Liberty Europe Cancelled; How do You Cruise in a Tough Economy?

Carnival announced that they've cancelled all of Carnival Liberty's 2009 Europe cruises -- and the news comes just seven months before the season was set to begin! We've seen this type of stop-on-a-dime redeployment when a hurricane rolls in, closing ports and forcing itinerary changes, but it's extremely rare for a big-ship line to cancel an entire season of cruises this close in. Cruising the Continent, or so it seems, is just too expensive.

The cancellation just about spells the end of European cruises (for now at least) for the line. It's true that Carnival Dream, Carnival's newest ship (due out fall 2009) will launch in Europe -- but that ship will sail just three Mediterranean cruises before it heads to Port Canaveral to sail in the Caribbean.

The line cites market conditions, economic uncertainty and the high cost of air to Europe as reasons for the nearly last-second pull out.

The economy may be forcing Carnival to change the way they operate. How about the way you book your cruise? Take our poll and add your two cents about cruising in a tough economy.

I can only assume that at 7 months... they must have had some very low bookings. Or perhaps with the uncertainty, people were canceling very rapidly.

I really wanted to take a European cruise soon but the cost of getting there is prohibitive for me for now. I do not like to downgrade on cabin as the cabin, for me, is an important part of the experience.

Homeports are my preferred option right now but that is very limiting. My next one is out of Miami but I did not have to pay for the flight this time. AA wants $550 ish from Dallas which is nuts. I used to get to London for about that not too long ago.

I'm with you AustinSooner, can't imagine it not having to do with the bookings. I knows that summer flights to the U.K. from the U.S. are very steep, but what I'm most surprised about is that more folks in the U.K. weren't booking -- especially with how convenient it is to get to Dover. With the power of the pound, the prices for these 12-day cruises ($1,249 and up, as listed by Carnival) seem remarkably reasonable. Maybe we can get some U.K. perspective.

Dan

As a special high school graduation gift, I took mt daught on the Liberty in June of '05. We flew round trip to Rome for less than $550. Until that type of pricing comes back we won't be.

We live in So California and are looking at a South America cruise from Santiago to Buenos Aires in January. But we are holding back on booking now because of the price games that the airlines are playing constantly. It is frustrating to see fuel costs going down by 20 to 30% but no corresponding decrease in airline fares.

We are gambling that the airline fare that we book in early December will be lower than what is available now. Also we are gambling that the cruise fare might be a little lower if the cruise bookings are down.

Our option will be not to go at all if we cannot get decent airfare and cruise fare.

Was booked on Liberty for the Sept 2009 sailing from London to Rome. We will still sail in the Med but we'll probably sail again on Celebrity which we have done twice before. We just liked the ports in this London to Rome trip. Oh well thats how things go...sad because we were looking forward to Liberty

LFTM

Your poll didn't include my a category for me. I have not change my cruising plans one bit. Perhaps I am lucky, or perhaps hard work is paying off. I have two cruises booked for 2009. One that I booked in 2007 (yes, two years ahead of time) and one that booked earlier this year, and I have no plans to cancel either one. I have already taken four cruises this year.

For 2010 I will likely go on my first Princess cruise with some people I've been corresponding with on one of the threads in the float away lounge. Beyond that I can think of several cruises I would like to take, including Europe. However, Europe will have to wait until 2011 at the earliest, when I get a full four weeks of vacation time. I do hope that Carnival returns to Europe in the future, and Carnival would most likely be my first choice for a European cruise.

As for airfare, bargains are still available if you are a little flexible and spend a little time looking. For example, I just saved over 33% on a Thanksgiving round trip by delaying my return trip home by a few hours. Prices for my flight to my next cruise have changed very little on my first choice (which is a non-stop). Nonetheless, unless there is a sudden big drop, I will not purchase until I get closer to the departure time.

I plan on keeping my 2009 options free for some time - with the declining Euro and Pound a European cruise may end up being an affordable option. I think we will see some great rate and or free air promotions come Jan-Mar time period if bookings remain flat.

Beyond this I will probably book more oceanview/inside cabins vs. Balconies and spend less onboard - more single glasses of wine vs. full bottles, no spa treatments and no bingo or gambling.

This makes me really Glad I went on the Freedom the beginning of this month - I just knew it was the right time to go.

As far as plans next year, I have a March cruise booked on the Veendam. After that, I might change back to some "See America" vacations. Not because my budget can't afford cruising, but because I think it might be time to put some money back into our economy rather than a foreign country.

We do have an excellent rate on a new cruise, Equinox, for November 2009, but I REALLY want to do is cruise another line which is much more $$$ and Im hoping that prices will drop...

So where will the Liberty be instead of Europe?

It's stupid I had my money and was ready to go. Terrible decision on their part

Personally, I enjoy Europe more as a land vacation. So much to see that can't be done in a day or just in areas close to the water.

