Princess West Coast Dominance - Good or Bad?

[MsSoCalCruiser]

If you don't want Princess in CA, send them over to Texas:(

 

 

I think Princess is a keeper!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

How long a cruise was this? A week or longer? Or a shorter one?

 

 

It was a short cruise. I have done several of these cruises and never have I noticed much of a difference from the longer ones.

 

On this particular cruise there was a kickball organization on board. Walking up to a bar to get a drink and finding a lounger was almost impossible. And the language :o. I will say it was interesting to see approximately 1000 cruisers dressed up as Santa when we went into Ensenada. Yes, they all returned as trashed Santas :eek:. I'm sure there were a lot of cruisers upset over this one.

 

My friends still had a great time and they loved the princess product minus the bad Santas. Best of all they still trust me to choose a cruise so 10 of us are are booked on another one but this time it's a 7 day :D

[XBGuy]

Competition is always, repeat, always better for the consumer.

 

I am a Princess customer because I can drive to the port. (If I lived in Duluth or Milwaukee, I guess I'd find another way to spend my money. That comment by a previous poster was hilarious.)

 

I don't know about San Francisco, but several lines offer service to/from Los Angeles in the autumn when they are moving ships from Alaska to the Caribbean. In October 2015 we took a Crown Princess cruise. On embarkation day there were three other ships in San Pedro--another Princess, an NCL and a Royal Caribbean. Next autumn Celebrity is offering two "California Coastal" cruises out of Los Angeles. I haven't checked, but I have to believe that there is Trans Canal offering on that Celebrity ship after these two. They aren't going to sail an empty ship out of Los Angeles. A friend of mine is taking a "Pacific Coastal" cruise on Royal Caribbean from Vancouver to Los Angeles.

 

I, of course, agree that it would be better to have more choices. I only assume that if the various companies thought they could sell enough tickets and make money, they would be here more regularly.

[Tapi]

I agree, but Texas also needs to invest in more port infrastructure suitable for cruise ships someplace other than the often-fog-bound Houston..

 

 

Texas is a huge state, but unfortunately it's coast doesn't offer many options for new cruise homeports.

 

Corpus Christi has been mentioned several times as a potential new homeport, but it may be a hard sell because of its limited air service (a small regional airport) and because it doesn't provide a more convenient option to anybody except for potential cruisers driving from the southern part of the state. Those coming from nearby Austin and San Antonio already have a much better option in Galveston. Dallas cruisers will most likely drive to Galveston before they drive to farther away Corpus Christi.

 

And even if they did, Corpus Christi would need to offer ships and itineraries that are truly enticing. not the same short cruises to Mexico and back on old clunky ships offered from other gulf ports. Both Royal and Caribbean have upgraded their offerings out of Galveston with Royal upgrading to a Freedom class ship and adding a second ship for short sailings, and with Carnival bringing its newest and largest ship, the Vista, next year to join two Conquest class ships already sailing from there.

 

So it seems that Houston/Galveston are and will continue being the only choices in Texas for the foreseeable future.

 

 

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[myfuzzy]

Why don't any cruise lines sail out of Milwaukee or Duluth? I would love to not have to pay as much for airfare as I pay for a cruise. I don't feel to bad for those who live with in driving distance of a cruise port.

 

 

I vote to sail from Niagara Falls, go through Lake Ontario to the St Lawrence Seaway to Quebec and from there......already does that!!

[sassyredhat]

Because I can't fly, we take a lot of west coast cruises.:D

 

We have taken 2 HAL cruises to Hawaii, and 2 PCL cruises to Hawaii.

We are booked for another, next year on CCL. Our line of choice is PCL, but we are sailing with the family and CCL has a great children's program.

When I was looking for this cruise, I didn't have much choice. Seems all lines have limited the Hawaii itin's next year.

