Caribbean itineraries are getting repetitive. Is it because of the bigger ships?

[ALLIN333]

4 hours ago, baggal said:

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

I’m literally going to all of those islands on a  Celebrity ship next week 😂

[Oceangoer2]

3 hours ago, Belgian fry said:

I've done a search and I spent quite some time last week on the Equinox investigating. I really didn't find anything I wanted to book.

 

I wonder if Regent might be an alternative? Have been playing around on *****

I just booked Silhouette which has a 10 night to St Maartin, St Lucia, Tobago, Grenada and Antigua.   You mentioned some of these.

[2chiefs]

5 hours ago, DCPIV said:

<<<SNIP>>

 

By the way, Martinique can keep itself.  The only thing I find attractive about Martinique these days is the view from the ship.

Agree. We dislike Martinique. They aren't friendly in our opinion.

[2chiefs]

5 hours ago, baggal said:

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

Except for HAL's private island, we've been to all these places on Celebrity.

Additionally, Celebrity has two private islands (RCL and Celebrity stop there) that they visit: Labadee in Haiti and Cococay in Bahamas. So I'm not sure I understand this post.

[sun bum]

The newer ships do tend to have more sea days. To get the most ports on a 7 day cruise you must sail out of Puerto Rico. When I asked the Future Cruise rep, she stated that Puerto Rico is not going to be offered as a departure port in the future. They are also not sailing to the Mexican Riviera after this year..

[Belgian fry]

58 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I just booked Silhouette which has a 10 night to St Maartin, St Lucia, Tobago, Grenada and Antigua.   You mentioned some of these.

When is it though? I’m looking at early 2025 as we doing a Japan cruise next year. Because it sounds perfect!

Edited February 23, 2023 by Belgian fry

[phoenix_dream]

IMHO the issue is a move to shorter cruises to attract a younger crowd with only so much vacation time. Many of the islands we regularly visited years ago are rarely on itineraries now.  That combined with removing San Juan as an embarkation port are the main reasons I believe. Unfortunate. 

[mahdnc]

5 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

IMHO the issue is a move to shorter cruises to attract a younger crowd with only so much vacation time. Many of the islands we regularly visited years ago are rarely on itineraries now.  That combined with removing San Juan as an embarkation port are the main reasons I believe. Unfortunate. 

 

Millennium is sailing out of San Juan now.  Summit is sailing out of San Juan for the 2024/25 season

[baggal]

2 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

Except for HAL's private island, we've been to all these places on Celebrity.

Additionally, Celebrity has two private islands (RCL and Celebrity stop there) that they visit: Labadee in Haiti and Cococay in Bahamas. So I'm not sure I understand this post.

Almost every, if not all, Caribbean cruises on HAL stop at Half Moon Cay.  Not every Celebrity ship stops at Labadee.  Yes, Celebrity had practically the same itinerary that I did a few weeks on HAL with the exception of a private beach stop which made for 4 at sea days on Celebrity vs 3 on HAL.  And I'm pretty sure that Cococay is a Princess property.

[DCPIV]

26 minutes ago, baggal said:

And I'm pretty sure that Cococay is a Princess property

 

It's RCL unless Princess also has a property there I'm not aware of. 

[time4u2go]

29 minutes ago, baggal said:

And I'm pretty sure that Cococay is a Princess property.

No.  It's RC's.

[WonderMan3]

8 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

Well, that was an 11-day cruise.  We've been on longer Celebrity cruises out of Florida that have gone to Aruba, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and Puerta Plata (along with Martinique, Barbados, and St. Thomas, but those are hardly anything rare for a southern Caribbean cruise).  Other itineraries hit Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, and maybe some other spots, but those also are 11+ nighters.

 

By the way, Martinique can keep itself.  The only thing I find attractive about Martinique these days is the view from the ship.

That's an odd take. Martinique rarely shows up on Celebrity itineraries but I was lucky to visit it on Summit back in 2019. It was one of the most interesting islands I have been to in the Caribbean, and was in much better shape than some of the other islands they regularly go to. It had a number of beautiful areas and I would love to go back to see more.

 

Now they do tend to have issues with workers striking which I believe is why cruise ships don't visit there as often as other islands (they day we were there striking taxis blocked the cruise area preventing tour buses from getting in/out; luckily we had a private guide who managed to schmooze her way out of the blockade).

[WonderMan3]

34 minutes ago, baggal said:

Almost every, if not all, Caribbean cruises on HAL stop at Half Moon Cay.  Not every Celebrity ship stops at Labadee.  Yes, Celebrity had practically the same itinerary that I did a few weeks on HAL with the exception of a private beach stop which made for 4 at sea days on Celebrity vs 3 on HAL.  And I'm pretty sure that Cococay is a Princess property.

Princess Cays is their private island.

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

Millennium is sailing out of San Juan now.  Summit is sailing out of San Juan for the 2024/25 season

Oops. Sorry.  I had heard that they pulled out of San Juan.  Obviously I was mistaken. 

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, phoenix_dream said:

Oops. Sorry.  I had heard that they pulled out of San Juan.  Obviously I was mistaken. 

 

Your information is usually very very good.  I thought maybe there was some news that I was unaware of.

