Impact of new luxury ships?

[TrulyBlonde]

Thanks guys....I like your sense of humor and always enjoy a good chuckle. I just know I will be fine and well taken care of.

[Travelcat2]

There are only twelve of those "suites" measuring 307 sq ft (219 interior, 88 balcony).

 

I suspect that these will eventually become cabins specifically for singles - at a premium - and that will force most entry level passengers to come in on a higher category.

 

However, that they have an 88 square foot balcony, for any entry-level cabin, is nothing to sneeze at! They are about double the size of most balconies on Crystal's rusty old buckets (:D). They are also significantly larger than most balconies on the other three Regent ships, larger than most balconies on all current Silversea ships, and larger than most balconies on all current Seabourn ships. So no sneezing, please.

 

Agree with you regarding the smaller suites but hope they are not priced out of the range of single luxury cruisers. I know of some people that miss Regent and only sail other lines because of Regent's 200% single supplement (less on some itineraries).

 

portofinoitaly: Agree about wanting larger balconies on itineraries with a lot of sea days. For this reason, we are going on Explorer's maiden transatlantic voyage next year. It is priced much better than other Explorer cruises. There is an amazing group of CC'ers on that cruise - we have a very active Roll Call going on. It looks like it might be one of the most "fun" Regent cruise we have ever taken. We also wanted to sail on the Explorer before she hangs out in the Caribbean in 2017 as we aren't into Caribbean cruises anymore.

 

While Crystal has been of zero interest to us since we began cruising, it is surprising that their new yacht has peaked our interest. We may have booked their New Year's cruise with a 3 night stay in Dubai if we could have fit it into our schedule. It is a strong possibility for 2017:)

Edited August 27, 2015 by Travelcat2

[TrulyBlonde]

TC2...When I checked Regent for Apr 2017 cruises in the Caribbean I could not find any. Explorer would have peaked my interest. Balcony size is wonderful, but cabin size is more important to us on port intensive cruises.

I have only done one Caribbean on Seadream and enjoyed it immensely. This cruise on Crystal is sort of an experiment and after our ski season in CO home it is very easy to hop on a plane, ship, and see if we like it without the time and expense traveling to our usual destination which is Europe in the Spring.

Agree the Crystal Yacht is very appealing, but we are already booked for 2016 with A Tauck Danube, O on Sirena for Adriatic and SA on O for Oct 2016. The Crystal itinerary looked fabulous but already have airline paid for etc. and a lot of work put into it. If not I would have definitely considered it. Originally had this one on Navigator but know that ship is not for me.

So many choices for all of us. We are all blessed and Lucky:)

[Travelcat2]

The Caribbean itineraries are not out yet for the Explorer -- probably will be in a couple of months. We expect the Explorer to return to the Caribbean after it delivers passengers to Los Angeles and the West Coast TA's get a chance to tour the ship. It isn't written in stone but is probable. The only place that she will get the kind of exposure she needs right after her debut is near the U.S. Eventually, I predict that she will be introduced to European cruisers and do some itineraries there.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruises. Strongly agree about being blessed and lucky!

[Travelcat2]

drib, First, thanks for the heads up regarding Dubai to Mahe. That definitely needs more research on our part.

 

In terms of new ships, my take on it is a bit different. The worst ship we have sailed was new - the Silver Spirit. At the time - even the crew was not happy to work on that ship. Now she does have devotes, however, their two mid-size ships remain the most popular. While we have not sailed on Seabourn, the old, very small "triplets" were a favorite of long time cruisers.

 

Oceania has two new ships and three (soon to be four) ships that were refurbished but are far from new. Like you, we wanted to go on the new ship and are glad that we did - those ships are amazing. However, many long time Oceania cruisers still prefer the older, smaller ships to the new ones.

 

We have been over the top excited about Regent's Explorer and follow every news article about her. Once we sail on her, we fully expect to go back to the Voyager or Mariner as the Explorer will probably be the most popular ship for the next couple of years and we are very satisfied with two of Regent's older ships.

 

It will be interesting to see how things shake out over the next 2-3 years. I think that new itineraries will be important in the future - even more than whether the ship is new or not. Frequent cruisers are looking for new and interesting ports. I see that as the luxury cruise industry's biggest challenge.

[tv24]

On one of our TV channels, a major UK Cruise Agent, which has an hour long twice weekly show, always describes Holland America as a 6 star Cruise Line.

 

Why not eight stars?

[vistaman]

Thanks TC.

 

I will be on Silversea for one short voyage in January so now I'll have to look at the color of my card. Since this will only be our second Silversea Cruise I'm thinking it will be white.

 

Keith

 

i do not know on which SS ship you will go :

you like Crystal so much

SS does have better flavoured wodka's and a better choice in European "upper medium " wines - like a Meursault and Champagnes

and you do receive 10 % by buying 3 at once

however in all the other aspects Crystal wins ...

despite all the changes after all inclusive !!

ranging from the orange juice to the service .

[qwertz]

I'm interested in discussing the impact the new ships will have on luxury cruising. For example:

 

[...]

