johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The Carnival Sensation arrived in Aliaga for scrapping in early April 2022 after sailing for 29 years. This is a ship that had 15 years of life left, much of it with a secondhand or thirdhand line. I also see this ship as one that had some value as a hotel and museum ship.
https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-sensat ... ard-video/

If it had so much life left, why didn't any other cruise line buy it? Ships as hotels is a very niche market. Have you ever been in a cruise ship cabin? Even the outside balcony suites are very small compared to a regular hotel room. If the historic Queen Mary can't make it, so cruise ship from the last 40 years can do it, either.

I suspect the massive changes in what people want and demand in their in their cruise ship experience as well as the costs for maintenance, higher fuel burn, is shortening the lives of modern ships. well before their designed life.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The Carnival Sensation arrived in Aliaga for scrapping in early April 2022 after sailing for 29 years. This is a ship that had 15 years of life left, much of it with a secondhand or thirdhand line. I also see this ship as one that had some value as a hotel and museum ship.
https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-sensat ... ard-video/

Which one would you not turn into a hotel or museum?.

ltbewr wrote:

johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The Carnival Sensation arrived in Aliaga for scrapping in early April 2022 after sailing for 29 years. This is a ship that had 15 years of life left, much of it with a secondhand or thirdhand line. I also see this ship as one that had some value as a hotel and museum ship.
https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-sensat ... ard-video/

If it had so much life left, why didn't any other cruise line buy it? Ships as hotels is a very niche market. Have you ever been in a cruise ship cabin? Even the outside balcony suites are very small compared to a regular hotel room. If the historic Queen Mary can't make it, so cruise ship from the last 40 years can do it, either.

I suspect the massive changes in what people want and demand in their in their cruise ship experience as well as the costs for maintenance, higher fuel burn, is shortening the lives of modern ships. well before their designed life.

With the downturn in demand as a result of COVID, it made sense to scrap ships with obsolete designs even if they technically had more potential life left left. It costs money to maintain them in storage for return to service just as storing aircraft in the desert does. It's better to save costs on the old ships and build up capacity with new build ships that meet modern expectations of amenities.

The original Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were built as ocean liners in the mid-1930's. They were not mere cruise ships. They were the way people crossed oceans in large numbers prior to the introduction of intercontinental ranged jet airliners. No one could have anticipated in the thirties that the whole concept of ocean liners would become obsolete before the end of their expected operational lives. The original 707-300 was actually more fuel efficient per passenger per crossing of the Atlantic. Just one could carry as many passengers across the Atlantic in a year as the Queen Mary and for less money. In addition to being fuel guzzlers, the Queen Mary had no air conditioning system. This made it unsuitable for cruising in tropical climates. Finally both ships were too large to transit through the Panama Canal. There was no way modification of the ships could be done in an economically viable way to continue operating as cruise ships. Even conversion to a hotel and events center has had serious problems for the Queen Mary. It doesn't generate enough revenue to pay for maintenance to keep it afloat.

The Norwegian Sun struck an iceberg in Alaska and was assessed in Juneau, where the ship was deemed seaworthy to return to Seattle. However, the next cruise has been cancelled so that repairs can be made.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/norw ... index.html

flyingclrs727 wrote:

In addition to being fuel guzzlers, the Queen Mary had no air conditioning system. This made it unsuitable for cruising in tropical climates.

That is not correct, Carrier installed air conditioning on the Queen Mary in 1936.

https://www.carrier.com/marine-offshore ... e-history/

jetwet1 wrote:

flyingclrs727 wrote:

In addition to being fuel guzzlers, the Queen Mary had no air conditioning system. This made it unsuitable for cruising in tropical climates.

That is not correct, Carrier installed air conditioning on the Queen Mary in 1936.

https://www.carrier.com/marine-offshore ... e-history/

Well it must not have been operable on the retirement cruise to Long Beach in 1967.. I watched a documentary about the Queen Mary, and passengers were sweltering during most of the trip.

