🌐Serenade Ultimate World Cruise - 17 leg breakdown

[John&LaLa]

4 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Is Laura staying on for the whole thing now?  

 

No, might even drop the second segment. 

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, FlatFooted Freda said:

Edúcate me - how do you get double the points?

 

Solo in a dbl occupancy cabin

[island lady]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

No, might even drop the second segment. 

 

Ah....we leave the ship in Miami also.   Funny now though...received that email about our supposed "first leg" being broken up into several new confirmation/booking numbers and dates, as I am sure you received a much longer list.  😉 

 

OK...so now that "first leg" is a B2B2B.  Sooo does that mean we can apply for the stock OBC for each of those legs now?   Do we get the 3 bottles of wine at the beginning of each leg also???  Hmmm.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by island lady

[island lady]

5 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

I’m really hoping this goes well for all of you and for Royal.  I’d love to see them do a world cruise maybe every other year.  We just can’t commit to that length of time.  For us, 4 months would be about the max.  The segments are great but then you lose some perks and one way airfare is getting awful.  I’m still hoping we can do a world cruise in the next 5 years and we’d love to do it on Royal.  
 

Southhampton to Amsterdam sounds fun to do again.  

 

The one thing nice about the first leg (now technically 3 legs) is that you leave from the U.S...and return to the U.S.   Yes, two one ways (Miami then LA).    But not as bad as flying international.  

 

However, we are also on the "last leg"....which is also now broken up in smaller legs....but we have to fly to Barcelona to catch back up with the ship.   No big deal...did that two months ago anyway for the Med cruises and the TA.    We end up back in Miami, which is no big deal for us as well, a short flight back to Orlando.  🙂 

[grandgeezer]

On 1/25/2023 at 6:40 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

I don't see it that way. Just trying to maximize revenue. Almost half the cabins are full trip folks from what I understand. Lots of folks doing segments. 

 

This is just the scraps

Ship is less than half full and all that’s left is the scraps? That speaks volumes about the ship itself or the quality of some of the legs.

[cruisegirl1]

John, do you expect differences in the on board benefits for those on the world cruise, those who are doing one (or more) of the full segments, and those who are doing some of the smaller segments?  
 

If I  recall, those on the total world cruise receive a significant number of on  board benefits. 
Thx. 

m

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

Ship is less than half full and all that’s left is the scraps? That speaks volumes about the ship itself or the quality of some of the legs.

 

Which part of lots of folks doing 60 to 90 day segments did you not understand?

 

And how can you say the quality of the legs is suspect?

 

FWIW, every suite, including JS sold out immediately and very few popped back into inventory. Those that did were snagged immediately as well

 

There are hardly any balconies left from what I understand. According to Royal, they are pleased with the interest level on such a massive itinerary

 

I will add that some passengers aren't pleased that they are planning on adding these mini voyages. They feel it breaks the trip up to much. Others are pleased since they may see friends book for part of the journey. Folks that couldn't commit for more time or money

Edited January 28, 2023 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

32 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

John, do you expect differences in the on board benefits for those on the world cruise, those who are doing one (or more) of the full segments, and those who are doing some of the smaller segments?  
 

If I  recall, those on the total world cruise receive a significant number of on  board benefits. 
Thx. 

m

 

Full trip folks get free BC airfare, 2 days hotel with pre cruise Gala at Intercontinental, and the  7 New World Wonders excursions.

 

You could opt out of airfare for $1500 discount and opt out of excursions for a $5000 discount

[RobInMN]

Has there been any hints from RCI about possibly doing this again in the future, like maybe once every 5 years or so? I'd love to do this after we retire.

[Tatra603]

When are these smaller segments likely to go on general sale?

Will they appear on RC's website or will it be TA only?

[gumshoe958]

8 hours ago, RobInMN said:

Has there been any hints from RCI about possibly doing this again in the future, like maybe once every 5 years or so? I'd love to do this after we retire.

I’d guess they’ll wait to see how this one goes first …

[Ourusualbeach]

5 hours ago, Tatra603 said:

When are these smaller segments likely to go on general sale?

Will they appear on RC's website or will it be TA only?

Hasn't been announced but was told it will be soon.  It will be on Royals site.  

[island lady]

20 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Full trip folks get free BC airfare, 2 days hotel with pre cruise Gala at Intercontinental, and the  7 New World Wonders excursions.

