Australia/NZ Cruising News

[mattymay]

From P&O for Feb sailing.. 

[Barrybigballs]

That's not good.

We're meant to be sailing on Quantum on 1 November on a South Pacific cruise from Brisbane but Vanuatu looks like it will be closed. The news from P&O also indicates that most alternative ports aren't available.

Any ideas on what those days could be replaced with?

We don't fancy having 7 days at sea on a 8 night cruise.

[khas]

The South Pacific as a cruising destination has died by the sounds of it. 

[Chili]

2 hours ago, Barrybigballs said:

That's not good.

We're meant to be sailing on Quantum on 1 November on a South Pacific cruise from Brisbane but Vanuatu looks like it will be closed. The news from P&O also indicates that most alternative ports aren't available.

Any ideas on what those days could be replaced with?

We don't fancy having 7 days at sea on a 8 night cruise.

Could be a overnight in noumea or Vila.

Queens Lang coastal is another possibility.

[KWofPerth]

On 9/30/2022 at 8:32 AM, mattymay said:

From P&O for Feb sailing.. 

Well that's a shame. NC and Lifou still open for business:

 

Bienvenue! P&O Cruises makes history as first ship to return to New Caledonia - Cruise Passenger

[khas]

Has anyone else been having problems trying to book quantum sailings? I’ve been trying to book for a couple of days now and keep getting the same error message. 

Interestingly, it works when trying to book on US site, it’s only the AUS site that this comes up. 

[Big Tule]

try going through the crown and anchor site

[Chili]

I was told before the shutdown regular cruisers could go on a standby list or a last minute wait list for cruises that are undersold .
 

Has anyone had experience with that ?

And how would you do it ?

[Matt]

18 hours ago, Chili said:

I was told before the shutdown regular cruisers could go on a standby list or a last minute wait list for cruises that are undersold .
 

Has anyone had experience with that ?

And how would you do it ?

Never heard of such a thing 

[twangster]

22 hours ago, Chili said:

I was told before the shutdown regular cruisers could go on a standby list or a last minute wait list for cruises that are undersold .
 

Has anyone had experience with that ?

And how would you do it ?

During the restart at one point someone suggested on a travel agent call they might call people known to be vaccinated to book them at the last minute to pad the vaccinated numbers on board but I never heard they actually followed through and did it.  Early on during the restart there were a lot of assumptions made that got cleared up once more rules were announced up here by the CDC.  I think this concept quickly died once everyone had to be vaccinated.  

[Chili]

How about rephrasing it  ,a willing to sail list ?

I just heard rumour about 3-4 years ago , I thought someone could confirm it.

Before Royal up my agent would call and say I have the rep on the phone.Are you interested in a paid upgrade? Any of you friends interested in the cruise?

[Chili]

Has Royal gazumped P&O / Carnival?

https://www.dailypost.vu/news/return-of-international-cruising-next-month/article_740961ff-d50b-5c95-af53-b18e3f5b2ea1.html

[KWofPerth]

I saw this article just now. I'm only posting it because of this hilarious statement:

“I would love to bring the Prima class to Sydney. But, we obviously have huge limitations in Sydney. If we could convince the government to build another port or raise the bridge, then we would love to home port a ship in Sydney.

Norwegian wants to bring Prima to Sydney and demands action on a new port - Cruise Passenger

[Chili]

4 hours ago, KWofPerth said:

I saw this article just now. I'm only posting it because of this hilarious statement:

“I would love to bring the Prima class to Sydney. But, we obviously have huge limitations in Sydney. If we could convince the government to build another port or raise the bridge, then we would love to home port a ship in Sydney.

Norwegian wants to bring Prima to Sydney and demands action on a new port - Cruise Passenger

I can’t see a new cruise terminal happening in the current financial climate for a long time unless they pass the hat around.
They can use Hayes dock in port botany but that would be complicated.

[mattymay]

is the new Brisbane port a failure? Everyone still trying to pack into Sydney, some even going to Melbourne before Brisbane (ie. Virgin Resilient Lady, Disney Wonder). And now possibly NCL with Prima if they can't get into Sydney. 

 

[F1guynz]

I have recently received the latest healthy sale guidelines for our October cruise.

Requirements for entry into New Zealand seem a bit confusing to me:

The NZ Government website states:

When Royal says "all guests as required by the NZ Government" I interpret that to mean Australians and Kiwis do not need one as the NZ Government does not require it.

I will contact Royal Caribbean directly to be sure but wondered what is your read of the statement is.

 

[mattymay]

47 minutes ago, F1guynz said:

I will contact Royal Caribbean directly to be sure but wondered what is your read of the statement is.

 

I would say this is meant for non-Australian / New Zealand residents.

 

The website doesn't make use of the word 'all' 

[Chili]

1 hour ago, F1guynz said:

I have recently received the latest healthy sale guidelines for our October cruise.

Requirements for entry into New Zealand seem a bit confusing to me:

The NZ Government website states:

When Royal says "all guests as required by the NZ Government" I interpret that to mean Australians and Kiwis do not need one as the NZ Government does not require it.

I will contact Royal Caribbean directly to be sure but wondered what is your read of the statement is.

 

What I’m wondering is if you have to have a resent vaccination.

 I have had 3 shots but the last was in December and I don’t really want to get another.

Am I fully vaccinated???

[Chili]

1 hour ago, mattymay said:

is the new Brisbane port a failure? Everyone still trying to pack into Sydney, some even going to Melbourne before Brisbane (ie. Virgin Resilient Lady, Disney Wonder). And now possibly NCL with Prima if they can't get into Sydney. 

 

Quantum was only about half full for the trans pacific.

There were  suites available a couple of days ago. I think that says it all.

[mattymay]

24 minutes ago, Chili said:

What I’m wondering is if you have to have a resent vaccination.

 I have had 3 shots but the last was in December and I don’t really want to get another.

Am I fully vaccinated???

Yes, the rules will be the same as what they are now for P&O, Princess, etc.. 

They have just sent out an update this morning 

 

If it's anything like P&O barding process from OPT, they wont even check.

[F1guynz]

18 minutes ago, Chili said:

Am I fully vaccinated???

Looks like you are.

 

[F1guynz]

I was considering a Royal Up offer on our October cruise as there are 4 suites available but the minimum bids are more than I am willing to pay.

[khas]

On 10/13/2022 at 9:18 AM, Chili said:

Quantum was only about half full for the trans pacific.

There were  suites available a couple of days ago. I think that says it all.

The start to the season isn’t going so well for royal either. First quantum leaving Brisbane is having 2 stops in noumea instead of Vila and mystery island and there have been a lot of unhappy guests cancelling and trying to reschedule. Still suites available on this sailing too.

[Chili]

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/royal-caribbean-reveals-five-stage-plan-for-regions-first-ever-private-resort-for-cruise-passengers/

[Chili]

1 hour ago, khas said:

The start to the season isn’t going so well for royal either. First quantum leaving Brisbane is having 2 stops in noumea instead of Vila and mystery island and there have been a lot of unhappy guests cancelling and trying to reschedule. Still suites available on this sailing too.

I also think if they don’t address the onboard prices in $U.S. they will be losing a lot of customers to Carnival.

When I was on that wreck Pacific Explorer they had pints of draft beer for $10AU . A Budweiser on Royal is going to be $15 AU .

[F1guynz]

Also they are putting up the base price of cocktails in the US to $14. For somebody in NZ with the exchange rate that is around $25 per drink. Luckily I don’t drink.

[Chili]

2 hours ago, F1guynz said:

Also they are putting up the base price of cocktails in the US to $14. For somebody in NZ with the exchange rate that is around $25 per drink. Luckily I don’t drink.

How about this one 

[F1guynz]

Wow, We paid $142 nzd pp when we did it on Ovation in 2017. Doubled in 5 years.

[WAAAYTOOO]

11 hours ago, Chili said:

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/royal-caribbean-reveals-five-stage-plan-for-regions-first-ever-private-resort-for-cruise-passengers/

Hmmmm....this article discusses phase 1 but totally ignored 2-5.  Wonder what the rest of the phases are....

[Chili]

7 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Hmmmm....this article discusses phase 1 but totally ignored 2-5.  Wonder what the rest of the phases are....

I think they are starting to believe their own advertising.

What would a wharf cost to take a oasis class? 
Probably the best they could use it would be twice a week and that’s 6 months a year.
It’s 2 days sailing from anywhere ,4-5 ships (including Celebrity) in the area.     It doesn’t seem viable to me, it’s not Florida.

[mattymay]

16 hours ago, F1guynz said:

Also they are putting up the base price of cocktails in the US to $14. For somebody in NZ with the exchange rate that is around $25 per drink. Luckily I don’t drink.

4 drinks and you've already made it through your deluxe beverage package for the day. Currently at $100 AUD per day.

[mattymay]

21 hours ago, Chili said:

I also think if they don’t address the onboard prices in $U.S. they will be losing a lot of customers to Carnival.

When I was on that wreck Pacific Explorer they had pints of draft beer for $10AU . A Budweiser on Royal is going to be $15 AU .

