Spectrum and Splendor

[Alista]

Hi everyone. Quick question.

I've heard that Spectrum is coming in to Sydney on Saturday and docking at OPT overnight. Splendor is due in on Sunday morning so does anyone know  where Splendor  will dock? White Bay? 

[gbenjo]

34 minutes ago, Alista said:

Hi everyone. Quick question.

I've heard that Spectrum is coming in to Sydney on Saturday and docking at OPT overnight. Splendor is due in on Sunday morning so does anyone know  where Splendor  will dock? White Bay? 

Spectrum will be berthing at the OPT on Saturday after the Ovation sails ( around four or five pm)   There  will be no passengers to debark  and embark will start around six pm  or so. It will be doing a cruise to nowhere so could either sail late that evening or stay until early morning and sail  then ,as long as it is gone by five am so the Splendour can berth.

[SinbadThePorter]

I heard that Spectrum is doing special cruises for firies, but do they have any intention of any paid cruises while they are here?

[ninjacat8]

I do hope so and that we are available to go on them 

[The_Big_M]

4 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

I heard that Spectrum is doing special cruises for firies, but do they have any intention of any paid cruises while they are here?

 

Yes, only two cruises have free offerings, the rest are still fully paid.

[Chiliburn]

7 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Yes, only two cruises have free offerings, the rest are still fully paid.

Have you seen any paid cruises for sale?

[MicCanberra]

13 hours ago, gbenjo said:

Spectrum will be berthing at the OPT on Saturday after the Ovation sails ( around four or five pm)   There  will be no passengers to debark  and embark will start around six pm  or so. It will be doing a cruise to nowhere so could either sail late that evening or stay until early morning and sail  then ,as long as it is gone by five am so the Splendour can berth.

Makes for a busy day for you then. Starting again just at the normal knock off time.

[MicCanberra]

Spectrum is a lovely ship, I hope they have some nice itineraries apart from cruises to nowhere.

[mr walker]

10 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Yes, only two cruises have free offerings, the rest are still fully paid.

Anything on this? There are no cruises showing on RC website at this time

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, mr walker said:

Anything on this? There are no cruises showing on RC website at this time

Currently on Ovation , I don’t believe they have any paid cruises on offer at this time . They said things are unpredictable.

 I’ll ask At next cruise if I’m sober.

[The_Big_M]

5 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Have you seen any paid cruises for sale?

 

They haven't been released yet, still being finalised.

[Chiliburn]

Just got back from next cruise.

They said there’s no paid cruises on spectrum from Australia.

They said spectrum has been donated to the Australian government and will return to China after.

They said Royal Caribbean doesn’t have any say who goes on the ship and the ship is for the use of the government.

[MicCanberra]

27 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Currently on Ovation , I don’t believe they have any paid cruises on offer at this time . They said things are unpredictable.

 I’ll ask At next cruise if I’m sober.

Good job, luckily you are not needed to drive.

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, Chiliburn said:

Just got back from next cruise.

They said there’s no paid cruises on spectrum from Australia.

They said spectrum has been donated to the Australian government and will return to China after.

They said Royal Caribbean doesn’t have any say who goes on the ship and the ship is for the use of the government.

Thanks for the update.

[The_Big_M]

Sounds very strange. A lot of cost sending her here just for 2-3 cruises, then sending her back. Unless they just figured it was too tough a sell to make money at this late stage with limited itinerary options. As of yesterday they were still looking at putting her on other local Australian cruises for sale.

[MicCanberra]

Just now, The_Big_M said:

Sounds very strange. A lot of cost sending her here just for 2-3 cruises, then sending her back. Unless they just figured it was too tough a sell to make money at this late stage with limited itinerary options. As of yesterday they were still looking at putting her on other local Australian cruises for sale.

That may still happen, I think they are still weighing up options and seeing how the situation develops.

[The_Big_M]

16 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Just got back from next cruise.

