What ship will be sailing from Southampton in 2025?

[cublet]

Hello,

 

OK so this is a bit like the tail wagging the dog, but the Carnival Shareholder benefit with P&O, Cunard and Princess sailing out of the UK year-round makes getting your money's worth easier to achieve.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[heatherb1958]

11 hours ago, little britain said:

Start of the competition goes on sale today. 

 

Sky Princess, Regal Princess, and Emerald Princess will all sail out of Southampton in 2025 to the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Canary Islands, British Isles & more.

 

Great prices and their current promotion is half price Princess Plus from £25 a day  which includes WiFi, gratuities and drinks package ,  which is far better value than RCIs current promotion 50% off  drinks packages.

We are becoming bigger fans of Princess especially since we get shareholders now too. 😆. They also do free upgrade offers , we got a mini suite free upgrade for the price of a balcony for 23 nights , no upgrade bidding required !! 

 

[Jumping Cruiser]

On 5/21/2023 at 7:56 PM, Jumping Cruiser said:

Just something I noticed today. The port bookings for Odyssey in Madeira for 2025 have now been removed and replaced by calls for Independence. However, Odyssey still appears in many other ports across Europe, but it could be a recent change that ports have yet to update their systems. So, could Royal have switched their plans and now planning to send Indy back to Southampton, in place of Odyssey, or aiming to have a second ship? Obviously, the closer we get to the deployment release in November, the more accurate information will become.

 

*FURTHER UPDATE*

 

All scheduled calls for Odyssey in Villefranche have also now been replaced with Independence. This port makes up part of the 14-day Mediterranean itinerary, so it definitely looks like Indy is on its way to Southampton in 2025 now, as opposed to Odyssey.

[heatherb1958]

1 hour ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

*FURTHER UPDATE*

 

All scheduled calls for Odyssey in Villefranche have also now been replaced with Independence. This port makes up part of the 14-day Mediterranean itinerary, so it definitely looks like Indy is on its way to Southampton in 2025 now, as opposed to Odyssey.

 

We haven't got anything booked for 2024 never mind 2025 !! 😁

[GlasgowCruiser01]

Perhaps Odyssey is staying in Rome? There doesn't appear to be an obvious replacement ship for that itinerary.

 

It's not too far to Rome or Barcelona for a bigger ship than Indy anyway so I'm not too fussed if Odyssey doesn't come to Southampton though it would be nice. I love both ships and I'm happy long as there is something doing 7 night Norwegian Fjords runs, want to do that in 2025 before the option is gone for good.

[PaulManchester]

My apologies for veering slightly off topic here, but given the discussion about which RCI ships are/should/we would like to see sailing from the uk, do any more experienced RCI customers reckon there is any slight chance of Royal porting a ship in Liverpool one day to sail the fjords and/or Northern Europe??

 

Its probably a selfish ask on my behalf but living in the north west of England, having a Royal ship half an hour from my front door would mean I could probably cruise an extra cruise each year. 
 

God I’d love it, albeit I suspect it wouldn’t be possible 

[gumshoe958]

12 minutes ago, PaulManchester said:

My apologies for veering slightly off topic here, but given the discussion about which RCI ships are/should/we would like to see sailing from the uk, do any more experienced RCI customers reckon there is any slight chance of Royal porting a ship in Liverpool one day to sail the fjords and/or Northern Europe??

 

Its probably a selfish ask on my behalf but living in the north west of England, having a Royal ship half an hour from my front door would mean I could probably cruise an extra cruise each year. 
 

God I’d love it, albeit I suspect it wouldn’t be possible 

Absolutely no chance I’m afraid.

 

Even the UK-based lines like P&O, Saga and Fred.Olsen - with much smaller ships - don’t home port in Liverpool. If there was a market, presumably someone would have cornered it.

[PaulManchester]

33 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

Absolutely no chance I’m afraid.

 

Even the UK-based lines like P&O, Saga and Fred.Olsen - with much smaller ships - don’t home port in Liverpool. If there was a market, presumably someone would have cornered it.

Thank you for your reply. Sadly, what you say makes sense. 
Ah well, I shall have to carry on travelling to Southampton. First world problem I know. 

[heatherb1958]

11 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Absolutely no chance I’m afraid.

