BecAus

Thank you for your insights, appreciate it. It’s a wait & see I guess. I knew when we booked it that it would depend on current world events closer to the time. As we were on the segment of the WC that had to reroute around Africa we are somewhat familiar with the scenario. We did part of the reroute - Dubai to Cape Town but then hopped off & rejoined in Ravenna. I was just having trouble working out where it’s likely the change would occur from & then where it would get back on track. Cheers

Trying to understand this and struggling with it 🤪 How would this affect the Voyager sailings: 14n Rome to Dubai - November 3rd to 17th 2025 and 14n Dubai to Singapore - November 17th to December 1st 2025. (She then continues from Singapore to Brisbane but as we live in Perth it is just as easy for us to fly home from Singapore rather than Brisbane. We're also doing the Singapore to Brisbane in November this year on Quantum so didn't really need to repeat that sailing.) In your opinion would the above mean that one or both of these sailings would be cancelled? I booked both these Voyager sailings recently as a B2B (well, not that recent I guess - I booked them with Next Cruise at the start of our segment 3 sailing on the WC on Serenade back in mid May.) I'd appreciate any insight / speculation you could offer, thanks 🙂

From what I saw of Mr Bayley’s comments when asked about the WC on the recent President’s Cruise I think this is what they might do. He said the FWC was extremely complicated and massively expensive for the company! I believe he said they were talking about the possibility of another one but (IIRC) it would probably be shorter in length.

Monday July 8th We are docked in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Oasis is docked across from us here (our first time seeing an Oasis class ship as they don’t send those down our way!) We did a 4hr private tour with a group from the ship to the village of Valldemossa and then a visit inside the Santa Maria Cathedral of Mallorca and photo stop at Bellver Castle which is now a museum. Oasis just backed out of the port right alongside of us - there was a lot of horn blowing / goodbye’s between the two ships which was pretty cool - we’re up on Dk 13 in the Viking Lounge watching!

Sunday July 7th Today we were in Provence, France docked in the Port of Toulon We did a tour with RCI that was quite enjoyable and interesting that went to 3 places: Sanary-Sur-Mer / Marseille/ LeCastellet. A lot of FWC’s were on this tour. We had a short port day with all aboard at 3.30pm so I think most people went with RCI if doing a full day out. Tours met in the theatre at 7am and left the dock at 7.30am.

Not sure really, we’re from Aus so not familiar with the ports. The private groups from the ship we were maybe going to join had it that way around (Monaco from Cannes) so I guess that’s why I did it that way. I thought I’d read there was more to do from Nice and not a lot to do in Cannes After going there, I agree, probably would have been easier from Villefranche : )

Saturday 6th July Tendered at the Port of Villefranche (Nice). We did a tour with RCI to the village of Eze and Old Town Nice. It certainly wasn’t our best tour with RCI, 35 people was way too many for this type of walking tour! Eze was a lovely village up on a hill but ALOT of steps to get up there. Old Town nice was nice too but just too big a group for the narrow alleys. Villefranche Villefranche Villefranche Eze Eze Eze Nice - office building! Nice Nice Nice

Friday July 5th Tendered at the Port of Cannes - large local ferries used to tender to shore We took a RCI excursion to Monaco and Monte Carlo - traffic was terrible so it was a VERY long journey to get there (over 2hrs) likely our only chance to ever get there so it was good to go see it. We arrived back to port ~ 1.5 hrs late though at 6.30pm - last tender scheduled for 7pm. On the drive to Monaco - through Nice The gardens on Rock of Monaco Lots of references to Grace Kelly around The church where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier were married and later laid to rest This lady was doing a photo shoot with her cat in front of the Palace - the pram in front is for the cat! They were visiting from Italy The view looking from the Palace Square on Rock of Monaco across to Monte Carlo The Palace Statue of Princess Grace in the gardens The Opera House behind the Casino in Monte Carlo Monte Carlo Casino outside and inside the foyer

Thursday July 4th Ajaccio, Corsica - birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte We were docked right in the centre of town

