West Coast again getting less ships???

[quincytoo]

We just got off the Mariner and she was a beautiful ship. I have not sailed the Sapphire (scheduled for December, hurraaaaay). But don't think that it would be "settling" to sail the Mariner. :)

 

Katherine

 

Opps!!! I didn't mean to sound like I was settling (if I did sound like that lol) We have had many friends who have sailed the Marnier and LOVE the ship and crew and we loved their pictures. I am actually quite excited about trying a new line, I just wish we had more choices on the Westcoast.

[BaileyandBella]

We cruise the Sapphire in 2 days....I will let you know. :)

[BruceMuzz]

Bruce,

 

Are you in the cruise marketing research business? Sounds like you have a lot of inside information in terms of marketing research.

 

Not quite.

I am a senior officer on cruise ships for the past few decades.

We are always included in the interminable weekly and monthly conference calls with Head Office.

Topics discussed: Finance, Yield, Budgets, and Marketing.

[mikjr]

I checked Celebrity's 2010/11 schedule... and found only FOUR cruises originating from Los Angeles during all of 2010... two to Alaska and two to Panama! One of our best cruises was the Summit to Hawaii. They have virtually stopped all cruises to Mexico and Hawaii. Very sad indeed! :(

[kath00]

Yes, I noticed there are no Celebrity ships at all in CA. Mercury is the only one for 2 sailings that I saw and it's the oldest ship in their fleet. I hear it does not handle rough seas well and going up towards AK can be rough -- so I am not going to book that ship no matter what....

 

RCCL's the Mariner was fabulous last week! Too bad it's year round to 3 ports in MX that just about everyone has already been to.

 

Katherine

[RickEk]

Yes, I noticed there are no Celebrity ships at all in CA. Mercury is the only one for 2 sailings that I saw and it's the oldest ship in their fleet. I hear it does not handle rough seas well and going up towards AK can be rough -- so I am not going to book that ship no matter what....

 

RCCL's the Mariner was fabulous last week! Too bad it's year round to 3 ports in MX that just about everyone has already been to.

 

Katherine

 

Well, at least with RCCL's big ships, the ship IS the destination...

[Working 2 Cruise]

We cruise the Sapphire in 2 days....I will let you know. :)

 

I have two cruises booked on the Sapphire Princess, so any inputs and evaluations would be great to know! As you may be aware, apparently, there may be a happy hour starting at 8:00 p.m., with well drinks and beers at $2.99 each. Could you verify if this is happening on "our" ship as well?

 

Also, could you check on the crab leg status on our ship?

 

Thank you so much, and have a fantastic cruise!:)

[Putterdude]

Mercury is the only one for 2 sailings that I saw and it's the oldest ship in their fleet. I hear it does not handle rough seas well and going up towards AK can be rough -- so I am not going to book that ship no matter what....

 

Katherine

 

The Mercury is indeed one of the oldest ships in the Celebrity fleet but it is not true that she doesn't handle seas well. They do use her a lot during the Alaska season on the 7 day rtn itinerary in the Inside Passage so I don't know where you would have got that information about rough seas. She is only 13 years old and is wonderfully maintained. At 78,000 tons and some 866 ft she is not exactly small...some would say she is "right sized" and she has legions of fans who sail on her year after year both in Alaska, Pacific Coastals and in the Caribbean and just love her.

[tequilasunrise]

Interesting about the fuel and California. That does explain a lot.

 

If they are looking for shore excursions, they ought to think about taking some of their ships into Portland Oregon. Large naval ships make it, and The World cruise ship did too, so most cruise ships can get in there. The docks at Portland and Vancouver, Washington (across the river) are nice and well kept. Portland is a very unique place, with art, science and history museums; the nation's largest farmers market is very near it's ship pier and their lightrail takes you to it; edgy culture and shopping; a large modern zoo; and nightlife. There is the Lewis and Clark trail, the Columbia Gorge for nature lovers, they could do a Williamette Valley wine tour, Oregon Trail, there are sailing and speedboats on the two rivers there. There's a sternwheeler than offers excursions up to a nearby dam, which could be toured. Mt. Hood isn't far either, with ziplining, skiiing, tubing, and a summer luge course.

 

And it's easy to add in Astoria and Seattle to round out a NW experience. But, they are all fairly different from each other.

 

Of interest, the 4 and 5 day roundtrip either Seattle or Vancouver going to Ketchikan that they've been testing the last couple of years have been quickly waitlisted, and at prices higher than the cost most 7 day cruises (much to my disappointment, being from the Seattle area I wanted them to drop low). There might be a market for some NW cruises.