 

Even the UK-based lines like P&O, Saga and Fred.Olsen - with much smaller ships - don’t home port in Liverpool. If there was a market, presumably someone would have cornered it.

 

Not fully correct. Friends did a cruise with Fred Olsen on Borealis out of Liverpool earlier this year.  There  were several dates. They had a great time on her, first time with Fred Olsen. We find them expensive.

We cruised on Virtuosa in 2021 out of Liverpool,  that was bliss being a shortish train ride from Manchester unlike the 6 hours it took by train on Sunday  to join the same ship yesterday. I wish MSC would do the interporting again like they did in 2021...

[gumshoe958]

4 minutes ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

Not fully correct. Friends did a cruise with Fred Olsen on Borealis out of Liverpool earlier this year.  There  were several dates. They had a great time on her, first time with Fred Olsen. We find them expensive.

We cruised on Virtuosa in 2021 out of Liverpool,  that was bliss being a shortish train ride from Manchester unlike the 6 hours it took by train on Sunday  to join the same ship yesterday. I wish MSC would do the interporting again like they did in 2021...

Ok, didn’t know about Fred.

 

Virtuosa was only there because at the time cruises were restricted to UK ports due to Covid. MSC haven’t been back since …

[heatherb1958]

1 hour ago, gumshoe958 said:

Ok, didn’t know about Fred.

 

Virtuosa was only there because at the time cruises were restricted to UK ports due to Covid. MSC haven’t been back since …

 

Yes I know 2021 was a 'special' year 😂. Lost count the number of cruises we did and visited  Belfast and Greenock 😎. 😂. 

[cublet]

2 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

Yes I know 2021 was a 'special' year 😂. Lost count the number of cruises we did and visited  Belfast and Greenock 😎. 😂. 

Hello,

 

With all the 'staycruises' I went on in 2021, I said that should I take any more, Liverpool would be after me for Council [Residents'] Tax.

 

Whilst Liverpool, and others, successfully handled the Virtuosa and others as a 'port of call', handling the number of pax embarking/disembarking should they 'home-port' there fills me with horror.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[heatherb1958]

49 minutes ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

With all the 'staycruises' I went on in 2021, I said that should I take any more, Liverpool would be after me for Council [Residents'] Tax.

 

Whilst Liverpool, and others, successfully handled the Virtuosa and others as a 'port of call', handling the number of pax embarking/disembarking should they 'home-port' there fills me with horror.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

 

That is why we love  interporting, the whole ship isn't trying to  embark/ disembark  at once 😎. Embarking Virtuosa in Liverpool wasn't  too bad with the interporting at SOU and Greenock. Yesterday when we embarked in SOU in the afternoon there were still 1,000+ people still to check in at 2.30pm...  The young guy checking us in looked shattered....

[scooby1]

I think Southampton or another port in the UK deserves a second ship from RC. Anthem and a Voyger class ship to a few more destinations would be great. RC could do with mixing up some of the current itinerary year on year. 

 

You look and thing ooh what have they got for next year and things are almost identical. If they tweaked things a bit more it would be better for those that keep coming back. Add a second ship for a few more options would be great. 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

I really hope the independent or same ship class is back in Southampton for 2025. I much prefer that to the quantum class and i have been on Anthem twice. If she is i will be booking. Till then its P&O and MSC for us. 

Would be interesting to know when it all gets confirmed. 

[Jumping Cruiser]

On 5/25/2023 at 8:58 PM, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

All scheduled calls for Odyssey in Villefranche have also now been replaced with Independence. This port makes up part of the 14-day Mediterranean itinerary, so it definitely looks like Indy is on its way to Southampton in 2025 now, as opposed to Odyssey.

 

*FURTHER UPDATE 2*

 

All scheduled calls for Odyssey in Le Havre (France) have now also been replaced with Independence. I wonder if they are just having one ship, Independence, as I haven’t seen any mention of other ships along the Southampton routes? If so, this would be a real shock to me as at one point Royal were talking about increasing Southampton capacity, never mind reducing it!

 

[beardedladies]

58 minutes ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

If so, this would be a real shock to me as at one point Royal were talking about increasing Southampton capacity, never mind reducing it!

 

 

It sadly doesn't surprise me. Royal promises a lot, but so often fails to deliver. If they think that I'm going to be paying out the undoubtably extortionate price they'll try charging for what will be a 17 year old ship doing the same old itineraties we always have then they are going to be disappointed.

[gavvy]

Having sailed indi last year we thought it looked quite dated- a big downgrade for the UK, there is lots of competition from Southampton and I cant see this ship doing that well not now people have had a taste of a quantum class ship- nor will they attract the premiums they think they can, big disappointment if this turns out to be true

[GlasgowCruiser01]

I like Indy and certainly if she were a 2nd ship in Southampton, that would be great. But if she is the only ship then it's a step backwards.

 

It's not 2010 any more, she's no longer new. And it does seem strange when other cruise lines seem to be upping their game in Southampton. Not to mention Europe as a whole, yes we get a few newer ships in Summer (Odyssey, Anthem & a rotating Oasis Class) but not even a Vision Class in Winter when other companies are trying year-round itineraries.

 

Royal have just got too obsessed with that bloody cash cow by the name of CocoCay...

Edited May 31, 2023 by GlasgowCruiser01

[FamilyCruiserUK]

44 minutes ago, GlasgowCruiser01 said:

I like Indy and certainly if she were a 2nd ship in Southampton, that would be great. But if she is the only ship then it's a step backwards.

 

It's not 2010 any more, she's no longer new. And it does seem strange when other cruise lines seem to be upping their game in Southampton. Not to mention Europe as a whole, yes we get a few newer ships in Summer (Odyssey, Anthem & a rotating Oasis Class) but not even a Vision Class in Winter when other companies are trying year-round itineraries.

 

Royal have just got too obsessed with that bloody cash cow by the name of CocoCay...

You are totally right. Some of the silly cheap cruises royal offered for less than a week around the Bahamas and back. You cant compete with that in europe really. I think royals thinking is lots of 7 night or less cruises on full big ships. Cruises from.southampton you would need two weeks to get anywhere sunny, so their quick week business model  may not work here. They are set up perfectly for the US passengers and P&O are set up for uk passengers. With princess and MSC getting on board as well. 

My next trip for 2025 i am leaning more towards the ship having been to most places i want to travel. So keeping on eye on prices for:

 

MSC world Europa from barcelona

Indy if true from southampton

An oasis class ship from barcelona

Dream wish Icon......🤣 From Barcelona.

[cublet]

10 hours ago, GlasgowCruiser01 said:

I like Indy and certainly if she were a 2nd ship in Southampton, that would be great. But if she is the only ship then it's a step backwards.

 

It's not 2010 any more, she's no longer new. And it does seem strange when other cruise lines seem to be upping their game in Southampton. Not to mention Europe as a whole, yes we get a few newer ships in Summer (Odyssey, Anthem & a rotating Oasis Class) but not even a Vision Class in Winter when other companies are trying year-round itineraries.

 

Royal have just got too obsessed with that bloody cash cow by the name of CocoCay...

Hello,

 

For some years now I have felt that Royal is more an amusement park operator and less a cruise line operator.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[nicben]

Hi Heather when are you coming back to Royal ?     Roy & Ann 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

3 hours ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

For some years now I have felt that Royal is more an amusement park operator and less a cruise line operator.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

I think royal are. All their new ships are geared towards families and spending money on board rather then smaller port intensive ships. 

Full ships, quick turnarounds, less ports, more stuff to keep people entertained.

[sowhat]

I can envisage  Royal  Caribbean  down grading ships to the UK market  as  people  are  not willing  to spend  money on expensive  cruise vacations.

Micheal  Bayley  quote.

"Stressed the importance of the UK market which he said had been significant to the line “almost since the beginning of the company”.

“I don’t see that ever changing,” he added. “In fact, it’s so important that I promise you will bring Icon of the Seas into Southampton. The UK will be the first country and market that we will bring this incredible ship.

“We’ll do a huge trade event in the UK and Ireland – we’ll invite all of our travel partners to see the biggest, best, most stunning exciting product on the planet. I can’t commit on the date."

But  the plans have changed  and  UK is going  to be down graded from Anthem  to Independence  if the posts are correct  here on cruise critic 

Edited June 1, 2023 by sowhat

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Wow would be exciting if he keeps to his word. However things change. 

But will be interesting to see where she goes after April 2025 as before that shes in Florida/Bahamas 

 

I dont want to wish time away but roll on of it does happen. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by FamilyCruiserUK