For us, Utopia is wasted on 3/4 night sailings

[NickinNY]

We were just on a 4-night sailing on Utopia. We are not hard core veteran cruisers, but we’re also not the newbies OR the weekend party set to which Royal is marketing this ship and these sailings. This was our 9th cruise, 5th on Royal. This cruise fit into our budget and calendar, and we were excited to be on a brand new Oasis class ship. We’re a family of four, two daughters ages 19 and 17. We didn’t really care about the ports of call, having been to both Nassau and Coco Cay several times before - we planned on using port time for onboard activities without the ship at its full complement of passengers (~5500 on this sailing).

 

Utopia did not disappoint. She’s beautiful, and more importantly, she’s everything you want and expect from an Oasis class ship. The crew and service were excellent. We agreed the crew was the most engaged and excited about being there of any of the Royal cruises we’ve been on. One of our daughters commented that they were almost Disney/DCL level happy to be there. She meant it as high praise. Maybe that’s just “new ship glow”.

 

We did not encounter an excessive party scene. Now, we weren’t checking out the frat party at 1am, so maybe it was there and we just didn’t see it. But we did what we wanted/like to do on a cruise, when and where we wanted to do it, and we didn’t have to dodge over-served donkeys as we were doing it. So, if you were there and were an over-served donkey, more power to you and thank you for staying out of my way. 

 

Best entertainment we’ve ever had on a cruise. From the big shows to the guy rocking (and I do mean rocking🤘) acoustic covers in the pub. *BTW, Royal needs to release the soundtrack to the aqua 80s show. I would listen to it at least twice a day.* Fantastic. And you know how most ice shows look like Borat took a bunch of hallucinogenics and then designed an ice show? This one was way more fun/less “impress the iron curtain king”, with more impressive skating. 

 

We felt the food in the MDR was still getting up to speed. Not bad, just not to the level we’ve experienced on other Royal ships. But the service in the MDR was outstanding. And they were so clearly interested in feedback about the food that we’re confident they’re invested in getting the food there. We did a lunch at Chops and it was as good as it always has been on other ships.

 

Saying you have 2 casinos on this ship is a little misleading. It’s really one casino and one fairly big closet where you can gamble. As a non-smoker I appreciate the non-smoking option. Utopia is still new enough that the main/actual casino doesn’t smell like a well used, shag carpet-lined ashtray, yet.

 

When it was busy, the elevators were an issue. Many people, us included, ended up also choosing floors one above or below where they were going, to try to get another car to stop, which just mucks up the system and defeats the purpose. Look, when it’s busy there’s always a wait for an elevator whether you’re on a cruise ship or waiting to get up to the pearly gates (so I’ve heard). This isn’t any kind of black mark for Royal in general or Utopia specifically. But other people had written about the elevators on Icon like they were some revolution in vertical conveyance, and A) that really only counts when it’s busy, and B) these were not. It’s just that going from the Promenade on 5 to WJ on 15 is a lot of stairs…. 

 

The point of this homily is that - for us non-newbie cruisers - our takeaway was that this class of ship is wasted on a 4-night cruise, and that can only mean it’s that much more wasted on a 3-night cruise. I suppose if you live in FL and are an experienced cruiser, this is still a more-fun way to spend a weekend than playing in the canasta tournament with the blue hairs at the club, again. But for us, we never got to the point where we felt settled in and could just lock into vacation mode, like we do on 7-night cruises, for example. Maybe that’s us, but that’s how we felt. We love the Oasis class ships because the massive amount of options for stuff to do becomes a “Jesus and the Entertainment Director take the wheel” moment where we decide to just float around and engage in whatever looks fun at that moment, with no FOMO agita. But, on such a short cruise, the vast amount of options became a point of anxiety - “We can’t go back to Trellis Bar yet; I still have to try a bunch of other bars!”

 

If that wasn’t your experience, that’s great. But, if it was, then you’re not alone. We weren’t disappointed with Royal or Utopia. It just made us decide we won’t do another short cruise on this caliber of ship.

Edited August 4 by NickinNY

[leaveitallbehind]

This is RCCL's experiment with maximizing CocoCay's shorter itineraries and providing the Oasis class experience for those cruisers looking for this with shorter cruises.

