Slowly Losing Vision and Radiance Class for Caribbean

[guineapiggirl]

Hi,

 

I guess my only purpose in starting this thread is to vent. :(

 

Nothing against the Voyager/Freedom class ships, but I love the smaller ships. I love cruising the Caribbean, but it seems to be getting harder to book a Caribbean sailing on a Radiance or Vision class, because they are in Europe, Asia, South America and Alaska. The Serenade will be sailing from Puerto Rico in the future, but it is kind of pricey to fly and stay there. Just 2 years ago, we had our choice of smaller ships, but as RCI expands, they 'shipping' them elswhere. I would like it if RCI would build a few more Radiance class ships, but it looks doubtful.....

 

kim

[Sue L]

Hi,

 

I guess my only purpose in starting this thread is to vent. :(

 

Nothing against the Voyager/Freedom class ships, but I love the smaller ships. I love cruising the Caribbean, but it seems to be getting harder to book a Caribbean sailing on a Radiance or Vision class, because they are in Europe, Asia, South America and Alaska. The Serenade will be sailing from Puerto Rico in the future, but it is kind of pricey to fly and stay there. Just 2 years ago, we had our choice of smaller ships, but as RCI expands, they 'shipping' them elswhere. I would like it if RCI would build a few more Radiance class ships, but it looks doubtful.....

 

kim

 

 

Actually from JFK on Jetblue you can get to San Juan for around 200$ per person. I have done it a couple of times now and it is a great direct flight and no more of a hassle than Florida.

[KarinaGW]

Kim, I couldn't possibly on this earth or any other agree with you more.

 

Sue, totally true about costs to San Juan...it's really about the same for me to fly to any of the major US ports with planning. Nevertheless, it really does seem like the East Coast is, for the most part, being given a choice of Huge or simply Very Very Big for upcoming cruise seasons.

[guineapiggirl]

That is good to know, thank you. I tend to look at Newark and LaGuardia schedules. We are spoiled having 3 airports.

 

Getting to JFK can be tricky, though, from New Jersey. Being from Long Island, you probably know all about the traffic! A Friday night flight would be out of the question.

 

kim

[logan1_2000]

Hi,

 

I guess my only purpose in starting this thread is to vent. :(

 

Nothing against the Voyager/Freedom class ships, but I love the smaller ships. I love cruising the Caribbean, but it seems to be getting harder to book a Caribbean sailing on a Radiance or Vision class, because they are in Europe, Asia, South America and Alaska. The Serenade will be sailing from Puerto Rico in the future, but it is kind of pricey to fly and stay there. Just 2 years ago, we had our choice of smaller ships, but as RCI expands, they 'shipping' them elswhere. I would like it if RCI would build a few more Radiance class ships, but it looks doubtful.....

 

kim

 

Radiance and Jewel from Fort Lauderdale for 6 or 8 nights. Enchantment from Ft. Lauderdale for 4-5 nighters. There are seasonalissues, sure--is your point that you want to cruise in the summer and some of these ships are missing? And I have not kept up with Grandeur's changing schedule, weren't there still caribbean itineraries from either Baltimore or Tampa?

 

An article on a separate thread dealing with the removal of the mariner from port canaveral in '09 provided some data on growth in the non-caribbean markets, so that is the story behind some of the re-deployment you are experiencing.

 

I love the radiance, but I think that class is closed out.

[guineapiggirl]

I am limited in the times that we can travel because I go to school at night. That is one of my biggest motivating factors to graduate ASAP! It can also be difficult to get time off during the summer.

 

I believe the Grandeur is going to be sailing from Tampa/Western Caribbean. We just did that cruise in January.

[KillaFee]

I totally agree with you. I figure in 6 or 7 years there will be no more vision or Radiance 7 day caribbean cruises.....whatever Radiance or Vision ships that are left will be doing 3 and 4 nighters. :( . That's why whenever I get the slightest inkling that I'd like to check out the Freedom class ships (which rarely happens, but sometimes after hearing everyone on the boards rave and rave about them...) I think to myself "NOO!! They're not going anywhere - sail the precious Vison and Radiance class before they ship em off to some other exotic itinerary!"

Laura

[wolfcathorse]

- sail the precious Vison and Radiance class before they ship em off to some other exotic itinerary!"

