Deployment 2025-26 booking season begins

[pstone1]

7 hours ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

 

In Aug. '22, several sailings from Amsterdam were altered last minute due to Port traffic restrictions caused by low water levels. I was on the Jewel and we had to skip our last port, and speed back to make an assigned lock time.  We overnighted in Amsterdam instead and disembarked next day as scheduled. Everyone received OBC for the altered itinerary. I suppose it's possible that RCL will consider this when looking at future  Amsterdam departures. 🤔 

We thoroughly enjoyed this change on our Jewel B3B in August 22.  We enjoyed traversing the locks and sail-in through the canal to Amsterdam during daylight hours on our balcony, something you would normally not get to experience.

[pstone1]

3 hours ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

 

What does one actually do on that Honningsvag stop?  🤔

We took a private tour with Blue Puffin and visited several cool stops plus the North Cape!  Would definitely do the same again, as it was foggy at North Cape!  Great photos, but would also like some photos on a clear day!

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

6 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

We thoroughly enjoyed this change on our Jewel B3B in August 22.  We enjoyed traversing the locks and sail-in through the canal to Amsterdam during daylight hours on our balcony, something you would normally not get to experience.

Sailaway was also in daylight.  I stayed up on deck the whole way out.  I was sad to skip Guernsey on that one. 

[TeamCan]

15 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

We took a private tour with Blue Puffin and visited several cool stops plus the North Cape!  Would definitely do the same again, as it was foggy at North Cape!  Great photos, but would also like some photos on a clear day!

We took the same private tour with Blue Puffin… loved the stop to see the reindeer

and the incredible views at North Cape. We were lucky as we had a beautiful clear, warm and sunny day… didn’t even need our down jackets. 

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

7 minutes ago, TeamCan said:

We took the same private tour with Blue Puffin… loved the stop to see the reindeer

and the incredible views at North Cape. We were lucky as we had a beautiful clear, warm and sunny day… didn’t even need our down jackets. 

 

28 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

We took a private tour with Blue Puffin and visited several cool stops plus the North Cape!  Would definitely do the same again, as it was foggy at North Cape!  Great photos, but would also like some photos on a clear day!

 

Interesting.  I'll look it up.  Wondering if it's actually doable in the 4.5  hours on shore that the MSC itinerary is effectively allowing.  Not that I'm likely to book another MSC cruise, but, I never say never.

Edited January 28 by Steeler Nation At Sea

[RobInMN]

41 minutes ago, pstone1 said:

We took a private tour with Blue Puffin and visited several cool stops plus the North Cape!  Would definitely do the same again, as it was foggy at North Cape!  Great photos, but would also like some photos on a clear day!

 

20 minutes ago, TeamCan said:

We took the same private tour with Blue Puffin… loved the stop to see the reindeer

and the incredible views at North Cape. We were lucky as we had a beautiful clear, warm and sunny day… didn’t even need our down jackets. 

Another vote for Bue Puffin! Fabulous tour, and great tour guides.

We Were above the Arctic Circle from June 23th to the 27th 2022. 

 

Midnight Sun (actually this was 1:00 AM since it was Daylight Savings) 

 

Nordkapp (North Cape)

 

Jewel in port. The dock was about 1/3 the length of Jewel, seriously.

 

Bonus pic:

[maggieq]

12 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

 

Another vote for Bue Puffin! Fabulous tour, and great tour guides.

We Were above the Arctic Circle from June 23th to the 27th 2022. 

 

Midnight Sun (actually this was 1:00 AM since it was Daylight Savings) 

 

Nordkapp (North Cape)

 

Jewel in port. The dock was about 1/3 the length of Jewel, seriously.

 

Bonus pic:

@RobInMN

thanks for posting super excited for our Norway and arctic circle cruise may 30th on the jewel 

[TeamCan]

35 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

 

Another vote for Bue Puffin! Fabulous tour, and great tour guides.

We Were above the Arctic Circle from June 23th to the 27th 2022. 

