Will Royal ever put any of their newer ships on the west coast?

[A&L_Ont]

No wait list, they would charge $50 per person.

 

With champagne and apps. I almost forgot added 18% grats. 😉

[Hoopster95]

True, they all can fit in the new locks, the Quantum class are the only ones that can clear the Bridge of Americas.

 

Hey Bill! I figure you or ChengP would obviously know ... I have not been able to find anywhere the height of Quantum Class above waterline. Do you know what it is?

 

The way I figure it when Capt. Srecko told me Q has about a 5m (16 feet) clearance to the Verrazano Bridge without bringing down the funnels. So that would mean 228ft - 16ft = 212 feet.

 

The funnel retraction I believe is 15 feet, so 212ft - 15ft = 197ft. She fits under the BoA.... but just barely!!! Do these numbers look about right to you? I guess they'd have to get a low tide and "squat" to ensure the clearance is more than just 4 feet (BoA span height is 201 feet)

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

This came from the engineer's desk of Quantum if some of you remember from my review.

Bill or Cheng, can you interpret please to two "height" measurements:

57.91m = 190 feet

62.50m = 205 feet

 

I suspect 205 feet is the absolute tallest under any circumstance they will allow any ship to be in order to get under the BoA, and this is only a case by case basis (ie. time of year, tide, planets aligned, fingers crossed/eyes closed, etc etc). Does this sound right to you? If so, the Quantum Class air draught as posted here is exactly the same as the Panamax absolute max height allowable.

Edited April 29, 2017 by Hoopster95

[island lady]

No newer ships in PC either. We got Oasis (oldest of the Oasis class) since Harmony and Symphony were coming in, they had to put her somewhere I guess. Then we got Majesty. Oh yeah...new ship there...uh-huh. :rolleyes:

 

Brand new modern terminal, but no new ships. :(

 

Agree, seems Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and Asia get all the new ones. :o

[Doug S]

Alaska is about the views. Promenade style / inside focused newer ships seem like a poor fit to me. If there is more demand, it seems more appropriate to add another smaller ship with 360 outside views. I love the bigger ships, but I think keeping the ship size smaller in Alaska just makes more sense.

 

As far as The Mexican Riviera, that is a poor alternative to departures from gulf and east coast ports unless you are a drive in local. For a comparison, it used to be a popular 2 hour ride down to Laredo/ Nuevo Laredo from San Antonio where I live. We'd cross over the border for a day of shopping, dining, and entertainment. NOBODY I know ever does that anymore. EVER. It came to a grinding halt due to border issues and safety concerns. We stopped in Ensenada several years back for our token foreign port during a Princess Hawaii cruise and it was pretty much a waste of time unless you were looking to buy a Mexican Wrestler mask... Nuevo Laredo had much more to offer back in the day. Only reason to expand on the west coast is to offer something close for locals, and that demand has never proven adequate for RCI. West coast ports (excluding Alaska) are not attractive enough to me to get me to fly there since far better east/gulf coast cruise options are available.

 

Enough for now. Gotta go pack for my cruise tomorrow...

[Hoopster95]

Alaska is about the views. Promenade style / inside focused newer ships seem like a poor fit to me.

 

This tells me you have never been on a Quantum Class ship. It is as much as, if not more then, an outside focused ship than Radiance Class and the ultimate answer to an Alaskan cruise vessel.

[Saab4444]

No newer ships in PC either. We got Oasis (oldest of the Oasis class) since Harmony and Symphony were coming in, they had to put her somewhere I guess. Then we got Majesty. Oh yeah...new ship there...uh-huh. :rolleyes:

 

Brand new modern terminal, but no new ships. :(

 

Agree, seems Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and Asia get all the new ones. :o

 

 

Unbelievable that they put just the old Oasis to Port Canaveral! They should have scrapped her instead of offending the people from Central Florida.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[island lady]

Unbelievable that they put just the old Oasis to Port Canaveral! They should have scrapped her instead of offending the people from Central Florida.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Never said we did not like "old" Oasis...just that this thread mentioned newer ship deployment, of which PC has not hosted a new ship in many years (Mariner was the only one). Then we get Majesty as a replacement for Enchantment??!! Have to go to Empress to find an older one. ;) New terminal..no new ships.

 

That being said, next month anniversary is on board MJ. Still very much miss Freedom and Enchantment...but we take what we get. Would just be nice to get a new one once in a while.

[BillB48]

Hey Bill! I figure you or ChengP would obviously know ... I have not been able to find anywhere the height of Quantum Class above waterline. Do you know what it is?

 

The way I figure it when Capt. Srecko told me Q has about a 5m (16 feet) clearance to the Verrazano Bridge without bringing down the funnels. So that would mean 228ft - 16ft = 212 feet.

 

The funnel retraction I believe is 15 feet, so 212ft - 15ft = 197ft. She fits under the BoA.... but just barely!!! Do these numbers look about right to you? I guess they'd have to get a low tide and "squat" to ensure the clearance is more than just 4 feet (BoA span height is 201 feet)

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

This came from the engineer's desk of Quantum if some of you remember from my review.

