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New O ship coming

wripro

By wripro,
in Oceania Cruises

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Jancruz

Jancruz

Posted
Posted (edited)
Similar in style, same size as they always have been.

 

Ocean Princess was constructed with the same Deck 8 layout as Regatta, Insignia and Nautica. The other passenger deck layouts are also identical. As Lynn mentioned, there appears to be restrooms near the entrance to Horizons Lounge, which do not appear on the deck plans for the Oceania ships. The Princess layout for the casino and bar is also different; I would expect these to be renovated to match the current ships.

 

This has been in the planning stages for some time; I first had it whispered in my ear back in May, complete with the planned name, Sirena. I hinted at it in several threads speculating about a possible purchase, but didn't want to break a confidence. Now, seeing that it is actually NCL Holdings making the purchase, I wonder if the NCL takeover was actually in the planning stages back then, also.

 

There is already speculation that NCL Holdings might purchase the Pacific Princess and perhaps the P&O Adonia, which was in the Princess fleet until transferred to P&O. Princess and P&O are both Carnival owned. All based in relative closeness in Miami, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that FDR, NCL's Sheehan and Carnival's Mickey Arison are all well acquainted. The ships don't really fit Carnival's profile.

 

Pacific Princess has the same layout as Ocean Princess. Adonia, which was the newest of the R ships, the R8, has the same layout as the Azamara ships did before refitting, which means that Deck 8 has all standard veranda-sized cabins and no penthouses. Azamara rebuilt the back half of Deck 8 into Sky Suites, similar to Oceania's penthouses. The remainder of Deck 8 on Azamara's ships are standard veranda cabins, like deck 7. If Oceania gained possession of Adonia, Deck 8 could be rebuilt to match the current ships. There also does not appear to be a casino on Adonia.

 

There also is speculation that Azamara has to step up or divest, especially if Oceania had all 6 of the other R ships. There were rumors that Azamara might buy Ocean Princess, but obviously NCL/Oceania won out.

 

For anyone who has not read up on the history of the R ships and is interested, here is the best information I could find:

 

R1, 1998, currently Oceania Insignia

R2, 1998, currently Oceania Regatta

R3, 1999, currently Pacific Princess

R4, 1999, currently Ocean Princess, will become Oceania Sirena

R5, 2000, currently Oceania Nautica

R6, 2000, currently Azamara Journey

R7, 2000, currently Azamara Quest

R8, 2001, currently P&O Adonia (was Royal Princess for awhile)

 

R1, 1998, currently Oceania Insignia (originally Regatta and then changed to Insignia)

R2, 1998, currently Oceania Regatta

R3, 1999, currently Pacific Princess (very run down)

R4, 1999, currently Ocean Princess, will become Oceania Sirena (very run down and will need every penny of the 40M to bring in line with O)

R5, 2000, currently Oceania Nautica

R6, 2000, currently Azamara Journey (needs a lot of updating very similar to original Ren xcept for deck 8 and large bar at back of ship on deck 9)

R7, 2000, currently Azamara Quest (same as R 6)

R8, 2001, currently P&O Adonia (was Royal Princess for awhile)

 

IMHO having been on all of them recently!

Jancruz1

Edited by Jancruz
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Tarpeian Rock

Tarpeian Rock

Posted
Posted
Similar in style, same size as they always have been.

 

Ocean Princess was constructed with the same Deck 8 layout as Regatta, Insignia and Nautica. The other passenger deck layouts are also identical. As Lynn mentioned, there appears to be restrooms near the entrance to Horizons Lounge, which do not appear on the deck plans for the Oceania ships. The Princess layout for the casino and bar is also different; I would expect these to be renovated to match the current ships.

 

This has been in the planning stages for some time; I first had it whispered in my ear back in May, complete with the planned name, Sirena. I hinted at it in several threads speculating about a possible purchase, but didn't want to break a confidence. Now, seeing that it is actually NCL Holdings making the purchase, I wonder if the NCL takeover was actually in the planning stages back then, also.

 

There is already speculation that NCL Holdings might purchase the Pacific Princess and perhaps the P&O Adonia, which was in the Princess fleet until transferred to P&O. Princess and P&O are both Carnival owned. All based in relative closeness in Miami, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that FDR, NCL's Sheehan and Carnival's Mickey Arison are all well acquainted. The ships don't really fit Carnival's profile.

 

Pacific Princess has the same layout as Ocean Princess. Adonia, which was the newest of the R ships, the R8, has the same layout as the Azamara ships did before refitting, which means that Deck 8 has all standard veranda-sized cabins and no penthouses. Azamara rebuilt the back half of Deck 8 into Sky Suites, similar to Oceania's penthouses. The remainder of Deck 8 on Azamara's ships are standard veranda cabins, like deck 7. If Oceania gained possession of Adonia, Deck 8 could be rebuilt to match the current ships. There also does not appear to be a casino on Adonia.

 

There also is speculation that Azamara has to step up or divest, especially if Oceania had all 6 of the other R ships. There were rumors that Azamara might buy Ocean Princess, but obviously NCL/Oceania won out.

 

For anyone who has not read up on the history of the R ships and is interested, here is the best information I could find:

 

R1, 1998, currently Oceania Insignia

R2, 1998, currently Oceania Regatta

R3, 1999, currently Pacific Princess

R4, 1999, currently Ocean Princess, will become Oceania Sirena

R5, 2000, currently Oceania Nautica

R6, 2000, currently Azamara Journey

R7, 2000, currently Azamara Quest

R8, 2001, currently P&O Adonia (was Royal Princess for awhile)

 

 

 

Thanks for all this information! Very interesting as we move our loyalty over to O.