Sorry, not much posting been going on. This leg is very port intensive. I last posted we were in Malta on Friday June 28th. Saturday saw us in Catania, Sicily - although we had to tender at Siracusa, about 45 - 1 hour south. We took a RCI tour to look at Catania Sunday June 30th we were back in Naples. On our side trip a few weeks ago we went to Herculaneum. Today we joined a private group from the ship and did a tour driving down the Amalfi Coast, stopped for lunch in Sorrento and then Pompeii. Stunning scenery! It was a little warm at Pompeii unfortunately but still interesting but we glad to get back in the a/c van! Monday July 1st we were docked in Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. As we did Rome for 3 days on our side trip we didn’t get off to go into Rome. We did have an excursion to the countryside booked with RCI but it was cancelled due to lack of interest, we were happy to have a rest day! This was the end of a mini leg so there was a changeover of ~ 1200 guests. Most of the full WC’s had an included excursion here to the Colosseum - I mostly heard it was a good but long day. Sail away was supposed to be 8pm but the last of those guests returned at 8.45pm! Lucky they were with Royal! _______________________________ Tuesday July 2nd we were in Florence - well, the port of Carrara anyway which is about a 1h 45m drive from there! We did an 11hr tour with a private group from the ship to Florence and Pisa. It was a good day but long and tiring! Wednesday July 3rd was the tender port of Portofino, Italy. We did a RCI tour to Genova which involved a tender ride from the ship (on a large local ferry), another ferry ride from Portofino across to Santa Margherita and then a coach ride to Genova. Another very pretty place, all three were. Today, 4th of July - Happy Independence Day! - we are in Ajaccio, Corsica - the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. It’s after 10am so I need to get out of my pj’s now so we can get off and wander around! Looks to be a beautiful day outside again. Enjoy your Independence Day!

We did a tour with a private group from the ship - ‘Legacy of the Knights’ of Malta telling of their history here. Unfortunately, I am not one who retains information so I hope you don’t have questions 🤷‍♀️ (I did see ‘’many of you on here’s’’ friend John was on the tour so I’m sure he could offer more insight in to what we all saw - I hope he doesn’t mind me mentioning that!) My main take away was all the beautiful old buildings we saw - we visited some of the Old Town / residential areas & then the more modern Valletta. It was very crowded in Valletta!

We had a sea day Thursday & then Valletta, Malta 🇲🇹 on Friday We woke up & looked out the balcony window to beautiful buildings as we sailed in - reminded me very much of our stay in Cairo a few weeks ago, the color & style of the buildings in particular

Some photos leaving Montenegro, really pretty place! Its quite a long sail in through some narrow fjords to reach Kotor.

Wednesday saw us tendering at the delightful port of Kotor, Montenegro A very pretty place surrounded by hills. We did a tour with a private group from the ship. From Kotor we went over the mountain range through a series of 25 hairpin turns for a lovely view looking down below, stopping in the towns of Cetinje and Budva before heading back to Kotor. Beautiful scenery & sights all around!

The last 3 days we spent in Croatia: Zadar / Split / Dubrovnik - beautiful country! My husband’s family is from here - he’s been before but I haven’t. I didn’t get off in Zadar, had a rest day, but Split & Dubrovnik were really nice! Lots of Game of Thrones references but I’ve never watched it so didn’t mean much to me & lots of ‘duck boutiques’? Split - including a visit to Diocletian’s Palace Dubrovnik We rode these ATV buggies up the top of the cable car - ~ 1/2hr to viewpoints higher up overlooking Dubrovnik & Serenade docked below Leaving Croatia - heading to Kotor, Montenegro - our next stop, a tender port

Saturday saw us in Koper, Slovenia. We took a trip up to Lake Bled and stopped in at the town of Ljubljana on the way back. Traffic was horrendous on the way back to the ship as school had just broken up for the year and the guide said families move to the coast for the holidays. Below is the town of Ljubljana The dragon bridge My husband’s lunch, we call these chevups at home This pink building in Ljubljana is supposed to resemble a beehive? Koper’s main square near the cruise ship terminal A church next to the clock tower with a very large organ inside

Yes he is!

