Odyssey of the Seas Blocks are in the House

[Tree_skier]

Unobstructed balcony

 

 

 

Obstructed balcony

 

 

No C&A, residency or age discounts applied. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Tree_skier

[deliver42]

I haven't seen military, residency, or senior discounts for quite a while, even before Covid. Celebrity gives military, and a one cat upgrade for Captain Club members.

[Lloyd555]

📷 Vlad Weber

 

 

[island lady]

16 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Didn't expect it to be "cut rate", but didn't expect an interior to be almost twice what we pay for balconies on others.

 

If the ship is going to keep capacity down...say 50%....that is only 50% of what they would normally bring in.  Not to mention the cruise line industry is starving for income, being shut down over a year. 

 

No...the rates are not surprising to me at all.  The CLS I booked for my "maybe" next cruise end of November is twice the rate as normal as well.  And that is not a new ship. 😮 

[dswallow]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

If the ship is going to keep capacity down...say 50%....that is only 50% of what they would normally bring in.  Not to mention the cruise line industry is starving for income, being shut down over a year. 

 

No...the rates are not surprising to me at all.  The CLS I booked for my "maybe" next cruise end of November is twice the rate as normal as well.  And that is not a new ship. 😮 

 

It's not going to be crewed at 100% either.

 

But look at differently... right now, with no paying passengers the company is burning through at least $250 million a month. I'm assuming that's not just the ships, but everything in the corporation. Estimates I've seen in the press and in statements from cruise lines in the past put the per-ship warm layup cost in the $2 million to $3 million range. So mitigating those expenses is an improvement over current costs. Royal Caribbean now has 25 ships able to operate that are basically in warm layup, and 1 ship still under construction.

 

So sure the company isn't going to start rolling in profits at 50% occupancy, but it's going to be employing people, doing business with suppliers, and covering the costs it currently has to pay out of pocket anyway. It'll ramp up occupancy over time. And sailing again will give people more confidence to be booking future sailings, too. And they have previously stated that they can profitably operate individual ships . The CFO, Jason Liberty, previously stated "For our newer ships, you need about 30 percent load factors to kind of break even. And then they skew to about 50 percent load factor on onto our older ships."

 

As for pricing, I don't really see it out of line with summer pricing on the ships during the previous itineraries. If anything I found it somewhat lower in many cases. Not that I couldn't have found even lower on other ships, just that these particular ships usually sailed on summer itineraries that had higher prices than, say, Oasis class itineraries.

[Biker19]

38 minutes ago, dswallow said:

Royal Caribbean now has 25 ships able to operate that are basically in warm layup

Quantum is probably losing less money sailing than the rest in warm layup. 

[SilkySal]

On 4/2/2021 at 2:18 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

Royal has said that the vaccines won't be forever but when forever is anyone's guess.  My thoughts are a couple years....book refundable

Would you mind explaining how the "refundable" works, as we have always booked non-refundable? Is it worth it and how much is lost in case our kids want to cancel? I hate to lose a $900 deposit per room. I can probably research that question but figured you could advise shorter and more understandable for me. I'm old!😁 Much appreciated!

 

HAPPY EASTER to all!!

 

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

Would you mind explaining how the "refundable" works, as we have always booked non-refundable? Is it worth it and how much is lost in case our kids want to cancel? I hate to lose a $900 deposit per room. I can probably research that question but figured you could advise shorter and more understandable for me. I'm old!😁 Much appreciated!

 

HAPPY EASTER to all!!

 

With refundable deposits you can cancel anytime up until final payment and get a 100% refund to your credit card.  No penalties or FCC's.  

 

You have to go all the way through the booking process to where you enter your names and then you can select refundable and it will let you know the cost.

 

Depending on the category you are booking some TA's will have group space available.  Group space is always refundable and most likely less in cost than Royal's non refundable rates

[BecciBoo]

I consider a Christmas cruise to include the 25th, so the following week is the Christmas cruise IMO.  And those prices are exactly twice what we normally pay for a balcony.  I was pricing an interior.  Our Sept. 12th, 2021 Allure cruise in a balcony is: This was copied from our invoice. 

 

 1955.10
Amount Paid 529.08
Balance Due $1426.02

 

I was looking at Odyssey to replace Allure in case we have to lift/shift AGAIN.

Edited April 4, 2021 by BecciBoo

[SilkySal]

Just got our 3 rooms booked on Odyssey for us and adult kids for February, 2023! Booked an OV balcony for us and 2 virtual balcony rooms for them, all non-refundable $500 deposits (taking the gamble). Very excited for this family cruise on the brand new Odyssey!! Cheers!!

[SilkySal]

20 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

I consider a Christmas cruise to include the 25th, so the following week is the Christmas cruise IMO.  And those prices are exactly twice what we normally pay for a balcony.  I was pricing an interior.  Our Sept. 12th, 2021 Allure cruise in a balcony is: This was copied from our invoice. 

 

 1955.10
Amount Paid 529.08
Balance Due $1426.02

 

I was looking at Odyssey to replace Allure in case we have to lift/shift AGAIN.

That would be a great deal to get a brand new ship for the same $$!! Cheers!!

[Ourusualbeach]

20 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

I was looking at Odyssey to replace Allure in case we have to lift/shift AGAIN.

Pretty much every lift and shift that has been offered by a cruise cancelled by Roysl has had the ship that you are able to lift and shift to dictated by Royal.  You only get to choose from one of very few dates. I’m not sure that Odyssey will be an option. I also assume that we will be sailing by December and Lift and shift will be a thing of the past. 

