The Big Booper

OUR Vsion arrived in Port Everglades today docked at Allure/Oasis's spot at

Terminal 18:D:D

Like Kate Moss wearing Shaq's work out clothing.:D:D

Really enjoying your review.

Who is the CD? Too lazy to hunt down DonnaK's thread.

Only 6 weeks to our Vision pink sands cruise.

We're on the 6/9 Bermuda pink sands cruise. Got to get the Fedora and Boas.

The new Panama Canal (any day now, just like Alfa Romeo coming back to the US ...) has led Princess to move Island Princess to Europe as another part of this plan.

 

Sadly, economics make it unlikely that any major cruise line will ever build a new small ship. Larger ships have economies of scale that can't be ignored at this price point.

I was at the NY Auto Show last Saturday and right in the middle of the main floor, Alfa Romeo had a display with a couple of models on sale now.

Also, I understand that Venice is shutting off access to larger ships so the 90,000 GRT ships from all the lines will be used at that port.

Excellent!!!! are you on the June 9 sailing of Vision?

Yes, we're on that sailing. First time with a smaller ship going out of FLL.

Slow WiFi is frustrating especially when you've laid a lot out for an unlimited package.

Morning Karen ~ indeed I was proud and thankful to PTZtv webcam gentlemen Lou and David for giving Pink Boa Cruisers some good cam time.

 

Well next up will be a large pink boa sail away on Vision of the Seas to Bermuda in June. We get to wave twice once as she leaves Port Everglades and once when she arrives/leaves on the Port Bermuda webcam

 

It was a fun sail away to watch...lots of big smiles

We'll be on the Vision also, now we know where to get the Fedora and Boa.

Chris, great review and hope they get your computer straightened out.

We are all guessing. We don't know if the company used the non-dredging situation as an excuse to enter China early...........or if Bermuda caused the shift.

The Bermuda run always made a ton of money for RCI, based on the cabin rates. I remember the per diems were higher then on the other itineraries.

Adam was very diplomatic about the situation.

And Adam Goldstein stated that Quantum would be staying in Bayonne year round last year.

 

In terms of Royal Caribbean, I don't believe it until I see it anymore!

That he did but I do not believe for a minute that he outright lied and made that statement knowing that it was not going to happen. Stuff happened and they had to change their timelines. While yes stuff could happen again that would force them to change plans I would think that they would be careful in what they are now stating given the negative reaction that the departure of the quantum had.

Until Bermuda does the needed dredging Quantum class can not stay in Bayonne year round. Simple as that.

When I went to the Dynamic Dining reveal in March everybody talked as if Quantum would be in NY year-round. Obviously a deadline passed and Bermuda sat on it's hands whistling and doing nothing with the dredging. so the big-wigs had to do something and they did. They accelerated the deployment of a big new ship to China by 18 months.

I haven't heard anything about the option for a 4th Quantum class ship, positive or negative. They're still building #1.

Also, RCCL wrote off part of their ill-fated investment in Pullmantur, the non-cruising business.

As others have said, the 1Q is always a slow period and sometimes the lines give away the ships just to get bodies on board for some on-board spending and tip money. I believe that the line has to make up part or all of the tip money to cabin attendants for empty cabins.

Also, many costs are fixed such as financing costs on all the new builds and early years depreciation charges on the new builds. I am sure the internal financial analysts know the fixed and variable components of the cost structure, we don't and can only guess. And RCCL does not provide a breakdown by operating units (ie. the different cruise brands) they operate.

We do know that Allure and Oasis are pure money machines for the company just based on operating results but also have very high financing costs and depreciation charges.

It would be interesting if the company would release operating results for each ship and line but there is no chance they would do that, ever.:eek::eek:

Any RCI ship homeporting in Bayonne has to be able to do the 5 day runs to Bermuda in the summer.

Unless Bermuda goes forward with the dredging, Quantum class can't get into Bermuda while Freedom class and smaller can get in.

Therefore RCI will sub in the Liberty OTS or similar in the summer until Bermuda does the dredging, while Quantum class will do the fall and winter here in Bayonne. RCI has options for up to 4 Quantum Class ships which means they could rotate in a new Q ship every year for 4 years if Bermuda plays stubborn.

The cold equations of physics.

OP is clearly pi**ed off, a feeling not clearly shared with many other posters here as well as the general public.

Most people are more pi**ed off at the high prices rather then the fact that there will be 2 different Q class ships operating out of Bayonne with a 5 month break in the middle when Bermuda is needed as a port and the Bermuda government is playing games, so the smaller Liberty OTS is rotated in and then out. Big Whoop!

At least NY gets a different ship after many years of the Explorer. Of course now that it's finally happened we live in Florida. We did take the EX 4 times and were ready for a change.

<<edit>> Actually if we still lived in NY we would likely be in favor of the change in plans since that would mean a different ship would be there in the second year with a different Broadway show and different set of secondary shows. So there.

We live in Boynton Beach 35 miles of FLL. Does the Hyatt have a program where we drive down the night before and stay, then they shuttle us to the ship and pick us up after the cruise, all for the one night stay at the hotel?

What is the maximum number of nights they will hold our car with no additional charge.

I got that E-Mailing too.

It only shows sailings up to and including the TA, whole bunch of Canary Islands trips and the TA, nothing after that.

The ship will be routed (TA) from FLL to NY because of the Bermuda issue and the Quantum going to China.

Nothing like a Bugsy trip report unless it's MrFunintheSun, loved last year with your dueling reports on the Big A.

Where's Andy, could you just see see him riding along on top of the Pink Fedoras??

At least tax season is almost over so I have time to log onto CC to follow the fun.

