If you're like us (not that we'd wish that on anybody), you were probably wondering when the biggest cruise ship in the world would be on the move.
Oasis of the Seas is going to Europe.
It's only temporary…a prop in the water, if you will. It's going to happen in 2014, for a couple of months in the fall. That will give Europeans a taste of life on the Oasis, and passengers on both sides of the Atlantic to cross the ocean on her. It had to happen eventually, and maybe the "can" is now open.
Think about this: With Oasis and her sister, Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean has since 2010 had two ships taking 6,000 passengers — each — to various parts of the Caribbean. The math is that's 12,000 people a week, 624,000 a year. 
At what point does it become stale enough that the ships aren't full?
This story has at least a couple of layers.
One is that readers of Cruise Industry News had a heads-up. Three years ago, before Allure of the Seas was even in the water, CIN pointed out that Royal Caribbean had a history of moving its bigger ships to Europe, that Mediterranean ports were starting to make upgrades to be able to accommodate Oasis-like ships and that the cruise line had no time commitment to keep the big ships in Florida.
It did have a people commitment. According to CIN, the 10-year deal between Royal Caribbean and Port Everglades was a commitment to 17 million passenger movements by 2018 for all the brand's ships (that includes Celebrity and Azamara). After almost five years, Oasis and Allure alone have probably done two million of them.
So taking a couple of months' vacation from Florida is acceptable.
The other "layer" is the timing. It appears Royal Caribbean's strategy is brilliant. By taking "Central Park" and all the other spectacular Oasis amenities to Europe, it gives Mediterranean cruisers a first-hand idea of what this kind of big-ship experience is like…just in case it one day becomes permanent.
Next fall — right, 2014 — marks the arrival the latest and greatest Royal Caribbean ship, Quantum of the Seas, followed six months later by an un-named "latest and greatest" sister ship.
Now this is highly speculative, of course, but if Oasis and/or Allure do become "tired" Caribbean commodities, voila! Send one or both to Europe, where the market has already been tested, and use Quantum and its sister to draw North Americans to ships they've never seen and in the process help Royal Caribbean fulfill its contractual commitment of 17 million passenger movements.
Who says cruise strategy is complicated?
Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas
7 nights
May 3, 2013
Baltimore (return): King's Wharf
Inside: $599
Cost per day: $85
www.royalcaribbean.com