Deployment 2021-22 booking season begins

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, Saab4444 said:

 In many European countries we have 30 days final payment date and Royal canceled well before.

That's because they have no choice most of the time. If they could, they'd cancel as late as possible; RCI was still selling the 8/19 sailings (just two weeks away) out of China up till yesterday.

[MichellePerth]

21 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

Not always. In many European countries we have 30 days final payment date and Royal canceled well before.

 

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

You may have missed the fact that RCI usually only cancels sailings after final payment (do the math on Aussie final payment dates) - they are not clueless at all, just a bit greedy. Unless and until they have outsiders tell them to cancel further out, they won't on their own.

Why did they single out Australia cruises if that’s their master plan?  I looked earlier today and there were only a few. On a crappy ship going cheap.  Why did they cancel all other cruises worldwide except Australia? 
tell them their dreaming’

[Biker19]

36 minutes ago, MichellePerth said:

Why did they cancel all other cruises worldwide except Australia? 

Because your final payment date is later and this can force folks to make final payment without giving choice for a refund till afterwards.

[st5310]

6 hours ago, Biker19 said:

You may have missed the fact that RCI usually only cancels sailings after final payment

This makes no sense.  Ships go out every day/week in a normal year.  There will always be some folks whose cruise is cancelled after final payment no matter when the suspension begins.  This applies to ALL cruise lines.

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, st5310 said:

This makes no sense. 

It may not to you, but it does to RCI. They could have cancelled the October cruises a month ago instead of yesterday. All the folks on one months worth of sailings had to make final payment. Some portion of that crowd will do nothing (and get the FCC), L&S or opt for the FCC. All that full payment money stays in RCI coffers, instead of just deposits had they cancelled a month earlier. That difference between deposit and full payment is probably quite sizable and is one of the reasons RCI doesn't want to cancel before final payment.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Biker19

[st5310]

12 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

It may not to you, but it does to RCI. They could have cancelled the October cruises a month ago instead of yesterday. All the folks on one months worth of sailings had to make final payment. Some portion of that crowd will do nothing (and get the FCC), L&S or opt for the FCC. All that full payment money stays in RCI coffers, instead of just deposits had they cancelled a month earlier. That difference between deposit and full payment is probably quite sizable and is one of the reasons RCI doesn't want to cancel before final payment.

If they moved the suspension date of 10/31 a month ago, then people who had already paid their balances for September thru October could make the same case.  Your reasoning still makes no sense.  I'll repeat: sailings are scheduled every day/week all year long; any cancellation will affect a lot of people regardless.  Exactly what date would you have them announce a suspension so that no one has to pay their balance?

[banzaii]

5 hours ago, MichellePerth said:

 

Why did they single out Australia cruises if that’s their master plan?  I looked earlier today and there were only a few. On a crappy ship going cheap.  Why did they cancel all other cruises worldwide except Australia? 
tell them their dreaming’

 

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Because your final payment date is later and this can force folks to make final payment without giving choice for a refund till afterwards.

More likely because an announcement from Australian Goverment is imminent re international travel including cruising.

 

The cynic in me agrees with Biker!

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, st5310 said:

If they moved the suspension date of 10/31 a month ago, then people who had already paid their balances for September thru October could make the same case.  Your reasoning still makes no sense.  I'll repeat: sailings are scheduled every day/week all year long; any cancellation will affect a lot of people regardless.  Exactly what date would you have them announce a suspension so that no one has to pay their balance?

This is a US example with 90 day final payment. Let's assume October sailings involve about 10,000 cabins and that everyone has a deposit of $500 on them - that's $5M RCI is holding. On 7/1 they cancel all those sailings and let's assume 1/2 the people get a refund, RCI is now holding $2.5M.

 

If RCI doesn't cancel till 8/1 and assume final payment on those 10K cabins is $1,000 each, throughout the month of July RCI rakes in another $10M and has $15M total. Assume the same 1/2 the people want a refund after the 8/1 cancellation, now RCI has $7.5M.

[st5310]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

This is a US example with 90 day final payment. Let's assume October sailings involve about 10,000 cabins and that everyone has a deposit of $500 on them - that's $5M RCI is holding. On 7/1 they cancel all those sailings and let's assume 1/2 the people get a refund, RCI is now holding $2.5M.

 

If RCI doesn't cancel till 8/1 and assume final payment on those 10K cabins is $1,000 each, throughout the month of July RCI rakes in another $10M and has $15M total. Assume the same 1/2 the people want a refund after the 8/1 cancellation, now RCI has $7.5M.

