DO YOU THINK PRINCESS WILL EVER CONSIDER SHORTER CRUISES?

[kbt2]

Do you guys think that Princess will ever consider doing shorter cruises out of Port Canaveral, Ft.Laud.,or Miami, like Royal Caribbean and Carnival do? It would be nice for a 3 or 4 night quick getaway on a smaller Princess ship. Any thoughts?????

 

Kim

Dawn Princess

Regal Princess

Grand Princess

Mercury - Celebrity

Windward - NCL

Monarch of the Seas

Voyager of the Seas

 

 

 

[sneekpeek]

I wish they had more cruises out of Southern California - like LA and San Diego. I just can't stand the whole flying thing when I go on a cruise.

[jhannah]

From a cost standpoint, I'd guess no. Aren't longer cruises are more profitable than shorter cruises? You still have to pay the turnaround costs (for example, the longshoremen to load and unload the luggage and provisions, and the shore staff to handle pax.) Shorter cruises mean more sailings and more scheduling issues, etc.

 

Has anyone done a cost-per-day analysis on repositioning or "cruises to nowhere"? That would be interesting to see.

 

'Vegas Jim

 

[CruiseFever]

I hope not...I think

 

I've always thought of Princess as a longer cruise line and am looking forward to the time when we can go on longer Princess cruises.

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Carnival Victory 12/19/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

 

[kb9mu]

Living in Chicago, I HAVE to fly somewhere to cruise. Since flying wastes a day in each direction, I don't think I would consider going through all the trouble to fly to FL, PR or elsewhere, just to turn around after a few days and come back.

 

Plus I think longer cruises are more difficult for kids, hence less kids on board (that would be a plus).

 

KB9MU

[Cruisinforever]

Not only the trouble of flying and wasting a day just to "get there", but the cost of getting there makes me want to only go on the longer ones. If I have to pay, I'm going to stay! I only wish I could afford longer than 7 days (and that I could accrue vacation time faster).

 

JJ

Caribbean Princess 5/1/04

Star Princess 5/24/03

Sun Princess 6/12/00

Carnival Fantasy 1/18/98

[derf5585]

Princess One- to Six-Day Voyages

from

http://www.lorrypatton.com/travel/news/2920-2.html

 

Looks like they are going to try it.

 

USS Chilton APA-38 1966-1968

USS Guam LPH-9 1968-1970

Pacific Princess Oct 21 2001 Bermuda

Golden Princess Dec 7 2002 "Eastern Caribbean"

Coral Princess Dec 9 2003 "Panama Canal"

 

Carnival Miracle 17 Oct 2004

 

NOT UPDATED again 25 Feb www.geocities.com/fsbsdel

 

 

[foraner]

I don't think I'd consider any cruise shorter than 5 days, and I really prefer 7-14 days. It takes me a couple of days just to unwind and in some cases adjust to time differences.

[WendyG]

I would LOVE for them to have 3 or 4 day cruises here on the East coast.

I agree with the above posters about flying in preferring a longer cruise, but I live 15 minutes from Pt Everglades and 30 minutes fromm the Port of Miami.

 

I'd probably hop on a weekend cruise once a month! (I don't care for carnival!)

 

 until the Caribbean Princess!

 

 

 

Sovereign of the Seas 8/98

Premier Seabreeze 4/99

Norwegian Wind 4/00

Norwegian Majesty 4/01

Holland America Volendam 11/01

Grand Princess 4/02

Carnival Fascination 5/02

Costa Atlantica 11/02

Golden Princess 3/03

Explorer of the Seas 7/03

Sun Princess 11/03

Caribbean Princess 07/04

[DaHuckster]

I did do a short Proncess cruise once and for that particular situation it was perfect. In 2002 we had our 30th anniversary and my wifr couldn't decide on Hawaii or Alaska --- So we did both. A 9 day stay on Maui then on to Vancouver for the 4 day Alaskan sampler on the Star. That was my wife's first cruise and she wasn't sure if she would like it so the 4 day was a perfect "test run". Obviously she liked it. TP on 4 Sept is next on the list.

 

[Coral]

Living in the midwest - it takes me a whole day to fly either to the West or East coast. I have no direct flight anywhere but Chicago and Minneapolis. So, no - I would not do a 3 or 4 night cruise unless it is tied to a 7 night cruise.

