New Class coming

[gemcam1]

Just off Jewel - Had a conversation with one of the officers - He or she mentioned that RCI is looking at a new class of ship somewhere bewtween Oasis and Freedom. Obviously, any specifics are very secret.

[BND]

He or she?

 

There have been rumors about another class for a while.

[wolfcathorse]

they've been "thinking" about this at least as far back as 2008. Back then on Sovereign the captain said that after the Oasis class, RCI might revisit the layout of the Radiance class and update it. Who knows what RCI will do....

[negc]

they've been "thinking" about this at least as far back as 2008. Back then on Sovereign the captain said that after the Oasis class, RCI might revisit the layout of the Radiance class and update it. Who knows what RCI will do....

Obviously the ships' officers know since they seem to spend almost as much time spinning and spreading rumors as they do performing their duties on the ship. :rolleyes: All we know with any degree of certainty is what Richard Fain and Adam Goldstein have said repeatedly over the past couple of years and that is that it isn't economically feasible to build and operate more ships the size of the Radiance class ships, and that given the current economic situation it is not likely that they will be ordering any new shipbuilds, regardless of size, in the foreseeable future. Obviously many of us don't want to hear or believe those messages, so are eager to receive and pass on anything that fits our dreams and wishes, regardless of the lack of credibility of the sources of this "information".

 

Who are these officers anyway and when do they find the time to haunt the corridors of the executive offices and pick up all this top-secret information? Although,I guess we should be grateful to them or else there would be very little to discuss or speculate about on these boards.:D

[wethetraveler]

Maybe they will cut one in half and stretch it similar to what they did with the Enchantment of the Seas.

[SherriZ366]

Have heard that rumor also.

[CruisinRoxy]

A new class would be welcome because they cannot just keep getting bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER.............Something smaller, yet different would be great. But let's not send them all over to Europe, ok?

[Puffinater]

How about a ship that has a Promanade and the glass of a Radiance Clas ship. Two of my favorite things all wrapped up into one.

[MAHA]

How about a ship that has a Promanade and the glass of a Radiance Clas ship. Two of my favorite things all wrapped up into one.

 

That would be ideal!

[waterbug123]

Maybe they will cut one in half and stretch it similar to what they did with the Enchantment of the Seas.

 

I believe that was the plan for Grandeur, until the Enchantment stretch came in WAY over budget.

[yogimax]

Nothing is going to happen until the economy picks up and demand increases. In addition, RCCL will now have to market and sell enough cabins to fill the Allure

[BND]

Nothing is going to happen until the economy picks up and demand increases. In addition, RCCL will now have to market and sell enough cabins to fill the Allure

 

"Demand increases"? I keep hearing how every ship sells out and my experience has been the same. Heck, we're on Explorer in Nov and it's been almost sold out for a couple of months. No suites and no balcony cabins for several weeks. Once Allure hits the seas, there may be a problem selling out both Oasis and Allure but that's as much an issue of having those ships at the same origin port as anything else.

[tikimon]

Any cruiseline out there would have to be pretty stupid to have ships on order or for delivery with this economy.

 

I don't understand how they expect to keep all the ships sailing full every week with whats already out there.

[Cuizer2]

He or she mentioned that RCI is looking at a new class of ship somewhere bewtween Oasis and Freedom.

 

Well, the Oasis is in Fort Lauderdale and the Freedom is in Port Canaveral. So if you are really interested, then I would suggest you look along the cost of Florida between these two cities.

[cyscopup]

Getting back to the "he or she said", was there a gender question or an alcohol problem?

 

As far as the rumor goes we have heard the same thing for the past couple of years. It's a shame RCCL won't be going back to ships the size of Empress, that way we could go toplaces the big ships cannot.

[DEIx15x8]

This rumor seems to be slightly different from the usual. The concensus on the rumors has consistently been that it will bee a class to bridge the radiance and voyager classes as well as possibly two more freedom class ships. I think any rumor that says a ship larger than freedom but smaller than Oasis can't hold any validity at this point. That size just doesn't make sense for any purpose.

[FirstAlto]

How about a ship that has a Promanade and the glass of a Radiance Clas ship. Two of my favorite things all wrapped up into one.

Wow - that would be PERFECT!! I can't believe RCCL would be that smart!!:rolleyes:

[negc]

A new class would be welcome because they cannot just keep getting bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER.............Something smaller, yet different would be great. But let's not send them all over to Europe, ok?

Two problems with your solution: 1) it isn't economically advantageous to build and operate smaller ships. They needn't get bigger but they aren't likely to be building anything much smaller than Freedom class. I know that this isn't something that we like to hear but it seems to be an undeniable fact and they certainly don't want to invest large sums of money into new ships that can't return a profit.

