Do Caribbean cruises make up the majority of American cruise line business?

[clo]

44 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We have discovered a nice way to deal with the Caribbean

Curious why you keep going there, time after time.

[Aquahound]

The vast majority of my 50-something cruises were to the Caribbean and The Bahamas. I love the tropics, the water, and the heat. Call me Wal Mart or whatever else makes you feel better about yourself. I don’t care. And it has zero to do with affordability.....as if that even matters. 

[clo]

13 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

The vast majority of my 50-something cruises were to the Caribbean and The Bahamas. I love the tropics, the water, and the heat. Call me Wal Mart or whatever else makes you feel better about yourself. I don’t care. And it has zero to do with affordability.....as if that even matters. 

Oh good grief, get over yourself. I was interested in whether those cruises were the majority in the US. And why. And you answered. Allow me to ask a follow up question: do you travel not on cruises? If so, where? Thanks.

[gtaylor]

9 hours ago, clo said:

I just saw this as a statement on another thread.

 

Is this true and, if so, why is that? Is it that they generally cost a lot less?

 

Our very first cruise was post 9-11 and we were 'given' two B2B, 10 day Southern Caribbean cruises with all different ports except for St. Thomas. Ever since then you couldn't convince us to return. A total "been there, done that" reaction. I realized just a few days ago that we don't cruise from or to the US. We fly someplace, tour around DIY and then cruise and tour around some more. 

 

So again, is the Caribbean the main destination for Americans? 

Is what true?

 

I'd like to know which 'other thread' had this post.  I can't find it with many searches.

 

And why the question about the Caribbean 'so' being the main destination for Americans?

 

That quoted statement doesn't seem to make much sense here, 'from or to the US' doesn't seem to infer they are Americans, the subject of your questions.

 

It seems to me that you are just trolling for questions to bump your post count.

 

I'll post, anyway.

 

We do the Caribbean a lot, both because we enjoy the islands and enjoy those that are new and those that we know very well. Many times we do just stay aboard.

 

Some were our first exposure, and we have been back often to visit for weeks at a time.

 

gary

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, clo said:

Curious why you keep going there, time after time.

We love being on ships and the Caribbean is just one more option.  Since DW and I are really into sun, sand, and water the Caribbean is hard to beat.   Since we live on the East Coast it is also very easy (and convenient) to get to the usual Florida or Caribbean ports.  We also vacation in the Caribbean for the same reason (sun, sand, water) and will be heading to an All Inclusive in a few weeks.  I should mention that there are some fantastic islands in the Caribbean that are not normally part of cruise (although we have combined them with a land-cruise trip)  St Barts and Anguilla are two fabulous places although they can be budget busters.  There are also other islands, such as in the BVI chain that are terrific if one wants to book a smaller boat for either sailing or power.

 

For many years we also enjoyed an annual Princess repositioning cruise which embarked in NYC and ended at Port Everglades.  The cruise usually happened over Halloween (always had an interesting group of folks who would dress up for that day) and would only stop at two or three ports in ten days.  The first few years that Princess did that voyage the ship was not full and the prices were fantastic (starting and ending at different ports meant passengers needed a Passport which eliminated many cruisers).  But after a few years the cruise (done on the new Regal Princess the last few years) became popular (many of the same folks year after year) and prices were edging up.

 

Hank

[navybankerteacher]

8 hours ago, clo said:

Do you think that's really a factor? Could it be that 'those people' aren't very brave/adventurous so the passport thing is just an excuse? I'd not really had that thought before.

Certainly it is - a family of four would be looking at an “extra” cost of about $500 - for passports for which  they might not see any other need.  And the  industry obviously saw the advantage (of holding down “unnecessary” costs) in justifying their lobbying efforts to pass WHTI.  

[BoozinCroozin]

As never cruised before, we will be cruising the Caribbean until retirement. We do not have the time off to take a longer trip to Hawaii or Europe. With only 1 week to vacation at a time, I do not want to spend one full day of it on an airplane. Because PC, POM, and PE are the biggest and closest ports, we will be traveling from those primarily and those turn out to be Caribbean cruises.

 

When we do retire, we have plans to do Med cruises and stay somewhere there that have great snorkeling or diving opportunities. We will also do Hawaii and cruises to the Pacific areas with the same plans. 