 

It certainly wouldn't be for everyone, but then again, neither are shorter cruises.  Just a way to continue to offer more variety to help maintain the existing loyal base while attracting new customers looking for this type of experience.

 

Edited August 4 by leaveitallbehind

[NickinNY]

@leaveitallbehind I know. 

[leaveitallbehind]

Just now, NickinNY said:

@leaveitallbehind I know. 

I was just adding my view.

[tscoffey]

These ships are designed to attract families with children. If you are in that demographic, you likely are younger (20s-mid 40s), which means your disposable income is less than the “typical” cruising couple who are empty-nesters, in their late 40s-70s. So a shorter cruise better targets the price point of that family demographic. It also means that the parents aren’t having to chase their kids around a ship for 7-10 days (exhausting).

I’d say that RCI has hit their target perfectly. It’s not one that attracts me, but I have other options. Having the home port be in Port Canaveral also means that they can take advantage of the big nearby attraction that is Orlando, and lure families into adding a cruise to their vacation.

Edited August 4 by tscoffey

[reallyitsmema]

@NickinNY Thanks for your review.  Utopia looks like a great ship but I get what you are saying, I wouldn't book that ship for either a 3 or 4 night cruise.  We will book it if and when it ever does longer cruises.

[bajathree]

10 minutes ago, tscoffey said:

 If you are in that demographic, you likely are younger (20s-mid 40s), which means your disposable income is less than the “typical” cruising couple who are empty-nesters, in their late 40s-70s. So a shorter cruise better targets the price point of that family demographic.

Utopia 3 and 4 night sailings are currently priced very close to other Oasis class 7 night sailings....so I don't think thats in play right now.

[SUgwoz]

Disney has their newest ship only doing short cruises out of Port Canaveral for the last year.  Between Royals current fleet doing short cruises out of FL and Disney, they had plenty of data to determine value of Utopia doing short cruises. 

 

There is a focus on grabbing Florida residents, particularly families. Population continues to grow and with younger demographics.

[twangster]

The new to cruise market is hot right now and that is what Royal mostly captures with Utopia and even Icon.  Some 70% on both have never cruised Royal.  Normally on a Royal ship that is closer to 50%.  

 

It's not just Florida residents that are the target, but families that are going to a theme park in Orlando for a few days, because who can afford a full 7 days at a theme park these days, and are looking for some other experience to add to the Central Florida visit while they are there. 

 

Royal hopes to give this new to Royal market the best possible exposure to Royal so they will come back and sail something longer next time. 

 

I feel for the crew on these Oasis class short cruises.  Turnaround day is always more work for crew and these crews have twice the turn around days compared to a seven night Oasis class cruise ship. 

 

The beauty of cruise ships is when or if the new to cruise market starts to slow down it's easy enough to redeploy a ship onto longer itineraries.   Perhaps one day Utopia will. 

 

I totally understand return guests not appreciating the new ship on the short cruises but for Royal, as a business, it's the smart thing to do, right now.

[NickinNY]

19 minutes ago, twangster said:

The new to cruise market is hot right now and that is what Royal mostly captures with Utopia and even Icon.  Some 70% on both have never cruised Royal.  Normally on a Royal ship that is closer to 50%.  

 

It's not just Florida residents that are the target, but families that are going to a theme park in Orlando for a few days, because who can afford a full 7 days at a theme park these days, and are looking for some other experience to add to the Central Florida visit while they are there. 

 

Royal hopes to give this new to Royal market the best possible exposure to Royal so they will come back and sail something longer next time. 

 

I feel for the crew on these Oasis class short cruises.  Turnaround day is always more work for crew and these crews have twice the turn around days compared to a seven night Oasis class cruise ship. 

 

The beauty of cruise ships is when or if the new to cruise market starts to slow down it's easy enough to redeploy a ship onto longer itineraries.   Perhaps one day Utopia will. 

 

I totally understand return guests not appreciating the new ship on the short cruises but for Royal, as a business, it's the smart thing to do, right now.