 

Patti

[iceleven]

I just wish they would mix up the ships occasionally. Bring the Ruby up to SF and let the Grand go down to LA. I've cruised the Sea Princess, The Golden, and The Star out of SF but we've been stuck with The Grand and only the Grand now for several years. Better yet, bring over either the Regal or the Royal. I bet they would bring a new draw.

 

SF now has two berths so there is no reason why another cruise line couldn't become more regular.

 

Isn't the new Panama Canal open now for the larger ships?

[sterling2]

It's certainly not like they are rusting hulks!

 

 

We're just off 25 days on the Grand. Putting carpet over rusting structures equates to lipstick on a pig. Not only is there lots of corrosion, there were lots of public restrooms out of order. One elevator was out of service the 25 days we were on her and someone who was on the prior cruise stated it was out of order on that cruise also. We are elite and not given to rumors. We were quite surprised by the disrepair of routine maintenance items, especially given that the Grand recently came out of dry dock.

[need2cruisesoon]

We're just off 25 days on the Grand. Putting carpet over rusting structures equates to lipstick on a pig. Not only is there lots of corrosion, there were lots of public restrooms out of order.

 

The Grand is nearing the end of her service life. The ship is a cash cow for Princess as it probably been paid off many times over and will be minimally upgraded because of her age.

 

Surely the proceeds go directly to building the mammoth Royal Class ships like the Majestic which will end up in China not here.

[Cruisin' Chick]

If you don't want Princess in CA, send them over to Texas:(

 

 

Actually if you read most of the posts, we are asking for more ships and more choices out of California ports.

[Cruiser411]

The Grand is nearing the end of her service life. The ship is a cash cow for Princess as it probably been paid off many times over and will be minimally upgraded because of her age.

 

Surely the proceeds go directly to building the mammoth Royal Class ships like the Majestic which will end up in China not here.

 

 

Dunno... they just spent a ton of money on upgrading Sabatini's, the kids areas, the pool decks and the like on Grand Princess. I think that when the new Royal-class ships (after Majestic) are launched, they'll be for the American market. They have to keep up with their competitors. And rumor does have it that one of the Royal-class ships will be in Alaska in 2019.

[BDRebel]

Actually if you read most of the posts' date=' we are asking for more ships and more choices out of California ports.[/quote']

And if you read the meaning of my post, you will realize that I was commiserating with the OP.

[PrincessLuver]

You wanna cruise to Hawaii from SF our LA - Princess

Try cruising 10 days to the Sea of Cortez - Princess

Alaska from SF or LA - Princess

10 days to the Mex Riviera from SF - Princess

 

Seems like the options are limited.

 

We have taken plenty of other cruises on Princess from west coast too such as South Pacific, partial and full transit of Panama canal, South America, Australia and New Zealand....not that limited IMHO....:cool:

[Yosef42]

We have taken plenty of other cruises on Princess from west coast too such as South Pacific, partial and full transit of Panama canal, South America, Australia and New Zealand....not that limited IMHO....:cool:

 

 

I believe the point was not that Princess provides a limited number of itineraries, but that for a given itinerary there is often no other line but Princess. I don't know about LA or San Diego, but here in SF-land we have only one ship doing round trips this year, so if you don't want to fly you're not only limited to Princess, you're limited to Grand.

[shipfriend_max]

You wanna cruise to Hawaii from SF our LA - Princess

Try cruising 10 days to the Sea of Cortez - Princess

Alaska from SF or LA - Princess

10 days to the Mex Riviera from SF - Princess

 

Seems like the options are limited.

Are we really getting the best bang for our cruise dollar? Is Princess taking advantage of the west coast customer, old ships, nothing to get excited about. Sameness.

 

Yeah, I understand there is Carnival from LA but whole different league for sure.

 

 

 

What do you mean by this post?

Do you mean Princess has a strong presence out of CAL, or do you wish more?

 

IMHO, Princess is one of the cruise lines with one of the larger West Coast presence, alongside with Carnival, and I like to see Princess doing several cruises from there.

