Icon: Inaugural Sailing

[RobInMN]

We did Symphony in her "inaugural season" in 2018 in the Mediterranean after she was built, but before she TA'd to Miami. Pretty sure all the official launch, press and inaugural stuff, etc happened in November once she was in Miami.

Pretty sure YT Vloggers were referring to those MIami sailings as the ship's "First" and "brand new" and other things references more or less indicating that they had no idea that Symphony had been sailing for 6/7 months already.

Edited October 21, 2022 by RobInMN

[little britain]

30 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The problem is that we don't know that the first cruise that they are releasing next week will actually be the first passenger cruise.

 

 I suspect there will be many disappointed people who book that first sailing thinking it's the inaugural.  Kind of like it sailing from the UK.

Wasn’t it Allure where they added on a lot of pre-sailings which upset those who thought they were on the inaugural?  

[BecciBoo]

56 minutes ago, little britain said:

I have no idea why you are quoting me because I can assure you I never ever wrote that sentence!!!  Please see #11

In post 27 you were quoting shopaholic, I took it from the quote you had reposted didn't mean YOU said that.  Sorry.

[Tin can]

1 hour ago, BecciBoo said:

I see posts from you Brits on here every day who routinely sail from the US.  So what makes this ship any different?  

 

No one is going to be swayed in the UK to sail Royal Caribbean in the US from a ship docked lifeless at Southampton in winter with pools closed etc that isn’t taking passengers.

 

So if she is not accepting passengers what do you think you will see from this media event in the States?  You will see a lifeless ship docked in Southampton in the winter.which I think is most unlikely to get folks in the US rushing to computers dreaming of the Caribbean ready to pay a premium to sail her.

 

If she is not accepting passengers in Southampton there is no point in her being here in my opinion, send her straight to Miami.

 

I’m not being funny but as a share holder if she comes to Southampton she should be taking a number of ‘soft’ revenue cruises not parked up in the snow.

[flamingos]

46 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The problem is that we don't know that the first cruise that they are releasing next week will actually be the first passenger cruise.

 

 I suspect there will be many disappointed people who book that first sailing thinking it's the inaugural.  Kind of like it sailing from the UK.

So.....book, or don't book?

[BecciBoo]

She will never be docked in Southhampton, that is the point.  Her home port is Miami.  She was scheduled to do media reveals in Southhampton, not home port there.  That was never the case.  She was supposed to be there just long enough to get everyone interested in booking her....out of the US home port of Miami.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, flamingos said:

So.....book, or don't book?

Book refundable rates, don't book air, and be prepared to change if you have your heart set on the inaugural

[BecciBoo]

11 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Book refundable rates, don't book air, and be prepared to change if you have your heart set on the inaugural

I would love to be there for inaugural simply because it is so much fun and you get a lot of junk, photo books etc....but it doesn't matter to me as long as she is spanking new anytime from Jan 24 through the first 6 months or so will do me.  You're right I guess, we may not know for a while which sailing is the inaugural, but it's almost always the first revenue sailing after reaching home port.  So we can inquire about when that is to happen for a clue.  The bookings should reveal a lot on Tuesday.  I remember watching every Oasis class to sail into Ft. Lauderdale or Miami with the tugs spraying water, Coast Guard etc...lots of fanfare.  That's what I would like to do, but no worries, I just want to be there!

Edited October 21, 2022 by BecciBoo

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

The bookings should reveal a lot on Tuesday. 

They won't reveal anything that we don't know today.  It will be months before Royal will know whether the ship will be done closer to their original planned date of October and they can release more sailings between then and January

[flamingos]

9 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

I would love to be there for inaugural simply because it is so much fun and you get a lot of junk, photo books etc

That's the part I want.  🙂 

I can sail the ship anytime.  I want to experience a maiden voyage.

[RandomUser123]

That ship looks incredible. I do not think I would even want to leave the ship when in port. 

[Another_Critic]

8 hours ago, beardedladies said:

I think the key thing is "at the moment" in little britain's response - I very much expect Royal to add in extra sailings before then as things get finalised. So if being on the first trip is important to you, expect that to change. This may of course be different to what Royal annoints as the "true inaugural" - I've seen that happen before with "pre-inaugural" cruises added in.

Short answer - no official inaugural as yet, and expect the first cruise date to change to avoid disappointment.

I did the "pre-inaugural" sailing on Radiance.  It was the first revenue sailing.  3 night Miami to Nassau.

[Another_Critic]

6 hours ago, Tin can said:

 

I would have thought they would have had a few 'soft' passenger sailings somewhere in Europe to iron out any teething problems rather than straight out the shipyard into a 5 day Atlantic crossing. Obviously not if you say its straight to Miami for her.

