Carnival Firenze itineraries- underwhelming.

[Jamman54]

Available on the Carnival website. Nothing to make me fly out there again. 😎

[mz-s]

There's only so many places they can go out of Long Beach without having 4 sea days to get there. The Pacific is huge and empty.

[shof515]

its going to be interesting to see the long term effects of having 3 ships doing similar itinerary out of long beach. can that port fill up all 3 ships?

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, shof515 said:

its going to be interesting to see the long term effects of having 3 ships doing similar itinerary out of long beach. can that port fill up all 3 ships?

 

Likely not for sustainable prices. 4-day cruises out of Long Beach are selling for under $200 a person - brochure rate (I opened an incognito window so it wasn't pulling in casino rates).

 

My guess is they'll probably move one of the three to a different port before long.

[Jamman54]

17 minutes ago, mz-s said:

There's only so many places they can go out of Long Beach without having 4 sea days to get there. The Pacific is huge and empty.

Talking about some longer cruises sprinkled in,  like Hawaii, to southern Mexico ports,  or north to Alaska, or maybe some cruises out of San Francisco like the Miracle did. Those might get me out there again to check out the ship. 😎

Edited March 23, 2023 by Jamman54

[mz-s]

Just now, Jamman54 said:

Talking about some longer cruises sprinkled in,  like Hawaii, to southern Mexico ports,  or north to Alaska, or maybe some cruises out of San Francisco like the Miracle did. Those might get me out there again. 😎

 

Firenze is home ported in Long Beach not San Francisco.

[Jamman54]

Just now, mz-s said:

 

Firenze is home ported in Long Beach not San Francisco.

So was the Miracle but she did some from SF.

[Theosprey247]

According to JH, The Firenze is going to be home ported (most of the time) in Long Beach (hooray!!) but will also leave from San Francisco or San Diego (my guess). 

[stobe1]

1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

Available on the Carnival website. Nothing to make me fly out there again. 😎

I agree. Mostly 3 and 4 day Catalina and Ensenada runs. I was honestly expecting to see longer and varied cruises much like Miracle is going to be doing out of Galveston or Venezia will be doing out of New York. Places like La Paz, Loreto, Huatalco, Guatemala Costa Rica and Panama, Hawaii, Pacific Coastals and Alaska. 

 

These itineraries aren't going to get us out to LA either.

 

As much as I dislike NYC and hate sailing out of there (and we swore we never would again after going on the Sunrise out of there), the awesome longer and unique itineraries on Venezia may draw us back to give it another shot.

Edited March 23, 2023 by stobe1

[havanadaydreaming]

Only done one Long Beach cruise and it was fine.  But, as a resident of the midwest i much prefer the offerings out of Canaveral and Miami.  shorter flight, a plethora of itineraries, etc.  

[jsglow]

So the challenge they face is not so much the fact that she's basically replicating Miracle's Long Beach itineraries but that she's doing it with far more cabins.  California and the Mexican Rivera will always be a secondary sailing grounds.  Not their fault. Simply a fact about the available ports.

[csm5986142]

Thank you - I've been waiting for those to get posted!

Although I'm done with the 3 or 4 day cruises, I see several 6 and 7 day itineraries that would be okay (I agree, same old ports but at least we have a new ship to check out over here on the west coast).

[Saint Greg]

I think the one positive I see is for someone who hasn't been to Ensenada yet and hasn't wanted to go to LA  for the 3-4 day cruises, they have 5-6 day options with 1-2 days in Cabo as well. I wish they had 7-8 day options though.

 

I really didn't expect anything great. They have limited options on the west coast. I guess I kind of hoped maybe they'd send Panorama somewhere else. I guess not though.

 

It reminds me of this training company I know of that does human resources type classes for a big hospital. The guy who makes the classes knows the hospital will buy anything new. So he'll take slides from a bunch of classes they've already had, make "new" classes out of old ones, and sell them as new.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Saint Greg

[pc_load_letter]

I appreciate 5 day cruises. Did a 5 day on Bliss and thought it was a perfect length for a simple getaway.

 

Being in San Diego, I welcome the new addition.

 

But I am always left scratching my head why Carnival doesn't replace Catalina with San Diego. As I am somewhat biased, I just think SD offers much more bang for your buck than Catalina. And no tendering!

Edited March 23, 2023 by pc_load_letter

[pc_load_letter]

3 hours ago, shof515 said:

its going to be interesting to see the long term effects of having 3 ships doing similar itinerary out of long beach. can that port fill up all 3 ships?

 

I would say absolutely yes. The cruises I've been on lately have all been completely full (I have not done Princess or RCL from San Pedro but Bliss from San Pedro was full as well). Disney's Wonder from San Diego is always full as well. I think the cruising market on the west coast is growing rapidly.

 

Lots of people coming in from Utah, Nevada, Arizona.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by pc_load_letter

[csm5986142]

10 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

But I am always left scratching my head why Carnival doesn't replace Catalina with San Diego. As I am somewhat biased, I just think SD offers much more bang for your buck than Catalina. And no tendering!

 

Totally agree - we were on Miracle to San Diego last year and really enjoyed it (just love San Diego).  Off the ship, it was just a few steps to the hop-on/hop-off trolley and had a great day going to Coronado Resort and a huge Farmers Market.  

[Saint Greg]

3 hours ago, shof515 said:

its going to be interesting to see the long term effects of having 3 ships doing similar itinerary out of long beach. can that port fill up all 3 ships?

 

I can't see it lasting. Panorama already consistently has some of the lowest prices.

[Saint Greg]

4 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I can't see it lasting. Panorama already consistently has some of the lowest prices.

 

And actually Firenze is already in the top 5 lowest prices for 7 day cruises (excluding Australia). Behind only Magic, Panorama, Liberty, and Glory.

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Saint Greg

[mkcurran]

I agree. I was hoping for an 8-10 day itinerary. I can swing a week and a half off work, but not two weeks. 

[Eli_6]

I am bummed about no TA.

[Riles34]

I am on team underwhelming for 90% of their itineraries. Its the same thing, different ship every week minus the journeys which are tough timing. Never thought I would look at land vacations so hard for the Caribbean.  

[n6uqqq]

6:30am to 2:30pm In Cabo? Are they going to offer breakfast making excursions? 🤣. That's way too early to leave Cabo for me! 

[BlerkOne]

Gotta get the casino open for those $100 cruisers.

[pc_load_letter]

13 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

6:30am to 2:30pm In Cabo? Are they going to offer breakfast making excursions? 🤣. That's way too early to leave Cabo for me! 

 

That how it was for Panorama last week. Our traveling friends were off the ship by 7:30. Which is dumb for Carnival because with the exception of excursions, the town is still closed.

[BlerkOne]

6 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

That how it was for Panorama last week. Our traveling friends were off the ship by 7:30. Which is dumb for Carnival because with the exception of excursions, the town is still closed.

Seems brilliant!