Frustrated about 9/2012 sailing choices from FL

[rjl13666]

A little backround: I run the sales department of a VW store in Michigan. In my business, there are only two months out of the year where i'm not clocking 65-75hrs a week at the office. September is one, and January is the other. So vacation for my wife and I has to fall into one of those two months. September is both the month of her birthday (11th...I know, I know) and our aniversary. Lucky me; when I tell her we're going on another big boat with fruity drinks, I've covered gifts for both occasions in one fell swoop.

So here is where I'm a bit upset with Royal. In my previous life I spent 10 years living in Fort Lauderdale. I have friends in the area. I know every restaurant, bar, hotel, and inch of beach for the day or 2 we'll be there before we sail. And my wife is terrified of the size of the Oasis class. She's more a Vision class kind of girl, since that was her first experience. I tend to agree. There is something to be said about the older ships and what they offer for us. Going on vacation is more relaxing when there aren't two dozen choices over where to eat, drink, or dance every day. That, and we both like that you can walk end to end on a 70k ton ship in less than 10 minutes.

So where is the option for the two of us next September? I'm familiar enough with just about any city in Florida that I know where to take her for the pre-cruise hotel stay. Carnival has so many smaller ships sailing out of every orafice of Florida that month it's incredible. I'm been on their boats too. I know the difference. But we want 5 days to pretend like we're 25 again, so a rowdy and drunken crowd isn't a problem. Rowdy and drunken can be relaxing too you know ;)

 

We also have to consider cost and length of sailing. As most of you know, RCCL makes you pay an arm and a leg for the experience. While we are fledgling C&A members who normally would gladly cough up a little more for that little more Royal offers, we have other things to consider. First, this will be the first cruise with friends. Friends with a somewhat limited budget. Even the budget we have for ourselves is more limited than in previous years At $700+ per person for interior rooms, we're out of that budget. Carnival wins again. So does an all-inclusive for that matter. Balcony's are in that price range on Carnival, and I need the peace and quiet. I deserve it. I've been a good boy. So $700 pp = balcony...I"m in. 2nd...we have a little guy at home. This will be our last vacation without children along for the next 17-18 years (I'm guessing) and the length of the vacation is a bit of a concern for us. 5 days sailing would be perfect. we would get there the day before and leave the day after. 7 days of relaxation. Not an option with our line of choice. Carnival wins again. And so does the A-I option. Before you say it; the 4 day jumps to the Bahamas isn't long enough.

 

Was there really so little business to be had in that odd month of the year that Royal felt the dueling leviathans would be enough? Yeah...I'm sure the Freedom is nice too, but still too expensive. Am I the only one who would prefer to wake up to 2100 guests instead of the floating cities? Am I done venting? (yes)

 

Someone tell them to send the Grandeur back to Florida. Just one sailing on the 10th-15th please. I'm sure every cabin will sell.

 

So I guess I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and wait until January of 2013 when there are a lot more choices. dislike.

[waterbug123]

I sympathize, BUT.... (and I mean this in the nicest possible way) you seem to want to have your cake and eat it too.

 

You are limited by when you can go (September/January only

You are limited by what you can spend

You are limited by where you can sail from (Florida only)

You are limited to a 5 day cruise exactly, nothing shorter, nothing longer

 

That's a lot of restrictions, LOL. I don't think you can really blame RC for not meeting ALL of those restrictions AND having exactly the class of ship you want. :)

 

I live in Charleston and I'd be happy if ANY Royal Caribbean ship sailed from here for ANY length cruise at ANY time of the year. ;)

[vickiw0318]

Couldn't you do four days on the Majesty from Miami and pretend it was five? That would give you a weekend in Ft. Lauderdale both before and after.

[Kugel]

You need to understand that RCL has even pulled ships out of Tampa. September is still hurricane season down here and the smaller ships like Navigator is still in Europe. The Jewel goes to Tampa on November 12th.

The Liberty which we are crossing over also comes in that day to Miami. All the ships are coming back from Europe. I like the smaller ships also but enjoyed the Oasis more than I ever thought. Take the Majesty. Next year she will be out of service also. The Liberty will be doing 4 and 5 days from Ft. Lauderdale after Nov 12th. September sees most of their ships in Europe for RCL.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

You need to understand that RCL has even pulled ships out of Tampa. September is still hurricane season down here and the smaller ships like Navigator is still in Europe. The Jewel goes to Tampa on November 12th.

The Liberty which we are crossing over also comes in that day to Miami. All the ships are coming back from Europe. I like the smaller ships also but enjoyed the Oasis more than I ever thought. Take the Majesty. Next year she will be out of service also. The Liberty will be doing 4 and 5 days from Ft. Lauderdale after Nov 12th. September sees most of their ships in Europe for RCL.

