We’re Watching ... and Waiting For Tuesday’s Quantum of the Seas Cruise Ship Reveal

[sdrocks]

Waiting also !! But really want to know right now !! LOL !!:)

[Schplinky]

She is coming to Florida :D :D :D

 

So is something leaving or are they building a new terminal?

[KMagz]

Wonder if Bayonne terminal could handle Freedom-class passenger flow if that came to be (with the shuttle buses, etc...) I'm imagining Quantum to Port Canaveral, Freedom to Bayonne, Explorer to who-knows-where.)

 

PS - The above is NOT from any reliable source. It is from my imagination while daydreaming during a meeting. :)

[ibcnusoon]

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000160459

 

Adam Goldstein Interview on CNBC, here's the transcript:

 

after a string of mishaps, carnival will be back in the spotlight. not only is it offering its annual shareholder meet -- so through all of the negative headlines associated with carnival, is it an opportunity for carnival's competitors and is it an opportunity for royal caribbean? over the last six months, shares of carnival are down about 9%, royal caribbean is up about 8%. here for a cnbc exclusive is adam goldstein, president and ceo of royal caribbean international. good morning. good morning. so obviously, we have to talk about mickey arison. we'll talk about the design of the new ships in a moment, but mickey arison is clearly in the headlines. if rockefeller goes ahead with hearings on capitol hill about the state of the cruise line industry, and the tax that it's paid and the way in which when thery's difficulty at sea, how does that affect your business? are you ready for that? there have been congressional hearings in the past because there are a number of different agencies of the government that oversee our industry. most notably, the u.s. coast guard and senator rockefeller is an important and powerful senator with a point of view and we've been in front of him before as an industry and if he the needor hearings obviously, we'll be in front of him again and we'll stress the economic benefit that we bring to the country about 40 billion dollars and traceable to the cruise business. we were on rock center a couple of weeks ago that mickey arison only pays 0.6% in taxes. is that common? ior are you paying a similar taxation in the u.s. i can't comment on the taxation. countries don't tax each other's shipping companies in the same way that they would tax companies that are doing most of their business domestically will come the country. this isn't anything new or different and this has been around decades, maybe even centuries and 400 different ports of call around the world. lots of taxes and different fees and they don't come in the form of taxes. if the ship gets into trouble overseas, is it fair that they have to pay for part of that rescue for reimbursement. the coast guard couldn't accept reimbursement the way it is structured. we are often picking people and deviating our in the ocean especially in the caribbean area, to pick up distressed mariners, people on boats and it's a cooperative arrangement that's been on a long time. this would have to be investigated and it would be a change from the way ing things are done. let me talk about what you came here to talk about which is a new generation of ships, the quantum. you were excited about this, and an unveiling tomorrow and we can't see the plans yet. why are they different? it really is in our company's dna. when we get a chance to make a new generation of ships when she comes in in a year and a half like oasis and allure of the seas two or three years ago. it's a chance to deliver new wow features to the marketplace that are really exciting, that galvanize people's interests and that are good, we think, not only for the brand and the company and also for the industry as a whole. can you tell us what some of the factors are? i'll just have to wait until tomorrow morning. i am so sorry. you know how much i would love to stay on air and tell you about the fantastic features and we're known for the surf machines, rock climbing walls and ice skating rinks and we've taken it a few notches up. the experience for thes passengers was always everything and it is clearly more than ever, and i believe norwegian is commanding a higher price now. are you in an arms race on technology, and innovation, in which a lot of your fleet which we see here in america is quite old now. there's a terrific computation in the business and they take the competition forward. norwegian takes credit for what they've done on their ship and when you see what's on quantum of the seas, it's a close game. are you able to tell us anything about what is happening in europe with the prospect of the costa concordia trial actually getting under way now? pricing has been volumes have been soft and for sure, next year you're only putting eight of your 22 luxury ships into the european routes. is that because of the economy? what is going there? we've been pretty transparent about europe going back to a year and a half now, i would say. obviously, the macro economic there is challenged and it affects consumers' discretionary purchasing and we have a wonderful array of product in europe even though it was less than it was last year, as you note. we still have a lot of cruises to people all over europe to take those cruises. finally, we are seeing the price of -- cruising was invented at a time when oil was very, very cheap. finally, we're seeing the price of oil come down. does that lead to celebrations behind the scenes? wow! this is a game changer. celebration would be a strong road. the lower cost of fuel is beneficial to our company's performance, but with the currency and oil prices and interest rates going here and there over time, the important thing for us is just to perform and satisfy our guests and to be careful with our costs going forward. overall, as you bring new ships out, do you retire old ones or does capacity stay constant? is capacity right now bigger or smaller than the industry really needs? in general, capacity has gone to a somewhat slower rate for growth than it had been in previous years. one of the nice things about having a company with six brands is that we're able to transfer our ships from brand to brand over time and as a matter of fact, the monarch of the seas to our sister brand for latin america and spain. so we are able to modify our capacity by brand as time goes forward. we'll leave it there. kudos to you for answering the difficult questions about the industry at the moment. thank you very much. adam goldstein, president and ceo of royal caribbean international.