Carnival Cruise brawl broke out after alleged threesome sparks cheating accusations: witness

https://nypost.com/2022/06/30/carnival- ... -says/amp/

Carnival in the news again

Cruise ship collides with iceberg

https://news.sky.com/video/share-12643589


Seems it was NCL Sun

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The Carnival Sensation arrived in Aliaga for scrapping in early April 2022 after sailing for 29 years. This is a ship that had 15 years of life left, much of it with a secondhand or thirdhand line. I also see this ship as one that had some value as a hotel and museum ship.
https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-sensat ... ard-video/

I’ll bite what makes her worth saving, there’s nothing special about her, she’s just just an older ship that has reached the end of the road.

Kiwirob wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The Carnival Sensation arrived in Aliaga for scrapping in early April 2022 after sailing for 29 years. This is a ship that had 15 years of life left, much of it with a secondhand or thirdhand line. I also see this ship as one that had some value as a hotel and museum ship.
https://cruiseradio.net/carnival-sensat ... ard-video/

I’ll bite what makes her worth saving, there’s nothing special about her, she’s just just an older ship that has reached the end of the road.

Archguy1 thinks every old ship has a future as a museum or hotel.

Alaska cruises out of Seattle are really inexpensive now. I would do one except ........ They still have not, so far as I am hearing, set aside a section of the ship for a couple to quarantine which includes indoor and outdoor public spaces so that the quarantined people still can have an OK experience for the rest of the cruise. Also a safe area where the rest of the family could visit each other - a little like visiting a prisoner, glassed, no touching but seeing and talking.

I am gathering from the news that a few dozen of those thousands on board, all tested, vaccinated and boosted, do contract Covid while sailing. The set aside spaces for them to be moved to would not be large or all that difficult to handle.

frmrCapCadet wrote:

Alaska cruises out of Seattle are really inexpensive now. I would do one except ........ They still have not, so far as I am hearing, set aside a section of the ship for a couple to quarantine which includes indoor and outdoor public spaces so that the quarantined people still can have an OK experience for the rest of the cruise. Also a safe area where the rest of the family could visit each other - a little like visiting a prisoner, glassed, no touching but seeing and talking.

I am gathering from the news that a few dozen of those thousands on board, all tested, vaccinated and boosted, do contract Covid while sailing. The set aside spaces for them to be moved to would not be large or all that difficult to handle.

If you can get past the Covid shenanigans, Alaska cruise prices are probably the lowest we will ever see. I routinely get low offers via my Carnival - last week several extended sailings were $130pp plus port fees. It as good as the $11 I was getting, but still low.

Norwegian Cruise Line to drop requirement for COVID-19 test

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory ... t-86314116

I wonder if and when the majority will follow .

bananaboy wrote:

johns624 wrote:

When we did our Baltic cruise 10 years ago, I was expecting Stockholm and St Petersburg to be the highlights. While I really liked them, both my wife and I preferred Helsinki and Tallinn.

I agree with you tbh..I did one years ago for work and loved Helsinki and Klaipeda, although seeing Swan Lake in St. Petersburg was special.

Agreed, I enjoyed Saint Petersburg, but the cruise would still have been well worthwhile without it. A stop in Mariehamn, Turku, Karlskrona or similar instead would be absolutely fine. Maybe going up more into the Gulf of Bothnia?

Klaipeda, Tallinn, Helsinki were all amazing on that trip. Heck, even an extra night in those would be fine.

Silversea Cruises has bought Crystal Cruises expedition vessel Crystal Endeavor for $275 million and plans to relaunch it later this year in Antarctica.