 

Quantum's first revenue sailing was an 8 night non-stop* transatlantic (Southampton to Cape Liberty).  But, there were media events prior to the transatlantic.

 

*  There was an unscheduled med evac at Ponta Delgada.

[BecciBoo]

I've got my feelers out.   Talking to the head of marketing at RCCL Miami.  Waiting for her to tell me which date is the Inaugural.

Edited October 21, 2022 by BecciBoo

[rockmom]

20 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

I did the "pre-inaugural" sailing on Radiance.  It was the first revenue sailing.  3 night Miami to Nassau.

and I did the first sailing on her from Seattle at the start of the Alaska season--May of 2001.  We were given some 'inaugural' goodies on that sailing as well.  I think I have a book about Radiance somewhere that was part of the goodie package.   

[BecciBoo]

I'm not sure I can fly with your supposition Ken.  I'll wait and see what I find out from my contact.

[Another_Critic]

18 minutes ago, rockmom said:

and I did the first sailing on her from Seattle at the start of the Alaska season--May of 2001.  We were given some 'inaugural' goodies on that sailing as well.  I think I have a book about Radiance somewhere that was part of the goodie package.   

I don't recall getting any 'inaugural' goodies on Radiance, but I did get some on Quantum.

[Tin can]

2 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

She will never be docked in Southhampton, that is the point.  Her home port is Miami.  She was scheduled to do media reveals in Southhampton, not home port there.  That was never the case.  She was supposed to be there just long enough to get everyone interested in booking her....out of the US home port of Miami.

 

Yes I realise that, docked in Southampton for media reveals and travel agent visits. 

 

Who is going to be interested though in booking  Icon based on her tied up in Southampton in winter with no passenger sailings. No sailings here will mean no buzz about the ship which will be a shame.

 

It sounds lame to me and pointless, if there are no sailings send her straight to Miami.

 

 

[Another_Critic]

53 minutes ago, Tin can said:

Yes I realise that, docked in Southampton for media reveals and travel agent visits. 

 

Who is going to be interested though in booking  Icon based on her tied up in Southampton in winter with no passenger sailings. No sailings here will mean no buzz about the ship which will be a shame.

 

It sounds lame to me and pointless, if there are no sailings send her straight to Miami.

 

The point would be to get UK/EU travel agents on board so they could sell the hype to their clients.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

5 hours ago, flamingos said:

So.....book, or don't book?

I already have my TA ready to put us on the trans-Atlantic.  

[BecciBoo]

2 hours ago, Tin can said:

Who is going to be interested

Plenty of people.....I give up on you.

[fsjosh]

3 hours ago, Tin can said:

 

Yes I realise that, docked in Southampton for media reveals and travel agent visits. 

 

Who is going to be interested though in booking  Icon based on her tied up in Southampton in winter with no passenger sailings. No sailings here will mean no buzz about the ship which will be a shame.

 

It sounds lame to me and pointless, if there are no sailings send her straight to Miami.

 

 

 

Well when the BBC, or some other major news outlet, or even some blogger, gets to go on the ship while its docked in Southhampton, and take pictures and videos and does a story on it, the people reading/watching that story are going to go "wow, that's a neat ship, we should book a cruise". They aren't going to know or care that the media person was on a docked ship with no passengers. They are just going to see a cool new cruise ship. That's why cruise lines do media events. So the media can be on there without the paying passengers getting in the way. One BBC story would sell more cabins than a whole ship full of paying passengers. 

[fsjosh]

5 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

I've got my feelers out.   Talking to the head of marketing at RCCL Miami.  Waiting for her to tell me which date is the Inaugural.

They aren't going to know either. January 27th will be the earliest sold for now. Sometime next summer when Meyer Turku has a completion date nailed down, then they will release potentially earlier cruises and the TA. But as of this moment, I guarantee that even Michael Bayley doesn't know which cruise will be the first revenue cruise. 

[BecciBoo]

Just reveived word from my corporate contact:  Official inaugural is 

 

 

"😊 Anytime. You're so sweet and funny. Had me in stitches. 

 

And the date is 1/27/24. "

Edited October 22, 2022 by BecciBoo

[RobInMN]

Like I pointed out with Symphony, there can be cruises prior to the "inaugural" one.  I believe that the "Inaugural" cruise and the "first revenue" cruise do not have to be the same thing. They can plan a specific date that they are close to 100% sure the ship will be ready by and do all the planning for the naming ceremony and all the press and vloggers and travel agents and the whole party. And if it's ready before then, there's no reason they can't add cruises prior to that and call them pre-revenue or test or whatever they want.