Royal Caribbean to reject one of the proposed new ship names???

Well I love a bit of gossip on a Monday morning, it shakes away those new week blues. This morning’s first juicy piece comes courtesy of Royal Caribbean. In 2012 they applied for trademarks for six new ship names. Two of these have been already used with the impending launch of Quantum of the Seas on the 2nd November 2014 and Anthem of the Seas due for completion in 2015.

This left four names remaining for consideration:

• Vantage of the Seas
• Ovation of the Seas
• Passion of the Seas
• Pulse of the Seas

News filtering out this morning seems to be that they have let Vantage of the Seas lapse, which may be an indication that they have decided to drop this option. The more cynical of us could maybe feel that the similar name of P&O Vantage pricing, with their price promise guarantee, may have had an influence in the dropping of the name – well at least they weren’t thinking of Getaway as a name with the odour of cheapest price and allocation on arrival wafting around it (sorry NCL).

All this taking of names leads me to ask, What impact does you name have on people’s opinions of you? Would someone be put off dealing with you if you were called Chardonnay, Kylie or Kanye?

This is quite a controversial topic and if any of you watch This Morning you will know how passionate both side of the argument are over whether this is fair or not. Katie Hopkins, of The Apprentice infamy, sat on the sofa with Philip and Holly and announced she decides who she lets her children play with depending on their name. If a child was called Tyler, Charmaine, Chantel or Chardonnay that she simply would not let her children bring them home after school, invite them to parties and would actively encourage them not to play with them at all. She feels a name can instantly identify what class someone is and there fore whether or not they are a suitable child to be associated with. I, like many people, watched in horror as she was sitting there deadly serious and I thought poor Holly was either going to pass out or get into fisty cuffs with her. Over 30,000 people have watched the exchange on youtube with many feeling she may have just did it to be controversial, but I believe she actually does this.

While watching the show my reaction was very similar to Holly’s above!!!

So Royal Caribbean are not the only ones out there judging people, products, places and ships solely by their names (if that indeed is why they have decided not to use it). Are they right in doing so, judging a book by its cover? Maybe not, but it does happen and it appears the world of cruising are not going to escape this either.

Would sailing on a ship called ‘Cheap as Chips’ or ‘Bargain Basement Cruises’ stop me from going – definitely not!! As long as the reviews are good, the itineraries are superb and the ships themselves are state of the art and fabulous why should we really let their name put us off booking them. Its all about on board personal experience, standard and enjoyment – and that’s what I feel a ship should only be judged on.