The former Seaward arrived in Aliaga to be scrapped in early June. The ship entered service in 1988 and sailed with them until 2005, when she was sold to Star Cruises to operate as the SuperStar Libra for cruises in Asia. The ship was then used as workers housing at a shipyard in Germany starting in 2018 and served in that role for three years. The ship then was sold to a company that planned to use the ship as housing in Greece, but was sold for scrap instead. This is a ship that had possibly 10 more years left as a cruise ship.
https://www.cruisehive.com/former-norwe ... rkey/73174

OA260 wrote:

Silversea Cruises has bought Crystal Cruises expedition vessel Crystal Endeavor for $275 million and plans to relaunch it later this year in Antarctica.

Crystal Serenity and Symphony were sold for a combined $128m, way over estimated value, though other assets were included with the Serenity ($103m) , it would be interesting to figure out what was worth that much.

Former Celebrity Horizon is to be scrapped

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/crui ... pping.html

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The former Seaward arrived in Aliaga to be scrapped in early June. The ship entered service in 1988 and sailed with them until 2005, when she was sold to Star Cruises to operate as the SuperStar Libra for cruises in Asia. The ship was then used as workers housing at a shipyard in Germany starting in 2018 and served in that role for three years. The ship then was sold to a company that planned to use the ship as housing in Greece, but was sold for scrap instead. This is a ship that had possibly 10 more years left as a cruise ship.
https://www.cruisehive.com/former-norwe ... rkey/73174

Way too small.

Actually size could have worked for it.

Size is not always a bonus, plenty of ships over 70,000 tons have been broken up.

bennett123 wrote:

Actually size could have worked for it.

Size is not always a bonus, plenty of ships over 70,000 tons have been broken up.

She was small and she hadn't been refurbished in almost 10 years. The smaller cruise ships are normally luxury ones. It's a lot harder to gut a ship to make the cabins larger.

bennett123 wrote:

Actually size could have worked for it.

Size is not always a bonus, plenty of ships over 70,000 tons have been broken up.

This is a ship that had potentially 10 years of cruise service life left in it.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

bennett123 wrote:

Actually size could have worked for it.

Size is not always a bonus, plenty of ships over 70,000 tons have been broken up.

This is a ship that had potentially 10 years of cruise service life left in it.

Obviously not, since it hadn't sailed in several years and has now been sold for scrap. If it had a viable use, it would be doing it. It's not always about age, corrosion, powerplant, size, etc., all come into play.

johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

bennett123 wrote:

Actually size could have worked for it.

Size is not always a bonus, plenty of ships over 70,000 tons have been broken up.

This is a ship that had potentially 10 years of cruise service life left in it.

Obviously not, since it hadn't sailed in several years and has now been sold for scrap. If it had a viable use, it would be doing it. It's not always about age, corrosion, powerplant, size, etc., all come into play.

Many liners and cruise ships built from the 1950's onward sailed 40-50 years before being scrapped. Though at least half of the 1950's liners were scrapped during the oil crisis of the 1970's, most of those that survived sailed until the 1990's and 2000's despite being a tiny fraction of them.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

This is a ship that had potentially 10 years of cruise service life left in it.

Obviously not, since it hadn't sailed in several years and has now been sold for scrap. If it had a viable use, it would be doing it. It's not always about age, corrosion, powerplant, size, etc., all come into play.

Many liners and cruise ships built from the 1950's onward sailed 40-50 years before being scrapped. Though at least half of the 1950's liners were scrapped during the oil crisis of the 1970's, most of those that survived sailed until the 1990's and 2000's despite being a tiny fraction of them.

For many of those years, the cruise business was much smaller and most of the ships were smaller. Today, you have plenty of megaships that offer economy of scale. Another thing, they would have to refitted with wifi, USB ports and probably much more hotel power.
This is an airline site, how many commercial aircraft from the 70s and 80s are still flying for first rate airlines?

johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

johns624 wrote:

Obviously not, since it hadn't sailed in several years and has now been sold for scrap. If it had a viable use, it would be doing it. It's not always about age, corrosion, powerplant, size, etc., all come into play.

Many liners and cruise ships built from the 1950's onward sailed 40-50 years before being scrapped. Though at least half of the 1950's liners were scrapped during the oil crisis of the 1970's, most of those that survived sailed until the 1990's and 2000's despite being a tiny fraction of them.

