Oasis of the Seas, how long in Cape Liberty?

[HBE4]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

We will find out in 6 months when Allure goes in. 

 

I'll ask when I'm on the crossing

 

Something tells me that Lloyd555 will scoop you both!  😉

 

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

There are conceivably other ports in the world that might benefit from retractable stacks. 

 

The Suez Canal for example also has a bridge.  That would likely be the route to reach Australia and we all know they are promoting the concept of Oasis class down under.  

 

I doubt they would allocate 100% of the cost for retractable stacks to one season in Bayonne.  

 

Wonder has to do it

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Oasis and Allure had retractable stacks.  They used that feature and squat to clear the Great Belt bridge.  They later added scrubbing features that were fixed in place making the stacks no longer retractable. 

 

Did the French ships have that challenge?

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

Something tells me that Lloyd555 will scoop you both!  😉

 

 

I do have three things going for me

 

1) As a Pinnacle, I may have extra opportunities to meet with Captain, Staff Captain, etc.

2) We are in a STAR cabin and may get a more unique bridge tour

3) Our son is with us, and I'm sure I can get him a tour with the Chief Engineer since he was a reactor operator on a Navy aircraft carrier. He did that last year on the Serenade

[twangster]

59 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Did the French ships have that challenge?

 

Nope.  They had clear access to the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic.

[molsonschooner]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

 

3 nights going North and 3 nights going South.  

 

May 7 to May 10

Nov. 1 to Nov 4

 

In both cases she bookends the normal 7 night rotation with 4 night cruises leaving 3 night deadhead cruises on both ends.

 

3 + 3 = 6

yes, so a little less than 1 complete cruise

[twangster]

6 hours ago, molsonschooner said:

yes, so a little less than 1 complete cruise

 

The entire business model for these ships is based on 7 nights.  If they could could make more money turning them on 4 night cruises that's what they'd do.  When you mess with the nominal business model these ships don't adapt well.  That translates into lost revenue potential.  

 

That's hard to put into exact numbers without insider information.  If they could make more money by occasionally inserting a 3/4 into the standard 7 night rotation they would do it on a regular basis.  So yeah, it's disruptive for two normal cruise cycles.

[seasidemama]

Still wondering how they would lose money on a longer repo cruise out of Bayonne that includes ABC islands - I would think NY/NJ cruisers would jump all over that one for just an added one way flight, but then again I'm not the one crunching numbers.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, seasidemama said:

Still wondering how they would lose money on a longer repo cruise out of Bayonne that includes ABC islands - I would think NY/NJ cruisers would jump all over that one for just an added one way flight, but then again I'm not the one crunching numbers.

It’s not that they would lose money, it’s that they must think they can make more money by doing an empty 3 day plus a regular 7 day vs a 10 day repo.

[HBE4]

10 hours ago, twangster said:

 

That's hard to put into exact numbers without insider information.  If they could make more money by occasionally inserting a 3/4 into the standard 7 night rotation they would do it on a regular basis.  So yeah, it's disruptive for two normal cruise cycles.

 

I would think Royal would much prefer to have only one "turnover" day per week and not two.

 

I'm sure there is a significant cost on turnover day, especially on the larger ships, combined with a drop in revenue as passengers disembark as quickly as possible combined with the embarking passengers heading to the WJ or their cabins to unpack, then call it an early night after a long day of traveling.

 

10 hours ago, seasidemama said:

Still wondering how they would lose money on a longer repo cruise out of Bayonne that includes ABC islands - I would think NY/NJ cruisers would jump all over that one for just an added one way flight, but then again I'm not the one crunching numbers.

 

But are the ABC islands or Central American ports Oasis friendly?  10 years after the debut and there are still a limited number of ports.

 

8 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It’s not that they would lose money, it’s that they must think they can make more money by doing an empty 3 day plus a regular 7 day vs a 10 day repo.

 

Too bad. I always thought that with so many things to do on Oasis, it was ripe for a 10+ day cruise. But I guess Royal would rather have us do a 2nd 7-day cruise to experience the wonder. 😐

 

[twangster]

6 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

Too bad. I always thought that with so many things to do on Oasis, it was ripe for a 10+ day cruise. But I guess Royal would rather have us do a 2nd 7-day cruise to experience the wonder. 😐

 

I think the problem is the consumer market.  The one week vacation is the golden standard for the mass U.S. vacation market.  Oasis class are mass market ships. 

 

Once you deviate from the one week of vacation user market you quickly reduce the target audience.  Some people can get two weeks off work, many can't or don't want to commit the majority of the annual leave to one vacation.  Many U.S. companies offer two weeks of annual leave for starting employees.  Only after years of service does more PTO come as a benefit.

 

While a 10 night or more Oasis cruise sounds awesome to me, the market for longer sailings is much smaller compared to the quintessential 7 night cruise market.  By using smaller ships on the longer routes it's easier to sell them to capacity. 

[jakeil7]

If I ran Royal, I would have sent this to FL via Bermuda and/or Bahamas. Why they didn’t repo is beyond me for the most part. However, there is one possibility:  deep cleaning and heavy maintenance could be scheduled on the way down. Without passengers, this is a lot easier. Only thing I can think of though. 

[AshleyDillo]

19 minutes ago, jakeil7 said:

If I ran Royal, I would have sent this to FL via Bermuda and/or Bahamas. Why they didn’t repo is beyond me for the most part. However, there is one possibility:  deep cleaning and heavy maintenance could be scheduled on the way down. Without passengers, this is a lot easier. Only thing I can think of though. 