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hondorner

hondorner

Posted
Posted
I think it would be better of the remaining one went to Azamara, frankly.

Not from my point of view. I know a little of how and why Azamara was begun -- it was created as a virtual clone of Oceania, designed to steal some of Oceania's thunder. Of course they failed initially. Even though they have since gained a decent reputation despite a lower scale of maintenance, I still have a lack of interest in them.

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bitob

bitob

Posted
Posted
Not from my point of view. I know a little of how and why Azamara was begun -- it was created as a virtual clone of Oceania, designed to steal some of Oceania's thunder. Of course they failed initially. Even though they have since gained a decent reputation despite a lower scale of maintenance, I still have a lack of interest in them.

 

 

We cruised on Azamara recently

Awful

Never again

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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Kevnzworld

Kevnzworld

Posted
Posted

I won't sail on Azamara because of the old ships. I'm sailing on Oceania BECAUSE it has newer ships,

You can " refurbish " all you want, it's still a 15 year old ship.

I guess NCL figured it was cheaper to buy and refurbish an old rust bucket than to build a new ship with modern design, fixtures and staterooms....

Let the cost cutting begin!

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LHT28 Holiday Sharing Rare

LHT28

Posted
Posted
I won't sail on Azamara because of the old ships. I'm sailing on Oceania BECAUSE it has newer ships,

 

As long as you only sail on the 2 O class ships ;)

 

The 3 R ships are the same vintage as Azamara & Princess

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MightyQuinn

MightyQuinn

Posted
Posted

We're very happy that Oceania will add another R class ship, even though we prefer the O class. With a larger fleet, Oceania will be able to offer more varied and exotic itineraries, as well as covering the usual tried & true suspects. Their future under NCLH looks bright.

 

By comparison, Azamara doesn't shine quite as bright and RCCL should be motivated to invest or divest. Azamara really needs to expand as they are sorely limited in itineraries by having a 2-ship fleet. They have a narrow focus on a very few regions where they repeat itineraries, with minimal changes, year after year. We had a tough time finding a use for an Azamara Future Cruise Certificate. We recently applied it on a unique 2016 voyage that was not part of their original scheduling. Azamara added it after they chartered the ship for an extended period and needed to create an itinerary for the gap. Azamara also needs to refurbish their existing ships in order to command the price point that they seek.

 

No doubt interesting times ahead.

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TERRIER1

TERRIER1

Posted
Posted
We're very happy that Oceania will add another R class ship, even though we prefer the O class. With a larger fleet, Oceania will be able to offer more varied and exotic itineraries, as well as covering the usual tried & true suspects. Their future under NCLH looks bright.

 

By comparison, Azamara doesn't shine quite as bright and RCCL should be motivated to invest or divest. Azamara really needs to expand as they are sorely limited in itineraries by having a 2-ship fleet. They have a narrow focus on a very few regions where they repeat itineraries, with minimal changes, year after year. We had a tough time finding a use for an Azamara Future Cruise Certificate. We recently applied it on a unique 2016 voyage that was not part of their original scheduling. Azamara added it after they chartered the ship for an extended period and needed to create an itinerary for the gap. Azamara also needs to refurbish their existing ships in order to command the price point that they seek.

 

No doubt interesting times ahead.

 

Very much agree. We loved Azamara when we sailed this past June and July on a B2B so much so that we booked for 2016 but then they chartered the ship. You benefited and we lost out due to the charter. With only two ships in the fleet it is difficult to cruise at a specific period of time in a specific area when they charter out the ships. I found their itineraries very interesting espeically with the longer port stays and overnights. It is really too bad they only have 2 ships.

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Paulchili

Paulchili

Posted
Posted
We had a tough time finding a use for an Azamara Future Cruise Certificate. We recently applied it on a unique 2016 voyage that was not part of their original scheduling. Azamara added it after they chartered the ship for an extended period and needed to create an itinerary for the gap.

 

May I ask what that itinerary is?

TIA

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Emma Chisit

Emma Chisit

Posted
Posted
Thanks for all this information! Very interesting as we move our loyalty over to O.

 

Thanks here also, Don. As someone who was booked on a 62 day cruise in April 2015 on Ocean Princess (Singapore to Dover) the sale to Oceania is good news. It demonstrates that NCL realizes that many cruisers value these small ships – smart move for them. When we heard about the proposed sale a few months ago, and read interviews with Princess indicating that their future focus was on larger ships, we started thinking…. Cast flirtatious glances at Oceania’s many many promotional emails - upshot was we cancelled the Ocean Princess cruise and booked two Oceania cruises, one on Nautica in 2015 and one on Insignia in 2016. Total of 90 something days overall on the lovely R ships. We have done a 35 day cruise on Nautica and a shorter cruise on Pacific Princess so we know we like this size ship.

As for future itineraries….well I think a ship like this is ideally suited for cruises around Japan; a safe, exotic and beautiful destination. We recently spent eighteen days on a Diamond Princess cruise around Japan. Interesting itinerary (ship too large for us). Lots of small ports, and overnight stays in some would allow exploration inland as well.

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hondorner

hondorner

Posted
Posted

One of the best things about this whole deal is the cost -- the purchase is a reported $82 Million, and the refit is reported to be scheduled at $40 Million, a total of $122 Million. Considering that Marina and Riviera were each in the neighborhood of $500 Million, a little over $178,000 per passenger capacity ($122M/684) compared to $400,000 per passenger capacity ($500M/1250). That makes small ships economically viable.

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