Australia/NZ Cruising News

[F1guynz]

3 hours ago, Chili said:

I might see you on Brilliance to Kangaroo Island, I haven’t booked it but very close.

Originally when we booked this it was Enchantment, so it was good news when it was changed to Brilliance.

[CruisingOz]

17 hours ago, Chili said:

Anthem is going to Singapore

 

I have heard this too from others. One was directly from a staff member to an individual I know. I though Quantu,m was going in for a service and Anthem will take its spot at Brisbane. 

[CruisingOz]

5 hours ago, F1guynz said:

I might see you on Brilliance to Kangaroo Island

We have booked B2B2B on Brilliance starting the 22nd Oct, 29th Oct & 8th Nov. Love this class of ship 

[CruisingOz]

On 3/1/2023 at 11:51 PM, SteveK said:

Fosters

Hell No!!! Can not drink this regardless of the value

[SteveK]

3 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

Hell No!!! Can not drink this regardless of the value

Didn't matter in the end.. app was wrong... no Fosters on Aussie cruises..

[KWofPerth]

2 hours ago, SteveK said:

Didn't matter in the end.. app was wrong... no Fosters on Aussie cruises..

Phew.

[KWofPerth]

5 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

We have booked B2B2B on Brilliance starting the 22nd Oct, 29th Oct & 8th Nov. Love this class of ship 

Radiance is still my favourite ship. I think my view is strongly influenced by the fact that it was my first cruise and I was child-free 

[F1guynz]

5 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

We have booked B2B2B on Brilliance starting the 22nd Oct, 29th Oct & 8th Nov

We are on the 8th November cruise with you.

Of the classes we have done, Freedom is my favourite, yet to try Oasis through.

Radiance was really great for Alaska and I like Quantum class for the Islands as that is more about the ship than the destination.

 

[F1guynz]

5 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

Anthem is going to Singapore

Singapore should get Ovation we should get Anthem.

Royal need to switch ships around just so we get different shows. Ovation must have been here for 6 years now, and 8 by 2025 as we did the crossing in 2017, too long for one ship.

And on the other end of the spectrum Brilliance only does one season.

I guess there’s a chance one of the ships could be swapped out as happened with Enchantment.

[ScottishRobbie]

On 4/21/2023 at 3:26 PM, CruisingOz said:

We have booked B2B2B on Brilliance starting the 22nd Oct, 29th Oct & 8th Nov. Love this class of ship 

I'll see you on the 29th

[Chili]

Does anyone know if we still get the price drop guarantee in a Australia?

There has been a few changes over the last couple of months and there was that email saying the terms of your contract has changed . 
I was just wondering if anyone knew if there has been a change?

[F1guynz]

I know when we booked at Next Cruise they said we could get a best price guarantee but I am not sure whether that was specific to booking on the ship.

[F1guynz]

I found this on their website which suggests the ability to reprice has ended:

 

[Chili]

23 minutes ago, F1guynz said:

I found this on their website which suggests the ability to reprice has ended:

 

I know about that but it looks a bit out of date.

Everyone got a email about a month back about changes to your contract and conditions and I vaguely remember someone saying it affected booking conditions.

[F1guynz]

This is the original post @Matt wrote regarding the updated T&C in April.

Royal Caribbean updates passenger cruise contract: Covid policies, legal jurisdiction and more | Royal Caribbean Blog

There doesn't appear to be anything related to price drops and I don't recall seeing anything when I originally read the email.

 

 

[Chili]

7 hours ago, F1guynz said:

This is the original post @Matt wrote regarding the updated T&C in April.

Royal Caribbean updates passenger cruise contract: Covid policies, legal jurisdiction and more | Royal Caribbean Blog

There doesn't appear to be anything related to price drops and I don't recall seeing anything when I originally read the email.

 

 

I was just chatting to a couple of people on CC from Australia and they said they just got a price drop match.

So ,by that it’s still a goer.

[F1guynz]

9 hours ago, Chili said:

I was just chatting to a couple of people on CC from Australia and they said they just got a price drop match.

Thats good to know. The main hassle I have is when a category sells out you can't easily see any price drops.

 

[F1guynz]

I can see cruises for Australia/NZ for 2024/25 now.

Book away.

[F1guynz]

I can't see the Singapore to Brisbane crossing but I guess this may come out with Asian sailings later in the year.

 

[F1guynz]

We ended up booking Quantum again for Feb 2025. Originally we were going to book Ovation but Quantum is just so much cheaper for the same itinerary  We have to fly from NZ so it doesn’t really matter to us whether the departure port is Sydney or Brisbane.

