Carnival Firenze itineraries- underwhelming.

[Squirreladd]

Los Angeles is the second largest Metro in the United States, Its within reasonable driving distance from some of the fastest growing metros in the country (Phoenix and Arizona.) Southwest Airlines (when they are not canceling flights) offer flights from the Bay Area, Sacramento, Reno, and many other areas to LAX/LGB for around 70$. There is a massive market for the ship in the area. For many on the west coast these ships are a great thing. Its sometimes more expensive for West Coast people to get to Miami then the entire cruise cost. 

 

I was on the Panorama on the last sailing and Cabo was far to short. We didn't bother to do much in the port and by the time the ship was sailing out the port was waking up. The time in port is directly related to how long it takes the ship to sail to long beach from Cabo. To get their around 8:30 in two days they need to leave that early. 

 

Carnival should experiment with different homeport arrival/departure times for this Itinerary. If it was stated early, I would not mind leaving LA later, and arriving lack later if that meant more time in Cabo.

[FastShip24]

2 hours ago, Squirreladd said:

Los Angeles is the second largest Metro in the United States, Its within reasonable driving distance from some of the fastest growing metros in the country (Phoenix and Arizona.) Southwest Airlines (when they are not canceling flights) offer flights from the Bay Area, Sacramento, Reno, and many other areas to LAX/LGB for around 70$. There is a massive market for the ship in the area. For many on the west coast these ships are a great thing. Its sometimes more expensive for West Coast people to get to Miami then the entire cruise cost. 

 

I was on the Panorama on the last sailing and Cabo was far to short. We didn't bother to do much in the port and by the time the ship was sailing out the port was waking up. The time in port is directly related to how long it takes the ship to sail to long beach from Cabo. To get their around 8:30 in two days they need to leave that early. 

 

Carnival should experiment with different homeport arrival/departure times for this Itinerary. If it was stated early, I would not mind leaving LA later, and arriving lack later if that meant more time in Cabo.

Cabo is boring compared to Mazatlan and PV.  

[warren buffet]

Just now, Squirreladd said:

Los Angeles is the second largest Metro in the United States, Its within reasonable driving distance from some of the fastest growing metros in the country (Phoenix and Arizona.) Southwest Airlines (when they are not canceling flights) offer flights from the Bay Area, Sacramento, Reno, and many other areas to LAX/LGB for around 70$. There is a massive market for the ship in the area. For many on the west coast these ships are a great thing. Its sometimes more expensive for West Coast people to get to Miami then the entire cruise cost. 

 

I was on the Panorama on the last sailing and Cabo was far to short. We didn't bother to do much in the port and by the time the ship was sailing out the port was waking up. The time in port is directly related to how long it takes the ship to sail to long beach from Cabo. To get their around 8:30 in two days they need to leave that early. 

 

Carnival should experiment with different homeport arrival/departure times for this Itinerary. If it was stated early, I would not mind leaving LA later, and arriving lack later if that meant more time in Cabo.

cruise lines should only do one mexican port and instead do either san fransisco, santa barbara or san diego with some sailings. hopefully those US ports would be welcoming to it and gain more tourist dollars.  I have not heard they don't want tourist dollars. and keep the ship there until seven or eight pm in port. it sucks that mexico has violence warning on a regular basis so that we are not comfortable to get more than one mile from the cruise port to do anything in mexico. 

[n6uqqq]

2 hours ago, Squirreladd said:

Los Angeles is the second largest Metro in the United States, Its within reasonable driving distance from some of the fastest growing metros in the country (Phoenix and Arizona.) Southwest Airlines (when they are not canceling flights) offer flights from the Bay Area, Sacramento, Reno, and many other areas to LAX/LGB for around 70$. There is a massive market for the ship in the area. For many on the west coast these ships are a great thing. Its sometimes more expensive for West Coast people to get to Miami then the entire cruise cost. 

 

I was on the Panorama on the last sailing and Cabo was far to short. We didn't bother to do much in the port and by the time the ship was sailing out the port was waking up. The time in port is directly related to how long it takes the ship to sail to long beach from Cabo. To get their around 8:30 in two days they need to leave that early. 

