A Snow Bird Cruise Ship????

[caribill]

which I am kind of surprised that Princess is mostly doing away with the 4-5 day East Coast Getaways...maybe only 1 that I see now for May 2019 - 4 day Cozumel...

 

 

A couple of years ago Princess scheduled a whole bunch of shorter cruises from Fort Lauderdale.

 

 

However, this was in an area where Carnival and Royal Caribbean already had long established short itineraries and Princess could not make inroads into that segment of cruising.

 

In effect, Princess had to give the cruises away for free. They offered some bargain rates and then offered a future credit of what you paid (other than taxes) towards a future cruise of longer length.

 

 

Full suites were booked very quickly since no matter what price you paid, you got it back to spend on a future cruise.

 

So, to me, it is not surprising that Princess is no longer offering short cruises from Florida.

[paul929207]

I wanted to do that, too. Could kick myself for not taking it this year with the two nights in Rio for Carnival. I was told by a Future Cruise person onboard the Royal that it wouldn't be offered again because people complained about having to get visas. Find that so hard to believe.

I assume you mean the Brazil visa. You can now get them on line. It is much less hassle and cheaper.

[kendon]

I would love a few trips out of NY to the Caribbean. Right now they only offer one, at the end of October a repositioning . A NY to Bermuda...Eastern islands and back....We did that on NCL once....that was a nice trip.

 

A NY to Bermuda probably won't happen. No money in it for Princess. They would be in port for at least three nights with the shops and casino closed.

[floridalover5623]

A NY to Bermuda probably won't happen. No money in it for Princess. They would be in port for at least three nights with the shops and casino closed.

They changed the casino law in 2013.

They're allowed to remain open now.

[nukesubsailor]

Princess - and all the other major mass market cruise lines - have already done countless cost/benefit analyses on this very idea over the past several decades. And based on those countless studies, nobody offers it.

 

When it comes to mass market cruises - especially mass market Caribbean cruises - the profit "sweet spot" is a 7 to 9 day cruise. Cruises shorter than 7 days attract "tire kickers" and "booze cruise" people, who do not spend as much per day as 7 day cruisers.

Cruises longer than 9 days attract retired discount cruisers and fixed income cruisers. These 2 groups spend as much (onboard) on a 28 day cruise as they would on a 7 day cruise.

 

Since onboard spending is the only way mass market lines make any profit, they will not be following your suggestion anytime soon.

 

I have no doubt that you are correct. I was just wishing out loud. I think there are enough of us old retired folk to fill a ship on such a cruise. I also think I am not the only one who would prefer a day in a Caribbean port to one doing a turn-around in Ft. Lauderdale. The waiting for the last in-transit person to finally be tracked down and forced to meet in the theater like they were told to do. Then everyone can be cleared by customs and get back to relaxing aboard. Then there is the understandable wait for the stewards to clean the rooms of the in-transit passengers which seems to take much longer on turn-around days. The opportunity to replenish vital cruising supplies such as wine and Cheetos at a reasonable price while in Ft. Lauderdale is a good argument in favor of turn-around days.

However, I never gave any thought to the issue of average daily onboard spending by those taking long cruises as opposed to those taking short cruises. Just thinking selfishly as a passenger without considering the idea from the business aspect.

[Grego]

 

Trying to fill a ship for a 21 day Caribbean cruise would be difficult. The only cruisers that can do that are generally retirees (that includes me). But retiree cruises are not very good for cruise lines because we "older folk" tend to spend less money onboard...and cruise lines really want to maximize onboard revenue (its a major part of their business plan).

 

Hank

 

I tend to agree with Hank. The first issue is can the ship sell out a 21-day voyage and, what are the demographics? If the only folks that can take the time for a 21-day voyage are those that are retired and on a "fixed income", then it might not work for a business model. For instance, the Pacific Princess has an issue being profitable because it doesn't have the passenger numbers per voyage to overcome the cost of operation, so it has a fairly high fare rate to compensate. The Majestic Princess had a problem operating in the Asian market because the market Princess was going after wasn't spending money on board to continue operating there, so off to the Australian market it goes.

 

We happen to live in Florida and really don't have to escape the cold (even though it does get downright chilly here at times in southern FL). We just love to cruise and have done a couple longer voyages of over 20 days each because we can. We even sail in the Caribbean in the summer months because it's cost effective.

 

I guess it all boils down to dollars and cents, which doesn't always make sense, but it is what it is. Since we are both stockholders and stakeholders in Princess through Carnival Corp., we will support the plan until it no longer makes sense to do so.

[paul929207]

A while back, we were told by a Cruise Director that the little ships (then Ocean & Pacific) made about $1 million per month. The Grand Class ships make $5 million per week.

[myfuzzy]

A NY to Bermuda probably won't happen. No money in it for Princess. They would be in port for at least three nights with the shops and casino closed.

 

I was referring to a trip I had taken a bunch of years ago, started in NY, stopped at Bermuda....for the day...then San Juan, St Thomas, a couple of other islands, finished up with Dominica and Barbados and then back to NY. it might have been an 11 nighter.

[skynight]

I would love a few trips out of NY to the Caribbean. Right now they only offer one, at the end of October a repositioning . A NY to Bermuda...Eastern islands and back....We did that on NCL once....that was a nice trip.

RCI sails from NJ year round.

[Cruise2End]

I personally think they need to offer a long “summer bird” cruise June to mid July off the west coast 😁. There are a lot of us that would love to avoid the “super hot” period before the monsoons come in.

[floridalover5623]

RCI sails from NJ year round.

The only problem is that it takes two days sailing to reach the warmer weather.

[Times Prince]

As an alternative to returning to FLL each time, Princess could make turnaround stops in some of the other ports where they used to sail from - e.g. San Juan Puerto Rico, or Aruba. They would have to have some cheaper air offerings for the open jaw flights, but there are plenty of people who have posted about not sailing in/out of Puerto Rico.

 

What I'm thinking is a set of cruises with B2B 7 day Port Everglades to San Juan / San Juan to Port Everglades.

I'd consider a 14 day B2B that included a different port than Port Everglades in the middle.

[satxdiver]

I can sympathize with the OP in that I was raised in the midwest but now live in south Texas. My relatives fall on the floor laughing when I complain about the cold winters down here. However there is a reason why I live in south Texas instead of where I was raised. We too look for cruises in the depths of our winter when temperatures can drop at night below freezing. We will be on the CB 14 day cruise in November this year and a late January cruise to HI as well to escape winter.

 

Several years ago we met two women who were from Boston. They were doing several cruises to escape the cold MA winter and they told us it was cheaper to take a cruise than to rent an apartment, car and buy food in FLL. However they moved from cruise line to cruise line during their two months in south Florida.

[Steelers36]

If you haven't read Pescado Amarillo's blog, she writes about spending several months on cruise ships. They see the turnaround day as a chance to stock up on needed supplies and take advantage of high speed wifi.

 

Sent from my SM-G930R6 using Forums mobile app

 

As much as I like a stop in Princess Cay, I wouldn't need to be there every week.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I think the economics would prevent this from ever becoming reality. In addition, we have found that we much prefer shorter cruises B2B rather than longer ones. For us, it’s worth the turnaround day and repeated menus and entertainment to get the additional internet and minibar and the infusion of excitement that new passengers bring on board. Of course, when we can get some itinerary variation and do turnarounds in a city like Sydney, as we did this winter, that’s the best, but we don’t mind Fort Lauderdale turnarounds either.

[alreadypacked]

which I am kind of surprised that Princess is mostly doing away with the 4-5 day East Coast Getaways...maybe only 1 that I see now for May 2019 - 4 day Cozumel...

 

may have to book that later if the price drops... no FCD's in hand for now :(

 

As a southeast coast Floridian, I wish there were more of those! Used to be.

 

Guess the price point is lower [than Alaska or Europe]... not worth it from a business standpoint, I guess.

 

We've sailed the Caribbean so much, it's been there, done that...

 

Planning longer, further away itineraries for down the road...

 

Right now we just want a short getaway in our own back yard (to decompress)--but on a better line than say, Carnival.

[caribill]

A while back, we were told by a Cruise Director that the little ships (then Ocean & Pacific) made about $1 million per month. The Grand Class ships make $5 million per week.

 

Just being profitable is not enough these days to keep operating a small ship like the Pacific Princess.

 

 

I lived in one city a couple of decades ago when the finest chain department store in the city was closed. It made a nice profit, but not as much profit as the execs wanted.

[Grego]

A while back, we were told by a Cruise Director that the little ships (then Ocean & Pacific) made about $1 million per month. The Grand Class ships make $5 million per week.

 

Do you think that's revenue? Hard to believe it's profit.

[Casey12]

I am wondering why people in Texas have to escape the winter. Really --- it hits freezing a few times?

[bob brown]

If Princess really wanted to tap into the "snowbird" market, they would offer some longer cruises out of New York in the winter, instead of leaving at the end of the autumn season, as they do currently. I know the Crown did that in its first year, but apparently was unsuccessful at that time. A longer cruise from New York in the winter, would negate the couple of days spent each way in the colder climate, and would accommodate those that dislike flying to warm weather homeports.

 

NCL, which seems able to maintain two ships all year round sailing out of New York on 7 to 14 day roundtrips, is trying something new in January of 2020....the NCL Gem is doing a back to back sailing from New York to San Francisco, which if booked together, totals 41 nights....

[paul929207]

Do you think that's revenue? Hard to believe it's profit.

I believe it is profit. Average fare per day is surely more than $100. There are about 700 passengers, so that is $70,000 fare per day. With 30 days per month that is $2.1 million. Then there is all the onboard spending. Probably close to another $2 million or $4 million total.

[nukesubsailor]

I am wondering why people in Texas have to escape the winter. Really --- it hits freezing a few times?

 

Yes it gets below freezing in Texas. I live near Austin and it gets below freezing a few times each winter. February is usually the coldest month. We get ice storms the have even stopped mail delivery. Fortunately, periods of ice or below freezing seldom last longer than a day. The Texas pan handle has it much worse.

As far as I am concerned, any temperature below 75 degrees is too cold. I have lived in places where it got to 30 below zero. That is why I now live in Texas. However, I have been known to go to Canada or Maine in the summer when it is 100 degrees in Texas.

[57eric]

We just came back from doing B2B on the Regal, and going back to Ft. Lauderdale was OK, we took advantage of visiting the area which we've never done before. But, I think if we had done a 3rd week we would have stayed on the ship.

 

I don't think that's allowed.

[57eric]

I would like that itinerary too. I'm hoping they'll do the 60 day South America circumnavigation again in 2-3 years.

 

The Island Princess did a 60 day South America circumnavigation this year. Are you referring specifically to the Amazon?

[susiesan]

You could have embarked the Emerald in Buenos Aires Feb. 28 for 14 days to Santiago, then to LA for 16 days, then LA to Hawaii to Tahiti and back to LA for 28 days, a total of 58 days on the Emerald in mostly warm weather.