Was on there a few weeks ago. To be honest after reading your previous comments it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.. haha

$9 AUD Beers

$12.50 AUD Spirits

$15 AUD Cocktails

9 days on Ovation is going to be expensive. Worth getting the deluxe drink package at current exchange rate.

 

[F1guynz]

I am pleased we will be diamond+ after the next cruise which will give us 5 drinks vouchers per day, more than enough to see us through the cruise. I always bring some coke on board when we cruise as well as grabbing some extras from the suite lounge.

[Chili]

23 minutes ago, mattymay said:

Was on there a few weeks ago. To be honest after reading your previous comments it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.. haha

$9 AUD Beers

$12.50 AUD Spirits

$15 AUD Cocktails

9 days on Ovation is going to be expensive. Worth getting the deluxe drink package at current exchange rate.

 

That doesn’t seem that bad, I thought it would be more.

I remember buying 2 martini’s on embarkation a few years back and quick calculation it worked out to $45AU . I didn’t buy a second round.

like I said they are competing with Carnival, I was buying pints at $10AU .

 

[twangster]

15 hours ago, Chili said:

I think they are starting to believe their own advertising.

What would a wharf cost to take a oasis class? 
Probably the best they could use it would be twice a week and that’s 6 months a year.
It’s 2 days sailing from anywhere ,4-5 ships (including Celebrity) in the area.     It doesn’t seem viable to me, it’s not Florida.

The take away for me is no year round cruising is planned for the foreseeable future.  

Q class can tender so I imagine PDL will start as a tender port with plans to possibly build a pier over the next 5 years, bit by bit, over the winter months.   

The pier at PDCC took a number of years with full time efforts with a lot of resources within 100 nm. From the early signs of actual work in 2017 through the fall of 2019 working year round within barge range of Florida, Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas archipelago of islands where there is constant barge traffic carrying construction material and equipment. 

I don't think the same infrastructure of construction resources will be found in similar proximity to PDL so it will be a slower, longer process to begin with mixed in with pandemic recovery finance considerations.  I imagine Royal made a commitment in 2019 and now find themselves having to honor that commitment so this multiyear of phases to-be-determined approach is the answer.  

A big part of me Wonders if this is a sign that O class down under is quietly being moved off the table for the near term (1 to 4 years).  With slow Brisbane sales and now a slow PDL build out it's not pointing to a environment ripe for a mega ship.

[EnSeven]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

With slow Brisbane sales...

Every person in my life just says "floating petri dish" (an ignorant term I despise) when I mention a cruise. Coupled with the Ruby Princess class action starting this week, it's not a good time around here for the cruising industry.

Aussies who've never been on a cruise assume 1 of 2 things: it's full of old people, or it's full of drunken brawls. It doesn't help that short cruises have nowhere to go because everything is too far. I'm flying to Singapore in January just to get on a cruise with an interesting itinerary.

I have no interest in other cruiselines and only look at Royal itineraries, but I do wish they would target their offering to the Australian audience - I don't know how because I'm not a marketer, but surely they'd know what works out of Maimi won't necessarily work out of Sydney. Their AU and US sites are NO different, and I suspect their constant "sales" emails, offering either no price reduction or, more often than not, higher prices than when you last looked, will eventually catch the eye of ACCC.

[KWofPerth]

Royal Caribbean reveals five-stage plan for region's first ever private resort for cruise passengers - Cruise Passenger

Key takeaways:

* sailings could commence as early as next Spring. So just twelve months away.

* construction to be phased over 5 years

* will not be a year round destination for the forseeable future. Construction to occur in winter months.

[Chili]

41 minutes ago, KWofPerth said:

Royal Caribbean reveals five-stage plan for region's first ever private resort for cruise passengers - Cruise Passenger

Key takeaways:

* sailings could commence as early as next Spring. So just twelve months away.

* construction to be phased over 5 years

* will not be a year round destination for the forseeable future. Construction to occur in winter months.

I don’t know about some of the things in that article and some of the claims about Lelepa.

There was a article that they gave a heap of stuff to the local school but there’s a foreign aid group that also claims to have done it also.

My thoughts a private island isn’t viable .

 

https://www.dailypost.vu/news/sharm-foundation-commences-large-donor-aid-project-on-lelepa-island/article_6a7b4c27-1a12-5527-b8cf-8dae7b4ee63f.html

[Chili]

 

https://www.cruiseweekly.com.au/news/royal-considers-oasis-deployment/71507#1

[KWofPerth]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

 

https://www.cruiseweekly.com.au/news/royal-considers-oasis-deployment/71507#1

I couldn't read the article properly Chili, could you cut n paste?