 

Carnival should experiment with different homeport arrival/departure times for this Itinerary. If it was stated early, I would not mind leaving LA later, and arriving lack later if that meant more time in Cabo.

Carnival has fairly recently reversed the itinerary for Mexico. Cabo used to be the first stop and would stay to a reasonable 6 pm then off to Mazatlan and the Puerto Vallarta and two sea days on the way back. This was a much better route. Some of the 5 day cruises still offer later times at Cabo.

[jsglow]

1 hour ago, n6uqqq said:

Carnival has fairly recently reversed the itinerary for Mexico. Cabo used to be the first stop and would stay to a reasonable 6 pm then off to Mazatlan and the Puerto Vallarta and two sea days on the way back. This was a much better route. Some of the 5 day cruises still offer later times at Cabo.

I think the route reversal is worthy of some debate.  I think the goal of the 'Cabo last' alternative is to provide essentially a full (and warm) seaday in the Sea of Cortez and minimize the precious daylight time fighting the western Baja. In the 'Cabo first' routing, that nice warm ocean time is sacrificed in the overnight hours following PR as by morning you're essentially rounding the Baja peninsula heading north. I've done both and not sure if I have a preference.   Neither alternative is perfect but it's all about the geography.  The bottom line is ships have lots of miles of relatively tough ocean to cover during the 7 nights and a good reminder of the fact that the Caribbean/Bahamas are quite literally the best cruising grounds in the entire world. 

 

On the 5 nighter, the most typical pattern is to leave Cabo about 6 pm on the 3rd day, spend one seaday getting back to Ensenada, then returning to Long Beach overnight after that second port stop. That's a pretty good solution.

Edited March 26, 2023 by jsglow

[Squirreladd]

1 hour ago, warren buffet said:

cruise lines should only do one mexican port and instead do either san fransisco, santa barbara or san diego with some sailings. hopefully those US ports would be welcoming to it and gain more tourist dollars.  I have not heard they don't want tourist dollars. and keep the ship there until seven or eight pm in port. it sucks that mexico has violence warning on a regular basis so that we are not comfortable to get more than one mile from the cruise port to do anything in mexico. 

I second this. But don't do Santa Catalina. It's a gorgeous island, but they overcharge to much. 

 

Much of CA is urban NIMBYs so you have to work against the people who don't want a giant cruise ship messing up their harbor view they see six other nights a week.

[Theosprey247]

There are California coastal cruises for that.  They should add some new ports La Paz (I know Carnival stops here occasionally on their 8 itinerary) Loreto, Guaymas, and Manzanillo.

This can be achieved by dropping (for this itinerary) PV and Mazatlan and adding La Paz and Loreto. And the following week drop Cabo and add Manzanillo or Guaymas. 

[warren buffet]

On 3/26/2023 at 1:42 PM, Theosprey247 said:

There are California coastal cruises for that.  They should add some new ports La Paz (I know Carnival stops here occasionally on their 8 itinerary) Loreto, Guaymas, and Manzanillo.

This can be achieved by dropping (for this itinerary) PV and Mazatlan and adding La Paz and Loreto. And the following week drop Cabo and add Manzanillo or Guaymas. 

there are a very small number of california coastal cruises across the 4 majors. esp carnival does not do them very often, my memory says. i think the problem lies with santa barbara in that regard. they only want a small number of ships probably. monterey just voted no on cruise ships.  they would only leave a san fran, victoria and back to LA route going north.  south has more options. san diego (a big city without houses within eyesight of  the  port, right?)  then add mexican ports to that. on sundays and some saturday afternoons going to a sporting event could even be possible for those willing to spend money on uber or lyft if they staying in port until seven or so

[jsglow]

25 minutes ago, Theosprey247 said:

There are California coastal cruises for that.  They should add some new ports La Paz (I know Carnival stops here occasionally on their 8 itinerary) Loreto, Guaymas, and Manzanillo.

