Carnival Firenze itineraries- underwhelming.

[n6uqqq]

9 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.

That's gotta be rough for those out there chasing their 15 drinks with added coffee and energy drinks the day before! 

[WhiteOptima]

10 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

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

I looked today too and thought 👎 

[nycruise1]

10 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

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

Totally shocked, especially with Vicenza having so many varied and longer itineraries including Journeys cruises.  I think the only way we would consider this is to combine it with an extended visit to at least one West Coast stop and then treat the cruise itself as the destination.  Cabo is fine but I compare Ensenada to Freeport, not worth bothering with.

[Luckysll]

I’m fine with the itineraries since I rarely get off a ship anymore regardless of the port.  Will definitely try the ship, but waiting for more dates to open.  It is easier and cheaper for me to do West Coast cruises, too.

[cruizinisthebest]

17 hours ago, Riles34 said:

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.  

I'm with you. It's just like they are putting the Jubilee in Galveston to literally do one itinerary week after week after week. We enjoy leaving from different ports now that we've exhausted Florida, but we've already done Jubilee's ONE itinerary on other ships at least 3 times.

 

Carnival rarely does unique itineraries in the summer. No journeys. And only a handful going to Canada. We have never sailed from the West Coast so that would be a nice switch, but it took them too long to put out Firenze itineraries for early bookers like us, so we booked something else. I was surprised when it did come out that it was the same itineraries as the other two ships in Long Beach. 🙄

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, cruizinisthebest said:

I'm with you. It's just like they are putting the Jubilee in Galveston to literally do one itinerary week after week after week. We enjoy leaving from different ports now that we've exhausted Florida, but we've already done Jubilee's ONE itinerary on other ships at least 3 times.

 

Carnival rarely does unique itineraries in the summer. No journeys. And only a handful going to Canada. We have never sailed from the West Coast so that would be a nice switch, but it took them too long to put out Firenze itineraries for early bookers like us, so we booked something else. I was surprised when it did come out that it was the same itineraries as the other two ships in Long Beach. 🙄

What did you expect?  Cutting edge and Carnival are like water and oil. It's the same old, same old in Long Beach with just a different ship.  Same with the Jubilee out of Galveston.  Once the new shiny toy is tarnished after two years, discounts will be abundant unless itineraries change.

[Joebucks]

I'm not sure what anyone expected out of the west coast. There's the Catalina/Ensenda, Cabo/Ensenada, Puerto/Mazatlan/Ensenada, 2 days at Ensenada, 2 days at Cabo/1 Esenada. Personally, that's more than I expected.

 

I really enjoyed the Puerto, Mazatlan, and Cabo itinerary. 2 days at Cabo piques my interest. 

[stobe1]

6 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

I'm not sure what anyone expected out of the west coast. There's the Catalina/Ensenda, Cabo/Ensenada, Puerto/Mazatlan/Ensenada, 2 days at Ensenada, 2 days at Cabo/1 Esenada. Personally, that's more than I expected.

 

I really enjoyed the Puerto, Mazatlan, and Cabo itinerary. 2 days at Cabo piques my interest. 

There are plenty of west coast options, they just require longer cruises than 7 days to do it. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, I was hoping they would do a program like Venezia is going to be doing out of NYC with longer and varied itineraries.  

 

And extra points to you for using "piqued" properly. Lol. 

Edited March 24, 2023 by stobe1

[cacruisin]

I live in San Diego so Long Beach couldn’t be more convenient but I am so over the Mexican Riviera and have done that same itinerary more then I’d like to count.   I’d love new destinations out of the west coast but geographically I understand the dilemma. 

[cruizinisthebest]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

What did you expect?  Cutting edge and Carnival are like water and oil. It's the same old, same old in Long Beach with just a different ship.  Same with the Jubilee out of Galveston.  Once the new shiny toy is tarnished after two years, discounts will be abundant unless itineraries change.

A pleasant surprise perhaps. Lol. Still a bit of a letdown for as long as they had been talking about this ship. I already booked something else by now anyway. Glad I didn't wait.

[jsglow]

Couple of points here. First, ships leave Cabo when they do so they can arrive back in Long Beach after one seaday. Now I  can imagine being able to hang a bit longer and make Ensanada work after a seaday. And as to Carnival and 'tired' itineraries, they handle that 2 ways.... Journeys and Princess/HAL. Carnival simply isn't CCL's world traveler line.

[Theosprey247]

I’m fine with those itineraries. Besides there’s only so many times you can go to the beach. Plus no airfare and hotel stay for us. 

[spacement]

I have to imagine and sure hope that with the retractable roof this ship will take the place of the Miracle itineraries out of San Francisco. I'd love to do a 10 or 11 day out of SF to Alaska on this ship. 

