Rare John&LaLa Posted November 9, 2016 #26 Share Posted November 9, 2016 Not really. It's a reversed route that starts with two days at sea, then does the three islands on consecutive days, and then does a sea day back to PC. San Juan is the middle stop, and you can see Puerto Rico from the Dominican side of Hispaniola. Ok, so why leave San Juan at 3:00? I'd rather stay later Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BillOh Posted November 9, 2016 #27 Share Posted November 9, 2016 Going out of their way to get to Labadee, which is usually on a western itinerary. Morefuel, etc. required than going to Nassau or St. Thomas. Labadee has long been on the eastern itineraries for ships from Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Longitude wise its east of all Florida ports, so ships sail SSE to get there before going west. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villager70 Posted November 9, 2016 #28 Share Posted November 9, 2016 We were in a Jr. Suite the last cruise before the move. They had changed the menu in june but had deleted a few things and added some a couple weeks ago. Also have three for coastal kitchen. Bedding had been changed when they went to the 3 new suite classes. also new toiletries. Had suite checkin line for my time dinning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare orville99 Posted November 9, 2016 #29 Share Posted November 9, 2016 (edited) Ok, so why leave San Juan at 3:00? I'd rather stay later Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app I would as well. It is ~350NM between San Juan and Labadee. The ship would have to do 18-19 Knots to make the departure and arrival times work. Edited November 9, 2016 by orville99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruzerci Posted November 9, 2016 #30 Share Posted November 9, 2016 :eek: It's odd because it's not a route Royal has historically done. ;) Labadee isn't really out of the way since it is on the north coast of Haiti. I wonder if you'll see more ships doubling up there in the future. In my opinion the strange part of the move was swapping San Juan for St Thomas Maybe in the future they will do a 4 port Eastern and add St Thomas back or maybe Nassau. I'm sure a lot of these port choices are both political and economic. Pay me to park my ship in town, build me a new pier, etc.. Really just different as of recently. Liberty did it for several years when she was new and sailing from Miami. It was actually our favorite of the Eastern/Western itineraries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesr3939 Posted November 10, 2016 #31 Share Posted November 10, 2016 We just booked the October 8th sailing specifically because it does SJU, SM, and Labadee. This is much more desirable than the other ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Computer Nerd Posted November 10, 2016 #32 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Ok, so why leave San Juan at 3:00? I'd rather stay later Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app You always have the option of leaving later......you just won't leave on the ship if you choose that option. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillB48 Posted November 10, 2016 #33 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I would as well. It is ~350NM between San Juan and Labadee. The ship would have to do 18-19 Knots to make the departure and arrival times work. This is the real reason the ship departs SJU at 3PM... (my last time, we left at 2) with a 9AM arrival at Labadee, that is 18 hours steaming time. That equates to just under 20 nm/hr, while not exactly top speed it is certainly in the higher fuel consumption zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare island lady Posted November 10, 2016 #34 Share Posted November 10, 2016 OK...not that much different as the crow flies (or an airplane)...but would be interested in what the difference is in nautical miles and the route the ship has to take to avoid shoals and shallows. Not a small ship, takes a lot of draft. ;) Flying crow routes: PC to Nassau: 474 KM Nassau to St. Thomas: 1486 KM St. Thomas to St. Maarten: 197 KM St. Maarten to PC: 2130 KM Total: 4287 KM PC to St. Maarten 2130 KM St. Maarten to San Juan 326 KM San Juan to Labadee 661 KM Labadee to PC 1281 Total: 4398 KM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillB48 Posted November 10, 2016 #35 Share Posted November 10, 2016 (edited) OK...not that much different as the crow flies (or an airplane)...but would beinterested in what the difference is in nautical miles and the route the ship has to take to avoid shoals and shallows. Not a small ship, takes a lot of draft. ;) Flying crow routes: PC to Nassau: 474 KM... 253nm Nassau to St. Thomas: 1486 KM... 800nm St. Thomas to St. Maarten: 197 KM... 103nm St. Maarten to PC: 2130 KM... 1147nm Total: 4287 KM PC to St. Maarten 2130 KM... 1147nm St. Maarten to San Juan 326 KM... 175nm San Juan to Labadee 661 KM... 355nm Labadee to PC 1281... 690nm Total: 4398 KM Assuming I did not make any mathematical errors... sometimes not a safe assumption with my math:o;)! For a lot of these figures crow flying will give you a close enough guesstimate. For example, depending on the actual route the ship takes from SJU to Labadee, that is somewhere around 370nm, so not too far off from the crow. Edited November 10, 2016 by BillB48 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robtulipe Posted November 10, 2016 #36 Share Posted November 10, 2016 (edited) Sure..let me see....draw a line from Port Canaveral to St. Martin/San Juanand back to PC. The ship usually goes north through the islands of the Bahamas and north of the Turks. Let me know what you see. ;) Also you may want to look at an actual nautical chart showing shoals and shallows. As John mention, yes...it's an unusual route, especially since the ship already DOES Labadee on it's western route. Yes, most eastern Caribbean routes for RCI smaller and mid-size ships call on Coco Cay out of Florida as it is directly on the route to San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Thomas but Labadee isn't really too far off of the eastern route. Larger ships, like Oasis and Quatum class, that can't feasible go to Coco simply have to go south a bit sooner but Labadee being well east of Florida is easy to get to on an eastern Caribbean itinerary. Labadee is usually the beach stop for a western Caribbean cruise as the ship must pass between Cuba and Haiti to get to Jamaica and Grand Cayman from Florida. Both are very often called on ports for the western itinerary. In fact Ladadee was the first port for both the eastern and western itineraries we did on Anthem last winter but then it was almost a direct sail south from Port Liberty in NYC area as the maps shows in my signature. We also much preferred being docked at Labadee than being tendered in at Coco Cay for any of our beach stops at either. ;) Edited November 10, 2016 by robtulipe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare island lady Posted November 10, 2016 #37 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Assuming I did not make any mathematical errors... sometimes not a safe assumption with my math:o;)! For a lot of these figures crow flying will give you a close enough guesstimate. For example, depending on the actual route the ship takes from SJU to Labadee, that is somewhere around 370nm, so not too far off from the crow. Nice!! Thanks for converting KM to Nautical miles! :) Still would be interesting to know how the actual route plays out on the chart they usually have posted on the ship. DH loves to check the chart daily to figure out our position. He spent a lot of time sailing the Carib in his post Vietnam days.....though his little sail boat was a WHOLE lot smaller than the Oasis. ;) :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare island lady Posted November 10, 2016 #38 Share Posted November 10, 2016 (edited) Yes, most eastern Caribbean routes for RCI smaller and mid-size ships call on Coco Cay out of Florida as it is directly on the route to San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Thomas but Labadee isn't really too far off of the eastern route. Larger ships, like Oasis and Quatum class, that can't feasible go to Coco simply have to go south a bit sooner but Labadee being well east of Florida is easy to get to on an eastern or southern Barbados Caribbean itinerary. Labadee is usually the beach stop for a western Caribbean cruise as the ship must pass between Cuba and Haiti to get to Jamaica and Grand Cayman from Florida. Both are very often called on ports for the western itinerary. In fact Ladadee was the first port for both the eastern and western itineraries we did on Anthem last winter but then it was almost a direct sail south from Port Liberty in NYC area as the maps shows in my signature. ;) Our first visits to Labadee were well before they put the hard dock in. The little spit of land out there was very, very different at that time. Our favorite beach for snorkeling was actually where the dock is now. No roller coasters, no huge vendors market, no zip line...etc. Was much more natural at that time. Edited November 10, 2016 by island lady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btregoning Posted November 19, 2016 #39 Share Posted November 19, 2016 :eek: It's odd because it's not a route Royal has historically done. ;) Labadee isn't really out of the way since it is on the north coast of Haiti. I wonder if you'll see more ships doubling up there in the future. In my opinion the strange part of the move was swapping San Juan for St Thomas Maybe in the future they will do a 4 port Eastern and add St Thomas back or maybe Nassau. I'm sure a lot of these port choices are both political and economic. Pay me to park my ship in town, build me a new pier, etc.. We are on the 8 night Eastern on the Oasis for New Year's. The 4th port they added was St. Kitts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelblu Posted November 19, 2016 #40 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Ok, so why leave San Juan at 3:00? I'd rather stay later Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app Let me tell you a story. The 1st time we sailed on Oasis wee assumed a 7-8am arrival in SJ. My wife goes to tour desk looking for a nice beach tour. The tour person tells her "why do you want to go to the beach as it is a waste since we are arriving in SJ at 3pm. Boy, were we embarrassed. Learned a lesson, we examine itinerary more careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacis64 Posted November 20, 2016 #41 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) We sail 11/27. Look forward to your review. Edited November 20, 2016 by stacis64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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