Journeys Speculation

[kingoftheicedragons]

Does anyone know how well the longer Journeys cruises are selling? There are several that I would like to do, but it unfortunately won't happen in 2016. I would love to go to some of the ports that these go to, but very few cruises in the time frame that we cruise (mid-January through mid-February) go to these ports (Martinique, Grenada, Dominica, Trinidad & Tobago). How likely do you think it is for Carnival to continue to offer these longer itineraries to some of these ports in 2017?

[cruzeluver]

I can only speak for the one w have booked.

 

It is the 10 day on Sunshine out of Charleston that includes a stop in Martinique. It is selling very well. prices have only gone up, in fact our cabin category has gone up over $100 since we booked three weeks ago. I hope these Journeys cruises do really well and they continue.

[Honolulu Blue]

Does anyone know how well the longer Journeys cruises are selling? There are several that I would like to do, but it unfortunately won't happen in 2016. I would love to go to some of the ports that these go to, but very few cruises in the time frame that we cruise (mid-January through mid-February) go to these ports (Martinique, Grenada, Dominica, Trinidad & Tobago). How likely do you think it is for Carnival to continue to offer these longer itineraries to some of these ports in 2017?

 

My opinions, worth about what you paid for them:

 

The round-trip Journeys cruises seem to be selling well; their prices have taken off like a rocket since they were offered. The Vista repositioning will sell; it is, after all, their newest ship, and plenty of people are attracted to that.

 

The others may not do so well. Several of them took a substantial price drop for some cabins a few weeks back. And also, I was on the Triumph for a 10-day in February. The length would have qualified it as a Journeys cruise today, though we didn't get any of the perks of that program. Those cabin prices got really, really cheap.

 

As for whether they will continue these itineraries, it seems likely. There are always ships moving around from home port to home port, which is what causes a lot of these itineraries. Add in some special trips to/from San Juan and longer round-trips, and they're likely to run these for as long as I can foresee. The Journeys program may change, or even get canceled, so it's worth paying attention to see what they do when the time comes.

[evandbob]

My Jan 23 10 nighter on the Glory went down from the original sale price for my 1A inside solo cabin. The second part of the journey on my B2B Feb 3 has held steady.

 

Asking us here if prices will go up or down is like asking if it will rain during a cruise 6 months from now. None of us really know, and to pretend that we do would be bs.

Edited May 3, 2015 by evandbob

[islandatsea]

Does anyone know how well the longer Journeys cruises are selling? There are several that I would like to do, but it unfortunately won't happen in 2016. I would love to go to some of the ports that these go to, but very few cruises in the time frame that we cruise (mid-January through mid-February) go to these ports (Martinique, Grenada, Dominica, Trinidad & Tobago). How likely do you think it is for Carnival to continue to offer these longer itineraries to some of these ports in 2017?

 

I know you said you can't go in 2016. Our February 2016 cruise on the Sunshine has the itinerary you mentioned plus a couple more Ports for a total of 13 days, could be the one you would be interested in. We booked that cruise in December 2014 and total cabin price for our category has increased $634 with remaining cabin availability going down & still about 10 months away for this cruise . This Journey cruise is selling very well. We are happy that we booked it when we did. The way this particular cruise is selling, I would think that Carnival would repeat this cruise with same/similar itinerary at another time, IMO ;) .

 

Hope all of the Journey cruises sell well enough so Carnival will continue to offer these longer unique itineraries & hope Carnival will have a similar cruise with the Ports you want in 2017.

[SIENA6334]

We are sailing the 10 day on dream out of san juan. We booked a cove balcony about three months ago and the price has dropped $200 each since so we are getting 10 day cove balcony for $749!

[vwrestler171]

I don't think they are selling very well at all. I have gotten 3 offers for the Journeys cruises and they have had some really cheap rates. $499 for a 10 day cruise in an inside?

[falkcor]

i can't say for sure, but several of the one-way journeys don't seem to be selling very well at all, actually.

 

i've got the vifp special offer for up to $600 fun select rates plus $100 OBC... i'm often skeptical of these kind of offers, but i checked it out and some of them are as low as $369 per person for a 10 day trip, plus $100 obc per cabin. do the math and that's $32 a day!

[bakersdozen12]

There's a 10 day Journey cruise the week before my 7 day Oct cruise (on the same ship) that was cheaper than the 7 day the last time I looked. So I'm guessing that one isn't selling as well.

[love my grandkids]

Like the idea they are doing longer cruises but we generally drive to the port and one way air is a bit of a hassle and adds a lot to the cost of the cruise.

 

Hoping they will do more of the longer ones but as RT.

[SIENA6334]

I agree with the "one-way" Journey sailings. I believe there are many people that are interested in the longer cruises, but unfortunately Carnival's answer was not to offer "closed-loop" sailings. I am not thrilled with sailing out of San Juan but I am happy with the price and ending in New Orleans. Hopefully, Carnival will note the dissatisfaction and offer longer cruises to and from the same port.:rolleyes: Other cruise lines, including princess and holland which are carnival owned offer these.

[NCTribeFan]

For years, when people complained that Carnival didn't offer longer, different, new itineraries, I said that the people who can afford to sail those itineraries and have that much time they can take off work, aren't really Carnival's target demographic (younger, new cruisers, families with kids).

 

So then they start offering longer cruises. What do I know, right? :p

 

I booked one because it ends in San Juan. Actually, I would've booked the return sailing but it's 1 less night and has no new ports for me. The 11-night Sunshine 11/29 is going to be exhausting with all the ports, but I've been to them all except Tortola. No price drops for me, but I booked under the VIFP rate. I'm solo, so a price drop would be nice, but I don't book unless I can afford the rate in effect at that time. I did get a 4B for the same price as a 1A. So, 11 nights for <$100 night paying 200%. I'll take that.