I'll be going at the end of March, 2009 for 2 weeks - got r/t tickets to Frankfurt, Germany (cheapest place to fly into) for $624! Not bad. And as of today, the Euro/dollar exchange rate is 1 Euro = $1.25!! That's cheaper than when I was there in 2005. So, I would suggest that if you want to see Europe then go by land. And don't go in summer - go in shoulder seasons.

I'm with you AustinSooner, can't imagine it not having to do with the bookings. I knows that summer flights to the U.K. from the U.S. are very steep, but what I'm most surprised about is that more folks in the U.K. weren't booking -- especially with how convenient it is to get to Dover. With the power of the pound, the prices for these 12-day cruises ($1,249 and up, as listed by Carnival) seem remarkably reasonable. Maybe we can get some U.K. perspective.

 

Dan

here in the uk we dont get the same rates as you do in the us, i priced a july cruise it was roughly 1000 english pounds(a balcony) most cruises are more expensive when we book this side of the pond

Wow! We were booked on the London-Rome cruise on the Carnival Liberty along with a number of cruise critic friends from all over the world. What a bummer! We have previously cruised on Carnival in Europe on the Liberty (2005), the Freedom (2007), and most recently on the Splendor (2008). We were looking forward to returning to some ports we've been to and mostly seeing new ports in Portugal, Spain, and even one new one in France.

Recently we learned that our cruise fare for the Liberty came down which, of course, delighted us, especially with the better pound and euro rates. I agree that people must have cancelled their bookings on the European cruises, but this one was quite reasonable.

We suspect the air fares will drop in the upcoming months as well. Actually, we booked our air for the Splendor cruise last January, and when I went to check the airfares about a month before our cruise, they had come down significantly. Of course, ours was not changable.

Can't say enough how disappointed I am in these Liberty cancellations. Thanks for sharing the information.

I was booked with my two kids (8 and 5) on the June 26 sailing. We are beyond disappointed. The ship did not have much availability, so I'm not sure what it was. We are platinum Carnival cruisers and were thrilled at the thought of Camp Carnival on that voyage along with the free laundry :D

When I called to get my $2,000 deposit back they were non-apologetic and a bit rude....strange for them. The lady asked, "so do you want to cancel your cruise?" I said uh, you cancelled me. And she asked the same question again. Duh.

Anyway, onward to look for something else, but we are extememly disappointed.

To answer the poll, as the economy gets worse, I'll book more and more cruises. Prices are dropping so much that it's becoming the most affordable time to travel. In a period of 12 months I will have cruised the Mediterranean, Bahamas (twice), Southern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, and Alaska. I would say all these trips combined are costing me less than even 1 or 2 would normally cost me during high economic times. Cruising is definitely a wonderful way to see the world.

OMG....My son and I were already booked on the Liberty, leaving Dover in May, 2009. I'm not sure what to do now.

I chose other because I didn't like any of the other choices... I would just book very early and give myself plenty of time to pay it off.

I chose "Other" because I have no intention of changing my cruising plans!!

I sailed on Liberty out of Civitavecchia in 2006. It was cheap but a very good experince. So good that I was actually looking at Carnival's limited European selection for next year The ship was so large you would never know that there were 3000 passengers. Iespecially liked the poolside movies. Cruise director John Heald really added to the experience. It's too bad but the economic crisis has got to be hurting cruise industry. I've been getting some incredible offers by email for cruises that shoould be sold out already.

I cancelled ours due to airfare. I am booked on Exotic West. Carib out of tampa but think I am going to change to NOLA so I can spend Halloween in my favorite city. I can't handle missing another Halloween there. I figure the difference in cost more than pays for the flight and the stuff I do down there.

For us, the issue is airfare, not the cruise itself. The past two years for our February cruise, we flew out of Newburgh on Air Tran. Decent prices, good flights - and we were planning to fly them again for our Glory cruise in February 09. However, Air Tran has pulled out of Newburgh. We were able to get flights on Southwest, but I think after February we're sticking to sailing out of ports within driving distance. We're booked on Miracle out of NYC in July, and for February 2010 we're looking at Pride out of Baltimore.

Great question, CruisePup, sorry we didn't answer it outright. Carnival Liberty is going to stay Miami-based (as it is through the winter) but will shake up its rotating Eastern and Western Caribbean routes a bit for the spring and summer....

Starting April 25, the "exotic Eastern Caribbean cruise" will call Half Moon Cay, a private Bahamian island; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands. The western route will visit Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel.

But "exotic" is clearly marketing speak here. There's nothing exotic about those ports. So ignore the hyperbole and have fun if you go but Carnival must think we're all rubes to buy its "exotic" positioning.

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

Mexico

So where will the Liberty be instead of Europe?