Bon Voyage to the Ultimate World Cruise!

[Cakemeister]

It leaves today. I hope it is successful so that there is another one.

I don't see anyone doing a live blog for it on this forum.

The Ultimate World Cruise | Royal Caribbean Cruises

[Riley]

I am a bit surprised they haven't started talking - even in general - about another World Cruise, but I assume they are going to make sure this one is profitable enough to do it again.

I am going to be very interested in how things are going, especially as we are booked on a few legs this coming Spring. It is going to be a terrific way to see basically all of Asia with only having to pack/unpack once (yes we change cabins, but once I'm aboard I'm Royal Caribbean's problem and the stateroom attendants always do a great job transferring everything), as opposed to land tours where you are packing or unpacking every day or two...

Side note to anyone who does back-to-back and changes cabins: we usually do a bag of laundry very late in the cruise and leave it in its returned sealed bag, then toss the various miscellaneous stuff one always accumulates on a cruise into a reusable shopping bag... IKEA sells one for a few dollars that could have hauled half my first apartment, plus we often buy reusable bags as an easy souvenir/gift - they are cheap and pack down to nothing. The batch we brought back from Greenland (logo'd with the local grocery chain) for all our neighbors went over like gangbusters.

[smokeybandit]

Last year we met a couple that not only are doing the full world cruise, but also did the repositioning cruise prior to that.

[Curt From Canada]

The UWC has only 690 “World Cruisers” and the rest is made up with:

1). “Long Haul” ones (doing one or more of the 4 long segments)

2). “Short Haul” ones (doing the “small” 18 to 29 night ones)

I only checked one of the “Short Haul” segments and it was not sold out. 


My soulmate and I will be on one of the short segments and we will post some general comments. 


Curt from Canada

[smokeybandit]

690 people that I'm jealous of.

[TXcruzer]

8 hours ago, Curt From Canada said:

The UWC has only 690 “World Cruisers” and the rest is made up with:

1). “Long Haul” ones (doing one or more of the 4 long segments)

2). “Short Haul” ones (doing the “small” 18 to 29 night ones)

I only checked one of the “Short Haul” segments and it was not sold out. 


My soulmate and I will be on one of the short segments and we will post some general comments. 


Curt from Canada

 

7 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

690 people that I'm jealous of.

And 60 of those are children 

[smokeybandit]

24 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

 

And 60 of those are children 

In several ways they'll get a better education in the next 275 days than they would in a school setting

[Fearless]

I've been following Living Phase 2 on YouTube. They did some great preparation videos about the World Cruise, and this weekend had a couple of short reels about it. I can't wait for more news from them!

Hubby and I are also hoping this cruise repeats in the future. It would be the trip of a lifetime. What's really funny to me is he really wants to do it even though he's never been on a cruise before! We'll test out his sea legs this spring.

[ScottD]

15 hours ago, Fearless said:

I've been following Living Phase 2 on YouTube. They did some great preparation videos about the World Cruise, and this weekend had a couple of short reels about it. I can't wait for more news from them!

Hubby and I are also hoping this cruise repeats in the future. It would be the trip of a lifetime. What's really funny to me is he really wants to do it even though he's never been on a cruise before! We'll test out his sea legs this spring.

Yeah MAYBE try a 7 nighter before a 250 nighter....lol 

[Zacharius]

On 12/10/2023 at 7:22 PM, smokeybandit said:

In several ways they'll get a better education in the next 275 days than they would in a school setting

I would say in most ways. And I'm saying that as a big proponent of traditional education/schooling (hell, I have a PhD, I drank the school kool-aid). If you have the right caregivers, they can open your eyes to so much along the way. Cultures, languages, history. Even math - "how many drinks do we need a day to break even on the drink package?". Got it all. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Not sure how many are following the ongoings of the UWC….but thought I would provide an interesting tidbit for some who might care.

There is a Genie onboard the Serenade and I assume (but don’t know for sure) that this suggests that there is at least 1 suite enjoying Star Class benefits.  To my knowledge, this is the first time a Genie has been deployed on a non-Oasis/Quantum/Icon class ship.  From intel onboard, the Genie is servicing only the Royal Suite (2 people).  I’m surprised that Royal would deploy a Genie for 9 months for a party of 2 but Royal surprises me from time -to-time and this is one of those times.

Another interesting bit of hear-say is that while the only Suite eligible for Genie services is the RS, the party in the RS is traveling with 6 others NOT in the RS and still, the Genie is including those 6 in activities including reserved seats in the theater.  IMO this is sure to ruffle some feathers onboard.  I guess we’ll have to see how that goes over.

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, Zacharius said:

I would say in most ways. And I'm saying that as a big proponent of traditional education/schooling (hell, I have a PhD, I drank the school kool-aid). If you have the right caregivers, they can open your eyes to so much along the way. Cultures, languages, history. Even math - "how many drinks do we need a day to break even on the drink package?". Got it all. 

Cruising in general is great for a cultural education due to the daily interactions with a very diverse crew. 

[ScottD]

15 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Not sure how many are following the ongoings of the UWC….but thought I would provide an interesting tidbit for some who might care.