Bill or Cheng, can you interpret please to two "height" measurements:

57.91m = 190 feet

62.50m = 205 feet

 

I suspect 205 feet is the absolute tallest under any circumstance they will allow any ship to be in order to get under the BoA, and this is only a case by case basis (ie. time of year, tide, planets aligned, fingers crossed/eyes closed, etc etc). Does this sound right to you? If so, the Quantum Class air draught as posted here is exactly the same as the Panamax absolute max height allowable.

 

Hoopster, the only air draft figures I have come across other than the picture included in your post is from nautical cities where the silhouette for the Q & A is just under 200' with the stacks lowered. The Verrazano Narrows Bridge has a permitted air draft of 215', it looks to me your figures are certainly close.

 

The 57.91m/190' is the what the Canal permits for unrestricted passage under the BoA without regard to the height of the tide. That air draft limit will provide about 11' clearance with a fairly high tide of almost a +18'. When you have a tide that high then you will have a low tide of around a -3. However most days of the month highs will run 12'-14' and the lows will run from 0' to +3'.

 

The 62.5/205 figure is the tide dependent figure. This is where I really don't what the minimum clearance the Canal will permit. Using Tampa's Sunshine Skyway clearances as a reference point, permitted air draft is 175' with a 181' clearance... so a 6' buffer. Whether or not the Canal would use that figure, I really don't know. However most days of the month they could come fairly close to a 10' buffer for about 6 hours every 12 hours with two high and two lows every 24hrs.. That would be 3 hours before low tide and 3 hours after.

 

The other item would they really would not gain a lot from squat since they can only run about 6 knots in this part of the channel. Don't know if they could ballast down to move off the normal 8.5m draft.

 

On a related note, I posted some pics of the Disney Wonder passing through the Agua Clara Locks, snatching up the honor of being the first cruise ship to use the new locks.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=52950683&postcount=5

[chengkp75]

I took a drillship under the Bridge of the Americas, way back in another lifetime. I don't recall what the air draft was, but we had to go at low tide, with full ballast, and under the conn of the Assistant Chief Pilot (so this was a "case by case" instance), and we were told we had the minimum of 6' of clearance. You should have seen the cars stopping on the bridge as we approached.

 

I took the same ship under the bridge in Lisbon, and we got three different figures for the height of the bridge (sailing directions, pilots association, harbor master), so the advance team went onto the bridge with a 250' steel measuring tape and a weight, we stopped in the middle (illegal) and dropped the tape to the water. We had about 10' of clearance there.

 

The water in the Verrazano Narrows is 100', I don't know how deep it is under the BoA, but given the narrowness of the passage, I'm not sure they would let you "drop the hammer" to get much squat.

[wl2cruise]

Many People on CC have stated this in the past. Many People asked for years to get a bigger and newer ship to the West coast. RCI finally did it with the Mariner and got burnt with that decision.

 

I don´t say there is no market at all, but California is not where they make the most Money right now. The hot markets right now are in Asia, especially the Chinese market. Can this Change again? For sure, but California will hardly ever be a big bucks cruise market. Alaska, yep that will work always work in the summertime, some Californa coastal ones thrown in as well. Mexico I believe is more dead than the dead beaten horse and if at all it mostly would attrack a limited Population in California and mostly for short Weekend hops. Hardly a Business case for RCI, especially when the competitor is already there. It would just further destroy Prices for all.

 

If I´d run RCCL I´d not send a ship there for any lengthy time and as a shareholder I´m glad that the exec´s obviously think the same.

 

 

You have some valid points, but as a shareholder I'm a bit concerned that RCI just gave up on the second largest cruise demographic in Northern America. Maybe they just wanted us to fly to Florida to help fill the Oasis class ships! Why does the largest cruise company in the world invest and expand in southern California if there is no future in Mexico? What the west coast really needs is a private destination!!

[alvin18]

I have been to Mexico multiple times on cruises, I think RCCL is missing the opportunity. The cruises I have been on have been full so to say they are dying would not seem true. I read more about crime in the carribean stops, so that has not stopped any cruise lines from making huge changes. San Francisco is wasting their time is not looking to court a permanent ship there, the coast cruises are pretty busy as well. That is my take and from talking other cruisers, they feel the same. Otherwise we get NCL, Carnival, Celebrity and Disney for now.

[norcalemt02]

Alaska is about the views. Promenade style / inside focused newer ships seem like a poor fit to me. If there is more demand, it seems more appropriate to add another smaller ship with 360 outside views. I love the bigger ships, but I think keeping the ship size smaller in Alaska just makes more sense.

 

As far as The Mexican Riviera, that is a poor alternative to departures from gulf and east coast ports unless you are a drive in local. For a comparison, it used to be a popular 2 hour ride down to Laredo/ Nuevo Laredo from San Antonio where I live. We'd cross over the border for a day of shopping, dining, and entertainment. NOBODY I know ever does that anymore. EVER. It came to a grinding halt due to border issues and safety concerns. We stopped in Ensenada several years back for our token foreign port during a Princess Hawaii cruise and it was pretty much a waste of time unless you were looking to buy a Mexican Wrestler mask... Nuevo Laredo had much more to offer back in the day. Only reason to expand on the west coast is to offer something close for locals, and that demand has never proven adequate for RCI. West coast ports (excluding Alaska) are not attractive enough to me to get me to fly there since far better east/gulf coast cruise options are available.

 

Enough for now. Gotta go pack for my cruise tomorrow...

 

 

Alaska glaziers view from North Star. Now that's something I'll pay for.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums