Allure not moving to Galveston

[Milwaukee Eight]

37 minutes ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

Yup.

 

The infrastructure costs to sustain an Oasis class ship in Galveston would be above those others...and basically limit the market to those willing to drive there (likely only 200 - 300 miles or less away)...since the air travel and hotel limitations to support a 6000+ passenger ship regularly simply isn't there. That's equivalent to 2-3 smaller ("bargain" ) ship combined....and those won't sail exactly at the same time either.

I thought Royal said it was more economical and costs less to sail the newer big ships?

[twangster]

8 minutes ago, Tapi said:

Concerning air travel, yes Galveston requires a rather lengthy drive from IAH (or a substantially shorter one from HOU), but I believe that these two airports combined provide enough air travel support to make Galveston a viable option.

 

Port Canaveral is a similar distance to the airport.  Having flown to IAH, HOU and MCO for cruises it's all very similar. 

 

Uber has been cheaper for me from HOU compared to MCO so if anything HOU is ahead by a nod for the fly in guests.   If anything I'd prefer the laid back HOU compared to flying out of MCO with a bazzilion mouse ear wearing kids who slow down even the TSA Pre lane.  

 

I suspect both PC and Galveston see higher numbers of drive guests compared to South Florida but I have no facts to back that up.  

 

At any rate Royal would not have moved Allure to TX if they could make a dollar more leaving her in FL.  Royal doesn't do anything without the numbers to support a redeployment.  

[gatour]

11 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I thought Royal said it was more economical and costs less to sail the newer big ships?

It is less costly to THEM per passenger.  Their are economies of scale.  A simple example two 3000 passenger ship require two masters of the ship.  One 6000 passenger ship requires 1 master of the ship to move the same number of passengers as the two 3000 passenger ships.

[Ourusualbeach]

29 minutes ago, twangster said:

How do you put 5,484 people (based on double occupancy) on a ship that holds 3,798 (based on double occupancy)?

 

I imagine the load factors on the first couple of months were above average compared to bookings on other OA ships.  I know a lot of people who jumped on Allure just because it was new to Galveston.  

 

Allure

Total Staterooms: 2,748
Suites 174 • Balcony 1,796 • Ocean View 176 • Interior 602

 

Liberty

Total Staterooms: 1,824
Suites 120 • Balcony 724 • Ocean View 240 • Interior 730

 

Seems like some suite guests won't be sailing in suites which further exacerbates the balcony cabins guests that will be demoted to ocean view and interior.

 

Even if you figure not every sailing was sold out for a given cabin type, some sailings and some cabin types had to have sold over the Liberty capacity to accommodate all those guests in their originally booked cabin type for that sailing.  

 

2 bedroom Star Class ATS is moved to two interior cabins.  Have a nice day, enjoy your cruise!

 

Royal uses a colour coded system that TA’s see to see if sailings are basically need, on track, ahead or oversold.

 

Being that they were still a year and 4 months away and looking at how they rated each sailing (Last weeks update is still available to view) there is no danger that any of the sailings even approached 50% sold. 
 

suites are an entirely different issue.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[twangster]

35 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

suites are an entirely different issue.

 

That's my point.  

 

Liberty has 68% of Alure's suite capacity and that doesn't get into the discussion of Royal Suite Class.

 

Liberty has 40% of Allure's balcony capacity.  

 

She didn't need to be sold out or even approach sold out in these categories to be an issue trying to map guests from one of the world's largest cruise ships to something around #20 on that list.  

 

That doesn't even get into the preferences people have.  Forward versus aft, hump versus non-hump, high deck versus low deck.  

 

Will boardwalk and central park balconies be moved to ocean view and interior?

 

This is only going to cause lots of losers with very few winners.  A complete bone head move for Royal Caribbean. The exception are guests who booked OV and interior.  Unless they get kicked off because their cabin is needed for a displaced balcony or suite guest, there is less impact to the lowest cost cabins.  Brilliant marketing at work here.  

 

Plus it sets a new precedent.   Why book into Star Class when Royal can swap in any ship and put you into any cabin they choose?  Why book a ship knowing Royal might swap the ship at any time?  

 

Quite frankly, it pains me to say as a stockholder at this unprecedented time everyone is a lot better off not booking Royal Caribbean because you just don't know what ship or cabin you will end up sailing in.   

