Just Cruises Plus

Royal Cariiben reported a net loss of 3.6 million for the 2nd quarter.  Management said that the loss resulted from declines in Europe.  Asia, Alaska and the Caribbean all showed a profit.

Our next week’s gift drawing (via email) will be related to Royal Caribbean’s poor 3rd quarter result.

We cruisers have been tortured by snail paced internet connections aboard cruise ships.  Add this to the fact that we are paying top dollar per minute to connect.

This is set to change next June, at least on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas.  The Oasis will be the first cruise ship to be linked to a new satellite network that is expected to deliver fiber-optic bandwidth to the ship, which, in turn will be able to deliver maximum-speed WiFi to passengers.

Royal Caribbean is doing their best to attract younger passengers.  The Oasis class ships have a zip-line, rock-climbing walls,  FlowRider surf simulators, mini golf course, ice-skating and even a carousel.

What’s all that worth if you can’t connect on facebook and twitter with the folks back home?  This is pure genius on the part of Royal Caribbean.  Their passengers will supply the advertising for them when they put  pictures of themselves zip lining across the ship on Facebook.

We must have a lot of Royal Caribbean experts since 27 people got the correct answer to our trivia question, “Which ship will replace the Enchantment of the Seas out of Baltimore in 2013?”  The correct answer:  The Grandeur will replace the Enchantment out of Baltimore.  We randomly selected Will Mardis, of Holland, PA, to receive a $25 shipboard credit on his next Royal Caribbean cruise.

The recently upgraded Grandeur of the Seas will begin sailing from Baltimore on April 7th, 2013.  She replaces the Enchantment of the Seas whose last sailing from “charm city” will be a 12 night Southern Caribbean repositioning cruise on April 13, 2013.  This sailing will end in Port Canaveral, her new home port.

The Grandeur is slightly smaller than the Enchantment.   Although originally built in the same class, the Enchantment was lengthened in 2005 and carries an additional 300 passengers.

Most of the Grandeur’s sailings will be 6 or 7 night cruises to Bermuda and 7 night Bahamas cruises.  However, there will be a few 10 night cruises in late 2013 and early 2014, including a special holiday sailing on December 24th to the Eastern Caribbean.