[EmersonNZ]

I must agree... I'm over Ovation and Quantum. I found the 24/25 season offering pretty stale and a bit boring. It would ha been nice to see a few Melbourne/Hobart/Adelaide cruises. We ended up booking one of the Hobart/Adelaide Ovation cruises (November).

I personally would prefer to see a Voyager or Freedom class ship down this way (Would love and Oasis… but will settle with… anything but Quantum at this stage). It just feels a bit the same same.

[Mike.s]

We feel the same in the UK re Anthem, same shows, same itineries. Even a different Quantum class ship would be welcome, or change the shows on Anthem.

[CruisingOz]

1 hour ago, EmersonNZ said:

I personally would prefer to see a Voyager or Freedom class

Totally agree. We are only booking one this season, the 14 night NZ on Quantum. We are taking our Royal cruise money and going to spend elsewhere in the world. We are son looking forwar to Brilliance, booked five cruises on her, mainly for the destinations. 

Wish Royal would swap Quantum to Anthem, and then I will certainly be booking.   

[F1guynz]

Maybe we will still get one more ship in 24/25. Once Icon and Utopia come on stream maybe they will rejig where some of their ships are currently and one will end up in Asia somewhere. That may then free up one currently in Asia to come our way. That would explain why there are currently only two ships scheduled for Australia. (Probably just wishful thinking on my part due to the underwhelming release)

The main problem with the large ships is they are too big to visit a lot of ports so you end up with a very limited itinerary. These ports will need to adapt in the future as the ships being built are not getting smaller and ultimately the smaller ships will be gone altogether.

I wonder if Americans feel the same about their itineraries as we do as there must only be so many times you can go to CocoCay before it starts to lose its shine, or does doing the same trips over and over not bother them.

I am waiting to see what comes out in July for the Asia season but if nothing appeals we will do a land based tour next year for a nice change of pace.

[twangster]

Just now, F1guynz said:

Maybe we will still get one more ship in 24/25. Once Icon and Utopia come on stream maybe they will rejig where some of their ships are currently and one will end up in Asia somewhere. That may then free up one currently in Asia to come our way. That would explain why there are currently only two ships scheduled for Australia. (Probably just wishful thinking on my part due to the underwhelming release)

The main problem with the large ships is they are too big to visit a lot of ports so you end up with a very limited itinerary. These ports will need to adapt in the future as the ships being built are not getting smaller and ultimately the smaller ships will be gone altogether.

I wonder if Americans feel the same about their itineraries as we do as there must only be so many times you can go to CocoCay before it starts to lose its shine, or does doing the same trips over and over not bother them.

I am waiting to see what comes out in July for the Asia season but if nothing appeals we will do a land based tour next year for a nice change of pace.

Just before the pandemic I was burned out with the Caribbean.  So I had a cruise calendar full of of other regions.  Then the shutdown.  

Restarting and staying in US waters had a lot of appeal in the early days of the restart so I did, and burned out on the Caribbean again.  

So now I'm booking other regions again.  

I moved to Florida and now I'm flying to most of my cruises.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

We cruise for the ship experience so we really don’t care where we go.  We have a couple of wish list itins but for the most part, we don’t even look at the itin and rarely get off the ship anymore.  We just completed a 10 night sailing on Vision with 6 ports of call.  We never got off the ship once.

[steverk]

57 minutes ago, F1guynz said:

Maybe we will still get one more ship in 24/25. Once Icon and Utopia come on stream maybe they will rejig where some of their ships are currently and one will end up in Asia somewhere. That may then free up one currently in Asia to come our way. That would explain why there are currently only two ships scheduled for Australia. (Probably just wishful thinking on my part due to the underwhelming release)

The main problem with the large ships is they are too big to visit a lot of ports so you end up with a very limited itinerary. These ports will need to adapt in the future as the ships being built are not getting smaller and ultimately the smaller ships will be gone altogether.

I wonder if Americans feel the same about their itineraries as we do as there must only be so many times you can go to CocoCay before it starts to lose its shine, or does doing the same trips over and over not bother them.

I am waiting to see what comes out in July for the Asia season but if nothing appeals we will do a land based tour next year for a nice change of pace.

I can't speak for every American, but I can speak for myself.

I live I  Houston  and sail out of Galveston, a lot. I'm not complaining.  In fact I'm blessed to have such a convenient port. But it does get repetitive.

Now that Liberty has been replaced by Allure, the only option for a 7 night cruise  is Roatan,  Costa Maya and Cozumel.  Or maybe you can mix it up and do Cozumel followed by Roatan, then Costa Maya!