[warren buffet]

27 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

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!

i will bet you it's about economics and the unwillingness of san diego to host more cruise ships. many cities around the world have been saying they don't want a huge amount of cruise ships. a port in calif just voted they wanted zero cruise ships in fact.  san diego prob either says no to ships not starting in san diego or demand too high taxes/port fees

[CruizinSusan70]

9 hours ago, cruizinisthebest said:

A pleasant surprise perhaps. Lol. Still a bit of a letdown for as long as they had been talking about this ship. I already booked something else by now anyway. Glad I didn't wait.

The only pleasant surprise that Carnival has come up with is the 30 day cruise on the Luminosa from Seattle to Brisbane later this year.

It's a shame though that zero longer journey type cruises have not been announced for the Firenze similar to the journey cruises on the Venezia.

[monykalyn]

On 3/23/2023 at 9:18 AM, havanadaydreaming said:

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.  

we did Panorama last March and enjoyed it but yeah-getting from Midwest to west coast is a pain compared with Galveston or Florida. Plus we have 2 kids living in Florida so we go there more often. But also done with Cozumel port stops lol.

22 hours ago, Joebucks said:

I'm not sure what anyone expected out of the west coast. There's the Catalina/Ensenda, Cabo/Ensenada, Puerto/Mazatlan/Ensenada, 2 days at Ensenada, 2 days at Cabo/1 Esenada. Personally, that's more than I expected.

 

I really enjoyed the Puerto, Mazatlan, and Cabo itinerary. 2 days at Cabo piques my interest. 

Yeah an 8 day on the new ship with the 2 days in Cabo would have me seriously looking at it. Our 630-230 port time wasn’t long enough. As it stands now I think we’d rather do a land vacation for a week in Cabo anyway-or join my in laws for their yearly (months long) stay in PV for a week

[Guest BasicSailor]

18 minutes ago, monykalyn said:

I think we’d rather do a land vacation for a week in Cabo anyway-or join my in laws for their yearly (months long) stay in PV for a week

Agree, I think more and more people are looking at land vacations with this new era of Carnival.

[FastShip24]

On 3/23/2023 at 2:44 PM, 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! 

It's the only way you get back on time

[Uff da]

On 3/24/2023 at 9:05 AM, cruizinisthebest said:

I'm with you. It's just like they are putting the Jubilee in Galveston to literally do one itinerary week after week after week. We enjoy leaving from different ports now that we've exhausted Florida, but we've already done Jubilee's ONE itinerary on other ships at least 3 times.

This is exactly how I feel about Jubilee's itinerary. How disappointing. All that glam and nowhere to go. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

39 minutes ago, Uff da said:

This is exactly how I feel about Jubilee's itinerary. How disappointing. All that glam and nowhere to go. 

Oh well. I booked on the Jubilee. Never cruised from Galveston in 40 cruises. Just booked for the ship and to see Galveston. 

[Wennfred]

When it comes to sailing out of Long Beach, it’s not about the itinerary but the ship itself, the cruise life, also like someone posted above, a good percentage stays on the ship in Catalina Island and especially in Ensenada.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Uff da said:

This is exactly how I feel about Jubilee's itinerary. How disappointing. All that glam and nowhere to go. 

There are places to go.  Just make it alternating 10/11 day cruises on the Jubilee and a plethora of new ports would open up.  But that would constitute Carnival doing something cutting edge.  Maybe once reservations start to flatten, things will change.  But instead, Carnival will keep the same boring 7 day itinerary and give away cruises to the gamblers to keep the ship filled.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Oh well. I booked on the Jubilee. Never cruised from Galveston in 40 cruises. Just booked for the ship and to see Galveston. 

Hopefully you'll be driving since your only flight options are Bush or Hobby and neither are close and transfers are expensive.  Galveston isn't like MIA or FLL or even MCO.

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Hopefully you'll be driving since your only flight options are Bush or Hobby and neither are close and transfers are expensive.  Galveston isn't like MIA or FLL or even MCO.

That is the main reason I have never cruised from Galveston. Driving from PA is out of the question. The options arent good for getting to the port or getting back to the airport.

We will figure it out. 😊

[nycruise1]

2 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

That is the main reason I have never cruised from Galveston. Driving from PA is out of the question. The options arent good for getting to the port or getting back to the airport.

We will figure it out. 😊

You should be able to make it up in hotel savings.  Miami/Fort Lauderdale hotels have gone up alot but Houston still is low.  We stayed near the airport and took an Uber the next morning.  Was about $75 each way from IAH and Hobby is lower if its flights work for you.  Galveston hotels are much higher.