Eastern Caribbean Itineraries from Houston to be Announced

[Paula_MacFan]

The Key West/Freeport/Princess Cays itinerary is now posted on Princess' website for the 2/21/16 sailing. Thanks to the OP for letting us know about this info!!

[icat2000]

Thanks for sharing these changes. I would have never of considered it but the two itineraries are of interest to me. Never been to any of these ports. I'm crusing on Princess so will go see the FCC person. Won't hurt to slap down a deposit.

 

20 Mar 2016 - 10 days - Montego Bay / Grand Cayman / Roatan / Belize / Costa Maya / Cozumel

 

30 Mar 2016 - 11 days - Cartagena / Colon / Limon / Grand Cayman / Cozumel

[Mary Ann 2]

so glad to hear!!! We have all wondered how many times they thought we wanted to do the same old itinerary. We love driving to the cruise rather than having to fly to Florida, but really didn't think we wanted to do another Western again.

[BridgeMates]

Carnival (out of Galveston) is offering three sailings of about 21-days in two segments that go to San Juan and return to Galveston, repeating only one port during the two segments.

 

Thanks Bill. This sounds great. Any chance you (or someone else on here) know when Spring Break 2016 is for majority of schools in Texas? I'd want to avoid that.

[Wehwalt]

I can honestly say, I had never considered this location for a source

of ship-board information.

 

As it happened, there was a ship's officer chatting with the lady dispensing milkshakes.

[caribill]

Thanks Bill. This sounds great. Any chance you (or someone else on here) know when Spring Break 2016 is for majority of schools in Texas? I'd want to avoid that.

 

Spring breakers will not be on an 11 day cruise from Galveston to San Juan or the 21 day round trip. Besides, the scheduled cruise in 2016 starts in mid-January.

Edited December 7, 2014 by caribill

[BridgeMates]

Sorry for my confusion. I meant to ask about the 10 & 11 day March 2016 Princess RT cruises from Galveston mentioned above. Seems like I remember Spring Break often falls in the March-April timeframe. I'm sure someone on here knows so hopefully I'll get an answer to my question, "when is Spring Break in 2016" for most of Texas?

Thanks.

[eclue]

A stop in Colon does not mean a partial transit into Gatun Lake...you can go to visit the locks from Colon but the ship will not go through. We went through the Panama Canal last year on a Celebrity ship and the construction of the new locks is so far behind...originally it was slated for 2015 but that is no where possible. I will say the street traffic in Colon is unbelieveable; they were in process of improving some roadways...hope it is also completed by 2016.

Cartagena is a very nice place to visit.

We would probably take that trip from Houston,

eclue

[whataboutport]

Are these actually considered "Eastern Caribbean"? They should be labeled "Bahamas".

 

Too bad they don't make them 10 days and add a few more ports. Key West is a great port.

While I agree these shouldn't be called Eastern at all, they aren't Bahamas either!

 

Just returned from a Western and we went to Cartagena, Puerto Limon, Colon, Grand Cayman, and Coz to name a few. Not Eastern...

[trabeler]

I'm sure someone on here knows so hopefully I'll get an answer to my question, "when is Spring Break in 2016" for most of Texas?

 

The week of March 16 is the main one for the Houston area, although depending on the school, it could be a week later.

[caribill]

Sorry for my confusion. I meant to ask about the 10 & 11 day March 2016 Princess RT cruises from Galveston mentioned above. Seems like I remember Spring Break often falls in the March-April timeframe. I'm sure someone on here knows so hopefully I'll get an answer to my question, "when is Spring Break in 2016" for most of Texas?

Thanks.

 

Spring break is more than just the public schools as it also means when colleges have there spring breaks, so it can cover a period of all of March and much of April.

 

However, very few spring breakers will be on cruises that are 10 or 11 days long.

 

Any by the way, at this point the schedule is for the CB to be sailing out of Bayport (just outside of Houston), not Galveston.

[satxdiver]

Sorry for my confusion. I meant to ask about the 10 & 11 day March 2016 Princess RT cruises from Galveston mentioned above. Seems like I remember Spring Break often falls in the March-April timeframe. I'm sure someone on here knows so hopefully I'll get an answer to my question, "when is Spring Break in 2016" for most of Texas?

Thanks.

 

Most of the Texas schools - secondary and college - hold spring break during the middle two weeks of March. Usually the secondary schools use one week and the colleges use the other week. There are exceptions of course but this has been unwritten rule in the past few decades.

 

Princess sails out of Bayport which is located in the Houston Port area and not Galveston.

[BridgeMates]

Most of the Texas schools - secondary and college - hold spring break during the middle two weeks of March. Usually the secondary schools use one week and the colleges use the other week. There are exceptions of course but this has been unwritten rule in the past few decades.

 

Princess sails out of Bayport which is located in the Houston Port area and not Galveston.

 

Thank you. I've been on Princess out of Bayport and will be going again next month. I should have caught that.

[aggie182]

30 Mar 2016 - 11 days - Cartagena / Colon / Limon / Grand Cayman / Cozumel

 

Just put a deposit down on this one for the wife and I's 10th anniversary. Hopefully she is still putting up with me at that point!

 

I am interested to see what excursions will be offered from Colon to check out the canal itself.

[caribill]

 

I am interested to see what excursions will be offered from Colon to check out the canal itself.

 

Go to the Princess web site, use the drop down menu for "Learn about cruising" and select "Ports and excursions."

 

This will list the excursions likely to be offered.

[aggie182]

[quote name='caribill']Go to the Princess web site, use the drop down menu for "Learn about cruising" and select "Ports and excursions."

This will list the excursions likely to be offered.[/quote]

I did this a day or two ago and it said there was no info available. I am sure with time, there will be.

I have never had a cruise or vacation booked this far out so the anticipation of this one is a little weird. I want to research to find stuff out, but I know it is so far off. I do realize, though, that many times during 2014 I thought, "It's already April?" "It's already September?", and so on. Heck, it's almost Christmas. I know with being busy at work and 2 young kids at home, the time will fly.

[Wehwalt]

[quote name='aggie182']I did this a day or two ago and it said there was no info available. I am sure with time, there will be.

I have never had a cruise or vacation booked this far out so the anticipation of this one is a little weird. I want to research to find stuff out, but I know it is so far off. I do realize, though, that many times during 2014 I thought, "It's already April?" "It's already September?", and so on. Heck, it's almost Christmas. I know with being busy at work and 2 young kids at home, the time will fly.[/QUOTE]

I would expect most of whatever is offered on a partial transit to be offered from Colon. It's just a question of where to pick up the passengers. Since Colon is a little further from the action than Gatun Lake, I'd expect an earlier pickup. This also saves Princess the cost of a canal transit.