Is Royal Ever Coming Back To Los Angeles/Long Beach?

[katstoy]

It's been many, many years since Royal abandoned the regular southern California market, haven't we been punished enough?  The only choices for us are Carnival for the 3/4 day cruises, for which they have two ships making those runs; and for the week long Carnival, NCL, Princess and the way too expensive Disney.  Come on back Royal!  Please?

[Merion_Mom]

When Royal is in the area, the port is at San Pedro, not Long Beach.

 

Management keeps shrugging their shoulders and saying things like "maybe" and "you never know".  But there is nothing happening in the near future, except the occasional Pacific Coastal cruise or Panama Canal cruise.  (for example, the Jewel will be sailing from San Diego on March 13) (and there are others)

 

But these are occasional, not regular.

 

I have west coast friends who are now regular Princess cruisers and are quite happy there.  🙂

[Clarea]

41 minutes ago, katstoy said:

It's been many, many years since Royal abandoned the regular southern California market, haven't we been punished enough?  The only choices for us are Carnival for the 3/4 day cruises, for which they have two ships making those runs; and for the week long Carnival, NCL, Princess and the way too expensive Disney.  Come on back Royal!  Please?

 

Royal only has so many ships, and they base them in places they can make the most profit.  LA remains less profitable than other US ports, so it's at the bottom of the list.

[Krazyfuntimes]

I would love it if they even had a ship there part of the year. I would cruise more if I didn't have to tack on thousands of dollars to get my family to a port across the country.

 

I will cross my fingers it will happen soon!

[BillB48]

I don't think you will see a return to the California market by Royal until they announce they are going to equip the ships to conform to CARB (California Air Resources Board).  As mentioned earlier with California being a very competitive market, it is much easier to call on California under the exemptions permitted by CARB.

[gatour]

21 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I have west coast friends who are now regular Princess cruisers and are quite happy there.  🙂

And the funny thing is we would be regurlar Princess cruisers if they offered more cruises out of Florida when we like to take trips.

 

We did a string of cruises on Princess and enjoyed the product, but they stopped having as many options, so we started doing RCCL on a regular basis.

 

As you said, it is where each line thinks they maximise their revenue with available inventory of ships/cabins.

[CanadaRob]

For us being landlocked in western Canada, Cali would make some sense once or twice for cost of flights but couldn't see us doing repeats because A)Weather is not as nice as leaving/cruising from Florida/SanJuan  departures B) Ports available out of LA area are limited.  Royal is sailing at close to max capacity on most of the fleet so yeah as Bob said more profit elsewhere

 

[Parrothead234]

I attended the officer's Q&A  last week where this question was asked.  Apparently the answer has to do with the Jones Act and sailings originating in the U.S. have to go to a port out of the country.  I'm not stating verbatim the answer as it was given and I don't know the technicalities of it, but that's how it was explained.

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, Parrothead234 said:

I attended the officer's Q&A  last week where this question was asked.  Apparently the answer has to do with the Jones Act and sailings originating in the U.S. have to go to a port out of the country.  I'm not stating verbatim the answer as it was given and I don't know the technicalities of it, but that's how it was explained.

 

Not the Jones Act, but the PVSA. 

 

I still don't understand the officer's Q&A reference, as cruises out of LA have always had Ensenada, Cabo, Mazatlan, PV, etc.  for foreign ports.

[squadron]

On 3/5/2019 at 4:06 PM, Krazyfuntimes said:

I would love it if they even had a ship there part of the year. I would cruise more if I didn't have to tack on thousands of dollars to get my family to a port across the country.

 

I will cross my fingers it will happen soon!

I would cruise once or twice a year from the West Coast.  Did two of the Mexican  cruises and 3 Pacific Coastals.  Would like a winter break  to Mexico without the expensive air fare to Fort Lauderdale.

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, gatour said:

And the funny thing is we would be regurlar Princess cruisers if they offered more cruises out of Florida when we like to take trips.

 

We did a string of cruises on Princess and enjoyed the product, but they stopped having as many options, so we started doing RCCL on a regular basis.

 

As you said, it is where each line thinks they maximise their revenue with available inventory of ships/cabins.

 

We were Princess people up until we started sailing out of Pt Canaveral.  PE was just to far from Atlanta.

[xpcdoojk]

Did anyone watch the NFL this year.  LA had to of the best 10 teams in the league and nobody showed up at the games.  Same with the RCI cruise ships.  Don’t know why but the LA market sucks.  

