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Wonder of the Seas to homeport in Port Canaveral?


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8 minutes ago, twangster said:

Maybe until Allure moves to Galveston.  They won't keep Harmony and Wonder in Port Canaveral.  One of them heads to FLL or Wonder leaves the US.  

Time will tell.  

The new Galveston terminal is scheduled to be completed in fall 2022 so it seems there will be shuffling of ships around as they come back to the U.S. in fall 2022. It's nice to see different ships at different ports. I live in Tampa and was happy to see Serenade take the place of Rhapsody

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12 hours ago, CruisingSteve said:

I live in Tampa and was happy to see Serenade take the place of Rhapsody

In my case, I wanted Rhapsody to stay in Tampa only because I have already sailed on the Serenade.  At the moment, I don’t book ships I have already sailed on. My bucket list is to sail on all Royal Caribbean ships. 
 

Funny, Royal took the initiative of replacing three of my bookings (Brilliance-Radiance-Rhapsody) with the Serenade.  Even after opting to take the refund for canceled sailings, the Serenade still appears in my Upcoming Cruises.

I’m sure, however, that you will enjoy the Serenade.  I was on her for 11 nights in an Eastern Caribbean sailing.

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15 minutes ago, Jaymac Radio said:

I think that is most likely the case that Wonder will use the Space Coast as her 2022 winter home port as the date that she gets to Port Canaveral is on a Sunday which is the day which Royal uses for turnaround day for the Oasis Class at the port. 

There’s another stranger coming home again !  Glad to see you back.

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Well I’ll tell you this: passengers in Hong Kong still think they’re sailing December 2022. Royal has not cancelled those bookings. I was reading this in a Wonder Facebook group and these people were surprised she was headed back here. However, you currently cannot book those sailings. They’re still there and you can start a booking but can’t finish it. 
 

Guess time will tell. I hope she stays here. If Playmakers still has the Chinese sign out front when she gets here that may give a clue. 🤷‍♀️ Gives us all something else to speculate on! 

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What is likely is that it will do a Panama Canal Sailing to the west coast from Port Canaveral, then a Pacific Crossing to China. That is the reason the winter China sailings have not been cancelled yet. They also have not posted past the USA arrival just in case they have to pivot.  

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1 hour ago, Egeria said:

What is likely is that it will do a Panama Canal Sailing to the west coast from Port Canaveral, then a Pacific Crossing to China. That is the reason the winter China sailings have not been cancelled yet. They also have not posted past the USA arrival just in case they have to pivot.  

Don’t think we’ll see any Oasis class in the Panama Canal any time soon as they don’t fit.  She’ll go through the Suez though.  And with that it will make those December dates in Asia… difficult.  

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3 hours ago, fireclan said:

Doesn't the back say Symphony of the Seas? 

At first I thought the photo was real but then I noticed there are no passengers anywhere in that photo so I started digging and found out the photo isn't real.  There are no records of Symphony of the Seas ever passing through the Panama Canal and if she did go through the canal what was her purpose in passing through the canal since she was built in Europe?  Also there are also no records of Symphony of the Seas ever sailing in the Pacific Ocean.  According to records the largest CRUISE SHIP that has ever passed through the Panama Canal is The Norwegian Bliss at 168,028 tons.

If and or when Royal moves Wonder of the Seas to Asia they are going to have to go the long way around not through the Panama Canal.  Even if they could get the ship through the canal can she fit under the Bridge of the Americas?  I know some time ago I posed the question what if Royal sends Odyssey to Los Angeles to combat both NCL and Carnival both of which before the pandemic were using new ships out of Long Beach.  Several posters pointed out they don't think Odyssey could fit under The Bridge of the Americas.  So if Odyssey can't fit I don't see how an Oasis Class ship could fit under the bridge.

 

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I think the issue for Voyager class, Freedom class, Quantum class and Oasis class for the Panama Canal is the side profile of the ship as much as the height. 

Take a close look at the NCL Joy, Bliss and Encore of their Breakaway Plus class.  The ships have no protrusions beyond the side profile of the ship until you are at or above the lifeboats.  The lifeboats tuck into the profile of the ship.  The Escape is the exception in this class - her lifeboats do protrude from the sides of the ship. 

Royal ships in the classes above have lifeboats and platforms that extend out from the ship.  The canal has limits on these and they must start above 55' from the water line.  Otherwise they would damage the ship and the canal as they scrape down the canal or take out buildings and things like railings, signs and light poles along the sides of the canal locks.  

You can't just look at the ship dimensions found on wiki pages and declare the ships fit in the new locks or under the bridge.

Oasis class can do the Suez canal from what has been reported.

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Latest on Wonder: 

Translation:
The new largest cruise ship in the world, built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, will leave Saint-Nazaire in early November to join the Marseille Shipyard for several months.
A technical delivery to its owner RCCL will take place at the end of October, but it will remain docked, in the Phocaean city (Marseille), under the responsibility of the manufacturer while waiting to leave for Fort Lauderdale. The liner will start its season in the Caribbean, from March 2022, and then in the Mediterranean from Barcelona and Rome from May, rather than Shanghai as originally planned. The conditions of entry into China, due to the health crisis, are still too restrictive for the cruise line to plan reservations serenely.
This sheltering in Marseille will allow the shipowner to operate a "designation" of the ship designed for the Chinese market. Modifications to some locations, including kitchens, are also planned before crossing the Atlantic.
If the 362-metre-long liner (230,000 UMS, 6,988 passengers) cannot remain in the C armament basin, it is because the Chantiers de l'Atlantique must receive in November the beam and feet of their future very high gantry, before launching the MSC Europa World, whose assembly will be completed in November.

https://lemarin.ouest-france.fr/secteurs-activites/chantiers-navals/41091-le-wonder-seas-attendu-marseille?fbclid=IwAR2e2Ng9_2gxQgoZ-SYv59SaUH3U76iBbHjQex3isYjkPkkhIFJ5mDkxmCA

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58 minutes ago, Chili said:

I think Wonder will stay in the Atlantic and in a couple of years one of the older oasis will be home ported in Sydney and Singapore.