 

NCL just does some weekly runs in the winter period, Celebrity just uses California for Panama Canal runs, and RCCL seems to have abandoned the region...

[PrincessLuver]

I believe the point was not that Princess provides a limited number of itineraries, but that for a given itinerary there is often no other line but Princess. I don't know about LA or San Diego, but here in SF-land we have only one ship doing round trips this year, so if you don't want to fly you're not only limited to Princess, you're limited to Grand.

 

A $115 RT flight from SFO to LAX is a deal breaker.....(pretty much hourly flights).....guess you are stuck with where you are and what you have......:confused:

[thinfool]

so if you don't want to fly you're not only limited to Princess, you're limited to Grand.

 

IMO....if I didn't want to fly and there was a sailing from LA or San Diego that I favored, I would either drive or take the train.

[cruzsnooze]

At least we have something on the west coast

[ccrain]

Couple of Things:

 

For those of us sailing Princess for quite a while - the West Coast used to be the forgotten coast in terms of ships beyond Mexican Riviera. Sun class ships gave way to Grand, gave way to SuperGrands. Remember back in the day, the Island, pre-gutting, used to do HI runs while the Coral was in FLL doing 10 day PC's. Now we have 2-4 Grands and SuperGrand running around the Coast doing various itineraries. Sea was doing 7 day Mexican Riviera runs!

 

It has been worse - much worse!

 

The new cruise terminal in San Fran is pretty good, much better than the old warehouse, but its getting tiring dodging beggars 2-3 times every block downtown. We haven't tried the Star out of YVR yet for the HI runs, but we're anxious to try them since we really enjoy YVR.

 

And don't forget, the PVSA really limits itineraries. Round Trips US Ports (HI, Mexican Riviera, SFO, Seattle) must stop at a Foreign port (Ensenada, Victoria, YVR) while one ways between US ports must stop at a Distant Foreign Port (South American - Aruba).

[esper10]

Love the idea of princess sailing the west coast. Not always we want to fly to take a cruise, it's not the money it's the airport TSA, transfer....we would do with carnival but she ships are truly very old, still we were great full to cruise carnival. We tried Crown princess and loved it and we are on our way next month with the Ruby. Yes the price is high and I wish we would have more choices for the price to go down. We would love to have Celebrity in San Diego. We cruised recently out of FFL and so many locals were on board the ship. They were all diamond and I'm sure they paid much less than us flying from Los Angeles having to book so far out, hotel, air...So yes we love princess in the west coast just sail all year round will be great

[Sea Hag]

It's fine with me - I'm in California and I like Princess best.

[need2cruisesoon]

It's fine with me - I'm in California and I like Princess best.

 

 

Thats what I'm saying, its great you like Princess but what if others like Celebrity, RC or Holland sailed from here, you might like them better as well?

[Yosef42]

A $115 RT flight from SFO to LAX is a deal breaker.....(pretty much hourly flights).....guess you are stuck with where you are and what you have......:confused:

 

 

The cost of the flight isn't the dealbreaker, it's having to deal with TSA and their luggage restrictions. :cool:

[Yosef42]

IMO....if I didn't want to fly and there was a sailing from LA or San Diego that I favored, I would either drive or take the train.

 

 

Which we've done in the past, but if you've ever driven in L.A., you'll know why we'd prefer not to have to do that.

[PrincessLuver]

Which we've done in the past, but if you've ever driven in L.A., you'll know why we'd prefer not to have to do that.

 

The cost of the flight isn't the dealbreaker, it's having to deal with TSA and their luggage restrictions. :cool:.

 

Really LA traffic, TSA and airline luggage restrictions.....just sounds like a lot of excuses to me.....it's all part of traveling....we fly all over the world to catch Princess ships....cannot figure out how a 50 minute flight to LAX is an imposing obstacle to increasing your options for cruises and being on different Princess ships...:confused::confused::confused: