It is official: Brief cruises on large ships appear to be the flavour of the month within the cruise world.
Royal Caribbean on Wednesday introduced it could reassign its large, 18-deck-high Surprise of the Seas — the world’s second greatest cruise ship — to brief three- and four-night sailings out of Miami beginning in August 2025.
The 2-year-old vessel, which might maintain as much as 7,084 passengers, at the moment sails seven-night voyages out of Port Canaveral in Florida.
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The announcement comes simply 4 months earlier than the debut of Royal Caribbean’s large new Utopia of the Seas, a sister ship to Surprise of the Seas that additionally will sail brief three- and four-night sailings out of Port Canaveral.
Collectively, the 2 deployments will imply that two of the world’s 4 largest and latest cruise ships will sail quickie journeys out of Florida — one thing that’s unprecedented within the historical past of cruising.
Historically, main cruise traces similar to Royal Caribbean have devoted their latest and largest ships to longer seven-night sailings out of Florida — a extra profitable market — and positioned older and smaller vessels on shorter runs.
Royal Caribbean’s strikes with Surprise of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas is a daring wager that inserting two of its newest and best vessels within the short-cruise market will drive a surge of recent clients.
In an interview with TPG upfront of the Utopia of the Seas announcement, Kara Wallace, Royal Caribbean’s chief advertising and marketing officer, recommended that Royal Caribbean was particularly going after the “new to cruise” market with such sailings. The time period refers to individuals who have by no means cruised earlier than.
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It is a section of vacationers that usually is cautious of reserving a cruise longer than three or 4 days in case they do not like it.
Placing one in all Royal Caribbean’s latest and most amenity-filled ships on brief cruises will let the road “make that first impression, one of the best impression” with first-time cruisers, she added on the time.
Quickie cruises to the Bahamas
The brand new brief cruises to be operated by Surprise of the Seas out of Miami will likely be all-Bahamas itineraries with stops at two locations: Nassau on the island of New Windfall and Good Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s personal island within the Bahamas.
Fares for the sailings, which can kick off Aug. 25, 2025, begin at $321 per individual, based mostly on double occupancy, for the three-night sailings. 4-night sailings begin at $341 per individual, based mostly on double occupancy.
Each Surprise of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas are a part of Royal Caribbean’s enormously widespread Oasis Class of ships.
Launched in 2009 with the debut of Oasis of the Seas, the Oasis Class ships have dominated the world of mega-size cruise ships since that 12 months and nonetheless account for 5 of the world’s six largest cruise ships. Solely Royal Caribbean’s just lately unveiled Icon of the Seas is greater.
Associated: Our likes, dislikes about Surprise of the Seas
When the Oasis Class started rolling out, the vessels within the sequence have been round 40% greater than the next-biggest cruise ships. The Oasis Class ships and the brand new Icon of the Seas have continued to be the most important and most amenity-laden ships on the planet ever since.
Till this 12 months, the Oasis Class ships have centered on seven-night sailings, largely within the Caribbean however sometimes in Europe. 4 of the six ships within the class — Symphony of the Seas, Concord of the Seas, Attract of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas — proceed to deal with seven-night sailings.
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