 

I don't disagree that an Oasis Class ship at some point will home port in Sydney and Singapore but I still don't see Wonder staying long term in the US and Europe.  Royal still hasn't released Wonder's fall/winter 2022/2023 schedule and it has me asking why.  I think as Royal is updating Wonders schedule and making decision on what to do with Wonder as they get more information from China, on when that country will reopen when they will allow cruising to resume.  I think just like here in America and in Europe once China reopens and allows cruising to resume there is going to be overwhelming demand for cruising because since February the cruise industry in China has been shut down.

The rumors I'm hearing in the airline industry are don't expect China to reopen (have any type of normalcy travel wise) until late 2022 at the earliest some rumors even move that date into spring of 2023.  Should these rumors prove true and China does not reopen or allow cruising to resume until 2023 then it it entirely possible Royal will leave Wonder here in the US for the fall/winter 2022-2023 season, send Wonder to Europe for the 2023 summer season and then send her to homeport in China starting in the fall of 2023.  Unless China bans cruising for ever I don't see Royal Caribbean abandoning their Chinese ambitions and China is the most populous country on this planet.  Should the government allow cruising to resume I firmly believe Royal will send Wonder to the market she was built for.

 

My question is does Royal still intend to build a 6th Oasis Class ship? In February of 2019 it was widely reported Royal had entered into an agreement for a 6th Oasis Class ship.  Does Royal still intend to build a 6th ship or has the pandemic changed their plans for that 6th Oasis Class ship?

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I don’t know about wonder going to China,it was was dramatically westernised at the last minute.
It will be interesting to see if there’s any signage in Chinese.

I think Royal will reduce it’s presents in China,maybe just Spectrum there in summer.

China has a few issues, the economic outlook,tensions with western countries and will the brain drain of companies pulling out of China the average citizens have trouble getting exit visas .

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10 minutes ago, Chili said:

I don’t know about wonder going to China,it was was dramatically westernised at the last minute.
It will be interesting to see if there’s any signage in Chinese.

Given that there's still some random signage in Chinese left on Ovation, I'd be more shocked if there *isn't* at least a little bit of signage that got missed.

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41 minutes ago, Chili said:

Looking at some of the resent photos there’s a lot of Chinese signage.

It does look like it will end up in Asia, I’m waiting for the protests about the signs.

It will be interesting to see the colour of the gaming tables.

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Majestic Princess was built for China but deployed to the US.  Lots of Chinese signs on board.  I don't hear people complaining about it.  

Even Ovation has some bilingual signs. Same as Quantum. 

Some will complain, people find a lot less to complain about, but I don't expect it to be a problem.

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14 minutes ago, twangster said:

Majestic Princess was built for China but deployed to the US.  Lots of Chinese signs on board.  I don't hear people complaining about it.  

Even Ovation has some bilingual signs. Same as Quantum. 

Some will complain, people find a lot less to complain about, but I don't expect it to be a problem.

When Ovation first went to Alaska,people where asking for information about it .
Some said they wouldn’t book it because they only served rice and wouldn’t be able to read the signs.

They had to change the gaming tables because they where red.
All very trivial,I agree  but  some thought it life threatening.

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9 minutes ago, Chili said:

When Ovation first went to Alaska,people where asking for information about it .
Some said they wouldn’t book it because they only served rice and wouldn’t be able to read the signs.

They had to change the gaming tables because they where red.
All very trivial,I agree  but  some thought it life threatening.

Yup. These types of people want to "see the world" but are so afraid of other cultures, it seems. Just don't get it.

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24 minutes ago, GKMCruising said:

Yup. These types of people want to "see the world" but are so afraid of other cultures, it seems. Just don't get it.

I was doing a live blog on Ovation the season before it first went to Alaska.

A good old boy asked me to take photos of the cigarettes and cigars available onboard.
He said he didn’t want to put Chinese fire crackers in his mouth.

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Hmmmm according to “Gwen” on RC’s Twitter page, Wonder will be sailing from Hong Kong November of 2022. (These are the same social media people that always told everyone they were sailing on X date during the shutdown. And then the cancellations came and came again and again well you know where I’m going lol) 

 

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It seems really odd to have her assume Allure's Fall transatlantic to Port Canaveral only to have her then sail to Hong Kong. 

It's nearly 34 days to sail from Port Canaveral to Hong Kong VIA the Suez Canal.  

The transatlantic ends Nov. 13 and with 34 days to reach Hong Kong it doesn't seem possible to make those November dates in Asia.  

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

It seems really odd to have her assume Allure's Fall transatlantic to Port Canaveral only to have her then sail to Hong Kong. 

It's nearly 34 days to sail from Port Canaveral to Hong Kong VIA the Suez Canal.  

The transatlantic ends Nov. 13 and with 34 days to reach Hong Kong it doesn't seem possible to make those November dates in Asia.  

Even the first 3 dates in December are impossible. Craziness for sure. Maybe the ship has teleporting capability 

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