Anthem coming to Southampton

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Sadly the other competitors deploy better ships on these itineraries!! :mad:

Why doesn't RCI use a Radiance-class ship for these cruises???

 

I would argue that you are wrong. RCI just spent a pretty penny giving the Legend a top to toe makeover adding specialty restaurants, new cabins, more balconies, new bars/lounges, concierge club, diamond club, aerial entertainment in atrium, and more. This class of ship is perfect for 10-11 night Caribbean cruising and can compete strongly against anything HAL and Princess have to offer. Sister brand Celebrity has the Equinox on similar runs, and while they compete against each other, both brands and ships can easily hold their own. RCI has used a Radiance class ship on these itineraries in the past and they obviously feel they can get better overall yields with the Radiance class deployed elsewhere, especially as they have many more facilities to appeal to families.

[shipfriend_max]

Too bad that RCI did not pick up the option to build a 5th Radiance Class years ago. They are pretty versatile ships.

 

In 1999 RCI had a contract with the Meyer yard in germany for a 5th and a 6th radiance-class ship - due to the massacre in NYC the 11th of Sep. 2001, they cancelled the 2 ships - toooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad::mad::mad:

Two more Radiance-class ships would have been great...

 

So you think the Legend (build 1995) could compete with HAL's Noordam (2006) or Royal/Emerald Princess (2013/2007)?

I would book Equinox, Eclipse or Royal/Emerald Princess for one of these trips - but everyone has another taste...;)

 

OK - if Anthem sailed out of Southampton, which ship might she replace? Independence or Adventure?

I think it would be good if Adventure sailed out of San Juan in 2015 year-round, so Jewel otS could come back to Northern Europe or she could move to Alaska as a third ship...

Do you think Brilliance will continue the Northern Europe cruises out of Harwich in 2015?? :confused:

[compman9]

I am not nearly an expert in these things but the World Cup and the Olympics are in Brazil in the next 3 years, and a number of cruise lines have expressed enthusiasm about South America

 

Just a hunch, but I would guess Brazil and / or Argentina could feature at the very least, as a regular stop

 

Suffice it to say, but if Paul Gauguin can base themselves in a tiny island like Tahiti and make money, I think RCI may be looking way further and wider than Miami for their older ships

[shipfriend_max]

You mean a newer ship to South America?

 

Years ago, RCI offered some Cape Horn cruises on Radiance of the Seas - sadly they do not offer it any longer :mad::mad: - hopefully they'll do it again soon!!

 

I assume the following:

Quantum: Cape Liberty - Canada/New England, Bermudas, Caribbean, Bahamas

Anthem: Med from Southampton, maybe Caribbean during the winter period

Quantum 3: Asia

[Dave85]

Too bad that RCI did not pick up the option to build a 5th Radiance Class years ago. They are pretty versatile ships.

 

Agreed -- I wonder if RCI could do it all over again they would have built one additional Radiance Class ship. They're versatile as you said, they're beautiful, and people LOVE them.

 

If Serenade's Eastern Med / Greek Isles itinerary was even nearly as good as X's I would have chosen Serenade for my upcoming honeymoon, but alas I'll be slumming it on the Silhouette instead. ;):p:D

[shipfriend_max]

If Serenade's Eastern Med / Greek Isles itinerary was even nearly as good as X's I would have chosen Serenade for my upcoming honeymoon, but alas I'll be slumming it on the Silhouette instead. ;):p:D

 

Maybe I'll book Serenade in Aug. 2014 :p...

[littlesteelo]

OK - if Anthem sailed out of Southampton, which ship might she replace? Independence or Adventure?

I think it would be good if Adventure sailed out of San Juan in 2015 year-round, so Jewel otS could come back to Northern Europe or she could move to Alaska as a third ship...

Do you think Brilliance will continue the Northern Europe cruises out of Harwich in 2015?? :confused:

 

I would imagine the Northern Europe cruises out of Harwich will stay.

 

If they have to remove a ship from Southampton to allow Anthem to sail from there, I would prefer it to be Adventure than Independence. I'm not a fan of the 1st generation Voyager class ships.

[shipfriend_max]

I would imagine the Northern Europe cruises out of Harwich will stay.

 

If they have to remove a ship from Southampton to allow Anthem to sail from there, I would prefer it to be Adventure than Independence. I'm not a fan of the 1st generation Voyager class ships.

 

Sure, the Harwich itineraries will stay - but maybe they'll use another ship - maybe Jewel comes back? Or Adventure or Navigator?

 

Maybe Brilliance will offer the cruises from hamburg in 2015 - I read that RCI wants to expend on the Northern European market, so I could imagine that they'll use larger ships for that region...

[Dave85]

Maybe Brilliance will offer the cruises from hamburg in 2015 - I read that RCI wants to expend on the Northern European market, so I could imagine that they'll use larger ships for that region...

 

Do you know if there are any ship size restrictions in key transitways / ports that could keep Royal from using a larger ship on the Northern European itineraries? I'm unfamiliar with that region of the world but definitely hope to travel there someday. I just ask becuase that could be a hinderance to sending larger ships, although they could always reposition an additional smaller ship.

[shipfriend_max]

Do you know if there are any ship size restrictions in key transitways / ports that could keep Royal from using a larger ship on the Northern European itineraries? [...] that could be a hinderance to sending larger ships, although they could always reposition an additional smaller ship.

