Itinerary Change - Fascination

[JdoggCruiser]

[Aquahound]

Interesting. I wonder how much RCI is profiting from this agreement.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

Darn wish they would have done this earlier. We would have done a b2b again in June then we would do Coco Cay the first week and HMC the next. A dream come true! I have been to Coco Cay on a RCCL ship and enjoyed it but it is second to HMC in my books.

Oh well getting to HMC by way of Grand Turks this June.

[golfadj]

 

 

NCL's is Great Stirrup Cay.

 

oops

[catlou1]

I'm so bummed! We cruise in less than a month and I picked this cruise because it worked in the timeframe I needed plus it went to Key West. We've never been there but have been to the Nassau several times. I had all my shore excursions planned too! Oh well, we will make the most of it. Hoping Stirrup Cay is nice, anyone have recommendations on things to do there?

[unc1acc]

My cruise on 3/16 looks like it is still going to Key West unless something was a misprint. I wonder why some are moving and others aren't? I'm glad because I've never been to Key West and was actually looking forward to it.

 

I emailed my PVP just in case.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Interesting. I wonder how much RCI is profiting from this agreement.

 

 

Maybe the lease was up and the Bahamian government multi leased it out?

 

Wonder if the "Coco Cay" sign as you go into the little bay on tender will have two names and they will flip the sign depending on which companies ship tenders. :rolleyes:

 

Or RC could have looked at how much they missed that stop because of weather and decided to cut some of their losses. :D

 

"Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises, assumed the lease of the island upon acquisition of Admiral Cruises[2] and renamed it Coco Cay, one of the first cruise lines to lease islands for their exclusive use"

[unc1acc]

My 5-day on 3/16/12 has not changed. We are still going to Key West.

[javamom]

Yes we're sure. It says LITTLE STIRRUP CAY. Not HMC. We can read :-)...

[Aquahound]

Whoa. That last post made this thread unreadable on a IPad.

 

Ref the lease issue, I have a friend living on the island. He is employed by RCI and just took another 3 month contract on the island.

 

Edit...thanks or fixing that javamom.

[pbsteve]

They could be experamenting with the idea of skipping some port citys, I know there was a report for Key west some news agencies released today showing the impact of cruise ships on port cities, it was not favorable to the cruise lines. It could be a sign of some of the port cities fighting for more money from the cruise lines, and carnival fighting them back by not stopping there.

[sunnysavannah]

I'm so bummed! We cruise in less than a month and I picked this cruise because it worked in the timeframe I needed plus it went to Key West. We've never been there but have been to the Nassau several times. I had all my shore excursions planned too! Oh well, we will make the most of it. Hoping Stirrup Cay is nice, anyone have recommendations on things to do there?

 

Snorkel off the beach! It's nice. We love this little island so much! DH and I have been there 4 times. Very relaxing, beautiful beaches. Plenty of sunny spots, plenty of shade. Something for everyone.

[pbsteve]

looks to just be 1-2 per month stopping there. I'll resay what I said on the other thread. Key west had a report done on the impact of cruise lines, it was not favorable to the cruise ship companies. Sounds like Key west wants them to pay more, and Carnival doesn't. What better way to see just how bad key west wants them to dock, than to take away half of the stops there.

 

EDIT: I can no longer view my "my cruise" page for my cruise stopping at key west in September.

[MrFunInTheSun]

I'm so bummed! We cruise in less than a month and I picked this cruise because it worked in the timeframe I needed plus it went to Key West. We've never been there but have been to the Nassau several times. I had all my shore excursions planned too! Oh well, we will make the most of it. Hoping Stirrup Cay is nice, anyone have recommendations on things to do there?

 

Coco Cay is beautiful, I actually enjoyed Coco cay more than Half Moon Cay. You'll have a great time!

[Aquahound]

They could be experamenting with the idea of skipping some port citys, I know there was a report for Key west some news agencies released today showing the impact of cruise ships on port cities, it was not favorable to the cruise lines. It could be a sign of some of the port cities fighting for more money from the cruise lines, and carnival fighting them back by not stopping there.

 

I actually think its just the opposite. Ship numbers are increasing this year, and there will be a significant jump in 2014.