For many of those years, the cruise business was much smaller and most of the ships were smaller. Today, you have plenty of megaships that offer economy of scale. Another thing, they would have to refitted with wifi, USB ports and probably much more hotel power.
This is an airline site, how many commercial aircraft from the 70s and 80s are still flying for first rate airlines?

Probably very few 1980's aircraft are still flying for first rate airlines and they are likely a 757, 737, 767, or A320. No 1970's aircraft are flying for them. However, most 1960's ocean liners ended up being converted to cruise ships and sailing for over 40 years until they were retired with SOLAS 2010 looming, which sent most of those ships to the scrapyard at over 40 years of age. Most late 1960's and 1970's cruise ships sailed over 40 years with their sailing life ending at least a few years past 2010. 10 years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a 1970's cruise ship, even from the early part of the decade to have been scrapped.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

Many liners and cruise ships built from the 1950's onward sailed 40-50 years before being scrapped. Though at least half of the 1950's liners were scrapped during the oil crisis of the 1970's, most of those that survived sailed until the 1990's and 2000's despite being a tiny fraction of them.

For many of those years, the cruise business was much smaller and most of the ships were smaller. Today, you have plenty of megaships that offer economy of scale. Another thing, they would have to refitted with wifi, USB ports and probably much more hotel power.
This is an airline site, how many commercial aircraft from the 70s and 80s are still flying for first rate airlines?

Probably very few 1980's aircraft are still flying for first rate airlines and they are likely a 757, 737, 767, or A320. No 1970's aircraft are flying for them. However, most 1960's ocean liners ended up being converted to cruise ships and sailing for over 40 years until they were retired with SOLAS 2010 looming, which sent most of those ships to the scrapyard at over 40 years of age. Most late 1960's and 1970's cruise ships sailed over 40 years with their sailing life ending at least a few years past 2010. 10 years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a 1970's cruise ship, even from the early part of the decade to have been scrapped.

Time changes and marches on. Covid got rid of almost two few cruising seasons and lowered demand considerably. Cruise lines weren't bringing in revenue and had to cut back on expenses. Therefore, they cut back on the oldest, smallest and least efficient ships.

Upgraded my Epic December cruise cabin from studio to balcony for just $300 (rebooking, not through the bidding process). I'll still keep an eye out in case spa cabins or club suites become cheaper as well. I currently have a guaranteed cabin for balcony so fingers crossed that it ends up with an upgrade.

Also booked Breakaway for mid-late March from NOLA, balcony with a guy I'm seeing...will be nice to share a trip together.

It looks like NCL might base a Prima Class ship out of Southampton in 2015 .

OA260 wrote:

It looks like NCL might base a Prima Class ship out of Southampton in 2015 .

Of course that should be 2025 Will be nice to see newer ships based out of SOU in future . RCI had hinted at a bigger deployment of their newer ships pre Covid out of the UK too .

johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

johns624 wrote:

For many of those years, the cruise business was much smaller and most of the ships were smaller. Today, you have plenty of megaships that offer economy of scale. Another thing, they would have to refitted with wifi, USB ports and probably much more hotel power.
This is an airline site, how many commercial aircraft from the 70s and 80s are still flying for first rate airlines?

Probably very few 1980's aircraft are still flying for first rate airlines and they are likely a 757, 737, 767, or A320. No 1970's aircraft are flying for them. However, most 1960's ocean liners ended up being converted to cruise ships and sailing for over 40 years until they were retired with SOLAS 2010 looming, which sent most of those ships to the scrapyard at over 40 years of age. Most late 1960's and 1970's cruise ships sailed over 40 years with their sailing life ending at least a few years past 2010. 10 years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a 1970's cruise ship, even from the early part of the decade to have been scrapped.