 

I understand the business rationale for RC. I wonder if they’ve ever figured out a formula for capturing PV of a first time cruiser. I also wonder what the incremental lift is for getting those passengers on a brand new Oasis class ship for 3 or 4 nights, versus an older Oasis class ship, or a non-Oasis class ship, on the same itinerary. If you’re saying they’re getting a 40% increase in first time sailers on Utopia and Icon vs. other ships, that’s a material increase. But if it’s the same increase on Icon and Utopia then that argues against the idea that 3 or 4 night itineraries (Utopia currently) are necessary to draw in the first timers. They won’t know until they try it, so I have no issue with them using Utopia for 3/4 nighters or marketing those sailings at first timers. 

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, bajathree said:

Utopia 3 and 4 night sailings are currently priced very close to other Oasis class 7 night sailings....so I don't think thats in play right now.

I was just going to comment similarly.  If you look at the fare base the shorter 3 and 4 night Utopia cruises are proportionately higher an a per day basis than longer cruises.  What amplifies this is the fact that this is their newest ship.

Edited August 4 by leaveitallbehind

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, tscoffey said:

These ships are designed to attract families with children. If you are in that demographic, you likely are younger (20s-mid 40s), which means your disposable income is less than the “typical” cruising couple who are empty-nesters, in their late 40s-70s. So a shorter cruise better targets the price point of that family demographic. It also means that the parents aren’t having to chase their kids around a ship for 7-10 days (exhausting).

I’d say that RCI has hit their target perfectly. It’s not one that attracts me, but I have other options. Having the home port be in Port Canaveral also means that they can take advantage of the big nearby attraction that is Orlando, and lure families into adding a cruise to their vacation.

Have you seen the prices for these cruises??

[Billy Baltic]

A 3 day cruise is a tease. I’d do a 4 day cruise if it was free. 7 days is the minimum for us and we cruise as a family with young kids. I understand what RC is doing but it doesn’t mean I have to like their strategy. I’m not a shareholder, I’m a customer. 

[leaveitallbehind]

Just now, Billy Baltic said:

I understand what RC is doing but it doesn’t mean I have to like their strategy. I’m not a shareholder, I’m a customer. 

Which allows you the choice to cruise (or not cruise) with them as you wish on those ships and itineraries that fit your expectations the best.

[Billy Baltic]

1 minute ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Which allows you the choice to cruise (or not cruise) with them as you wish on those ships and itineraries that fit your expectations the best.

I agree but I can still be frustrated with them wasting new ships on these marketing gimmicks. 

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Which allows you the choice to cruise (or not cruise) with them as you wish on those ships and itineraries that fit your expectations the best.

Exactly. We book our cruises for the itinerary, not the ship. 

[leaveitallbehind]

26 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

I agree but I can still be frustrated with them wasting new ships on these marketing gimmicks. 

Of the newer launches, Utopia is the only one doing the 3/4 night Perfect Day / Bahamas cruises.  Wonder and Icon both do typical 7 night Eastern/Western Caribbean itineraries.  And when Star is launched in 2025 she will also be doing 7 night Eastern/Western itineraries. 

 

This should hopefully limit your frustration to Utopia.

Edited August 4 by leaveitallbehind

[Billy Baltic]

15 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Of the newer launches, Utopia is the only one doing the 3/4 night Perfect Day / Bahamas cruises.  Wonder and Icon both do typical 7 night Western / Eastern Caribbean itineraries.  And when Star is launched in 2025 she will also be doing 7 night Eastern/Western itineraries. 

 

This should hopefully limit your frustration to Utopia.

A little. Thanks though. 

[RFerrington]

I would agree that the strategy of the shorties on the new ship was working IF it weren't for the large number of UT casino comps that are being offered, both by Club Royale AND its partners, MGM and Hard Rock.  Historically, cruises that are selling well do NOT offer comp cruises at the lowest casino tier levels, but UT is...and right from the start !  Now, perhaps there is a strategy for realizing increased revenue from casino players but I find it interesting that they are offering so many comps SO early in the release of this brand new ship.  I am lead to believe (perhaps, mistakenly) that these shorties are NOT selling as well as they had hoped and thus, they are offering so many casino comps in hoping to subsidize the revenue missing from the [hesitant ?] first-time cruisers.