We arrived back onboard yesterday in Ravenna after a 24n trip interruption, disembarking in Cape Town to head off & do some other things while they sailed up the west coast of Africa: Kruger Safari / Cairo / 4n Rome / 7n on Odyssey - Santorini, Mykonos, Ephesus, Naples - / Venice / Bologna / Ravenna. Everything went to plan (on the most part) but we’re glad to be back onboard & fully unpack till we disembark in Barcelona in 20n. Ravenna was a really lovely little town, we did a walking tour to see the mosaics. Today we are in Trieste, berthed right in the centre of town. We got off and wandered around for a while and had some lunch - some really beautiful old buildings here! Having a drink in the Vortex lounge & saw something up here that I haven’t seen happening before…… Mosaics around Ravenna Below is a lovely Church in Ravenna - San Francesco - under the alter at the front, through the arch is a very old crypt - now constantly covered by water Through the water you can see the original mosaics & there are goldfish swimming around The lovely old buildings in Trieste Serenade berthed right in the centre of Trieste The video I took was too big to load but first time I’ve seen the bar rotating up here - recently fixed I’m told

Our arrival into beautiful Cape Town

Some other photos from the ship: Had to get my glasses back off the (?) rabbit before we left yesterday The sunset as we were catching the tender back to the ship Africa cake the talented staff had done in the WJ The beautiful moon as we were departing Mossel Bay Today we are in Cape Town. We are hanging around off the Cape of Good Hope at the moment. Our arrival into CT got pushed back a bit several months ago, perhaps due to port traffic?, and we aren’t due to dock till 11am this morning.

We had a nice day yesterday in Mossel Bay. They finally got the first tender away about 9.45am, the delay due to the swell and then determining whether they could tender. They could only use one side of the ship and only 65pax a tender. Some guests went along the coast, called the Garden Route, to visit a town called Knysna. Others went to a game park. We took a tour with RCI and went up the mountains to a town called Oudtshoorn. It is where they do a lot of their agricultural growing (we are growers so it was of interest to us) Saw a lot of different farms including some really large ostrich farms. They gave us afternoon tea at a lovely hotel up there. We went up the Robinson Pass and back down the Outeniqua Pass. The scenery in the mountains was stunning but a bit sickening looking at the huge drop off right next to the road!

They’ve said they can tender but only on one side of the ship, using only two tenders and capacity will be reduced to 65 passengers/tender for safety so it will be a slower process than normal. They did say it will be a bumpy ride in! We have a RCI tour but not till 1pm (tender about 12 noon) so hopefully some of the backlog will clear by then. Being a RCI tour (although we were supposed to meet on the pier) I guess they will get us on to the tender on time either way.

Captain just made an announcement - there is some issues with the tendering. You can feel some ? light wind pushing against the ship causing some swell. They are lowering a test tender on the calmer side of the ship to do a trial run to the dock to determine whether it is safe to do tender operations or whether they will have to cancel - it’s a wait & see…

I hope the pictures are posting ok - it’s hard to tell as I only have my phone with me Will do - not too many as I don’t want to annoy or distract people as this is the UWC thread. We go to Kruger / Sabi Sands then Cairo for a couple of days before heading to Rome and Odyssey for a week to hit some of the ports we’ve had to miss and rejoin June 20th. Gotta think about packing today for the 24n off. Not looking forward to that part! Side note: not sure if they’ve started tendering here in Mossel Bay yet, it’s after 8am. They seem to be having trouble with the tender dock, certainly the one on our side anyway 🤷‍♀️

Yesterday (Friday) was our first stop in South Africa at Port Elizabeth Immigration officials came on-board and a face to face inspection and passport stamp was done in the Safari Club - super quick and easy and no wait. We were off to the Addo Elephant National Park which was a 1/2 hr drive. We booked a private tour & ended up with 3 other couples from the ship who were a really fun and lovely group of people. Saw a lot of guests from the ship here. Others went to other game reserves in the area and some guests left on 2n RCI excursions to various parks in the area. We saw quite a lot of different animals including: elephants (of course), warthogs, zebra, hyena, water buffalo, monkeys, kudu, impala, ostriches and lots of birdlife. We never spotted the lion, cheetah or rhinos. The park is 630 sq miles and they have only a few of these so you are lucky if you see them. The animals in Addo are all just roaming freely and it was fun trying to spot them. We stopped for lunch at the restaurant and I can easily say it was one of the best beef burgers we’ve ever had! The lookout overlooking the park - guess you can’t say they didn’t warn you! It was a fun day out! We head to Kruger and Sabi Sands when we get off for a few weeks in Cape Town so will hope to see more of the Big 5 then. Today we will be at a tender port, Mossel Bay, and on to Cape Town tomorrow for an overnight stay. We will get off on the 2nd day after doing a tour on Day 1.