Deployment 2021-22 booking season begins

[CruisingJoe09]

1 hour ago, holiday-shrek said:

That seems very unlikely!

Harmony from Port Canaveral to Barcelona? That may be in April though.

[Biker19]

13 minutes ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

Harmony from Port Canaveral to Barcelona? That may be in April though.

or March like Allure, to get the dry dock out of the way and have a full Med season after.

[Jax129]

3 hours ago, singinalot said:

you won’t regret it!

and thanks to your review and a few others I've already planned most of the trip.....lol

[Ourusualbeach]

8 hours ago, Biker19 said:

or March like Allure, to get the dry dock out of the way and have a full Med season after.

They already cancelled her 4 April sailings so her last sailing ends April 4 2021.  Personally I don’t think they will cancel anymore as she won’t require as long a drydock as Allure and Oasis and she will still get the full med season in.  

[SRV FAN]

On 7/30/2019 at 3:14 PM, FIRELT5 said:

Liberty Of The Seas Sailing from Cape Liberty on the 5 Night/ 9nt Bermuda/Caribbean ITIN

during the summers of 2021 & 2022 according to the SXM Cruise Schedule which has been extremely accurate for many years.

 

On 7/30/2019 at 4:35 PM, FloGaleRNTX said:

What ship will be in Galveston? We were told on a past cruise that there might be an Oasis class......

 

Barb

 

On 7/30/2019 at 4:40 PM, CruisingJoe09 said:

Seems like it will be either Allure or Harmony taking over in Galveston.

 

Hummm….. I was "thinking" that they would have THREE ships sailing from Galveston.... a smaller one doing the 4-5 niters; Liberty or similar doing 7 nites & then an Oasis class (I've heard Allure) being added...not replacing.... Since I sail from Galveston often...I don't like the idea that an Oasis class ship is "replacing" the Freedom or Voyager class ship (my favorite classes of ships) there.

 

All sailings from Galveston sail sold out...so I am sure Royal could pull off three ships from Galveston.... I so wish they'd do regular sailings to the eastern Caribbean...like they used to when I started cruising back in 2004. I am so tired of the same ol' sail to Costa Maya/Belize & Roatan or Jamaica & Grand Cayman -  of course we ALWAYS have to stop at Cozumel with either of those itineraries. 

 

Sorry for my random thoughts... 🙂 

 

 

[CruisingJoe09]

Just now, SRV FAN said:

 

 

 

Hummm….. I was "thinking" that they would have THREE ships sailing from Galveston.... a smaller one doing the 4-5 niters; Liberty or similar doing 7 nites & then an Oasis class (I've heard Allure) being added...not replacing.... Since I sail from Galveston often...I don't like the idea that an Oasis class ship is "replacing" the Freedom or Voyager class ship (my favorite classes of ships) there.

 

All sailings from Galveston sail sold out...so I am sure Royal could pull off three ships from Galveston.... I so wish they'd do regular sailings to the eastern Caribbean...like they used to when I started cruising back in 2004. I am so tired of the same ol' sail to Costa Maya/Belize & Roatan or Jamaica & Grand Cayman -  of course we ALWAYS have to stop at Cozumel with either of those itineraries. 

 

Sorry for my random thoughts... 🙂 

 

They don't add Oasis Class, they always replace other ships on an itinerary. It's too much of a leap in capacity, not to mention that I'm unsure if the area could take that many people, particularly when it comes to people leaving their cars at the port. They could add a 3rd smaller ship alongside Allure/Harmony and Adventure (maybe Enchantment again?) but I don't think that an Oasis Class will be an addition, instead a replacement.

 

Adventure should be sticking around for the 4/5/5 rotation, so you would still have the Voyager Class option from Galveston.

 

I do agree that they should vary the itineraries - they should use CocoCay on some Galveston based ships.

[SRV FAN]

1 minute ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

They don't add Oasis Class, they always replace other ships on an itinerary. It's too much of a leap in capacity, not to mention that I'm unsure if the area could take that many people, particularly when it comes to people leaving their cars at the port. They could add a 3rd smaller ship alongside Allure/Harmony and Adventure (maybe Enchantment again?) but I don't think that an Oasis Class will be an addition, instead a replacement.