Time changes and marches on. Covid got rid of almost two few cruising seasons and lowered demand considerably. Cruise lines weren't bringing in revenue and had to cut back on expenses. Therefore, they cut back on the oldest, smallest and least efficient ships.

The Ambience is the start up ship for Ambassador Cruises and just entered service for them despite being a year older than the Horizon. So, Horizon certainly had like 10 or so years of life left.

johns624 wrote:

bennett123 wrote:

Actually size could have worked for it.

Size is not always a bonus, plenty of ships over 70,000 tons have been broken up.

She was small and she hadn't been refurbished in almost 10 years. The smaller cruise ships are normally luxury ones. It's a lot harder to gut a ship to make the cabins larger.

Not harder basically impossible, the cabins are built off side and installed complete in most ships.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

johns624 wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

Many liners and cruise ships built from the 1950's onward sailed 40-50 years before being scrapped. Though at least half of the 1950's liners were scrapped during the oil crisis of the 1970's, most of those that survived sailed until the 1990's and 2000's despite being a tiny fraction of them.

For many of those years, the cruise business was much smaller and most of the ships were smaller. Today, you have plenty of megaships that offer economy of scale. Another thing, they would have to refitted with wifi, USB ports and probably much more hotel power.
This is an airline site, how many commercial aircraft from the 70s and 80s are still flying for first rate airlines?

Probably very few 1980's aircraft are still flying for first rate airlines and they are likely a 757, 737, 767, or A320. No 1970's aircraft are flying for them. However, most 1960's ocean liners ended up being converted to cruise ships and sailing for over 40 years until they were retired with SOLAS 2010 looming, which sent most of those ships to the scrapyard at over 40 years of age. Most late 1960's and 1970's cruise ships sailed over 40 years with their sailing life ending at least a few years past 2010. 10 years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a 1970's cruise ship, even from the early part of the decade to have been scrapped.

As you said that was 10 years ago, the industry has changed significantly since then.

RCCL announced the new ICON vessels will be larger than the Oasis Class.

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The Ambience is the start up ship for Ambassador Cruises and just entered service for them despite being a year older than the Horizon. So, Horizon certainly had like 10 or so years of life left.

Although a lovely ship ( I have been on it myself ) the market is limited. There is not a lot of demand for loads of old cruise ships even with the current refugee crisis where Ambition has been leased to house them . With an economic downturn this Winter expect more scrapings.

The Saga Pearl 2 will be scrapped at Aliaga after a 41 year career. The ship was intended to become a Mega Yacht for the Saudi Royal Family, but an anti government crackdown put an end to those plans. There have also been rumors about future cruise service or a floating hotel along the lines of the Queen Mary, SS Rotterdam, or QE2. This ship is significant as being the last ocean liner to sail the route from Europe to South Africa.
https://www.tradewindsnews.com/cruise-a ... -1-1265961
https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/crui ... apped.html

ArchGuy1 wrote:

The Saga Pearl 2 will be scrapped at Aliaga after a 41 year career. The ship was intended to become a Mega Yacht for the Saudi Royal Family, but an anti government crackdown put an end to those plans. There have also been rumors about future cruise service or a floating hotel along the lines of the Queen Mary, SS Rotterdam, or QE2. This ship is significant as being the last ocean liner to sail the route from Europe to South Africa.
https://www.tradewindsnews.com/cruise-a ... -1-1265961
https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/crui ... apped.html

The South African Safmarine had restarted ocean liner service between Southampton and Cape Town in 1984 by acquiring the 1981-built cruise ship Astor from the West German Hadag Cruise Line. In service the first Astor's engines proved too underpowered to maintain liner service. As a result, Safmarine decided to order a new ship in 1985 from the HDW shipyard in Kiel, based on the same design as the 1981 Astor (which had been built at HDW's yard at Hamburg) but with additional facilities and more powerful engines, making her better suited for liner operations as well as cruising.

