Jumping Cruiser

I have just read this on another social media site, so take it with a pinch of salt. It is indeed only Independence from Southampton, with no announcement of a 2nd ship at any point. Apparently, in a Royal Caribbean UK webinar, they said that the lack of longer itineraries were due to poor sales in 2023, which is why they went for shorter options. One of the biggest things though was that there would be no drinks packages on Independence for cruises less than 7-nights. I don’t know how true this is, but they know that brits love a drink and I definitely wouldn’t put it past them if this was the case.

To Portsmouth? Mine goes to MISSING PORT! 😂🤷🏼‍♂️ I think it’s quite a bargain to be left stranded in the middle of the ocean, but that’s just my opinion 😂 On a more serious note, I think this shows how she was originally supposed to go to Amsterdam, but this got changed to Athens at the very last minute.

Prices are ridiculous and in my eyes they no longer have a pricing structure within the RCG. We can pass our thanks onto Liberty, whose strategy has just become HIGH, HIGH, HIGH! For example, we have booked on a 12-night Celebrity Apex cruise next year to the same region as a 7-night on Anthem. However, the Apex cruise has cost us £1000 less than the Anthem one, despite the fact that it’s 5-nights longer. Wasn’t there once a time where the equivalent cruise with X would be more expensive? As they are a ‘premium’ line. Obviously, new ships are an exception to this. Some prices are just getting out of control and cruising as a whole is starting to lose the ‘value’ that it was once known for.

Me too! Us Brits love our 2 weeks in the sun and sad that we will have to go with another line in 25. Now with Royal it seems we have to learn to love our soggy 3-nights in Zeebrugge! 🤣

Yes, on Independence from Southampton. Itineraries are a couple of pages back.

I agree it makes no sense, but also pulling out of Amsterdam doesn’t make sense to me either. It possibly could be for a TA to Boston, similar to what is now being offered on Jewel in 2024 - 16 night Iceland & Greenland TA from Amsterdam to Boston. Brilliance could then do a short deployment there before moving elsewhere.

Here are the 2025 Europe Deployment itineraries, which I posted in the 25/26 Deployment Thread.

There is currently no evidence of Jewel in Europe, but obviously everything is up in the air until it’s officially announced. My thinking is that Brilliance could do a very limited Northern Europe season (September - October), either from Southampton or Amsterdam, before crossing back over to the US. If this wasn’t the plan, why would they bring her back to Southampton in August?

It’s not as active as this one, but I have been posting here recently.

Just to point out that this section at the bottom is not Allure. It is actually part of Voyager’s itineraries, but wouldn’t let me change or remove for some reason. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Europe 2025 - Full Deployment As expected, Odyssey, Allure, Explorer, Voyager, Independence and Brilliance in Europe for 2025. I know we have already seen Indy itineraries, but can’t find the document! Brilliance will be based in Athens, after completing a repositioning from Southampton (via Barcelona) after her dry-dock, but then return back to Southampton (via Barcelona) in August. Also no mention of Explorer after Mid-September or an Amsterdam ship as of yet. As always, await confirmation on these 2 issues tomorrow. Odyssey: Civitavecchia (Rome) Explorer: Ravenna, Italy Brilliance: Athens, Greece Voyager: Barcelona, Spain - Athens, Greece - Civitavecchia, Italy - Ravenna, Italy Allure: Barcelona, Spain / Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

Jewel has been on there since the beginning, even before Brilliance. It is possible that it may just be an old booking, but if Royal bring any ship to Amsterdam, my money would be on Jewel. However, she is currently on port schedules in Key West over the Summer, but could these be taken over by Grandeur?

Brilliance also has an updated TA call in Ponta Delgada, which now shows destination as Cadiz, suggesting she is entering the Med. Definitely a change of plans here and more confirmation that she is indeed headed to Eastern Mediterranean.

Ponta Delgada, Azores - Port Bookings (Correct as of 05/11/23) A few dates have been updated recently for Brilliance OTS, Independence OTS and Odyssey OTS. May I also point out that the destination port for Brilliance has changed to Cadiz. 21st April 2025 - Brilliance OTS. *UPDATED* 27th April 2025 - Jewel OTS 3rd May 2025 - Odyssey OTS. *UPDATED* 6th May 2025 - Independence OTS 7th May 2025 - Explorer OTS 10th May 2025 - Voyager OTS 8th August 2025 - Independence OTS 21st October 2025 - Explorer OTS 22nd October 2025 - Independence OTS. *UPDATED* 29th October 2025 - Odyssey OTS 6th November 2025 - Explorer OTS

Beyond looks to continue with the longer 6-Night+ cruises throughout Summer 2025. Meanwhile, Reflection/Silhouette will offer short sailings of 3/4-nights, most of which call at Perfect Day.

I knew I forgot something! Thank you for reminding me. 😂 Reflection and Silhouette both are booked into Key West on what look to be short Caribbean sailings. It is difficult to find port bookings for the Northeast and Bermuda, but I would expect either Reflection or Silhouette to take on them routes, as I can’t imagine 3 Summer Caribbean ships myself.

The data provided by Amsterdam Port Authority can be outdated and not regularly updated. The fact that recent bookings for Brilliance have been made in Athens would suggest to me that she is going there, at least from June. However, there is still potential for a short Northern Europe season, or a full one carried out by another ship. I would be highly surprised if they pull out of Amsterdam completely for 2025. Although, I do think they may have moved away from original plans, especially with recent events in Israel.

