Presidents cruise update

[Southern Dan]

I seriously hope @Norwich Cruiser wins a free cruise.  I'm keeping the faith!

[Norwich Cruiser]

13 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

Or the free cruise... 😂

Definitely deserves it.

Thank you for those kind words appreciate it.

[Norwich Cruiser]

12 minutes ago, Southern Dan said:

I seriously hope @Norwich Cruiser wins a free cruise.  I'm keeping the faith!

I’m also keeping the faith.

 

Not expecting anything but we’re having a fabulous time.

 

Yes we know they are not perfect which cruise line is?

 

But it’s the little things they do that make us keep coming back.

[mchin]

3 hours ago, Southern Dan said:

It isn’t fully booked by any means but Jr Suite prices jumped up $800 in 24 hrs…

Yikes!! Good thing I booked ours as soon as I heard this was the PC. 😄

[Southern Dan]

I just booked an OVB, put down $200.  The price will only go up as the months go by so I figured why the hell not.

[kccrzr]

1 hour ago, Southern Dan said:

I just booked an OVB, put down $200.  The price will only go up as the months go by so I figured why the hell not.

I put an OVB on hold yesterday when Norwich Cruiser first posted an am glad I did.  When I just now looked the price has gone up nearly $400.  I'm sure you are right and they will continue to rise.

 

I've only been on one other President's Cruise and that was by complete coincidence many years ago.  We enjoyed it immensely and came back to our room to surprise swag several nights but it sounds like RCI has upped its game since then.

[twangster]

As a solo cruiser my OVB has gone up $210 since booking.  

 

When I first looked that was around the delta to book it refundable.  

 

I put the $100 down for NRD.  

[Norwich Cruiser]

Today we are docked in Citivechia and most of the 6000 passengers are enjoying Rome.

 

Having “been there and done that” we are enjoying a lovely relaxing day sunbathing by the pool sleeping off the past few days excursions.

 

We really do enjoy these days.

 

In case anyone is wondering still no luck in the free cruise raffle.

[Southern Dan]

Any new information besides the announcement of next year's Presidents Cruise?

[Norwich Cruiser]

3 hours ago, Southern Dan said:

Any new information besides the announcement of next year's Presidents Cruise?

It was asked if Royal were going to build anymore smaller ships ( vision class ) .

 

The answer was never say never.

 

So from that response I’m assuming none planned atm.

[Southern Dan]

Dang.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

2 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

It was asked if Royal were going to build anymore smaller ships ( vision class ) .

 

The answer was never say never.

 

So from that response I’m assuming none planned atm.

Interesting! There is a ton of conflicting information floating around, but this seems about as "horse's mouth" as you can get.

 

Of course, what it actually means is somewhat open to interpretation ... Project Discovery won't be as small as some have claimed? Project Discovery has been delayed/shelved? They're just not ready to go on the record?

 

Time will tell, I suppose ... 🤔

[smokeybandit]

The cat is too far out of the bag for "never say never" to mean anything but "we've gotta milk Utopia and Icon a bit more first before we announce Discovery"

[Southern Dan]

14 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The cat is too far out of the bag for "never say never" to mean anything but "we've gotta milk Utopia and Icon a bit more first before we announce Discovery"

That's what I'm thinking.  Perhaps when the world cruise wraps up they will take the opportunity to announce it...

[cruiselvr04]

Well ya talked us into it!  
 

We aren’t that excited about Icon class and normally wouldn’t fly for a 4 night but Utopia for a Presidents cruise sounds pretty good. So we booked it and will see some of you there.

[Norwich Cruiser]

Today we are docked in Naples and a hydrofoil trip over to Capri is once again  beckoning us.

 

We enjoy Capri albeit it’ll probably be packed out.

 

Listening to the Captain and President again it was explained in more detail that building smaller ships nowadays is not viable and the “I “ class and bigger looks like being the way they see things going forward.

 

In all honesty apart from the usual little hold ups maybe a minute or two for an elevator with over 6000 cruisers on board we haven’t noticed any difference to being on a smaller ship it’s been absolutely no problem plus embarking and disembarking at ports has been excellent extremely well organised.

 

Have enjoyed everything we’ve done and absolutely love our favourite Trellis Bar in the early evening.

 

The world cruise and how that was going was mentioned and although they seemed to be quite happy with how it was progressing.

 

It was said that are extremely difficult to organise but they would maybe if everything could be worked out of perhaps doing another one in a couple of years time.

 

We’ve received our passes for the Boy George concert this evening not everyones cup of Darjeeling I know but we are looking forward to it so I’ll have to see if I can get a hat 🎩 in Capri to look the part ( perhaps not )

 

 

[Billy Baltic]

41 minutes ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Listening to the Captain and President again it was explained in more detail that building smaller ships nowadays is not viable and the “I “ class and bigger looks like being the way they see things going forward.

That’s very disappointing. It takes so many beautiful ports out of the equation. I’d argue that it is viable but it’s a lot easier for them to take a one size fits all… and for them that size is extra large. 

