Jumping Cruiser

Guessing the Aqua show will be a 2nd version of Aqua 80, known as ‘Aqua 80 Too’. Nick Weir teased this today.

Posted by @runner5924 in the roll call thread. Revised Itinerary: Vigo, Spain Lisbon, Portugal Bilbao, Spain La Coruna, Spain Cancellation Options: Option 1 - Remain on Sailing, Receive Partial Refund + OBC. Option 2 - Move to 12-Night Canaries on 8th/20th September (Price Protection + OBC) Option 3 - Book Any Sailing (+ OBC) Option 4 - Full Refund

Three cruises have been affected in total. October 2nd - 12 Night Canaries (Revised Itinerary - Shortened to 8 Days) October 14th - Southampton to Rome (CANCELLED) October 23rd - Rome to Dubai (CANCELLED)

Meyer Group recently unveiled some new ‘concept’ ship designs. One of them caught my attention in particular though, Avatar, a climate-neutral ship that they aim to build from 2030. Is it just me, or does this kind of look like a smaller Icon Class? Could Discovery be constructed on this proposed platform? I have linked the article below for anyone interested in reading. https://www.cruiseandferry.net/articles/meyer-group-presents-ship-concepts-at-seatrade-cruise-global

Australia 25/26 - Deployment Flyers Voyager from Brisbane and Anthem from Sydney. The images below are hyperlinked, so click to view. Voyager: Anthem:

I thought edge class were fully flexible across all four dining rooms? Have they gone back to set-time dining in addition to my-time?

Anthem is having a drydock in Singapore during this timeframe.

Here are the PDF’s, sometimes are a bit easier to read. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/China/SC_2025-2026_China_Deployment.pdf https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/China/OV_2025-2026_China_Deployment.pdf

As I say… suitable for the niche market. That’s the likely source of the awards, especially in the Caribbean. Their global approach doesn’t have the same effect though.

No info on Wonder just yet. I suspect that her deployment may be held back a little though due to the Star delay announced today. She will likely have to remain on 7-Night’s in PC a bit longer than initially expected, before Star takes over at the end of August.

In Royal’s eyes… at least you got clothes, not just socks! 😂

Don’t forget they’ve still got Brilliance too… well, if she ever makes it into service that is. If Aus was making a profit, they would make it work. Whether that would be keeping a ship there and brining Brilliant into service in the Med or just going round Africa like they’re doing now, there would be a solution. I’ve lost count of the amount of excuses used by VV over the years. From the problems with the initial brand identity, to the constant chopping and changing of itineraries, nothing really shocks me anymore. It’s evident they’re lacking experience in managing a cruise line, and this has been the case since day 1. They went for a niche market, tried to launch too many ships at once, and didn’t actually research what people were looking for. But they thought they could do it the Virgin way! And let’s just say… it’s definitely backfired!

We are also disappointed with the lack of longer cruises, newer ships and unusual destinations in Europe. Couldn’t find anything of any value over the next couple of years, so have booked a couple with Celebrity instead. It’s like Royal are completely giving up and abandoning the European market, especially ex-UK and Northern Europe. Even when they have the opportunity to do something good, such as longer cruises on Quantum out of LA, they do the opposite and offer virtually the same short itineraries but just on two different ships. I see 2 ships being a ‘one season wonder’ to be honest.

Los Angeles Deployment 2025/26 As expected, Quantum and Navigator in LA. Navigator OTS - 3 to 8 Night Mexico, Ensenada & Catalina Quantum OTS - 2 to 6 Night Ensenada and Cabo (inc Overnight)

They look fine my end, but should be embedded links anyway. When the image is displayed in large screen, click again and it should take you to the pdf, or at least it does for me.

Short Caribbean Deployment 2025/26 Some itineraries ahead of tomorrow’s release. Galveston, Texas Mariner OTS - 4/5 Night Western Caribbean Miami, Florida Freedom OTS - 3/4/5/6 Night Caribbean Fort Lauderdale, Florida Liberty OTS - 3/4 Night Bahamas & PDCC Jewel OTS - 3/4 Night Key West & Bahamas Port Canaveral, Florida Utopia OTS - 3/4 Night Bahamas & PDCC

She is due for dry dock in March/April 25. Unless there is a severe maintenance or safety issue, then this will not be moved forward.

Not just Norway, also for all Scandinavia cruises this year. Not a massive issue though, still plenty of time in each port.

In my opinion, it will be the following for Winter 25/26: Asia - Ovation Australia - Anthem & Voyager LA - Quantum and Navigator A few months back, Anthem’s Captain said it had been planned for a while that she would do: Asia, then Alaska, then Australia. Ovation has no TP or Aus bookings yet, so fair to assume that she will remain in Asia, after taking over from Anthem (April/May 2025). Quantum and Navigator have bookings in LA, and Voyager has bookings in Brisbane.

This is usually a direct bus from ship to station, then station to ship on return. No need to board a free shuttle.

Caribbean

Apparently, the website hasn’t been updated for Edge Class ships. Any reservations made pre-cruise, whether set-time or anytime, are disregarded. You can just show up anytime during opening hours, regardless of what option you selected during booking.

I believe that these port bookings are old. Originally, it looked as though Royal were going to offer an Eastern Mediterranean season over the Winter 25/26 period, similar to what Celebrity are offering on Infinity. This looked to be a homeport in Athens (Piraeus), with a focus on Greece, Egypt and Israel for around 7-day itineraries. Some of the bookings have been removed in other ports, like Limassol, Cyprus and Haifa, Israel. So it looks like due to the regional conflict, these plans have been scrapped. The Aus bookings are much more recent and highly likely to be what is actually released in my opinion. However, how they would get Voyager over there, potentially without without a Suez Canal repo, will be interesting. This makes me question whether they will replace Navigator with a QC, then send Navi down under, thus keeping Voyager on the Atlantic side. Or… will they still send Voyager to Aus and chance it with a repositioning?

Fixed! Thanks for the heads up! 😊

I agree. Plus, there are other cruises that visit the ports on option 2, but not option 1. This would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and no need for all those sea days either. Option 1 all the way!