Laura

 

or they end up like Empress OTS...sold

[hcat]

I just browsed through the new offerings--too many really big ships will be clogging the caribbean--very lucky that we have Jewel booked already for Jan 08--after that who knows? Guess we will have to follow the Radiance & smaller ships wherever they are banished to...

[emilygrace]

I think it's definitely a case of the mega ships pushing the smaller ones out of the Caribbean market. The big ships are limited as to where they can go, so the smaller ships are moving out as RCL expands their choice of itineraries. It all comes down to $$$ in the end.

[SherriZ366]

Wish RCCL would have built the 5th Radiance Class ship. During Winter, 2008/2009, Jewel will sail the Panama Canal itinerary as Brilliance will be in Europe year-round.

[negc]

Actually, if you look at the schedules that have been released for the next two or so years, the smaller ships are pretty well represented. Jewel will be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale next year and out of Miami the year after that. Next winter the Legend of the Seas will introduce two new itineraries out of Santo Domingo, and the following year those itineraries will be served by the Vision of the Seas. Serenade continues to sail out of San Juan. In fact there are so many changes being planned it is becoming more and more difficult keeping track of which ships are sailing where.:rolleyes:

The Caribbean market is noticeably weak at present which explains why the cruiselines (not only RCI) have shifted many of their ships to Alaska for the summer and to Europe for extended periods of time beginning in the Spring and continuing until early Winter.

And as much as I share everyone's desire to see more Radiance class ships, RCI executives have been quite clear in saying that the economies of scale make it unprofitable to build more of them.

I also think that they are faced with conflicting demands from RCI loyalists. Many want the line to offer more and different itineraries, from ports closer to home, while many others want ships to offer a steady diet of Caribbean cruises out of Florida, and still others among us want only to sail on the newest and biggest ships and refer to any ship that was built before the turn of the century, as "old". Even while they realize that they can't please everyone, they seem to be attempting to address both by expanding their sailings to exotic ports in Asia, Europe, and South America, while repositioning Mariner to LA to sail the Mexican Riviera and basing the Freedom class and Genesis ships in the Caribbean.

I don't envy them the difficult choices they have to make trying to please the majority of their clientele while maximizing their profits.:)

[Priusprof]

I totally agree with you. I figure in 6 or 7 years there will be no more vision or Radiance 7 day caribbean cruises.....whatever Radiance or Vision ships that are left will be doing 3 and 4 nighters. :( . That's why whenever I get the slightest inkling that I'd like to check out the Freedom class ships (which rarely happens, but sometimes after hearing everyone on the boards rave and rave about them...) I think to myself "NOO!! They're not going anywhere - sail the precious Vison and Radiance class before they ship em off to some other exotic itinerary!"

Laura

We've been on all the classes and each has its pluses and minus features. I love the fact that RCCL is branching out around the world and that for new markets there are Vision class and Radiance class ships to serve them. We are sailing on Splendour out of Sao Paulo next year for Carnaval. Legend is moving to the far east and sailing out of Singapore. I'd love to do that too! We just need to face the reality of time moving on. The Caribbean is the biggest market and it is way more economical to sail a bigger ship. You and I have both been on Song of America. I remember when she was brand new and the pride of the fleet. Now sold and renamed. 747's and 767's and A330's fly what used to be the routes for 707's and 727's. So if you love the ship, go somewhere new on it. Eventually they will all be replaced with something newer.

[BILL-WI]

Just announced this week...Vision will be in the Caribbean in 2009.

 

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/royal/Caribbean/Flyers/07008297_VI_Caribbean.pdf

 

There are still some choices...

 

BILL

[SherriZ366]

Just announced this week...Vision will be in the Caribbean in 2009.

 

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/royal/Caribbean/Flyers/07008297_VI_Caribbean.pdf

 

There are still some choices...

 

BILL

 

wonder what will happen to Splendor -- she is doing the Dominican Republican itinerary.

[cruiserbryce]

We looked at taking a cruise from San Juan b/c some of the itineraries are a bit different from the standard ones from Florida...but like you noticed, flights are a bit expensive. I think as the company grows the ships will continue to grow as well. I think both big and small have their differences but have had good experiences with both...LA only has Vision and Monarch currently, so when Mariner comes out it will be a pleasant change. Maybe RCI will eventually go with some smaller builds, but for a company that has become know for debuting mega ships and doing it well, I cant imagine its in the plans yet