Deployment 2024-25 booking season begins

[Oceansaway17]

5 hours ago, Jack McGowan said:

Could she be staying in Southampton in the winter , long shot, but MSC do it now?

 

If Odyssey was to take over the NJ/Southampton itineraries in 2025 would any other ship take over the Greek Isles itineraries she does at the moment?

Odyssey would be a nice change.  Anthem has been doing NJ since 2016, so time for a change.  They moved Adventure after a few years to get Liberty.  time will tell.

Actually would like to get Wonder as well for NJ area or symphony.

[GlasgowCruiser01]

It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I can see why they'd want a newer ship like Odyssey in NJ but she's the only one designed for warm climates so it doesn't really make sense to have her there for the winters. I reckon she'll stay on the Rome runs in the summer unless they aren't proving profitable.

 

I can't really think of where Anthem would go if displaced from NJ though. Not really made for Florida/Texas, the Asia/Australia markets seem filled up already with Quantum Class (and if another ship heads out there, I reckon it will be an Oasis Class) and too big for some of the more left field itineraries.

Edited February 5, 2023 by GlasgowCruiser01

[GlasgowCruiser01]

4 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Actually would like to get Wonder as well for NJ area or symphony.

NJ is getting Symphony for 2024. With Icon taking over the Miami itineraries, she'll probably be a regular at NJ going forward with Oasis moving elsewhere.

[Chiliburn]

Anthem is the big mystery.

 

 A long shot it could be in L.A or even Sydney??

[sgmn]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Anthem is the big mystery.

 

Maybe over winter based in the Med with cruises to Canaries and Madeira?

[bigeck]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

Maybe over winter based in the Med with cruises to Canaries and Madeira?

That would be good. Costa and Msc have a lot of ships here between them.

Maybe Royal will realise people want to cruise in Europe all year round.

[sgmn]

1 minute ago, bigeck said:

That would be good. Costa and Msc have a lot of ships here between them.

Maybe Royal will realise people want to cruise in Europe all year round.

I must admit I'm a bit fed up that my favourite cruise line doesn't have any ships within a short flight away from mid Oct to Mid April. Having said that we did do a cruise in mid May once in western Med and it was pretty cold. 

Never been on them but I notice P&O have some nice cruises home ported in the Canaries.  

[twangster]

1 minute ago, bigeck said:

That would be good. Costa and Msc have a lot of ships here between them.

Maybe Royal will realise people want to cruise in Europe all year round.

 

The year round Europe market is only so big.  With MSC, Costa and others offering year round Med based cruises that may satisfy all the demand there is.  If Royal stays all they can hope for is for some portion of the year round market to sail with Royal while many cruisers will stick to their home brands, like MSC, Costa and P&O who have brand recognition in the region.

 

With Royal the one consistent factor in where they deploy their ships is where can the asset make more money.  It's not good enough to say there is some demand here or there, or that they can turn a profit.  If they can make more money with a ship somewhere else that is where Royal will send their ships.   That shouldn't be perceived as not caring about a region or a lack of interest, it's only about making the most money with the asset.  

[Blue Eyed Belfast Belle]

Back in 2010 I sailed on Adventure of the Seas from Malaga in November on a 5 nighter to Tenerife and Maderia and it was lovely. 

 

It is such a shame that Royal does not really offer short sailings in Europe and they ones they do offer are far too expensive. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Blue Eyed Belfast Belle

[bigeck]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

The year round Europe market is only so big.  With MSC, Costa and others offering year round Med based cruises that may satisfy all the demand there is.  If Royal stays all they can hope for is for some portion of the year round market to sail with Royal while many cruisers will stick to their home brands, like MSC, Costa and P&O who have brand recognition in the region.

 

With Royal the one consistent factor in where they deploy their ships is where can the asset make more money.  It's not good enough to say there is some demand here or there, or that they can turn a profit.  If they can make more money with a ship somewhere else that is where Royal will send their ships.   That shouldn't be perceived as not caring about a region or a lack of interest, it's only about making the most money with the asset.  

I realise It's profit that counts. With all the big ships in the Caribbean, I'm not sure they will sail full week in and week out.

Royal has a good following in Europe during the Summer and I think they could try 1 or 2 ships year round.

Southampton isn't ideal due to the Bay of Biscay but Barcelona is worth a shout. 

[bigeck]

1 hour ago, Blue Eyed Belfast Belle said:

Back in 2010 I sailed on Adventure of the Seas from Malaga in November on a 5 nighter to Tenerife and Maderia and it was lovely. 

 

It is such a shame that Royal does not really offer short sailings in Europe and they ones they do offer are far too expensive. 

That's my biggest disappointment. When Royal left Malaga. 

I was on the last sailing out of Malaga on Adventure. A Ta to San Juan.

If I take off the £600 cost of flights to Florida, that makes Europe very appealing.

[Tin can]

49 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

The year round Europe market is only so big.  With MSC, Costa and others offering year round Med based cruises that may satisfy all the demand there is.  If Royal stays all they can hope for is for some portion of the year round market to sail with Royal while many cruisers will stick to their home brands, like MSC, Costa and P&O who have brand recognition in the region.

 

With Royal the one consistent factor in where they deploy their ships is where can the asset make more money.  It's not good enough to say there is some demand here or there, or that they can turn a profit.  If they can make more money with a ship somewhere else that is where Royal will send their ships.   That shouldn't be perceived as not caring about a region or a lack of interest, it's only about making the most money with the asset.  

 

Very good points but a different approach being adopted by MSC with them sending their new ship Euribia for winter 2023/24 to the UK. With Europa sailing the same time from Barcelona that's two Oasis sized ships sailing Europe in the winter.

