Ship to Replace Anthem in Bayonne

[Biker19]

7 minutes ago, rimmit said:

  It has to be pretty significant maintence to pass up the revenue to not schedule a repo and just move a ship.

Most repos have very low margins, not a whole lot of revenue being passed up. And in the case of Oasis, it would have taken a min of 10 days to get to Bayonne via a rev cruise. I assume it was better for RCI to get her to lovely Bayonne as soon as possible to start making money - given the rates, it looks that way.

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, gaylemh said:

  I would also rather start my vacation in an hour, than spend a day dealing with airports.

RCI will gladly take your money for that convenience.

 

Biker, who enjoys flying.

[gaylemh]

4 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

But what if it doesn't go down until after final pymt?

I will upgrade to an ocean view cabin.  If the price goes down, it will be wonderful. If it doesn't, I'm comfortable with what I paid for a chance to sail on Oasis an hour from my home.  If the prices come down, I will be booking more on Oasis, if not it will be a one shot deal.

Edited December 12, 2018 by gaylemh

[boscobeans]

42 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I remember photos of crewmembers shoveling snow on the Explorer pool deck.

We've been on 2 cruises from Cape Liberty and 1 out of NYC where it was snowing and they had to clear off the outer decks...

[HBE4]

8 minutes ago, gaylemh said:

I will upgrade to an ocean view cabin.  If the price goes down, it will be wonderful. If it doesn't I'm comfortable with what I paid for a chance to sail on Oasis an hour from my home.  If the prices come down, I will be booking more on Oasis, if not it will be a one shot deal.

 

Seems like a good plan.

 

Given the excitement and anticipation of Oasis coming to Bayonne, Royal seems to be testing how much people are willing to pay. If the cabins are not being sold at a quick enough pace, expect price drops.

 

My fearless prediction is the first summer will be sold out quickly. After that, it's anyone's guess.

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, HBE4 said:

My fearless prediction is the first summer will be sold out quickly. After that, it's anyone's guess.

This might be a one time thing to simply fill the void left by Anthem.

 

Biker, who thinks the novelty of an Oasis class from lovely Bayonne will wane real quick.

[boscobeans]

25 minutes ago, gaylemh said:

  I would also rather start my vacation in an hour, than spend a day dealing with airports.

 

After 17 years of cruising from ports within 3-6 hour drive from home and ports like Florida and Puerto Rico that require flights we have avoided flying for the past 2 years.

 

Cruising from upstate NY and in almost always the winter months of February and March, dealing with flights, the weather forces us to fly to port at least a day ahead and sometimes a day after we return to port. 

 

Even with non-stop flights the time and money spent driving to the airport, parking, taking a shuttle, checking in, TSA and then a 3 hour flight where we will have to get our bags, travel to a hotel and then in the morning travel to the ship has become a true PIA.

 

We can be in Cape Liberty, Manhattan or Brooklyn in 3 hours, Baltimore in 6 and even Boston in 3. 

Compared to the cost of air fare, hotel charges, cab fees, restaurant costs and wasted time, driving to a port within 6 hours or less is a no brainer.

 

Sad that in the Northeast during the months that we can most easily find the time for a two week cruise Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Holland America have either totally left or reduced those cruises to shorter almost rare events, leaving only NCL on the slate..

 

Since RC will only do the Caribbean during OUR time slot with 3 cruises on the Anthem during only January and for only 11 night sailings we booked it today for Jan 27, 2020. 

Hopefully by then some new maybe longer and maybe with slightly different itineraries will become available from the Northeast ports.

[steveru621]

A new ship, fewer ports, higher prices.  Soon it will be in the GGG sale ad, same as the Anthem.  

 

Preferred the Anthem.  Guess we'll just avoid Cape Liberty until the prices come down in 2021.

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, steveru621 said:

Preferred the Anthem.  Guess we'll just avoid Cape Liberty until the prices come down in 2021.

Adventure prices may suffer with Oasis there - could be some deals on her.

[mo&fran]

Anthem only needs a drydock replacement every 5 years.  May never see Oasis back to NJ again.

Of course, you can never tell what will happen.

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, mo&fran said:

  May never see Oasis back to NJ again.

It all depends on the revenue generated there vs. Florida. If RCI can make more money from NJ, they'll make it happen somehow.

[Kruzer Zuker]

So where is Anthem going?  Any idea yet?

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, Kruzer Zuker said:

So where is Anthem going?  Any idea yet?

 

See the Deployment thread:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2550183-deployment-2020-21-booking-season-begins/

[Charles4515]

Someone was concerned about lack of news reports. Here we go....

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2018/12/12/oasis-seas-giant-cruise-ship-begin-trips-new-york-area/2289224002/

[HBE4]

23 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

It all depends on the revenue generated there vs. Florida. If RCI can make more money from NJ, they'll make it happen somehow.

 

Agreed. This might be a 6-month trial to see how an Oasis-class ship fares in NY area.

 

Still, with the expense of the retractable stacks, you'd think they have more long-term plans for a return on investment. Maybe moving her to another port with similar bridge clearance issue?  Can't think of any off the top of my head.

 

Then again, maybe it wasn't much of an expense other than a few drops of oil in the gears.

 

 

[Charles4515]

4 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed. This might be a 6-month trial to see how an Oasis-class ship fares in NY area.

 

Still, with the expense of the retractable stacks, you'd think they have more long-term plans for a return on investment. Maybe moving her to another port with similar bridge clearance issue?  Can't think of any off the top of my head.

 

Then again, maybe it wasn't much of an expense other than a few drops of oil in the gears.

 

 

 

I would guess the stack will need ongoing attention. It does not seem like something they would want to do long term so it may very well be a short term deployment. 

[Ourusualbeach]

8 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed. This might be a 6-month trial to see how an Oasis-class ship fares in NY area.

 

Still, with the expense of the retractable stacks, you'd think they have more long-term plans for a return on investment. Maybe moving her to another port with similar bridge clearance issue?  Can't think of any off the top of my head.

 

Then again, maybe it wasn't much of an expense other than a few drops of oil in the gears.

 

 

Thevstacks are already retractable, they just haven’t been used in 9 years so may require a bit of maintenance.

[Clarea]

10 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Thevstacks are already retractable, they just haven’t been used in 9 years so may require a bit of maintenance.

 

I heard they are attaching a remote control garage door opener to the stacks so the Captain can control them from the bridge.

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

This might be a one time thing to simply fill the void left by Anthem.

 

Biker, who thinks the novelty of an Oasis class from lovely Bayonne will wane real quick.

 

Kind of like Cuba on Empress, but with 3 times the passengers

[John&LaLa]

26 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Thevstacks are already retractable, they just haven’t been used in 9 years so may require a bit of maintenance.

 

Some have mentioned scrubber installation rendering them useless

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Kind of like Cuba on Empress, but with 3 times the passengers

Well, those prices have stayed high for at least a year, but they have come down quite a bit lately.

[Sunfun68]

I have lived in the NYC area for the last 70 years and there has NEVER been snow between the beginning of May and the end of September, the time Oasis will be here.  The Anthem is scheduled to be back in Bayonne in October 2020.

Enough already of the snow shoveling and ice sculpture stories in Oasis' Central Park.

[BND]

5 hours ago, rothschilda said:

 

Not entirely accurate. It is on the website. You just need to backdoor the search. You can search by Leaving From Cape Liberty and then select Oasis as the ship, and select any of the discussed itineraries. 

It wasn't the last time I looked which was last night. Everyone at that point was having to call.   I can see it now so they obviously posted it since then. I know how to search the website.

[Biker19]

20 minutes ago, Sunfun68 said:

I have lived in the NYC area for the last 70 years and there has NEVER been snow between the beginning of May and the end of September, the time Oasis will be here.  

The last currently scheduled sailing returns to lovely Bayonne on Nov 1. It doesn't need to snow to make things quite different on an Oasis class ship. Once folks can't comfortably do outdoor things (like in the 50sF or rainy - both very possible in Oct), things are going to get mighty crowded inside.

Edited December 12, 2018 by Biker19

[gaylemh]

39 minutes ago, Sunfun68 said:

I have lived in the NYC area for the last 70 years and there has NEVER been snow between the beginning of May and the end of September, the time Oasis will be here.  The Anthem is scheduled to be back in Bayonne in October 2020.

Enough already of the snow shoveling and ice sculpture stories in Oasis' Central Park.

Anthem is actually coming back in November 2020.  The earliest snow I ever remember was in late October, and that was only once. I live at the beach at the Jersey shore, and it can get pretty cold in October especially on the water.  It can also be very hot. I have been in the ocean in October at the shore.  That being said, by the second day it should be warm enough to be outdoors on Oasis.  Same with coming back it should stay warm until the afternoon of the last day in October.  (but with the crazy weather patterns we have been having who knows. It could snow in Florida and be 80 here)