Anyone want RCL to return to the West Coast Mexico sailings?

That's pretty much the meat and potatoes right there.

 

From what I remember, it wasn't just the violence in Mexico. The on-board spending from the West Coast departures was much lower then the rest of the fleet. It was primarily locals who didn't spend much onboard. Throw in the limitations of itineraries (just not that many places to go to in a weeks time), and it made it harder to make money there then elsewhere.

 

Now RCI is sending some of their newer ships to Asia (Quantum class, for example) while selling off some of the older, Vision class. It may be that they try a seasonal ship again sometime I guess.

Expenses were higher in California too, further reducing profits.

That's pretty much the meat and potatoes right there.

 

From what I remember, it wasn't just the violence in Mexico. The on-board spending from the West Coast departures was much lower then the rest of the fleet. It was primarily locals who didn't spend much onboard. Throw in the limitations of itineraries (just not that many places to go to in a weeks time), and it made it harder to make money there then elsewhere.

 

Now RCI is sending some of their newer ships to Asia (Quantum class, for example) while selling off some of the older, Vision class. It may be that they try a seasonal ship again sometime I guess.

Steve,

I think you are on to an interesting thought... and maybe a west coast sail might be in our future again.

Would love to see California coastal cruise back. Did one in 2015 & it was great. Skip Mexico & add in Pacific Northwest, Canada instead.

Would love to see California coastal cruise back. Did one in 2015 & it was great. Skip Mexico & add in Pacific Northwest, Canada instead.

RC Explorer is doing Pacific Coastal cruises in September.

Considering that I live between San Diego and Los Angeles...ABSOLUTELY ! I used to love the Cabo cruises!!!...Cabo is great!!!...Yes Western Mexico has had its share of problems over the last few years but no more then other places that cruises do travel to.

I would love for rccl to cruise out of california. We wouldn't have to fly across an ocean and across the united states to take a cruise. [emoji106] [emoji106]

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I don't care about west coast sailing to Mexico but if the Maritime Service Act went away there could be some interesting sailings with USA itineraries.

 

Personally I would much rather see RCCL return to New Orleans. Much rather!

Agree! We've done a couple of Pacific coastal cruises and loved being able to drive to the port.

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Though I'd much rather be cruising on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean, we now cruise at least once a year on Princess...because, from here, it's basically them or Carnival...and we won't do Carnival.

We just did an 8 night Christmas cruise on Princess...and would much rather have done it on RCCL...All of our Princess cruises, BTW, have sailed FULL...and ALL cruise lines fail to fill up their ships for every cruise and need to resort to some cut rate tactics to fill ships...RCCL included.

I also believe that "people on the West Coast don't spend as much" rant is completely unfounded. I have friends who are or have been executives at Princess and Celebrity...and they all say "not true". It is really more of the following:

1) Reaction to bad press about the Mexican crime situation...and

2) Higher cost of compliance with California environmental laws...and

3) RCCL's belief that they can make more money sending ships to foreign markets such as China/the perception those foreign tourists have more money to burn.

One problem they haven't properly considered is that, between California and neighboring states, there are over 80 million people here...and they are conceding those customers to Carnival Corp. People taking their first cruise tend to take less costly first cruises close to home, then tend to go back time and again to the familiar. Big marketing mistake in my view.

We typically do a lot of cruising...But, we can't fly across the country or around the world for every cruise. The ability to drive to San Pedro..or even San Diego...is worth quite a bit to us...it allows us to take a third or fourth cruise every year. It also gives Princess continual chances to earn some loyalty with them.

I would love to see a return of the cruise industry to the Mexican Riviera. The 10 or 11 day cruises south to Acapulco were the perfect length for a vacation. Add a 2 or 3 days on either end taking advantage of Southern California and you had a full 2 weeks of fun and relaxation.Our last ten day cruise was on board the Radiance of the Seas. We'll be returning to this ship next week when we board in Honolulu.

We've cruised 23 times so far, with 14 of those trips in Mexico if you don't count coming up the coast from the Panama Canal. While we love Hawaii and Alaska, the difference is in the people. In Mexico, you are the economy and they welcome your arrival. In other places, you're just another tourist. In some places in the Caribbean, you get the stink eye from the locals. You couldn't be less appreciated. I've never been to Mexico and didn't feel welcome.

Fearmongering is mainly to blame. The warm hearts of the Mexican people doesn't make the news. California put the stake through the heart of the cruise industry here with their environmental regulations and requirements that you purchase gas here for your cruise there.

During the last five years, we've had to resort to Carnival to tour Mexico, but its hard to enjoy the cruise if you can't enjoy the ship.

I would love it if they added that, and the Panama Canal :)

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Absolutely! I would jump on it! We enjoy cruising on Royal Caribbean.

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Mariner is leaving Asia when quantum 4 comes out. Heading to Miami.

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That's pretty much the meat and potatoes right there.

 

 

 

From what I remember, it wasn't just the violence in Mexico. The on-board spending from the West Coast departures was much lower then the rest of the fleet. It was primarily locals who didn't spend much onboard. Throw in the limitations of itineraries (just not that many places to go to in a weeks time), and it made it harder to make money there then elsewhere.

 

 

 

Now RCI is sending some of their newer ships to Asia (Quantum class, for example) while selling off some of the older, Vision class. It may be that they try a seasonal ship again sometime I guess.

Of course us Californian's didn't spend much onboard. Hell Bay Area family making 105k a year is now considered low income.

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Leave it to Commifornia to drive away big business. If there's one thing they're good at, it's breaking things that ain't broke...Well, I mean the state itself is broke, but...