That's a lot of assumptions.  Why are you assuming that only half get (or want) a refund?  Royal is required to return ALL monies collected if they cancel a sailing.  If we agree that Royal wants to resume operations as soon as possible, what would you have them do?  I'll ask again... Exactly what date would you have them announce a suspension so that no one has to pay their balance?

 

I have had 4 sailings cancel, and had paid the full balance on each prior to the cancellation announcement.  Royal has refunded every penny owed to me.  It came in increments and took a while, but I have been fully compensated.  I don't understand your complaint.

[Biker19]

15 minutes ago, st5310 said:

  I don't understand your complaint. 

Why are you assuming that only half get (or want) a refund?  

 Exactly what date would you have them announce a suspension so that no one has to pay their balance?

 It is not my complaint but that of some on this site. I'm offering one possible explanation why RCI is not likely to cancel sailings outside of final payment. 

 

There was a post some time ago outlining what RCI is experiencing in terms of folks asking for a refund  - that % may have changed since then. The do nothing crowd default to the FCC, some are enticed by the 125% FCC and some like the L&S option. In all of those cases RCI keeps the customers' money.

 

As I mentioned, it's not my issue (I have no money with RCI), but many here would like to have cancellations happen outside of final payment to have less or any of their money tied up with RCI. Some here, begrudgingly cancel and take the 100% FCC, because they don't want to make final payment. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Biker19

[st5310]

13 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

 It is not my complaint but that of some on this site. I'm offering one possible explanation why RCI is not likely to cancel sailings outside of final payment. 

 

There was a post some time ago outlining what RCI is experiencing in terms of folks asking for a refund  - that % may have changed since then. The do nothing crowd default to the FCC, some are enticed by the 125% FCC and some like the L&S option. In all of those cases RCI keeps the customers' money.

 

As I mentioned, it's not my issue (I have no money with RCI), but many here would like to have cancellations happen outside of final payment to have less or any of their money tied up with RCI. Some here, begrudgingly cancel and take the 100% FCC, because they don't want to make final payment. 

OK.  I'm a tad late to the thread, but I wasn't going to scan thru the thousands of posts.  Thanks for clarifying.

 

I am still baffled by the suggestion that Royal should time cancellations so they are outside final payment.  Every cancellation is outside someone's final payment window.  Again.. this makes no sense.  Perhaps a person for whom this is an issue will answer that for me.

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, st5310 said:

Perhaps a person for whom this is an issue will answer that for me.

Maybe my answer above was not obvious to you.

 

Say you have a cruise on 11/8. You booked that on a previous sailing and have only a $200 deposit. Final payment is another $2,000. Final payment is due in a couple of days and you have no plans to sail anytime in the near future. What do you do? If you cancel, you get an FCC for $200 which may never be used. To get a refund of your $200, you have to make final payment and wait till sometime in September when RCI cancels, to request your refund. It would be nice if RCI cancels in the next few days so you can get that $200 back.

[st5310]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Maybe my answer above was not obvious to you.

 

Say you have a cruise on 11/8. You booked that on a previous sailing and have only a $200 deposit. Final payment is another $2,000. Final payment is due in a couple of days and you have no plans to sail anytime in the near future. What do you do? If you cancel, you get an FCC for $200 which may never be used. To get a refund of your $200, you have to make final payment and wait till sometime in September when RCI cancels, to request your refund. It would be nice if RCI cancels in the next few days so you can get that $200 back.

Biker19, I am faced with this scenario for our December cruises.  The suspension has been moved back to October 31st, but my final payments are due in September.  Surely I would love it if Royal would just cancel thru to the end of the year, but it is also true, I believe, that Royal actually does hope to resume sailings on November 1 as it is in their best interest to do so.  I am not crazy about having to shell out a few thousand bucks then (probably) have Royal cancel after-the-fact, but we're in a pandemic and I choose to roll with it.  I shall, therefore, pay the balance for my December cruises in September and hope for the best.  In the end, I would rather have Royal cancel on me rather than the other way around.  As my experience indicates, I will be refunded the total amount paid. 

 

I hear the gripe, but what would you (or anyone) have Royal do about that?  As long as they pay  refunds, I don't have a problem.

[Sunshine3601]

Here is what happened to us.  We were booked for b2b Baltic/Norway sailing for august.  We had paid our initial $500 NRD for each cruise over a year ago. That's a total of $1000.   Our balance due was just over $8500.  Final payment was due in May.  Europe sailings had not yet been cancelled but knew they would be because of all the travel restrictions.

So we decided Not to pay rcl over $8500 and possibly wait 60 to 90 days to get refunded.  That is what people were saying for their refunds at that time.

So the day final payment was due I phoned and elected to receive our $1000 NRD as a fcc.

I was emailed my FCC 2 or 3 weeks later and will hopefully use it europe next summer. 

But there was no way I was going to tie up $8500 not knowing when I would get it back.

Fyi my brother and his wife that would have been sailing with us did the same as they also didnt want to give rcl a 2 or 3 month loan of their money for a sailing we knew wasnt going to happen.

Pretty simple to understand.  Not sure why some have trouble understanding the options.  

We have 4 booked cruises from dec to may and hope to sail on at least one of them.

 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Sunshine3601

[st5310]

2 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Here is what happened to us.  We were booked for b2b Baltic/Norway sailing for august.  We had paid our initial $500 NRD for each cruise over a year ago. That's a total of $1000.   Our balance due was just over $8500.  Final payment was due in May.  Europe sailings had not yet been cancelled but knew they would be because of all the travel restrictions.

So we decided Not to pay rcl over $8500 and possibly wait 60 to 90 days to get refunded.  That is what people were saying for their refunds at that time.

So the day final payment was due I phoned and elected to receive our $1000 NRD as a fcc.

I was emailed my FCC 2 or 3 weeks later and will hopefully use it europe next summer. 

But there was no way I was going to tie up $8500 not knowing when I would get it back.

Fyi my brother and his wife that would have been sailing with us did the same as they also didnt want to give rcl a 2 or 3 month loan of their money for a sailing we knew wasnt going to happen.

Pretty simple to understand.  Not sure why some have trouble understanding the options.  

We have 4 booked cruises from dec to may and hope to sail on at least one of them.

 

Yes, I get it.  You didn't want to tie up $8500 and chose to cancel.  Your decision was prudent and I might have done the same given the time frame.  (That was not the argument that I was responding to).  It is not, however, absolutely certain at this time that our December cruises will cancel.  I suspect they will, but if they don't, DW and I are going on those cruises.  For the record, it did not take 2-3 months to get my refunds.  But even if it did, it would only matter that I get it, not necessarily how long it takes.  In fact, I accept the inconvenience that I'll likely have to wait a while.

[atgood]

Back on cruise ship location speculation. 
 

We’re looking forward to a Serenade OTS Panama Canal cruise (post Alaska 2022 season).  I recall someone posting about it being listed in George Town GC in the Fall of 2022.  
 

Another interesting one for us is the possibility of a Liberty OTS repositioning cruise from Galveston sometime after it returns to Galveston for another season (post dry dock) due to Allure’s delayed arrival. 
 

I guess we’ll have to wait until more time passes before more can be determined.  Looking forward to the thread “Deployment 2022-23 booking season begins“ when it gets going.  

[Biker19]

12 hours ago, atgood said:

 Looking forward to the thread “Deployment 2022-23 booking season begins“ when it gets going.  

Here you go:

 

 

[Bernhard1974]

I scrolled through the postings, but couldn't find anythin about Quantum going to Hawaii in October 2021 - she is back in Vancouver on the 4. of Oct. and the next sailing is starts on the 14.  - the TP.

Does anybody know why you can't book, or how I can book the 10 days from Vancouver tu Hawaii?

Thanks for the answer!

[atgood]

40 minutes ago, Bernhard1974 said:

I scrolled through the postings, but couldn't find anythin about Quantum going to Hawaii in October 2021 - she is back in Vancouver on the 4. of Oct. and the next sailing is starts on the 14.  - the TP.

Does anybody know why you can't book, or how I can book the 10 days from Vancouver tu Hawaii?

Thanks for the answer!

RCI hasn’t released a Quantum OTS sailing to Hawaii to book (for Oct 2021) just yet.   Perhaps, someone will know from previous years if RCI released the sailing to Hawaii at a later date. 
 

We booked the Fall 2021 Quantum HNL to SYD cruise when it first came out and I recall that it did not appear in the list of Transpacific cruises when filtering for cruises.  The Ovation and Radiance sailings (in both directions) were listed in “Transpacific cruises.”  I found the Quantum cruise filtering by ship name, October 2021 departure month, and Honolulu departure port.

Edited September 15, 2020 by atgood

[little britain]

On 8/6/2020 at 11:39 AM, banzaii said:

 

More likely because an announcement from Australian Goverment is imminent re international travel including cruising.

 

The cynic in me agrees with Biker!

