Australia/NZ Cruising News

[ScottishRobbie]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 5 + eligible?  

Yep

[mattymay]

[CruisingOz]

I am so upset, and I hope it is an IT glitch. All Radiance of the Seas departing Sydney Australia have been removed and in fact if you search worldwide, Radiance cruises are blocked out for the whole period it was due to sail our waters. I have/had three booked, which I only booked last week. 

[mattymay]

Yep, she's gone!

[CruisingOz]

26 minutes ago, mattymay said:

Yep, she's gone!

I am shattered. Favourite ship, better destinations and had booked using casion credits which will be a nightmare to have them moved. 

You know, looking at the costs of Caribbean cruises, I could fly to the US and cruise for around the same. Looks I am going back. The flights and jet lag is the killer so prefer not to. Maybe next week Royal may surprise us and announce a ship shuffle 

[KWofPerth]

Love Radiance. It's a shame we won't have that class of ship for the foreseeable future. Enchantment in 2023-24 might have to do.

[KWofPerth]

In fact, it's a shame we won't have Voyager class either. Two Quantum class ships seems like overkill.

[mattymay]

Quantum transpacific leaving Brisbane in April 2023 is also missing.

[JasonOasis]

6 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

I am so upset, and I hope it is an IT glitch. All Radiance of the Seas departing Sydney Australia have been removed and in fact if you search worldwide, Radiance cruises are blocked out for the whole period it was due to sail our waters. I have/had three booked, which I only booked last week. 

I hope it is an IT glitch as well, I can't image Royal allowing Radiance of the Seas to sit idle from October 2022 through April 30, 2023. 

[smokeybandit]

They may have taken them off until they get Aussie cruise protocols

[Chili]

I just woke up to this,what’s going on ?

RC Australia website ,looks like Radiance is gone for 22-23 . My cruise planner for Radiance cruises are still there.

 

[F1guynz]

3 hours ago, Chili said:

My cruise planner for Radiance cruises are still there.

 

I have had this in the past and eventually the cruises were cancelled and then they refunded the cruise planner.

At the time when the cruises disappeared I contacted Royal and they said they were doing some changes in the background which ended up being code for cancelling. 

[F1guynz]

17 hours ago, mattymay said:

Did you receive this as an email? We are diamond plus and I haven’t seen anything yet. I was hoping to get a preview before we booked next week.

[mattymay]

14 minutes ago, F1guynz said:

Did you receive this as an email? We are diamond plus and I haven’t seen anything yet. I was hoping to get a preview before we booked next week.

Yes, via email.

[mattymay]

Hawaii to Vancouver still exists.. from which you could assume its still going to be in Australia. Maybe a reshuffle of the Australia itineraries?

 

[Chili]

21 minutes ago, mattymay said:

Hawaii to Vancouver still exists.. from which you could assume its still going to be in Australia. Maybe a reshuffle of the Australia itineraries?

 

The October Hawaii port booking is still there this morning , still no ovation or Quantum.

 There’s a few reports that we can expect emails on Monday. I don’t know how true they are but they are supposed to be advice from agents on Saturday.
 

I still recon Voyager is a possibility.

 

[mattymay]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

The October Hawaii port booking is still there this morning , still no ovation or Quantum.

 There’s a few reports that we can expect emails on Monday. I don’t know how true they are but they are supposed to be advice from agents on Saturday.
 

I still recon Voyager is a possibility.

 

The word on the street is Radiance being redeployed to New Orleans??

Emails to affected guests to be sent Monday 21 March. 

So it's either being replaced or they don't think there is enough demand for 2 ships in Sydney. Which is it?

[Chili]

45 minutes ago, mattymay said:

The word on the street is Radiance being redeployed to New Orleans??

Emails to affected guests to be sent Monday 21 March. 

So it's either being replaced or they don't think there is enough demand for 2 ships in Sydney. Which is it?

Radiance is just about sold out , I don’t think they will be giving refunds.

Giving refunds is against all first rule of business. LOL
It won’t be Navigator.it won’t be Spectrum .

Unless they drop Newcastle and Melbourne it will have to be voyager class or smaller.

[CruisingOz]

6 hours ago, mattymay said:

Did you receive this as an email?

We never received an email and we are also D+. I saw the update on this site and thought to look through as I wanted to book another cruise for my son. I am still shattered if the Radiance is cancelled and not replaced by Serenade or Voyager. As much as Quantum class is nice, they are not our favourite class  

[Chili]

14 hours ago, CruisingOz said:

We never received an email and we are also D+. I saw the update on this site and thought to look through as I wanted to book another cruise for my son. I am still shattered if the Radiance is cancelled and not replaced by Serenade or Voyager. As much as Quantum class is nice, they are not our favourite class 
 

‘Yep I’m not happy.

