Princess from Tampa

[Nan_Sea]

Curious why Princess does not have ships in Tampa? The ships that are there, HAL, RCL etc. seem to have no problem filling their cabins.

[paul929207]

Princess does not have too many ships in the Caribbean area and they go out of Fort Lauderdale and Houston. Even those are seasonal

[JimmyVWine]

For doing Gulf of Mexico/Western Caribbean cruises, PCL, (or any cruise line for that matter), pretty much has a choice of Port Canaveral, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, San Juan, Galveston, Houston or New Orleans. All of these ports of embarkation are used by one line or another, and PCL has chosen FLL and Houston. There is no real reason to add a third option. If some city offers some huge incentive for PCL to move there, then they might move there. Or if bookings have to be slashed to rock-bottom prices to fill the ship from a certain port, a change will be made. Perhaps at some point in the future, Houston will turn out to be a "fail" and then another option will be considered. But until then, Princess isn't going to invest in a third Gulf terminal just because other cruise lines are doing OK sailing out of Tampa.

[cubfan63]

Part of the reason may be the clearance of the Sunshine Skyway bridge for access for the existing terminal.

 

Here is a link to an article from last year from the Tampa Tribune that gives more about what would be needed to be done for the megaships to homeport in Tampa.

 

http://tbo.com/pinellas-county/skyways-limited-clearance-could-mean-cruise-docks-off-pinellas-399316

[Pam in CA]

Curious why Princess does not have ships in Tampa? The ships that are there, HAL, RCL etc. seem to have no problem filling their cabins.

That's probably one of the biggest reasons why Princess doesn't sail from Tampa. Too many berths if they do. In other words, if HAL (which has much smaller ships than Princess does) and RCL are filling their ships, even one more means having to reduce pricing to fill the additional berths and thus the port is less profitable. Add to that the issue of getting into and out of Tampa.

 

Follow the money. :)

[dorisis]

Although I do not expect to see Princess in Tampa in the near future. RC is bringing another smaller ship in to do 7 day cruises. It looks like it, too, will be seasonal.

[Ship's Wake]

Part of the reason may be the clearance of the Sunshine Skyway bridge for access for the existing terminal.

 

Here is a link to an article from last year from the Tampa Tribune that gives more about what would be needed to be done for the megaships to homeport in Tampa.

 

http://tbo.com/pinellas-county/skyways-limited-clearance-could-mean-cruise-docks-off-pinellas-399316

 

You're probaly right about this.

 

I don't think Princess has any ships they use in the Caribbean able to clear the bridge safely.