Sunshine announcement

[littlesteelo]

I do hope Anthem ends up sailing out of Southampton. It makes perfect sense, seeing as they now have Independence and Adventure sailing throughout the summer/autumn. They might even decide to have both Anthem and Independence at the same time.

 

The new ships aren't exclusively reserved for the US anyway so it is possible, since Independence had her maiden season out of Southampton.

[mjldvlks]

. . . IIRC, the DCL ship caused a bigger part of Europe to be without power for a while, as it hit some electricity cables when passing on the Ems.

 

I think the incident you are referring to involved the Norwegian Pearl, and it did not actually hit a line -- here is the blurb from the National Geographic site:

 

Onlookers wait for the newly built cruise ship Norwegian Pearl to leave the Papenburg, Germany, shipyard in November 2006. Soon after, on its trip down the River Ems, the ship indirectly caused a two-hour power outage for some 10 million people on the evening of November 4.

 

The German power company E. turned off a 380,000-volt line over the river so that the ship could pass safely beneath on its way to the North Sea. But the dead line quickly increased pressures elsewhere in the German power grid and then sparked a chain reaction across parts of Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, and Croatia. Critics said the incident showcased the need for more universal electricity distribution policies across Europe.

 

Anyone who hasn't should look at the videos of the ships traniting the river from the MW shipyard in Pappenburg to the sea. There are several oin YouTube. It is a pretty impressive sight. For one of the Solstice ships they actually disassempled a bridge to get it through. I saw one picture [don't recall the ship] where they induced a list to angle the ship past a bridge. Ship geeks will enjoy these videos.

[Sequim88]

For my 2-cents, I would love to see the Pacific Northwest as an option. Especially if these ships are going to be designed with larger, covered Solariums and lots of glass. (sunshine?)

 

Definitely!! As an ex-PNW resident and future retiree there (Sequim, WA perhaps?) I would love to see more West Coast cruise options besides Alaska. But for Alaska I do prefer a fairly small ship that can navigate smaller passages and get closer to glaciers. Radiance class fits the bill pretty well with lots of viewing behind glass and out of the drizzle. Most of the time not much sunshine up that way. But farther south (San Diego/Ensenada-Vancouver/Seattle itineraries) would be nice. Or a Seattle-Victoria-Hawaii route.

 

Portland would be a nice stop but the Astoria bridge is only 196' at high tide so Quantum class might not fit. Lewis & Clark bridge at Longview too at 210'. So ships freed up by new ships would be a better option. Radiance class would fit both bridges on way to Portland area (short of Interstate Bridge) since they clear Francis Scott Key bridge.

 

As for farthest in USA from ocean as near as I can tell (not counting Great Lakes ir Hudson Bay) the most cruise deprived location is somewhere near Fargo, ND. Roughly 1,200 miles to Pacific (Seattle), Gulf (Galveston) or Atlantic (Baltimore) - all about equally inconvenient. Minneapolis-St. Paul not much better so for us it really does not matter a lot where new ships are - every cruise invloves a R/T flight and a pre-cruise night hotel.

[Aviator of the Seas]

You are all wrong. The Quantum Class ships will actually be "Cruise Simulators". They will park one in Orlando and the other in Las Vegas. People will board and enjoy "Virtual Views of the Seas" for 7 days while they clean you out of your money. "Shore Excursions" will be virtual also. They will let you down into an adjacent mall with stores limited to Diamonds, Del Sol, and the like and with people pestering you in the hallways hawking cheap Chinese made "souvenirs". They're still working on the "Virtual Beach" thing, but a partnership with Wet N Wild has not been ruled out.

 

I know this to be true because I heard it from Henry in the hallway on my last cruise.

[UNV-IT!!!]

I think Disney offers the shorter itineraries, for people who want to sail their line but cannot afford their premium for 7 days, like me :D. But I really would not see one of RCCL's new ships doing shorter itineraries, my guess is that one of them will be set to compete again Breakaway in NY. But I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

Actually they offer the shorter cruise out of PC for people who would like to do the land and sea packages but can't stay 7 for the cruise and another x amount for Disney world. The 3-4 day cruises allow for people do then spend 7-8 days with Disney total when including the resort. Just my opinion of course.

[UNV-IT!!!]

I think the incident you are referring to involved the Norwegian Pearl, and it did not actually hit a line -- here is the blurb from the National Geographic site:

 

 

 

Anyone who hasn't should look at the videos of the ships traniting the river from the MW shipyard in Pappenburg to the sea. There are several oin YouTube. It is a pretty impressive sight. For one of the Solstice ships they actually disassempled a bridge to get it through. I saw one picture [don't recall the ship] where they induced a list to angle the ship past a bridge. Ship geeks will enjoy these videos.

 

I thought they were talking about jewel That recently hit the power line.

 

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/captain-greybeard/2012/09/cruise-ship-hits-overhead-cabl.html

[cruisingpluto]

Actually they offer the shorter cruise out of PC for people who would like to do the land and sea packages but can't stay 7 for the cruise and another x amount for Disney world. The 3-4 day cruises allow for people do then spend 7-8 days with Disney total when including the resort. Just my opinion of course.

 

i've done the disney land and sea package for the same reasons you just listed. it's a great option. i think rccl started doing that for some of their florida cruises too with a land vacation to the universal theme parks, not 100% sure though.

[mnh]

I've read through each and every post on this LONG thread. It's fun to read how everyone wants a new ship -even if they hate the name - in their closest port!

 

For my 2-cents, I would love to see the Pacific Northwest as an option. Especially if these ships are going to be designed with larger, covered Solariums and lots of glass. (sunshine?)

 

We ended up on this "unplanned" itinerary a few years ago on Mariner because of the swine flu scare. Even though we had great weather, it was definitely not a "lay by the pool" kind of cruise. We really didn't have high hopes for the cruise, but in the end, it turned out to be one of our favorites. It was a nice change from the tired Caribbean ports.

 

And no - California is not a driving distance port for me :rolleyes:.

 

Ann

 

 

I ended up on that cruise too....loved it....one of my favorites. I wish they would put a ship in that would do the Mexican Riveria one week and the Pacific Northwest the next week....that would be a great B2B.

 

And no I am not close either (Texas) and I would take anyones leftover ship to have a year round cruise available on RCL in Galveston....old....new...doesn't matter to me!

[webgal318]

For what it is worth - During a conversation LAST YEAR, I was told by an officer that there is a good likelihood that Sunshine class would sail from Port Canaveral. The officer did not know if it was in addition to or replacement of the ships currently sailing from there.

 

I am told Port Canaveral cannot accept the Oasis class as there is not enough room to turn the ship around.

 

Time will tell!

M

 

For what it is worth, PC is undergoing widening and lengthening soon. I saw it on the news and read it in a publication of some sort. I would love to see Disney getting some competition. Wouldn't it be nice to see one of her ships sailing right by an Oasis or Quantum ship?

[TravelerThom]

For what it is worth, PC is undergoing widening and lengthening soon. I saw it on the news and read it in a publication of some sort. I would love to see Disney getting some competition. Wouldn't it be nice to see one of her ships sailing right by an Oasis or Quantum ship?

You do realize that RCI has the third largest cruise ship in the world currently sailing out of PC [of current cruise ships only Oasis and Allure are larger than Freedom]?

You don't consider that competition?

 

Thom

[3dog]

For my 2-cents, I would love to see the Pacific Northwest as an option. Especially if these ships are going to be designed with larger, covered Solariums and lots of glass. (sunshine?)

 

Not practical for the large ships. Most don't (currently) fit through the Panama Canal, and many don't have the environmental requirements for PNW cruising. Far more likely that Radiance class ships move to the Pacific to handle destinations there (or more Voyager ships to Australia Southeast/Eastern Asia where they can do Pacific sailings between Australia to British Columbia).

 

The Bermuda Gazette (I believe that was the name of the paper who wrote the article) already confirmed they are doing pier work to fit the Breakaway AND Sunshine class (now named Quantum class) in the current port.

 

Fundamentally all tourist ports are assessing their ability to handle large ships, as if they don't, they will be left behind (remember when Voyager was significantly larger than others? Now it is almost a middle-of-the-pack ship). So that Bermuda is updating (probably has to for Breakaway as I think there is official announcements), this doesn't mean Quantum or any other large ship will go there, it mostly means it can so as to allow negotiations for it as a destination can occur (if the port cannot handle large ships, there isn't any reason to consider it - part of the reason the Cayman Islands are designing pier updates, as they are becoming less of a destination).

[3dog]

Because they were so extraordinarily huge, a special purpose built terminal had to be built to house them. Why on earth would RCI, at least initially, build two such expensive new facilities in different cities?

 

It wasn't that the terminal "had to be built", but that the facilities in FLL weren't going to be very good at handling these ships and at least needed to be updated (all you need read is LOS passenger experience in another terminal to understand). And IIRC, RCI didn't build terminal 18, the port authority did - how much financing or annual business was guaranteed surely made it worthwhile. RCI contributed a fair amount of insight to this and other facilities on how to handle large flows of people, such that many terminals/ports are being updated to handle this capacity even though an Oasis class ship will unlikely ever visit (especially as Voyager to Freedom size ships are very common).

[3dog]

I think it is interesting how vehemently some folks are in arguing that the new ships must, or are very likely to, end up in their home, or at least favorite port.

 

I too find it interesting, though some of them will likely be right. So let me add my FUD to this...

 

History may be an indicator, however. When Voyager arrived, she took on the Eastern/Western Caribbean. When Explorer arrived, she did the mirror. It took Adventure and later to add other ports or itineraries. Other Voyager classes took over the E/W routes, and pushed older ships elsewhere. When Freedom arrived, it pushed the Voyager ships elsewhere, as did Liberty. And Oasis/Allure pushed out Freedom and Liberty.

 

My bet for Oasis III is to either be deployed to the Mediterranean (as Indy), or take on the E/W Caribbean and push one of Oasis/Allure to Europe (there appears to be a fair amount of demand for Oasis by Europeans).

 

Quantum, however, cannot offer the supply for the demand for E/W Caribbean that Oasis can, so she is unlikely to take on those routes. And she may well be too large for some of the lessor ports (though these ports hopefully realize this issue, and are planning for larger ships). On the other hand, if it's specs allow for traversing the updated Panama Canal, she "could" take on one of those itineraries (though, I would hate to see tendering on this ship), or even initially do the Southern route (can definitely port in St. Thomas and St. Maarten, not sure, though, about San Juan, Curacao, Aruba, or any of the Southeastern islands). Though "leaked" information appear to indicate it's target is non-tropical itineraries (however, till we officially see more, this is just conjecture).

 

There are a couple of European ports that could handle Quantum, including the Baltic (assuming it can clear the Great Belt Bridge), meaning that a European deployment might not be out of line (especially for Anthem).

 

But surely it will find a way to take on a popular itinerary for the line (at least initially), as this is the best way to maximize initial revenues (e.g. which itinerary will allow RCI to not only deploy the ship, but get the highest fare and on-board revenues). And I am not convinced that the Bermuda or Bahama run is it (though, I am not privy to any of the research that may or may not support any particular itinerary, so this is just my opinion - and we all know the adage about opinions and anatomy).

[gstewart]

Oasis would be popular here in Europe although i am not sure she would be suited to sailing from Southampton due to sailing time to get from the UK to the Med. She would be better taking over from Liberty in Barcelona on 5/7 day med cruises.

 

Anthem would certainly be a better suit to Southampton and could release Indy. I can see one or both of those ships heading to Asia or Down under. Mind you they have Voyager and Mariner there. Perhaps one of them will return to the Caribbean to replace Majesty?

[Let'sGo!]

Originally Posted by TexasAnn

For my 2-cents, I would love to see the Pacific Northwest as an option. Especially if these ships are going to be designed with larger, covered Solariums and lots of glass. (sunshine?)

 

Originally Posted by 3Dog

Not practical for the large ships. Most don't (currently) fit through the Panama Canal, and many don't have the environmental requirements for PNW cruising. Far more likely that Radiance class ships move to the Pacific to handle destinations there (or more Voyager ships to Australia Southeast/Eastern Asia where they can do Pacific sailings between Australia to British Columbia).

 

Sorry, I didn't realize the Panama Canal was part of the PNW route :D.

 

I was referring to the route we took on Mariner that left San Pedro (it was supposed to be going to Mexico) and stopped in San Francisco, Seattle and Victoria, BC. No problem going under the Golden Gate - LOL!

 

Since several of the Mexico cruises were rerouted North that summer because of the swine flu scare, I can't imagine there were any environmental issues.

 

Of course, I'm no expert.

 

Ann

[3dog]

Sorry, I didn't realize the Panama Canal was part of the PNW route :D.

 

The ships have to get to the Pacific somehow. Mariner took a 6 week trip around South America, Voyager went east to Asia. Pretty much every other ship does a Panama canal repositioning trip. Radiance did originally, but currently does a repositioning to Australia via Hawaii. The Panama Canal route is profitable to cruise lines, the South America trip isn't as much.

 

I was referring to the route we took on Mariner that left San Pedro (it was supposed to be going to Mexico) and stopped in San Francisco, Seattle and Victoria, BC. No problem going under the Golden Gate - LOL!