[ibcnusoon]

"the experience for thes passengers was always everything and it is clearly more than ever, and i believe norwegian is commanding a higher price now. are you in an arms race on technology, and innovation, in which a lot of your fleet which we see here in america is quite old now. there's a terrific computation in the business and they take the competition forward. norwegian takes credit for what they've done on their ship and when you see what's on quantum of the seas, it's a close game. "

 

 

Sounds like RCL wants to go head-to-head with NCL (are they referring to the Breakway)? If so, see you in Bayonne, Quantum!

[nelblu]

Sounds like your happy to pay more.Hope Royal Caribbean does no see your post.:confused:

 

Rather pay RCCL than the airlines.:D

[nelblu]

Yeah, I don't get it either? :confused:

 

As far as airfare to NY goes, there's a ton of capacity here which keeps fares relatively in check. Although some are clearly more convenient than others, you have Newark, JFK and LGA all within striking distance (with ground costs of course) of Bayonne.

 

Also, don't forget Philly and Boston.

[Schplinky]

Rather pay RCCL than the airlines.:D

 

Same here.

[Dave85]

"the experience for thes passengers was always everything and it is clearly more than ever, and i believe norwegian is commanding a higher price now. are you in an arms race on technology, and innovation, in which a lot of your fleet which we see here in america is quite old now. there's a terrific computation in the business and they take the competition forward. norwegian takes credit for what they've done on their ship and when you see what's on quantum of the seas, it's a close game. "

 

 

Sounds like RCL wants to go head-to-head with NCL (are they referring to the Breakway)? If so, see you in Bayonne, Quantum!

 

That jumped off the page at me too... strange comment otherwise. Oasis and Allure are already down in So.Fla. competing with the Epic and most of the buzz these days is about Breakaway anyway. Keep in mind, Quantum could go somewhere else and Anthem could come to Bayonne 6 months later... also a possibility.

[FIRELT5]

"the experience for thes passengers was always everything and it is clearly more than ever, and i believe norwegian is commanding a higher price now. are you in an arms race on technology, and innovation, in which a lot of your fleet which we see here in america is quite old now. there's a terrific computation in the business and they take the competition forward. norwegian takes credit for what they've done on their ship and when you see what's on quantum of the seas, it's a close game. "

 

 

Sounds like RCL wants to go head-to-head with NCL (are they referring to the Breakway)? If so, see you in Bayonne, Quantum!

 

Major media relations push here for the Breakaway in NYC Metro area, maybe RCCL will break NCL media Blitz with the QOS announcement ???

 

http://twitter.com/CruiseNorwegian/status/322740969705463808/photo/1

 

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/CruiseNorwegian/status/323828070861639682/photos

[Schplinky]

Good point. Interrupting NCL's media cycle would be good for RCL.

[ahecht]

We'll obviously see soon, but it would be rather shocking if they sent their 3 newest and most innovative ships out of the same port... even if she ran some different itinereries (e.g. a 9 night / 5 night or an 8 night / 6 night schedule), she'd still be in port with either Oasis or Allure every week.

 

They currently send their four newest and most innovative ships out of the same port (Oasis, Allure, Independence, and Liberty). Quantum or Anthem would make it five.

[FIRELT5]

Good point. Interrupting NCL's media cycle would be good for RCL.

 

Every day on all the local NYC & Phil TV networks including FM radio. This has been ongoing since last NOvember

 

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=ziQAD3la8XE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DziQAD3la8XE

[FIRELT5]

Also, don't forget Philly and Boston.

 

Also an 8 hour drive for 50 million folks in the area with almost the highest per capata household family income in the country.

[kruzerci]

They currently send their four newest and most innovative ships out of the same port (Oasis, Allure, Independence, and Liberty). Quantum or Anthem would make it five.

 

For part of the year and its not as of they all do standard 7 day cruises. There's 4,5,6,7, and 8 nights.

[mjldvlks]

"the experience for thes passengers was always everything and it is clearly more than ever, and i believe norwegian is commanding a higher price now. are you in an arms race on technology, and innovation, in which a lot of your fleet which we see here in america is quite old now. there's a terrific computation in the business and they take the competition forward. norwegian takes credit for what they've done on their ship and when you see what's on quantum of the seas, it's a close game. "

 

 

Sounds like RCL wants to go head-to-head with NCL (are they referring to the Breakway)? If so, see you in Bayonne, Quantum!