 

Booked Symphony?  Sorry, but Empress is now your ship.  Enjoy your cruise!

 

You booked Ovation Star Class to Alaska and paid $20k but now your ship is Radiance and since there are only 62 suites, you are now in an ocean view on deck 3.  Enjoy your cruise!

 

Edited June 10, 2020 by twangster

[Tapi]

6 minutes ago, twangster said:

I suspect both PC and Galveston see higher numbers of drive guests compared to South Florida but I have no facts to back that up.  

I don't have statistical data, but I can tell you that I live in the Atlanta area and I will drive to Port Canaveral but I will not drive to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Many of my cruising friends in Atlanta sail exclusively from Port Canaveral because its the closest "driveable" port with newer ships and better itineraries (we do have Mobile, Jacksonville and Charleston which are closer, but choices are considerably more limited and many won't even consider them). 

[Biker19]

11 minutes ago, twangster said:

Quite frankly, it pains me to say as a stockholder at this unprecedented time everyone is a lot better off not booking Royal Caribbean because you just don't know what ship or cabin you will end up sailing in.   

This might be a good time to be a procrastinator - wait to be one of the last to be shifted from Allure to Liberty and if you are in a suite, there's good chance there may be no cabins left on Liberty to move to - then a refund should be an option.

[twangster]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

This might be a good time to be a procrastinator - wait to be one of the last to be shifted from Allure to Liberty and if you are in a suite, there's good chance there may be no cabins left on Liberty to move to - then a refund should be an option.

 

Shhh.  That's exactly my strategy.  Risk being what those of us are offered and since I paid the deposit for my siblings how much I'll lose when they screw up the FCC that is inevitably offered in place of a refund.  

 

I think it's time to have a discussion with my credit card company.  

[lovescats5]

I don't want a refund, I want my A1 at the price I paid for it.  Destinations were not a factor when we booked Allure out of Galveston, the really low cost of the A1 was the factor.  Doesn't matter where we go, it is between 7-10 hours flight time.  We enjoyed Oasis, both the Star Loft and A1, and were excited to see be back on that class with a great view of water and activity.  I looked at other ships about the same time frame and there are no A1's and any other SC room is at least $10,000 more that we have.  No chance we will go back on Liberty so I guess refund is what will be asked for.  I am jealous of you guys that have good TA's.  I talked to mine today and he said wait for the letter and then we will see what is available.  Well, nothing is available and our booking was for March.  Still hoping they will offer to just let us keep the room and go to whatever port Allure will be at.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

3 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I thought Royal said it was more economical and costs less to sail the newer big ships?

Cost per passenger perhaps...but overall cost of operation is much higher for them, and cost of sales is also higher to convince folks to go on a large ship with smaller local infrastructure in terms of air transportation and hotel housing.  If these ships would sail weekly...finding 25,000 people on average to fill those ships and get them to Galveston on flights, let alone hotel rooms to house them would be "challenging"

[CruisingJoe09]

That seems so wrong that they are automatically transferring bookings to Liberty which doesn't offer anywhere near what Allure can. The fact that they are shifting people to a lesser ship (IMO) and not offering a refund is disgusting and in all honesty, doesn't fill me with much confidence booking future sailings.

 

The whole drama over Indy being pulled from Southampton last year was bad enough, this is even worse.

Edited June 10, 2020 by CruisingJoe09

[CruisingJoe09]

10 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I know a lot of people who to this day miss the Freedom out of PC. 

Well, Indy is scheduled to do the 3/4 nighters starting late 2021 so could kinda fill the void.

[StlGal]

We were booked on Allure in an ATS with another adult couple the week after thanksgiving. Without asking they switched us to what they deemed a “comparable” cabin (OS) on Liberty. Although Liberty is a beautiful ship, and the IS is nothing to sneeze at, it is miles away from comparable.  Two bedroom, two bath, enormous deck, genie service to one bedroom one bath for four adults... no even close. 
 

The way we looked at it us thus us sue was due to COVID and we should have been given the option to lift and shift. But were told flat no. We only qualified for cruise credit. 
 

we have now cancelled for cruise credit and rebooked the same cabin on Allure but for October. Fingers crossed. 