[FionaMG]

7 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

Totally agree. We are only booking one this season, the 14 night NZ on Quantum. We are taking our Royal cruise money and going to spend elsewhere in the world. We are son looking forwar to Brilliance, booked five cruises on her, mainly for the destinations. 

Wish Royal would swap Quantum to Anthem, and then I will certainly be booking.   

Anthem is going to Singapore after her summer 2024 season in Europe. This was confirmed to me by the Captain when I asked on board at Captain's Corner last Sunday. He said he couldn't say any more than that for now so I don't know any dates or if there will be a repo from Europe to Singapore.

[Chili]

The Quantum repo from Singapore to Brisbane is available and the prices are pretty good.

I got a balcony for 2 at $A1900 each 

[Chili]

I looks like they have scrapped the potential new Sydney cruise terminal in Botany Bay .

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/garden-island-best-site-for-cruise-terminal-after-yarra-bay-scuttled-20230526-p5dbi3.html

[twangster]

11 minutes ago, Chili said:

I looks like they have scrapped the potential new Sydney cruise terminal in Botany Bay .

 

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/garden-island-best-site-for-cruise-terminal-after-yarra-bay-scuttled-20230526-p5dbi3.html

It doesn't sound like there is any clear path forward.  Sharing space with the Navy doesn't sound like a great idea either. 

Fear is we will be right where we are right now in several years time with no firms plans in place. 

Better start warming up to Brisbane. 

[Chili]

5 hours ago, twangster said:

It doesn't sound like there is any clear path forward.  Sharing space with the Navy doesn't sound like a great idea either. 

Fear is we will be right where we are right now in several years time with no firms plans in place. 

Better start warming up to Brisbane. 

We can forget about a Oasis class in Sydney for a while. The navy isn’t going to have cruise ships in a secure area.

As for Brisbane hosting an Oasis, it physically can but there’s a few issues with local transport,accommodation and an ugly port.

[ScottishRobbie]

3 hours ago, Chili said:

The navy isn’t going to have cruise ships in a secure area.

Pretty sure around 10 years or so ago Cunard's QM2 always berthed at Garden Island on her Sydney visits, so it's happened before, but agree, I don't see the navy wanting it to happen very often.

[F1guynz]

Due to the lack luster itineraries and new ships down under we have booked to go on Harmony next September instead. Excited to try an Oasis class ship.

[twangster]

13 hours ago, Chili said:

We can forget about a Oasis class in Sydney for a while. The navy isn’t going to have cruise ships in a secure area.

As for Brisbane hosting an Oasis, it physically can but there’s a few issues with local transport,accommodation and an ugly port.

Bayonne is an ugly port.  Port Everglades is an ugly port.  

It doesn't seem like being pretty is a criteria for an Oasis class home port. 

[AlmondFarmer]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Bayonne is an ugly port.  Port Everglades is an ugly port.  

What about all the cute little containers of various colors? I find these very charming. I also find the the noise when set on a chassis to be very soothing. 

[Chili]

On 5/27/2023 at 12:48 PM, F1guynz said:

Due to the lack luster itineraries and new ships down under we have booked to go on Harmony next September instead. Excited to try an Oasis class ship.

Did you have a look at Quantum repo from Singapore? Prices are pretty good 

[Chili]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:45 AM, ScottishRobbie said:

Pretty sure around 10 years or so ago Cunard's QM2 always berthed at Garden Island on her Sydney visits, so it's happened before, but agree, I don't see the navy wanting it to happen very often.

The queen has used Garden island,I think because they are honorary naval ships as they served in the Falklands war.

 I went past there yesterday and it was chock a block with navy ships so I don’t think the navy will be going anywhere.

There was a proposal to build a terminal on the eastern side or the other side of the naval base. That would probably be the only solution as it’s public land.

[F1guynz]

6 hours ago, Chili said:

Did you have a look at Quantum repo from Singapore? Prices are pretty good

I did and would have jumped at the chance but I have a work colleague going to Antartica at that time and we can’t be away at the same time. My wife’s family are doing repo cruise.

as it maybe sometime before we see an Oasis ship down our way decided we will have to go to them.

‘Cruise planner prices are way more expensive than we pay around here.

 

[steverk]

2 hours ago, F1guynz said:

I did and would have jumped at the chance but I have a work colleague going to Antartica at that time and we can’t be away at the same time. My wife’s family are doing repo cruise.

as it maybe sometime before we see an Oasis ship down our way decided we will have to go to them.

‘Cruise planner prices are way more expensive than we pay around here.

 

Perfect day prices jumped dramatically a few months ago.  People here in the USA are all grumbling about it. 

Last year, I stayed in a Thrill waterpark cabana for $599 USD. You can touch it for twice that now.