There is a Genie onboard the Serenade and I assume (but don’t know for sure) that this suggests that there is at least 1 suite enjoying Star Class benefits.  To my knowledge, this is the first time a Genie has been deployed on a non-Oasis/Quantum/Icon class ship.  From intel onboard, the Genie is servicing only the Royal Suite (2 people).  I’m surprised that Royal would deploy a Genie for 9 months for a party of 2 but Royal surprises me from time -to-time and this is one of those times.

Another interesting bit of hear-say is that while the only Suite eligible for Genie services is the RS, the party in the RS is traveling with 6 others NOT in the RS and still, the Genie is including those 6 in activities including reserved seats in the theater.  IMO this is sure to ruffle some feathers onboard.  I guess we’ll have to see how that goes over.

Are these the same people who won the royal up to get the GS? 

[WAAAYTOOO]

25 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Are these the same people who won the royal up to get the GS? 

Not that I know of.

[kadmgs]

As a 22 yr. social studies educator and life-long learner, I agree 100% that this could be more educational than what they could get in a classroom. The amazing things I could do with students given the opportunities and locations they will have. Plus, having a dedicated space on board for "school" would be amazing. 

[TXcruzer]

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Not sure how many are following the ongoings of the UWC….but thought I would provide an interesting tidbit for some who might care.

There is a Genie onboard the Serenade and I assume (but don’t know for sure) that this suggests that there is at least 1 suite enjoying Star Class benefits.  To my knowledge, this is the first time a Genie has been deployed on a non-Oasis/Quantum/Icon class ship.  From intel onboard, the Genie is servicing only the Royal Suite (2 people).  I’m surprised that Royal would deploy a Genie for 9 months for a party of 2 but Royal surprises me from time -to-time and this is one of those times.

Another interesting bit of hear-say is that while the only Suite eligible for Genie services is the RS, the party in the RS is traveling with 6 others NOT in the RS and still, the Genie is including those 6 in activities including reserved seats in the theater.  IMO this is sure to ruffle some feathers onboard.  I guess we’ll have to see how that goes over.

When one spends $775,000  on a fare, they deserve to have the rules bent a little. 

[Zacharius]

38 minutes ago, kadmgs said:

As a 22 yr. social studies educator and life-long learner, I agree 100% that this could be more educational than what they could get in a classroom. The amazing things I could do with students given the opportunities and locations they will have. Plus, having a dedicated space on board for "school" would be amazing. 

I think you just came up with Semester At Sea

[kadmgs]

7 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

I think you just came up with Semester At Sea

That would be awesome! 

[smokeybandit]

10 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

I think you just came up with Semester At Sea

Probably cheaper than a semester at college, too.

[Zacharius]

1 hour ago, kadmgs said:

That would be awesome! 

My wife did it. She had a blast. Basically it was classes on a ship, and then free time in ports. They had a bit of an odd year in that her ship was damaged in the Pacific and had to be repaired in (I think) Hawaii while they were flown ahead to Hong Kong and the ship eventually caught up with them somewhere in SE Asia. 

[Doug_Texas]

6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Not sure how many are following the ongoings of the UWC….but thought I would provide an interesting tidbit for some who might care.

There is a Genie onboard the Serenade and I assume (but don’t know for sure) that this suggests that there is at least 1 suite enjoying Star Class benefits.  To my knowledge, this is the first time a Genie has been deployed on a non-Oasis/Quantum/Icon class ship.  From intel onboard, the Genie is servicing only the Royal Suite (2 people).  I’m surprised that Royal would deploy a Genie for 9 months for a party of 2 but Royal surprises me from time -to-time and this is one of those times.

Another interesting bit of hear-say is that while the only Suite eligible for Genie services is the RS, the party in the RS is traveling with 6 others NOT in the RS and still, the Genie is including those 6 in activities including reserved seats in the theater.  IMO this is sure to ruffle some feathers onboard.  I guess we’ll have to see how that goes over.

I’m on a short segment of UWC and don’t mind this at all.  Serenade and ships with the “Centrum” are “less than” in the entertainment department and normally reservations aren’t even taken.  If you paid for a RS on the UWC enjoy!  I’m just happy to be on a small part of the ride.

[ScottD]

6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Not that I know of.

Ok..I see someone blogging on the other page and they Said they won RU the night before they left and got the Royal Suite, but never mention the genie..just a room attendant 

[WAAAYTOOO]

21 minutes ago, ScottD said:

Ok..I see someone blogging on the other page and they Said they won RU the night before they left and got the Royal Suite, but never mention the genie..just a room attendant 

I think you might be thinking about a couple who won a Royal Up bid a couple of nights before sailing (island lady) but they won a GS, not the RS.

[Babsy47]

I would absolutely do the whole cruise if it comes around again.  Sadly, we have another two years to retirement.  I’m crossing my fingers for another one in or after 2026!  Also, it would be awesome for someone to blog it!

[ScottD]

9 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I think you might be thinking about a couple who won a Royal Up bid a couple of nights before sailing (island lady) but they won a GS, not the RS.

YES...that's the one!! Thank you!! I get my suites all mixed up. 

[Bazza]

16 hours ago, Zacharius said:

I think you just came up with Semester At Sea

Next RCI ship - School of the Seas (not to be mistaken for a group of fish).