MaritimeR&R

I received a call from RC and though I am only Diamond was able to make my dinner reservations for both the inaugural and my March booking. Not sure why I was selected early as I usually book a JS but am booked in an SB for both of these cruises. I am also a Club Royale member, so that and being a solo cruiser may have had something to do with it. I had no trouble getting my requested seating and time in each of the restaurants I chose for both cruises.

Can someone please tell me how the cruise points are done for solo travelers? It makes zero sense to me based on the last few cruises I have done. is it the same on all ships?

Since last October, if you sail in a double occupancy balcony or interior stateroom (there are exceptions) you will get double points for each night of sailing. If you sail in a JS or above you will get triple points.

Sailing in an SI will only earn you one point per night. This is also true for the new Quantum class SB cabins.

Your Correct, I have no Idea who you are, but judging by your posts it was rather obvious that you were typing for verbatim something out of Bernews ??? At least you reposted a

relevant link which I provided to you that a provides a comprehensive view of the intended project.

 

http://channelstudy.info/home.html

 

Enough Said, Happy Cruising :):)

Sorry to inform you that the link I posted was not provided to me from you but rather from the bookmark on my own computer. It's nice to know that you had read the information contained therewith too, but I am in the habit of following maritime events since my childhood and have been following the Study weekly for some time now.

Insofar as my syntax appearing verbatim (not "for verbatim"), my professional background does not necessitate my reliance on other people's words to disseminate information; I am quite comfortable using my own sentence structure.

I agree; enough has been said.

When your inviting folks on three different Threads within a span of an hour to view an opinion which is highly speculative in nature at best,?? Its hard to believe that the numbers

inflating game was not in place. Anyone can read a daily version of the Royal Gazette, Bermuda Sun or other various publications and form an opinion. My approach is a bit differnet than your as having traveled to this island by land and sea and having a vested financial interest in paradise for over 25+yrs :)

Since there were several threads questioning essentially the same thing, my reference to my thread on those threads was purely an efficient means to disseminate some information. I could care less about numbers as I use this website for informational purposes only and not to generate a social life.

As you say, anyone can read a daily newspaper, but some do not have the luxury of spending the time to research possible pertinent information regarding a particular topic. My sources were not limited to media publications and I chose to abstract what I had found to make it easier for other people.

Speaking of conjecture, aren't you engaging in the same thing as you know essentially nothing of my background or experience with Bermuda.

Haha no, my bad, I didn't mean slots like casinos... I meant docking slots. The limited number of ships that Bermuda allows to call in a given season. Royal wouldn't want to give up one of its coveted slots.

LOL. Never heard of them referred to as slots. I am the daughter of a merchant marine who worked aboard cruise ships for 40+ years back in the days of luxury liners that don't exist anymore. I was raised to call the slots your referred to as berths. Slots, to me, are casino games, and since Bermudian government is currently reviewing its policy on casinos, I thought that was what you were referring to.

Given the events that have transpired and Mr. Goldstein's unspecific "some weeks, not days" statement (I don't need to watch the video; I heard it live), I tend to see the rationale I put out here as less conjecture and more hypothesis.

Unlike the few who post just to see their numbers inflate, I post when I feel I have come across something that might serve the interests of this group. Such was this initial posting. Food for thought, to be consumed or ignored, but definitely not for attack!

And also slot restrictions / considerations into Bermuda... RC isn't going to want to give up its slot.

Yes, Bermudians are considering land-based casinos. A new resort that has been approved for building also wants one.

But since RCI only had the 2013 and 2014 seasons to run their casino while in port, I don't think that will be a major issue.

What is the possibility of running Explorer to Bermuda for the summer from Port Canaveral and leaving Quantum on Bahamas/Caribbean itinerary for the summer?

It's my understanding that after refurbishment, she is slated to go to Asia. Given the Bermuda conundrum though, I guess they could bring her back up north for one season. Unlikely that she would do Bermuda from PC. RC makes a lot of money from their Bermuda runs out of Bayonne -- lots of parents taking kids on summer vacations. They won't give that revenue up easily.

Good question!:D I liked that. But the answer - weeks. Not days. Not years. Weeks. Ugh!

 

Could be one week, could be 51 weeks.:D

 

oh well, at least we heard it from the "horse's mouth"

As I suspected, nothing regarding QOS to Bermuda will be resolved until after the powers that be in Bermuda have reviewed the options and studies, gotten the residents input, decided on which option they will follow through with and set the dates (likely Dec thru Feb.) for the dredging to begin.

So, unless they decide not to do the Bermuda run with QOS, it will likely be at least until the end of June. He said "some weeks" not two, or a few. Even making the decision to run QOS that early will be risky for RCI as no one can foresee any issues that may come up (weather, etc) that would delay the completion of the project within the "do-no-harm" period to the marine flora and wildlife.