[John&LaLa]

Surprised SSB hasn't visited here

[djh]

2 hours ago, StlGal said:

We were booked on Allure in an ATS with another adult couple the week after thanksgiving. Without asking they switched us to what they deemed a “comparable” cabin (OS) on Liberty. Although Liberty is a beautiful ship, and the IS is nothing to sneeze at, it is miles away from comparable.  Two bedroom, two bath, enormous deck, genie service to one bedroom one bath for four adults... no even close. 
 

The way we looked at it us thus us sue was due to COVID and we should have been given the option to lift and shift. But were told flat no. We only qualified for cruise credit. 
 

we have now cancelled for cruise credit and rebooked the same cabin on Allure but for October. Fingers crossed. 

Well, sounds familiar. We were in an A2 (4 adults) on the same date and they moved us to a two bedroom suite without notifying us. I will be requesting a refund because after this I’m not planning on ever booking a cruise with them again. I understand that these are challenging times but to give us an inferior room without offering a refund in unacceptable. 

[Spurschick]

9 hours ago, lovescats5 said:

I don't want a refund, I want my A1 at the price I paid for it.  Destinations were not a factor when we booked Allure out of Galveston, the really low cost of the A1 was the factor.  Doesn't matter where we go, it is between 7-10 hours flight time.  We enjoyed Oasis, both the Star Loft and A1, and were excited to see be back on that class with a great view of water and activity.  I looked at other ships about the same time frame and there are no A1's and any other SC room is at least $10,000 more that we have.  No chance we will go back on Liberty so I guess refund is what will be asked for.  I am jealous of you guys that have good TA's.  I talked to mine today and he said wait for the letter and then we will see what is available.  Well, nothing is available and our booking was for March.  Still hoping they will offer to just let us keep the room and go to whatever port Allure will be at.

I wish you luck but I doubt it will happen.

 

We had a 4 night cruise in RS on Enchantment out of Galveston that they then decided to put in Port Canaveral and shortened to a 3 night cruise. They wouldn’t even honor the price in fact they put price up! Only thing we were offered was minimal OBC. 

 

It didn’t matter that we were originally driving to Galveston and had to now fly 3 of us to MCO. We ended up paying it and added on a couple of days to do a college visit for DD to make it worthwhile but we were not impressed they put the price up and shorted us a day.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Spurschick

[monorail81]

16 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I know a lot of people who to this day miss the Freedom out of PC. 

ME! My favorite ship out of my favorite port. 😪

[ssb]

11 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Surprised SSB hasn't visited here

Hi john . Thanks for missing me . 
Royal made the right and only logical decision  in the situation .

 

Here is latest from Royal spokesperson . 

June 11, 2020 

GALVESTON

One of Royal Caribbean's largest cruise ships won't come to the Port of Galveston in 2021 as planned, the company said Wednesday.

The Allure of the Seas, a 1,185-foot ship with room for up to 6,780 passengers, will sail out of Florida during the winter 2021 cruise season, Royal Caribbean spokesman Jonathan Fishman said.

The Allure of the Seas, an Oasis-class ship, is one of the largest in Royal Caribbean's fleet. It is now not scheduled to sail out of Galveston until 2022, Fishman said.

 

The announcement is not a great surprise. Royal Caribbean and the port earlier this year agreed to delay the construction of a new $100 million cruise terminal that would be designed to accommodate the larger ship.

The new terminal is now scheduled to be completed by October 2022, Fishman said.

With the Allure of the Sea's arrival delayed, the Liberty of the Seas will remain operating out of Galveston until April 2022, Fishman said.

The Liberty of the Seas is a 1,111-foot ship with capacity for 4,200 people. It first arrived in Galveston in 2015.

 

 

John Wayne Ferguson: 409-683-5226; john.ferguson@galvnews.com or on Twitter @johnwferguson.

•  

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by ssb

[John&LaLa]

55 minutes ago, ssb said:

Hi john . Thanks for missing me . 
Royal made the right and only logical decision  in the situation .

 

Here is latest from Royal spokesperson . 

June 11, 2020 

GALVESTON

One of Royal Caribbean's largest cruise ships won't come to the Port of Galveston in 2021 as planned, the company said Wednesday.