 

2)if they don't "send them all over to Europe" where should they deploy them in order to get the most profit from them? They have tried deploying them to other ports in the US with varying results, so you need to identify a location where there will be high and constant demand sufficient to garner the high cruisefares that they need to make a profit. If you can find that port and those itineraries your future at RCI will be golden.

 

Until it once again makes good economic sense to embark on a new round of ship building, the best that they can hope for, is to be able to extend the life expectancy of their current fleet of ships.

 

They may be doing a good job of filling their ships at the moment but the question is whether or not they can continue to do so once Allure comes on line, and at what level of pricing can they make a profit. Until demand is such that they can consistently fill their ships and make a profit on every sailing, we are only going to continue hearing "rumors" but not seeing any contracts for new builds.

[Cruising89143]

This rumor seems to be slightly different from the usual. The concensus on the rumors has consistently been that it will bee a class to bridge the radiance and voyager classes as well as possibly two more freedom class ships. I think any rumor that says a ship larger than freedom but smaller than Oasis can't hold any validity at this point. That size just doesn't make sense for any purpose.

 

I disagree. The Oasis has the highest percentage of spending of any ship by passenger. That is why RCI is going back to the Freedom class and tweaking them with some of the Oasis features. The larger the ship, the more features can be added. I too have heard the same exact rumor that the OP posted. The next ship will be between the Freedom and Oasis. Also, there is a poster on another board who works for STX and he stated that the Freedom class is now outdated with all of the new technology and safety features that has been developed since the Freedom OTS entered service and a new design would have to be drawn up.

 

RCI is not going back to the Radiance class size. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Like it or not, bigger is better in their business model.

[funfamilyof6]

I LOVE the Freedom size ship...but I've never been on the Enchantment or any of the other smaller size ships. I just wouldn't want any less activities than the Freedom. The Freedom didn't feel that "BIG" to us. Once our kids leave, which is many years from now, we may be more inclined to do the smaller ships since we won't need "flowriders" anymore.

 

We do want to try Oasis/Allure, but do realize that something may be missing by cruising such a large ship ...but we still want to try it at least one time since our first experience on the Freedom was so good.

[skandls]

I disagree. The Oasis has the highest percentage of spending of any ship by passenger. That is why RCI is going back to the Freedom class and tweaking them with some of the Oasis features. The larger the ship, the more features can be added. I too have heard the same exact rumor that the OP posted. The next ship will be between the Freedom and Oasis. Also, there is a poster on another board who works for STX and he stated that the Freedom class is now outdated with all of the new technology and safety features that has been developed since the Freedom OTS entered service and a new design would have to be drawn up.

 

RCI is not going back to the Radiance class size. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Like it or not, bigger is better in their business model.

 

I agree about the onboard spending on the Oasis. We are booked for next Feb and are planning on a big Seapass bill. With all the opportunities for 'extras' many cruisers are going to be surprised at all the extras they buy on board. Many of the ships are going to Europe for the 'season'. The prices for excursions and port transportation add a lot to the per diem costs. We lost our west coast based cruises because of the low passenger revenues. MR excursions are no where near the cost of a tour of Rome or Athens. Our personal Caribbean cruises were going in the same direction - less and less onboard spending. I have no idea how many of the ports we will visit from the Oasis (no big excursion bills) - our extra spending will be mostly due to the 'pay' restaurants.

 

For real travel (vs a vacation) we will take much smaller ships or land tours - that allow more time 'in country'.

[grand isle joe]

:DI heard the same rumor. It will be a ship with both resturaunts and full spectrum of shops and ATM's on every level. But no cabins. The passengers will roam the decks 24 hours just eating in "specialty" venues and spending in the botique shopping experiences. If you qualify in money spent you will qualify for a Hoveround to access both areas quicker. Can't wait!!!!;)

[toovey]

That would be ideal!

That would be the ideal ship for me and called relaxation of the seas:):)

[toovey]

How about a ship that has a Promanade and the glass of a Radiance Clas ship. Two of my favorite things all wrapped up into one.

That would be the ideals ship for me. Call it the Relaxation of the Seas:):)

[thelion]

Nothing is going to happen until the economy picks up and demand increases. In addition, RCCL will now have to market and sell enough cabins to fill the Allure

 

I don't think that will be a problem. When Oasis launched, they pretty much added 5,000 guests a week to their fleet. The other ships are still sailing at about the same capacity they were before she launched. I bet the Allure will see the same thing.

 

Any cruiseline out there would have to be pretty stupid to have ships on order or for delivery with this economy.

 

I don't understand how they expect to keep all the ships sailing full every week with whats already out there.

 

They did it with Oasis. No reason to suspect they wont do it with Allure. Although I agree (and I think RCI does too) that it is a bad idea to start a new ship. They have a lot of debt to pay down right now from these two behemoth ships :)