This can be achieved by dropping (for this itinerary) PV and Mazatlan and adding La Paz and Loreto. And the following week drop Cabo and add Manzanillo or Guaymas. 

It certainly would be nice if they had an A route and a B route.  I had long argued for that same thing out San Juan.  There must be a reason they don't.  Perhaps something like 'deals' with the various ports or something.

[FastShip24]

The best part is, you know the itinerary so you don't have to go

[warren buffet]

On 3/26/2023 at 2:09 PM, jsglow said:

It certainly would be nice if they had an A route and a B route.  I had long argued for that same thing out San Juan.  There must be a reason they don't.  Perhaps something like 'deals' with the various ports or something.

i have seen on a few documentaries that the port cities who want tourism do give volume discounts. for more sailings and also prob for bigger ships. it may be 1 of a few reasons most of the lines are now going for bigger ships

[Chip1]

1 hour ago, jsglow said:

It certainly would be nice if they had an A route and a B route.  I had long argued for that same thing out San Juan.  There must be a reason they don't.  Perhaps something like 'deals' with the various ports or something.

Carnival used to do alternating itineraries out of San Juan. From November 7,1999 through September 10,2000, they were done on the Inspiration and from September 17,2000 through at least the end of 2002 on the Destiny. The itineraries were:

Dutch Treat - that went to St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Curacao and Aruba.

European Delight - that went to St. Thomas, Antigua, Guadeloupe and Aruba.

 

 

[coffeeboy77]

2 hours ago, Theosprey247 said:

There are California coastal cruises for that.  They should add some new ports La Paz (I know Carnival stops here occasionally on their 8 itinerary) Loreto, Guaymas, and Manzanillo.

This can be achieved by dropping (for this itinerary) PV and Mazatlan and adding La Paz and Loreto. And the following week drop Cabo and add Manzanillo or Guaymas. 

This is a good idea.  I would do a b2b if this was offered.  I’ve done b2b out of Miami, but never out of Long Beach.  Alternating itineraries would be fantastic.

[mkcurran]

8 hours ago, FastShip24 said:

Cabo is boring compared to Mazatlan and PV.  

I agree!

4 hours ago, Theosprey247 said:

There are California coastal cruises for that.  They should add some new ports La Paz (I know Carnival stops here occasionally on their 8 itinerary) Loreto, Guaymas, and Manzanillo.

This can be achieved by dropping (for this itinerary) PV and Mazatlan and adding La Paz and Loreto. And the following week drop Cabo and add Manzanillo or Guaymas. 

I would love to see this.

[Wennfred]

Started the May 2 - 7th 2024 Roll Call. Join up.

 

 

[warren buffet]

On 3/27/2023 at 3:02 PM, Wennfred said:

Started the May 2 - 7th 2024 Roll Call. Join up.

 

 

wow. is your signature line accurate that you have not cruised since 2009?  what is it about this ship that motivates you to cruise for the first time since 2009?  or is it just that you want to go out of LA and this is the newest ship out of LA next yr?

[vwwolfe]

On 3/26/2023 at 9:08 AM, FastShip24 said:

Cabo is boring compared to Mazatlan and PV.  

I agree.  I don't know what the allure of Cabo is. 

[warren buffet]

2 hours ago, vwwolfe said:

I agree.  I don't know what the allure of Cabo is. 

at least there is decent whale watching and the ships dock in close proximity to the big ARC momument rock most of the time.  PV, ensenada and mazatlan has even less to do or see. other than cheaper alcohol at bars than on board the ship for the lines with expensive drink packages. (looking at you everyone except norweigan-assuming free at sea prices and princess plus).    well. carnival does have the self serve tap of a variety of beers in the buffet for a reasonable price. Can anyone report if they are doing a better job keeping those working? I have heard from several people if was not working for a majority of the times they tried to get it there. It is probably a matter of keeping the beer in the mini kegs not empty inside and not a matter of it literally breaking down. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by warren buffet

[n6uqqq]

At Cabo I am happy just to walk around the port area and beach, with a nice little walk to Cabo Wabo for a bit. So for me having to be back onboard at 1:30 for a 2:30 departure is just too short for me. I went ahead and booked the Firenze 5 day for Nov next year. The inside room was only $864 with gratuities for two people and a net cost of $701 for two people with my 13% AARP/BofA discount plus shareholder benefit. $70 per day per person good deal for non casino person. I like balconies but I have literally done the Cabo/Mazatlan/Puerto Vallarta route 11 times since 2007 so I will survive. 

