Jump to content

Vision Canceled


Recommended Posts

14 minutes ago, Matt said:

I'm pretty surprised they went and cancelled it.

I knew it wasnt selling like hot cakes, but revenue is revenue at this point.

But if in another month they're sailing from the US with more predictable costs (supply chain) and risk (hurricane season) plus a likely broader pool of interested cruise passengers, that revenue is there plus more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got the call about this from my TA this morning. Was initially going to take the full refund option, but it turns out that she has a group rate on Freedom's Bermuda sailings out of NJ that would let us switch to one of her October sailings at effectively zero additional cost, with a cabin upgrade from OV to Balcony as an added bonus. Talked it over with the missus and we'll be taking that option, just have to follow up with the TA once we settle on a date.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Matt said:

I think I'm more surprised they cancelled Vision before Jewel. I at least have heard from some people that were booked on Vision from Bermuda. Can't say the same for Jewel.

If the rumors about Vision moving to a US port are accurate, that would be why.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am curious if the CSO will be updated this week and that is what Royal Caribbean is waiting for. This news points to yes. I am still unsure if I would be willing to cruise from the U.S. with all of the CDC rules that are still in place, but if the CSO is updated and it seems doable, I am down. I hope they do not cancel the adventure cruises!

I highly doubt that cruises out of Florida will require vaccines. My thought on that is having everybody vaccinated reduces the risk of the cruise being interrupted by an outbreak to almost 0. If we can ensure that risk is minimum for cruises with unvaccinated passengers, I am good with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An article I read stated that Royal was asked about Nassau and they said they "Don't anticipate any changes to the remainder of our open deployment"  Obviously that is classic PR speak so always take that with a grain of salt in this environment of constant changes.  I admit I will feel much more comfortable about my Adventure sailing when they send over the procedures/rules and open check in etc.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So it’s just under a month before sailings begin from Nassau on the Adventures, so what are the odds these sailings will suffer the same fate as the Vision?  Wow with the advanced planning for the Bahamas sailings like the Health visa process, flights etc. it would be a major let down for passengers as well as The Bahamas folks to have RCI pull out now.

It would seem from a fair point of view that The Bahamas were there for RCI when the US ports were not and passengers were supportive in bookings as well so their loyalty should not be rewarded with cancellations?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, steverk said:

I'm hoping this is good news. Time will tell.

I'm also wondering about the Bahamas Adventure sailings.  I know they've sold better than Vision, but if the US really does open up, do they re-deploy?

This is my question as well. I will feel much better when we can do check in and receive the health protocols and rules.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This latest announcement tells me that sailings from U.S. ports may be happening more quickly than we thought earlier this week. ?

Because airline flights are more plentiful and cheaper from Baltimore, Miami, Fort Lauderdale ports, etc., it makes it far more attractive from a customer perspective to book trips vs. finding flights to Bermuda, Nassau, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, BarbieBell said:

With so many other ships displaced right now, why couldn’t RCI honor their commitment to Nassau and restart sailings from US ports simultaneously?

As of this point they are.  I do think based upon pricing etc that Adventure is more safe than Vision.  Adventure is also only 3 weeks away, whereas Vision was a little further out.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Plumlee2028 said:

As of this point they are.  I do think based upon pricing etc that Adventure is more safe than Vision.  Adventure is also only 3 weeks away, whereas Vision was a little further out.  

I certainly pray you are right! I am really looking forward to our Adventure cruise! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, BarbieBell said:

With so many other ships displaced right now, why couldn’t RCI honor their commitment to Nassau and restart sailings from US ports simultaneously?

This. I don’t think Adventure was even supposed to be stateside this summer (she had European sailings I believe) so there is no reason to cancel her sailings to resume what she previously had scheduled. 

The question then becomes, do they allow those past final payment to cancel without penalty? Do they allow CWC cancellations? I could see where AD passengers use CWC to cancel, get the FCC and rebook Florida sailings. 

I grant you we’re putting the cart before the horse as nothing has been announced but definitely something to think about. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Plumlee2028 said:

As of this point they are.  I do think based upon pricing etc that Adventure is more safe than Vision.  Adventure is also only 3 weeks away, whereas Vision was a little further out.  

Plus, flights to Nassau, especially from Florida are a lot less expensive and easy to come by (more airlines) than flights to Bermuda .... it only makes sense to keep the Adventure sailings

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bermuda is an expensive island. No $1 beers like in Cozumel. I assume Royal planned to provision Vision in Bermuda opposed to Coco Cay based on port facilities. The passenger load required to break even on a sailing with higher provisioning costs likely influenced cancellation decision. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, BarbieBell said:

With so many other ships displaced right now, why couldn’t RCI honor their commitment to Nassau and restart sailings from US ports simultaneously?

I'm terrible at figuring out what is going on in Royal Caribbean's head, so take this with a grain of salt.

My feeling is that Royal will probably keep the Bahamas sailings. If nothing else, it gives them a chance to see if that's a viable departure port for the future.

However, it is ultimately going to come down to money.  There's more money in getting sailings from the US.  If the US does open up, they'll look at what ships are ready to go (i.e. in position, fully staffed, etc.) and decide which ones can sail from each port.