[Rackham]

1 hour ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Listening to the Captain and President again it was explained in more detail that building smaller ships nowadays is not viable and the “I “ class and bigger looks like being the way they see things going forward.

 

With all the chatter before now pointing to a possible Discovery class announcement later this year, I'm taking a wait and see approach to this. However, the pivot away from this project would explain the sudden expansion of status matching between Celebrity and Royal. I'm also wondering if Royal wouldn't shift Project Discovery to an Amplified styled program for at least some of their Radiance and Voyager class ships to keep them in service to 40 or so.

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, Billy Baltic said:

That’s very disappointing. It takes so many beautiful ports out of the equation. I’d argue that it is viable but it’s a lot easier for them to take a one size fits all… and for them that size is extra large. 

Moi aussi. I also think its viable if they have the will.

More and more countries/ports are beginning to argue against big mega ships from docking. And some ports are just too small anyway, so ports and itineraries are limited.

I know there's other lines but I want to stay with Royal Caribbean.

 

[vjmatty]

33 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Moi aussi. I also think its viable if they have the will.

More and more countries/ports are beginning to argue against big mega ships from docking. And some ports are just too small anyway, so ports and itineraries are limited.

I know there's other lines but I want to stay with Royal Caribbean.

 

Unfortunately, ever since the introduction of Oasis class, RC has become more and more ship oriented and less destination oriented. They’re catering to people who sail more for the ship than the ports.  Endless posts on that site we don’t speak of,  livre du visage, respond to complaints about repeated itineraries with “I don’t care where it goes” or “I’m just there for the ship.”  I laugh now when people say they don’t get off at this port or that port so they can have the ship to themselves….yeah you and a couple thousand others.

 

It is a shame for those of us who want to see the world and not just spend time on a floating resort.  I’m not a fan of seeking out other lines either, but it’s hard not to, especially when looking at Europe or the South Pacific. 

[Tolkmit]

1 hour ago, Rackham said:

 

With all the chatter before now pointing to a possible Discovery class announcement later this year, I'm taking a wait and see approach to this. However, the pivot away from this project would explain the sudden expansion of status matching between Celebrity and Royal. I'm also wondering if Royal wouldn't shift Project Discovery to an Amplified styled program for at least some of their Radiance and Voyager class ships to keep them in service to 40 or so.

 

I don't think it's necessarily a pivot. As Radiance class was smaller compared to Voyager Class, and Quantum Class was smaller compared to Oasis class; Project Discovery will be smaller compared to Icon class. This is likely always what they were talking about. And all along what made the most sense, to anyone considering Royal's history and knowledge of the economies of scale.

The concept that Project Discovery was going to be a small ship always involved some wishful thinking and hopeful interpretation from people who want a small ship.

[Badatz2]

Maybe a possible solution to the smaller ship issue would be a formalized "joint venture" with Celebrity.  The smaller Celebrity ships with better facilities such as indoor Thalassotherapy pools and the ability to visit smaller ports, could offer what Royal doesn't want to invest in now.

There is already a Status Match but full cross line point earning and one loyalty club could keep more people loyal to the greater Royal brand, and this I hope is the main objective of the corporation.

Edited Friday at 01:19 PM by Badatz2

[twangster]

I suspect the notion and research of a smaller ship (smaller than Q class) probably started under the previous CEO (Fain).  Bayley continued exploring it as possibility as Fain transitioned to Liberty.   

 

As we see Liberty settling into his new role we also see some pretty significant changes with things like senior leadership roles turning over.  This is normal with the arrival of a new CEO.  I also suspect Liberty has established his position on the small ship concept and we won't see any additional investment or exploration for the concept going forward. 

 

Just a hunch on my part, nothing to back it up.

[RobInMN]

It really depends on the context in the question or discussion. If it was in the context of "smaller ships like the Vision and Radiance class", then absolutely, that is not economically viable. That does not spell the doom of Project Discovery.

But that is a completely different question/discussion than a new class "smaller than Icon/Oasis" that can service the more unique ports. Including home ports of Tampa and Baltimore. If the context was more along the lines of not going to build anything smaller, and only go bigger, then that would be very disappointing.

 

[mac_tlc]

9 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

 

 

Listening to the Captain and President again it was explained in more detail that building smaller ships nowadays is not viable and the “I “ class and bigger looks like being the way they see things going forward.

 

 

 

It was said that are extremely difficult to organise but they would maybe if everything could be worked out of perhaps doing another one in a couple of years time.

 

 

 

 

Compared to "I" class, every ship being developed by every other cruise line is smaller. Someone must think they are viable. RCI may not go smaller, but I'm not buying their rationale. 

 

Re: World cruise -- again, other cruise lines do it year after year. They seem to be able to organize it.

 

Bottom line is RCI will do what makes then the most $$$. I have no issue with that but their saying its not "viable" or "hard to organize" doesn't pass the sniff test to me. 

 

BTW, @Norwich Cruiser thank you for your reports from the Presidents cruise. Celebrity has one going on now and the reporting is pretty silent. 

 

 

mac_tlc