 

When will the Majesty be out of service??? I thought she just had a nice re-do.

[PCWalton1]

I sympathize, BUT.... (and I mean this in the nicest possible way) you seem to want to have your cake and eat it too.

 

You are limited by when you can go (September/January only

You are limited by what you can spend

You are limited by where you can sail from (Florida only)

You are limited to a 5 day cruise exactly, nothing shorter, nothing longer

 

That's a lot of restrictions, LOL. I don't think you can really blame RC for not meeting ALL of those restrictions AND having exactly the class of ship you want. :)

 

I live in Charleston and I'd be happy if ANY Royal Caribbean ship sailed from here for ANY length cruise at ANY time of the year. ;)

 

I think you covered in nicely. I want a new Porsche for under ten grand too. :rolleyes:

[Ashland]

I would adjust my time schedule and sail on the Liberty....I am sorry RCI has done away with the 8 nighter on a Freedom class ship out of Port Everglades and know that if they return this option I will be one of the first ones to book it again..It will continue to be my favorite cruise !!!

[jujucruisegirl]

A little backround: I run the sales department of a VW store in Michigan. In my business, there are only two months out of the year where i'm not clocking 65-75hrs a week at the office. September is one, and January is the other. So vacation for my wife and I has to fall into one of those two months. September is both the month of her birthday (11th...I know, I know) and our aniversary. Lucky me; when I tell her we're going on another big boat with fruity drinks, I've covered gifts for both occasions in one fell swoop.

So here is where I'm a bit upset with Royal. In my previous life I spent 10 years living in Fort Lauderdale. I have friends in the area. I know every restaurant, bar, hotel, and inch of beach for the day or 2 we'll be there before we sail. And my wife is terrified of the size of the Oasis class. She's more a Vision class kind of girl, since that was her first experience. I tend to agree. There is something to be said about the older ships and what they offer for us. Going on vacation is more relaxing when there aren't two dozen choices over where to eat, drink, or dance every day. That, and we both like that you can walk end to end on a 70k ton ship in less than 10 minutes.

So where is the option for the two of us next September? I'm familiar enough with just about any city in Florida that I know where to take her for the pre-cruise hotel stay. Carnival has so many smaller ships sailing out of every orafice of Florida that month it's incredible. I'm been on their boats too. I know the difference. But we want 5 days to pretend like we're 25 again, so a rowdy and drunken crowd isn't a problem. Rowdy and drunken can be relaxing too you know ;)

 

We also have to consider cost and length of sailing. As most of you know, RCCL makes you pay an arm and a leg for the experience. While we are fledgling C&A members who normally would gladly cough up a little more for that little more Royal offers, we have other things to consider. First, this will be the first cruise with friends. Friends with a somewhat limited budget. Even the budget we have for ourselves is more limited than in previous years At $700+ per person for interior rooms, we're out of that budget. Carnival wins again. So does an all-inclusive for that matter. Balcony's are in that price range on Carnival, and I need the peace and quiet. I deserve it. I've been a good boy. So $700 pp = balcony...I"m in. 2nd...we have a little guy at home. This will be our last vacation without children along for the next 17-18 years (I'm guessing) and the length of the vacation is a bit of a concern for us. 5 days sailing would be perfect. we would get there the day before and leave the day after. 7 days of relaxation. Not an option with our line of choice. Carnival wins again. And so does the A-I option. Before you say it; the 4 day jumps to the Bahamas isn't long enough.

 

Was there really so little business to be had in that odd month of the year that Royal felt the dueling leviathans would be enough? Yeah...I'm sure the Freedom is nice too, but still too expensive. Am I the only one who would prefer to wake up to 2100 guests instead of the floating cities? Am I done venting? (yes)

 

Someone tell them to send the Grandeur back to Florida. Just one sailing on the 10th-15th please. I'm sure every cabin will sell.

 

So I guess I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and wait until January of 2013 when there are a lot more choices. dislike.

How about Navigator of the Seas January 2012? Sailing out of FLL

on 6 and 8 night cruises.

[Yorkvillain]

I think you covered in nicely. I want a new Porsche for under ten grand too. :rolleyes:

 

Ha! That's better then what I was writing.

[Texas Teen]

Well, at least there are options for a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Florida during the summer months...

 

They've pulled out of the Gulf Coast during the summer months, they're pulling out of the Southern Caribbean from San Juan next summer, and they've completely pulled out of California! For some reason, they would rather send their ships to oversaturated / overcrowded Europe where fares keep getting cheaper and cheaper...