[BecciBoo]

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Pretty much every lift and shift that has been offered by a cruise cancelled by Roysl has had the ship that you are able to lift and shift to dictated by Royal.  You only get to choose from one of very few dates. I’m not sure that Odyssey will be an option. I also assume that we will be sailing by December and Lift and shift will be a thing of the past. 

That's odd, I've shifted/lifted 3 times with one actual cancellation and rebook after a refund and nobody at RCCL gave me a list or said no to any cruise  I selected to shift to.  We started in March with a l/s from Sept. 2020 to October, then to Jan. and finally to April.  We finally got a refund on April cruise which they canceled, and then booked the Sept Allure.  I chose all of them.  Never noticed a limited selection.  And please cross your fingers with us that we do go in Sept.😪

Edited April 5, 2021 by BecciBoo

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

That's odd, I've shifted/lifted 3 times with one actual cancellation and rebook after a refund and nobody at RCCL gave me a list or said no to any cruise  I selected to shift to.  We started in March with a l/s from Sept. 2020 to October, then to Jan. and finally to April.  We finally got a refund on April cruise which they canceled, and then booked the Sept Allure.  I chose all of them.  Never noticed a limited selection.  And please cross your fingers with us that we do go in Sept.😪

Are you talking about the lift and shift when it was an option for everyone...Prior to Jan 31 of this year?  That option expired Jan 31, 2021 and the only time you are allowed to lift and shift now is if Royal cancels and they set the ship that you are allowed to shift to.

[BecciBoo]

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Are you talking about the lift and shift when it was an option for everyone...Prior to Jan 31 of this year?  That option expired Jan 31, 2021 and the only time you are allowed to lift and shift now is if Royal cancels and they set the ship that you are allowed to shift to.

That's not how it happened for us.  I just gave you the timeline.  The only refund was for the April '21 cruise they cxd, the others all last year were lift and shift,  started with Vision, then Liberty in Oct. then Oasis in Jan. then Allure in April.  I picked all these ships and itins.  And they included upgrades.  I just upgraded from interior to balcony for the Allure Sept.  That is why we are just waiting to see if it is cxd then we'll get another refund and I was looking into Odyssey if that happens.  Sorry if I got the technical terms wrong...but does it matter?

Edited April 5, 2021 by BecciBoo

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, BecciBoo said:

That's not how it happened for us.  I just gave you the timeline.  The only refund was for the April '21 cruise they cxd, the others all last year were lift and shift,  started with Vision, then Liberty in Oct. then Oasis in Jan. then Allure in April.  I picked all these ships and itins.  And they included upgrades.  I just upgraded from interior to balcony for the Allure Sept.

That is just what I said.  Cruises last year and through to Jan 2021 there were no restrictions on the ship.

 

 

That Lift and shift program ended Jan 31, 2021 and has been replaced by a modified lift and shift that is only available if Royal cancels.  There are a lot more restrictions and Royal dictates which ship you can transfer to.

[BecciBoo]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

That is just what I said.  Cruises last year and through to Jan 2021 there were no restrictions on the ship.

 

 

That Lift and shift program ended Jan 31, 2021 and has been replaced by a modified lift and shift that is only available if Royal cancels.  There are a lot more restrictions and Royal dictates which ship you can transfer to.

I see, so they might not have their newest ship in the loop for us...ok that makes sense...but then I still think it's too high for us.  We'll have to wait until pricing goes down on her.

[dswallow]

Lift & Shift basically always had some requirements for sail dates being +/- 4 weeks of the original sailing, and itineraries being somewhat close with an occasional exception. Being on the same ship wasn't required, but some similarities about the sailing were; I had TA's that could be lift & shifted to other TA's for instance, that were completely different. All of these things could be seen online via the web site and weren't things you could only call to get. That's not to say there probably weren't other things you call to get under some circumstance. Though generally as Lift & Shift came into its own, I think it was more automated and had less flexibility for even call agents to adjust. Then when it ended as a regular program, the Lift & Shift options became more limited for canceled sailings to use, but it was still basically automated.

[Lloyd555]

Speaking of bookings, it appears as if the casitas require reservations.

 

 

 

[twangster]

42 minutes ago, Lloyd555 said:

Speaking of bookings, it appears as if the casitas require reservations.

 

Translation: Revenue opportunity.  

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

47 minutes ago, Lloyd555 said:

Speaking of bookings, it appears as if the casitas require reservations.

 

 

 

Hopefully they're a bit less than the Coco Cay cabanas! 😉 

[Tall-Cruiser]

3 hours ago, Lloyd555 said:

Speaking of bookings, it appears as if the casitas require reservations.

Makes sense to me that reservations are required and a fee to rent it. Can you imagine if no reservations are required and open to first come first serve. Some would spend the night and never leave. 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, Tall-Cruiser said:

Makes sense to me that reservations are required and a fee to rent it. Can you imagine if no reservations are required and open to first come first serve. Some would spend the night and never leave. 

They were all first come first serve on Oasis after her amplification. 

[Tall-Cruiser]

14 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

They were all first come first serve on Oasis after her amplification. 

Oh wow I didn’t realize that and surprised there wasn’t a fee. Are they still like that or have they switched to reservations now? 

[Ourusualbeach]

13 minutes ago, Tall-Cruiser said:

Oh wow I didn’t realize that and surprised there wasn’t a fee. Are they still like that or have they switched to reservations now? 

I haven’t read of anyone saying there was a fee for them.  Who knows what will happen when cruising resumes.