He stated when questioned, "it will be some weeks, not days" before the decisions will be finalized

Labor issues have been present in Bermuda for the past 20yrs with job actions.

The local meetings with focus groups are just a formality.

Funds are already in placed and budgeted for the intended project.

(2014)

 

What does St.George and the swing Bridge and the future of the QOTS have in common??

Also keep in mind that the release of the 2015 Anthem (Fall Carrribean)was supposed to be released on 3/13/14 ?? What happened to this release date ??

 

Someone should Ask Adam about the delay of the QOS Summer 2015 season opening

I am aware that the funding has already been allocated for the the project.

Given the island's political history, I can assure you that the OBA does not view the local meetings as a formality. Insofar as the other issues I raised: true, there has always been one form or another of labor disputes on the island, however, since the OBA came into power, the power of the unions to basically shut down the island's commerce, tourism and infrastructure has strengthened greatly. The swing bridge to St. George is just another issue having to do with the ferry and tourism.

The main point of this thread was share information that could serve as possible rationale for the delay in the publication of the future QOS 2015 itineraries.

If that's really the issue I agree they should just drop Bermuda for the year. The 5 nights would then become Canada cruises, but quite frankly, people would still book them up every single week to sail on the brand new Quantum.

 

EDIT: There's also the matter of Royal having gone to the trouble of revising its deployment schedule to announce that the remainder of summer Caribbean -- which I can only assume means Quantum and Galveston since they seem to be the only ones left -- would be announced this week. Why would they do that if they were realistically planning to wait until summer? Yes, they delay delay delay every year, but they seemed perfectly content giving us no information about further Quantum deployments until they updated their schedule a couple of weeks ago... odd. Someone who is doing the Google Hangout today, please ask this question.

I received an email to join the Hangout and plan to ask, however I think that it is likely that RC will confine its answers to questions about the new dining system/venues.

In addition, I started looking for more answers after being told by several C&A loyalty reps this week that despite the updated pdf showing the remaining summer schedule to be released this week,they had received no official word with regard to the Quantum being included in that. Two of the reps stated that they believed it would be some time during the summer.

Given the current state of affairs in Bermuda - the Labor Unions at odds; friction over closing the swing bridge to St. Georges and still on-going Study, then approval of the people/government, I think there is a strong argument as to the rationale for a further delay.

One only has to review the ongoing Bermuda Channel Studies to see that we are will not see any future QOS deployments that include Bermuda until (at the earliest) summer of this year.

 

Currently, there are three remaining public town meetings to discuss the three options (one of which will be selected after all conservation, economic, and social impact studies are completed) for widening the channel and the impact of passenger flow/transportation from the port, etc. from additional larger cruise vessels such as the QOS scheduled: the first is scheduled for April 1, 2014; the second is scheduled for April 3rd, and the last is scheduled for mid April, a specific date has yet to be chosen.

 

In addition, the Heritage Wharf Impact Study Phase 2, Stage 1 is scheduled to be completed during the period April 2014-June 2014. Stage 2 of the Study has yet to be scheduled.

 

Once one of the three options has been selected and approved, dredging will likely take place during the time of year when marine life will be least affected by the sediment.

 

So what are RCI's options for Bayonne:

 

Eliminate Bermuda 2015 cruises from Bayonne (not likely)

 

Wait until mid-summer 2014 for all studies, approval, and dredging dates to have been selected (very risky)

 

Deploy another smaller vessel from Bayonne for that season (possibly)

 

In addition to Bahamas sailings, include 9 day sailings to Bermuda and Caribbean allowing them to (as per their entitlement) drop Bermuda from the itinerary

 

Publish the fall/winter 2015/2016 QOS deployments before the Summer 2015 deployments (very unorthodox)

 

Can you think of any other option?

Here is the link for further reading: http://channelstudy.info/home.html

Anyone got an educated guess on when they'll release summer itineraries for Quantum and further itineraries for Anthem?

See my thread in Quantum regarding why summer QoS sailings have not yet been announced.

Thank you for laying all that out, it was far more informative than anything I've seen so far. I wish RCC would have just said "we are waiting to see what happens with the Bermuda project before finalizing our itineraries" instead of "Coming soon!".

You are very welcome.

That is interesting as we are on the sailing right before you. Do you think perhaps the first Bermuda sailing will be on April 25...???

See my thread on why we are not likely to see QOS summer 2015 Bermuda deployment schedules anytime soon.

Interesting. I have been trying to get info on Quantum schedules for Fall 2015 for about a month. The info was going to be out a couple weeks ago and then nothing was available and there was no reason why. Thanks to your post I now know why. I hate when the representatives from the company say they don't know (and they very well may not have been told) and then people outside the company seem to have information.

 

Thanks for the post :)

Your welcome - FYI- To date the only porting for QOS is shown in St. Maarten port cruise ship schedule for Oct. 26, 2015 and November 13, 2015.