Royal Caribbean announced on Tuesday morning in Australia that it has cancelled all of its scheduled sailings through the end of 2020.

[banzaii]

3 hours ago, atgood said:

RCI hasn’t released a Quantum OTS sailing to Hawaii to book (for Oct 2021) just yet.   Perhaps, someone will know from previous years if RCI released the sailing to Hawaii at a later date. 
 

We booked the Fall 2021 Quantum HNL to SYD cruise when it first came out and I recall that it did not appear in the list of Transpacific cruises when filtering for cruises.  The Ovation and Radiance sailings (in both directions) were listed in “Transpacific cruises.”  I found the Quantum cruise filtering by ship name, October 2021 departure month, and Honolulu departure port.

Normally the TP is released about 6 months after the Nth America - HNL leg.  This always creates havoc for those wanting B2B.

 

These are not normal times.

[Jack McGowan]

Summer 2021 Changes: announcing upcoming redeployments of six ships.
ADVENTURE of the Seas, which was previously scheduled to sail from Copenhagen and Stockholm, will head for Barcelona to sail a mix of 4- and 5-night short Mediterranean itineraries to historic destinations like La Spezia and Rome, Italy; Ajaccio, Nice and Marseille, France; and Palma and Ibiza, Spain.
Initially scheduled to sail from Miami, BRILLIANCE of the Seas will now homeport outside of Venice in Ravenna, Italy, offering 7-night roundtrip sailings that visit Greece, the Greek Isles and Croatia.
JEWEL of the Seas, originally planned to homeport in Amsterdam and Barcelona, will now sail from Stockholm and Copenhagen on 7-night cruises calling on Northern Europe’s picturesque ports of Helsinki, Finland; Tallinn, Estonia; and Visby, Sweden.
Originally set to sail from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., INDEPENDENCE of the Seas will make the neighboring city of Miami her home for the summer season. Sailing a combination of 6- and 8-night cruises to the Southern and Western Caribbean.
VISION of the Seas¸ previously planned to sail from Barcelona, will sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico and offer 7-night Southern Caribbean itineraries to exotic destinations like Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Johns, Antigua; Castries, St. Lucia; and Bridgetown, Barbados.
RHAPSODY of the Seas will move from the Mediterranean and further expand short Caribbean sailings with 4-, 5- and 7-night cruises from Tampa, Fla., visiting The Bahamas, Perfect Day at CocoCay and the Western Caribbean.

[Blue Eyed Belfast Belle]

2 minutes ago, Jack McGowan said:

Summer 2021 Changes: announcing upcoming redeployments of six ships.
ADVENTURE of the Seas, which was previously scheduled to sail from Copenhagen and Stockholm, will head for Barcelona to sail a mix of 4- and 5-night short Mediterranean itineraries to historic destinations like La Spezia and Rome, Italy; Ajaccio, Nice and Marseille, France; and Palma and Ibiza, Spain.
Initially scheduled to sail from Miami, BRILLIANCE of the Seas will now homeport outside of Venice in Ravenna, Italy, offering 7-night roundtrip sailings that visit Greece, the Greek Isles and Croatia.
JEWEL of the Seas, originally planned to homeport in Amsterdam and Barcelona, will now sail from Stockholm and Copenhagen on 7-night cruises calling on Northern Europe’s picturesque ports of Helsinki, Finland; Tallinn, Estonia; and Visby, Sweden.
Originally set to sail from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., INDEPENDENCE of the Seas will make the neighboring city of Miami her home for the summer season. Sailing a combination of 6- and 8-night cruises to the Southern and Western Caribbean.
VISION of the Seas¸ previously planned to sail from Barcelona, will sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico and offer 7-night Southern Caribbean itineraries to exotic destinations like Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Johns, Antigua; Castries, St. Lucia; and Bridgetown, Barbados.
RHAPSODY of the Seas will move from the Mediterranean and further expand short Caribbean sailings with 4-, 5- and 7-night cruises from Tampa, Fla., visiting The Bahamas, Perfect Day at CocoCay and the Western Caribbean.

 

I saw that!!  There goes 4 out of 5 sailings for next year!!

[pstone1]

24 minutes ago, Blue Eyed Belfast Belle said:

 

I saw that!!  There goes 4 out of 5 sailings for next year!!

Where did you see that?  Thanks!

[Blue Eyed Belfast Belle]

5 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

Where did you see that?  Thanks!

I was on the Book of Faces in a UK RCI group from one of the moderators who has always been spot on in the past.  I have contacted my TA and he hasn't heard anything yet but he agrees with me that the wording is very RCI-like!