 

What I'm noticing is, the dates listed are cruises Fascination would have visited KW on a Thursday. On those days, RCIs Majesty of the Seas has the lock on the Westin dock (Pier B), forcing Fascination to dock at the Outer Mole. I wonder if this has something to do ith it.

 

I am still curious about this contract between CCL and RCI though.

[alabamaprincess]

I love Key West. I'm glad we did it in December on the Fascination. But I am open to trying a different port in the future.

[meluvtogocruise]

I wasn't all that happy to go to Key West again. Once was plenty for me.

 

:):):):)

 

I'm looking forward to Little Stirrup Cay.

[spencercoop]

My question now is, if they are going to start going to RCI's island, why don't they go to Princess Cays?? You would think they would go to Princess Cays before RCI's island because Carnival owns Princess.

[Cruisegirl6]

I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale and went to Key West few times, there really is nothing to do there. The port is only junk store shopping, there is tiny little bit of history hemingways house whatever boring as heck. Some local bars well they located on any island, and the fact we would get there around 7am and leave early at 2:30 pm to me its more of a waste to go there, I so happy this happened actually was hoping it would. :D

 

For you all who wanted Key West trust me there isn't much there, ok you say the island we going to isn't much there to do either true, but its beautiful!! There are beautiful nature walks, the beach is very long and nicely wide. Your not crammed all together there its a large area. If you have kids going there are playgrounds for them to. You can rent wave runners and kayaks and other water sports. The sand is pure white and lots of beautiful foilage on the island. Carnival owns this island it is NOT Coco Cay. They have the bbq area that is nicely under canapys and they have so many tables with canapys for shade to eat in and sit at. You will not feel crowded on this island as you would on other islands other cruise lines own. The water is gorgeous, no rocks nice smooth sand.

 

For the person who mentioned that you didn't want beach with your mother/law if you get off the ship and walk down the path you will find like a restaurant there where they serve food and drinks. It is an open air restaurant, there are chairs and tables there also and it overlooks right on the beach. They have a band or a guy playing the steel drums to. You also can rent but they limited a cabana there also!

[pbsteve]

I actually think its just the opposite. Ship numbers are increasing this year, and there will be a significant jump in 2014.

 

What I'm noticing is, the dates listed are cruises Fascination would have visited KW on a Thursday. On those days, RCIs Majesty of the Seas has the lock on the Westin dock (Pier B), forcing Fascination to dock at the Outer Mole. I wonder if this has something to do ith it.

 

I am still curious about this contract between CCL and RCI though.

 

 

You may be right there. I just googled the outer mole dock, it's leased from the Navy, and the city is in negotiations on that lease. Could be that they may lose it all together if the navy keeps doing what they have been, I know the Great Lakes training base last week moved all corpman trainees to texas, they could be moving other training locations off this base, perhaps moving another school to key west, and rebuilding that dock for Navy use.

[Cruisegirl6]

YES YES YES YES no Key West going to the beautiful Little Stirrup Cay!!

[jwalk03]

There is lots to do in Key West! Hemmingway House, Harry Truman's Little White House, the art museum, the southern most point. Not to mention all the fun that is Duval St. Key West also has one of the best Hard Rock Cafes in the world!

[Aquahound]

You may be right there. I just googled the outer mole dock, it's leased from the Navy, and the city is in negotiations on that lease. Could be that they may lose it all together if the navy keeps doing what they have been, I know the Great Lakes training base last week moved all corpman trainees to texas, they could be moving other training locations off this base, perhaps moving another school to key west, and rebuilding that dock for Navy use.

 

That is a great point. The Navy just banned all non military boat traffic from inside the pier. This essentially just shut down the short lived Duck Tours because they had to use the ramp. The current Navy Commander down here stood up to the city. In fact, I would bet this has something to do with it.

 

The owner of the Duck Tours was the same owner of the trolleys they used to transport guests from the ship.

[Naomi John]

Wonder why some Monday's are skipped. I did not get the eamil, sailing same itenerary March 25. Interesting. Would rather have the new one then the original.

[Cruisegirl6]

Now if only I could get rid of Nassau lol