C&A will definitely get priority booking for Anthem's Caribbean, that's been pretty well confirmed. As far as Quantum... your guess is as good as mine. The difference of course is that it's only a continuation of Quantum's schedule, rather than an inaugural program (Anthem's first Caribbean season). We shall see! Wednesday is probably the day at long last, at least for Quantum Summer '15.

See my thread about why were not likely to see QOS summer 2015 soon.

One only has to review the ongoing Bermuda Channel Studies to see that we are will not see any future QOS deployments that include Bermuda until (at the earliest) summer of this year.

Currently, there are three remaining public town meetings to discuss the three options (one of which will be selected after all conservation, economic, and social impact studies are completed) for widening the channel and the impact of passenger flow/transportation from the port, etc. from additional larger cruise vessels such as the QOS scheduled: the first is scheduled for April 1, 2014; the second is scheduled for April 3rd, and the last is scheduled for mid April, a specific date has yet to be chosen.

In addition, the Heritage Wharf Impact Study Phase 2, Stage 1 is scheduled to be completed during the period April 2014-June 2014. Stage 2 of the Study has yet to be scheduled.

Once one of the three options has been selected and approved, dredging will likely take place during the time of year when marine life will be least affected by the sediment.

So what are RCI's options for Bayonne:

Eliminate Bermuda 2015 cruises from Bayonne (not likely)

Wait until mid-summer 2014 for all studies, approval, and dredging dates to have been selected (very risky)

Deploy another smaller vessel from Bayonne for that season (possibly)

In addition to Bahamas sailings, include 9 day sailings to Bermuda and Caribbean allowing them to (as per their entitlement) drop Bermuda from the itinerary

Publish the fall/winter 2015/2016 QOS deployments before the Summer 2015 deployments (very unorthodox)

Can you think of any other option?

I guess they aren't completely confident yet they can consistently sell them out to single cruisers exclusively. My guess is once they get some data, and can accurately conclude they will consistently sell out to singles, then they will make the change. But until then they're just trying to sell every cabin they can, and waiting till FP is just too late to open them.

According to the rep. they are well aware of the interest in the studios as they all sold out so quickly and there is a wait list for the sailings.

Thank you Royal Caribbean for joining Cruise Critic. It will be so nice to have a verified representative of RCI here to quell the false rumors and affirm the truths! Welcome!

Yes you can mention it now :) see you at the hangout tomorrow It will be fun!!

Got mine last night as well!

Could be, I guess we will find out tomorrow. Keeping fingers crossed for sure.

 

 

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While I am definitely anxious for the new itineraries to become available, I am also curious to see if RC took my input regarding the studios to heart.

I wrote a letter to Adam Goldstein explaining that though I typically book a JS or D1 as a solo traveler, when I had become aware that QOS would have studio balconies with no single supplement, I, like many other people, was excited and under the impression that RCI was (in addition to the double or triple points for booking solo in other cabin classes) becoming more considerate of their loyal solo travelers: not having to pay the single supplement would allow me to cruise more.

I expressed my disappointment that when these studios were made available they were designated as being available for two people (and from what I had been able to ascertain from different web sites, including CC,) had been booked by twosomes thereby forcing many solo travelers to either again pay the single supplement or run over to NCL for a better rate.

I received a phone call back from someone "representing" Mr. Goldstein who spoke to me for about a half an hour who questioned me regarding my experience as a solo traveler aboard RCI. The representative told me that the double occupancy of the studio cabins was currently being reviewed and that on future sailings it might well be restricted to single occupancy.

So, I am patiently waiting (though doubtful) to see if this is the case.

This is getting really ridiculous now. I hope you're right Dave. I know you, Ken & I have anxioulsy been awaiting this information forever!!! :eek::cool:

The email I got inviting me to the live blog tomorrow had a small note in the link:

Thank you for signing up to receive a reminder for the Quantum of the Seas® LIVE. Keep your eyes open! We'll be sending you email reminders about exciting ship features, innovative onboard experiences and new, amazing itineraries.

Perhaps this is RC's way of telling us that the new itineraries will be in a link via an email (for C & A members) before the general public.

Surely the TV screens will either be facing to the Port or Starboard and be

hooked up to camera's on the Port or Starboard Sides.

 

Otherwise Sea Sickness is guaranteed.

 

I can't see that they would be facing to the bow (front) or stern (back) as

pitching is far less a problem

 

But who knows (or care's)

I watched an interview on television in which the engineers responsible for the design and placement of the virtual balconies explained why and how they arrived at the final locations for both the cameras and the placement of the screens within the cabins. According to them, they collaborated with medical experts on the effects of visual stimulation and body movement affect the human body along with engineering experts from MIT and another top school (can't remember the name) to arrive at the placement that would most replicate the experience of a real balcony.