Carnival Mediterrean Cruises

[Queen Yellow]

Has anyone heard if Carnival is going to continue offering Mediterranean cruises? I saw the Panorama is going directly to Long Beach and the Horizon is only cruising in the Mediterranean in April & May of 2018. Thanks, Valerie

[salty dingo]

I noticed there were not many transatlantic cruises offered. They have those twice a year per ship when they relocate to the Med for the summer season. Maybe Carnival is not active in that market anymore?

[vache]

I have been waiting to see if they were going to launch the new Panorama from the Med as they have with other new ships. But I'm not sure what there doing.

[Queen Yellow]

I just saw a press release that the Panorama is going direct to Long Beach.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8391

[trvlgirlmq]

After Horizon there are no scheduled Europe cruises. Carnival has very rarely sent a ship for the summer and I would not expect them to in the future.

[Out of Iowa]

Air fares to Europe got so high - and Carnival reduced the price of cabins to entice people the year we sailed the Med - from Barcelona, France, Italy, Monaco, Portugal then concluded in Dover, England...we waved at Africa and the Rock of Gibraltar. We saw the bargain cabin prices, booked - then got stung paying the highest airfare we'd ever paid to Europe.

 

Also, be warned, the Sea is very cold - even in Summer! The South of France might be a place to be seen but it isn't a place to swim.

[Havingfun2010]

Air fares to Europe got so high - and Carnival reduced the price of cabins to entice people the year we sailed the Med - from Barcelona, France, Italy, Monaco, Portugal then concluded in Dover, England...we waved at Africa and the Rock of Gibraltar. We saw the bargain cabin prices, booked - then got stung paying the highest airfare we'd ever paid to Europe.

 

Also, be warned, the Sea is very cold - even in Summer! The South of France might be a place to be seen but it isn't a place to swim.

 

What is considered high? Some people pay $600.00 to fly to Florida, and you can fly to Europe under $1000.00. My next trip (not on Carnival) to Europe, was $849.00 per person to fly from Florida.

 

The cruise line of my preference does not have "reduced price" cabins, but they seem to be higher in Europe. They still sell out.

 

Most people go to the Caribbean to go to the beach and drink. Most trips to Europe are for History, and all the historical sites, and other great things to do and see. I really don't know many that go to the beach, while in France. You would miss out so much by doing so, unless you are in Spain, than you might see more than you expected!.

 

One of the issues with Carnival, is that they have a reputation, and people who go to Europe are looking for something outside the party crowd.

[buddylover]

After Horizon there are no scheduled Europe cruises. Carnival has very rarely sent a ship for the summer and I would not expect them to in the future.

 

This is not true....CCL's ships are built in Europe and historically they had launched all their ships in April - May in Europe and they sailed Europe for the summer - until recently with the Horizon and Panorama. The Vista, the Breeze (and we were on that ship in Europe) and most all ships built prior had a summer season in Europe before a TA back to the assigned US port.

If you mean that they don't pull a ship out of the US market to SEND to Europe for the summer....that is basically true! Just want to 'clarify' CCL/Europe sailings.

[xDisconnections]

If you mean that they don't pull a ship out of the US market to SEND to Europe for the summer....that is basically true! Just want to 'clarify' CCL/Europe sailings.

 

Wouldn’t be the first time...

 

Carnival Legend was relocated in 2013 to Northern Europe with an eastbound and westbound crossing.

[NavarreCruiser]

Carnival cruise line does not send ships to Europe. This is primarily due to the fact that Carnival Corporation has other lines that do, such as Costa, Cunard, and Princess for example. As to airfare we are taking an RCCL ship across the pond in April/May and spending another couple of weeks in Denmark and England. By the way, Royal sends a number of ships to Europe in the spring and they return to the U.S. in the fall. Back to airfare, we are flying from London with a stop in Portugal on TAP (Portugal's national airline) to Miami for a total of $628.44 for both of us. Pretty darn cheap.

[Queen Yellow]

We did a European cruise on Holland American in 2010. We wanted to do another European cruise, but on Carnival next year. If they are not going to have anything we will have to look at other cruise lines. Disappointing since we just got Platinum on Carnival in 2017 and we wanted to keep cruising with them.

[Queen Yellow]

What is considered high? Some people pay $600.00 to fly to Florida, and you can fly to Europe under $1000.00. My next trip (not on Carnival) to Europe, was $849.00 per person to fly from Florida.

 

The cruise line of my preference does not have "reduced price" cabins, but they seem to be higher in Europe. They still sell out.