The Allure of the Seas, a 1,185-foot ship with room for up to 6,780 passengers, will sail out of Florida during the winter 2021 cruise season, Royal Caribbean spokesman Jonathan Fishman said.

The Allure of the Seas, an Oasis-class ship, is one of the largest in Royal Caribbean's fleet. It is now not scheduled to sail out of Galveston until 2022, Fishman said.

 

The announcement is not a great surprise. Royal Caribbean and the port earlier this year agreed to delay the construction of a new $100 million cruise terminal that would be designed to accommodate the larger ship.

The new terminal is now scheduled to be completed by October 2022, Fishman said.

With the Allure of the Sea's arrival delayed, the Liberty of the Seas will remain operating out of Galveston until April 2022, Fishman said.

The Liberty of the Seas is a 1,111-foot ship with capacity for 4,200 people. It first arrived in Galveston in 2015.

 

 

John Wayne Ferguson: 409-683-5226; john.ferguson@galvnews.com or on Twitter @johnwferguson.

•  

 

 

Thanks for the press release. If they are smart, they won't schedule Allure until at least a month after projected completion date. I dont think Oasis showed up in PC until several months after the completion of T1. Good thing, because there were delays.

 

They did use the terminal for Freedom until she left. Got all the kinks worked out

 

I also think Liberty will stay longer, they just haven't released anything past April 22

Edited June 11, 2020 by John&LaLa

[ssb]

18 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Thanks for the press release. If they are smart, they won't schedule Allure until at least a month after projected completion date. I dont think Oasis showed up in PC until several months after the completion of T1. Good thing, because there were delays.

 

They did use the terminal for Freedom until she left. Got all the kinks worked out

 

I also think Liberty will stay longer, they just haven't released anything past April 22

Good observations John , and again  logical for Liberty to fill the  gap and bridge . 

Edited June 11, 2020 by ssb

[John&LaLa]

Just now, ssb said:

Good observations John , and again  logical for Liberty to fill the gap . 

 

Biggest delay at T1 was issues under water along the pier. 

[gatour]

16 hours ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

That seems so wrong that they are automatically transferring bookings to Liberty which doesn't offer anywhere near what Allure can. The fact that they are shifting people to a lesser ship (IMO) and not offering a refund is disgusting and in all honesty, doesn't fill me with much confidence booking future sailings.

 

The whole drama over Indy being pulled from Southampton last year was bad enough, this is even worse.

Allure wasn't scheduled to sail out of Galveston until next year.  No reason why people can't just cancel.

 

Although it would be nice if Royal would have offered the choice keeping an existing affected booking on Allure if the person so chooses.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, gatour said:

Allure wasn't scheduled to sail out of Galveston until next year.  No reason why people can't just cancel.

 

Although it would be nice if Royal would have offered the choice keeping an existing affected booking on Allure if the person so chooses.

They can cancel, they just don't have the option for a cash refund which they should have.  Allure may not be doing 7 day itineraries so that may not be a possibility.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[lovescats5]

Just in case you want to know.  Just got done with a conference call with the TA and Royal supervisor and they changed us from our A1 on Allure in April to an A1 on Symphony in March with a price protection.  So we sail Symphony for the same price we were paying for Allure.  It might take a while and you need to be patient and they will eventually talk to the right person and get you the room you had on Allure on either Oasis or Symphony.  Not sure if it would apply to Harmony or not.

[Spurschick]

On 6/10/2020 at 8:01 AM, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

We thought the original announcement to transition Allure to Galveston for a while was a hoax...as it made no business sense on several fronts (including air transportation options and also quantity of local hotel rooms).

 

Perhaps the COVID-19 time has gotten the executives to "rethink" the original plan.  While we empathize with the passengers who planned to cruise Allure out of Galveston that now have to "switch ships", we can't say the pivot to another ship comes as a big surprise either.

As a high percentage of guests travel to Galveston on the day of sailing and it’s hard to find available cabins in peak season as it is I’m not sure why you think it’s a hoax. The demand is most definitely there. People drive from all over TX, OK etc.

 

Regarding quantity of hotel rooms, there are lots of people that fly into Houston and stay in Houston area pre sailing. There are more than enough hotels in the vicinity.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Spurschick