Thoughts, impressions, and observations for the World Cruise.

[Jimbo]

1 hour ago, Luckynana said:

After reading about the problem with 7602 and the cabin next door, it all makes sense that they granted you the upgrade;  and, good for you that that's what probably happened!😉

It wasn't a free Upgrade, I'm sure Royal did it to get the extra $$$$. Being Pinnacle also probably helped in getting selected.

[lovesthebeach2]

47 minutes ago, doghog said:

Did you experience this on your  UWC? Thanks for confirming that. Kathy has asked me before if she should use the adaptor. I don't claim to be an electrical engineer and advised her not to and just use the standard outlet.  She'd be PO if her hair dryer got fried as she hates the ones the cruise lines provide. Then we'd be out shopping for a replacement hair dryer while in port. Kinda like shopping for  a replacement suite case. 😂

I burned an adapter only once, then never did that again. It ruined my appliance.

[doghog]

35 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I ran into that on the Viking river cruise last year.  Wondered why my hair dryer was so extra powerful when I used the 220 to 110 adaptor, until I realized it was heating up...fast.   

 

So, I experimented again doing the same thing in our cabin on Serenade...same thing.  Unplugged quickly.  Used the adaptor for the USB plug for my clock...no worries.  But do not use it for Kathy's hair dryer.  She will be not happy if the thing fries up.  😮  And I don't think Duck tape will fix her fried hair dryer like it did your suitcase.  😁

I guess I could get creative and make her a hat out of Duck Tape. 😂

[CSHS1979]

1 hour ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

In my zero facts, highly biased (because I'm on the Athens sailing as well and I'm being positive!!), but humble opinion.... I think Princess and Virgin has spoken to what Royal might do. It's all about the $$$$, and Royal out of all the cruise lines are so focused on the bottom line. Money will rule their decision 100% in my imo.

 

I checked all segments from Brisbane, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore... lot's of cabins available, Serenade is definitely not even close to capacity. Europe starting with the Athens-Istanbul segment is very full. And looking further into the other Europe itineraries pretty much sold out. This was also suggested with Princess and Virgin, whereby their ships were not at capacity in Asia, but very much in capacity in Europe. Which cruises are easiest to cancel? The full Europe sailings or the emptier Asia sailings?

 

So to me it makes sense getting the ship to Europe on time, and hopefully that means Athens.

I foresee Royal going south around Oz just like Virgin and Princess.... less fuel, shorter distance, less time to travel, less cancellations, less refunds to cruisers, just way easier to manage vs. going all the way to Dubai and then screwing up the first few Europe sailings.

 

This is Virgin's new sailing route vs. heading north from Sydney

 

 

 

How many days is the Virgin trip. Serenade leaves Sydney March 8 and needs to be in Athens May 27. Way to much time to kill. 

 

Might leave for East Africa from Singapore on April 24. That gives them a month+. Or maybe a few days later from Malaysia or Sri Lanka. Either way, Dubai and India are out

[CSHS1979]

Town hall meeting tomorrow at 9am (1pm EST)

 

I wonder how many folks will be broadcasting live on YouTube, FB live, or TicToc

 

John was surprised with the timing, he thought it would be 1pm to coincide with markets closing

[Jimbo]

2 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

How many days is the Virgin trip. Serenade leaves Sydney March 8 and needs to be in Athens May 27. Way to much time to kill. 

 

Might leave for East Africa from Singapore on April 24. That gives them a month+. Or maybe a few days later from Malaysia or Sri Lanka. Either way, Dubai and India are out

Have the ship's passengers select a city or 2 or  3  where they want to do consecutive overnights stays at  to make the timeline work.😁

[orville99]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

On a side note...speaking of hair dryers.   If you use the adaptor on the 220 to 110....with your hair dryer...you will notice it is very..very powerful.   Just before it burns up.  🥵

 

Those 220 plug ins are not compatible with a lot of things with an adaptor.  

 

1 hour ago, doghog said:

Did you experience this on your  UWC? Thanks for confirming that. Kathy has asked me before if she should use the adaptor. I don't claim to be an electrical engineer and advised her not to and just use the standard outlet.  She'd be PO if her hair dryer got fried as she hates the ones the cruise lines provide. Then we'd be out shopping for a replacement hair dryer while in port. Kinda like shopping for  a replacement suite case. 😂

 

16 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I burned an adapter only once, then never did that again. It ruined my appliance.