Kiwirob wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

johns624 wrote:

For many of those years, the cruise business was much smaller and most of the ships were smaller. Today, you have plenty of megaships that offer economy of scale. Another thing, they would have to refitted with wifi, USB ports and probably much more hotel power.
This is an airline site, how many commercial aircraft from the 70s and 80s are still flying for first rate airlines?

Probably very few 1980's aircraft are still flying for first rate airlines and they are likely a 757, 737, 767, or A320. No 1970's aircraft are flying for them. However, most 1960's ocean liners ended up being converted to cruise ships and sailing for over 40 years until they were retired with SOLAS 2010 looming, which sent most of those ships to the scrapyard at over 40 years of age. Most late 1960's and 1970's cruise ships sailed over 40 years with their sailing life ending at least a few years past 2010. 10 years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a 1970's cruise ship, even from the early part of the decade to have been scrapped.

As you said that was 10 years ago, the industry has changed significantly since then.

RCCL announced the new ICON vessels will be larger than the Oasis Class.

We don't know if its physically bigger but it will be heavier than Oasis which grants it largest ship status. A thread on Cruise Critic if one is so inclined to watch its progress of being built.

At the risk of encouraging someone’s obsession with preserving / repurposing old ships:

The MS Galaxy (Tallink) will become a refugee center near Amsterdam.
She’s expected to house up to 1.000 refugees for half a year.
This might later be expanded to up to 1.500 people.
https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/8983437 ... ruiseschip

The village of Velsen-Noord may also get a ship housing a 1.000 refugees.
The dutch refugee service wants to berth the Silja Europa (Tallink) there.
Initial plan was for it to go to Vlissingen (EN: Flushing), but the Vlissingen council rejected the proposal.
There are also a lot of complaints coming from Velsen-Noord. They feel their village (ca 5.300 people) is too small to support that many refugees.
https://nos.nl/artikel/2441374-rederij- ... aar-velsen

william wrote:

Kiwirob wrote:

ArchGuy1 wrote:

Probably very few 1980's aircraft are still flying for first rate airlines and they are likely a 757, 737, 767, or A320. No 1970's aircraft are flying for them. However, most 1960's ocean liners ended up being converted to cruise ships and sailing for over 40 years until they were retired with SOLAS 2010 looming, which sent most of those ships to the scrapyard at over 40 years of age. Most late 1960's and 1970's cruise ships sailed over 40 years with their sailing life ending at least a few years past 2010. 10 years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a 1970's cruise ship, even from the early part of the decade to have been scrapped.

As you said that was 10 years ago, the industry has changed significantly since then.

RCCL announced the new ICON vessels will be larger than the Oasis Class.

We don't know if its physically bigger but it will be heavier than Oasis which grants it largest ship status. A thread on Cruise Critic if one is so inclined to watch its progress of being built.

I have the class drawings for the navigation lights, which includes the dimensions, none of the renders I've seen look like the drawings, a lot of people are in for a surprise.

william wrote:

We don't know if its physically bigger but it will be heavier than Oasis which grants it largest ship status. A thread on Cruise Critic if one is so inclined to watch its progress of being built.

Honestly, I think RCCL is just doing it for ego status. I wouldn't be caught dead in one of their Oasis class ships. The Voyager and Freedom classes are just the right size, with the Quantum class just barely making it. I don't need or want to be in a floating megacity.

It's not bad enough that their Oasis ships all rank at the top 5, but think about the level of pollution each one emits. And now they plan to add ships that could surpass their own Oasis ships? No thanks!

Kiwirob wrote:

I have the class drawings for the navigation lights, which includes the dimensions, none of the renders I've seen look like the drawings, a lot of people are in for a surprise.

Would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

As far as ship sizes, I've always gone on cruises in the 2000+/- passenger size. My wife and I go on cruises to places that aren't really popular, i.e. Norway, Baltic, etc.

johns624 wrote:

Kiwirob wrote:

I have the class drawings for the navigation lights, which includes the dimensions, none of the renders I've seen look like the drawings, a lot of people are in for a surprise.

