What happened to Southern Caribbean Itineraries & Sailings from San Juan PR?

[Spike2000]

Hello all,

Kind of out of the loop and wondering if you can enlighten me a bit on some of the changes I have noticed.  Looking into booking another family trip next summer and I feel like I have very limited options compared to trips that I have done in the past.

 

1) Why are there not any options to sail from San Juan PR next summer? Most of my best trips have been based out of San Juan(eliminates a ton of travel time).  Is there something going on with that port? If I remember correctly, I didn't think I noticed ANY ships leaving from SJ PR. 

 

2) It seems like some of my favorite islands are pretty much impossible (again, Looking in JUNE/JULY next summer) to get to now a days. Islands like Dominica/St.Lucia etc... What has changed? I love Tortola as well but all the liners seem to do nearly pointless stops there now-a-day. (...like leaving at 2pm kind of stops) 

 

I had a family member ask this to their 'Cruise Expert' Travel Agent and they just kinda avoided the question so I thought I would ask the real experts here!

 

Thank you 🙂 

 

[Buckeyefrank100]

No official answer from me, but a guess.  It seems that PR always sailed with an older ship and shorter cruises.  It also seems like, based on reviews, that people weren't very high on cruises taking off from there.  My guess is that when Carnival scrapped quite a few ships, they needed to reduce the number of cruise offerings and PR was one of the less profitable / popular routes.

[IntrepidFromDC]

I don't know, but there are some new, really nice southern Caribbean cruises from Baltimore - visiting St. Thomas, St. Kitt's, St. Maarten, Aruba, Curacao and Grand Turk on one cruise.

[Essiesmom]

They had Triumph or Victory there for years before they replaced her with Fascination.  But Covid happened, some hurricanes too, and San Juan wasn’t open to anyone for a long time.  Guess it’s easy for you from a hub city, but from the coast, it’s nigh impossible.  EM

[cruisemiluv28]

This is so sad because the cruises leaving from PR have the better itinerary.  St.Lucia, Barbadoes, Antigua and St Marteen.  NCL is see is the only line doing that route but only during the winter.

[cruisemiluv28]

What line from Baltimore doing the southern?

[Deathloks]

1 minute ago, cruisemiluv28 said:

This is so sad because the cruises leaving from PR have the better itinerary.  St.Lucia, Barbadoes, Antigua and St Marteen.  NCL is see is the only line doing that route but only during the winter.

We did the southern Caribbean cruise on the Valor in 2014.  We just loved Barbados and miss it very much.  In fact, I believe I have seen (last year and again recently) RC cruising from Barbados.

[Spike2000]

12 minutes ago, cruisemiluv28 said:

This is so sad because the cruises leaving from PR have the better itinerary.  St.Lucia, Barbadoes, Antigua and St Marteen.  NCL is see is the only line doing that route but only during the winter.

Absolutely agree!! It's a bummer for famlies that cruise in the summer...

[tidecat]

The plug was actually pulled pre-Covid. Carnival Fascination was originally going to reposition to Mobile in January 2022 to replace Carnival Fantasy, including a rare San Juan to Mobile one-way cruise.

[Spike2000]

11 minutes ago, Deathloks said:

We did the southern Caribbean cruise on the Valor in 2014.  We just loved Barbados and miss it very much.  In fact, I believe I have seen (last year and again recently) RC cruising from Barbados.

My last cruise the Freedom in 2019 was one based out of SJPR and we had a great time...Just wanted to let them see some of the other Islands this time.....I REALLY want them to see Dominica. My wife and I had a great time there last time we visited Dom...

[Spike2000]

30 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

I don't know, but there are some new, really nice southern Caribbean cruises from Baltimore - visiting St. Thomas, St. Kitt's, St. Maarten, Aruba, Curacao and Grand Turk on one cruise.

Really? Baltimore?  Will have to look into that...I hope that's the case 🙂 

[Indiansbaseball]

We did this itinerary 4 times in a row …St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten !! Oct. 2012 Victory, October 2014 Valor, October 2015 Liberty and March 2017 Fascination. Loved it so much. It’s been gone long before Covid. I would say it’s an issue with the Terminal or city. We would jump on it in a heartbeat !

Edited August 1, 2022 by Indiansbaseball

[Deathloks]

5 minutes ago, Spike2000 said:

Really? Baltimore?  Will have to look into that...I hope that's the case 🙂 

If you are into longer cruise, I believe Carnival is also offering 14-day cruises on the Dream in the fall of 2023 including San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Maarten and St. Croix.

[IntrepidFromDC]

28 minutes ago, cruisemiluv28 said:

What line from Baltimore doing the southern?

