Jamesszy94 Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 Is the North Star on Quantum Class ships still complimentary? Or do we have to pay now? When I sailed Ovation, it was free on port and sea days, so just wondering if that's changed now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 I believe that they will charge on one or the other. I can't quite remember but I think it is sea days are a charge and while in port it might be still free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv2sail Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 Just off Ovation and we were able to do North Star free in Seattle. I know you had to pay when cruising Endicott Arm. You are only able to schedule one free ride per person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingNewb Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 Free on port days, charge at sea. My opinion is that north star at sea isn’t as impressive as in port. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamesszy94 Posted June 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 5 hours ago, luv2sail said: Just off Ovation and we were able to do North Star free in Seattle. I know you had to pay when cruising Endicott Arm. You are only able to schedule one free ride per person. It must have changed sometime after 2017 then, because my mum was able to get two free rides during the sailing, albeit, one of them was because there was noone queueing - so not sure if that counts tbh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 There is an evolving change on Quantum class ships. Since the restart in 2021 and since Odyssey was the first Q class to restart they kicked off that ship with a complimentary in port, charged at sea approach to North Star. Other ships have taken the charge farther including Quantum and Ovation in Alaska in 2022. There were select times when it was complimentary but there were charged rides in port at times. All sea times were charged and premium rides at the glaciers had an even higher charge. So on Ovation and Quantum it didn't follow Odyssey's approach exactly, the complimentary rides were fewer while the charged versions were more prevalent. The complimentary version remains to be the shorter up/down with a slight turn to port and starboard at the top while the paid versions are a little longer and go over the sides of the ship. Since it continues to evolve I'd be careful making assumptions or predictions based on what previous guests experienced recently. There could come a time when all rides are charged or if sales are slow they might back off and add more complimentary rides. None of us know what Royal plans to do in the future. ScooterScott22 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterScott22 Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 (edited) Surprised to not see @twangsterresponding to this thread yet! He was the master & commander of the North Star on our Ovation - Alaska cruise in 2019 if I recall correctly. There are days that the North Star will not charge and those are usually sea days, in Alaska the days with an associated charge were while we were at the glaciers. On port days, I don’t recall a charge but I think that they did not open the North Star in all ports. That should likely be the trend but someone who recently sailed should be able to provide a more current experience, since they might be trying to increase revenue and adding times that require a fee. And he snuck in a response as I was typing! Edited June 25, 2022 by ScooterScott22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted June 25, 2022 Report Share Posted June 25, 2022 It's an interesting study in consumer behavior. As @ScooterScott22 mentioned in 2019 I was able to ride North Star nearly every day as a standby passenger. People were not showing up or not booking the complimentary rides when most of the time it was complimentary. On a Hawaii cruise there were no charged times in 2019. It was so easy to ride it nearly every day, port or at sea. Once they added charged times the demand increased. The complimentary times are often full and even as a single it's harder to get on as a standby rider now. By implementing charges they have increased demand for the complimentary rides. Before it seems the consumer attitude was... "it's free so it doesn't matter if we do it" while now it seems the consumer attitude has become "there are some limited free times so we better do it while we can". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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