[sanger727]

7 hours ago, clo said:

Oh good grief, get over yourself. I was interested in whether those cruises were the majority in the US. And why. And you answered. Allow me to ask a follow up question: do you travel not on cruises? If so, where? Thanks.

that’s a good follow up question which could help. We alternate between big trips and relax trips. The relax trips are usually a Caribbean cruise or an all inclusive. Just looking for a beach, a pool, includes food and drinks, and not a lot of planning. The big trips usually end up being land trips as opposed to cruise. Just because we end up feeling like more locations are better suited to land trips than cruises. So we end up doing more caribbean cruises because we think a cruise is a great way to visit the Caribbean. But when we jet off to more exotic destinations we usually end up doing land trips.

[Markanddonna]

We prefer other destinations (Europe, Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, etc.)  We typically go on a Caribbean cruise in the middle of winter because Florida's weather is often not reliably warm enough. Like many others, the Caribbean islands all pretty much seem alike to me so tours aren't important. 

 

[cruisemom42]

The Caribbean is very pretty, even if it is now so overcrowded.

 

I'm just not the type who enjoys that kind of vacation. I try a Caribbean cruise every so often, but usually find myself bored and somewhat unsatisfied after just a few days.

 

No issues with those who enjoy it though. Everyone's got their own jam.

 

[HxFx]

I am new to cruising but have travelled to over 40 countries and have lived in 2 other countries. The Caribbean happens to be the least travelled location of the areas I've visited, only 5 Caribbean countries by cruise-only. I always love getting to the sun and beautiful waters so would always be open to a Caribbean cruise. However, when I retire I plan to do more far away cruises in addition to the Caribbean.

 

With 2 working adults, not only are vacation days limited, timing them with our different schedules is challenging. It is very hard for us to get more than a week off together. I think that is the case for many of the cruisers to the Caribbean. I've been to some very different places all over Asia and Eastern Europe but thoroughly enjoy my trips to the Caribbean as well (whether by ship or plane). I think it only seems less exotic to some because of how easy it is to get to for us in the U.S. The Caribbean would certainly be exotic to my Swiss family!

[SRQbeachgirl]

We have taken land trips all over the world, but all of our cruises have been in the Caribbean and we have also been to Caribbean resorts more than a dozen times. It doesn't have anything to do with not being adventurous, as we have crossed the Andes, macheted our way through jungle, hopped on open-air buses that looked like they were held together with duct tape and shared seats with roosters. We've roamed through European countries on our own with nothing more than a backpack and a Lonely Planet guidebook. Cost isn't a factor, since we have enough disposable income to vacation however we want, we just haven't felt the need to "upgrade" at this stage of our lives. 

 

We just love the sun, sand, snorkeling, and relaxation in the Caribbean. Also, it's easy and fast to get to, which is important since I have a very demanding job that makes it hard to get away for very long. When we retire we would like to take off and travel for months at a time, but until then the Caribbean will remain our go-to place. 

[clo]

2 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

We prefer other destinations (Europe, Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, etc.)  We typically go on a Caribbean cruise in the middle of winter because Florida's weather is often not reliably warm enough. Like many others, the Caribbean islands all pretty much seem alike to me so tours aren't important. 

 

I loathe hot and humid and have to remind myself that I'm in the minority.

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, HxFx said:

I think it only seems less exotic to some because of how easy it is to get to for us in the U.S. The Caribbean would certainly be exotic to my Swiss family!

 

Yes, I've met plenty of folks from the UK and other European countries who love Caribbean cruises -- definitely NOT an inexpensive vacation for them with airfare + often higher cruise prices than available in the US. Often they will stay and spend additional time in Florida at Disney or in Miami...

 

[George C]

Next cruise will be # 70 and we have done approximately 55 Caribbean cruises,  

love relaxing in the sun, have 3 more Caribbean cruises booked. Would like to do another European one and eventually do a Alaska cruise , would also like to do another Hawaiian cruise.

[Aquahound]

12 hours ago, clo said:

Oh good grief, get over yourself. I was interested in whether those cruises were the majority in the US. And why. And you answered. Allow me to ask a follow up question: do you travel not on cruises? If so, where? Thanks.

 

My comments were in response to things said by other posters, not you.  So before you spout off telling people to get over themselves, you really should work on comprehending a little better.

 

But to answer your follow up question, I travel the globe extensively both for work and for vacation.  The "where" is too long to list.   And no, they are not all cruises.  

[SelectSys]

16 hours ago, clo said:

I think that the "why" was what I was most interested in and this has pretty much answered that. And since we're on the West Coast, cruises to Mexico hold no appeal so we would have to fly somewhere anyway. So, yeah, I get it.

My why is because I enjoy beach-style vacations and this is an extremely easy way to achieve that end.  I also like the experience of being at sea and the changing of scenery - recognizing that many islands  are similar.