 

jc

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

Did anyone watch the NFL this year.  LA had to of the best 10 teams in the league and nobody showed up at the games.  Same with the RCI cruise ships.  Don’t know why but the LA market sucks.  

 

jc

 

I think they're waiting for a better stadium. Something fancy. 

[xpcdoojk]

yes, but by the time that happens they will have a 4 and 12 team.

 

Idiots they had two potential Super Bowl teams and 20K were showing up.

 

If I was selling almost anything, I would definitely put LA way way down on the list of places I would waste time money and effort trying to sell to.

 

jc

[pcur]

Holland America has some great itineraries leaving from the West Coast, too.  San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.  They have a Mexican cruise leaving a month from today on 4/619 for $476 inside cabin.

 

They also have one our favorite West Coast roundtrip itineraries, 28 nights Hawaii and Tahiti.  

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, pcur said:

Holland America has some great itineraries leaving from the West Coast, too.  San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.  They have a Mexican cruise leaving a month from today on 4/619 for $476 inside cabin.

 

They also have one our favorite West Coast roundtrip itineraries, 28 nights Hawaii and Tahiti.  

Been watching that 28niter for while, would love to do that one 

[ONECRUISER]

9 hours ago, CanadaRob said:

For us being landlocked in western Canada, Cali would make some sense once or twice for cost of flights but couldn't see us doing repeats because A)Weather is not as nice as leaving/cruising from Florida/SanJuan  departures B) Ports available out of LA area are limited.  Royal is sailing at close to max capacity on most of the fleet so yeah as Bob said more profit elsewhere

 

Yeah I think Royal sails at like 108% average where they sail now and never make that profit out of California...

[Ashland]

Just wow...Can't we just hope....Didn't know you were all such hater's of us west coasters...Can't we all just get along, play nice and share our toy's 

[Saab4444]

I don`t see the connection between Football and cruises but Royal Princess is a great alternative!   

[gkbiiii]

11 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Not the Jones Act, but the PVSA. 

 

I still don't understand the officer's Q&A reference, as cruises out of LA have always had Ensenada, Cabo, Mazatlan, PV, etc.  for foreign ports.

 

Why doesn't Royal just home port in Ensenada?  There is easy direct access from San Diego and this would make perfect sense. 

[Saab4444]

1 hour ago, gkbiiii said:

 

Why doesn't Royal just home port in Ensenada?  There is easy direct access from San Diego and this would make perfect sense. 

That makes sense, especially when the wall is built....

[gkbiiii]

5 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

That makes sense, especially when the wall is built....

 

"How cute is that," and YES the wall is being built, and YES Again; there is direct access from US border, to Tijuana Airport Bridge. "Cross Border Xpress"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Border_Xpress  

 

https://www.crossborderxpress.com/en/  

[chengkp75]

21 hours ago, BillB48 said:

I don't think you will see a return to the California market by Royal until they announce they are going to equip the ships to conform to CARB (California Air Resources Board).  As mentioned earlier with California being a very competitive market, it is much easier to call on California under the exemptions permitted by CARB.

This is a big point.  Under CARB rules, any ship, or fleet of ships, that calls at California ports more than a given number of times a year, has to equip their ships with the ability to power the ship from shore.   This costs a cargo ship about a million dollars to retrofit, and a cruise ship about 2-3 million.  If the corporate fleet doesn't call on California enough times, the fleet is exempt from shore power requirements, and only has to burn the ultra-low sulfur fuel required.  So, RCI makes occasional calls and lives under the exemption.

[Saab4444]

3 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

 

"How cute is that," and YES the wall is being built, and YES Again; there is direct access from US border, to Tijuana Airport Bridge. "Cross Border Xpress"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Border_Xpress  

 

https://www.crossborderxpress.com/en/  

This is great but if a cruise goes southbound to Mexico there is no need to start it in Mexico. If it goes northbound to Canada there is no need to stop in Mexico at all. For Hawaii they make a quick stop in Ensenda and all is fine. San Diego has a suitable terminal area for passenger changes, not sure about Ensenada...   

[cot427]

25 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

This is great but if a cruise goes southbound to Mexico there is no need to start it in Mexico. If it goes northbound to Canada there is no need to stop in Mexico at all. For Hawaii they make a quick stop in Ensenda and all is fine. San Diego has a suitable terminal area for passenger changes, not sure about Ensenada...   

I've heard nothing but horrible things about Ensenada. I haven't been there myself, but I can't imagine it would be well suited for a homeport. Add that to the list of great ideas like building the wall.