No Solstice class ship in Caribbean fall 2012?

[39august]

Have all the 2012 Caribbean itineraries been posted? I find no Solstice class ships until very late Nov. and early Dec. Where will Solstice be at that time? She is not shown at all that I can see.

[Gonzo70]

Solstice is in Europe until late October when she starts her 3 leg repositioning cruise to Australia on 10/26/2012.

[Gonzo70]

I wonder if Celebrity is going to have difficulty filling their S-Class ships in summer of 2012. Unless oil makes a downward retreat, airfare to Europe from U.S. for summer of 2012 is going to make these cruise not affordable to many, many people. I am so glad I booked my airfare for Rome for my upcoming cruise on Silhouette or I would not be able to afford to go (I paid $550 per/person for a non-stop flight and the cheapest non-stop tickets with flight times that work are currently close to $1900 per/person) - and this is off season! All the S-Class ships are going to be in Europe for summer of 2012 and the pool of potential passengers will be much lower than in prior years because of these insane airfares (they will be more expensive than the cruise fares if oil does not drop)!

[cruisestitch]

There is a big push to get more Europeans who can drive or take trains to the ports to cruise. Maybe that's part of the motivation == expanding their market to new customers.

[Andy]

I wonder if Celebrity is going to have difficulty filling their S-Class ships in summer of 2012. Unless oil makes a downward retreat, airfare to Europe from U.S. for summer of 2012 is going to make these cruise not affordable to many, many people. I am so glad I booked my airfare for Rome for my upcoming cruise on Silhouette or I would not be able to afford to go (I paid $550 per/person for a non-stop flight and the cheapest non-stop tickets with flight times that work are currently close to $1900 per/person) - and this is off season! All the S-Class ships are going to be in Europe for summer of 2012 and the pool of potential passengers will be much lower than in prior years because of these insane airfares (they will be more expensive than the cruise fares if oil does not drop)!

 

Hi Gonzo !

 

I wondering also. I'm getting tons of Europe 2011 and 2012 sale email from everywhere. It's too late for them to do anything for Summer 2011, but I believe changes will be made to the Summer 2012 schedule. To make matters worse, Oil shot up yet again today - I think I saw it around $111.00, so it's more pressure for the Cruise lines.

[YOW]

There's a thread going about this already:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1399051

 

... maybe the mods can merge the two.

 

I agree with cruisestitch -- RCCL/Celebrity are reaching out to new markets. How fast their name and product will catch on, time will tell.

 

Airfares have really shot up, as Gonzo points out. Perhaps Celebrity will be able to gauge its Europe 2012 bookings in the next 4-6 months, and who knows, maybe they'll end up moving a ship back to this side of the pond. RCI just redeployed Navigator for the winter 2011-2012 season, with as little as 8 months notice for some pax. How this affects airfare that's already been booked... another set of issues.

[39august]

RCI is bringing Navigator back "across the pond" this November leaving lots of people with cancelled European cruises, as she was originally staying in Europe at least thru' April 2012. I hope that X will bring a Solstice class back as well.

[Gonzo70]

Hi Gonzo !

 

I wondering also. I'm getting tons of Europe 2011 and 2012 sale email from everywhere. It's too late for them to do anything for Summer 2011, but I believe changes will be made to the Summer 2012 schedule. To make matters worse, Oil shot up yet again today - I think I saw it around $111.00, so it's more pressure for the Cruise lines.

 

Yeah, I noticed that - I actually sold off most of my RCL stock today as I feel the high oil is going to have a major double whammy on the cruise lines, much higher operating costs and fewer people being able to afford to fly to cruise ports. I agree that they may opt to alter some of the 2012 itineraries and leave at least one S-Class ship in the U.S. for summer. Perhaps they will be able to draw more Europeans to their cruises and their current strategy will work, but it does seem a bit optimistic IMHO.

 

Of course there is a chance oil retreats significantly; whereas a few years ago it shot up because of demand exceeding supply, the current spike appears more to be based on fear of supply being cut. Hopefully over the coming weeks to months this fear will subside and oil will trend downwards. If so, then X and RCI will be in much better shape (as well as the other major cruise lines). If oil keeps climbing though, things will really get ugly for them.