 

I thought that was an interesting route, and the ships that reposition to the PNW do that in both directions (the Jones Act doesn't help, BTW). However, I suspect that the cruise lines don't see this as profitable, as none of them do it other than for repositioning (though Princess has a semi-regular 10 day Alaska trip out of SF). The primary reason Mariner left was because RCI believed that it is more profitable elsewhere, and no other ship has returned because RCI still believes them to be more profitable elsewhere.

 

Since several of the Mexico cruises were rerouted North that summer because of the swine flu scare, I can't imagine there were any environmental issues.

 

Of course, I'm no expert.

 

Ann

 

None of the rerouted went into the Alaskan waters (certainly Mariner did not). The environmental issues are what types of ships and with what types of engines can cruise the inside passage and into the fjords. I don't know the power plant that will be put into Quantum, but if RCI doesn't believe that Radiance should stay on the Pacific coast, I don't see them putting Quantum there.

[Tapi]

I highly doubt it. Putting Quantum in Florida would put Quantum into competition with Oasis/Allure -- essentially have RCI competing with itself -- and drive down prices for all 3 ships. I have no inside information so I'm not saying it could never happen, it just wouldn't make any sense from a business perspective.

 

I think Port Canaveral would be a very likely choice for one of these ships (even for the 3rd Oasis ship) without hurting numbers for the Oasis/Allure in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

When we booked Allure in 2011, Freedom was actually pricing much higher for the same week, so the demand is there.

 

We live in Georgia. Port Canaveral is an easy day drive for us. Ft. Lauderdale is not. Having a ship like Oasis or Quantum in Port Canaveral would mean being able to enjoy one of these technological marvels without having to fly. That would be awesome! :D

[KITKAT0229]

The cast of "The Big Bang Theory" should be the official ship godparents.

 

Cruise on the Quantum and get a Big Bang for your Bucks! :p

 

Eric

 

Bazinga!

[poncho1973]

RCI doesn't do Jacksonville and I've never seen the port there. Could it handle a regular ship and have one of the Quantum ships replace that ship's current route?

[petesweet]

Any name has to be better than Breakaway and Getaway. lol As far as names go, just remember, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Our opinions on the name will hopefully be outweighed by the specific details about these new ships when they are eventually revealed. My initial reaction was more favorable with Anthem than Quantum but I suspect that the names will grow on us as we learn more.:)

 

Remember all the grousing about Oasis and Allure?

 

Kathy

[bobmacliberty]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the scaled model that you can see in the video that RCI released. It's in the middle of all of the Meyer Werft execs holding their hard hats at about the 14 second mark. I took a screen capture and zoomed in a little. Here it is:

 

 

I think I can see the Viking Crown Lounge!! :D

 

Anyone have a copy of that fancy software that they use on TV shows that can turn images of blurry license plates into perfectly readable pictures?

[UNV-IT!!!]

RCI doesn't do Jacksonville and I've never seen the port there. Could it handle a regular ship and have one of the Quantum ships replace that ship's current route?

 

I was headed to ameila island and passed the port. I saw I think a carnival ship in port. The water ways don't look too friendly to an oasis class

[Miaminice]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the scaled model that you can see in the video that RCI released. It's in the middle of all of the Meyer Werft execs holding their hard hats at about the 14 second mark. I took a screen capture and zoomed in a little. Here it is:

 

I think I can see the Viking Crown Lounge!! :D

 

Anyone have a copy of that fancy software that they use on TV shows that can turn images of blurry license plates into perfectly readable pictures?

 

That, unfortunatelly, is just the cutout piece of steel silhouette which can be seen on other pics or scenes - with all the signatures on it.

[I Church]

We had heard that one of the Royal Caribbean ships would be sailing in the Asian market. Somewhere also heard that one of the newer ones would be built in Korea... probalby just a rumor but it is said that the Asian market is getting bigger and I can attest to that. Most of our recent cruises had a lot of Asian passengers aboard.

 

Time will tell where Royal Caribbean is going with all the new builds being thought of. We also see that RCI stock is now giving a $0.12 dividend again, making owning stock on our favorite cruse line possible. I presonally would love to have a newer ship in Jacksonville Florida since my daughter and grandsons live nearby.

 

Take care...

Irene and Miles

"THE SEA IS CALLING" :)

[TravelerThom]

...Somewhere also heard that one of the newer ones would be built in Korea...

I've never heard any rumors of an RCI ship being built in Korea, but Oasis 3 is being built by STX France, which is a subsidiary of the South Korean industrial chaebol STX Corporation.

 

Thom