 

Midnight Sun (actually this was 1:00 AM since it was Daylight Savings) 

 

Nordkapp (North Cape)

 

Jewel in port. The dock was about 1/3 the length of Jewel, seriously.

 

Bonus pic:

Beautiful pics! The midnight sun was so cool!  Looks like we were on the same cruise... Arctic Circle cruise June 20/22.  We did Jewel B2B with British Isles cruise.

[RobInMN]

7 minutes ago, TeamCan said:

Beautiful pics! The midnight sun was so cool!  Looks like we were on the same cruise... Arctic Circle cruise June 20/22.  We did Jewel B2B with British Isles cruise.

Yes! That's the one! We also did B2B, but the other side, Iceland & Ireland after.

[TeamCan]

3 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

Yes! That's the one! We also did B2B, but the other side, Iceland & Ireland after.

Lol... we could have booked a B2B2B with Iceland. We're booked for Iceland, Greenland next year.  We were definitely blessed with beautiful weather for those June cruises!

[bg2310]

I'm looking at doing some kind of repositioning/TA cruise with RCCL in 2026. I see one for Harmony going to Europe, but not a return one. Is there some reason for that?

 

I would be more interested in one coming back tbh, especially if it's just come out of drydock/any renovations at that point. 

[Saab4444]

3 hours ago, bg2310 said:

I'm looking at doing some kind of repositioning/TA cruise with RCCL in 2026. I see one for Harmony going to Europe, but not a return one. Is there some reason for that?

 

I would be more interested in one coming back tbh, especially if it's just come out of drydock/any renovations at that point. 

Harmony is going to Europe for dry dock but Summer 26 cruises for Europe and Transatlantics back and force are not published yet.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

20 hours ago, Jomykje said:

Thank you @little britain and @FamilyCruiserUK I will look at MSC. Maybe that is something for us. 

More then welcome..we are going on world Europa from Barcelona in April. All i would advise if your expecting royal level of service and entertainment then MSC is totally different. Its European so we dont need so much of the in your face customer service, lots of different languages and nationalities onboard, shows are good but different. Food is more of a European flavour, yes still have burgers and fries (chips for us in uk). 

Over all its a different experience but still a lot of fun. And the different itineraries are well worth that difference. 👍

[NancyIL]

13 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Waiting for Anthem and the UWC to be re-routed....

For the UWC - do you mean rerouting from Dubai to Athens in May? I’m on the Serenade cruise just after that, and hope RCI doesn’t wait too long to decide what to do. 

[Jomykje]

3 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

More then welcome..we are going on world Europa from Barcelona in April. All i would advise if your expecting royal level of service and entertainment then MSC is totally different. Its European so we dont need so much of the in your face customer service, lots of different languages and nationalities onboard, shows are good but different. Food is more of a European flavour, yes still have burgers and fries (chips for us in uk). 

Over all its a different experience but still a lot of fun. And the different itineraries are well worth that difference. 👍

Thank you. We are from the Netherlands, so we are used to the european customer service😅 And after 1 cruise we are not ‘Loyal to Royal’ (or any other cruiseline) yet. So this is a good time to try others. One worry about MSC is that they are not very accommodating for food allergies and we both have them. I think we sould first try a short itinerary with them to see how they handle things. 

[Hoopster95]

2 hours ago, NancyIL said:

For the UWC - do you mean rerouting from Dubai to Athens in May? I’m on the Serenade cruise just after that, and hope RCI doesn’t wait too long to decide what to do. 

 

In my very humble and unknowledgeable opinion, but knowing 100% that RCL is all about the bottom line $$$$$, there is no way that RC will cancel a full 4 months of the UWC after the Suez crossing, with all those segments prepaid. And the re-routing/home-porting the ship where? At what costs? How will they sell cabins? to who? and at what price??

 

Again in my humble opinion with zero facts, the Dubai to Athens sailing is an 18 day sailing with 7 port stops, by removing the port stops I think perhaps enough time to send her around Africa and into the Med in order to get to Athens on time. BTW, RCG already did this in January with the SilverSeas Silver Moon, albeit without passengers. In Serenade;s case, they can easily sail around Afirca with passengers, however would be a lot of sea days I would think as there would be limited time for port stops I would think. 

