Australia/NZ Cruising News

[mattymay]

Slight re-arrangement for Quantum after the Ovation cancellation by the looks of it..

A one way to Sydney, then 21 day Transpacific available to book.

 

 

[steverk]

I saw this in Christchurch this morning.  Should I be worried?

[Chili]

It looks like Virgin is going to greener pastures , wouldn’t it be good if we got another ship in Sydney coming season.

 

 

[Doug_Texas]

Probably old news for AUS cruisers but our captain on Independance last week said if you want to sail from the Sydney port under the bridge you might want to do that soon because RCL won't be sailing from there long term.

[F1guynz]

2 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

sail from the Sydney port under the bridge

Royal ships do not sail under the harbour bridge as there is not enough clearance underneath.

There is another pier on the other side but it is limited to a few vessels which is why there is such a premium on Circular Quay port bookings.

[Chili]

2 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

Probably old news for AUS cruisers but our captain on Independance last week said if you want to sail from the Sydney port under the bridge you might want to do that soon because RCL won't be sailing from there long term.

Maybe he was trying to sell the harbour bridge to you,no royal ships have ever been able to fit under the bridge.

Theres talk of another cruise port being developed a hour to the south called Port Kembla .Maybe that’s what he was referring to ?

[EnSeven]

Maybe they meant "the port under the bridge", which it kind of is next to, and from certain angles can look like it's under 

Also, how sad for passengers excited to cruise to Sydney and they'll be dumped in....Port Kembla 

[mattymay]

18 hours ago, Chili said:

It looks like Virgin is going to greener pastures , wouldn’t it be good if we got another ship in Sydney coming season.

That's the new itinerary just released to bypass the Suez. Maybe they are thinking it's not worth bringing it back around Africa in 6 months?

They were switching it over for Valiant Lady the year after, so will be interesting to see what happens with that ship rather than Resilient Lady as it was leaving anyways.

 

[mattymay]

3 hours ago, Chili said:

Maybe he was trying to sell the harbour bridge to you,no royal ships have ever been able to fit under the bridge.

Theres talk of another cruise port being developed a hour to the south called Port Kembla .Maybe that’s what he was referring to ?

The only way there would be no RCL Quantum class sailing out of Sydney harbour is if something bigger were coming that couldn't fit there. 

3 Icon and 6 Oasis in the next few years, it's getting a bit top heavy in the northern hemisphere lol. You never know I guess!

[Chili]

2 hours ago, mattymay said:

The only way there would be no RCL Quantum class sailing out of Sydney harbour is if something bigger were coming that couldn't fit there. 

3 Icon and 6 Oasis in the next few years, it's getting a bit top heavy in the northern hemisphere lol. You never know I guess!

Maybe Allure ? It’s going in for pretty big refit early next year. Almost 2 months worth I read somewhere.
They might convert it to duel fuel ,Apparently we are making marine methanol here soon.

[Jamesszy94]

5 hours ago, Chili said:

Maybe Allure ? It’s going in for pretty big refit early next year. Almost 2 months worth I read somewhere.
They might convert it to duel fuel ,Apparently we are making marine methanol here soon.

I've always said they should give us Allure!!

Maybe the dry dock will remove the plants in the Royal Promenade! 

[Jamesszy94]

8 hours ago, mattymay said:

The only way there would be no RCL Quantum class sailing out of Sydney harbour is if something bigger were coming that couldn't fit there. 

3 Icon and 6 Oasis in the next few years, it's getting a bit top heavy in the northern hemisphere lol. You never know I guess!

But which port would Icon/Oasis homeport in? The OPT isn't exactly suited to host an Icon/Oasis sized ship... and White Bay is almost impossible lol

[Jamesszy94]

8 hours ago, mattymay said:

The only way there would be no RCL Quantum class sailing out of Sydney harbour is if something bigger were coming that couldn't fit there. 

3 Icon and 6 Oasis in the next few years, it's getting a bit top heavy in the northern hemisphere lol. You never know I guess!

Either that or they're sending us Voyager and possibly a Radiance class... OR they're designing one of the "Discovery" class just for Australia market.. I guess we'll see in 2 months when Royal release their deployment!

[F1guynz]

I don’t think we will see an Oasis class ship in the foreseeable future due to the number of tender ports which severely limit where it could go.

[Mike.s]

9 hours ago, mattymay said:

3 Icon and 6 Oasis in the next few years, it's getting a bit top heavy in the northern hemisphere lol. You never know I guess!