-- will new crew housing and facilities improve morale?

 

While Europa 2 is already in operation it gives an example how these improvements might look like:

 

The engineer responsible for the newbuild highlights that crew areas like fitness facility (at 0m28s), sauna plus relaxation room, club/disco, sundeck with jacuzzi and sort of a "living room" are not standard crew amenities. I suppose she is referring to smaller ships with her statement.

 

From 1m20s a crew cabin with double occupancy is shown. Improvements are an integrated lockable storage space, cupboard nearly double the size than standard, a fridge ("to avoid the crew improvising McGyver style solutions on their own") plus some details like a porcelan washbowl (no plastic) in the bathroom.

 

However, the difference is more often than not in the software than in the hardware of a ship, as noted in another thread. This is apparently true in the way the crew is treated as well. A good example are the official crew parties, that Hapag Lloyd organises. A former officer who sailed on Europa for four and a half years gives a nice report (translation by google plus some polishing):

 

Every few months, it says: Official Party Crew. And Hapag-Lloyd is willing to spend on these. The main difference (and advantage) to the other parties is the location. Personally, I have experienced two very successful parties, one in South Africa on land and another one at sea. The first took place at the winery Seidelberg in Paarl (near Cape Town), there was lamb on the spit and good wines, and the whole atmosphere was festive. Tony Böhmer, board member of HL, made a nice, encouraging speech at the opening. The uninitiated may wonder what attention the group gives its staff. Almost certainly the fact that Douglas Ward has been on board, the most famous cruise tester and editor of the Berlitz Cruise Guide, has been contributing to the size of the package. One of his (several hundred) evaluation criteria is also the satisfaction of the crew members. Nevertheless it was a great evening, even though we had to venture out into the surrounding hills (mountains would be exaggerating) late at night in search of the Swabian Poissonnier who was comatose lying around somewhere and processing the South African Red. He did not arrive with the last bus, but made his way back to the ship on more adventurous' paths. At the heart of the story are an uninvited guest by 5 clock in the morning and $ 50 bill for cleaning work on a terrace.

 

The other party also took place in warm climes, however, on board on the outdoor terrace of the beautiful Lido Café. For this purpose they had closed the café for guests at 10 pm and everybody partyed wildly. Official highlight was the auction of numerous objeczs of native art, which had been acquired in Madagascar in exchange for old hotel laundry and worn uniforms. The unofficial part dealt with music, acclimatising among each other and enjoying the fantastic atmosphere: mild 25 degrees, tropical air and a slight, pleasant wind in more exposed parts of the terrace. And a small but subtle difference to Parties on land: After the event, at 4 o'clock in the morning, everybody who was still there, from the maitre to the Commis, quickly helped to bring the room back in shape for the breakfast guests.

 

You can find his entertaining read about working and living on a cruise ship at www.kreuzfahrtjobs.de (in german).

[OctoberKat]

Thanks, qwertz, yours is in interesting and pertinent post.

[Travelcat2]

qwertz: Interesting post! As you no doubt know, lovely crew parties are held on pretty much all of the ships. More important that parties, however, is the way families are treated when they come on board and the heartwarming reunions they have onboard the ship in the Philippines (Regent has a high percentage of crew from the Philippines).

 

In our years of cruising, we have not once heard a complaint about crew quarters. It is interesting to learn about the facilities on Europa 2. It is a very highly rated cruise line that seems to be having a bit of difficulty drawing luxury cruisers that live in North America. This may be due to the language issue, the lenient smoking policy, and "family" environment (i.e. children), etc.

 

It is still my belief that the cruise company sets the tone for the crew as well as the passengers. You can put the crew on the most beautiful ship in the world - with lovely accommodations - parties, etc. However, if they are not treated well by the company, they could have poor morale. Note: I do understand that most crew members are not employed by the cruise line but many crew members have contracts that continue year after year with the same cruise line. One thing that Regent does that helps morale a great deal is allowing couples/partners to be together by working on the same ships.

 

I know that this is slanted heavily towards Regent but that is the cruise line we know very well. We have seen the morale plummet once in the past 11+ years sailing with Regent. That was when Prestige Cruise Holdings purchased Regent. Many changes that the crew had to go through were upsetting to them and it took a while for that to change. Thankfully this was not the case when NCHL purchased Regent.

 

When we are Regent's new Explorer next year, I'll ask about the crew quarters. Actually, we will be on a Regent ship next week and I'll inquire as to how much their accommodations play into their morale.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Travelcat2

[English Voyager]

As a point of interest, do the other luxury cruise lines still employ two staff to service an allocated number of staterooms/suites?

 

I observed that this was the case on the Europa 2, and it resulted in relaxed/unstressed staff.

[qwertz]

@TC2: Thank you for the details regarding the other cruise lines. It is good to know that the other lines takes these measures for their staff as well.

With our first cruise booked for October 2016 I cannot speak from real life experience but am definitely interested in this side of the cruise business, too.

[Travelcat2]

As a point of interest, do the other luxury cruise lines still employ two staff to service an allocated number of staterooms/suites?

 

I observed that this was the case on the Europa 2, and it resulted in relaxed/unstressed staff.

 

I can only speak to what Regent does as I do not recall exactly what is done on Silversea except that everyone has a butler plus someone (or two) to service the room. Regent does employ two staff members to service staterooms/suites. Having two stewards/stewardesses vs. one can be misleading. When Regent had one person assigned to the suites, he/she had less rooms to take care of. With two, the number of rooms increased accordingly.

 

qwertz: Is your first cruise booked on Europa 2?

[qwertz]

@Travelcat: we will sail on "Mein Schiff 4". If I remember it correctly Europa 2 is not travelling the Atlantic in the autumn of next year. But then it is always nice to be able to raise the bar (bank account permitting) with a later trip.

[Travelcat2]

@Travelcat: we will sail on "Mein Schiff 4". If I remember it correctly Europa 2 is not travelling the Atlantic in the autumn of next year. But then it is always nice to be able to raise the bar (bank account permitting) with a later trip.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise on Mein Schiff 4 and that you will report your experiences on Cruise Critic. We are currently on Regent's Mariner in the Middle East -- great cruise and a wonderful international crowd. If it were not for our kitties and the cost, I would love to live on this ship:D

Edited September 19, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Magnum60]

I'm waiting for a cruise line to build a medium sized two type of accommodation cruise ship (preferably under 1,000 passengers) in which all accommodations [other than where a Veranda or Ocean View suite is located within the ship] are identical with all guests enjoying the same level of service and amenities.

The Veranda or Ocean View suites located it what are considered the less desirable way forward, way aft or restricted view locations could be offered at a lower cruise fare and offer a price advantage to passengers that don't mind those locations - especially when those passengers know that their accommodation, other than location, is equal to any on the ship. Such a ship would have no need for tacky multi colored cruise cards that tend to symbolize a supposed class or status difference. A premium experience ship like this would also enforce a minimum casual dress code befitting an upscale resort?

Interesting fantasy.

[calliopecruiser]

I'm waiting for a cruise line to build a medium sized two type of accommodation cruise ship (preferably under 1,000 passengers) in which all accommodations [other than where a Veranda or Ocean View suite is located within the ship] are identical with all guests enjoying the same level of service and amenities.

The Veranda or Ocean View suites located it what are considered the less desirable way forward, way aft or restricted view locations could be offered at a lower cruise fare and offer a price advantage to passengers that don't mind those locations - especially when those passengers know that their accommodation, other than location, is equal to any on the ship. Such a ship would have no need for tacky multi colored cruise cards that tend to symbolize a supposed class or status difference. A premium experience ship like this would also enforce a minimum casual dress code befitting an upscale resort?

Interesting fantasy.

 

Fantasy indeed......why would a ship do that, when they know people have different wants and different needs? One size never fits all. Instead, I think it is better with different accommodation types and sizes, but once outside of your cabin everything is the same and there's no indication of status and no different access to service or amenities.

[Magnum60]

Actually with the exception of four "Owner" suites per ship the trio of Seaborne 'yachts' (now operated and belonging to Windstar) pulled off the one size fits all cruise ship experience for many years. The newest Seaborne ships, while about 100 guests larger, pretty much continue with that formula except the new ships now offer balconies where the older trio of ships did not. Windstar isn't Seaborne but Windstar looks to be doing well with the one size fits all formula too.

I think that for a one size fits all formula to succeed requires a high end and more intimate ship with no more than about 300 guests. The formula would be impossible if applied to any of today's mega ship vacation palaces.

[calliopecruiser]

no more than about 300 guests. The formula would be impossible if applied to any of today's mega ship vacation palaces.

 

As you pointed out, I think it would be impossible to put in place for more than a couple of hundred. I think it's not hard to find 100 couples or so who are happy with the same cabin......finding even three or four hundred gets even more difficult.

[wripro]

Seaboard's two new ships, the first, the Encore, due out at the end of this year will carry 600 passengers and offer all balcony suites with the usual Seabourn equal treatment. Check it out.

[calliopecruiser]

Seaboard's two new ships, the first, the Encore, due out at the end of this year will carry 600 passengers and offer all balcony suites with the usual Seabourn equal treatment. Check it out.

 

"All balcony" is hardly what Magnum60 was talking about -- there are still over 5 different class categories of different decks and different sizes.

[Floridiana]

@Travelcat: we will sail on "Mein Schiff 4".

 

So will we this summer if my husband's health permits. Baltic cruise is booked, insurance in place. I will write a review here.

[cathaana]

So will we this summer if my husband's health permits. Baltic cruise is booked, insurance in place. I will write a review here.

 

My parents might be on the same cruise. Sometime in August? Even though not as exciting as our Baltic cruise on the Europa, I am still quite envious, especially since we had to cancel our Christmas cruise on the Europa 2. :(

[Floridiana]

Ours is at the end of June/beginning of July.

[English Voyager]

Mein Schiff 4 is rated 4+* by Douglas Ward.

 

The following video may be of interest: