and where?

No new info but there is verbiage in the CARB regulations that allows ships to port without shore power on limited basis and more verbiage surrounding "Vessel Incidents Events" in reference to not using shore power and VIEs have an angle that includes events as a percentage of events from the previous year.  

Then I found a reference to a proposed rule in 2019 that would waive the requirement until 2023 for a ship that had never visited CA in the past but it's not clear if that proposed rule was adopted in full or in part.

Suffice it to say there are a lot of nuances to CARB (and shore power) beyond the simplified "rules" that get tossed around on internet forums.   

It's not clear to me they need to dry dock before reaching CA and there may have been motivation in the nuances of CARB to arrive late in 2021 and start the 2022 season before dry docking.  

I suspect just before releasing Navigator a few weeks ago they were able to get some clarity to the rules and based on that new wisdom they were able to optimize the deployment to take advantage of some 2021 holiday cruises that always have a premium price. 

[Cruising With JT]

Luckily for me the flight to LA is only 2 hours (from Seattle)... much better than flying across country but we have to do that for other ships such as Symphony and Oasis that we have booked... this likely won't be the only time we do Navigator out of LA... I am sort of tempted to do the b2b for the first time.... 3-night followed by 4-night...followed by Disneyland... not sure if wife will be OK with that but yeah 4 days is so short! I am likely not getting off at any of the ports...

[RoyalLaker]

8 hours ago, twangster said:

No new info but there is verbiage in the CARB regulations that allows ships to port without shore power on limited basis and more verbiage surrounding "Vessel Incidents Events" in reference to not using shore power and VIEs have an angle that includes events as a percentage of events from the previous year.  

Then I found a reference to a proposed rule in 2019 that would waive the requirement until 2023 for a ship that had never visited CA in the past but it's not clear if that proposed rule was adopted in full or in part.

Suffice it to say there are a lot of nuances to CARB (and shore power) beyond the simplified "rules" that get tossed around on internet forums.   

It's not clear to me they need to dry dock before reaching CA and there may have been motivation in the nuances of CARB to arrive late in 2021 and start the 2022 season before dry docking.  

I suspect just before releasing Navigator a few weeks ago they were able to get some clarity to the rules and based on that new wisdom they were able to optimize the deployment to take advantage of some 2021 holiday cruises that always have a premium price. 

I'm little surprised at the proposed rule, i'll have to look into that. Nuances? I think you are too kind in choice of words.  I know the port and city have approved rebates programs to entice cruise lines back. 

56 minutes ago, johnt83 said:

Luckily for me the flight to LA is only 2 hours (from Seattle)... much better than flying across country but we have to do that for other ships such as Symphony and Oasis that we have booked... this likely won't be the only time we do Navigator out of LA... I am sort of tempted to do the b2b for the first time.... 3-night followed by 4-night...followed by Disneyland... not sure if wife will be OK with that but yeah 4 days is so short! I am likely not getting off at any of the ports...

I would recommend looking into a direct to Long Beach. 

[JasonOasis]

12 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I'm from the Upper Midwest, so I fly no matter what.  The difference is, while there are 3-4 nighters from Miami as well, there are also OTHER choices of longer sailings out of the East Coast to choose from.  Not so on the West Coast if  you want to stick to Royal Caribbean.

I'm hoping that this goes well for them and they expand their offerings on the West Coast in the future.

I'm from the Midwest as well and your right we have to fly no matter what.  But you should let the fact that most cruise will be 3 or 4 nighters serve as a deterrent.  If you're looking for a 7 night cruise then why not simply combine the 3 and 4 nighter, that is what I intend to do.  I've been waiting for Royal to return to LA and I refuse to sail on Carnival I'm not about to let the fact that most cruises are 3 or 4 nights stop me from booking I'm simply going to book a B2B.  

 

Hopefully later this decade Royal will consider home-porting  another ship in LA that will do longer cruises down the Baja Peninsula and offer more Panama Canal options, but for now I'll take what I can get and create my own 7 night cruise.  

[twangster]

There are limited ports and multiple cruise lines competing for slots so it's not so simple as Royal doing exactly what it wants to do but having to adapt to what is possible. 

What we know so far:

3 night - Ensenada

4 night - Catalina and Ensenada 

5 night - Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada

7 night - Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta

So basically similar to other lines for the same reasons.  There is only so much that is possible from this part of California while keeping the cruises aimed at the target market. 

I think we'll see more 5 night itineraries begin to cycle into the rotation into and beyond the summer of 2022.  

The 3 /4 rotation is the bread and butter of the short cruise market because it captures the crowd that is looking for a weekend getaway.  Keep in mind roughly 50% on any given sailing tend to be new to cruise so the 3 / 4 satisfies this market segment as new guests test cruising to see if they like it.  

[Matt]

New week, new countdown until Navigator goes on sale from LA!

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

Just wondering how high we will count before the sale shows up!!!!  1...2...3...4...5...   Can't wait!!!!

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

There are limited ports and multiple cruise lines competing for slots so it's not so simple as Royal doing exactly what it wants to do but having to adapt to what is possible. 

What we know so far:

3 night - Ensenada

4 night - Catalina and Ensenada 

5 night - Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada

7 night - Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta

I think we'll see more 5 night itineraries begin to cycle into the rotation into and beyond the summer of 2022.  

 

I like the 4 night and 5 night "supposed" itineraries.   Hoping to find the perfect one to coincide with my trip out to Tucson next November for a wedding.  Might as well spend as much time out West before heading back East!!

[Tcruisin]

3 hours ago, JasonOasis said:

I'm from the Midwest as well and your right we have to fly no matter what.  But you should let the fact that most cruise will be 3 or 4 nighters serve as a deterrent.  If you're looking for a 7 night cruise then why not simply combine the 3 and 4 nighter, that is what I intend to do.  I've been waiting for Royal to return to LA and I refuse to sail on Carnival I'm not about to let the fact that most cruises are 3 or 4 nights stop me from booking I'm simply going to book a B2B.  

 

Hopefully later this decade Royal will consider home-porting  another ship in LA that will do longer cruises down the Baja Peninsula and offer more Panama Canal options, but for now I'll take what I can get and create my own 7 night cruise.  

I hope it takes less than a decade for Royal to bring another ship or 2 to CA. I’ve had to fly to Florida for all but 1 and was happy to do 4 nt cruises which gave us the opportunity to sightsee for the remainder of the the trip. Though I’m excited now by the idea of being able to have my 1st B2B!  

[Cruising With JT]

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Because 3 and 4 nighters don't take us anywhere we want to go  

100%. For myself and many others I am sure, where we want to go is ON the Navigator of the Seas It can have 4 days at sea and I'd be okay with that lol!