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2017/10/26/disney-cruise-line-expand-voyages-out-san-diego/802711001/

Looks like Disney is returning to Sand Diego. Will RCCL be next?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2017/10/26/disney-cruise-line-expand-voyages-out-san-diego/802711001/

 

Looks like Disney is returning to Sand Diego. Will RCCL be next?

Interesting to see Disney choosing to run out of San Diego...always figured part of the reason for Disney to enter the cruise business was to package cruises with visits to their theme parks/hotels...So, San Pedro would make more sense—closer to Anaheim...

But, I guess they have no problem filling their parks and hotels, so San Diego makes sense. There are some benefits to San Diego—pier is closer to airport, port closer to Mexican ports.

Nice to have Disney coming back...but doubt we will go with them—kids are grown...I’m still hoping for a return to LA by Royal Caribbean/Celebrity...

I'd definitely love L.A. sailings. We're doing Carnival for shurts and giggles in Dec 17. Booked Celebrity to Alaska June 18 and NCL Bliss out of L.A. Oct 18. I prefer to go on the newer, larger ships so stuck flying the day before to FL leaving Cali at 6am arriving FL 5pm. It's an all day affair that kinda sucks, especially when AA has a delay, mechanical or cancellation. The only thing to look forward to is first class, even that's typically on an older 737. Harmony, oh how I miss you. Symphony my love, I'm coming to see you sooooon! Dec 18 & April 19!

If in the future Royal brings a ship back to the West Coast, I would love to see them do a round trip Alaska out of San Pedro or San Diego vs their 7 days. Princess does the round trips but I have stopped sailing Princess not because I didn't enjoy them but they are higher in price in comparison to same cruises on Royal.

I am truly shocked at how many Americans believe the violence in Mexico is so scary that they won't even venture into a port city, yet those same Americans do not realize that some of the highest crime rates in the world are in the Caribbean, and they joyfully troop off the ships in the Caribbean.

A major difference between crime in Mexico and crime in the Caribbean is the population the crime is directed at: in Mexico, it's pretty much all drug on drug violence, and if you aren't associated in any way with drugs, the cartels have zero interest in you; in the Caribbean, it is directed at tourists as much as at the local population, and cruisers certainly qualify as tourists.

There is a well-known site that specializes in law that concerns cruise ship companies and their destinations that regularly publishes the crimes that are directed at tourists--and the majority of the crime reports come from the Caribbean.

No question that the press is unfair to Mexico in its coverage of crime there and unfair to tourists in its coverage of crime in the Caribbean.

check the web site howsafeismexico and add a .com

I agree with last post. If Disney can go to Mexico so can RCI. Also the Panama Canal should be added in. I think RCI takes their name Royal Caribbean to heart.

Frankly I would like to see cruise up and down the west coast going to San Fran, or into Oregon. Princess does these cruise and they are popular. But really the Panama Canal is fun and should be included again into RCI cruises.

I also wish RCI would have more to Iceland. Did you know that Celebrity is doing cruises out of Dublin. So should RCI.

Been tooting my horn ever since Mariner of the Seas left San Pedro to go to Europe .

Perhaps RCCL corp is re evaluating the sales & profits they loose by not deploying a ship here in California :)

If in the future Royal brings a ship back to the West Coast, I would love to see them do a round trip Alaska out of San Pedro or San Diego vs their 7 days. Princess does the round trips but I have stopped sailing Princess not because I didn't enjoy them but they are higher in price in comparison to same cruises on Royal.

I would like anything out of the west coast and the idea of a round trip to Alaska from there might appeal to more people. The old arguments about people didn't spend enough on board etc etc was in the days of the 2008 recession. things have changed.

I am truly shocked at how many Americans believe the violence in Mexico is so scary that they won't even venture into a port city, yet those same Americans do not realize that some of the highest crime rates in the world are in the Caribbean, and they joyfully troop off the ships in the Caribbean.

 

A major difference between crime in Mexico and crime in the Caribbean is the population the crime is directed at: in Mexico, it's pretty much all drug on drug violence, and if you aren't associated in any way with drugs, the cartels have zero interest in you; in the Caribbean, it is directed at tourists as much as at the local population, and cruisers certainly qualify as tourists.

 

There is a well-known site that specializes in law that concerns cruise ship companies and their destinations that regularly publishes the crimes that are directed at tourists--and the majority of the crime reports come from the Caribbean.

 

No question that the press is unfair to Mexico in its coverage of crime there and unfair to tourists in its coverage of crime in the Caribbean.

 

check the web site howsafeismexico and add a .com

We did a Mexican Riviera cruise out of San Diego a few years back. The worst cruise we have ever been on. Acapulco needs to get out of the '50's.

Your assessment of the level of violence may be true, but the evidence tells me otherwise. On each port stop in Mexico, the cities had police with sub-machine guns strapped over their shoulder. I can't remember the last time I've even seen a gun in the Caribbean.

That's because Mexico uses the army to protect tourists--and locals. They value their tourists (and their dollars). Do some reading on cruiselawnews.com You'll be surprised at what you don't know about the Caribbean.

I would love to see RC come to the west coast.

We have a home in Cabo and live there half the year. We get up to 4 ships a day including Carnival, Holland, NCL, Princess, Celebrity, Disney and a few of the smaller pricier lines. We do get Royal a few times when they are coming thru the Panama canal and I think there is a south pacific repositioning that stops in Cabo. Carnival has an itinerary that includes 2 days in Cabo.

All of the ships seem full. However, Cabo does not have a dock and they have to tender, which turns some people off. A few ports do not really get cruises do to crime on tourist, so the Mexican Rivera ports are limited IMO.

I agree with some above posts that the violence in Cabo is cartel on cartel - no issues with tourist at all (although we do have a lot of tourist drown when they swim where they are not supposed to swim). Same can't be said of some of the Caribbean ports.