Deployment 2024-25 booking season begins

[Teeara]

On 4/12/2023 at 8:03 PM, Biker19 said:

Look for the 2025-2026 deployment thread later this summer- it will discuss this. Nothing will likely come out before Nov. 

Bring it on.  Fingers still crossed for an Allure 2025 WB TA.

[twangster]

Apparently Bayley just slipped, or almost slipped, or fake slipped, on a call

 

He (somewhat intentionally) started to state "Utopia is going into the short..." 

 

Then he stopped himself.  

[Billy Baltic]

19 minutes ago, twangster said:

Apparently Bayley just slipped, or almost slipped, or fake slipped, on a call

 

He (somewhat intentionally) started to state "Utopia is going into the short..." 

 

Then he stopped himself.  

short … Mediterranean season in Summer 2024 😎

[ScottishRobbie]

Australian 2024-25 season itineraries on sale on 4/5. Ovation and Quantum based here again. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/international/aus-new-deployment-2021/AUS-24-25-cruise-planner.pdf

[mugtech]

Wondering when the 2024/2025 Asia season will be available, 2023/2024 pretty weak.

[ScottishRobbie]

41 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Wondering when the 2024/2025 Asia season will be available, 2023/2024 pretty weak.

From memory, I think Singapore is to be released in July sometime? With China, I guess it's probably more a case of wait and see on whatever restrictions may be in place

[Ourusualbeach]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

Apparently Bayley just slipped, or almost slipped, or fake slipped, on a call

 

He (somewhat intentionally) started to state "Utopia is going into the short..." 

 

Then he stopped himself.  

They even went as far as to edit that part out when you listen to the taped event.

 

Pretty much confirms Utopia to Port Canaveral taking over the short itineraries from Allure

[twangster]

8 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

They even went as far as to edit that part out when you listen to the taped event.

 

Pretty much confirms Utopia to Port Canaveral taking over the short itineraries from Allure

 

On the other hand Bayley has made statements before that never come to fruition.  He loves to play this game.

 

I'll believe it when the deployment team announces her itineraries.

[island lady]

15 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

They even went as far as to edit that part out when you listen to the taped event.

 

Pretty much confirms Utopia to Port Canaveral taking over the short itineraries from Allure

 

That was my thought as well.   Hello "Disneyfied" 3 and 4 night theme cruises to Coco Cay and Nassau.  😄 

[island lady]

Gave up waiting on the Aussie 24/25 season that was promised to come out each month by Next Cruise since last December.  

 

Viking now has that business from us.   Already booked weeks ago with Viking.  Not to mention our Aussie adventure was cancelled by RCI not once, but twice.  Done with RCI on that.  Their loss.  

[pstone1]

59 minutes ago, island lady said:

Gave up waiting on the Aussie 24/25 season that was promised to come out each month by Next Cruise since last December.  

 

Viking now has that business from us.   Already booked weeks ago with Viking.  Not to mention our Aussie adventure was cancelled by RCI not once, but twice.  Done with RCI on that.  Their loss.  

Totally agree!  We have had our Australia cruises cancelled by Royal three times.  Although one season of cruises was due to Covid, the other two were redeployments, solely for the benefit of Royal, and we were not offered reasonable/comparable replacements.  Both of those times, we had convinced family and friends to join us, and they were not happy! Never again!

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

Totally agree!  We have had our Australia cruises cancelled by Royal three times.  Although one season of cruises was due to Covid, the other two were redeployments, solely for the benefit of Royal, and we were not offered reasonable/comparable replacements.  Both of those times, we had convinced family and friends to join us, and they were not happy! Never again!

 

We as well.  Understandable about the Covid cancellation to us, but to cancel the very next booking we did when Aussie cruises were fresh on again after shut down...was not right.  This was simply to yank Radiance out of Australia and put her in New Orleans.  RCI should have realized we were all cancellation weary from Covid.  Was not the right time to do cancellations again so soon, just for the convenience and whim of RCI.  🤬

 

They lost our $$ business in Australia.  Viking happy to pick up our 46 night adventure "down under".  

[Ashland]

18 hours ago, mugtech said:

Wondering when the 2024/2025 Asia season will be available, 2023/2024 pretty weak.

I will always hope RCI at some point will do the Singapore - Shanghai again. It was our favorite Asia itinerary.

[twangster]

Another reason to put Utopia on the short FL is to maximize PDCC.  Freedom class was great in terms of numbers carried to PDCC, but to maximize PDCC they need to put Oasis and Icon class there as much as possible. 

 

The greater numbers brought to PDCC by Oasis class have meant higher prices.  With only two berths how do you maximize the number of guests going to PDCC?   Put mega ships at the pier as much as possible. 

 

A 3/4 rotation for Utopia can garner higher rates for the new ship fever while generating higher revenue for PDCC by increasing the number of visitors.  From that perspective it makes sense to pull Voyager class and even Freedom class out of PDCC whenever possible.  That's not say they'll never go to PDCC but I suspect PDCC will see more mega ships going forward.  

[cruiselvr04]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

Gave up waiting on the Aussie 24/25 season that was promised to come out each month by Next Cruise since last December.  