 

Adventure should be sticking around for the 4/5/5 rotation, so you would still have the Voyager Class option from Galveston.

 

I do agree that they should vary the itineraries - they should use CocoCay on some Galveston based ships.

 

They are building a third terminal to accommodate the Oasis class ship there & there will be parking right at the terminal for it! SO AWESOME! Terminal Two is Royal's current terminal... so I was "assuming" they'd just keep what's going on now & just add the Oasis class.... I am certain they could handle three ships (two doing 7 niters or longer & 1 doing the 4/5 niters)…. 

 

Just having the Adventure doing the 4/5 niters would work for new cruisers... & I see that class ship replacing the Vision class which is there now. But that itinerary is sooooooooooooooooooooooo boring... Cozumel & back or Cozumel & Progresso & back.... we did a B2B on Vision … Cozumel twice in one week! YIKES! 

 

Oh well... a girl can dream.... 🙂

 

Time will tell...….

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

5 minutes ago, SRV FAN said:

 

They are building a third terminal to accommodate the Oasis class ship there & there will be parking right at the terminal for it! SO AWESOME! Terminal Two is Royal's current terminal... so I was "assuming" they'd just keep what's going on now & just add the Oasis class.... I am certain they could handle three ships (two doing 7 niters or longer & 1 doing the 4/5 niters)…. 

 

Just having the Adventure doing the 4/5 niters would work for new cruisers... & I see that class ship replacing the Vision class which is there now. But that itinerary is sooooooooooooooooooooooo boring... Cozumel & back or Cozumel & Progresso & back.... we did a B2B on Vision … Cozumel twice in one week! YIKES! 

 

Oh well... a girl can dream.... 🙂

 

Time will tell...….

I think an Oasis Class ship replacing Liberty is more likely. Adding an extra 6000 people per week is a huge jump in capacity. 

 

Adventure should stay on the 4/5/5N rotation.

 

I’m curious about what ship will be doing the 7 nighters through summer 2021 if Liberty is indeed heading to NJ. I thought the new terminal wasn’t going to ready until the fall?

Edited August 3, 2019 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[holiday-shrek]

3 hours ago, SRV FAN said:

All sailings from Galveston sail sold out...

Only because they almost give them away!

Galveston always has the lowest pricing in the fleet!

Edited August 3, 2019 by holiday-shrek

[kruzerci]

22 minutes ago, holiday-shrek said:

Only because they almost give them away!

Galveston always has the lowest pricing in the fleet!

 

Exactly!

 

Galveston is a miserable port to sail out of in terms of traffic/terminal congestion and distance from airport. That said we have done it a couple times because prices are absurdly low on Liberty compared to Florida during the summer. 

[ssb]

1 hour ago, kruzerci said:

 

Exactly!

 

Galveston is a miserable port to sail out of in terms of traffic/terminal congestion and distance from airport. That said we have done it a couple times because prices are absurdly low on Liberty compared to Florida during the summer. 

If cheap is cheap 

thanks 

keep spreading the promotion around . 

[pinebro]

Waiting on july 2021 British Isles.....maybe december release?

[Clarea]

Just now, pinebro said:

Waiting on july 2021 British Isles.....maybe december release?

 

No way to know at this time.

[little britain]

No sailings on Spectrum after Jan 20, 2021.... any ideas?

[Biker19]

9 minutes ago, little britain said:

No sailings on Spectrum after Jan 20, 2021.... any ideas?

I assume she'll stay in the China market.

[little britain]

13 hours ago, Biker19 said:

I assume she'll stay in the China market.

I wondered why her current schedules don’t show through to April like every other ship?

[geoff2802]

53 minutes ago, little britain said:

I wondered why her current schedules don’t show through to April like every other ship?

Royal's usual practice is to release cruises in China later than other regions.  

 

I think Royal would also be watching the escalating US-China trade war and civil unrest in Hong Kong and considering their future commitment.  

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

I wondered why her current schedules don’t show through to April like every other ship?

It was not unusual for Quantum to only have itineraries about 6-12 months out- Spectrum is just following that pattern. 

[banzaii]

1 hour ago, geoff2802 said:

Royal's usual practice is to release cruises in China later than other regions.  

 

I think Royal would also be watching the escalating US-China trade war and civil unrest in Hong Kong and considering their future commitment.  