I they have a major port slot available, but no ship, it will be very tempting for Royal to re-deploy Adventure in to that location.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow crazy news... more cancellations... I think this is just bad planning and forecasting from Royal. If you're going to have a season from Bermuda, stick to it for a few months and then move... don't disrupt all these cruise plans people had made... they won't be happy. Israel I understand because of the unrest...but from Bermuda? Come on guys! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, coneyraven said:

Plus, flights to Nassau, especially from Florida are a lot less expensive and easy to come by (more airlines) than flights to Bermuda .... it only makes sense to keep the Adventure sailings

Not only are the flights to Bermuda more expensive, but Royal was subsidizing the hell out of them. I was able to see when looking at the options on ChoiceAir that Royal was eating over $600 per person on those subsidized flights, after factoring in taxes.

So just looking at my wife and I, Royal was covering over $1,200 in airfare for us, but our cruise fare including port taxes was all of $1,500 for our OV cabin. Since everyone who booked those sailings had to fly in and was probably taking advantage of the subsidized rates, that means Royal was barely making anything at all on each booking, if not losing money outright. We all know the real money-making is in the onboard spend, but if they're even more in the hole due to the flight subsidies then I can see why they'd cut their losses and cancel those trips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Not only are the flights to Bermuda more expensive, but Royal was subsidizing the hell out of them. I was able to see when looking at the options on ChoiceAir that Royal was eating over $600 per person on those subsidized flights, after factoring in taxes.

So just looking at my wife and I, Royal was covering over $1,200 in airfare for us, but our cruise fare including port taxes was all of $1,500 for our OV cabin. Since everyone who booked those sailings had to fly in and was probably taking advantage of the subsidized rates, that means Royal was barely making anything at all on each booking, if not losing money outright. We all know the real money-making is in the onboard spend, but if they're even more in the hole due to the flight subsidies then I can see why they'd cut their losses and cancel those trips.

Good point. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Bermuda is an expensive island. No $1 beers like in Cozumel. I assume Royal planned to provision Vision in Bermuda opposed to Coco Cay based on port facilities. The passenger load required to break even on a sailing with higher provisioning costs likely influenced cancellation decision. 

Royal was going to provision during a technical stop in Freeport, not in Bermuda. Covered that in another thread here a few weeks back. But yeah, it was still going to be more expensive even from Freeport than it would be from any US port.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been unofficially tracking both Vision and Adventure.  It was pretty clear Adventure had some demand, at least early in her Nassau season while Vision looked soft.

The first Adventure cruise only had a few dozen cabins left and most of those were the expensive panoramic oceanview that were priced over the balcony rates.  

It will be interesting to watch now if many people exercise a CWC on their Adventure cruises once the US restart becomes official.  Only time will tell.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I do think cruising will resume from some US ports this summer, it’s going to be a slow rollout which leads me to believe the Vision cancellation was mostly due to money. Sure they may be hoping to redeploy her ASAP out of a US port, but that’s still an unknown at this point. You can bet that if the numbers worked, those Bermuda cruises would still be happening.

Of course I still fear a similar fate for Adventure as none of us know the true numbers that make this worthwhile for Royal. Even if sold out, the reduced capacity will no doubt hurt the bottom line. Only time will tell, but as others have said, I’ll feel a whole lot better once everything is officially released for the first sailings. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The US restart will be slowed only by the inability to re-crew ships in a timely manner.  Processing of US crew VISAs may be the long pole in the tent.

The concept of a slow restart with only 3 & 4 night Bahamas cruises on Mariner and Navigator was from the era before vaccines.  They relaunch all ships as fast as they can which is appropriate now with vaccines available.  It won't be the floodgates opening but it will be pretty darn close, at least IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, twangster said:

The US restart will be slowed only by the inability to re-crew ships in a timely manner.  Processing of US crew VISAs may be the long pole in the tent.

My contacts in the Philippines are telling me they're having a hard time processing their papers because of government backlogs and the recent spike in COVID cases causing more lockdowns and quarantines.  My son traveled to the capital city for his papers (he's part of Virgin's Scarlet Lady crew) and he went home with COVID symptoms.  Multiply this scenario by the thousands of crew members in third world countries waiting for cruising to restart.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

My contacts in the Philippines are telling me they're having a hard time processing their papers because of government backlogs and the recent spike in COVID cases causing more lockdowns and quarantines.  My son traveled to the capital city for his papers (he's part of Virgin's Scarlet Lady crew) and he went home with COVID symptoms.  Multiply this scenario by the thousands of crew members in third world countries waiting for cruising to restart.

Hope he's feeling better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Plus, Royal still has to conduct test cruises for the CDC don't they? That will take longer than 3 weeks to conduct. Adventure cruises are set to begin in 3 weeks, and are a revenue booster. Am I wrong? 

This is true. They won't start until July either. My initial thought is they may cancel the August/September sailings for Adventure and move her to the U.S. if it makes sense financially. I noticed the prices decrease as you move into August which could mean more availability which means less revenue.

 

As an example, my June 12th cruise was roughly $2200 for balcony, but the same room September 4th is $1450.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...