[kath00]

On the Mariner last week our ship refueled in Puerto Vallarta. I am pretty sure there was no special fuel being offered in MX for our cruise ship. ;) It took all day to get the giant tank of gas it but then we were good to go till LA.

 

Katherine

[here2cruise]

I don't get it, they always seem to fill the ships that leave from San Francisco.

 

We are booked on the Sea Princess this coming September.

 

We have done several Princess cruises out of San Francisco, along with Celebrity in the past. Would love to do more.

 

When we cruise, I always write on my cruise questionnaire, that I would like to see some ships cruising from San Francisco.

 

i tried to find one on our cruise 2 weeks ago and i couldn't find any to fill out. are they at the Purcer's desk?

[willyguy]

I just read an article on US News. The author quoted Princess President as saying the Sea Princess will be in Australia in 2011 and the Sapphire will also be there in 2011! :eek::eek::eek:

 

Where does that leave us poor West Coasters????????

 

There's nothing in the article that suggest that Princess or any cruise line is completely abandoning the West coast and Mexico. However, it's not uncommon for cruise lines to move ships from region to region in areas that command higher demand and tariffs. It looks like Sapphire will be in Mexico till May 2011, probably summer in Alaska and then off to Australian in late 2011. Princess could then move another ship within it's fleet into Mexico for the Fall Mexico 2011 sailings....only speculation at this point as no cruise line has any itineraries posted past summer 2011. I do expect Mariner of the Seas as well as Carnival Splendor and a HAL ship to remain on the west coast for sometime. Many folks on the west coast simply don't like to fly and the Mexico sailings are just very convenient for them. So I won't worry at the point unless something major hits the area and people stop going to Mexico.

Well does anybody know when princess will put out the information about Mexico?

[Nancyquilts]

i tried to find one on our cruise 2 weeks ago and i couldn't find any to fill out. are they at the Purcer's desk?

There should have been one sent to your room a day or so before you leave. Or the Purser's desk should have them.

[junglejane]

We just got off the Mariner and she was a beautiful ship. I have not sailed the Sapphire (scheduled for December, hurraaaaay). But don't think that it would be "settling" to sail the Mariner. :)

 

Katherine

 

We have done the Mexican Riviera four times now (Diamond, Golden, Sapphire and Mariner of the Seas). In fact, we were on the Sapphire in October and the Mariner in March. It was fun to try a different cruise line and a different ship. Overall, Princess is definitely a better fit for us, but there was a lot we liked about the Mariner of the Seas. We live in Phoenix and like the MR (instead of the Caribbean) because we can drive or fly there relatively cheaply. For us, those trips are more about the enjoying the ships instead of the itinerary. :) We hope we continue to have some options on the West Coast.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I checked Celebrity's 2010/11 schedule... and found only FOUR cruises originating from Los Angeles during all of 2010... two to Alaska and two to Panama! One of our best cruises was the Summit to Hawaii. They have virtually stopped all cruises to Mexico and Hawaii. Very sad indeed! :(

 

I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that Celebrity dropped the Hawaii cruise while the PVSA added restrictions were still being considered. I thought at the time that perhaps they thought the restrictions would go through (fortunately they weren't). After that, they just didn't bring them back.

[Atomica]

I could be wrong' date=' but it seemed to me that Celebrity dropped the Hawaii cruise while the PVSA added restrictions were still being considered. I thought at the time that perhaps they thought the restrictions would go through (fortunately they weren't). After that, they just didn't bring them back.[/quote']

 

Many lines did just this. The impending restrictions, although they never saw the light of day, were enough to discourage many lines from operating Hawaii cruises.

 

Unless NCLA suddenly disappears, don't expect the regular lines to come back to this run and offer capacity like they had five or six years ago.

[pris993]

i tried to find one on our cruise 2 weeks ago and i couldn't find any to fill out. are they at the Purcer's desk?

 

Your room steward should be giving you a questionnaire to complete on the last day. If not ask at the guest services desk.

[PacificJack]

I've just heard that the Mariner will be leaving the West Coast in 2011 after several years of boring weekly trips to the Walmart in Puerto Vallarta and back.

 

Royal Caribbean execs live in Coral Gables and seem to have no understanding of the West Coast market. I'm sure they do market surveys though show West Coast residents turning to other outlets for their vacations. If they had relied on market surveys in the beginning there'd be no cruise industry today.

 

How can they be so myopic about the developing markets around the Pacific Rim? Do the cruise programmers for Royal Caribbean have so little imagination that repetitive week long cruises to Puerto Vallarta are all they can think of? Are they so enamored of the European markets that they forget that there is a Pacific market as well as an Atlantic market?