Interesting thoughts.  Any continued unrest is sure to make the cruise lines nervous and potentially pull out of the Asian market if the risk is too great.  Where would those ships go?

[Biker19]

13 minutes ago, banzaii said:

Interesting thoughts.  Any continued unrest is sure to make the cruise lines nervous and potentially pull out of the Asian market if the risk is too great. 

The cruise lines probably don’t take long term decisions on typically short term issues. 

[banzaii]

21 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The cruise lines probably don’t take long term decisions on typically short term issues. 

The cruises were not around last time there was long term issues! 

 

There are some pretty arrogant world leaders around at the moment.

[Biker19]

21 minutes ago, banzaii said:

The cruises were not around last time there was long term issues! 

I should have said long term issues which affect their bottom line. Cuba has been a long term issue for 60+ years, yet until recently the cruise lines made it work somehow. The cruise lines are going back to Turkey as well after a few year hiatus. The Spectrum and Quantum itineraries 1+ year out will not be affected by Hong Kong protests - they will be affected if bookings/yields drop off over a long period.

[geoff2802]

1 hour ago, banzaii said:

Interesting thoughts.  Any continued unrest is sure to make the cruise lines nervous and potentially pull out of the Asian market if the risk is too great.  Where would those ships go?

If they re-deployed any of the ships operating from China or Hong Kong, they would of course be looking for the highest financial yield.  Singapore and Australia might be beneficiaries in the region but they could go anywhere.  The "Unnamed Vessel" in the Sydney port calendar could easily be a placeholder for Spectrum for example (or Quantum, and Spectrum goes to Singapore).  

[geoff2802]

10 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

I should have said long term issues which affect their bottom line. Cuba has been a long term issue for 60+ years, yet until recently the cruise lines made it work somehow. The cruise lines are going back to Turkey as well after a few year hiatus. The Spectrum and Quantum itineraries 1+ year out will not be affected by Hong Kong protests - they will be affected if bookings/yields drop off over a long period.

What if bookings drop off now, clients cancel and there is no evident short term solution to the unrest?  Or if trade tensions escalate further and China's economy deteriorates further?  Royal has repeatedly shown they are prepared to cancel or curtail a ship's season if things don't work out.  I'm not saying this will happen or is likely, just that it is quite possible.  

[Biker19]

8 minutes ago, geoff2802 said:

 Royal has repeatedly shown they are prepared to cancel or curtail a ship's season if things don't work out. 

For the China market, RCI has fewer itineraries to allow for such changes, but unlikely they would change anything less than a year out, like they did with Indy in the UK. For real short term issues, like on one day they an't use the port, they just change that one itinerary.

 

Fain seems to have backup plans:

 

Quote

Royal Caribbean Cruises is well-prepared to adapt to a changing marketplace, according to Chairman and CEO Richard Fain, speaking on the company’s second quarter earnings call.

 

“When circumstances change, we are prepared to adapt. While no one is recession-proof, looking forward, I think the industry has features that make it recession resistant,” he said. “The growing appeal of our product, the relative price attractiveness, the fixed cost component, the portability of our assets, et cetera; all of these things make us better able to do well even in bad times.

“A good example of that would be China, where Spectrum of the Seas started operating just a few weeks ago,” Fain continued. “Conventional wisdom suggests that bringing a new ship into a market whose economy is weakening ain't such a good idea. But Spectrum and our other ships there are doing very well, despite the softer economy.”

 

CFO Jason Liberty said that company had plans and scenarios it would consider if the economy slowed down.

Liberty said the multi-brand cruise corporation operates a worldwide business that can source guests globally.

“We also have itineraries that go to a thousand different places,” Liberty said. “So what's available to our guest is much more.

“We also have a much stronger balance sheet and a much stronger liquidity position,” he continued. “And I think we would evaluate our plans in case there was a change in the winds.”

 

That being said, Liberty said the company was not seeing any of those changes whether it's booking levels, even daily, or onboard performance.

 

Looking back to the last recession, Liberty said there was regret that the company pulled back on its growth.

“We would all be talking about higher earnings numbers today, better return profile today, if we hadn't slowed down our growth or our investment efforts in expanding our global footprint, investing in different projects that would have put us in an even stronger position than we are today.”

Edited August 6, 2019 by Biker19