Utopia Of the Seas

[TX_Cruiser]

my bet Utopia is headed to Galveston. Galveston departures are at full capacity each sailing and heck even the CEO of Royal Said an Icon Class was going there....Just read the articles about the new terminal and he says it clear as day..

 

[Austin]

9 hours ago, TX_Cruiser said:

my bet Utopia is headed to Galveston. Galveston departures are at full capacity each sailing and heck even the CEO of Royal Said an Icon Class was going there....Just read the articles about the new terminal and he says it clear as day..

 

Yes, but Utopia is an Oasis Class ship, not Icon Class…

[TX_Cruiser]

true...I forgot about that...lol

[barjpoe]

Does Galveston have the availability to re fuel LNG?  or can she be able to refit for LNGs?

[twangster]

1 hour ago, barjpoe said:

Does Galveston have the availability to re fuel LNG?  or can she be able to refit for LNGs?

Yes.  LNG isn't the huge issue it was a couple years ago.  In Port Canaveral where Mardi Gras has been based the LNG comes in on a barge from a port in Georgia.  There is no native LNG available in Port Canaveral.  That same barge did a Mardi Gras refueling in Miami as a test run for local firefighters since Miami is getting LNG in port.  Even if a port isn't natively enabled with LNG at the pier it's not a long shot to barge it in temporarily.  

[Plumlee2028]

Yes, they have a plan for LNG. 

https://www.portofgalveston.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=209

 

Carnival Jubilee heads to Galveston this year, it is LNG powered.  

[Traveler]

I think Icon was suppose to cruise first from UK but then it was changed.

Maybe Utpia it will start in Europe until the winter before going to the US.

[Jill]

From a Utopia of the Seas Facebook group: 

“ Captain Rob on Wonder said Utopia was "destined for other things" when asked at Captains corner if he would be captain.”

So what could this mean? Homeport in another country? 

[DanielMallorca85]

[WAAAYTOOO]

Interesting.  Utopia seems to be following the Wonder template with the Suite Class neighborhood.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

1 hour ago, DanielMallorca85 said:

Wow…19 pools?

[DanielMallorca85]

2 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

Wow…19 pools?

Wonder it has 15 pools. 

[Angel Mann]

19 pools?! Wow! I would love that. I wonder if you'll actually be able to get a chair by the pool then.

[asquared17]

would love to be on the inaugural utopia

[KJRanch]

For me I am interested in if Utopia will have dual flow riders or she will only have one like Wonder.  Flow riding is a big part of our cruise vacation and Wonder only having one is kind of a deal breaker for us on an Oasis Class ship.

[ScottD]

35 minutes ago, KJRanch said:

For me I am interested in if Utopia will have dual flow riders or she will only have one like Wonder.  Flow riding is a big part of our cruise vacation and Wonder only having one is kind of a deal breaker for us on an Oasis Class ship.

The picture above looks like two

[lordbryan123]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/disney-cruise-line-ship-singapore-home-port-3381991

DCL just announced that the newly acquired ship From Genting will be home-ported in Singapore for at least 5 years from 2025 onwards.

This might actually prompt RCI to place Utopia in Singapore too to compete. I don't think any quantum class or lower class of ships would be able to compete with the family-friendly offering DCL offers. Can't wait to say goodbye to Spectrum xD

[JasonOasis]

1 hour ago, lordbryan123 said:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/disney-cruise-line-ship-singapore-home-port-3381991

DCL just announced that the newly acquired ship From Genting will be home-ported in Singapore for at least 5 years from 2025 onwards.

This might actually prompt RCI to place Utopia in Singapore too to compete. I don't think any quantum class or lower class of ships would be able to compete with the family-friendly offering DCL offers. Can't wait to say goodbye to Spectrum xD

I'm surprised they will homeport it in Singapore and not in Shanghai at the international cruise port.  Without a doubt either Wonder or Utopia will go go Asia.  Having 6 Oasis Class ships and 3 Icon Class ships in the US is too much.  I think it is a given that at least one of these ships will end up in Asia by the time that Disney ship is delivered in mid-2025 if I'm not mistaken.

With the amount of capacity Royal has coming online over the next few years it wouldn't surprise me as the cruise market recovers in Asia if at some point when the second Icon Class ship is delivered both Wonder and Utopia end up in the Asia/Australia market.

[lordbryan123]

19 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

I'm surprised they will homeport it in Singapore and not in Shanghai at the international cruise port.  Without a doubt either Wonder or Utopia will go go Asia.  Having 6 Oasis Class ships and 3 Icon Class ships in the US is too much.  I think it is a given that at least one of these ships will end up in Asia by the time that Disney ship is delivered in mid-2025 if I'm not mistaken.

With the amount of capacity Royal has coming online over the next few years it wouldn't surprise me as the cruise market recovers in Asia if at some point when the second Icon Class ship is delivered both Wonder and Utopia end up in the Asia/Australia market.

Quoting the article:

"It is also significant that Disney has chosen Singapore to home port its first cruise ship in Southeast Asia. It speaks volumes of our region's significant potential for cruise tourism, and to become, as some have described it, the Caribbean of the East." 

 

SEA (Southeat Asia) really is like the Caribbean of the east. One would never get a similar vibe in Northeast Asia. For starters, SEA is located on the equator, which is a lot more conducive for year-round voyages. This would also open up the option of year long private islands in the region later on the road after the industry recovers, especially in any of the maritime Southeast Asia countries. The variety of itineraries (different countries) would also be much better in SEA.

Just my 2 cents. 

[Zambia-Zaire]

I have a difficult time seeing much cruising in that area 2yrs+ from now; because of the brewing East-West conflict.

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 hours ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

I have a difficult time seeing much cruising in that area 2yrs+ from now; because of the brewing East-West conflict.

I've been thinking this but didn't have the nerve to write it.  Good for you

[Midwest Cruiser]

6 hours ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

I have a difficult time seeing much cruising in that area 2yrs+ from now; because of the brewing East-West conflict.

4 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I've been thinking this but didn't have the nerve to write it.  Good for you

I'm in the same camp. With how Covid went down, and the tensions, it doesn't seem in the best interest of a Company to step into that market quite yet. Now if there becomes high demand in the initial Disney sailings over the first year, then it would maybe make financial sense to place a ship over there.

 

 

[twangster]

I have to imagine if Royal was placing Utopia anywhere but into the US they would have released her for booking already.  

For the longest time I thought she was heading to China but I suspect the geopolitical environment and China's pandemic policies turn those waters ice cold. 

So I imagine they are trying to, or have figured out plan B.   If the intention was Singapore and that was decided there would be little reason to not publish that choice.  A Singapore deployment would not cannibalize Icon sales to much of any extent. 

Any deployment announcement would drive deposits and that is cash in the bank.  What would cause them to defer money in the bank at a time when they desparately need money in the bank?

IMO they still don't know where she is going and/or she is is headed to the US and they are confident that deferring the announcement won't impact impulse new-ship-fever Utopia bookings so by deferring they minimize impact to Icon bookings.

Seriously if they are placing her in Singapore the excitement will mostly be in Singapore while the vast majority of the cruising world will immediately put her out of mind and focus exclusively on Icon so from that perspective it makes the most sense to make that announcement sooner rather than later.   Nothing against folks from Singapore but they are a very small percentage of the global source market for cruising and while some may plan a trip to Singapore exclusively because of such an deployment, the vast majority of the cruising world would then treat Utopia like they do Spectrum - like she doesn't exist.      

[Cakemeister]

On 3/17/2023 at 2:55 PM, TX_Cruiser said:

my bet Utopia is headed to Galveston. Galveston departures are at full capacity each sailing and heck even the CEO of Royal Said an Icon Class was going there....Just read the articles about the new terminal and he says it clear as day..

 

Nah, I'd rather have Icon 2 or 3 in Galveston!