 

While I prefer the Caribbean for scenery and ports, I am OK with a Mexican Rivera cruise as it is a simple drive from my house.  For San Diego departures it's even easier - train/uber/friend.   

 

Someday I would like to see more cruises into the Sea of Cortes.  This would be tougher as it requires more than the standard 7 day LA-based round trip.

 

I have never done an AI, and maybe I would like this as well as an alternative to a cruise.  I am interested in trying our Xcaret at some point in the future when the price looks right to me.  

[SelectSys]

2 hours ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

Also, it's easy and fast to get to, which is important since I have a very demanding job that makes it hard to get away for very long. When we retire we would like to take off and travel for months at a time, but until then the Caribbean will remain our go-to place. 

I think this is a very relevant point for many.  

[Top_of_the_Cube]

"So again, is the Caribbean the main destination for Americans?"

 

For cruising, I would say definitely so.  Majority of those sailing out of U.S. ports in the Gulf and on the East Coast are U.S. citizens.  Lots of Americans enjoy porting out of foreign locations, but they pale in the vast numbers staying close to home.

 

As for me and my wife, cruising means Caribbean and Bahamas.  I personally like the view of the ocean and the motion of a ship, and my wife loves being around lots of people.  But, we only like being on the water in sunny and warm (to hot) weather.  So far, we have not tired of the destinations.  Some ports of call have activities that we will never grow tired of participating in, and we have yet to exhaust the new adventures to be found even in much-maligned stops such as Belize.

 

When we head to places like Europe, doesn't even cross my mind to travel the area on a big ship.  But, not opposed to someone gifting me a Mediterranean cruise.

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, clo said:

I loathe hot and humid and have to remind myself that I'm in the minority.

 

You are at least a minority of 2.  Besides the other reasons that I have mentioned as to why I don't do Caribbean cruises, you can add heat and humidity to the list.

 

DON

[HxFx]

15 minutes ago, Top_of_the_Cube said:

When we head to places like Europe, doesn't even cross my mind to travel the area on a big ship.

Same. I never even looked at cruising until a few years ago. I grew up in Florida so saw plenty of ocean and then have lived all over the place. Now that I am settled on the East Coast I love the idea of experiencing different (warm) islands and I never tire of snorkeling, sailing on a catamaran, looking at turquoise water, and diving.

 

Many of the remaining sites I want to see around the world would not be accessible via ship. Of course, there are many that are that I hope to have the time to try one day! I'd love to do a Greek Island cruise. I lived on Crete for a year but I never made it to the other islands. I took several trips to Athens though. I'd want to explore on either end of the cruise, visit family, etc. so that will require much longer than 7 days.

[clo]

43 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

My why is because I enjoy beach-style vacations and this is an extremely easy way to achieve that end.  I also like the experience of being at sea and the changing of scenery - recognizing that many islands  are similar.

 

While I prefer the Caribbean for scenery and ports, I am OK with a Mexican Rivera cruise as it is a simple drive from my house.  For San Diego departures it's even easier - train/uber/friend.   

 

Someday I would like to see more cruises into the Sea of Cortes.  This would be tougher as it requires more than the standard 7 day LA-based round trip.

 

I have never done an AI, and maybe I would like this as well as an alternative to a cruise.  I am interested in trying our Xcaret at some point in the future when the price looks right to me.  

What about other parts of the world? Non cruising?

[clo]

30 minutes ago, Top_of_the_Cube said:

But, not opposed to someone gifting me a Mediterranean cruise.

🙂 

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, clo said:

I loathe hot and humid and have to remind myself that I'm in the minority.

You are not alone. DW slathers herself in sunscreen, but still ends up with dermatologist appointments while I look for shade and read a book.

[jocap]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Yes, I've met plenty of folks from the UK and other European countries who love Caribbean cruises -- definitely NOT an inexpensive vacation for them with airfare + often higher cruise prices than available in the US. Often they will stay and spend additional time in Florida at Disney or in Miami...

 

People from Northern Europe look for an escape from bitter weather, and cruise lines have made this so easy these days by putting together a full package with their own flights, transport and ships, at reasonable prices. I believe this happened when Princess belonged to P&O... we went with such a package for our first cruise, soon after the two lines were bought by Carnival, and I don't remember other European packages then.

Now there are several European managed ships which stay in the Caribbean over winter, and we've met many for whom this has been their first cruise. 

Princess took care of us on arrival at the airport, and we checked in at a "Princess" desk; on our return we were coached into Fort Lauderdale for lunch before being taken to the airport- all included in the original price. Nowadays you stay on the ship until your flight has landed, in the late afternoon, then coached to the airport.