Pros and Cons of Inaugural Sailings

[Va4fam]

It's FOMO time.   Or YOLO time.   Maybe both.

Thinking of taking an inaugural sailing in the next couple of years and wanted to know why we should....or should not consider one.

Who's done it?   What did you like?  Not like?  Would you do it again and why? 

 

 

[Ryan79]

Pro: You get to come back to this one forum and brag to those who care.

Cons: You get to pay a premium price for the honor and privileges of that brag. Also, the bugs aren’t quite worked out of everything, so you get to be the test dummy to find and experience those bugs so others who sail after you don’t have to!

[Va4fam]

Thanks @Ryan79.......it might be fun to do at least once (YOLO!).   

Curious if they do anything special for the first cruise....champagne, mementos, etc?

 

 

[asquared17]

my parents did the inaugural symphony - they got some cool swag (part of which was a hat and maybe sunglasses if i am remembering correctly?) — and i THINK there was also a special fireworks show for the sailing as they left miami.

[Mark_A]

sometimes you get swag.  I got a really nice picture book of all the Art on Wonder of the seas, plus ball cap etc.

[Lovetocruise2002]

We did the inaugural of Oasis. It was a while ago, 2009, but I remember there were some celebrations on the ship, sail away had a lot of fanfare both on the ship and on land, they gave out swag (my favourite part), but the most important thing for me personally, is that it was the inaugural of a brand new class of ship.
 

We were supposed to do the original inaugural of Odyssey, but covid cancelled that. We are booked on the inaugural of Icon. We couldn’t pass it up mainly because it’s again, a brand new class of ship, there are a ton of friends from the cruise community going, and as a teacher, I have non-negotiable, non-flexible weeks that I can cruise. It is rare that I can catch an inaugural sailing. I just happened to be off this year and that’s why Hubby said we have to do it. 

[Matt]

I wrote a blog post about the pros and cons of going on an inaugural sailing https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/07/19/book-brand-new-cruise-ship

[Va4fam]

Thanks @Matt for the link.   Lot of good information in your blog post.  

Curious if the ships get the "water cannon" treatment when they depart their home port?

What happens to everyone that  booked the ship if it gets delayed? 

 

[asquared17]

56 minutes ago, Va4fam said:

What happens to everyone that  booked the ship if it gets delayed? 

i don’t know if this has happened recently (barring covid).

certainly they must build in extra time for delays/hiccups.

i imagine whatever their hard launch/public date is buffered by the ACTUAL date (being some time earlier) to prevent this from happening, as it would create a domino effect of epic proportions — trying to get them rescheduled etc. 

the only thing that would have unforeseeable/unavoidable consequences would be another pandemic — but that would likely have repercussions across the entire fleet and not just a single ship. 

[RCIfan1912]

14 hours ago, Va4fam said:

Thanks @Ryan79.......it might be fun to do at least once (YOLO!).   

Curious if they do anything special for the first cruise....champagne, mementos, etc?

 

 

It definitely would be fun. I would try it if I had the chance. 

[PatsFanBrian]

I was on the inaugural sailing of Quantum back in December, 2014.  When we booked it, we actually didn't know it was the inaugural.  We booked it while on Allure 15 months earlier and picked it for the itinerary (I was not too savvy about ships and classes back then).  Our travel agent was surprised that we were able to book a cabin given the demand for the new ship, but we were in the right place at the right time.

Given that it was an entirely new class of ship, there were definitely bugs to work out.  The wait staff were given iPads to take orders in the dining rooms and they quickly ditched them for pen and paper as there were continuous issues with connectivity and the app was full of bugs.  The NorthStar was shutdown frequently due to maintenance issues.  The wrist bands were giving folks some issues and we found them annoying, we ended up just putting them in our pocket/purse.  In general, just shakedown issues with the technology.  Those were relatively minor.

The biggest thing was the sheer volume of high end tier people and we were amused by the complaints they had (we were Platinum at the time).  The exclusive lounges and top tier events were bursting at the seams and the angst was thick in the air.  Lots of pushback on the new dining concept of different themed restaurants, the old-timers just hated it (TBH, we were underwhelmed by the concept).  The number of motorized scooters was impressive, there were staff that acted as valets to find places to put them while the owners went into the various venues.

I can't say that the differences were noticeable other than the volume of D+ and Pinnacle folks.  There was no special swag or celebrations, just felt like a normal sail.

[Matt]

22 hours ago, Va4fam said:

Curious if the ships get the "water cannon" treatment when they depart their home port?

Usually, yes