 

I absolutely love San Juan and love staying there. Cruise ends on a Wednesday and I hope to spend at least 2 extra nights there to recuperate.

 

I've done 1-way repo cruises from San Juan to Miami the past two Novembers and there were great. You can get much more interesting itineraries on 1-way sailings. Air to San Juan and then home from FLL (transfer from Miami for $10) were pretty cheap. And, as noted, I love San Juan!

 

Anyway, I agree with the person who said that none of us really have any idea whether the price will rise or fall. Or whether they'll continue to offer these. Obviously, my crystal ball is pretty worthless, so I'm not even going to speculate! ;)

 

The first 1-way from San Juan wasn't sold out. The one last year sold very well and prices went way up. Same time of year, similar itinerary.

[pirate4me2]

Our Pride Journeys cruise for March 2016 seems to be selling well, the price just keeps going up. I really hope Carnival continues to offer closed loop longer cruises like this!

[cessnabmw]

We are considering the Carnival Sunshine cruise in Dec from San Juan but ending in Port Canaveral.

 

However, the flights, from Toronto are holding us back. The duration (10 days) and the ports are all great..

 

Still not sure if we will be able to do this Journeys cruise.

[kingoftheicedragons]

Thanks for all of your input.

 

Whether the cruises are open loop or closed loop doesn't matter to me, we're going to have airfare expense anyway, and two one-way flights aren't much different from round trip (based on two previous open-loop cruises we've done).

 

There are some cruises in January 2017 that go to places that I'd like to go to on other lines, but we'd probably wait to book them anyway. Right now, I'm just in the dreaming phase of the 2017 cruise anyway.

[vamartha]

For years, when people complained that Carnival didn't offer longer, different, new itineraries, I said that the people who can afford to sail those itineraries and have that much time they can take off work, aren't really Carnival's target demographic (younger, new cruisers, families with kids).

 

So then they start offering longer cruises. What do I know, right? :p

 

I booked one because it ends in San Juan. Actually, I would've booked the return sailing but it's 1 less night and has no new ports for me. The 11-night Sunshine 11/29 is going to be exhausting with all the ports, but I've been to them all except Tortola. No price drops for me, but I booked under the VIFP rate. I'm solo, so a price drop would be nice, but I don't book unless I can afford the rate in effect at that time. I did get a 4B for the same price as a 1A. So, 11 nights for <$100 night paying 200%. I'll take that.

 

I absolutely love San Juan and love staying there. Cruise ends on a Wednesday and I hope to spend at least 2 extra nights there to recuperate.

 

I've done 1-way repo cruises from San Juan to Miami the past two Novembers and there were great. You can get much more interesting itineraries on 1-way sailings. Air to San Juan and then home from FLL (transfer from Miami for $10) were pretty cheap. And, as noted, I love San Juan!

 

Anyway, I agree with the person who said that none of us really have any idea whether the price will rise or fall. Or whether they'll continue to offer these. Obviously, my crystal ball is pretty worthless, so I'm not even going to speculate! ;)

 

The first 1-way from San Juan wasn't sold out. The one last year sold very well and prices went way up. Same time of year, similar itinerary.

 

I'm booked on this one too!

 

I found that the one way airfare (both legs, to Orlando and from San Juan) is actually going to be less than what we paid for round trip Charlotte to Nola and Charlotte to Miami. One of the factors that convinced us to book!

 

I actually was about to book an 8 day (hovering the mouse over the book button actually) when something told me to look at longer cruises just for grins and giggles. I was blown away when the 11 day came up that was almost $400 less than the 8 day! Took me about a nano second to make up my mind!

 

I've never been to any of these ports save for Grand Turk! So excited!

[sykimball1498]

To be honest, the Journey cruise is the only reason we even considered and eventually booked the Dream in January 2016. We wanted to sail from New Orleans and saw this cruise that ended in another of our favorite places (San Juan) so we jumped on it.

 

We are looking forward to it and hope it is not a super party cruise. I have been assured that this will not be the case on an 11 day cruise so I am taking everyone's word for it! I can't wait to experience something new and will take it as it comes as I am not super hard to please. I don't know about you but put me on a cruise and I am usually super happy!

[cruznjan]

Our November cruise to Hawaii wasn't a Journey cruise when we booked it, and it was selling very well then. There was a recent price increase and then drop on some balcony cabins. Maybe some people are cancelling.

[MrMileStoner]

If a one way cruise is a problem, then do the b2b. Problem solved! :D

[DaytonCruiser]

Our November cruise to Hawaii wasn't a Journey cruise when we booked it, and it was selling very well then. There was a recent price increase and then drop on some balcony cabins. Maybe some people are cancelling.

 

That's pretty common on Hawaiian cruises, people book well in advance, then cancel when the airfare is higher than they thought.

[mouche]

Wish I could do one of these, I have them in my Special Offers right now at really low rates 11days on the Dream for an inside cabin $439pp and a balcony $629pp. There are many more to choose from, I had the casino offer too that ended a couple of day ago.

 

This is the first time that I have had 2 different Special Offers at the same time. I also have the VIFP Vista offer.

[Kristi Williamson]

We're booked on the 10 day from Charleston and it looks to be selling very well!

 

I think the closed loop cruises are selling much better than the one-way trips. I hope they restructure because we'd love to take longer cruises with Carnival but I hate one-way cruises.

[Marmarjudy]

If a one way cruise is a problem, then do the b2b. Problem solved! :D

 

Exactly what we are doing! 21 days (a 10 night and 11 night) on the Pride RT Baltimore in January.