It's getting top heavy in the Caribbean, Royal seems to be reducing the number of ships in Europe sadly.

[Jamesszy94]

46 minutes ago, F1guynz said:

I don’t think we will see an Oasis class ship in the foreseeable future due to the number of tender ports which severely limit where it could go.

You never know! Stranger things have happened. 

[mattymay]

Well there are OPT port bookings for 25/26, so hypothetically even if the captain of Independence was correct, he's talking at least 26/27 season. I'm sure lots can change in 3 years.

[Jamesszy94]

47 minutes ago, mattymay said:

Well there are OPT port bookings for 25/26, so hypothetically even if the captain of Independence was correct, he's talking at least 26/27 season. I'm sure lots can change in 3 years.

Yeah, that's like still a long time, let's just focus on the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 season first!

Here's hoping once Allure's finished getting her amp, they send her down to Australia! I guess everyone should sail Ovation/Quantum? one last time before she inevitably leaves the Australian market for good.

[F1guynz]

Harr Travel cruise news is saying that Anthem is likely to go to to the West Coast in 25/26 and Allure is likely to sail from Florida or Galveston after the amplification.

[Chili]

2 hours ago, F1guynz said:

Harr Travel cruise news is saying that Anthem is likely to go to to the West Coast in 25/26 and Allure is likely to sail from Florida or Galveston after the amplification.

I just watched that Carl , Sydney cruise schedule has removed Anthem and has now got    Unknown vessel— Royal Caribbean.

Allure to Galveston? You would think they are are full of the big ships and would give us one.

We might get Navigator !!!  Are you ready for a repo from Hell . A . to Sydney.

[Doug_Texas]

4 hours ago, Chili said:

I just watched that Carl , Sydney cruise schedule has removed Anthem and has now got    Unknown vessel— Royal Caribbean.

Allure to Galveston? You would think they are are full of the big ships and would give us one.

We might get Navigator !!!  Are you ready for a repo from Hell . A . to Sydney.

Galveston has Harmony for 7+ night cruises.  Don’t see a 2nd Oasis class here.  The new RCL terminal in Galveston is large and stunning.  I could see getting an Icon class in 3 years once all three ships launch.  Problem with that is lack of decent ports to visit.

[mattymay]

10 hours ago, Chili said:

Sydney cruise schedule has removed Anthem and has now got    Unknown vessel— Royal Caribbean.

Did it ever say Anthem? I've only ever seen it say unnamed vessel for 25/26 so far.

[Chili]

22 minutes ago, mattymay said:

Did it ever say Anthem? I've only ever seen it say unnamed vessel for 25/26 so far.

I believe it did , I’m not quite sure ,things are constantly changing and it’s hard to keep track.  Tahiti still has Anthem ,Hawaii doesn’t go that far.

Voyeger has still got the bookings in Brisbane for 25-26 season and it’s still got the Darwin repositioning booking .

[Jamesszy94]

On 2/12/2024 at 9:00 PM, Chili said:

I just watched that Carl , Sydney cruise schedule has removed Anthem and has now got    Unknown vessel— Royal Caribbean.

Allure to Galveston? You would think they are are full of the big ships and would give us one.

We might get Navigator !!!  Are you ready for a repo from Hell . A . to Sydney.

Maybe they'll send us Utopia  (Last minute changes are always possible!) As long as we get a new class of ship or something different that isn't a QN class, I'll be happy.

I do hope that we get more exotic/different destinations. South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand cruises are starting to get boring, there's only so many times you can visit those ports. 

But then again... people visit PDCC many times...

 

[F1guynz]

7 minutes ago, Jamesszy94 said:

new class of ship

My favourite so far is freedom class but we are on Harmony in September so is subject to change.

[Jamesszy94]

23 hours ago, F1guynz said:

My favourite so far is freedom class but we are on Harmony in September so is subject to change.

I've only been on QN... well because we've only had QN here in Australia (since I started cruising)...and I didn't start cruising till I was 22... and also because I missed Voyager the first time she was here. I would love to try another class of ship - I'm just not willing to pay thousands of dollars to fly

[F1guynz]

1 hour ago, Jamesszy94 said:

I would love to try another class of ship

Voyager is great, we were on her for the last cruise before Covid caused the shutdown.

i like Freedom class, mainly because it is just a bigger version of Voyager.

our first Royal cruise was on Radiance in Alaska where that type of ship fits the itinerary perfectly but now I find too small for cruising in Australia. Having said that we sailed on Brilliance back in November and had a great time, partly because the itinerary was a bit different but I missed the bigger ship features.

