geoff2802

Yep, thanks mate.

When would we expect the 2025 repos from Brisbane and Sydney to Honolulu (or elsewhere) to go on sale? Not until next year?

Not sure. I was looking at them on Royalcaribbean.com .

Thanks; Sydney prices seem to be a bit higher than Brisbane. I see the repo from Singapore is not released yet.

Yes. And why are they home porting a ship in Singapore that was specifically designed for cool weather? You really wonder how these decisions are made.

Hi all, Would any of you folks know when the 2025 Mediterranean cruises may go on sale? We’re thinking of a cruise from Venice. Cheers, Geoff.

This page describes the Eden port projects: https://www.portauthoritynsw.com.au/edenharbour Doesn’t seem to refer to any upgrades for very large ships. Others may have better info. Pity that NZ cruise is in the second half of March. Bit too cool and inclement for me! At least it’s an alternative to the frequent 7-odd day cruises. We’ve been enjoying Austin for a few days and now we are looking forward to embarking. One last feed of TexMex and Margaritas tonight! Gotta love that!

Absolutely agree. A Radiance class would make more sense for Brisbane and the island ports. They can probably sell every cabin on Quantum though, given that the season is short.

The way NSW government works (or fails to work), the infrastructure at Eden may take another 5 years. I hope they get it together though. A pretty boring (but predictable) set of itineraries for Brisbane. Tossing up whether to do the Singapore repo or go to Egypt instead. We’re on Radiance for the PC departing tomorrow, so could probably book on board late in the cruise.

Are you going?

That may be the case now, with many people being cautious about cruising. But the first cruises in this deployment are 18 months away. I think Royal is under-estimating demand (unless there is another catastrophe).

Thx for sharing this update. No entry in Darwin’s calendar (yet) that would indicate a northbound exit. Perhaps a TP calling at Lelepa is the plan. Surely they would do the same with Quantum (or her replacement). Gavin’s sandcastle ship might provide a hint.

Yeah, probably their marketing team just trying to create interest. The Brisbane port calendar looks set up for Lelepa, with mostly 7 and 8 night itineraries.

Yeah I saw the crew comment on Anthem. I don’t think Anthem has to dry dock until mid 2025. Why would they bring it forward by more than 6 months?

I agree they must be conserving cash, so why the big gap? Any chance it’s actually Anthem coming to Brisbane instead of Quantum? Last crruise ends in S’hampton on Oct 14.

Does anyone have insight knowledge of the work to be done during Quantum’s dry dock? Her last cruise ends in Honolulu on 14 Oct ‘24. She appears in Darwin’s calendar on Nov 24. That’s about 41 days. Allowing 10 for a non-revenue run to Singapore and a further 7 from Sing to Darwin leaves 24 days for the dry dock. Seems too long unless major work is planned.

An update on Lelepa I guess.

While we’re whingeing about Princess’ deployment… why would they base Diamond in Melbourne in the Spring when it’s still cold around the south of the country and Brisbane in summer when it’s hot? Perhaps they still can’t work out our seasons. And no cruises to the islands from Brisbane - leaving it to the sister brands presumably. I reckon Royal is laughing.

I think the cohort sailing on Princess is quite different to those sailing on Carnival & P&O. Why would you reduce capacity for your higher margin product? Only if you couldn’t sell it. The exchange rate might be a factor in the capacity reductions we’re seeing, although by the time final payments are made it may have completely reversed. In the case of Brisbane, the shorter Princess season will benefit Royal Caribbean. Seems like an own goal to me. … and in the case of Melbourne, I guess Virgin is the beneficiary.

I concur with others here regarding recovery time from the flight. We regularly fly between Australia and the US - it’s long and tiring, but worth it. There is plenty to see and do in both Melbourne and Sydney. Sydney is a fantastic port to sail from with great views from the ship. We’ve done cruises to NZ (from Sydney) and also over top between Sydney and Perth. They are very different and both are great. You can expect hot humid weather if you do the cruise over the top in Jan/Feb. Weather in NZ will be mild.

Thanks for sharing the passenger space ratios. We have cruised on Sapphire which I think has about the same ratio as Diamond. Nice ship and not crowded. I will happily cruise on Diamond. Crown would have to be lower cost to tempt me.

We first cruised on Princess about 20 years ago, so that may be relevant too.

We have been using the same US TA for at least several years now and they regularly book us Royal Caribbean and Princess. We have a second residence in the US which may matter. We hold funds in USD for other reasons, so we're never exchanging to USD when the South Pacific Peso is low. The TA used to charge a USD 100 p.p. booking fee for Princess cruises which made it less appealing, however this was recently removed. Perhaps Princess previously wouldn't pay commission if the traveller's primary residency was outside the US - I don't know. Sometimes I also see lower prices from Princess Australia and we recently booked there too, on Coral.

We might have to wait a week or two. I’ll ask my US TA if they have pricing yet. Cheers.

Could someone please provide a link to the USD pricing for the whole release? TIA