Will Royal do another world cruise?

[LAKaye]

I was not able to be on the Serenade of the Seas for the current sailing of the Ultimate World Cruise.  *sniffle*

 

It would be lovely if there were another such voyage in the planning stages.  Have you heard anything?

 

Thank you~

🩷

[gumshoe958]

Not a chance. This one is nowhere near sold out and the CEO who signed it off is long gone.

[mo&fran]

41 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

Not a chance. This one is nowhere near sold out and the CEO who signed it off is long gone.

never say never.

[RobInMN]

I would love to see them do this again, maybe in like 5 years, however, it does not appear that they got the response they anticipated, so I fear the likelihood is rather slim. 😞 

[crzndeb]

I think they could if it was tweaked to a shorter 70-120 day cruise. Other cruise lines do this very successfully, and at lower price, albeit still expensive. This one was definitely a niche cruise, that most probably could never afford, but maybe could a shorter length. I know for me personally, I couldn’t handle either, but lots could. I’m waiting to see how everyone is feeling at the 3 month, 6 month range, 9 month mark. 😉

[cruiselvr04]

Pure speculation.  No one knows.

 

I’d love for the brand to do a world cruise but a reasonable time away.  9 months was too long for a vast majority of interested persons.  Cost pppd was pretty high too for the thing. 

[RoperDK]

It is definitely a niche cruise. Since it didn't seem to sell out and smaller segments were subsequentially sold to fill the ship, it seems like it might be a one and done. However, I wonder what the impact of the tik tok and you tube influencers might have.  The world cruise is definitely trending and is giving Royal a ton of marketing.  So far, everything seems positive.  Of course, that could tank if things turn sour.       

[ReneeFLL]

3 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Not a chance. This one is nowhere near sold out and the CEO who signed it off is long gone.

Maybe if they wouldn't have had crazy prices to begin with they might have sold out.

[Oceansaway17]

well RCI could do something similar to what Holland did.  That ship last year went through Panama Canal and then to South Pacific and Aust/NZ and then over to Indian Ocean and instead of doing Suez Canal, HAL went around Africa and allowed guest to get off on the eastern side to spend a week in land doing African safari's and then those folks caught up with ship on western side and the ship sailed up and into UK and Baltic area.  Then home to USA.  So, no med or South America and I don't think they did China either.   that ship was the Zuiderdam. 

[Saab4444]

20 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Not a chance. This one is nowhere near sold out and the CEO who signed it off is long gone.

This is not true. At least the Europe part on Serenade is much better booked at much higher rates than any other Royal ship in Europe next summer. Just look at remaining cabins from June to August including rates and compare it with other ships like Anthem, Jewel or others.

[notscb]

If they do, they really need to bring in Bravo to do a Below Deck style show where we get to watch all of the guest drama unfold in real time. World cruise '23 TikTok has been really entertaining so far.

[HicksRA]

Depends on whether this one makes money or not..

[Chiliburn]

With the incoming carbon emissions laws I don’t think it will happen again.

Well not until green fuel comes in or Discovery of the seas is launched.

[crusinthrough]

Time will tell. Feedback from those onboard may be influential in a decision.  The price was high and the ship was old with dated rooms.  A Freedom Class ship may have been a better choice.

 

What's wild to me is that after spending 9 months onboard and some paying close to $100K for a couple, you don't leave the ship as a Pinnacle member.  Not even if you stayed in a suite with double points.  

 

A live review would be nice to follow. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by crusinthrough

[DragonOfTheSeas]

12 minutes ago, crusinthrough said:

Time will tell. Feedback from those onboard may be influential in a decision.  The price was high and the ship was old with dated rooms.  A Freedom Class ship may have been a better choice.

 

What's wild to me is that after spending 9 months onboard and some paying close to $100K for a couple, you don't leave the ship as a Pinnacle member.  Not even if you stayed in a suite with double points.  

 

A live review would be nice to follow. 

I always thought that passengers that did the entire cruise/not any of the segments should get an additional C and A point/night. They paid a premium and that would reward them.