They said there’s no paid cruises on spectrum from Australia.

They said spectrum has been donated to the Australian government and will return to China after.

They said Royal Caribbean doesn’t have any say who goes on the ship and the ship is for the use of the government.

 

The last bit isn't quite right. They are managing the free sailings including assigning who goes where. However, they are running the selection of who gets on via a competition where you have to provide id, and they will then select the best answers to the competition as those who get the sailing. The government was involved by advising which agencies would be eligible to enter.

[The_Big_M]

4 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

That may still happen, I think they are still weighing up options and seeing how the situation develops.

 

Yes, that's my view too.

[gbenjo]

19 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Just got back from next cruise.

They said there’s no paid cruises on spectrum from Australia.

They said spectrum has been donated to the Australian government and will return to China after.

They said Royal Caribbean doesn’t have any say who goes on the ship and the ship is for the use of the government.

So it is NOT a financial venture....our friend Rod will not like this. 

I do think though that the situation is changing daily so anything could happen.

A bit disappointing in a way , with our China trip in May looking obviously  like it will not be on, I was hoping that the Spectrum would would stick around and  we could pick up a good deal........wait and see

[mr walker]

11 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

The last bit isn't quite right. They are managing the free sailings including assigning who goes where. However, they are running the selection of who gets on via a competition where you have to provide id, and they will then select the best answers to the competition as those who get the sailing. The government was involved by advising which agencies would be eligible to enter.

Someone claiming to have some contact with the emergency services, wrote somewhere, bookoffaces I guess, that the requirement to write a few lines as an entry was necessary to meet legal requirements, as to do so as essentially a lottery requires specific approval or similar, and also pointed out that there would be little chance between today & Sat for people to review the thousands & thousands of entries to choose on literary or performance merit, and then get ready for the cruise after being chosen.

Good luck to all - I hope they have a jolly good time.

[MicCanberra]

20 minutes ago, gbenjo said:

So it is NOT a financial venture....our friend Rod will not like this. 

I do think though that the situation is changing daily so anything could happen.

A bit disappointing in a way , with our China trip in May looking obviously  like it will not be on, I was hoping that the Spectrum would would stick around and  we could pick up a good deal........wait and see

Iy may well be going back by then, although at this stage, WHO knows.

[mr walker]

44 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Just got back from next cruise.

They said there’s no paid cruises on spectrum from Australia.

They said spectrum has been donated to the Australian government and will return to China after.

They said Royal Caribbean doesn’t have any say who goes on the ship and the ship is for the use of the government.

Cheers - thanks for that, as it's good to get some first hand info. Enjoy the rest of the cruise.

[gbenjo]

33 minutes ago, mr walker said:

Someone claiming to have some contact with the emergency services, wrote somewhere, bookoffaces I guess, that the requirement to write a few lines as an entry was necessary to meet legal requirements, as to do so as essentially a lottery requires specific approval or similar, and also pointed out that there would be little chance between today & Sat for people to review the thousands & thousands of entries to choose on literary or performance merit, and then get ready for the cruise after being chosen.

Good luck to all - I hope they have a jolly good time.

Three and a half thousand "winners" I believe.

[megsie]

Here’s some of the terms and conditions from the link in an article on daily mail via google news. SIL was involved in first response evacuations, searches, road blocks etc as his duty in the police force. He is also a volunteer firefighter but not eligible for the cruise as he attended the fires as part of his paid duties, as I read it. He’s not interested in the cruise but probably others are in this situation. But to those brave volunteers who were  fighting the fires at the frontline, I hope they apply and enjoy.

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

Sounds very strange. A lot of cost sending her here just for 2-3 cruises, then sending her back. Unless they just figured it was too tough a sell to make money at this late stage with limited itinerary options. As of yesterday they were still looking at putting her on other local Australian cruises for sale.

I don’t know what the tax situation is for Royal Carribean is in Australia but they won’t be paying any tax in Australia for a while.