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11/7/17 announcement


mworkman

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Wonder what the Oasis refurb will bring/eliminate.

I recall the CD at the Captain's Corner saying Wonderland would finally be installed. That would mean the Diamond Lounge relocated, going to guess a setup like Harmony on 4.

Then I wonder if they will add Symphony features like the Sports Bar and such. Would be sad if they replace the Champagne Bar with the Bionic Bar. Plus I would hope they add the RFID tech.

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27 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

Any idea what/where is happening to Majesty in all of this? What about Empress?

Last I heard, Majesty was going in to dry dock in February 2018 but nothing after that*.  Maybe she's going to take Empress's place on the Cuba runs?

From what I can find, looks like Majesty resumes her Nassau itinerary in March & April, but nothing's coming up after that.

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1 minute ago, monctonguy said:

What about Tampa...no ships listed any longer out of Tampa and the 2 ships  based there show out of Europe....any chance Empress or Majesty may  move to Tampa?

@monctonguy, I noticed that on the infographic / map that was in Matt's post, it said that this was only the Summer itineraries, and the rest of the announcement also seems to be centered on summer destinations. So maybe Empress and Majesty will be in Tampa for the Winter season? Whenever that's announced?

I tried looking on the RCI site for that infographic, just to see if there was a second one for Winter, but the map isn't on the page announcing those 2019-20 plans.

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37 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

How do C&A members take advantage of booking one day ahead?  Do you have to call them?

Call in.  Your better bet is to work with a travel agent.

35 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

Any idea what/where is happening to Majesty in all of this? What about Empress?

 

And I don't see any ships listed out of the port of Miami?!!

No mention of either ship in the report, or other ships (Quantum, Explorer, et al).  I'm not reading too much into that other than they aren't changing much, and/or hasnt been determined yet.

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Guest toodle68

We are planning an Alaskan cruise in 2019 and the thought of doing such a cruise on a quantum class ship with 5000 people just fills me with dread.  I assume the prices would be cheaper but would be in/out of Seattle and not doing the 1 ways from Seward..

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2 minutes ago, toodle68 said:

We are planning an Alaskan cruise in 2019 and the thought of doing such a cruise on a quantum class ship with 5000 people just fills me with dread.  I assume the prices would be cheaper but would be in/out of Seattle and not doing the 1 ways from Seward..

Good point!!  At first I was excited about the big boat coming to Alaska as i really want to go there, but your post got me thinking...perhaps the real secret is to shoot for the smallest ship possible and cut down on the crowds during excursions!

 

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3 hours ago, jce2 said:

Good point!!  At first I was excited about the big boat coming to Alaska as i really want to go there, but your post got me thinking...perhaps the real secret is to shoot for the smallest ship possible and cut down on the crowds during excursions!

 

Also remember that a Quantum class ship is so huge that it can't navigate the narrow channels the small ships routinely go through. That means you won't get to see as much of the wilderness, get as close to the glaciers, and so on.

Between that fact and the massively larger number of passengers, you'll definitely find me booking Radiance or Jewel; even Explorer is a bit too big in my book, and I recall one podcast discussing the arrival of Explorer to Alaska, and that even that ship can't go to all the places the Radiance class goes on an Alaskan itinerary.

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32 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Also remember that a Quantum class ship is so huge that it can't navigate the narrow channels the small ships routinely go through. That means you won't get to see as much of the wilderness, get as close to the glaciers, and so on.

Between that fact and the massively larger number of passengers, you'll definitely find me booking Radiance or Jewel; even Explorer is a bit too big in my book, and I recall one podcast discussing the arrival of Explorer to Alaska, and that even that ship can't go to all the places the Radiance class goes on an Alaskan itinerary.

I actually watched a 4 part youtube some guy made on a radiance Alaskan cruise and it looked like a beautiful ship.  My only problem with a Alaskan cruise will be figuring out where to "cut corners".  Probably will forego a balcony room and just plan on lots of time on deck or windowed areas of the ship.  Would rather spend my money on the excursions

[ I know, a bit off-topic sorry ]

 

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4 hours ago, jce2 said:

My only problem with a Alaskan cruise will be figuring out where to "cut corners".  Probably will forego a balcony room and just plan on lots of time on deck or windowed areas of the ship.  Would rather spend my money on the excursions  

 

That’s what we are doing for RCblog Alaska group cruise. We booked a Panoramic OV that was $1000 less than balcony. That extra $ covered the airfare i just booked and leaves enough leftover for an excursion too. 

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8 hours ago, toodle68 said:

We are planning an Alaskan cruise in 2019 and the thought of doing such a cruise on a quantum class ship with 5000 people just fills me with dread.  I assume the prices would be cheaper but would be in/out of Seattle and not doing the 1 ways from Seward..

I'd love to do an Alaskan cruise on Explorer, or Ovation.  However, I'd like to do the one way on Radiance first, as it includes Seward.  A second trip would be for a bigger ship, more for the ambiance of being in Alaska, over the ports/excursions.

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4 hours ago, jce2 said:

My only problem with a Alaskan cruise will be figuring out where to "cut corners".  Probably will forego a balcony room and just plan on lots of time on deck or windowed areas of the ship.  Would rather spend my money on the excursions

Excellent strategy.  I did a Celebrity Alaska cruise in June.  I had a great suite with larger balcony but I hardly used it.  I was out of the cabin and all over the ship, much like Caribbean.   At the time I thought to myself, okay that was nice, but if I do Alaska again, I'm going inside or ocean view.  I did splurge on excursions this past cruise and so glad I did.  To see Alaska you need excursions.  Otherwise you will end up like so many that write poor reviews for Alaska ports offering "same old jewelry stores" .  To experience Alaska you need to get out of the port area and excursions are the way to do that.  However that was an expensive vacation.  

I'm on the group cruise to Alaska in June 2018.  I booked an inside virtual balcony.  I plan to spend a good bit on excursions and while planning this year's cruise I had to choose between some excursions.  On next year's group cruise I can try my alternate excursions I missed this year.  

I did a helicopter to a glacier this year and the must do train in Skagway.  Next year seaplanes, dog sleds or maybe a hike to a glacier.  The money I saved on the cabin will pay for the excursions.    

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NCL Bliss is poised to enter service in 2018 and is heading to Alaska in 2018.  I suspect this was motivation for RCI to bring a bigger and newer ship to Alaska.  Bliss holds 4,000 at double occupancy and is 167,800 GT.  Ovation is basically the same size - slightly bigger with approx. 200 more passengers on board assuming double occupancy.

So I guess we can see how Bliss does with tendering this coming season as a forecast for Ovation in 2019.

Competition is a good thing!

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