 

I do not have any data but I would doubt there many [or any] passengers that are doing the whole cruise--cruising for the first time. 

[Saab4444]

2 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

Time will tell. Feedback from those onboard may be influential in a decision.  The price was high and the ship was old with dated rooms.  A Freedom Class ship may have been a better choice.

 

What's wild to me is that after spending 9 months onboard and some paying close to $100K for a couple, you don't leave the ship as a Pinnacle member.  Not even if you stayed in a suite with double points.  

 

A live review would be nice to follow. 

A Freedom Class would not be able to stop at many ports of the World Cruise, simply too big.

[crusinthrough]

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I always thought that passengers that did the entire cruise/not any of the segments should get an additional C and A point/night. They paid a premium and that would reward them.

 

I do not have any data but I would doubt there many [or any] passengers that are doing the whole cruise--cruising for the first time. 

I agree that is should be something extra.  

I've been entertained from TikTok videos.  There are quite a number of Pinnacles onboard so it doesn't matter to them.  I'm sure most are not first time cruisers but you need about 400 points already to achieve Pinnacle with this cruise.  I wonder how many guests have this many points? 

Edited December 30, 2023 by crusinthrough

[crusinthrough]

23 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

A Freedom Class would not be able to stop at many ports of the World Cruise, simply too big.

Ahh, I guess they needed to go smaller.  For the price and 9 months living in a small space I would need it to feel somewhat modern.  Some people brought a lot of extras to make the room feel more comfortable but something like plugs only being by the mirror and not by my bed is okay for a short cruise but 9 months not is much. 

[Another_Critic]

3 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

... but something like plugs only being by the mirror and not by my bed is okay for a short cruise but 9 months not is much. 

They installed outlets by the bed for the world cruise.

[notscb]

8 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

you don't leave the ship as a Pinnacle member.

 

Makes me wonder if RCL thinks that those doing the world cruise will likely be "last time" cruisers with RCL. I wonder if their marketing team studied this at all before moving forward with the world cruise idea. You spend nearly a year onboard and you've kind of been there done that- moving on to something else for your next trip.

 

For me, if I were on the world cruise, I don't know that I'd want to go back onboard again.

[Bronx12]

15 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

What's wild to me is that after spending 9 months onboard and some paying close to $100K for a couple, you don't leave the ship as a Pinnacle member.  Not even if you stayed in a suite with double points.  

They are not receiving the appropriate points?

[smokeybandit]

On 12/28/2023 at 5:07 PM, cruiselvr04 said:

Pure speculation.  No one knows.

 

I’d love for the brand to do a world cruise but a reasonable time away.  9 months was too long for a vast majority of interested persons.  Cost pppd was pretty high too for the thing. 

I thought the cost was quite reasonable,  especially when you take into account all the extras included for the full timers

[DragonOfTheSeas]

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I thought the cost was quite reasonable,  especially when you take into account all the extras included for the full timers

I think the passengers that signed up for the world cruise or the four large segments were OK with the cost and the amenities.  I think the issue was that as the ship did not fil up RCL divided the entire cruise into 17 segments and sold those individually.  You could cancel the whole world cruise and book all of the segments and get quite a discount rather than booking as a whole world cruise.  [even if you bought the various add-ons individually--hotel, air, drink package, grats, etc.] I think a few people did this.  Eventually those segments became popular and more expensive and less of a tradeoff. 

 

There was a fair amount of grumbling at the time. I certainly understand that.  Now that the cruise is underway, I think most passengers are very pleased with the way things are going so far.

[Another_Critic]

4 hours ago, Bronx12 said:

They are not receiving the appropriate points?

A couple in a balcony or below would get 274 points.  To reach Pinnacle they would have to start with 426+ points. 

 

A couple in a suite would get 548 points.  To reach Pinnacle they would have to start with 152+ points.

[orville99]

The RCL group already does world cruises every year. Their Silversea brand currently has three listed - one in 2024, one in 2025, and one in 2026.