[ScottishRobbie]

Just got the email. Radiance canceled for 22/23 summer with nothing replacing it. The usual options of L&S to OV/Quantum this summer or the 23-24 sailings released tomorrow, 100% refund or move deposit to another booking.

[Chili]

My agent said there’s no replacement for Radiance.

Royal is hoping to move everyone to next season on enchantment.

[mattymay]

To be fair most of the blame should go to the Australian government for being the worlds slowest at return to cruising.

[Chili]

21 minutes ago, mattymay said:

To be fair most of the blame should go to the Australian government for being the worlds slowest at return to cruising.

I couldn’t agree more.

But the biggest problem is we are used to it and think `she’ll be right mate’

These clowns are power mad and we don’t care.

[Chili]

We had 2 grand suites on radiance to tassie in October and are trying to move the 4 of us into a sky loft on Ovation for a similar cruise.

See how we go???

[Chili]

On 3/16/2022 at 4:55 AM, twangster said:

Is LNG in ample supply down under?  

An LNG ship might be (more) welcome in the sounds of NZ.  

Sydney is going to introduce compulsory shore power like California and ships will have to use low emissions fuel. It will be in 2 years.

So a big shake up for our cruise industry and another sign for Icon.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

Sydney is going to introduce compulsory shore power like California and ships will have to use low emissions fuel. It will be in 2 years.

So a big shake up for our cruise industry and another sign for Icon.

Depends how crazy they go with "low emissions".   Norway's future emissions thresholds excludes LNG ships.  LNG is lower emissions, not zero.  If AU/NZ follow Norway there won't be any cruise ships.  

[JasonOasis]

16 hours ago, mattymay said:

To be fair most of the blame should go to the Australian government for being the worlds slowest at return to cruising.

I 100% agree this is totally the fault of the Australian government.  

And it isn't just Royal who has decided redeploy an Australian ship to the US-Caribbean market.  For now Carnival is only sending one of their usually Sydney based ships back to Sydney this fall the other ship is heading to Jacksonville FL to be deployed to the Caribbean. We will have to wait and see what the 2023-2024 season brings but the Australia government should have made this decision months ago.

[Shanenz84]

All 2023-24 Australian season is now uploaded on RCI site. One interesting one is the "Circle Australia" itinerary is back with Enchantment. Otherwise the usual mix of NZ, South Pacific & Short cruises.

[Chili]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

Depends how crazy they go with "low emissions".   Norway's future emissions thresholds excludes LNG ships.  LNG is lower emissions, not zero.  If AU/NZ follow Norway there won't be any cruise ships.  

We are talking about the ANZ governments,they do a lot of things that are unreasonable.

[mattymay]

Here's what you are missing out for..

[KWofPerth]

[Hey Matty, I'm not sure that helps.]

[mattymay]

2 hours ago, KWofPerth said:

[Hey Matty, I'm not sure that helps.]

so no trip to the States then? I'm considering it. 23/24 release wasn't overly inspiring.

 

Anyone know why Quantum and Ovation can't tender at Isle of Pines and Lifou?

[KWofPerth]

1 hour ago, mattymay said:

so no trip to the States then? I'm considering it. 23/24 release wasn't overly inspiring.

 

Anyone know why Quantum and Ovation can't tender at Isle of Pines and Lifou?

I'm not sure. Are other lines visiting? Is it a covid thing? i.e. the locals don't want to risk it?

[mattymay]

43 minutes ago, KWofPerth said:

I'm not sure. Are other lines visiting? Is it a covid thing? i.e. the locals don't want to risk it?

Enchantment stops there. Just wondering why Q class are confined to Noumea, Vila and Mystery Island.

[RJCruise]

I believe that its a French Gov decision and the Quantum class too big for Isle of Pines and Lifou. Radiance was to go to these two islands in 2023 and from what I remember Voyager was ok there as well.

[KWofPerth]

2 hours ago, RJCruise said:

I believe that its a French Gov decision and the Quantum class too big for Isle of Pines and Lifou. Radiance was to go to these two islands in 2023 and from what I remember Voyager was ok there as well.

Yeah, I've been to those two islands on both Radiance and Explorer.

[twangster]

With the rates of the '24 TP I'm seeing I think I'll stick to TA's.  

[JasonOasis]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

With the rates of the '24 TP I'm seeing I think I'll stick to TA's.  

That 18 night TP 24 cruise on Ovation looks good, but at 18 nights I most certainly would need a suite and your right the prices for a grand suite or higher are pretty high.  

There is nothing wrong with window shopping 

[Shanenz84]

I agree. Not much variety in the South Pacific especially with Quantum or Ovation. There is also Mare island (looks like Enchantment is stopping there) and I believe a few years back there was Luganville in the Vanuatu outer island of Santo as a stop. Interesting that you say about Quantum/Ovation are too big for Isle of Pines & Lifou especially when they are both tender ports. Must be on the amount of passengers.