Carnival Legend

[IntrepidFromDC]

7 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Carnival Legend

20 minutes ago, Spike2000 said:

Really? Baltimore?  Will have to look into that...I hope that's the case 🙂 

DAY PORT OF CALL ARRIVE DEPART

Sun Baltimore, MD   6:00 PM

Mon Fun Day At Sea

Tue Fun Day At Sea

Wed Fun Day At Sea

Thu St. Thomas, Usvi 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

Fri St. Maarten, NA 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Sat St Kitts, WI 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

Sun Fun Day At Sea

Mon Aruba 9:00 AM 10:00 PM

Tue Curacao 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

Wed Fun Day At Sea

Thu Grand Turk 8:00 AM 4:00 PM

[jsglow]

Okay, to answer the OP's question, Carnival exited San Juan over a port redevelopment disagreement announcing their plans in either 2018 or 2019 when it pulled Fascination intending to take it to Mobile if memory serves.  The announced closure of that 7 day Windwards/Leewards itinerary predated the Covid outbreak by probably a year but I do think I recall that Carnival was still operating it at the time of the forced shutdown; similar to how Sunshine is still operating from Charleston today but with a firm departure date.  We had intended to do one last San Juan run in the winter of '21/'22 but of course that went by the wayside.  If I recall correctly, the final 7 day cruises out of San Juan had been scheduled for early '22 sometime.

 

Yes, it's a total shame that option isn't out there any more.  I had long though that Carnival made a mistake by only running a single itinerary, albeit a fantastic one.  These days, one must be on at least an 8 day to get to St. Kitts.  Anything beyond that down the Windwards/Leewards requires a Journeys cruise.  Hopefully they get that resolved some day.  Certainly any ship assigned to San Juan is going to be an older hull as she was always a bit of a tough sell.  But Sunshine (Destiny) returning would be fantastic.  

Edited August 1, 2022 by jsglow

[WhiteOptima]

I did out of San Juan a few times.  Conquest took us to St. Kitts, Dominica, St Maarten and Antiqua.   Fascination was St Thomas, Barbados(people debarked and embarked there), St Lucia, St. Kitts and St Maarten.  Horizon out of Miami took us to San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.  Sometimes a 14 day will take you farther or a repositioning cruise.

[MeganGC1983]

Loved sailing out of San Juan. I bring it up from time to time to the powers that be. I’ve been told they might re-visit it once Covid is over. 

[jsglow]

12 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Loved sailing out of San Juan. I bring it up from time to time to the powers that be. I’ve been told they might re-visit it once Covid is over. 

Our mouth to the beard's ears!

Edited August 1, 2022 by jsglow

[topaz123]

Took the RCL Jewel of Sea out of PR.....love those southern ports, that Carnival seems to ignore.

[RumpunchGirl]

Here's what I know; on 12/16/2019, DH and I booked a 7 day cruise out of SJPR leaving 1/24/2021 on Carnival Fascination. Ports of call were St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados. I received notice of cancellation on 7/23/2020. We were offered 100% future cruise credit plus $600 OBC, which we took. I was really disappointed but not surprised because of the covid situation going on. I was really hoping we would be able to book a Southern Caribbean again. However, DH got an offer from Carnival in Dec. 2020 that gave us an additional $500 OBC if we book a cruise by January. So, we did and are now cruising out of Long Beach Jan. 2023. This is a new departure port us.  I haven't been on a ship since October 2019 and I'm so excited.  But, I'll keep watching for the Southern Caribbean itinerary!

[Dixe Lee]

5 hours ago, Spike2000 said:

1) Why are there not any options to sail from San Juan PR next summer? Most of my best trips have been based out of San Juan(eliminates a ton of travel time).  Is there something going on with that port? If I remember correctly, I didn't think I noticed ANY ships leaving from SJ PR. 

Not Carnival but we are sailing on Celebrity next April Southern Caribbean out of PR. This was our first itinerary ever so many years ago and we have been wanting to repeat Not all the same exact ports but some are the same ones and some will be new to us 7 nights sailing April 8. Caught a sale and couldn’t pass up this cruise Will be first on Celebrity As you said couldn’t find CCL sailing this itinerary any more.

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, Dixe Lee said:

Not Carnival but we are sailing on Celebrity next April Southern Caribbean out of PR. This was our first itinerary ever so many years ago and we have been wanting to repeat Not all the same exact ports but some are the same ones and some will be new to us 7 nights sailing April 8. Caught a sale and couldn’t pass up this cruise Will be first on Celebrity As you said couldn’t find CCL sailing this itinerary any more.

I see Millie is sailing two different itineraries from San Juan.  Only repeated port is Barbados.  Too bad you can’t do a B2B.  EM

[aztekpm]

I sailed when it was Liberty out of SJU, one of my all time favorite cruises!

[CruizinSusan70]

9 hours ago, cruisemiluv28 said:

What line from Baltimore doing the southern?

Carnival Legend in January and November of 2023, Enchantment OTS in Jan, Feb, Mar of 2023 and Vision OTS in Nov, Dec of 2023.   All 12 or 14 day cruises.