 

Its really hard to get a feel for the conversation from the alleged transcript. The highlighted portion above was the interviewer's comment. Goldstein's response is somewhat garbled. He did say that when we see Quantum we will see that RCI is up for the game, but since the interviewer brought it up, I would be careful to read too much into it. The game is worldwide, it's not just a NY/NJ thing. There are some good reasons why RCI might want to homeport in NY/NJ, and some good reasons why not. We may see tomorrow. But given the market driven way ships are deployed, I would take any statement made on home porting tomorrow as tentative at best. The market could easily change RCI's collective minds between now and when the ship is actually deployed in late 2014.

[ahecht]

Just my thoughts based on what I'm seeing. San Francisco has been pushing hard for cruise ships as of late, this would be ideal. Los Angeles currently has no cruise ships all summer. I don't think Mexico is a viable market at this time.

 

Where would you go from San Francisco? Mexico, as you said, is out. Alaska is far, and Hawaii is a very long trip since the Jones Act requires a major detour to Mexico, Canada, or Fanning Atoll. I know Princess does it, but I can't see a 4500 passenger ship solely doing 10-15 night itineraries.

[Schplinky]

I work in a job where we use transcripts. Voice recognition software is usually used which is why it looks so odd. Also, this one above is an unformatted one. Usually, they're edited down so you can see the questions and answers more easily.

[Vicky821]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1787151

 

If you look at this on the very first post there is a link to st Maarten port which shows quantum will be docked there in December 2014!!

[mjldvlks]

I work in a job where we use transcripts. Voice recognition software is usually used which is why it looks so odd. Also, this one above is an unformatted one. Usually, they're edited down so you can see the questions and answers more easily.

 

I understand. It is roughly analogous to closed captioning on standard TV. I agree it is maybe 75-80% accurate, but if you want to make judgments by reading between the lines, I don't think that is good enough. The clip is short, I would encourage people to watch it before commenting on the what Goldstein was really trying to say. I was more interested in the dimensions that were posted on a graphic while he was talking. Have we see those before?

[FIRELT5]

Where would you go from San Francisco? Mexico, as you said, is out. Alaska is far, and Hawaii is a very long trip since the Jones Act requires a major detour to Mexico, Canada, or Fanning Atoll. I know Princess does it, but I can't see a 4500 passenger ship solely doing 10-15 night itineraries.

 

San Frnacisco has the Grand Princess

 

 

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-cruises-grand-princess-san-francisco-20130412,1,1048368.story

[Schplinky]

I dearly hope that new ports are added over what Oasis and Allure do. I like some of them and loathe others (hello, Jamaica) but really, something new would be nice. I know there's buzz about Martinique and I hope that proves true. Years ago there was a rumbling about a private island in the western Caribbean. That would be nice.

[FIRELT5]

This is not actual information it is pure speculation.

 

If this does turn out to be the truth, it will be after Quantum spends her first 6 months in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

 

 

 

Join Date: Feb 2013

Location: Lake Mary, FL

Posts: 237

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tall-Cruiser

Did they say where she was going?

Florida for the time being, the port is still unknown. It could be Canaveral or Miami.

 

Unbelivable, !!!!!!!

[ahecht]

San Frnacisco has the Grand Princess

 

 

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-cruises-grand-princess-san-francisco-20130412,1,1048368.story

 

There is a big difference between a 2500 passenger ship and a 4100-4900 passenger ship. The largest ship doing 10+ night cruises out of the US is Explorer, but even that ship does more 5-7 night cruises than long ones. No 3000+ passenger ship exclusively sails long itineraries out of the US. It's just not sustainable given Americans' limited vacation time. I could see a Vision or Radiance-class ship going out of SF, but nothing larger.

[FIRELT5]

There is a big difference between a 2500 passenger ship and a 4100-4900 passenger ship. The largest ship doing 10+ night cruises out of the US is Explorer, but even that ship does more 5-7 night cruises than long ones. No 3000+ passenger ship exclusively sails long itineraries out of the US. It's just not sustainable given Americans' limited vacation time. I could see a Vision or Radiance-class ship going out of SF, but nothing larger.

 

I sailed on the EXOS around 10 times and 3 of those sailings were 12 nighters to the eastern and Southern Carribean. The vessel was sold out. Between 2008 and 2011 during the months of November to March, the EXOS did a series of 9-12 nt voyages, which were successfull !!!!! The full capacity for the EXOS is around 3800 passengers.