[Toto2Kansas]

Coral, I sympathize, we are in the same boat (so to speak). No matter where we cruise from we have to fly an entire day with at least one plane change to get to our cruise port. We used to always have to fly into Chicago but now we have found an airline that connects in Atlanta, so that does help some but we also live three hours from Kansas City. Yep, an entire day just to get to the port and get home afterwards.

For some, shorter cruises would probably be nice, but for us, it would not be worth the effort.

 

Tahitian October 14th,2004

[shuksan7]

NOW is the time to book a short Princess cruise, especially if you live near LA, SFO or Vancouver.

 

I got hooked on cruising through Princess' repositioning Coastal cruises in May and September. And once again, there are exceptional values of about 60 bucks a day (inside) for a 2 or 3 night cruise.

 

Such a cruise is, of course, cruelly short. But if you can set up the right travel arrangements, they are a blast!! Not to mention a life-altering introduction to the world of big cruise ships.

 

Rick

[Coral]

Toto - we live 5 minutes from Lincoln airport and 1.5 hours from Omaha's airport. We do have more options out of Omaha (Delta and Continental) but every time I use the Omaha airport I get a flight that leaves at 6 am and returns at 11 pm or midnight and my eyes hate driving the interstate at night.

 

I used to love when American (TWA) used to go through St. Louis but we don't have that option anymore

 

I didn't realize you were that far away from the KC airport. We are probably 3.5 hours from the KC airport. I forgot - we can also go through Denver but that doesn't help going to FL.

 

One of these days I will live near a larger airport.

[Paula_MacFan]

I am taking a 5-night cruise on the Grand Princess out of Galveston in November. I assume it is only a 5 night since its the first cruise out of the 'new' port for Princess. Even though it is shorter than the traditional 7 day, it works good for our group as we can drive to Galveston the weekend before and enjoy the trip down...not have to rush. Toto2Kansas, we actually live 3 hours from KC too...maybe we live close to each other??

 

However, for this trip, driving is quicker than flying, when you factor in driving to airport, etc. Anyway, our group is making the most of our trip down and back...have a few things planned.

 

Maybe Princess will start offering some shorter cruises now with the additional ports.

[Jacqueline]

There are plenty of people with kids on longer cruises, including mine. This summer we are doing 2 weeks in Europe along with families of several hundred other kids. And this is on HAL !!!!

 

Jacqueline

Constellation 3/20/04

HAL Westerdam 7/30/04

Tahitian Princess August 2003

Grand Princess Western Caribbean 2003

Brilliance of the Seas Baltic 2002

Ocean Princess- Alaska 2001

Celebrity Zenith- Bermuda 2001

Grand Princess Med 2000

 

[prose]

Toto and Coral - living in the Midwest means horrible flight connections. Read in the paper that Sioux Falls is trying to land a non-stop Frontier flight from there to LAX. Hope they can do it, as we're taking the 15 day Hawaii cruise in March of next year.

 

Paula

[Crowsie]

Living in Minneapolis means I don't have to change planes....we pay higher rates on Northwest than the rest of the world..but it's worth it....In any case...I still like the longer cruises and other than the coastal samplers the Princess sales rep for MN told me that they have no intention of doing shorter itineraries out of FL.

 

Sky Princess 01/1999 Australia and New Zealand

Sky Princess 03/2000 China

Royal Princess 02/2002 South America

Golden Princess 05/2003 Med

Sapphire Princess 03/2005 Sydney to Bangkok

 

 

March 2005 - Sydney to Bangkok on the Sapphire

 

[spongerob]

Put me in the camp that wants more options for cruises longer than 7 days. Short cruises, unless they can be combined as part of a B2B, just aren't worth the travel costs.

 

Just completed:

Caribbean Princess Apr 3/04

Golden Princess Apr 10/04

Coming up:

Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04

[ahracer]

The 3-4 day Bahama runs aren't really the market that Princess is in.

 

Scott

[geoherb]

I'd love it if Princess would do more East Coast short cruises. We enjoyed both of the shorter cruises we went on with Royal Caribbean. We stayed in the Florida Keys for a few days before one. The other was a 4-night cruise out of San Juan, and we stayed a few nights after it. We generally can't take off more time from work than a week.