 

https://crew-center.com/silversea-alters-silver-moon-cruise-route-amid-red-sea-security-concerns

 

There's a great CC thread about SilverMoon and her progress now around Africa here if you're interested

 

 

[cruiseboy89130]

52 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

In my very humble and unknowledgeable opinion, but knowing 100% that RCL is all about the bottom line $$$$$, there is no way that RC will cancel a full 4 months of the UWC after the Suez crossing, with all those segments prepaid. And the re-routing/home-porting the ship where? At what costs? How will they sell cabins? to who? and at what price??

 

Again in my humble opinion with zero facts, the Dubai to Athens sailing is an 18 day sailing with 7 port stops, by removing the port stops I think perhaps enough time to send her around Africa and into the Med in order to get to Athens on time. BTW, RCG already did this in January with the SilverSeas Silver Moon, albeit without passengers. In Serenade;s case, they can easily sail around Afirca with passengers, however would be a lot of sea days I would think as there would be limited time for port stops I would think. 

 

https://crew-center.com/silversea-alters-silver-moon-cruise-route-amid-red-sea-security-concerns

 

There's a great CC thread about SilverMoon and her progress now around Africa here if you're interested

 

 

They will cancel 1 or 2 segments of the UWC to get the time for the re-route

[cruiseboy89130]

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/01/costa-cruises-cancels-red-sea-repositioning-voyage/

[FamilyCruiserUK]

2 hours ago, Jomykje said:

Thank you. We are from the Netherlands, so we are used to the european customer service😅 And after 1 cruise we are not ‘Loyal to Royal’ (or any other cruiseline) yet. So this is a good time to try others. One worry about MSC is that they are not very accommodating for food allergies and we both have them. I think we sould first try a short itinerary with them to see how they handle things. 

Oh i really dont know about MSC and allergies. I know when we went on MSC Virtuosa it wasnt very well advertised about allergies. 

Royal were very good with my mum being a coeliac when away on Oasis of the seas, but by far the best we have seen for allergies, labeling food and different food stations esp in the buffet was P&O on Arvia. Way and above every cruise line we have sailed on. Good luck with your research and always good to go on a nice short fact finding cruise. 

[NancyIL]

4 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

In my very humble and unknowledgeable opinion, but knowing 100% that RCL is all about the bottom line $$$$$, there is no way that RC will cancel a full 4 months of the UWC after the Suez crossing, with all those segments prepaid. And the re-routing/home-porting the ship where? At what costs? How will they sell cabins? to who? and at what price??

 

Again in my humble opinion with zero facts, the Dubai to Athens sailing is an 18 day sailing with 7 port stops, by removing the port stops I think perhaps enough time to send her around Africa and into the Med in order to get to Athens on time. BTW, RCG already did this in January with the SilverSeas Silver Moon, albeit without passengers. In Serenade;s case, they can easily sail around Afirca with passengers, however would be a lot of sea days I would think as there would be limited time for port stops I would think. 

 

https://crew-center.com/silversea-alters-silver-moon-cruise-route-amid-red-sea-security-concerns

 

There's a great CC thread about SilverMoon and her progress now around Africa here if you're interested

 

 

Of course RCI won’t cancel the last 4 months of the World Cruise, but they will have to make a decision about the May 9 Dubai to Athens cruise, and possibly the Athens to Istanbul cruise after that. They waited until the last minute to cancel the Silver Moon sailings, so I hope they don’t wait much longer to deal with Serenade’s  May itineraries. 

[NancyIL]

3 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

They will cancel 1 or 2 segments of the UWC to get the time for the re-route

RCI needs to do it ASAP. You can tell by current prices that a lot of people have already bailed on the Dubai to Athens segment, but those on the full world cruise don’t have that option. 

[springaussie]

Asia cruises are apparently the best for selling in a short time frame before departure.

Is leaving Serenade in Singapore an option that could happen? 

