Royal Caribbean Swapping Brilliance and Enchantment Deployment

Royal Caribbean Swapping Brilliance and Enchantment Deployment

Citing changes in maritime regulations, Royal Caribbean International is swapping the upcoming deployment between two ships.  

“The International Maritime Organization recently shared new speed regulations we must adhere to and as a result, we’ve repositioned some of our ships for the upcoming 2023/2024 season,” the company said in a letter sent to booked guests.

With the changes, the Brilliance of the Seas is taking over the itineraries previously announced for the Enchantment of the Seas.

Originally slated for programs in Europe and Florida in 2023 and 2023-2024, the Radiance-Class vessel will now sail in Alaska starting in April. The new schedule includes a series of cruises departing from Vancouver, Canada.

In October, the vessel debuts in the South Pacific, kicking off a winter program in Australia, with cruises departing from Sydney.  

The Enchantment of the Seas, meanwhile, is assuming Brilliance’s place and offering similar itineraries in Europe in 2034 and Florida in 2023-2024.

According to the letter, the Vision-Class ship will sail in the Mediterranean between May and November before returning to the United States for the winter.

Sailing from Tampa, the 1997-built vessel is set to offer five- to seven-night cruises to the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

Affected passengers are being automatically moved between ships, receiving cruises departing on the same dates as their original bookings.

The guests are also being assigned to like-for-like accommodations and keeping the originally booked amenities.

Still, according to the statement, passengers are being offered other options as well, including the possibility to rebook on other Royal Caribbean International sailings or a full refund of the cruise fare.

In a separate statement, Royal Caribbean also informed booked guests of the redeployment of the other two ships.

Offering short cruises to the Caribbean, the Voyager of the Seas will now be based in Galveston, instead of Port Everglades.

The Adventure of the Seas, meanwhile, will take over its original schedule offering Caribbean and Bahamas cruises departing from Fort Lauderdale.

Royal Caribbean Ship Welcomes Guests Back in Tampa

The Brilliance of the Seas is resuming service for Royal Caribbean International today.

After a 21-month hiatus, the vessel is welcoming guests back to Tampa, Florida.

Kicking off a program of four- and five-night cruises from the port, the Brilliance has become the 19th of Royal Caribbean’s 25-ship fleet to resume guest operations.

The Radiance-class ship is now offering a series of itineraries to Mexico and the Bahamas, featuring visits to Costa Maya, Cozumel, Nassau, CocoCay and more.

The first sailing, for instance, cruises four nights and includes a call in Costa Maya, in addition to two days at sea.

The Tampa departures are set to take place until late March and will be followed by a summer season in Europe.

Starting in May, the Brilliance of the Seas is poised to offer seven-night cruises to the Greek Islands, Montenegro and Croatia, sailing from Italy’s Ravenna port.

Built in 2002, the vessel has a capacity for 2,100 guests, who can enjoy amenities that include three pools, 12 lounges and bars, a rock-climbing wall, a nine-hole miniature golf course, an interactive golf simulator, and a 9,000-sq. ft. fitness centre and spa.

With the Brilliance now in service, Royal Caribbean has added two ships to the active lineup in December.

The vessels will be followed by the Enchantment of the Seas, which is set to return to guest operations on Dec. 23, in Baltimore.

Previously, on Dec. 5, the Grandeur of the Seas launched a Barbados-based program in the Caribbean.

Enchantment of the Seas Arrives in Trinidad to Disembark Crew Following Quarantine

Royal Caribbean International's Enchantment of the Seas is on the scene in Trinidad's Port of Spain where 307 Trinidad and Tobago nationals are onboard the vessel and hoping to go home. 

The ship arrived on Friday, and following an agreement between Royal Caribbean Cruises and Trinidad government officials, the ship will stay for a 14-day quarantine period.

If the crew show no symptoms they will be allowed to disembark and travel home.

To set a baseline, local doctors and nurses were onhand on Friday dressed in full PPE gear to test all crew aboard the ship that is planning to disembark. Those individuals will now spend 14 days in quarantine on board the ship.

The ship is expected to stay at anchor off Trinidad for a 12-day period, before returning to a pier for another round of testing.

Royal Caribbean uses ship as hurricane safe haven for employees

The Enchantment of the Seas holds 2,252 at double occupancy.

Royal Caribbean International will use one of its ship as a vehicle to keep employees and their families safe from Hurricane Irma, which is expected to strike the Miami area this weekend.

The Enchantment of the Seas' Sept. 8 cruise was canceled because of the hurricane, so Royal Caribbean opened the ship to its workforce. The ship will depart around noon on Friday and sail out to sea away from the projected path of the storm. The plan is to return to Miami once the storm passes and the port reopens.

The-20 year-old Enchantment holds 2,252 people at double occupancy and typically offers three- and four-day cruises to the Bahamas.

"We decided to offer the ship to our employees and their families so they could evacuate," said spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez. "[We] felt that it was the right thing to do."

Norwegian and Royal Caribbean Cancel Sailings Ahead of Irma

With Hurricane Irma potentially heading to South Florida and key destinations in the Caribbean, cruise lines are scrambling to make changes to itineraries and have also cancelled a handful of sailings.

Norwegian Cruise Line has axed the Sept. 8 sailing aboard the Norwegian Sky. Guests get a full refund, plus a 50 percent future cruise credit.

The Norwegian Escape’s week-long Sept. 9 voyage from Miami is also cancelled. Guests get a full refund, plus a 50 percent future cruise credit.

For the Escape’s current Sept. 2 sailing, the ship will be returning to Miami on Thursday.