[PhillyFan33579]

39 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Of the newer launches, Utopia is the only one doing the 3/4 night Perfect Day / Bahamas cruises.  Wonder and Icon both do typical 7 night Eastern/Western Caribbean itineraries.  And when Star is launched in 2025 she will also be doing 7 night Eastern/Western itineraries. 

 

This should hopefully limit your frustration to Utopia.

Just an FYI, Wonder is moving to Miami later this year and will be doing 3/4 day cruises. So RCl’s two newest Oasis class ships will be doing 3/4 days cruises for the near future soon. To me it makes perfect sense. For several years there were two Voyager class ships (Mariner and Navigator) doing short cruises out of Florida that always sold out. So RCI changed and put two Freedom class ships (Freedom and Independence) to replace Mariner and Navigator doing short cruises out of Florida. These ships continued to sell out so RCI is taking the next logical step, put two Oasis class ships in Florida doing short cruises. Brilliant move by RCI in my opinion. Assuming these ships continue to sellout, you now have two packed Oasis class ships going to Coco Cay twice every week, which is a huge revenue producer.  

[leaveitallbehind]

7 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Just an FYI, Wonder is moving to Miami later this year and will be doing 3/4 day cruises. So RCl’s two newest Oasis class ships will be doing 3/4 days cruises for the near future soon.

I do see that.  8/25/25 next year is the first short itinerary for Wonder.  Thanks for the correction.  And, although edited for my response, I agree with the rest of your comments as well.

 

Sorry @Billy Baltic, looks like your frustrations will be doubled next year - LOL.

Edited August 4 by leaveitallbehind

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, doghog said:

Exactly. We book our cruises for the itinerary, not the ship. 

We try to  well, except we do have Icon booked for Spring 2025.  Couldn't resist as we wanted to see what it had to offer. 

 

As for booking for itinerary, we sailed to Cuba, twice when it was offered, once on Empress and once on Majesty.  We know many cruisers who refused such old ships that did to have the lounges  and other benefits they wanted.  This was back in 2017 - 2018 and even then, they were old ships.    Needless to say, the ship was just a means for the travel.

 

M

[bajathree]

3 hours ago, RFerrington said:

I would agree that the strategy of the shorties on the new ship was working IF it weren't for the large number of UT casino comps that are being offered, both by Club Royale AND its partners, MGM and Hard Rock.  Historically, cruises that are selling well do NOT offer comp cruises at the lowest casino tier levels, but UT is...and right from the start !  Now, perhaps there is a strategy for realizing increased revenue from casino players but I find it interesting that they are offering so many comps SO early in the release of this brand new ship.  I am lead to believe (perhaps, mistakenly) that these shorties are NOT selling as well as they had hoped and thus, they are offering so many casino comps in hoping to subsidize the revenue missing from the [hesitant ?] first-time cruisers.

I don't know about MGM but the comps coming out of Hard Rock are for their top tier players known as X Card members. X Cards are an invite only tier to people who are playing something like at least $100K/year in their casinos. I actually look at it a bit differently...they invite a lot of casino comps to be able to keep prices high on revenue cabins....supply and demand...lots casino comps means less supply. In most cases I think they figure they are going to make what they would normally sell a comp cabin for back on what casino comps spend abroad...if not much more than they would sell that cabin for. I would also have to believe that casino comps are mostly frequent cruisers for the most part.

Edited August 4 by bajathree

[Southern Dan]

I really wish I jumped back into cruising sooner to go on Majesty one more time to go to Cuba.  My first Royal cruise was on her in 1995 and I've always wanted to check out Cuba and I had my chance.

 

I haven't been on any mega ships yet, I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it but I love every cruise I've been on.  Looking forward to Symphony in November!

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

7 hours ago, NickinNY said:

*BTW, Royal needs to release the soundtrack to the aqua 80s show. I would listen to it at least twice a day.* Fantastic.

I realize this isn't really the point of your post, but I just have to say AMEN BROTHER! At least for the original Aqua 80 on the Oasis, which is all I have heard. I'm glad to hear that Aqua 80 Too lives up to its predecessor. 

 

Seriously, I wish there was a Grammy for Best Cruise Ship Entertainment Soundtrack. 😎