Ethanol95

Imagine in how many years time, Royal will need larger than Q class to replace all the ships in APAC to continue to bring new and innovative ships over. 

1 minute ago, twangster said:

When Anthem goes to the Pacific the only Quantum class left in the Atlantic will be Odyssey. 

 

Or are they planning on bringing Ovation or Quantum in the other direction?

 

I hope Royal offers some of the repos cruises using the Suez Canal as revenue cruises. 

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Sydney is short of a ship for 24-25 season as there’s usually 2 .

Im still thinking there has to be another ship in the equation.

What happened to all the Radiance class ships? None serving Sydney?

5 hours ago, masteradept said:

Rather than which ship it is, I'm actually more disappointed that Singapore seems to be going back to seasonal instead of having a year-round ship, especially considering the increase in popularity of cruising since cruising restarted here.

I wouldn't go so far as to saying it went back to seasonal deployment as of yet. Not at least until the full deployment is released. The several month period without a ship, may very well be that Sepctrum's China schedule and Anthem's don't match up for the UK for there to be a ship in SG during this time. Also should take into account the drydock which complicates a full takeover such as what Quantum did with Spectrum. 

Let's wait and see first. 

19 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Would you consider Quantum to be a bigger downgrade?  It wasn't that long ago that Singapore had Quantum. 

 

At least Anthem has outdoor Windjammer seating.  I've always loved that about the pre-Ultra Q class. 

 

Spectrum is the only Q class I haven't sailed.  For me they are all very close except for the open MDR on the ultra Q. 

 

Anthem has been "anchored" to Bayonne for a very long time.  Singapore has benefited from a variety of different ships.

 

All home ports around the world sometimes get a ship that is older than the one it is replacing.  Port Canaveral is getting "old" Allure.  Port Canaveral got "old" Jewel and "old" Mariner.  Soon Miami gets "old" Allure.  Port Everglades got "old" Liberty after having "new" Odyssey.  Such is life. 

 

 

I haven't been on Anthem before, but based on perspective, the suite in a suite concept of Spectrum was what distinguished itself from the rest of Quantum class and fit well with our market. Also Spectrum's large main dining room is distinguishably a notch better. Generally, we are a very competitive market when it comes to product offerings, in the same way, you can say we're spoilt for choice. Hence, from our perspective, if it doesn't offer anything 'new' (i say that in parathesise, because it could be old features that are new to us), it is then considered a downgrade. 

Also I think that many cruisers in SG also have a liking towards the Voyager/freedom class, for some variety. But yes, Quantum is technologically more advanced than Voyager, newer, and just more wow. 

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

Signage isn't something that requires a dry dock.  They converted Ovation's Kung Fu Panda to a Fish n Ships during a revenue cruise as an example.  They closed off the area during an Alaska cruise and by the time that voyage was over it was reopened as Fish n Ships.  Changing most signs, if that was a requirement, for the most part isn't a terribly demanding task. 

 

However I don't think they would go through the expense to change signage unless she was heading to China eventually and I don't expect that outcome for Anthem.  It's more likely something OA size will eventually go to China if the 2024 China Spectrum relaunch is as successful as I expect it to be.  

 

There are dry docks in Singapore that can service Q class ships so that may be part of the strategy behind moving Anthem there.  Anthem can get her 2025 dry dock done at the shipyard were Ovation and Quantum have been serviced.  With 2025 cruises not open yet they can put that on the calendar and not disrupt bookings. 

 

If Anthem is home ported in Singapore in 2025 there would be no major crossing required to reach the shipyard for a dry dock so the loss of revenue is minimized compared to sailing empty transatlantics like a number of Royal ships have done in the Atlantic recently.

 

The short Singapore market looks to have been successful addition with an occasional 12 night to Japan as icing on the revenue cake.  With Spectrum returning to China they didn't want to lose the momentum they've built in Singapore so Anthem is the solution.

More like Anthem is a downgrade, which is fact. Still better than nothing.

14 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Sounds like it -Suez on it's own is 2 days - so no time left for any stops.

Last time Dubai to Barcelona was 13 days....

Yea, then bad luck to those who wanted to do a repo on her I guess.

13 minutes ago, ScottishRobbie said:

Just a thought on this, Anthem would be due her 10 year dry dock in early 2025, perhaps they'll bring it forward and just do it as soon as she arrives in Singapore and take the chance to introduce Asian language signs etc. Quantum is due in dry dock in Singapore mid-late October 2024 so Anthem could just go in after Quantum.

I'm not even 100% sure there will be Chinese signs introduced on Anthem as she was not built for the Chinese market, and now that SG cruise market is back to normal, the majority of cruisers are international, coming from India, Indonesia and of course, Singaporeans as well, excluding the other smaller nationality groups. All of whom i would dare say does not struggle to read English compared to the Chinese. But the Chinese have Spectrum so, Anthem shouldn't need more tweaking. 

4 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

2 weeks to Singapore would point to a non-rev - with stops it would be something like 3-4 weeks!

Then likely it'll be non-rev given its tight timeline.

Just now, ScottishRobbie said:

Anthem's last cruise of the 2024 season gets back into Southampton on 14th October, so I'd guess it would be leaving for Singapore sometime around then.

Yes Mid October for a 2-week repositioning cruise to Singapore, to start roundtrips by end October.

2 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Any news on the reposition voyage?

None yet. These will likely be revealed when Singapore's itineraries are coming out around July 24th. Still a pretty long wait. 

1 minute ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Where is it?

In Royal's press center. Latest news.

Well there we have it. Spectrum to Shanghai in April 2024 and Anthem to Singapore in October 2024

Just now, twangster said:

 

Thank you.

