What is the future for RCCL in the UK market?

[CruisingJoe09]

Now that things are slightly calmer after last week's announcement that Indy would be repositioning, I'm wondering what the future of the UK market could be.

 

Given that Indy was always seen as "Britain's favourite ship" and is loved by many Brits, I'm surprised that they withdrew her from the market instead of Anthem which had a rather lukewarm reception when she was here in 2015. 

 

ID came back to Southampton after staying in FLL for 2015. Will this happen again? I've heard rumours that Ovation may be Southampton bound in 2021.

 

I personally don't think Brexit will have a huge effect - Indy was Royal's flagship when the recession started and they didn't withdraw her from Southampton.

 

What is the future for them? 

Edited May 17, 2019 by CruisingJoe09

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

 I've heard rumours that Ovation may be Southampton bound in 2021.

That may depend on where RCI decides to perform her dry dock due that year - Quantum will be done in Asia while Anthem in Europe - with Ovation already in Asia.......

[MightyMike]

Who knows how bad Brexit will be, but it is a risk. 

 

On the other hand, Coco Cay looks like it will be Royal Caribbean's biggest cash cow yet. Prices are unbelievable--and Royal Caribbean probably gets a huge cut.

 

Anthem is a cold-weather ship. It's a good fit for the port.

 

I would expect Independence or a similar ship to return to Southampton eventually, but for the near term, Royal Caribbean is making a bet that there is more cash (and less risk) over here. Time will tell if that bet pays off.

[CruisingJoe09]

Just now, MightyMike said:

Anthem is a cold-weather ship. It's a good fit for the port.

 

I'm not so sure about Anthem being a good fit for Southampton. It wasn't particularly popular last time, and whilst it may be ideal for October Canaries cruises, that does ultimately mean nothing if the market don't respond well to it. And I've already seen complaints that Anthem doesn't have enough outdoor pool facilities so for all of those reasons, I can't say that I'm confident that Anthem will have a successful season next year.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

3 hours ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

I personally don't think Brexit will have a huge effect -

There is your answer - it will be difficult to travel to the UK for other nations for quite some time....🙄

Would not be surprised if they downsize the UK market even further....🤔

[CruisingJoe09]

9 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

There is your answer - it will be difficult to travel to the UK for other nations for quite some time....🙄

Would not be surprised if they downsize the UK market even further....🤔

As long as the demand is there, I don't see them downsizing further. After all, most people that sail from Southampton are Brits.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

There is your answer - it will be difficult to travel to the UK for other nations for quite some time....🙄

Would not be surprised if they downsize the UK market even further....🤔

While other cruiselines keep deploying more ships to Southampton UK.

It doesn't make sense although having to offer free gratuities and drinks to UK cruises makes Coco Cay a better financial proposition.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

There is your answer - it will be difficult to travel to the UK for other nations for quite some time....🙄

Would not be surprised if they downsize the UK market even further....🤔

The UK is always hugely welcoming to overseas visitors.

[little britain]

RCI has gifted the UK market to the oppo on a plate. 

The same day RCI announced they were withdrawing Independence; NCL announced they were basing the “renovated “ Star in Southampton; and coincidentally she was doing the same Baltic routes that Indie was doing.

 

The same day I got inundated with emails from P&O reminding me that their brand new ship, Iona, was doing the same Baltic routes.... prices were cheap. And I mean cheap!

MSC match status to tempt new customers 

 

I could go on. 

 

It just takes one hurricane through Coco Cay .... to ruin their plans. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by little britain

[Merion_Mom]

5 hours ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

Now that things are slightly calmer after last week's announcement that Indy would be repositioning, I'm wondering what the future of the UK market could be.

 

Given that Indy was always seen as "Britain's favourite ship" and is loved by many Brits, I'm surprised that they withdrew her from the market instead of Anthem which had a rather lukewarm reception when she was here in 2015. 

 

ID came back to Southampton after staying in FLL for 2015. Will this happen again? I've heard rumours that Ovation may be Southampton bound in 2021.

 

I personally don't think Brexit will have a huge effect - Indy was Royal's flagship when the recession started and they didn't withdraw her from Southampton.

 

What is the future for them? 

 

 

Quantum wasn't hugely popular in Cape Liberty during her first season, either.  Anthem is doing very well now.  There was just a period of adjustment for all of the I-Hate-Change people.  Anthem is different from Explorer/Liberty, which were the two ships the locals were most accustomed to.

 

2 hours ago, MightyMike said:

Who knows how bad Brexit will be, but it is a risk. 

 

On the other hand, Coco Cay looks like it will be Royal Caribbean's biggest cash cow yet. Prices are unbelievable--and Royal Caribbean probably gets a huge cut.

 

Anthem is a cold-weather ship. It's a good fit for the port.

 

I would expect Independence or a similar ship to return to Southampton eventually, but for the near term, Royal Caribbean is making a bet that there is more cash (and less risk) over here. Time will tell if that bet pays off.

 

I'm trying to figure out what you mean by "Royal Caribbean probably gets a huge cut."

 

Royal Caribbean will reap ALL of the profits of the new facilities at CocoCay.

[CruisingJoe09]

6 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

Quantum wasn't hugely popular in Cape Liberty during her first season, either.  Anthem is doing very well now.  There was just a period of adjustment for all of the I-Hate-Change people.  Anthem is different from Explorer/Liberty, which were the two ships the locals were most accustomed to.

Anthem is becoming more popular in NJ, but they have brought in Adventure for the Summer seasons which suggests that they were trying to have an additional option for those in the area that didn't like Quantum Class. 

 

Brits are quite stubborn and can sometimes be picky (I'm speaking as a Brit who has both of those traits) so I'm still not convinced that she will be successful.