[eel]

9 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

In my very humble and unknowledgeable opinion, but knowing 100% that RCL is all about the bottom line $$$$$, there is no way that RC will cancel a full 4 months of the UWC after the Suez crossing, with all those segments prepaid. And the re-routing/home-porting the ship where? At what costs? How will they sell cabins? to who? and at what price??

 

Again in my humble opinion with zero facts, the Dubai to Athens sailing is an 18 day sailing with 7 port stops, by removing the port stops I think perhaps enough time to send her around Africa and into the Med in order to get to Athens on time. BTW, RCG already did this in January with the SilverSeas Silver Moon, albeit without passengers. In Serenade;s case, they can easily sail around Afirca with passengers, however would be a lot of sea days I would think as there would be limited time for port stops I would think. 

 

I am also engaging in speculation here. The UWC gets to Singapore on April 24. If they decide to skip all of the Middle East and most of the Eastern Med, they could start a new itinerary from Singapore and resume the original itinerary in Italy (probably Venice) on June 19th. That would give them 56 days to get from Singapore to Venice going around Africa. I saw scheduled cruises by other companies that go from Singapore to Cape Town that last 32 days including many port stops. A cruise from Cape Town to Lisbon is about 24 days also with many stops. By cutting a few ports and not stopping in Lisbon, they could probably make it to Venice in 56 days.

 

The biggest difficulty would be Royal's total lack of any relationships at the new ports. Just arranging shore excursions would be a major undertaking for Royal not to mention resupply and fueling. Not sure if Royal can pull it off or not. 

 

This would be an amazing alternate itinerary though. People on segments would need to pick up the ship at different ports such as Cape Town. The plus is that although it is a major disruption, it does not cause an interruption of the UWC.

[Hoopster95]

14 minutes ago, eel said:

I am also engaging in speculation here.

 

Great memories eel 😛

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2661933-ovation-may-13-24-live-in-alaska-wlots-of-photos/page/13/#comment-57495996

 

Lol!!! Good times

 

 

The way I look at  most things in life these days ....  K.I.S.S. So regard to the Suez and Red Sea, let's all pray that over the next couple of months there's some kind of agreement made whereby passage can be made safe. If not:

 

• Most all current reports say that the tankers require about 10 extra days to re-route from the red sea around Africa.
• The Dubai to Athens mini-segment is 18 days... well within reach to sail around Africa in the required 10 days (I think?) with very few (if any) port stops (fuel? supplies?)
• Dubai is the end of a 1/4 segment and therefore the start of the next segment, and thus there'll likely be more than usual disembarking at this port anyways. The cruisers getting on for the next 1/4 segment could possibly be delayed to instead embark in Athens, but at least they'd get most of that segment accomplished as long as Serenade gets to Athens in time.
• Whatever UWC passengers stay on Serenade, RCI could perhaps (doubt it) refund 100% of this 18 day segment making it more palatable to the full UWC passengers to stay on board all those seas days to get around Africa to Athens
• The above would minimize disembarking all passengers in Dubai and starting fresh with an empty ship with new itineraries and no tickets sold. It also minimizes lost revenue by having all the UWC cruisers already on board once in Athens. It also allows Serenade to continue the rest of it's Med/Europe 1/4 segment within cancelling out port charges, excursions, contracts to re-supply, refunding cruisers, etc etc etc etc

 

I think with regard to K.I.S.S., I think the absolute best thing to happen financially for Royal (which as we all know is #1, #2, #3 .... #100 criteria for the bean counters in Miami) is for Serenade to get to Athens. So to this end, I'm just thinking what the best possible way to get there with the least amount of financial strain (again, I'm trying to think like those making the decisions in Miami)

 

And I'm betting we won't hear what the final answer is until late April/early May at the earliest.

BTW I have a vested interest as I'm booked on that 11 day Athens to Istanbul! 😦

 

 

 

[little britain]

Virgin’s Resilient Lady is the first scheduled cruise through the Suez on 25 Apr, 2024.

Interesting to see what she will do.