[Frostberg]

5 days is tough. I think there are enough choices for most people. I live in FL and have been on the Monarch twice this year - 3 and 4 day cruises. Oasis, Allure and Freedom all do 7 day cruises which offer a lot of choice. We are doing Freedom in a few weeks and it was much less than Allure at the time of booking. We were on the Oasis last year and would have loved to do the Allure, but we got the Freedom for $699/Oceanview and $95 from the TA along with our nextcruise $100. It was too good of a deal compared to Allure which was around $1099 for an oceanview or $1399/balcony when I booked. Maybe you could do a 7 day on the Freedom. If you work 75/hrs a week you deserve a 7 day cruise!

[firefly333]

I just got home from Oasis and can tell you its a great cruise. It will cure your cruise blues.

 

I live in Texas and wish we had even one RCL choise .. any cruise length. Im planning on booking another cruise on Conquest out of New Orleans next .. only because I can drive to it. No RCL choices except during the winter.

[sherilyn70]

A little backround: I run the sales department of a VW store in Michigan.

 

To put this in perspective (i'm assuming VW means Volkswagen) ask yourself how you would handle your customers objections when the present you a list of what you don't have to offer versus another product line. What would you ask them to do? Then follow that very same advice. You should be good at handling situations like this if you run a sales department.

[rjl13666]

oh...I know I'm being a baby about this. I"m not going to deny that for a second. I can always go in January. Let's face it...getting out of Michigan in winter would be more appealing than leaving when it's still golfing weather here anyway.

 

But I am really suprised at the lack of ships they have in this part of the world at this time. It may be one month, but I'm guessing that Carnival either doesn't trust their older ships will fill elsewhere, or they have so many on active duty that they can't make a business case for sending 3-4 more to the Mediteranean (or elsewhere).

 

I think the obvious choice is to do both a short bahama trip with friends in September, and then a good one in January too ;)

 

I do have to say that going on a cruise has its beneftis. We all know it's hurricane season. If that is the only time I can make it to the Caribbean, then I'd rather be on a moving target than some beach crossing my fingers. who doesn't love sea days?

[waterbug123]

 

But I am really suprised at the lack of ships they have in this part of the world at this time.

 

To put it in perspective, they have 22 (?) ships. 5 of them are in Florida in September....Oasis, Allure, Freedom, Monarch and Majesty. Maybe even another, I'm not sure. That's almost 25% of their fleet sailing from ONE state. Meanwhile, there are people in CA screaming for an RC ship to home port there again, there are people on the Gulf Coast who want RC, and there are people up and down the Eastern seaboard who want RC ships, from Charleston to Baltimore to New York to Boston. People want them in Europe, they want them in Hawaii, they want them in the Med, and they want them in the far East. Honestly? I think 5 ships sailing out of Florida is a pretty good selection, all things considered.

[Ander026]

Well you can always book the Monarch out of Port Canaveral and enjoy a few days at Disney or Universal while on vacation. Port Canaveral is a great and easy port to sail from

[WillWorkForCruise121]

My wife and I are in a similar situation as far as the time of year I can go and the length of the cruise.... we opted for 5 nights on the liberty of the seas January 30th. For the class of ship I thought it wasn't bad 449 pp for a promenade room. Carnival was about 499 for 6 nights on the freedom for an oceanview. Almost did that but the ships do not even compare! We are really excited to give it a try . The ship looks amazing! With the money you can save on a January sailing you can get a good gift in September ;-)

[rjl13666]

With the money you can save on a January sailing you can get a good gift in September ;-)

 

Oh...I've thought of that too! But what to get? I was thinking a new water-proof camera. We never take enough pictures when we go on adventures because she is afraid to bring the really nice camera i got for her 3 vacations ago. I"m pretty sure there are more photos of us in tropical places on other people's hard drives than on ours!

[madelinerose]

.And my wife is terrified of the size of the Oasis class.

 

... she is afraid to bring the really nice camera...

 

oh...I know I'm being a baby about this. I"m not going to deny that for a second.

 

Pick a cruise. Book a cruise. Done. Just sayin'.

[WillWorkForCruise121]

Oh...I've thought of that too! But what to get? I was thinking a new water-proof camera. We never take enough pictures when we go on adventures because she is afraid to bring the really nice camera i got for her 3 vacations ago. I"m pretty sure there are more photos of us in tropical places on other people's hard drives than on ours!

 

Sounds like a good idea.... Costco had one for around $150 that's waterproof to 12 ft I believe... I thought about picking it up for our trip.

[rjl13666]

Thanks...I'll take a look next time I"m in Costco.