They can't record the income until the sailing happens. Even if the final payment deadline has passed and they don't have to issue a refund if you cancel, the ship could suffer a malfunction and the line would then have to cancel the trip and make refunds.

Never having worked in the cruise business there are probably some arcane GAAP rules and issues.

Now back to tax season.

Lacerte is my friend.

<edit> The reports talk about the negative effect of unloading Pullmantur's non-core businesses. That whole acquisition is turning into a disaster with the collapse of Southern Europe's economy. Spain And Greece.

On our last stop in St. Martin, we lucked out when coming back to the pier from downtown and took the new boat, much easier to navigate for people with mobility issues with no steep step ups and step downs.

The older fleet, they would need help getting on or off.

It is easier to get to the taxi stand and cab into downtown. For older people the fare is worth it.

There are shuttle trams going up and down the pier which drop you off at the pier exit. From there it is a short walk to the taxi dispatch area.

Booper - If Bermuda didn't come through on dredging, then Royal had to do something and they would present it in a way to maintain good relations with the Bermuda government.

RCI was very diplomatic about it, talking about the great opportunity to move a flashy new ship to China. This puts a positive spin on it, since they were planning on moving a big ship to China anyway but a year or two later when there would be 3 Oasis class and 3 Q ships in the fleet. At the DD reveal Adam talked about the new ship plans.

Still, this created a problem for RCI; the casual cruiser isn't aware of the last minute switching of ships but we, the cruise fanatics, are.

This affects us, since we are now Floridians, and were planning Anthem in 2016 before tax season 2016. I can always find a ship to sail from in Fl in Jan before tax season takes off. :D:):D.

Bermuda kept postponing the dredging operation and was dragging it's feet on that issue. When a cutoff point was reached RCI had to do something so they put plan B into operation.

I was at the Dynamic Dining reveal in March and nobody among the high command talked about China at all.

You can't be profitable sailing year round out of NY unless Bermuda is available and it now can't hold a Q ship. So Q1 goes to China after the winter, Liberty, which can get into Bermuda with the current setup, comes in to do the summer and then Q2 comes into NY in the fall to do the winter while Liberty heads back to Florida. This buys time for Bermuda to get it's act together.

We relocated from NY to Florida in July 2013 and for years we were all speculating that Liberty would come to NY to sail out of Cape Liberty and replace Explorer.

My only objection to the present situation is the sky high pricing on Liberty but the market will cure that.

We had planned to book Anthem out of FLL at the beginning of 2016 but there are many other options available including the big new Disney ship or a trip on a Celebrity S ship.

Pretty much sold out now. This will be a reunion cruise for all those, like us, who sailed the 2 week holiday cruises on EX from 2007-2010. Very few cabins still left to book.

The 14 night Explorer repo from NJ to Port Canaveral will stop at all 3 ABC islands.:D

I'm almost to the end of Tax Season so have pretty much stayed off the Boards.

I skimmed Kendon's long thread about the 1 star ratings for this ship and while I haven't been on the ship (only watched it sail out of FLL with the horn tootling) based on the photos it is certainly not a one star banana boat.

The one thing that does stand out to me is the blatant cost cutting that went into the design and construction of the ship. This is the pernicious mind set of the parent company of the whole Carnival empire, all 10 brands or so. They saved a whole three million dollars by not finishing off the center stairway. The damage done to this ship's image will be far greater then the lousy three million in costs saved.

Ya think RCCL did visible cost cutting like this for the Celebrity S ships or the RCI Oasis class or the upcoming RCI Q ships?

As a CPA I am shocked at the questionable thinking of the top brass at Carnival PLC.

Now back to the extensions and the twenty returns that will go on extension. E-File away!

Glad that your BVE went well. I'm not sure if you posted on another thread but where did you have lunch? I would also be interested to hear what 'odd details and design selections' weren't to your tastes. Just curious. :D

He has a thread on the RCI boards.

Now back to tax season. :eek:

Almost done.

The elevator situation on the Royal Princess is a 100 % deal breaker for us, It forces all the younger, healthier people to use an elevator at mid ship, leading to the things you saw...and that was just on a 3 hour BVE at dock.

The Princess cheerleading squad would have you walk half the length of the ship to get to the forward or aft elevator towers, where there are stairways as well, go to your new deck and then hike back to the center of the ship.

Phoooeeey to that.

There is a center ship stairway at mid ship but it is closed to passengers. Supposedly, Princess didn't want to spend the three million dollars it would have taken to put carpeting in as well as other steps to make it usable to passengers. What was top management thinking??

In hindsight all us CC people should have made up sticky name tags so we could see each other in person, sorta like a meet and mingle.

I am usually a picky basic eater but I tried most of the stuff and they were GOOD.

I laid off the booze since I would be driving after taking the West Side IRT from 34th up to 96th Street where the car was parked; I saw a client there in the AM. That was a loonng cold walk from Broadway up the incline to 11th against the wind.:eek::eek::eek:. After the event the wind blew me down the incline from 11th to Broadway.

My son and wife, knowing my eating habits, were shocked when I described what I had eaten. YOU ATE THAT????

Anyway, the biggest and most consistent complaint against RCI is that the food is not that great. They seem to have been listening.

I was at the Wed reveal in NYC. 10 places are free all the time. 7 are always for a fee. And JR is free at bkfst, charge for lunch and dinner.

The trad RCI pays are pays, the 3 new designer places are for a fee and the wonderful Wonderland (think Qsine type from Celebrity) is the most, at $45. And the WJ will be greatly expanded, for customized choices and cooking.

All the samples provided were very good and Wonderland, was original and eccentric. Disappearing noodles, Chocolate olive fizz, Wasabi and apple smoke crisp and Sweet and sour bonito bacon.

Now to see how it plays out in real life.