“Those guests who are residents of South Florida, who drove to PortMiami or who have travel plans already confirmed that will return them safely home by Friday afternoon may disembark the ship on Thursday if they wish to do so. For those guests who did not drive to PortMiami and are unable to secure a flight back home, we strongly encourage them to stay onboard the ship,” said Norwegian in a prepared statement.

Norwegian Escape will set sail from Miami on Thursday evening on a course away from the storm. While we are unable to confirm at this time when and where the ship will return to port, we welcome all guests to remain onboard to stay safe and secure.”

Royal Caribbean has employed similar tactics, and has cancelled the September 8 sailings on the Majesty and Enchantment of the Seas. Guests will receive a full refund and 25 percent future cruise credit.

Royal Caribbean said it will provide an end-of-day update on Tuesday regarding sailings aboard the Allure, Anthem, Empress, Harmony and Oasis.

The cancelled sailings will impact third quarter earnings.

Royal to resume New Orleans sailings

Vision of the Seas

Royal Caribbean International said it will put a ship in New Orleans for the 2018-19 winter season, after an absence of three years.

The Vision of the Seas will sail 7-day itineraries to destinations in the Bahamas and the Yucatan Peninsula, Royal said.

In addition, the Enchantment of the Seas will move from Miami to Galveston, joining the Liberty of the Seas there. The Vision will offer two 16-day Panama Canal transits between Miami and Los Angeles before repositioning to New Orleans, the first time in three years that itinerary will be offered.

Photo credit Dawn Jones, Entrance of the first lock.

Royal also said that the Mariner of the Seas will return to Miami from the Asia-Pacific region to sail short cruises, the first time a Voyager-class ship has been assigned to that duty. The 3- and 4-day itineraries to the Bahamas begin on June 21, 2018, after a 32-day revitalization.

Cruise shipbuilding versus ship refurbishments

Cruise ship building versus ship refurbishments

Unlike the scheduled cruise ship refurbishments, major refits may include even a cruise ship lengthening, like in the case of Royal Caribbean ship Enchantment of the Seas lengthened in 2005 (see the photo below). The Enchantment ship lengthening cost ~ US$55 million, it was a process of cutting the ship in two and inserting a whole new 73 ft (22 m) 3,500 tons midsection, pre-built at the Aker Finnyards. The month-long dry-dock at the Keppel Verolme shipyards (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) resulted in adding 151 brand new cabins, a 50% bigger Pool Deck area, a new kids area, a teen center, several new bars and lounges, an expanded main dining room, a new specialty restaurant. This "refurbishment cost" record was recently beaten by the CCL line and the US$155 million Carnival Destiny refit 2013 producing a brand new ship named Carnival Sunshine!

The average cost of building a cruise ship is around US $450 for mid-sized vessels and up to $800 million for bigger cruise ships. These prices, along with the current economy status force many cruise lines to hold off from building new ships - the biggest expense of all. As a rule, all new cruise ships on order/currently under construction are by contracts signed years ago when the dollar had a good rate.

Cruise ship building prices are high enough to not meet the return requirement. Even the mighty Carnival Corporation (the largest cruise company in the world) puts its ship building plans on hold. Royal Caribbean is one of the few companies continuing to place orders for new ships - and not any ships, but the ever largest, the most innovative, the most expensive in the world. Still, most passenger ship lines are trying to keep their current fleet fresh and good looking. Two of the best examples are Holland America with its $450 million SOE program for ship renovations, and Carnival investing over $250 million to fully refit and refurbish 8 of its oldest vessels.

Majesty of the Seas to remain in Royal Caribbean fleet

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said it will upgrade and redeploy the Royal Caribbean brand's oldest ship, Majesty of the Seas.

Currently doing three- and four-night Bahamas itineraries from Miami, the 2,744-passenger Majesty will move to Port Canaveral to do those itineraries starting May 27, 2016.

Launched in 1992, Majesty is the only Sovereign-class ship remaining in the fleet; the other two sail for Pullmantur, a Spanish line owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Royal Caribbean previously had said that the Majesty would be transferred to Pullmantur next year.

Instead, Majesty will get a bevy of upgrades next April, including new water slides, a poolside movie screen, the Dreamworks Experience children’s entertainment package and an enhanced casino, as well as restaurant additions Izumi, Sabor Taqueria and Chef’s Table.

Enchantment of the Seas, which now does short itineraries from Port Canaveral, will swap places with Majesty in Miami. The moves free Rhapsody of the Seas, which had been scheduled to do short cruises from Port Canaveral, to move to Tampa to do seven-night western Caribbean itineraries, starting Dec. 3, 2016, Royal Caribbean said.

Grandeur starts Baltimore service, Port Canaveral could get third Royal ship

By Tom Stieghorst ~ Image of Port Canaveral

Royal Caribbean International launched service with a new ship from Baltimore and may be looking at Port Canaveral as home to a third ship next winter.

The Grandeur of the Seas has begun sailing from Baltimore, offering six- to 10-day cruises to Canada, New England, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. The ship was refurbished last year.

Grandeur replaces Enchantment of the Seas, which went to Port Canaveral to do three- and four-day cruises.

Port Canaveral interim CEO John Walsh told the Florida Today newspaper in Melbourne, Fla., that Royal Caribbean plans to base a third ship at his port in the winter of 2014-15.

In addition to Enchantment, Port Canaveral is home to Freedom of the Seas. Walsh also said the port is in discussions about the potential to host either an Oasis-class or Quantum-class ship, possibly in conjunction with a new terminal.

Both Oasis and Allure of the Seas sail from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Royal Caribbean has ordered a third in the series for delivery in 2016.

Earlier this week, it was disclosed that Navigator of the Seas will sail from Galveston, Texas, year-round starting in February 2014. It currently sails from Galveston in the winter but will go to the Mediterranean this summer.