Just booked Ritz Carlton Yachts

Yesterday, I booked a Caribbean itinerary on Ritz Carlton Yachts and was wondering if they will get their own Board?

We thought we would try them out on an easy 8 day cruise and the Caribbean itinerary should accomplish that. We don't cruise until 2020 and I was 1st one our Luxury TA had booked.

Easy 8 day itineraries to the Caribbean another cliche ports are all that Ritz Carlton will offer. I guess if one doesn't care where one is going RC will be fine.

Easy 8 day itineraries to the Caribbean another cliche ports are all that Ritz Carlton will offer. I guess if one doesn't care where one is going RC will be fine.

We have been just about everywhere. This Nov. we are cruising with Ponant to Antarctica, then Oct. will cruise Japan. Yes, we do care where we are going. It is nice to get away to a warm place after our ski mountain in Aspen closes and prior to opening day works well too. This floating hotel should be easy and comfortable for some sunshine. :)

Portofino Lady, I look forward to hearing your comments about Ritz Carlton cruising, and wish you an awesome test cruise! DH and I will be doing our first Caribbean cruise soon, with SB, and I might want to jump ship if it has too many problems on issues important to us (but remain hopeful).

Wripro, as I understand it you are testing Scenic Eclipse, so look forward to that as well. Came within a keystroke of booking it in South America, then chickened out, then came announcement of all the delays.

I have dogeared catalogues from both.

So many choices, but so few heartbeats! :)

We have been just about everywhere. This Nov. we are cruising with Ponant to Antarctica, then Oct. will cruise Japan. Yes, we do care where we are going. It is nice to get away to a warm place after our ski mountain in Aspen closes and prior to opening day works well too. This floating hotel should be easy and comfortable for some sunshine. :)

Sounds like Ritz Carlton is a perfect fit for you then.

Sometimes I don’t care where I am going as long as I can swim, snorkel and scuba dive. Nothing wrong with that. Living in the Northeast, it’s nice to get a break.

I’m fortunate enough to take a few trips a year, so perhaps that makes a difference. 

I’ve also booked a B2B covering mostly new ports for us. I like the multiple overnights and we’ll end up w 4 nights in Bordeaux.  Reminds me of The World Ship in a way, though smaller.

On 1/21/2019 at 5:41 PM, Gourmet Gal said:

I’ve also booked a B2B covering mostly new ports for us. I like the multiple overnights and we’ll end up w 4 nights in Bordeaux.  Reminds me of The World Ship in a way, though smaller.

Will look forward to your review. I like SeaDream for the small ship experience, but those ships are aging. The idea of new and shiny appeals to us.

On the Regent board we have been looking at several new cruise lines.  IMO, Scenic's Eclipse tops them all:

The yacht carries 200 passengers.  They have an "Exclusive Offer" through February 28th that includes:

Free deposit protection on all departures

Private door to door transfers (up to a $450 value per cabin - all departures)

Up to $1,000 OBC

Free 3-day Stay in NYC on all US and Canada voyages

Up to 10% early bird savings

Their normal inclusions are:

Ten dining experiences that includes private dining options

Unlimited beverages (they use the word "free")

Butler for all cabins

Shore Excursions

A discovery Team with unique experiences that arrange all shore excursions.

Fleet of Zodiacs onboard as well as e-bikes, snorkel gear and snowshoes for even more exploration.     

TC2.

Unfortunately, I was one of those booked on the Scenic Eclipse but whose cruise was canceled due to the delay. That will not stop me from booking again as soon as I find the right time and itinerary. I too think she will be spectacular and I love 200 passenger ships.

On 1/28/2019 at 6:05 AM, wripro said:

TC2.

 

Unfortunately, I was one of those booked on the Scenic Eclipse but whose cruise was canceled due to the delay. That will not stop me from booking again as soon as I find the right time and itinerary. I too think she will be spectacular and I love 200 passenger ships.

Scenic is an Australian company. My experience is that Australian companies are not always the best at running 5 star operations 

My mother tried one of their river cruises. She said the hardware was good, but the software was 4 star pretending to be 5. 

Toryhere, was the 4 star “ software” on Scenic due to inferior service from wait staff and crew, or related to scratchy bed linens,  or malfunctioning TV menus?

Since this is not a river cruise board I do not think we can assume that what Scenic will provide on the Eclipse will in any way resemble what they offer on their river cruises though I know several people who have sailed on Scenic river cruises and love them. Just look at Viking. Their ocean ships are far superior to their river boats.

I started this thread. FYI: I decided to cancel the Ritz cruise because not in love with the itinerary and decided to go back to SeaDream. Better itinerary and fewer passengers 🙂 

If they improve their itineraries in the future I may book again but happy to be going on SD1 Nov 2020 instead.

23 hours ago, portofinoitaly said:

I started this thread. FYI: I decided to cancel the Ritz cruise because not in love with the itinerary and decided to go back to SeaDream. Better itinerary and fewer passengers 🙂 

 

If they improve their itineraries in the future I may book again but happy to be going on SD1 Nov 2020 instead.

That has been my issue with RC yachts from the beginning, If all you want is to get on a ship and enjoy the ship experience RC yachts are fine. But if you care about where you're going they have chosen the most cliche and boring itineraries around.

On 2/20/2019 at 9:58 AM, wripro said:

That has been my issue with RC yachts from the beginning, If all you want is to get on a ship and enjoy the ship experience RC yachts are fine. But if you care about where you're going they have chosen the most cliche and boring itineraries around.

So it doesn’t appeal to you, why so negative?  I care about where I am going and the itinerary I chose is perfect for me.  I am also looking forward to booking private tours through the concierge rather than piecing them together on my own.  

RC may be initially appealing to their hotel guests who don’t cruise so any itinerary would be new to them, just as FS has Jet Experiences for their guests who would never consider group travel.  

38 minutes ago, Gourmet Gal said:

So it doesn’t appeal to you, why so negative?  I care about where I am going and the itinerary I chose is perfect for me.  I am also looking forward to booking private tours through the concierge rather than piecing them together on my own.  

 

RC may be initially appealing to their hotel guests who don’t cruise so any itinerary would be new to them, just as FS has Jet Experiences for their guests who would never consider group travel.  

Sorry if I cam across as too negative. I should have been more specific and said that the itineraries were boring to me. You may find them very appealing.

As my experienced TA said when I decided to cancel....they are working on getting their act together.  My itinerary had already changed after booking and I was not that thrilled in the 1st place with it. I just hope SeaDream is still in good working order Nov 2020. Good thing I happen to like antiques and refined service 😉

On 1/26/2019 at 8:02 PM, Travelcat2 said:

On the Regent board we have been looking at several new cruise lines.  IMO, Scenic's Eclipse tops them all:

 

The yacht carries 200 passengers.  They have an "Exclusive Offer" through February 28th that includes:

 

Free deposit protection on all departures

Private door to door transfers (up to a $450 value per cabin - all departures)

Up to $1,000 OBC

Free 3-day Stay in NYC on all US and Canada voyages

Up to 10% early bird savings

 

Their normal inclusions are:

 

Ten dining experiences that includes private dining options

Unlimited beverages (they use the word "free")

Butler for all cabins

Shore Excursions

A discovery Team with unique experiences that arrange all shore excursions.

Fleet of Zodiacs onboard as well as e-bikes, snorkel gear and snowshoes for even more exploration.     

 

  

Check out the Scenic discussion in the Other Cruise Line forum.  People have had to hire lawyers to get refunds and there are other horror stories. The company seems to showing signs of desperation. At the very least I would wait until there is a track record.  Even though I am excited about RC if there is a single delay or other issues I will back out and just plan a different trip.

New ships can be a headache. Last year the Silversea ship didn’t make the maiden/first trip to Antartica due to engine problems,. They had some problems on the transatlantic that they thought had been worked out and then there was the bad weather that they tried to blame things on. At the end of the day, it’s a pretty disappointing to get all the way to Ushuaia and then have to go home.

21 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Check out the Scenic discussion in the Other Cruise Line forum.  People have had to hire lawyers to get refunds and there are other horror stories. The company seems to showing signs of desperation. At the very least I would wait until there is a track record.  Even though I am excited about RC if there is a single delay or other issues I will back out and just plan a different trip.

Thank you very much for posting. This information.  While I do not think that the new ship will bee a strong competitor to Regent, I can see all luxury cruise line passengers being interested in the Eclipse. So, this is valuable information for all of us.

I was booked on the Scenic Eclipse on a cruise that got cancelled. I fully intend to rebook but not until after they have started sailing and there is some feedback, She looks fabulous and I always welcome something different as I get bored with the same ship or cruise line every time, Sometimes you want a surprise when you board and a hug from a maitre d' with whom you've sailed before doesn't suffice.