 

You could opt out of airfare for $1500 discount and opt out of excursions for a $5000 discount

 

Don't you get prepaid grats as well?   I don't see it on our first leg (now AKA known as first set of B2B2Bs).    Guess I could call it "first quarter" now.  😉 

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Don't you get prepaid grats as well?   I don't see it on our first leg (now AKA known as first set of B2B2Bs).    Guess I could call it "first quarter" now.  😉 

 

Pretty sure everyone gets that along with drinks and laundry

[cruisegirl1]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Pretty sure everyone gets that along with drinks and laundry

I think, that was my original question.

 

What an exciting opportunity. They are just so many times/situation in life that one can take advantage of this type of trip. I hope you have a wonderful time. 
 

m

 

[crzndeb]

22 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

I will add that some passengers aren't pleased that they are planning on adding these mini voyages.

I can see where this would be annoying for those that booked the full 9 months. In the beginning they were aware of the 4 separate legs that would break off from the original, but now this will be a whole lot of of turnaround days and excess S&S cards.

It seems like Royal didn’t plan this as well as they should have in the beginning. 
A couple of the mini voyages looking appealing, but I’m not booking anything else until I hit my 340 on my Mar/Apr Ovation cruises. I guess it will all depend when they show up to be booked.

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

I can see where this would be annoying for those that booked the full 9 months. In the beginning they were aware of the 4 separate legs that would break off from the original, but now this will be a whole lot of of turnaround days and excess S&S cards.

It seems like Royal didn’t plan this as well as they should have in the beginning. 

Those 17 legs have been in the works for a long time, they just haven't been made public until now.  Given the size of the ship compared to other ships that do world cruises it would have been unrealistic to think that they could sell out an entire ship for the full Voyage or even the 4 segments.  

[bobmacliberty]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Don't you get prepaid grats as well?   I don't see it on our first leg (now AKA known as first set of B2B2Bs).    Guess I could call it "first quarter" now.  😉 

 

Does breaking your first quarter into a B2B2B mean that you'll need to disembark/re-embark at the end of each leg?  I would certainly hope not, but I'm not sure why else they would change from one long cruise to a series of shorter cruises.

[lovesthebeach2]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Those 17 legs have been in the works for a long time, they just haven't been made public until now.  Given the size of the ship compared to other ships that do world cruises it would have been unrealistic to think that they could sell out an entire ship for the full Voyage or even the 4 segments.  

I thought that from the beginning. Although I loved the idea of a world cruise, there’s no way I could spend that much time on one ship, especially one that’s as small as Serenade which incidentally I’ll be on cruising a 10 day on in a few weeks. I love the Radiance class of ships.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Does breaking your first quarter into a B2B2B mean that you'll need to disembark/re-embark at the end of each leg?  I would certainly hope not, but I'm not sure why else they would change from one long cruise to a series of shorter cruises.

It was done to accommodate the shore excursions and other cruise planner items.  These can only be set up for one voyage as opposed to 3 if WC guests only had one number and large leg segment guests only had one reservation number

[island lady]

5 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Pretty sure everyone gets that along with drinks and laundry

 

Knew about the drink package, and laundry and of course WIFI....though not much new to us.  😑

But did not see anything at all about prepaid grats on the confirmation.  

[Jasukkie]

I would do this in a heartbeat if I were retired. Alas, that will be a while. I will consider Buenos Aires to Valparaiso though when the details come out. 

[island lady]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Does breaking your first quarter into a B2B2B mean that you'll need to disembark/re-embark at the end of each leg?  I would certainly hope not, but I'm not sure why else they would change from one long cruise to a series of shorter cruises.

 

Gosh I hope not.   We are on for the former version of "2 legs" (first and last).   Which is now a lot of new B2Bs....which is actually half the whole thing.  Poor John....that is a lot of TAD procedure.  😮 

[SeaHunt]

On 1/25/2023 at 8:42 PM, John&LaLa said:

 There's a sign up sheet. Tryouts this summer

 

Ohh I know a girl named "Bambi" who says she'd love to sign up, and has no problem "trying out" this summer. She's sending a photo to keep with her application:

 

 

 

*In all fairness though, I thought I should send you a photo without all the filters, etc., just so you'd be aware of what you'd be getting into. Voila, here's the unfiltered "Bambi":

 

 

So does she move to the top of your list? Hey at least she doesn't eat much. One pillow chocolate daily (x 274) should do it! 😁

 

 

[LadyZolt]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Knew about the drink package, and laundry and of course WIFI....though not much new to us.  😑

But did not see anything at all about prepaid grats on the confirmation.  

Here's a link to the FAQ --  it says in Item 6 that gratuities are included for the entire voyage:  

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/World_Cruise/Ultimate_World_Cruise_Trade_FAQs.pdf