 

Viking now has that business from us.   Already booked weeks ago with Viking.  Not to mention our Aussie adventure was cancelled by RCI not once, but twice.  Done with RCI on that.  Their loss.  

We are booked with Royal for Australia and NZ for 2024.  They did change ships on us and we have to move cabins all 4 legs.  But Viking was shorter  and didn’t go all the way around. Getting ready to book air for that trip.  Will need to get flights insured in case Royal pulls something in the next few months.  
 

After adding up all our excursions etc for our Alaska cruise tour trip on Royal we could have done Viking for just a little more. If they just didn’t ask for that final payment a year in advance we’d be more likely to use them more often.

 

Still waiting to see where Jewel is fall of 2024.  Really want to do a TA. 

[molly361]

I guess Bayley gave no timeline on when any info on  Utopia and/or it's bookings will start?

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by molly361

[Chiliburn]

4 hours ago, island lady said:

Gave up waiting on the Aussie 24/25 season that was promised to come out each month by Next Cruise since last December.  

 

Viking now has that business from us.   Already booked weeks ago with Viking.  Not to mention our Aussie adventure was cancelled by RCI not once, but twice.  Done with RCI on that.  Their loss.  

You are disappointed,  what about us poor Ozzie’s.

And we have 2 Quantum for 24-25. Give us some variety.

[GlasgowCruiser01]

No Utopia for me then!

 

It kinda feels like Royal are taking a completely different direction and I'm not convinced I like it. There's been too much focus on the big ships and CocoCay because they clearly see it as a cash cow. The business model appears to be big ship + CocoCay + short cruises = revenue, and they have families in mind with these amenities. Icon just looks to be a total zoo to me and then they're putting Oasis Class ships on short runs when they aren't designed for short runs (it's impossible to scratch the surface of those ships in 3 days, especially if it's your first time) so that more people can go on them and they can make more cash.

 

I miss the 2010s which felt like the glory days as far as Royal goes. They were innovative but didn't get carried away then, and it didn't feel like everywhere other than Florida got the leftovers.

Edited April 20, 2023 by GlasgowCruiser01

[twangster]

13 hours ago, GlasgowCruiser01 said:

I miss the 2010s which felt like the glory days as far as Royal goes. They were innovative but didn't get carried away then, and it didn't feel like everywhere other than Florida got the leftovers.

 

Like the Florida leftovers in 2009 once Oasis class had arrived in Florida?  When Voyager class was introduced it was said they would never leave the Caribbean.   Freedom class is simply Voyager class with another section added in the middle.  Not much innovation there, but that's okay as Oasis class was being introduced in that era.  That was some innovation!  But all for Florida at the time.

 

With Allure's arrival there was even more capacity in Florida so some of those ships that would never leave the Caribbean did just that.  

 

It seems the problem for the the rest of the world is that Florida is solidly the single largest cruise market by a long shot.  RCI is not going to ignore that fact.  

 

As always with Royal it isn't that they don't make money in other regions, it's all about where they can make the most money and it always has been that way. 

[island lady]

15 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

We are booked with Royal for Australia and NZ for 2024.  They did change ships on us and we have to move cabins all 4 legs.  But Viking was shorter  and didn’t go all the way around. Getting ready to book air for that trip.  Will need to get flights insured in case Royal pulls something in the next few months.  
 

After adding up all our excursions etc for our Alaska cruise tour trip on Royal we could have done Viking for just a little more. If they just didn’t ask for that final payment a year in advance we’d be more likely to use them more often.

 

Still waiting to see where Jewel is fall of 2024.  Really want to do a TA. 

 

Our Viking cruise is two legs.  First is 30 days circumnavigating all of Australia, plus going to Bali.  Then hopping over to the second ship to do NZ and Taz.  

 

We were hoping for a TP for the return trip to the U.S.....but could not make that happen.  Soooo we will simply spend a few weeks land based in the Aussie wine country post cruise instead, then fly back.  

[island lady]

15 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

You are disappointed,  what about us poor Ozzie’s.

And we have 2 Quantum for 24-25. Give us some variety.

 

I am not disappointed any longer.  Looking forward to being on Viking now.  😉 

[pstone1]

4 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Our Viking cruise is two legs.  First is 30 days circumnavigating all of Australia, plus going to Bali.  Then hopping over to the second ship to do NZ and Taz.  

 

We were hoping for a TP for the return trip to the U.S.....but could not make that happen.  Soooo we will simply spend a few weeks land based in the Aussie wine country post cruise instead, then fly back.  

That sounds wonderful!  I look forward to hearing about your trip!

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

That sounds wonderful!  I look forward to hearing about your trip!

 

I am very excited about the booking indeed.  🙂  And have started spending some time over on the Viking boards.  😉 

[Mary&Jim]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

I am very excited about the booking indeed.  🙂  And have started spending some time over on the Viking boards.  😉 

Will this be your first time sailing on Viking? I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience, as well.

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, Mary&Jim said:

Will this be your first time sailing on Viking? I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience, as well.

 

Ocean cruise yes, but have 3 week eastern European river cruise coming up in September first.  🙂