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Deployment 2025-26 booking season begins

SummmerInKefalonia
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Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, springaussie said:

Something is bookable until October 2026. 

That would be a departure for RCI - they have not done that usually. For some ships which have virtually no planned changes (might apply to Star) a longer deployment announcement might be possible.

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ONECRUISER

ONECRUISER

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Biker19 said:

That would be a departure for RCI - they have not done that usually. For some ships which have virtually no planned changes (might apply to Star) a longer deployment announcement might be possible.

Agree, probably that one off. one Ship and not released until about Summer.

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springaussie

springaussie

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, Biker19 said:

That would be a departure for RCI - they have not done that usually. For some ships which have virtually no planned changes (might apply to Star) a longer deployment announcement might be possible.

The 3 possibilities I see for the bookings to be opened up until October 2026. 

Star  Of The Seas

Allure going global.

Voyager of the Seas doing a world cruise from Australia. 

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gumshoe958

gumshoe958

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Pretty sure that the Serenade was a one and done as far as world cruises and Royal goes


You’d think, given that it’s not even sold out when virtually every other ship is sailing full.

 

For a mass market cruise line it’s as niche a market as you can possibly get. 

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, gumshoe958 said:


You’d think, given that it’s not even sold out when virtually every other ship is sailing full.

 

For a mass market cruise line it’s as niche a market as you can possibly get. 

A lot of it had to do with how they marketed it.

 

They released the full world cruise and then waited too long to release the 4 quarterly segments and then again waited far too long to release the short segments.  By the time they released the short segments other itineraries had been available and people had already made other plans on different ships.

 

The other gig hindrance is the ship itself.  There are relatively few balconies and suites so by the time it got down to the shorter segments there was really only insides and oceanviews remaining.  Lots of great itineraries just not a lot of good cabins.

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gumshoe958

gumshoe958

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

A lot of it had to do with how they marketed it.

 

They released the full world cruise and then waited too long to release the 4 quarterly segments and then again waited far too long to release the short segments.  By the time they released the short segments other itineraries had been available and people had already made other plans on different ships.

 

The other gig hindrance is the ship itself.  There are relatively few balconies and suites so by the time it got down to the shorter segments there was really only insides and oceanviews remaining.  Lots of great itineraries just not a lot of good cabins.


I wonder if they expected the entire WC and the quarters to sell out quickly but when they didn’t they had to come up with a Plan B - the shorter segments. But by then it was too late.

 

Regardless, I suspect it’s a mistake they won’t be repeating.

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:


I wonder if they expected the entire WC and the quarters to sell out quickly but when they didn’t they had to come up with a Plan B - the shorter segments. But by then it was too late.

 

Regardless, I suspect it’s a mistake they won’t be repeating.

It was a plan B and Plan C and pretty sure they were both in place from the start, it was just on the timing as to when they were released.

 

I think they may have success if they did the same kind of itinerary with a VY class ship and only sold it as individual segments right from day one and then offer discounts based on the number of consecutive segments people booked.  Scrap all the extra perks that added significantly to the cost of the full voyage and on a ship with a lot more balconies and suites.  I know it would possibly mean sacrificing a few ports because of it's size

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Saab4444

Saab4444

Posted
Posted (edited)
32 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It was a plan B and Plan C and pretty sure they were both in place from the start, it was just on the timing as to when they were released.

 

I think they may have success if they did the same kind of itinerary with a VY class ship and only sold it as individual segments right from day one and then offer discounts based on the number of consecutive segments people booked.  Scrap all the extra perks that added significantly to the cost of the full voyage and on a ship with a lot more balconies and suites.  I know it would possibly mean sacrificing a few ports because of it's size

The European part of the World cruise is very well sold, much better than the other ships in Europe in 2024 and significantly less cabins are still available at much higher rates. E.g. just compare inventory in July/August 2024 on Serenande with Anthem and Jewel. 

Edited by Saab4444
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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Saab4444 said:

The European part of the World cruise is very well sold, much better than the other ships in Europe in 2024 and significantly less cabins are still available at much higher rates. E.g. just compare inventory in July/August 2024 on Serenande with Anthem and Jewel. 

Hard to compare against Jewel as she has been shuffled around so much from August onwards 

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island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Pretty sure that the Serenade was a one and done as far as world cruises and Royal goes

 

I agree.   I was shocked to pull up the listing of so many available cabins still on the website for the mini legs...... inside, outside, and a lot of balconies. 

 

Nothing at all from JS and up...so assuming RCI is holding those back...maybe to get $$ for upgrade bids?  

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RosieRoo

RosieRoo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

The other gig hindrance is the ship itself.  There are relatively few balconies and suites so by the time it got down to the shorter segments there was really only insides and oceanviews remaining.  Lots of great itineraries just not a lot of good cabins.

Exactly. We would have booked one of the segments but there were no JS or above cabins left. 

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Saab4444

Saab4444

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I agree.   I was shocked to pull up the listing of so many available cabins still on the website for the mini legs...... inside, outside, and a lot of balconies. 

 

Nothing at all from JS and up...so assuming RCI is holding those back...maybe to get $$ for upgrade bids?  

I was shocked that so few cabins are only available in July/August 24 and at such high rates. Why do you expect a ship should be sold out for next summer now? All other Royal ships have significantly more availability in that months.  

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island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

I was shocked that so few cabins are only available in July/August 24 and at such high rates. Why do you expect a ship should be sold out for next summer now? All other Royal ships have significantly more availability in that months.  

 

Europe in the summer will always be in high demand...be it a WC segment or TA or anything else.  

 

We booked our 4th quarter out of Barcelona when the quarters were first released.  

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sgmn

sgmn

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

I was shocked that so few cabins are only available in July/August 24 and at such high rates. Why do you expect a ship should be sold out for next summer now? All other Royal ships have significantly more availability in that months.  

Agree BCN to SOU on Serenade has very little left, only guarantees for inside and OV and 12 balconies left. At least that's all they are showing on their website. 

 

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