 

Hi,

 

as far as I know, not - even Independence of the Seas could sail through the Norwegian fjords...

Maybe there are some restrictions for the archipelago of Stockholm - but Navigator called there in 2007, Celebrity Eclipse also calls there and large ships also could switch to Nynäshamn...;)

Many ships could not sail the Oeresund between Denmark and Norway - so they sail through the Great Belt (Denmark), where also Adventure sails...

So I think there shoulddn't be any problems for large ships... :)

[SherriZ366]

Hi,

 

as far as I know, not - even Independence of the Seas could sail through the Norwegian fjords...

Maybe there are some restrictions for the archipelago of Stockholm - but Navigator called there in 2007, Celebrity Eclipse also calls there and large ships also could switch to Nynäshamn...;)

Many ships could not sail the Oeresund between Denmark and Norway - so they sail through the Great Belt (Denmark), where also Adventure sails...

So I think there shoulddn't be any problems for large ships... :)

Can large ships sail over the Drogden Tunnel portion of the Oeresund?

[shipfriend_max]

Can large ships sail over the Drogden Tunnel portion of the Oeresund?

 

IT's not necessary to sail there, because all the large ships do not sail the Oeresund between Sweden and Denmark, they sail the Great Belt between two Danish Isles! ;)

I heard many large ships are not able to pass the Oeresund bridge, so they pass the Great Belt bridge, which is high enough to allow large ships to sail there!

Even Allure and Oasis have been transferred there from Finland to the USA, so it shouldn't be any problem for other ships...;)

[SherriZ366]

IT's not necessary to sail there, because all the large ships do not sail the Oeresund between Sweden and Denmark, they sail the Great Belt between two Danish Isles! ;)

I heard many large ships are not able to pass the Oeresund bridge, so they pass the Great Belt bridge, which is high enough to allow large ships to sail there!

Even Allure and Oasis have been transferred there from Finland to the USA, so it shouldn't be any problem for other ships...;)

Thanks have seen video of Allure and Oasis passing under the Great Belt Bridge -- the smokestacks are retracted and they speed up so that the draft pulls the ship down. Here is the link to RCI's video of Oasis passing under the Great Belt Bridge on Halloween night.

[SherriZ366]

And here's RCI's video of Allure passing under the Great Belt Bridge

[shipfriend_max]

Yes, ok, you are right - but I think when Freedom/Liberty/Independence past the bridges, the smokestacks were not retracted... at least the Voyager-class-ships could sail the Baltic itineraries... :)

 

So let's hope for a better Northen Europe program in 2015!! :)

[besberry]

Wow, those videos were impressive. When we sailed under the bridge on the Jewel it seemed really tight, obviously it wasn't.

[SherriZ366]

Yes, ok, you are right - but I think when Freedom/Liberty/Independence past the bridges, the smokestacks were not retracted... at least the Voyager-class-ships could sail the Baltic itineraries... :)

 

So let's hope for a better Northen Europe program in 2015!! :)

The Freedom and Voyager class smokestack do not retract but the ships can fit under the Great Belt Bridge as per this video of Freedom sailing under it:

They probably use the speeding up measure that Captain Wright explained in the video on Oasis going under the bridge.

When I did a bridge tour on FR before Oasis came out, I asked the officer who was giving the tour, how the Oasis class ships could fit under the Great Belt Bridge and he told our group about the retracting funnels.

 

The new Oasis class ship is being built in France so they will not have to sail under the Great Belt Bridge. However, there would be no problem with a Voyager or Freedom class ship sailing under the bridge during a Baltic cruise as shown by the video.

[shipfriend_max]

Yes, and Adventure belongs to the Voyager class and she already offers cruises to the Baltic... and I assume if RCI really wants to focus on Northern Europe, Adventure will sail there more often than only two times per year - maybe also Anthem and Indy sail from Southamptn and Adventure will be based at harwich or even Copenhagen, and Brilliance maybe sails from Amsterdam or Hamburg - due to her size she could sail the Norwegian fjords up to the North Cape! :)

[cruiserdudebobby8]

I'm just thankful Navigator will be year-round in Galveston next year. Plus it will have all the updates:D

 

i think that will offer some nice cruises after her dry dock

 

 

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[Eng23]

Sounds like a good rumor.

I agree. It is a good rumor. How many captains, CD's, and ships crew were wrong about where the Quantum would be homeported?

[Eng23]

Mmm, less of a rumour, more of an announcement made by the Crown and Anchor rep in front of several hundred people at the welcome back meet - and according to a previous post, the Captain of Indy at an earlier welcome meet.

 

Fingers crossed it happens, as it only takes me 1.5 hours to get from my home to the Windjammer on embarkation day! :D

Those types of announcements were made by other captains and C&A reps about the Quantum. Most of them were wrong.

[Eng23]

I will go on record and speculate that Southampton would be a logical choice to locate the Anthem.

[marielco]

I will go on record and speculate that Southampton would be a logical choice to locate the Anthem.

 

I hope you are right. It would be good to have Anthem over on this side of the pond.

[shipfriend_max]

I will go on record and speculate that Southampton would be a logical choice to locate the Anthem.

 

I also hope you are right - why shouldn't she come to Southampton or other European ports?

Suerly it would be clever, because UK is a growing market for RCI. :)