{"id":11312,"date":"2013-04-24T09:23:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T09:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/bigger-better-best-royal-caribbean-wraps-up-monumental-season\/"},"modified":"2013-04-24T09:23:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-24T09:23:00","slug":"bigger-better-best-royal-caribbean-wraps-up-monumental-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/04\/bigger-better-best-royal-caribbean-wraps-up-monumental-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigger, better, best – Royal Caribbean wraps up monumental season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Save hours on your travel research. Get brochures delivered to your door for free. Digital option too.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

This evening,\u00a0<\/span>Rhapsody of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0departs Sydney for the last time this season, marking the official end to Australia\u2019s summer cruise season and wrapping up a season full of superlatives for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises \u2013 bigger, grander, more beautiful and more popular than ever before.<\/span>

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Australians enjoyed the biggest and most innovative ships ever to be homeported here with features never before seen in the region \u2013 like ice skating on\u00a0Voyager of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 as well as a real life lawn on\u00a0Celebrity Solstice,\u00a0<\/i>the newest and most stylish superliner based down under.<\/div>\n
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In all, the cruise company had five ships from two cruise lines in Australia for the summer, carrying 170,000 guests \u2013 nearly twice as many as the previous season.\u00a0 With three ships sailing in the region, Royal Caribbean International became the largest cruise line in Sydney while sister brand Celebrity Cruises had two ships here for the first time.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u201cJust three years ago we had one ship offering 15 sailings from Sydney; today we have a fleet of five world class superliners and almost 70 cruises on offer,\u201d said Adam Armstrong, commercial director, Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited Australia.\u00a0 \u201cThis season we also introduced the two largest and newest superliners ever based in Australia.\u00a0 The arrival of\u00a0Voyager of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Celebrity Solstice<\/i>\u00a0made headlines across the country and redefined Australian cruising forever.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Royal Caribbean\u2019s\u00a0Voyager of the Seas<\/i>,\u00a0Radiance of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Rhapsody of the Seas<\/i>, and Celebrity Cruises\u2019\u00a0Celebrity Solstice<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Celebrity Millennium<\/i>\u00a0sailed a total of 67 cruises and visited\u00a054 ports in 14 countries.\u00a0Compared to the previous season, the number of cruise nights doubled while the total number of cruises sailed increased by 50 per cent.<\/div>\n
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During the season, the three Royal Caribbean ships sailed 53 cruises and called on 49 ports in 14 countries, including new ports calls to Singapore,Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Picton, New Zealand.\u00a0Celebrity Cruises\u2019 2012-13 Australian season featured 14 cruises calling on 35 ports in nine countries. This included first visits for the cruise line to\u00a0Port Douglas, Port Hedland, Noumea, Singapore and Bali.<\/div>\n
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Guest Nationality<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
Australians and New Zealanders made up three quarters of all guests sailing on the two cruise lines over summer.\u00a0 Overseas guests came from 116 countries \u2013 including some unexpected nations like Botswana, Uzbekistan and Guatemala \u2013 with a large 176% growth in guests from China.\u00a0 Overseas guests were particularly drawn to\u00a0Celebrity Solstice<\/i>, accounting for some 55% of guests.\u00a0 \u201cThis is one of the unique selling points of our ships in this region; we offer a very international cruise experience in which Aussies and Kiwis will holiday alongside a diverse mix of interesting nationalities,\u201d said Armstrong.\u00a0 \u201cIt creates a fantastic, cosmopolitan atmosphere onboard.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Popular Cruises<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
South Pacific itineraries proved the most popular on Royal Caribbean ships, while New Zealand itineraries were the hot favourites on\u00a0Celebrity Solstice<\/i>.\u00a0 \u201cDemand was very strong for Fiji and New Year cruises, as well as\u00a0Voyager of the Seas\u2019<\/i>\u00a0repositioning cruise from Asia to Perth, which attracted a large number of newcomers to Royal Caribbean from WA.\u00a0 Several\u00a0Voyager of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0sailings were over 90 per cent filled six months prior to departure \u2013 demonstrating strong demand for the maiden season of Australia\u2019s first megaliner,\u201d said Armstrong.<\/div>\n
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The 2013-14 Season<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
Royal Caribbean will be back for another big summer this October, with\u00a0Rhapsody of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0the first ship off the mark, arriving in Sydney on 5 October 2013, followed closely by\u00a0Radiance of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0on 11 October and\u00a0Voyager of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0on 7 November.\u00a0Celebrity Solstice<\/i>\u00a0arrives in Sydney on 23 October and\u00a0Celebrity Millennium<\/i>\u00a0calls in for a brief visit on her way from Alaska to Asia.<\/div>\n
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According to Armstrong, \u201cBooking momentum is solid for both cruise lines \u2013 and prices are increasing \u2013although it\u2019s not too late to book for next summer, with cruises available from under $1,000 per person for seven nights.\u201d<\/div>\n
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A seven-night Tasmanian cruise on\u00a0Radiance of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0departing 27 January 2014 starts from just $899 per person, while a pre-Christmas seven-night cruise on\u00a0Rhapsody of the Seas<\/i>\u00a0departing 12 December to Tasmania starts from $999 per person.\u00a0 If you want to experience the many attractions on Australia\u2019s largest cruise ship,\u00a0Voyager of the Seas<\/i>, 11 nights on a New Zealand cruise departing 24 January 2014 will give you plenty of time to explore \u2013 and fares start from just $1,399 per person.\u00a0 If modern luxury is more your style, then try the 12-night New Zealand cruise on\u00a0Celebrity Solstice<\/i>\u00a0departing from Sydney on 28 November 2013 and sailing to Auckland, with fares from $1,309 per person.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Save hours on your travel research. Get brochures delivered to your door for free. Digital option too. This evening,\u00a0Rhapsody of the Seas\u00a0departs Sydney for the last time this season, marking the official end to Australia\u2019s summer cruise season and wrapping up a season full of superlatives for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises \u2013 bigger, grander, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}