ThirdGenCruiser

I was on from Cape Town to Barcelona, but to be honest I think I was too exhausted from the back-to-back-to-back port days to notice the vibe change after Rome 😴. But the ship was certainly much more busy after Ravenna compared to the African segment before. The Rome to Barcelona 9-night sailing was among the shortest of the 17. Perhaps this short length didn't help? I mean think about the difference between a regular 3 vs 7 night cruise. I do wonder what the ambience would have been like for the other 9-nighter between Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Personally, I'd like the next world cruise to still allow booking a portion of the full itinerary. Could the solution be to have longer (but fewer) sailings overall?

This week on the Serenade of the Seas Ultimate World Cruise, CEO Michael Bayley suggested 2026 or 2027 for a South Pacific Royal Beach Club - possible connection with Lelepa? Refer 36:06:

Yes, all of Segment 3's minis except for the first sailing (starting in Cape Town instead of Dubai). I wasn't ready to leave in Barcelona, but also thankful to catch up on some much needed sleep (with only one sea day between June 17th to July 10th and the rest being port days). 🙂

So many great bartenders on the UWC (for the four sailings I was on for). Not only Reynold, but also Yongki, Melanie, Lester, Jeanevic, Kadek and Czar. All of them would see me coming and know what I was about to order 😁.

I recently visited Dakar in Senegal on Serenade of the Seas last month without arranging a visa in advance. Pre-cruise, I also came across conflicting information about Visa requirements for Australian citizens. Neither the Senegal Embassy in Tokyo or CIBTvisas (suggested by RCI customer outreach) could clarify since they never responded to my enquiry. Once onboard, Serenade guest services said that as an Australian citizen I did not need to organise a visa for Senegal. I was able to get off the ship in Dakar, no problem. Phew! It is worth mentioning that the Africa West Coast was not Serenade's originally advertised itinerary and some cruisers were already onboard prior to the change (as it is a world cruise).

Oh, interesting. I guess it must be a late show then to cater for both early and late seating diners.

I have seen reports that there are only 700-800 guests onboard for the current Dubai to Cape Town sailing. If true that must be one spacious ship! 🙂

Fortunate to have sailed aboard (the original) Legend of the Seas when it repositioned from Australia to Hong Kong in 2016. As for reusing retired ship names for new builds... that could make for confusing discussions among past cruisers! E.g. 'How was the Legend's ice show?', 'Uhh... what ice show?' 😆

For the upcoming Royal Caribbean Ultimate World Cruise that will sail up the west coast of Africa (northbound), at an onboard meeting it was said that some of the countries will require the YFV to be allowed on shore (those with exemptions would stay onboard in places that do not recognise them). However, the exact countries were not disclosed. You may like to watch it yourself as someone kindly uploaded this meeting YouTube (10:23 to 11:06):

@Tatra603 This video from on onboard town hall meeting discussed Visas (5:27 to 7:29): TL;DR: the ship will organise visas for Ghana, and for other countries it is case by case where guests should reach out to Royal Caribbean to discuss individually.

@Chiliburn Regarding Africa, Royal Caribbean's Ultimate World Cruise has changed course (sailing May/June 2024). Previously: 18 nights Dubai to Athens via Suez Canal 11 nights Athens to Istanbul 13 nights Istanbul to Ravenna Now: 18 nights Dubai to Cape Town 24 nights Cape Town to Ravenna The revised UWC itinerary as at 1 March was: Since then, the UWC has switched Ivory Coast with a second port in Ghana due to strict visa and vaccine requirements. Ghana requires visas for all guests and all onboard must be vaccinated against yellow fever (even if not getting off the ship). I am not sure that Anthem or Voyager would call at Ghana and Ivory Coast because of this.

By the way, should the title of this discussion be 2025/26 season?

@Chiliburn

Itineraries originally shared by @Jumping Cruiser in the 2025-2026 RCI deployment discussion: Voyager from Brisbane: https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/Australia/VY_2025-2026_Australia_Deployment Anthem from Sydney: https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/Australia/AN_2025-2026_Australia_Deployment

Speaking of Fiji, it would be cool if Royal Caribbean would call there during the 2025/2026 season (or beyond).