 

Most people go to the Caribbean to go to the beach and drink. Most trips to Europe are for History, and all the historical sites, and other great things to do and see. I really don't know many that go to the beach, while in France. You would miss out so much by doing so, unless you are in Spain, than you might see more than you expected!.

 

One of the issues with Carnival, is that they have a reputation, and people who go to Europe are looking for something outside the party crowd.

 

I agree. When we went to Europe in 2010 we did not go to any beaches other than Normandy and that was not a party event. We want to go back to Europe to explore some different locations.

[hun]

Thanks for starting this thread! We've gone to Europe with NCL and RCCL in the past, and have been looking for a Western Med for June-October 2019 - was wondering if Carnival would be in the mix! Now I'll stop checking the website lol

 

 

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[TomCruise48]

Carnival's revenue model is tailored to US cruisers from US ports. They have positioned their ships so that they are within one day driving distance of a large amount of the US population. Money saved on getting to port means more money to spend onboard. Carnival's model is to generally offer a cruise fare lower than their competitors, and make their profit on onboard spending from such things as shore excursions, drinks, gift shops, spa, and casino. Carnival has become more focused on families, which are more likely to be first time cruisers and likely to spend more onboard than frequent cruisers.

 

This model does not work well in Europe. High airfares prevent many of the US families who would drive to a US port from flying to Europe. The European cruises draw many Europeans - surprise, surprise. The European cruisers are looking for a different experience. Many have already visited the ports, or could easily do so in the future, so Europeans are less likely to spend for shore excursions. The Europeans are making the ship itself their destination. EU law prevents cruise ships from prohibiting passengers from bringing alcohol onboard. In Europe you can bring alcohol onboard from every port, thus there is less revenue from alcoholic drinks. I'm not sure about casino revenue and whether Europeans are as likely to gamble as Americans. In Europe, the ships are in port longer, and there are few sea days, so the casino is not open as many hours per day as it would be on a typical Caribbean cruise.

 

Another issue that cropped up a couple of years ago is that when ships stopped going to Turkey, there were only EU ports on the itinerary, and value added taxes as high as 21% were applied to all onboard sales. Needless to say, this cut down on onboard purchases, especially from Americans not used to these taxes.

 

We were on the Vista when the Horizon's itineraries were first announced. We were told by a senior officer on the Vista that the Horizon was doing a shortened Mediterranean season since the Vista lost money on every one of its European cruises.

 

As other posters have mentioned, Carnival Corporation sails in Europe with other brands (and different revenue models). It would be great for us frequent Carnival cruisers if Carnival would share their loyalty programs among brands, but that's a topic for a different thread.

[cshellz]

Carnival's revenue model is tailored to US cruisers from US ports. They have positioned their ships so that they are within one day driving distance of a large amount of the US population. Money saved on getting to port means more money to spend onboard. Carnival's model is to generally offer a cruise fare lower than their competitors, and make their profit on onboard spending from such things as shore excursions, drinks, gift shops, spa, and casino. Carnival has become more focused on families, which are more likely to be first time cruisers and likely to spend more onboard than frequent cruisers.

 

This model does not work well in Europe. High airfares prevent many of the US families who would drive to a US port from flying to Europe. The European cruises draw many Europeans - surprise, surprise. The European cruisers are looking for a different experience. Many have already visited the ports, or could easily do so in the future, so Europeans are less likely to spend for shore excursions. The Europeans are making the ship itself their destination. EU law prevents cruise ships from prohibiting passengers from bringing alcohol onboard. In Europe you can bring alcohol onboard from every port, thus there is less revenue from alcoholic drinks. I'm not sure about casino revenue and whether Europeans are as likely to gamble as Americans. In Europe, the ships are in port longer, and there are few sea days, so the casino is not open as many hours per day as it would be on a typical Caribbean cruise.

 

Another issue that cropped up a couple of years ago is that when ships stopped going to Turkey, there were only EU ports on the itinerary, and value added taxes as high as 21% were applied to all onboard sales. Needless to say, this cut down on onboard purchases, especially from Americans not used to these taxes.

 

We were on the Vista when the Horizon's itineraries were first announced. We were told by a senior officer on the Vista that the Horizon was doing a shortened Mediterranean season since the Vista lost money on every one of its European cruises.

 

As other posters have mentioned, Carnival Corporation sails in Europe with other brands (and different revenue models). It would be great for us frequent Carnival cruisers if Carnival would share their loyalty programs among brands, but that's a topic for a different thread.

 

 

Really informative post thank you.