[asquared17]

maybe a hot take, but i could also see them sending wonder over to singapore and replacing her current canaveral home port/caribbean sailings with utopia…

[Chili]

2 hours ago, asquared17 said:

maybe a hot take, but i could also see them sending wonder over to singapore and replacing her current canaveral home port/caribbean sailings with utopia…

Unfortunately there’s only a couple of ports that could handle a oasis class.

Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore is pretty limiting.

[JasonOasis]

7 hours ago, Chili said:

Unfortunately there’s only a couple of ports that could handle a oasis class.

Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore is pretty limiting.

So what ports can handle Disney's Global Dream ship? 

Global Dream has a width of 46.4 meters and a length of 342 meters,  whereas Oasis Class ships have a width of 47 meters and a length of 360 meters.

In terms of size those are some pretty close numbers, if Oasis is limited one would imagine Global Dream would be limited as well.  

Or does the slight variation in the numbers/size make all the difference Global Dream can reach ports because it is slightly smaller, while Oasis Class ships can't because they are ever to slightly bigger?

[Vancity Cruiser]

On 3/24/2023 at 3:46 PM, Angel Mann said:

19 pools?! Wow! I would love that. I wonder if you'll actually be able to get a chair by the pool then.

19 pools is somewhat misleading. This number includes kiddie splash pools and whirlpools

[Chili]

9 hours ago, JasonOasis said:

So what ports can handle Disney's Global Dream ship? 

Global Dream has a width of 46.4 meters and a length of 342 meters,  whereas Oasis Class ships have a width of 47 meters and a length of 360 meters.

In terms of size those are some pretty close numbers, if Oasis is limited one would imagine Global Dream would be limited as well.  

Or does the slight variation in the numbers/size make all the difference Global Dream can reach ports because it is slightly smaller, while Oasis Class ships can't because they are ever to slightly bigger?

From what I understand global is about the length of spectrum.

There was an article quoting RC Singapore that only Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong are the other Oasis capable ports in the area.

If they could get the use of a couple of container terminals,say in Vietnam and Thailand .That would be a different story.

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

33 minutes ago, Chili said:

From what I understand global is about the length of spectrum.

There was an article quoting RC Singapore that only Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong are the only other Oasis capable ports in the area.

 

But they cruise a lot of short “cruises to nowhere” out of Singapore, don’t they ?

[twangster]

Technically Oasis class has a beam of 47m at the waterline but 60.5m maximum.  It's also 360m long verus 342m but it's the width of Oasis class that makes her so big and where so much internal volume comes from.  

[Chili]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

But they cruise a lot of short “cruises to nowhere” out of Singapore, don’t they ?

They do ,but I think the market is pretty well saturated.

A Oasis or Icon 2 interporting between Singapore and Hong Kong would be a good money spinner. Especially if they could use a container terminal in Vietnam and Thailand along the way.

 

[DanielMallorca85]

The new photos:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CquOxRNIfzr/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[GatorCruiser]

Thanks for the pics Daniel. 

[DanielMallorca85]

The new rumor:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq5un76oY6c/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[smokeybandit]

Sorry, but a VR dinner sounds like a terrible idea to me.

 

 

[ZBrady]

Virtual Reality implies near-eye displays, which Schneider said they were avoiding.

Mixed reality is likely something closer to what is already on Disney and Celebrity, using projections and the ability to interact with/manipulate the environment. 

Certainly not for everyone, but I wouldn't put it past them to be able to execute it tastefully.

[Rackham]

7 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Sorry, but a VR dinner sounds like a terrible idea to me.

 

 

Sounds to me like Royal's doing the dinner theater version of Universal's Hogwarts Express, but the train doesn't move anywhere and you'll probably board through a door into the traincar without seeing the train (aka it's a themed room(s) with windows that have high quality displays behind them to show what you're "passing" by.) Interesting specially dinning concept since it shouldn't require too much of a footprint and Royal might have been able to squeeze it in somewhere where other options wouldn't really work. The old-school train aspect keeps things nicely compact.

[twangster]

Celebrity's animated dinner experience was very impressive.    I look forward to trying this type of experience on Royal.

[Matt]

Definitely no VR visors