 

If they want to force us to fly, then at least give us advantageous rates on Business Class flights. As it is the group flight rates from Royal Caribbean cost more than self-bookings and offer fewer privileges, so Royal Caribbean guests are forced into the tight seating at the back of the aircraft while those booking individually who pay less are given the comfort at the front of the aircraft.

 

Moreover, don't the Royal Caribbean execs realize that once they force West Coast customers to fly to cruise then all sorts of alterantive vacations, also requiring those painful airline voyages, open up?

 

Adam Goldstein, move to San Diego, so you, at least, can get some perspective on your job and build this cruise line toward its potential.

[shipfriend_max]

I just read an article on US News. The author quoted Princess President as saying the Sea Princess will be in Australia in 2011 and the Sapphire will also be there in 2011! :eek::eek::eek:

 

Where does that leave us poor West Coasters????????

 

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=85089.blog

 

I think that these following ships visit Alaska and the west coast in 2011:

Sapphire Princess (coastal voyage Los Angeles to Vancouver: May 7, 2011)

Diamond Princess

Island Princess

Coral Princess

Golden Princess.

 

Oh, 5 ships in 2011. In 2010 there are 7 ships, so the capacity on the west coast will be reduced... :eek::eek:

[kath00]

I've just heard that the Mariner will be leaving the West Coast in 2011 after several years of boring weekly trips to the Walmart in Puerto Vallarta and back.

 

 

Where did you hear that??? We just got off the Mariner and spoke to Capt. Johnny about this over dinner and he said nothing about the Mariner leaving. He did hint about the possibility of the Mariner going up to Alaska in the summers, and our waiter actually saw a post on the employee bulletin board that said that the ship will be sailing north in May 2011. Capt Johnny said there are "many changes" in the lineup of the ships and that even as of last week, they did not have final itiniaries out yet for the Summer of 2011.

 

Katherine

[Saruman]

sorry, duplicate reply

[Saruman]

Previous poster says, "If they want to force us to fly, then at least give us advantageous rates on Business Class flights....

...Moreover, don't the Royal Caribbean execs realize that once they force West Coast customers to fly to cruise then all sorts of alterantive vacations, also requiring those painful airline voyages, open up?"

 

 

Just wondering: Has anyone done any studies to show just what percentage of cruise passengers are coastal residents and what percentage are the rest of us (from the rest of the US and the world) who are "forced to fly"? I'm sure it is easier and cheaper to just drive to a port, and that a large number of passengers fit this description, but judging from the folks we've met and the home towns of many of the CC posters, there are a lot of us who have to fly long distances to ports and STILL cruise. Not UNsympathetic with the OP, just wondering the statistics upon which the cruise lines base their decisions.

[Maraprince]

I've just heard that the Mariner will be leaving the West Coast in 2011 after several years of boring weekly trips to the Walmart in Puerto Vallarta and back.

 

Royal Caribbean execs live in Coral Gables and seem to have no understanding of the West Coast market. I'm sure they do market surveys though show West Coast residents turning to other outlets for their vacations. If they had relied on market surveys in the beginning there'd be no cruise industry today.

 

How can they be so myopic about the developing markets around the Pacific Rim? Do the cruise programmers for Royal Caribbean have so little imagination that repetitive week long cruises to Puerto Vallarta are all they can think of? Are they so enamored of the European markets that they forget that there is a Pacific market as well as an Atlantic market?

 

If they want to force us to fly, then at least give us advantageous rates on Business Class flights. As it is the group flight rates from Royal Caribbean cost more than self-bookings and offer fewer privileges, so Royal Caribbean guests are forced into the tight seating at the back of the aircraft while those booking individually who pay less are given the comfort at the front of the aircraft.

 

Moreover, don't the Royal Caribbean execs realize that once they force West Coast customers to fly to cruise then all sorts of alterantive vacations, also requiring those painful airline voyages, open up?

 

Adam Goldstein, move to San Diego, so you, at least, can get some perspective on your job and build this cruise line toward its potential.

 

 

 

RCCL is going after the Asian and European markets and moving ships around to do so. Their theory is that these "new" markets have passengers who are willing to pay higher fares than their US counterparts. Supply & demand.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[pris993]

I support all folks who would like to have ships leaving from their home port.

 

I would like more ships out of west and east coast ports.

 

On the east coast think it would be great if we had more cruise lines going out of Boston for example.

 

We have cruise and flewn all over the world and will continue to do so.

 

Love the home ports where I can get a direct flight, i.e., New York, Boston, San Diego, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and San Francisco.