 

Clearly they not only see demand but increasing demand. In my opinion Northern Europe and winter sun Madeira/Canary Islands will be extremely popular and profitable for them from Southampton with Euribia. 

 

 

 

 

[Saab4444]

NCL, Princess and from 2023 Celebrity all have a ship in Europe in Winter.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Saab4444

[Tin can]

1 minute ago, Saab4444 said:

NCL, Princess and from 2023 Celebrity all have a ship in Europe in Winter.

 

They do, there is only one notable omission. We have though looked at Celebrity for some winter sun  but I think the group as a whole is really off the pace with other offerings with the Infinity out of Barcelona.

 

 

 

 

[Jack McGowan]

If they are going to do winter cruise from the UK (or Europe), then I think Anthem would be the one they would choose to do it. It fits in with the colder climates the best, which is why I’m not really sure about the movement of Odyssey to NJ as it’s the only Quantum class that isn’t. 
 

Or perhaps Anthem will go somewhere completely different after her Summer 24 season out of Southampton and in Summer 25 it will be a different class altogether  🤔

[Trixie21]

We would be very interested in a winter deployment from Southampton by Royal.

Canaries and Madeira would be ideal.

Even if they based Anthem in Barcelona or similar its only a short flight away.

With the increasing demand for cruising generally (I cannot tell you how many people I have talked to who have their first ever cruise booked , or have just been on their first cruise and have the next already booked) I do not see why their should not be the demand year round for Royal in Europe.

[twangster]

7 hours ago, Tin can said:

 

Very good points but a different approach being adopted by MSC with them sending their new ship Euribia for winter 2023/24 to the UK. With Europa sailing the same time from Barcelona that's two Oasis sized ships sailing Europe in the winter.

 

Clearly they not only see demand but increasing demand. In my opinion Northern Europe and winter sun Madeira/Canary Islands will be extremely popular and profitable for them from Southampton with Euribia. 

 

 

 

 

 

But that's kind of the point.  MSC has brand recognition in Europe and they are adding a lot of capacity on new ships that will drain the market and make it hard for a line like Royal to take any market share.

 

On a typical Royal Europe cruise there is usually a decent size American guest count.  It might not be a majority but it's always a significant number of the passengers.  Will Americans cruise Europe in the winter?  If not that lobs off a big number of guests.  Combine that with MSC putting new ships into play and that MSC has more brand awareness it's likely that many Europeans will book MSC new ships over Royal not-new ships.  

[Billy Baltic]

I can’t see the western med being that attractive through the winter to make it worthwhile. Barcelona just about makes it to double digits Celsius over the next few days. A scan of random places around eastern med isn’t a lot warmer. Don’t see many people paying for that. Maybe round trips from the canaries would be better. 

[Jumping Cruiser]

I’ve been keeping my eye out for Anthem in port schedules, but yet to see any evidence. The only thing I can see is that Madeira has an unnamed port listing each week from 8th Jan 2025 until 16th April 2025, with the port agent being JFM Shipping. This agent is normally only used by RCG ships and occasionally MSC. Obviously just an observation, but something to definitely keep an eye on over the coming weeks. 

[Saab4444]

15 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

But that's kind of the point.  MSC has brand recognition in Europe and they are adding a lot of capacity on new ships that will drain the market and make it hard for a line like Royal to take any market share.

 

On a typical Royal Europe cruise there is usually a decent size American guest count.  It might not be a majority but it's always a significant number of the passengers.  Will Americans cruise Europe in the winter?  If not that lobs off a big number of guests.  Combine that with MSC putting new ships into play and that MSC has more brand awareness it's likely that many Europeans will book MSC new ships over Royal not-new ships.  

That is not true, Royal Caribbean is longer than MSC in the European market and has always had a better brand awareness. The issue is what they have made out of this in the last years, not much… Many people from Northern Europe do not like the chaos and noise on MSC and Costa ships.

 

NCL, HAL and Princess as other US lines focused more also on Europe and it worked well. 

[springaussie]

Independence of the Seas was in Southampton from  25 April 2010 to mid November 2012.

Royal cancelled the Winter season 12/13 with just a few months notice.

 

 

[Jumping Cruiser]

6 hours ago, Jack McGowan said:

Or perhaps Anthem will go somewhere completely different after her Summer 24 season out of Southampton and in Summer 25 it will be a different class altogether  🤔

 

Looking further ahead into 2025 port bookings, it looks like Odyssey will homeport in Southampton for Summer 2025, after its winter season in NJ. It definitely looks like there are no plans to bring Anthem back to Southampton in 2025.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

13 minutes ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

Looking further ahead into 2025 port bookings, it looks like Odyssey will homeport in Southampton for Summer 2025, after its winter season in NJ. It definitely looks like there are no plans to bring Anthem back to Southampton in 2025.

I wonder what ship will replace Odyssey in Rome

[Jack McGowan]

32 minutes ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

Looking further ahead into 2025 port bookings, it looks like Odyssey will homeport in Southampton for Summer 2025, after its winter season in NJ. It definitely looks like there are no plans to bring Anthem back to Southampton in 2025.

Interesting! I certainly wouldn’t say no to Odyssey out of Southampton but I would have that Anthem is the better fit for NJ/Southampton 🤔

[Jumping Cruiser]

1 minute ago, Jack McGowan said:

Interesting! I certainly wouldn’t say no to Odyssey out of Southampton but I would have that Anthem is the better fit for NJ/Southampton 🤔

 

I agree that Anthem is a better fit for NJ, but would be excited to see Odyssey in Southampton. At least those in NJ have different ships throughout the summer, whereas Southampton has only had Anthem since 2020. Maybe Royal could focus more on warmer sailings from Southampton, as opposed to Northern Europe, in order to take advantage of Odyssey’s improved outdoor areas.