[Jamesszy94]

Oasis7 for Australia!?! 

[ScottishRobbie]

3 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

Oasis7 for Australia!?! 

Forget it. As much as I'd love to see it, it's not happening any time in the next decade. Oasis class are too big for Circular Quay so can't homeport there. They currently struggle to fill Quantum out of Brisbane, so there's no sense in upgrading to an Oasis Class there. And even if they did, where will it sail to? Quantum almost exclusively sails to the South Pacific and the Great Barrier Reef. On those runs all ports except Noumea are tender ports. In 14 years of sailings, Oasis class haven't tendered, so I doubt they'll start now.

[steverk]

I just finished my Sydney to Auckland cruise on Celebrity and had a wonderful time! For anyone from America is considering a similar cruise, I'm going to give a quick lessons learned.

1. Both Australia and New Zealand are beautiful countries with fun,  clean and safe cities. Both have extensive natural areas that are worth seeing.  Both are proud of their heritage and their native populations. Be sure to spend extra time there

2. Most places will take your credit card without issue. That's more true in Australia than New Zealand,  but you don't need a ton of local currency. 

3. I didn't see very many currency exchanges,  so bring some local currency with you.

4. People in both countries are very friendly and helpful.

5. Most of the New Zealand ports are industrial ports and require a shuttle bus to go ashore. On my itinerary the ones that required a shuttle were Dunedin, Wellington,  Napier and Christchurch.  Auckland, Bay of Islands and Tauranga did not require a shuttle.  On my cruise, the shuttle cost $10USD.

6. Do your research ahead of time.  Lots of stuff to do in each port, but you don't want to just wing it.

7. The plugs in Australia  and New Zealand are different than any other country I've ever experienced, but they are compatible with each other. Be sure to get the proper converters before coming on the trip.

I hope this helps someone.

To all the Aussies and Kiwis,  thanks for the great time!

[Jamesszy94]

14 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

Forget it. As much as I'd love to see it, it's not happening any time in the next decade. Oasis class are too big for Circular Quay so can't homeport there. They currently struggle to fill Quantum out of Brisbane, so there's no sense in upgrading to an Oasis Class there. And even if they did, where will it sail to? Quantum almost exclusively sails to the South Pacific and the Great Barrier Reef. On those runs all ports except Noumea are tender ports. In 14 years of sailings, Oasis class haven't tendered, so I doubt they'll start now.

I feel like the reason they struggle to fill Quantum is because of the itineraries and the fact that Sydney already has Ovation. If they gave Brisbane an Oasis-class that went to different destinations, I could see people being willing to sail out of Brisbane more + it would be the closest Oasis to many of the Asia-Pacific countries, like China, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore etc. I'm sure they'd be able to fill up an Oasis-class if they really wanted to.

[ScottishRobbie]

57 minutes ago, Jamesszy94 said:

I feel like the reason they struggle to fill Quantum is because of the itineraries and the fact that Sydney already has Ovation. If they gave Brisbane an Oasis-class that went to different destinations, I could see people being willing to sail out of Brisbane more + it would be the closest Oasis to many of the Asia-Pacific countries, like China, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore etc. I'm sure they'd be able to fill up an Oasis-class if they really wanted to.

Personally, I think the struggle with Quantum bookings is because not as many people want to sail from Brisbane. Especially international visitors, they would rather have sail away from the beautiful Sydney Harbour as opposed to Brisbane port, which is in the middle of nowhere and right beside a cargo port and a sewage plant.

[Chili]

16 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

Forget it. As much as I'd love to see it, it's not happening any time in the next decade. Oasis class are too big for Circular Quay so can't homeport there. They currently struggle to fill Quantum out of Brisbane, so there's no sense in upgrading to an Oasis Class there. And even if they did, where will it sail to? Quantum almost exclusively sails to the South Pacific and the Great Barrier Reef. On those runs all ports except Noumea are tender ports. In 14 years of sailings, Oasis class haven't tendered, so I doubt they'll start now.

It’s possible for Sydney to host a Oasis but probably not just yet.

From what I believe OPT can physically host a Oasis but if the terminal can process the passengers is the question.