The only devices that can withstand 220 to 110 conversion are those that have the capability built into them. (Usually clearly marked 110/220V 50/60Hz on the UL certification label) The problem with using an after market adaptor (unless you spend a lot of $$$ on it) is that the ship’s 220 is 50 Hz and our 110 is 60 Hz, and what you are buying is merely a step down transformer - us old folk used to call that a rheostat). The inability of the adaptor to change from 50/60 cycles per second will generate additional heat on the motor, and increased load on the heating element. In short, the motor runs slower, the elements run hotter, and the device can’t handle that for long before the thermocouple safety overheats and shorts out the device.

[Hoopster95]

3 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

How many days is the Virgin trip. Serenade leaves Sydney March 8 and needs to be in Athens May 27. Way to much time to kill. 

 

Might leave for East Africa from Singapore on April 24. That gives them a month+. Or maybe a few days later from Malaysia or Sri Lanka. Either way, Dubai and India are out

 

March 27 - May 9

3 new segments

 

Scroll down a little to see the itineraries

https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-reroutes-resilient-lady-due-to-red-sea-tensions/

[orville99]

2 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

Town hall meeting tomorrow at 9am (1pm EST)

 

I wonder how many folks will be broadcasting live on YouTube, FB live, or TicToc

 

John was surprised with the timing, he thought it would be 1pm to coincide with markets closing

Have they changed time zones since leaving LA yet? They are geographically at least two removed from Pacific time by now

[Jimbo]

4 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

Town hall meeting tomorrow at 9am (1pm EST)

 

I wonder how many folks will be broadcasting live on YouTube, FB live, or TicToc

 

John was surprised with the timing, he thought it would be 1pm to coincide with markets closing

Does he really think the change will make that much difference to the market changes?

 

It's just rerouting the ship.

[Jimbo]

3 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Have they changed time zones since leaving LA yet? They are geographically at least two removed from Pacific time by now

current time on ship is 10:32 am

 

Eastern time is now  2:32 pm

Edited February 15 by Jimbo

[doghog]

4 minutes ago, orville99 said:

 

 

The only devices that can withstand 220 to 110 conversion are those that have the capability built into them. (Usually clearly marked 110/220V 50/60Hz on the UL certification label) The problem with using an after market adaptor (unless you spend a lot of $$$ on it) is that the ship’s 220 is 50 Hz and our 110 is 60 Hz, and what you are buying is merely a step down transformer - us old folk used to call that a rheostat). The inability of the adaptor to change from 50/60 cycles per second will generate additional heat on the motor, and increased load on the heating element. In short, the motor runs slower, the elements run hotter, and the device can’t handle that for long before the thermocouple safety overheats and shorts out the device.

OK, thanks. But waaay tooo much TMI. 😉 My wife excepts the simple no and she'd slap me if I repeated your post. 😂

[A&L_Ont]

11 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

Town hall meeting tomorrow at 9am (1pm EST)

 

I wonder how many folks will be broadcasting live on YouTube, FB live, or TicToc

 

Is this when they plan the mutiny or does it happen later in private, like limoncello tasting? 😄

[CSHS1979]

21 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Does he really think the change will make that much difference to the market changes?

 

It's just rerouting the ship.

 

Beats me, but it seems to be very high profile with the internet 

[NancyIL]

1 hour ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

In my zero facts, highly biased (because I'm on the Athens sailing as well and I'm being positive!!), but humble opinion.... I think Princess and Virgin has spoken to what Royal might do. It's all about the $$$$, and Royal out of all the cruise lines are so focused on the bottom line. Money will rule their decision 100% in my imo.

 

I checked all segments from Brisbane, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore... lot's of cabins available, Serenade is definitely not even close to capacity. Europe starting with the Athens-Istanbul segment is very full. And looking further into the other Europe itineraries pretty much sold out. This was also suggested with Princess and Virgin, whereby their ships were not at capacity in Asia, but very much in capacity in Europe. Which cruises are easiest to cancel? The full Europe sailings or the emptier Asia sailings?

 

So to me it makes sense getting the ship to Europe on time, and hopefully that means Athens.

I foresee Royal going south around Oz just like Virgin and Princess.... less fuel, shorter distance, less time to travel, less cancellations, less refunds to cruisers, just way easier to manage vs. going all the way to Dubai and then screwing up the first few Europe sailings.