In my opinion, this will be X’s Summer 2025 deployment, based on current port bookings. As always, subject to change until confirmation by Celebrity, but helps to give some sort of idea. There are duplicate bookings in some port, so there is potential for Eclipse to swap with Equinox for example. Ascent - Western Mediterranean (Barcelona, Rome, Athens) Beyond - Caribbean (Fort Lauderdale) Apex - Southampton, UK Edge - Alaska Silhouette - Caribbean (Fort Lauderdale) Reflection - Short Caribbean (Fort Lauderdale) Equinox - Mediterranean (Barcelona, Rome, Athens) Solstice - Alaska Eclipse - Northern Europe (Amsterdam) Infinity - Eastern Mediterranean (Athens) Millennium - Asia Constellation - Mediterranean (Ravenna / Rome) Summit - Alaska

The slide will be free, but you will have to pay for the water at $50 a gallon! And no, it is not included in the beverage package. 🤣

Hi everyone, Sailing on MSC Euribia this month and looking to get the train at Zeebrugge-Dorp, directly to Bruges. We will be there on a Wednesday, so from what I understand, the service will be running once per hour. Does anyone have any personal experience taking this exact train and if so how did the outbound and return journey go, plus what was the cost? Thanks 🙂

I know, I am scheduled on this cruise! Not too disappointed, but would have been nice.

Independence OTS - Southampton 2025 Itineraries I believe these are the majority of the itineraries for Indy from Southampton in 2025. It’s nice to see them returning to Copenhagen from UK and also calling in Skjolden, Norway. I do think it’s ironic though how they carried out ‘hot’ cruises on Anthem, a cold weather ship, and now are going to run ‘cold’ cruises on Indy, a warm weather ship. But what do we know! 🤔🤷🏼‍♂️ 12th May 2025: 12-night Canary Islands Southampton - Cruising - Bilbao - Cruising - Lisbon - Cruising - Las Palmas, Gran Canaria - Santa Cruz, Tenerife - Funchal, Madeira - Cruising - La Coruna - Cruising - Southampton 24th May 2025: Spain & Portugal (7 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Vigo - Lisbon (Overnight) - La Coruna - Cruising - Southampton 7th June 2025: Bruges Short Break (2 Nights) Southampton - Zeebrugge - Southampton 9th June 2025: Spanish Flair (9 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Vigo - Lisbon - Cadiz - Cruising - La Coruna - Bilbao - Cruising - Southampton 18th June 2025: Bruges Short Break (3 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Zeebrugge - Southampton 21st June 2025: Northern Europe (8 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Oslo, Norway - Copenhagen - Cruising - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Cruising - Southampton 29th June 2025: Norwegian Fjords (7 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Alesund - Molde - Olden - Haugesund - Cruising - Southampton 6th July 2025: Spain & Portugal (7 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Vigo - Lisbon - La Coruna - Bilbao - Cruising - Southampton 13th July 2025: Norwegian Fjords (7 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Molde - Skjolden - Olden - Haugesund - Cruising - Southampton 20th July 2025: Hamburg & Rotterdam Break (5 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Cruising - Southampton 25th July 2025: Spanish Flair (9 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Vigo - Lisbon - Cadiz - Cruising - La Coruna - Bilbao - Cruising - Southampton 3rd August 2025: Spanish Flair (9 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Bilbao - Cruising - Cadiz - Lisbon - Vigo - La Coruna - Cruising - Southampton 12th August 2025: Hamburg & Rotterdam Break Southampton - Cruising - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Cruising - Southampton 17th August 2025: Norwegian Fjords (7 Nights) Southampton - Zeebrugge - Cruising - Skjolden - olden - Haugesund - Cruising - Southampton 24th August 2025: Northern Cities (8 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Hamburg - Cruising - Oslo - Copenhagen - Cruising - Zeebrugge - Southampton 1st September 2025: Spanish Flair (9 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Vigo - Lisbon - Cadiz - Cruising - La Coruna - Bilbao - Cruising - Southampton 10th September 2025: Spanish Flair (9 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Vigo - Lisbon - Cadiz - Cruising - La Coruna - Bilbao - Cruising - Southampton 19th September 2025: Bruges Short Break (3 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Zeebrugge - Southampton 22nd September 2025: Spain & France (7 Nights) Southampton - Le Havre - Cruising - Bilbao - La Coruna - Vigo - Cruising - Southampton 29th September 2025: Hamburg & Zeebrugge Break (5 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Hamburg - Cruising - Zeebrugge - Southampton 11th October 2025: Hamburg & Rotterdam Break (5 Nights) Southampton - Cruising - Hamburg - Cruising - Rotterdam - Southampton

No race track. Replaced by a waterpark, which includes at least 2 slides. Lots of venues are marked as ‘To Come’. If they were the same as Prima/Viva, wouldn’t they just reveal them now?

Just come across the deck plans. The most noticeable difference is the race track is replaced by a water park.

Me! 🙌🏻 Don’t forget the ‘Fresh Itineraries’ too! A lovely 3-night cruise to the industrial port of Zeebrugge in the middle of a rainy European summer sounds very inviting! 😂