I have offered wondered why inter cruise have so many staff lately ,Every 20 feet there’s someone guiding you through.

They have boarding time down to 15-20 minutes. Maybe they are getting ready for something big.

[F1guynz]

2 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

sail from Brisbane

As we have to fly it is usually Quantum for us as it is cheaper than Ovation. So much so we have booked the Royal Loft Suite again next year and now as we have sailed most itineraries it is about relaxing on the ship.

We do sail from Sydney if the itinerary is right for us, the last being Brilliance to Kangaroo Island and Adelaide.

[Jamesszy94]

4 hours ago, Chili said:

It’s possible for Sydney to host a Oasis but probably not just yet.

From what I believe OPT can physically host a Oasis but if the terminal can process the passengers is the question.

I have offered wondered why inter cruise have so many staff lately ,Every 20 feet there’s someone guiding you through.

They have boarding time down to 15-20 minutes. Maybe they are getting ready for something big.

They're probably trialling how long they can get boarding times down to. AFAIK I was under the impression that an Oasis-sized ship would fit into the OPT, Ovation isn't that much smaller length wise than Allure, Allure is 362m, Ovation is 348m, and Allure has two more decks than Ovation does. Ovation is pretty big already, so I think Oasis could definitely fit, but like you said, the question is whether OPT can process passengers fast enough.

[Jamesszy94]

5 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

Personally, I think the struggle with Quantum bookings is because not as many people want to sail from Brisbane. Especially international visitors, they would rather have sail away from the beautiful Sydney Harbour as opposed to Brisbane port, which is in the middle of nowhere and right beside a cargo port and a sewage plant.

You're right about not many people wanting to sail from Brisbane - why would you want to sail from Brisbane if the ports are the same as Ovation and you could sail out of Sydney Harbour, which is 10x more beautiful. Which is what I'm saying, if they want to homeport a ship in Brisbane, they need to change up the itineraries and not have it be the same as the Ovation ones, otherwise, there's no incentive to sail from Brisbane.

[Chili]

37 minutes ago, Jamesszy94 said:

They're probably trialling how long they can get boarding times down to. AFAIK I was under the impression that an Oasis-sized ship would fit into the OPT, Ovation isn't that much smaller length wise than Allure, Allure is 362m, Ovation is 348m, and Allure has two more decks than Ovation does. Ovation is pretty big already, so I think Oasis could definitely fit, but like you said, the question is whether OPT can process passengers fast enough.

There’s a fellow on Cruise critic ANZ forum that works at Circular quay .he was told the terminal was upgraded to take the next generation cruise ship like Oasis.

Sydney port authority has on their website the birth box ( that’s the parking spot on the bottom of the harbour) was enlarged to take a ship that size . Plus the dock is long enough with 50 tonne bollards.

The only technical problem was a no go zone around a ship that size as it would protruded out into circular quay. Because that would stop Sydney ferries passing and doing their job.

The N.S.W government legislated an exemption to the law for Sydney ferries a couple of years ago so they could pass closer that 50 meters.

So I reckon it’s possible we could get a Oasis one day in Sydney.

[twangster]

The biggest issue I have with the OPT is that the waiting area for boarding is outside, in the sun, or possibly in the rain.  As ships grow in size this issue scales proportionally with more time spent in the outdoor waiting area as ships increase in size.

Terminals in less desirable areas can work.  Bayonne and Fort Lauderdale are prime examples and both handle Oasis class.  Even Miami isn't an intersting port isolated out there on Dodge Island without any shops, bars or restaurants.  The lack of an abundance of international direct flights is an issue for Brisbane, the industrial nature of the port in Brisbane less so.  

I now find myself on the Quantum TP leaving Sydney in 2025 (moved from Ovation).  I was tempted to book the preceding 2 night repo cruise from Brisbane to Sydney but Brisbane is a pain to get to.  So instead I'm probably going to just do the TP and lose the South Pacific cruise before that I had booked on Ovation.  

Brisbane port being less scenic than Sydney isn't a factor for me. Getting to Brisbane is.

[Chili]

Los Angeles  has updated their port schedule and is showing both Navigator and Quantum over Christmas 2025 .

Do you think they will drop Navigator and send it to Brisbane?

 

 

https://artifacts.portsamerica.com//wbct/pdf/2025-la-schedule.pdf

[mattymay]

Not sure, however I think that pretty much confirms that Anthem will be in Sydney.