Would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

As far as ship sizes, I've always gone on cruises in the 2000+/- passenger size. My wife and I go on cruises to places that aren't really popular, i.e. Norway, Baltic, etc.

It's a good looking ship as far as bloated mega ships go.

The Baltic and Norway aren't that unpopular, in my wee village/town we get about 40 ships per year and growing. St Peterburg used to be the largest cruise port in Europe.

Kiwirob wrote:

The Baltic and Norway aren't that unpopular, in my wee village/town we get about 40 ships per year and growing. St Peterburg used to be the largest cruise port in Europe.

I was in the Baltic in 2012 and Norway in 2015. Things have probably changed. I went to Alaska in 2007, before the megaships took over. We always sail on NCL and have been on the Star twice and the Sun, Gem, Pearl and Jewel once. They are all about the same size.

In mid June, the City of Long Beach was weighting a contract with Evolution Hospitality to manage the Queen Mary and reopen on October 1 if critical repairs were done in time. Hope that this is actually taking place.
https://www.presstelegram.com/2022/06/1 ... n-by-oct-1

Introducing Sun Princess® Next Generation Ship | Princess Cruises

https://youtu.be/6rUgPva9hWo

The new ship for Princess cruises .

Recently back off Norwegian Prima. Got to say that NCL has really elevated the experience from the Breakaway Plus class ships.

Decor throughout is stylish and contemporary without trying too hard to be the "in thing." They've changed the setup from a large, single pool up top to a smaller one on the top deck and infinity pools and hot tubs lower down on deck 8 in an area called "Infinity Beach" - a bit like a larger version of The Waterfront found on the Breakaway / Breakaway Plus class.

There's lots to like about what's new onboard. In terms of food, the Indulge Food Hall is a great idea and will remain free of charge. It offers multiple food stands / trucks for grab and go breakfast and made-to-order sharing plates for lunch and dinner. As both the buffet and dining area of The Local feel smaller than other ships, this should be a great alternative venue. They are putting more thought into sustainability and wastage, with ingredients such as banana peel and herbs reused and turned into ingredients for use at the bars onboard.

The go kart track is even bigger and the slides, virtual reality pavilion and activities area that includes interactive darts (more fun than it sounds!), mini golf, beer pong and so on would be great for multi-generational parties or just groups of friends.

Didn't get to see the Donna Summer show but heard good things. The theatre is a bit like what Virgin Voyages have done - the seats fold back and it converts to a gig space. The spa is huge, especially the thermal suite which has two storey waterfalls and feels luxurious.

I'm not much of a photographer so haven't got any pics worth sharing, plus by now there's no doubt a load of video content available anyway.

The ship will be priced at a premium so it won't be the cheapest but I'd recommend it. The sailing I was on was pretty full but it never felt crowded or congested.

I've got my eye on one of the Southampton - Reykjavik sailings next year as it was also my first time to Iceland and I have to go back - the place is breathtaking.

I thought the cruise industry got a bail out too. Royal's new Icon class will not be cheap.

Debt-loaded cruise lines’ shares fall as Fed hikes rate and recession fears grow
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/23/cruise- ... rries.html

"As of Sept. 1, Truist estimates that Carnival holds $35 billion in debt, Royal Caribbean has $25 billion and Norwegian owes $14 billion. Respectively, the companies’ values in the stock market are about $11.01 billion, $11.18 billion and $5.61 billion."

william wrote:

I thought the cruise industry got a bail out too. Royal's new Icon class will not be cheap.

Nope. That's what happens when you hire mainly foreign employees and register your assets offshore. You're no longer an American company.

johns624 wrote:

william wrote:

I thought the cruise industry got a bail out too. Royal's new Icon class will not be cheap.

Nope. That's what happens when you hire mainly foreign employees and register your assets offshore. You're no longer an American company.

Interesting, never thought of that.

https://youtu.be/8pa_dxwLssk

Update on the Icon Ship..