R-6 For Sale 125 Million.

[twine]

I wonder if this one will make it into Oceanias fleet. If anyone is looking for a private yacht this looks like a deal to me.

R" TARGET=_blank>http://yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp?currency=USD&units=Feet&checked_boats=1034857&slim=quick&R 6 for sale</A>

[ClaudiaF]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by twine:

I wonder if this one will make it into Oceanias fleet. If anyone is looking for a private yacht this looks like a deal to me.

<A HREF="http://yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp?currency=USD&units=Feet&checked_boats=1034857&slim=quick&http://yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp?currency=USD&units=Feet&checked_boats=1034857&slim=quick& 6 for sale</A><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Well if enough of us get together we could surely scrape up 100M to buy her.

 

Barcelona to Venice on Oceania - "Insignia"

Buenos Aires to Rio Oceania - "Insignia"

 

 

 

[marilynfaye]

The picture appears to be the R-1! Thought I was sailing her on 6/14.

[Jancruz]

Its very strange..I am sure the R6,7 and 8 dont have suites and yet there is a picture of one..I also dont think this is the R6

 

Jan

*****

[Hlitner]

Ok, I must admit to being confused. We cruised on several of the R ships (when with Ren) and are going on the Pacific Princess in June (past R ship). As I recall, all of the ships were absolutly identical (we actually cruised with the British marine architect who designed the series and he told us the owner of Ren was "cheap" and paid for one design) so I don't know how you can tell em apart. And yes, all the R ships have suites (owners suites on 3 decks and also mini-suites). Those owner suits are up to 962 sq feet, so they are true suites.

 

Hank

[Jancruz]

I believe you are wrong about all the ships having mini suites on deck 8..on the R6, 7 and 8 they were eliminated..so those three ships are different..

 

Jan

*****

[goeurope]

Jan's right about R7 and R8. As I understand it, that's why Oceania didn't consider those ships: The lack of penthouse suites made them undesirable from a revenue point of view.

 

>>We actually cruised with the British marine architect who designed the series and he told us the owner of Ren was "cheap" and paid for one design<<

 

When I interviewed Ren's PR director back in 2001, I was told that the single design was for a different reason: The ships were designed for port-intensive cruises, and the cruises were being marketed by itinerary. By providing a consistent "floating Hyatt Regency" experience, the ships allowed passengers to focus on the places they wanted to see instead of having to worry about which ship to choose.

 

--

Durant Imboden

Europeforvisitors.com

[marilynfaye]

The elimination of the larger suites on the R7 and R8 allowed for a greater number of passengers. I seem to remember an increase from 648 to (maybe) 698. The reason I said this was a photo of the R-1 is that if you click on the picture you can read R-ONE on the side.

 

Marilyn

[goeurope]

They didn't eliminate any larger suites, did they? I thought they just eliminated most or all of the Penthouse Suites. My wife and I had a very pleasant Owner's Suite on the R7 for about five days on a Dover-Lisbon cruise that got short when Ren declared bankruptcy.

 

BTW, I think Oceania was very clever to rename the forward Owner's Suites "Vista Suites." The two suite types have different layouts, so it makes sense to have different names for them.

 

--

Durant Imboden

Europeforvisitors.com

[marilynfaye]

Yes, Durant, you're right, as usual. I meant to say they eliminated the larger cabins in order to create more standard size cabins.

 

BTW, we were on the Dover-Barcelona cruise together. I'm sorry we never met. I always look forward to your posts. You are a wealth of information.

 

Thank you.

Marilyn

[douganswerphone]

I can say firsthand that the R-7 didn't have any "Penthouse Suites", and I believe R6, R7 and R8 were identical.

 

Hmmmm.... I wonder what it would cost to gut Deck 8 and replace all the "A" cabins with Penthouse and/or owner's suites?

 

I heard that FDR was investigating a 4th ship, not hard to believe since the first 2 are booking so well and it looks like Nautica will sell out as well....

 

BTW, the asking price for this ship is now "only" $100 million, about half what a similar newbuild would cost.

 

Whether it's the R6 or not, I predict that O will add a 4th ship in 2006. There will be quite a few to choose from, judging by the way the cruise industry's going.

 

Doug n Sherry

[Jancruz]

Doug, O will not have the R6..because of the lack of penthouses..

 

Jan

*****

[frank26]

R6,7 and 8 are identical and they do NOT have PH's.

It will cost about $6.0 million to convert Deck 8 from Balcony Staterooms to PH's.

While I appreciate your support and confidence that we can EASILY fill 4 ships, we'll take it nice and slow and see if Nautica does indeed sell out as nicely as Regatta and Insignia have. Remember, that once upon a time, a cruise line bit off more than they could chew and found themselves.....ibn trouble.

 

Nice hearing from you Doug and Sherry

[douganswerphone]

Frank:

 

I agree nice & easy does it. And I never said it was EASY. We've seen firsthand some of your growing pains, but also that O is working hard on doing the IMPORTANT things right. That's why I said 2006.

 

We could say a lot more on this topic, but the little you have said indicates to me that 2 great minds are having similar thoughts here.

 

A lot can happen in 2 years, as the past 2 have shown, but the cruise industry is headed in a positive direction, and there are 5 more "R" ships out there, for that matter quite a few others for sale now or will be shortly.

 

So I guess Doug & Sherry will just have to wait and see as interested observers. We'll definitely take a peek at any cards you're not holding close to your chest.

 

Looking forward to earning our 5-cruise pin in 2005 (if not sooner). And while it might go without saying, we believe in your product and wish Oceania the best.

 

Doug & Sherry

 

"It will cost about $6.0 million to convert Deck 8 from Balcony Staterooms to PH's.

While I appreciate your support and confidence that we can EASILY fill 4 ships, we'll take it nice and slow and see if Nautica does indeed sell out as nicely as Regatta and Insignia have. Remember, that once upon a time, a cruise line bit off more than they could chew and found themselves.....in trouble."

 

Doug n Sherry

[Ernst]

@douganswerphone

You wrote: "We've seen firsthand some of your growing pains, but also that O is working hard on doing the IMPORTANT things right."

 

What pains do you mean? I believe you could tell us more about any lacks if there are some.

 

Thanks a lot

 

Ernst

[douganswerphone]

Ernst:

 

We were on the Regatta Inaugural, and excited to be there as were most of the others onboard. ("Our" cruise line was back!!!)

 

Oceania went from concept to inaugural cruise in about 8 months. Most similar enterprises take 2 to 3 years to cover a similar journey.

 

As businesspeople, what we saw on the Inaugural impressed us greatly, with respect to Oceania's ability to conjure a cruise line out of thin air in a hurry. And while most of the cruise was very good indeed (food was fabulous; we were back aboard beautiful ships we love), experienced cruisers will generally tell you that inaugurals are to be avoided if you seek the "perfect" cruise. We already knew that, as did most aboard. There were a few pax that complained bitterly about everything at every opportunity. We did our best to avoid them, as the complaints generally "said" more about the complainer than about the target of the complaints.

 

There were a a number of "startup" issues, such as lack of TV programming, of which about half were substantially corrected by the end of the first cruise. "O" got an "A" for effort in our book.

 

The most substantial complaints on the Inaugural had to do with dining room service, which was somewhat disorganized and generally slow. The dining room staff was generally demoralized, because they'd been getting beat up on these issues for a week on "Pre-Inaugural". Part of this was "New Ship / New Staff" syndrome, and part of it was because O was experimenting with some new dining concepts (experimentation is something we encourage). The first was to be expected, and the second eventually worked out.

 

When we were aboard Regatta again in January, it appeared that the vast majority of our "observations" from the first cruise had been acted on.

 

We were on the first two Insignia cruises, and staff performance was incredibly sharp. I can't recall being on another cruise where we were this impressed with the caliber of the crew. Reading other posts, we know why; Regatta's staff was heavily raided, perhaps to the detriment of Regatta cruisers for a month or two. The flip side was that 7 or 8 of Insignia's crew recognized us, which was flattering, and we saw many familiar faces in the crew.

 

No cruise is perfect, and no cuise line is ever going to do things 100% your way. That's why billionaires have their own yachts. But for us less-than-billionaires, O comes the closest to doing things exactly the way we like, at a price we can still afford.

 

Other examples of "growing pains": it was several months before O's reservation system was in place, which made actually trying to book a cruise a bit of an effort. It was also about 6 months before their first brochures appeared. All their printed materials are beautiful and it was worth the wait. Also we had to go on our second cruise before we got recognized as members of the Oceania Club. If I really racked my brain I'm sure I could come up with some other stuff.

 

None of these things were worth getting torqued up about. And, it's been fun to watch these guys in their 18-month effort to "get it right".

 

I think you'll find that those who've ACTUALLY CRUISED on O are some of the most loyal cruisers out there as a group. And that's why I predict that O will continue to add ships.

 

Doug & Sherry

 

Doug n Sherry