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Odyssey Home Port Change


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9 hours ago, JasonOasis said:

Which then raises the question where is Anthem going? 

Is Anthem going to dry dock for maintenance work in early 2025 or is Royal redeploying her elsewhere?

There's rumour (and tentative hopefulness on this side of the pond) that's she's going to be spending the winter season in Europe.

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10 hours ago, Al Miller said:

While I welcome a different ship in NJ, I don't like the lack of an indoor pool for the winter months. And as a frequent solo cruiser I hate the lack of inside solos. Royal has REALLY just forsaken the solo cruiser as of late. They are practically BEGGING me to go to NCL. 

I've sailed on Anthem four times twice during the cold winter months. The last time I was on Anthem was January 2022 for a 12 night Caribbean cruise and it was cold outside, but Anthem has both indoor and outdoor pools.  

The solarium is climate controlled and has pools, also on deck 14 behind the solarium there is another indoor pool under the retractable roof which is climate controlled.

 

4 hours ago, FionaMG said:

There's rumour (and tentative hopefulness on this side of the pond) that's she's going to be spending the winter season in Europe.

I noticed NCL has decided to leave one of their ships in Europe for year around cruising.  In the colder months the NCL Sun sails out of Portugal and Spain to places in the Canary Islands.  I was wondering if and/or when would Royal jump on this there is no reason to bring all your ships home from Europe during the winter. 

Another thing I noticed is NCL also has a ship sailing out of the Middle East the Jade has spent some time in South Africa and countries along Africa's eastern coast along with Madagascar and Seychelles before heading to the Middle East to visit countries like Oman, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Israel then will transit the Suez Canal before begin its Mediterranean season on March 9th.   Royal's 2023 Mediterranean season doesn't even begin until mid-April more than a month after NCL's Jade arrival.

Personally I love traveling to certain parts of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean during the winter months I don't have to deal with a ton of tourist, its not as hot, thing can be a bit cheaper and overall I have much more enjoyable experience. If Royal were to leave a ship in Southern Europe and sail from Europe year around I certainly would change my yearly winter cruise (which I normally take either in January or February) from the Caribbean to Southern Europe.   

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@JasonOasis

Celebrity are also leaving a ship in Europe this winter. You might want to take a look. They are doing the Canaries and Morocco in the early part of the season and then heading to Egypt.

It's hard to imagine Royal not jumping on the bandwagon given that Anthem is way better suited to this type of itinerary than the ships Celebrity and NCL are using. 🤞

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20 hours ago, asquared17 said:

i do not envy that sail down the atlantic. we felt a lot of movement on her in december in the caribbean and vowed never again 😅

but then, we are more prone to motion than some, so your mileage may vary. 

i do love when they swap out ships this way though, it gives everyone a chance to try new things 💚

I try to avoid those Nov-Jan dates out of the east coast for that exact reason, lol. 

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20 hours ago, Shay said:

I didn’t realized Odyssey lacked the indoor spaces that Anthem has. We enjoy sailing out of Bayonne in the winter for longer sailings because it saves airfare… this is disappointing news

NCL's Getaway will sail out of New York during January and February of 2024 that ship has zero covered heated pools for every day guest. I think guest in the Haven may have a small covered pool, but all other pools are open to the elements.

And the reason Royal is sending Odyssey to New York for the 2025 winter season is because NCL is sending Prima to New York for the 2025 winter season.  Prima is definitely not a cold weather ship, there are no covered heated pools, the entire outside space on deck 8 on Prima will be useless in the dead of winter as will the outside areas on decks 16, 17, and 18 none of those pools are covered and the go cart track on 19 and 20 would only be able to be used if the weather corporates.  Any type of snow, ice, or rain I would imagine would shut down the go carts until the ship is in warmer weather. 

Then there is MSC which is sending the Merviglia to New York for year around sailings.  Now the Merviglia does have one covered but also very small indoor pool. But all other top levels of Merviglia including the exclusive Yacht Club on deck 20 at the front of the ship are all open to the elements.

By sending Odyssey to New York for 2025 winter season it would appear as though Royal is simply responding to NCL and MSC's move and it is an admission that Anthem (which is a great ship) would be out of its league going up against Merviglia and Prima.  The only ship Royal has that can go up against Prima and Merviglia in the dead of winter is Odyssey, putting an Oasis Class ship up in New York in January and February would be an epic fail. 

What we have going forward is all three of these cruise lines are either trying to one up each other or simply trying to keep up with the other when none of them will be using the right ship for the market during the winter season, and it is the guest that will pay the price with a diminished experience on their first day.  

On the two winter cruises I did on Anthem by the time I woke up the next morning the weather was in the mid-50's, that is still a bit to cold even for this Chicago boy to get into a outdoor pool but I did enjoy the outdoor space.  But by the second morning it was in the upper-70s or sometimes even low-80's. But you still loose a day of pool fun and outdoor space relaxation because it can be a bit to cool to jump into that water and unless your coming from the upper Midwest or the upper plains 55 degrees is still cold. But for a Chicagoan like myself 55 degrees in January is shorts weather, it just not getting in the pool weather 🤣

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I'm not sure how you think Anthem can't compete with Prima on a cold weather sailing.  The indoor spaces make days 1,2 and 6,7 more enjoyable.  That's 4/7 of the cruise.  I get it if it were a Caribbean sailing, but sailing in the cold, a ship that can beat the cold is better than new bells and whistles while we use only a portion of the ship.

I'm clearly wrong because all 3 are doing this, but it doesn't make sense to me.

Getting on Anthem in 2 weeks and thankful it's not Odyssey.  Would feel the same in reverse if I were boarding in Miami.

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