Edited May 17, 2019 by CruisingJoe09

[John&LaLa]

26 minutes ago, little britain said:

RCI has gifted the UK market to the oppo on a plate. 

The same day RCI announced they were withdrawing Independence; NCL announced they were basing the “renovated “ Star in Southampton; and coincidentally she was doing the same Baltic routes that Indie was doing.

 

The same day I got inundated with emails from P&O reminding me that their brand new ship, Iona, was doing the same Baltic routes.... prices were cheap. And I mean cheap!

MSC match status to tempt new customers 

 

I could go on. 

 

It just takes one hurricane through Coco Cay .... to ruin their plans. 

 

Prices were cheap...

 

That's probably a contributing factor

[little britain]

19 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Prices were cheap...

 

That's probably a contributing factor

On a per day costing, the cruises from Southampton are anything but cheap... so much so that it is often cheaper to fly to Barcelona or even Miami than it is to drive to Southampton.

 

8n cruise 2 people July Inside cabin £2798 ($3554) ....

Edited May 17, 2019 by little britain

[John&LaLa]

1 minute ago, little britain said:

On a per day costing, the cruises from Southampton are anything but cheap... so much so that it is often cheaper to fly to Barcelona or even Miami than it is to drive to Southampton.

$200+ pppd is the norm from Southampton 

 

If you want cheap, cruise out of Galveston or San Juan

 

BTW, so why did you say prices were cheap out of Southampton 🤔

Edited May 17, 2019 by John&LaLa

[CruisingJoe09]

Just now, John&LaLa said:

 

If you want cheap, cruise out of Galveston or San Juan

They are probably cheap because they are harder to get to. I remember hearing that the airfare to San Juan is expensive.

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Prices were cheap...

 

That's probably a contributing factor

You hit the nail on the head. The biggest issue facing both Royal and its sister Celebrity is price and the significant increases they now command. I cruised Celebrity last year on its Ireland/Iceland sailing. The exact same cruise this year is 50% more expensive when we went to Future Cruises and I don't believe that the experience is 50% better. I do enjoy cruising but not at any price. 

 

It appears that RCI are testing the waters for how high they can go with their prices and it has not paid off in the UK. I would guess that bookings may have been softer than forecasts when they decided to base both Indy and Anthem here for 2020 season and rather than risk having to off load cabins cheaply it is more economic to withdraw Indy and compensate those inconvenienced than have empty cabins.

 

[little britain]

5 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

If you want cheap, cruise out of Galveston or San Juan

 

BTW, so why did you say prices were cheap out of Southampton 🤔

I said P&O prices were cheap.. under £800pp for a weeks cruise next summer.

RCI is coming in at £1225pp.   And P&O now include tips. Don’t get started on that subject lol.....😳

[MightyMike]

31 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

I'm trying to figure out what you mean by "Royal Caribbean probably gets a huge cut."

 

Royal Caribbean will reap ALL of the profits of the new facilities at CocoCay.

 

I was trying not to presume too much. Perhaps there are investors or banks with some skin in the game at Coco Cay. I'm sure the Bahamian government benefits too. Royal Caribbean might not be able to keep everything, but I'm sure they are doing quite well there--much better than a standard port.

[MightyMike]

15 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

If you want cheap, cruise out of Galveston or San Juan

 

BTW, so why did you say prices were cheap out of Southampton 🤔

 

Even Galveston is getting expensive, from what I have seen lately. I'm not sure there are any cheap embarkation ports anymore.

[John&LaLa]

Just now, CruisingJoe09 said:

They are probably cheap because they are harder to get to. I remember hearing that the airfare to San Juan is expensive.

 

Round trip from Orlando is around $300

 

One way from Barcelona to Orlando via London is $200 😱

[John&LaLa]

36 minutes ago, little britain said:

I said P&O prices were cheap.. under £800pp for a weeks cruise next summer.

RCI is coming in at £1225pp.   And P&O now include tips. Don’t get started on that subject lol.....😳

 

That's what I thought you meant. It appears Royal doesn't want to compete at that price point. 

 

Can you blame them?

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

Anthem is becoming more popular in NJ, but they have brought in Adventure for the Summer seasons which suggests that they were trying to have an additional option for those in the area that didn't like Quantum Class. 

 

Brits are quite stubborn and can sometimes be picky (I'm speaking as a Brit who has both of those traits) so I'm still not convinced that she will be successful.

 

They have brought in Adventure because the demand exceeds the capacity of one ship! 

 

When Anthem goes to Southampton next year, Oasis will arrive.  They are getting criminally high prices for most of those cruises.

[voyager70]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

The UK is always hugely welcoming to overseas visitors.

 

Ageet, this American loves to travel to the UK.  Brexit will make no difference.

 

[Bloodgem]

I think Southampton will become a 1 ship port for RCI.  I just hope it's not the Indy, all the time. As unlike the rest of Britain she was not my favourite ship. 

[EmilyJay]

I'd like to sail Anthem and give her a try, but the prices out of Southampton are a no no for me. It cost us less this year to fly to Miami and take a 9 night Navigator cruise. 

I think the problem is with P&O and all the other cruise lines there is competition, as someone else said P&O prices are very reasonable! My parents are sailing on their new ship Iona next year in a a balcony room and they've paid half of what you would a RCI cruise out of Southampton. 

For me RCI are my favourite cruise line and I love sailing out of Florida and doing the Caribbean cruise, however I did always want to sail Indy out of Southampton as she seems the perfect sized ship for the Med/ Canaries so hopefully she'll come back at some point. 

Is Navigator not sailing from the UK this year either?