 

The excursions for Penang don't seem to be very exciting at the moment.  Hopefully more will be coming or I'll just self-explore.

I would like to see Royal invest in port infrastructure in SEA in the less well developed port nations. We could have amazing itineraries to even challenge the Caribbean head on, but a lot of that currently is inaccessible for a Quantum class ship, or even a voyager class for that matter. The islands of the philippines, the viet coast, Thailand and all its little islands, The Andaman and Nicobar islands, even Eastern Malaysia, has tons of potential.

37 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Yes but you can't just go to one port over and over.  With Phuket unavailable for OA class, what other port could supplement a 4 night itinerary?

 

I'm curious why they mostly do 3/4 for Q class from Singapore.  Is that the quintessential getaway for a Singaporean?  Are longer itineraries not as popular in the region?  The 5 night are not as common and then it jumps to 12 nights.  Is it not possible to create a 7 night itinerary from Singapore?  Do other cruise lines offer anything different? 

 

I'm booked on Spectrum in 2024 and I'm looking to go again.  It's hard to make the dates work for me. 12 nights is too long but 3/4 is too short.  It's a long way for me to go for 3/4.  

 

 

Which is why for the last 10 years, Royal has been sailing the same itinerary over and over again with each deployment. Singaporeans (I would want to say) 'used' to love Phuket, back in 2010's, but recently with its development as Thailand's popular beach destination, they've over-commercialised the place ridiculously. When you compare other less popular places in Thailand, they are just as beautiful and likely a lot cheaper. I remember on my most recent royal cruise there, a grab ride was 20SGD on average for 10-15 mins ride. Ridiculous. 

Singapore is a country with much fewer paid vacations and public holidays compared to other western countries. Hence the market here for short getaways (not just cruising) is especially strong. That is why Royal only does 3/4 nights. It is hard for us, and uncommon for us to travel longer than 5 days at any one time for vacation. 

Though their itinerary evolution in Singapore over these 10 years have been super slow, they are being way more experimental in the last 5 operating years (not including covid period), where you will now start to see 2 or 3 7N cruises, and the most recently experiment of 12N. 

I for one think Royal doesn't have anywhere to go on a regular basis that has enough demand for a 7 night cruise the entire year. Sailing up the eastern coast towards Thailand, Vietnam offers more variety but takes likely 1 and a half sea days - 2 sea days to reach those coastlines. That would easily be 3/4 sea days on a 7 night cruise. That's why when sailing there currently, it's only offered on reposition and one way trips, not round trips.

Also, Singaporeans' love Japan like. LOVE. Hence why you have 2 - 12Nights one way cruises to and from Japan this year. The first 12N sold out very fast, so clearly there is demand there, so much so that they added a second one, but i have heard demand for that has dropped since. 

Dream Cruises was the only other cruise line Pre-covid that offered diverse itinerary round trip from SG. Some of the unique itineraries:

EG. SG - Bintan Island (Indonesia) 2N

SG - Christmas Island (Australia) 5N

SG - Bali (Indonesia) 5N

Now with them coming back as Resorts World Cruises, their itineraries have gotten boring again.

37 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

One of Singapore's primary ports of call is by tender.  Phuket.  

 

If you take Phuket away what does that do for Singapore potential OA class itineraries?  

 

Penang is becoming a primary port, they have a dock that can fit an oasis class ship by physical size. Infrastructurally, last time I was there, didn't look like they require much, its just a walk through an old building called the 'terminal'

5 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

2020 and we are talking 24-25 ,should be another dry dock along the line somewhere.

 

 Singapore has been pretty good to Royal,I think there is something better in store for Singapore than another Quantum class.

Yes, hope you guys realise we have no ship yet. And it better be Anthem, although not really keen on Anthem. It's better than nothing at this point..

6 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

Read an article this morning that stated Michael Bayley alluded to a possible seventh Oasis class ship after Utopia on the media tour of the Icon yesterday. 

do you have a source?

2 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

And is it then Anthem to Singapore ?

Yes.

8 minutes ago, voobkk said:

Royal caribbean gonna release china itinerary on 15 May

Spectrum will be leaving SG for China restart

7 hours ago, geoff2802 said:

Thanks; Sydney prices seem to be a bit higher than Brisbane. 

I see the repo from Singapore is not released yet.  

 

Are they on the loyal to you always website?

14 hours ago, Ashland said:

I continue to hope RCI will again someday have one of our favorite itineraries Singapore-Shanghai.

I think you'll have to wait a bit longer. Due to its preferred popularity, they'll probably reinstate Tianjin first as a homeport before Shanghai. And you'll only get this itinerary if it's repositioning to Singapore, which should only occur once. 

6 hours ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

It has always confused me as to why they have chosen to base Anthem in Singapore, since Quantum has already had a partial conversion to suit the Asian market (e.g. Signage and Restaurants - Noodle Bar). To me it would make more sense for Royal to have Anthem do Alaska/Australia and Quantum back in Singapore. 

If China is open, they will send 2 Quantum classes to China, Spectrum, and probably Quantum to HK and Tianjin/Shanghai. Anthem is better suited to Singapore than Anthem would be for the Chinese market. 

This likely could be seasonal sailing between China and Australia, or just China.. Who knows..

6 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Just out of Captain's Corner on Anthem. I asked where she is going after her summer 2024 season and he confirmed Singapore but said he couldn't say any more than that for the moment.

As i have been saying all along. 

2 hours ago, DaniMSCRoyal_85 said:

The new rumor:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq5un76oY6c/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

wowwee will this be a year of double mega homeporting for SG? haha i doubt, but i can dream.

17 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I think it will have a casino,I haven’t read anything that says it won’t.

It’s not over till the fat mouse sings.

They have already published there will be no casino onboard.