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

Except for HAL's private island, we've been to all these places on Celebrity.

Additionally, Celebrity has two private islands (RCL and Celebrity stop there) that they visit: Labadee in Haiti and Cococay in Bahamas. So I'm not sure I understand this post.

What Celebrity ship stops at either of these? I've sailed Celebrity 72 times, primarily in the Caribbean, and never stopped there. 

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

Agree. We dislike Martinique. They aren't friendly in our opinion.

Same here. It's been awhile for me but I found the people unfriendly overall. They also are the only Carribean island I've visited that wouldn't accept USD. I'm not that ugly American that expects the world to cater to me. It's just odd as every other island did with no issues.

[the_dylaness]

9 hours ago, baggal said:

Celebrity is not known for varied and interesting itineraries. 

 

We were very recently on a 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Rotterdam.  With the exception of St. Marten and St. Thomas  which we had previously visited multiple times, all the other ports were new and interesting to us:  St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados, and Martinique.  We took the ferry from St. Thomas to St. John for a day at the beach there.  And then finally, a stop at Half Moon Cay, HAL's private island (which Celebrity doesn't have).

 

My advise to you is to look at other cruise lines.

 

We are sailing to St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Barbados and Martinique on Equinox next month... but it is 10 days.

[the_dylaness]

2 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

IMHO the issue is a move to shorter cruises to attract a younger crowd with only so much vacation time. Many of the islands we regularly visited years ago are rarely on itineraries now.  That combined with removing San Juan as an embarkation port are the main reasons I believe. Unfortunate. 

 

X removed San Juan as an embarkation port, or this is more "across the board"?  We've sailed out of there a couple of times and while it's a little bit of a pain, it was nice to be able to get a little farther south.

[Guppy99]

9 hours ago, Belgian fry said:

Islands such as: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas (not Nassau), BVIs, Grenada, Monserrat, St Barths, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos...

I've been to all of these on Celebrity...so, I'm confused.

[NutsAboutGolf]

5 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

Agree. We dislike Martinique. They aren't friendly in our opinion.

 

Very true and I believe X only stops there on Sundays when most of the businesses are closed.  In mainland France it's generally the same outside of Paris.  On the other hand, French Polynesia like Tahiti are some of the friendliest people I've ever met, random strangers go out of their way to be helpful and aren't expecting a tip

[NutsAboutGolf]

8 hours ago, time4u2go said:

From your list of 11, they go to the following 7:

 

Antigua: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/antigua

Bahamas (not Nassau): https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/grand-bahama

Bimini: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/bimini

BVI: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/british-virgin-islands

Grenada: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/grenada

Saint Vincent: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/st-vincent

Turks and Caicos: https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/grand-turk-turks-and-caicos

 

Granted, I did not check dates of cruises that go to these places.

 

 

And most can be accessed by a ferry while the X ship is port at a neighboring island; I understand that isn't the same but if you goal is for whatever reason step on as many major Caribbean islands as you can, you can take ferries to the last four:

 

St Martin to Anguilla

St Martin to St Barths

Antigua to Barbuda

Antigua to Monserrat

[NutsAboutGolf]

While there 13 Caribbean places are their own countries, the majority are owned by other countries...

 

The "OFFICIAL" 13 Countries in the Caribbean:
Antigua and Barbuda 
Bahamas 
Barbados
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic 
Grenada
Haiti 
Saint Kitts and Nevis 
Jamaica 
Saint Lucia 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 
Trinidad and Tobago 

 

Caribbean places that are officially NOT independent countries:

Anguilla (British overseas territory)
Aruba (Constituent kingdom, Netherlands)
Bonaire (Special municipality, Netherlands)
British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory)
Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)
Curaçao (Constituent kingdom, Netherlands)
Federal Dependencies of Venezuela (Territories, Venezuela)
Guadeloupe (Overseas department, France)
Martinique (Overseas department, France)
Montserrat (British overseas territory)
Navassa Island (Uninhabited territory, United States)
Nueva Esparta (State, Venezuela)
Puerto Rico (Commonwealth, United States)
Saba (Special municipality, Netherlands)
San Andrés and Providencia (Department, Colombia)
Saint Barthélemy (Overseas collectivity, France)
Saint Martin (Overseas collectivity, France)
Sint Eustatius (Special municipality, Netherlands)
Sint Maarten (Constituent kingdom, Netherlands)
Turks and Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)
United States Virgin Islands (Territory, United States)

[tfred]

in general, 1/3 of the pax never get off the ship in any port.  In Bahamas it is higher, which is really pissing off Bahamian port officials 

 

many people cruise because it is a floating resort  that happens to stop along the way   The itinerary is becoming secondary to the ship experience. Cruise lines want this as they can sail almost anywhere that can accommodate a big ship and not have to reinvent the trip every year 

[NMTraveller]

11 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

If you do a search, you'll see quite a few 10-12 night Caribbean itineraries. Perhaps it's not what it once was, but it's there.

 

I'm not trying to be some sort of cheerleader, but what you said is just wrong.

I am not wrong at all.  Show me the 14 day Carribean cruises that we used to take.

 

Their competition has 17 day cruises.

Edited February 24, 2023 by NMTraveller