 

Bermuda and/or the Bahamas aren't distant foreign ports. 

[Pratique]

They won't lose any money. The whole point of sailing Oasis out of Bayonne is to introduce people in the New York metro area to cruising on Royal Caribbean. It's not for the ports, and it's not for the regular customers. Once these new folks are hooked on the experience they will return for more even if it means flying to Florida to get it. They are building their customer base for the future.

[Danijela]

Just got off Anthem this past Sunday 12/1 and already thinking about booking next cruise. I would definitely sail her again and was sad to hear she'll be leaving Bayonne in the spring, but glad to hear Oasis will now be heading here, and have been checking out 2020 dates. Anthem was my first cruise so I have nothing to compare it to. If any of you have been on both, how do the two compare? I know Oasis is obviously larger but does that necessarily mean better? I also see Adventure will be sailing out of Bayonne next year as well and was looking into those dates too. (Cape Liberty is just so convenient for my family and I - just a 30 min drive).

All are from 3 different classes so I'm sure all very different.  I loved Anthem and would definitely like my next cruise to measure up. 

 

[JAMESCC]

Curious question, could Oasis stop in The Bahamas then go to Florida or vice-versa and have passengers? By the way Oasis is in NJ again in 2021 so its two seasons so far. I think they are gonna do real well in NJ with Oasis, we are booked already for May.

[Clarea]

7 minutes ago, JAMESCC said:

Curious question, could Oasis stop in The Bahamas then go to Florida or vice-versa and have passengers? By the way Oasis is in NJ again in 2021 so its two seasons so far. I think they are gonna do real well in NJ with Oasis, we are booked already for May.

 

No, the repo between two different US ports would require a visit to a distant foreign port, such as Curacao.

[JAMESCC]

Just now, Host Clarea said:

 

No, the repo between two different US ports would require a visit to a distant foreign port, such as Curacao.

So The Bahamas is a foreign port but not a "distant" foreign port? That is one strange law.

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, JAMESCC said:

So The Bahamas is a foreign port but not a "distant" foreign port? That is one strange law.

 

It's mean to protect the US flagged ship industry.

[suesnake2002]

I too am on the last cruise out of bayonne on oct 25. Resident of NY, I am so excited to have an oasis class ship here. And just so you know, the prices have been going steadily up. It has climbed over $100 pp gor an inside since I booked. 

[bburk00]

On 11/17/2019 at 8:33 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

You can’t compare Oasis sailing out of NJ in the summer to her sailing out of Florida in the winter.  Two entirely different seasons with summer being the most expensive. If you compare Oasis to Symphony or Harmony during the summer months Oasis is priced lower every single week and by a fair bit.  I know Harmony and Symphony are newer but Oasis will be less than a year out of a $160 million dry dock and I would have though she would have commanded higher prices.  

 

Anytime a ship sails empty they have lost potential revenue.  I’m sure the bean counters have looked at this numerous ways with potential repos from Canada or visiting an ABC island taking into account the length of voyage, fuel costs and projected revenue and figured that the sailing empty was the outcome that would lose them the least potential revenue.  

 

We were looking at the Oasis for summer on August 15, 2021 - PC, CocoCay, Nassau itinerary and it was going to be 13.5k for a crown loft suite (sky class) we ended up booking the Allure out of PC - Nassau, Falmouth, Labadee, Cococay itinerary on August 15, 2021 (after 2020 dry dock) in a Star Loft Suite (star class) for 12.5k. So yeah, I would consider that a huge price difference and better itinerary and better service.

Edited December 5, 2019 by bburk00

[Ourusualbeach]

34 minutes ago, bburk00 said:

 

We were looking at the Oasis for summer on August 15, 2021 - PC, CocoCay, Nassau itinerary and it was going to be 13.5k for a crown loft suite (sky class) we ended up booking the Allure out of PC - Nassau, Falmouth, Labadee, Cococay itinerary on August 15, 2021 (after 2020 dry dock) in a Star Loft Suite (star class) for 12.5k. So yeah, I would consider that a huge price difference and better itinerary and better service.

Back when I posted that those itineraries for 2021 were not released. I was referring to 2020 pricing that had been out for 11 months or so.  Also I was comparing Oasis to Harmony and Symphony which are both appx 5 years newer than Oasis and Allure and command a premium even after Oasis and Allure’s dry docks. This years sailings have a new set of parameters and previous comparisons don’t necessarily apply. 

[bburk00]

30 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Back when I posted that those itineraries for 2021 were not released. I was referring to 2020 pricing that had been out for 11 months or so.  Also I was comparing Oasis to Harmony and Symphony which are both appx 5 years newer than Oasis and Allure and command a premium even after Oasis and Allure’s dry docks. This years sailings have a new set of parameters and previous comparisons don’t necessarily apply. 

Very true. I just wish they would change up the sailings some from Bayonne.

[Ourusualbeach]

16 minutes ago, bburk00 said:

Very true. I just wish they would change up the sailings some from Bayonne.

I hear you on that.  I had one of those 7 days booked for Christmas a few years ago but ended up cancelling.  Finally sailing on Anthem this year on the std 7 day Bahamas.  The price was right and New jerseys a 10 hour drive instead of 25 to Ft. Lauderdale.