[FastShip24]

3 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

At Cabo I am happy just to walk around the port area and beach, with a nice little walk to Cabo Wabo for a bit. So for me having to be back onboard at 1:30 for a 2:30 departure is just too short for me. I went ahead and booked the Firenze 5 day for Nov next year. The inside room was only $864 with gratuities for two people and a net cost of $701 for two people with my 13% AARP/BofA discount plus shareholder benefit. $70 per day per person good deal for non casino person. I like balconies but I have literally done the Cabo/Mazatlan/Puerto Vallarta route 11 times since 2007 so I will survive. 

My wife and I just had this discussion.  We literally sat on the balcony a total of 1.5 hours for 7 days

[warren buffet]

3 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

At Cabo I am happy just to walk around the port area and beach, with a nice little walk to Cabo Wabo for a bit. So for me having to be back onboard at 1:30 for a 2:30 departure is just too short for me. I went ahead and booked the Firenze 5 day for Nov next year. The inside room was only $864 with gratuities for two people and a net cost of $701 for two people with my 13% AARP/BofA discount plus shareholder benefit. $70 per day per person good deal for non casino person. I like balconies but I have literally done the Cabo/Mazatlan/Puerto Vallarta route 11 times since 2007 so I will survive. 

what is the AARP/bofa discount.   I know AARP sells 10 percent off gift cards (are you referring to that?)     what discount does BofA have.  I have a whole lot of money in their brokerage so I should qualify for whatever it is. 

[Wennfred]

48 minutes ago, warren buffet said:

wow. is your signature line accurate that you have not cruised since 2009?  what is it about this ship that motivates you to cruise for the first time since 2009?  or is it just that you want to go out of LA and this is the newest ship out of LA next yr?

I’ve cruise many times since 2009, in fact around 15 cruises since the restart. I will have go back an edit that signature. But to answer your question, If I can get on a ship out of San Diego, Long Beach or San Pedro then I am there. As much as I cruise I rather save on Airfare and Hotels.

 

Just off Diamond Princess in January out of San Diego 16 days around the Hawaiian islands and next week on Holland 14 day Panama cruise.

 

I post my reviews in the Roll Calls so that people that are sailing after can ask questions and also see menus and activities.

 

As far as the General Carnival board, I don’t post much there anymore unless there is something new or a change that someone is asking about.

Pre Covid I did lots of Hawaiian land trips as well.

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Wennfred

[n6uqqq]

3 minutes ago, warren buffet said:

what is the AARP/bofa discount.   I know AARP sells 10 percent off gift cards (are you referring to that?)     what discount does BofA have.  I have a whole lot of money in their brokerage so I should qualify for whatever it is. 

I get the AARP 10 percent off and I use my BofA cash rewards visa which is set to online purchases for 3 percent off so when I buy the AARP cards I end up with the addition 3.3 percent rebate from the visa card. I get the extra .3 from BofA just for being a regular customer. If you have a high amount at BofA like I did previously that 3 percent can become 4.5 percent if you are a BofA platinum customer. 

[Wennfred]

As far is Cabo, it’s actually a great port to get off the ship and hit the beach, there’s The Office and the Mango Deck where you can get lounge chairs and umbrellas and get served cold beers and great foods.

 

It’s one of my favorite spots to go out and have fun. Cabo Wabo in April while on Navigator of the Seas.

[Wennfred]

Here’s the list into next year and I am still open for deals  for the person above that booked Firenze, they have a deal for $134.00 pp 

 

check your email.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Wennfred