 

This is Virgin's new sailing route vs. heading north from Sydney

 

 

 

Serenade will have already visited Australia in March, before heading north to Southeast Asia. As this is intended to be a full world cruise, I think RCI will preserve as much of the original itinerary as possible - including most of the Asia itinerary. The segment that must be rerouted is Dubai to Athens, as we know Serenade will have to sail around Africa to avoid the Red Sea. I think the first segment that could be affected is the April 24-May 9 Singapore to Dubai cruise. Most ships have been avoiding Dubai, but since that's the ending port for the 2nd quarter/beginning of the third - I don't know what RCI will do. (Perhaps end in Mumbai, India on May 5?) I think they will also sacrifice the May 27-June 7 Athens to Istanbul cruise - one of the shorter and less expensive segments. That should allow the ship enough time to sail from Dubai (Mumbai?) around Africa in time to end in Istanbul on June 7 for the Istanbul to Ravenna segment.

[CSHS1979]

13 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

Is this when they plan the mutiny or does it happen later in private, like limoncello tasting? 😄

 

Stay tuned

[CSHS1979]

1 minute ago, NancyIL said:

 

Serenade will have already visited Australia in March, before heading north to Southeast Asia. As this is intended to be a full world cruise, I think RCI will preserve as much of the original itinerary as possible - including most of the Asia itinerary. The segment that must be rerouted is Dubai to Athens, as we know Serenade will have to sail around Africa to avoid the Red Sea. I think the first segment that could be affected is the April 24-May 9 Singapore to Dubai cruise. Most ships have been avoiding Dubai, but since that's the ending port for the 2nd quarter/beginning of the third - I don't know what RCI will do. (Perhaps end in Mumbai, India on May 5?) I think they will also sacrifice the May 27-June 7 Athens to Istanbul cruise - one of the shorter and less expensive segments. That should allow the ship enough time to sail from Dubai (Mumbai?) around Africa in time to end in Istanbul on June 7 for the Istanbul to Ravenna segment.

 

To get to Dubai, you have to pass thru Strait of Hormuz. Twice. Seems risky. 

 

Segment 2 may end in Capetown 

 

22 hours to go 

[island lady]

46 minutes ago, doghog said:

I guess I could get creative and make her a hat out of Duck Tape. 😂

 

Kathy:  Gee Dave, thanks for the Valentines day gift!   😆😍

[island lady]

42 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

Town hall meeting tomorrow at 9am (1pm EST)

 

I wonder how many folks will be broadcasting live on YouTube, FB live, or TicToc

 

John was surprised with the timing, he thought it would be 1pm to coincide with markets closing

 

But wouldn't the sea day time at 9 am pretty much be 1:00 pm EST?  

[CSHS1979]

19 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

But wouldn't the sea day time at 9 am pretty much be 1:00 pm EST?  

 

1pm ship's time should be 5pm est. Not sure of their next time change

[mo&fran]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

 

 

The only devices that can withstand 220 to 110 conversion are those that have the capability built into them. (Usually clearly marked 110/220V 50/60Hz on the UL certification label) The problem with using an after market adaptor (unless you spend a lot of $$$ on it) is that the ship’s 220 is 50 Hz and our 110 is 60 Hz, and what you are buying is merely a step down transformer - us old folk used to call that a rheostat). The inability of the adaptor to change from 50/60 cycles per second will generate additional heat on the motor, and increased load on the heating element. In short, the motor runs slower, thelements run hotter, and the device can’t handle that for long before the thermocouple safety overheats and shorts out the device.

I believe the ships electric system is 50 Hz., both 110 and 220.   That frequency is a function of generator speed.

 

[ringers0815]

Beautiful day at sea today. 23c, sunny but very windy. Deck 12 is closed “due to weather” and so is the front of the promenade/deck 5.

 

In his update, the captain mentioned that the ship had increased speed to get closer to Hawaii faster as someone on the ship may need to be medically disembarked or evacuated. The ship is still planning to be in Hilo Saturday morning at its scheduled time. I hope this person gets better soon and sending good wishes to them and family/friends.

 

[sjb317]

29 minutes ago, ringers0815 said:

 

In his update, the captain mentioned that the ship had increased speed to get closer to Hawaii faster as someone on the ship may need to be medically disembarked or evacuated. The ship is still planning to be in Hilo Saturday morning at its scheduled time. I hope this person gets better soon and sending good wishes to them and family/friends.

 

An announcement was made last evening requesting volunteers to donate blood as someone needed a transfusion.

 

Sherri

[Jimbo]

6 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

Is this when they plan the mutiny or does it happen later in private, like limoncello tasting? 😄

If they see added security at the entrance of the Theater you have to know the changes are going to bad.😞

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, sjb317 said:

An announcement was made last evening requesting volunteers to donate blood as someone needed a transfusion.

 

Sherri

Sorry to hear this.   I wish them a favorable recovery.