mjsshipboy

Seems funny that it seems to be renamed "Brilliant of the Seas", I thought Royal had "Of the Seas" trademarked and is remarkably close to one of their ship names!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Under the new regulations Royal Caribbean can sail to Cuba if it does People to People cruises.

As I said in the next paragraph, unless they do something along the lines of Fathom...

All this ideas about US ports do not make sense. RCI would not make such a special move just to go back to one of the old US ports for former or slightly modified itenaries.

 

The purpose of Empress must be Cuba cruises and if homeporting in the US is not possible due to legal requirements she will start e.g. in the Domenican Republik or Jamaica similar to European cruise lines do it. In this case no cultural purpose like with Fathom needs to be added.

The Cuba situation is nothing to do with where the ship homeports. As Royal Caribbean is a US based company, it cannot sail to Cuba under current laws, regardless of the itinerary, homeport or nationality of staff or guests onboard.

Pullmantur used to sail into Cuba but had to cancel those itineraries at the last minute when purchased by Royal, even though it was a Spanish Cruise Line, as it was owned by a company registered in the USA. So - unless the laws are about to change further or Royal are going to do something along the lines of Fathom, Empress will NOT go to Cuba. Yet.

Currently the only ships that visit Cuba are European owned.

I personally see Los Angeles and a return to the 3/4 itinerary a more likely option, or an exotic Caribbean run.

With some of the smallest cabins at sea at few balconies, there is no way that she would ever work at Azamara...

Her double occupancy capacity is about 1800, with total capacity at about 2000. VERY high density for a modern ship.

Personally I think if she IS leaving Pullmantur, she'll go to Asia for sky sea, Royal's Chinese Cruise Line that uses the old Celebrity Century...

I wait til USA Today or Daily Mail posts about before panicking - So for neither has. (Both seem to be cruise lines 1st choice to report news follow by Cruise Critic)

 

Sent from my SGH-T399 using Tapatalk

http://cruisefever.net/0701-norwegian-cruise-line-parts-ways-with-nickelodeon/

And here's your confirmation.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dream is contracted til 2020. So she's going nowhere.

As for the fleet... Economy of scale. At the moment, excluding Dream, you have Spirit, Celebration, Majesty and Island Escape. In total, those 4 ships can carry 5504 passengers.

If you take just Mein Schiff 1 & 2 and Thomson Discovery, you have 5832 berths. Plus more economical ships, with more opportunities for onboard revenue. 3 ships versus 4 means one less Captain, one less Hotel Manager etc. so over heads will be lower.

Thomson will always be limited on their capacity because of the air capacity of their own airline.

Now the ships are Thomson/tho owned, I doubt you will see any ship laid up in the winter, like Island Escape and Spirit have been.

Tui Germany now have a ship in Dubai in the winter and are going to Asia too. So with one Thomson ship in the Canaries, two in the Caribbean... Where will the 4th go in winter?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In their earnings call, TUI announced today that operations in all countries will be rebranded as TUI, meanbing the end of Thomson and First Choice.

They have said that the UK operations will be the last to be rebranded fully, due to the size of the business and they can learn from the rebranding of the smaller operations in other countries, although the rebranding will be phased in over the next three years.

So... Thomson is all-but gone, welcome to TUI Cruises UK... so, will the Discovery be launched as TUI Discovery? It would seem silly to launch a ship knowing that it would need to be renamed in a couple of years.....

I've been reading the new brochure and on the ships comparison page it gives the capacity of the show lounges, and with two shows 472 people would not get a seat on Discovery. On Spirit, Dream, and Celebration there are enough seats for everyone on the ship. In my experience the lounges are always full for the shows. Also it isn't theatre seating so you probably won't be able to see from half of the seats anyway. I think this will be a problem. You'll probably have to reserve your seat after lunch rather than dinner!:eek:

 

 

 

Majesty hasn't got full capacity either but they don't do shows and I haven't sailed on her so I can't comment.

Majesty has a show team and does many of the same shows that the other ships do, albeit scaled down!

Also, the theatre on the Splendour has EXCELLENT sight lines with not one pillar in the entire room. Every seat has 100% view of the stage... And it also has theatre seating, like the front section of the Dream's theatre, not lounge seating like you seeing older ships. Where are you getting your facts from? Royal Caribbean have successfully run the ship with 2 shows a night for 20 years, so I can't see it being a big issue unless they're adding 200 extra cabins. Which they're not.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And you know this how?

 

What exactly is your source?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

From an NCL/Nick employee who is onboard a ship at present.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NCL will be ending their agreement with Nickelodeon within the next year. I've no info on dates etc. but I know the contract has not been renewed. I don't know if this is by the choice of Norwegian or Nickelodeon.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would imagine after Splendour finishes its final cruise for Royal, she will go and dry dock in Cadiz. This has been used for big ship renovations by Royal Caribbean (amongst others). I would imagine a 28 night dry dock. Splendour won't need THAT much work as she just had a huge renovation.

The branding will need to be changed, UK square pin sockets involved in cabins and casino changes.... Unless TUI want to completely reinvent the ship as they did with the ex-Celebrity ships for Germany. I don't think we are in any fear of just having a red smiley face on the funnel and sailing her out, if TUI are serious about changing the image of Thomson Cruises.

An inaugural sailing out of Southampton sailing down to Palma might be nice.

Splendour would be a great ship to do Northern Europe. She did that run for Royal for many years and is modern enough to meet eco requirements. She also has an indoor lounge and lots of glass-filled lounges to sit and watch the world go by.

All will be revealed in due course, I suppose!

Here is a video of Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas shortly after her refurbishment a couple of years ago....

It will be interesting to see which of the onboard concepts and venues stay with the ship when she moves to Thomson, what will be removed and what will be added.

The Mein Schiff 1 & 2 are scheduled until spring 2017 on the Tui website.

It wouldn't be a horrid idea to bring them over. Royal Caribbean did a really nice job of the redesign and made them into very modern and funky-looking ships for Tui.

I forsee 2017 bringing at least one, if not 2 new ships to Thomson, maybe Legend from Royal Caribbean and Mein Schiff 1?

Someone else mentioned it would be nice for a theme to the names.

I said on another page that musical names would be nice...

Thomson Serenade

Thomson Melody

Thomson Harmony

Thomson Rhapsody

Thomson Symphony

Most definitely I think, at least another for 2017 would be my guess.

 

Here's what I think their plan will be. Get another couple of the Vision class ships from RCL to replace Spirit and Majesty as I doubt they will keep their relationship with Louis under this new restructure.

 

Then announce a couple of new builds which will then replace Dream and Celebration.

I do not foresee any new builds for Thomson. The vIsion class from Royal comprises of 6 ships and will migrate over, in my opinion.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One shall wait, and one shall sea Darling.

 

the casino will be a fraction of the size it is now.

 

That was revealed as an "Exclusive" by me yesterday, and I am glad that You agree with me today.

 

 

 

There is also a possability of the Legend of the Seas leaving the RCCL fleet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Well, if my source is correct, it will be a lot more than just the Legend leaving Royal. They have an aggressive new build plan and older (by Royal standards) tonnage will go.

I foresee Thomson cutting ties with Louis and going to a fleet owned by the TUI Group through their partnership with Royal Caribbean.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi darling. I broke the news on this very subject yesterday.

 

there will be NO rock climbing wall, and the Casino will be made smaller.

 

 

 

Do keep up Darling Stevio:D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Unless you can reference your source material, your breaking news has no merit.

News networks normally have to have two official sources before running a story.

I agree, I think the casino will be reduced, British people just don't have the same passion for gambling as Americans.

The location of the Casino on Splendour is adjacent to the pub/piano bar, it would make sense to enlarge that and maybe even, as someone suggested earlier, have a food offering in the pub.

The rock-climbing wall..... That could go either way, but it has been mentioned in the press releases..

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I doubt they'll use Splendour, although it isn't horrible... Only Majesty kept it's pre-Thomson name. I think, Especially as Splendour of the Seas is well patronized by the Brits at the moment, it would be wise to rebrand it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Apparently Royal decided not to renew the Hairspray contract, for now, so it won't be reappearing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thomson Serenade

Thomson Melody

Thomson Symphony

I like musical names!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With Splendour of the Seas coming over next year, what name would suit this new addition to the Thomson fleet?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really don't like either name... they just don't roll off of the tongue very well... the ex-HAL ships may be more elegant ships than former Carnival and Ocean Village tonnage, but I think that Aria and Eden is stretching it a bit....

I never did get around to entering.... I wanted Pacific Surf and Pacific Wave.

But I will probably never sail P&O Oz, so it doesn't affect me. I am concerned what the HAL ships will look like in the all-white P&O Livery.

OK, time to guess what the two new P&O Australia ships will be called... will they recycle old names (Sun, Star, Sky) or go for something new?

I think it would be nice if they just rotated their shows around the different ships some. The cast already changes out every 6 (IIRC) months anyways.

 

I enjoyed Hairspray the first time I was on Oasis, but felt no need to see it again the second time. I also skipped Come Fly With Me the second, which I didn't really care for. I really like going to shows on ships, but I've kind of decided I have to not repeat ships to avoid seeing the same show.

So you go on a different ship and see the same shows?

It is a HUGE task to move a show from one ship to another. And guess who pays for that move.... the passenger.