Princess Caribbean 2024-25 release 🛳️

[ProfMHC]

Hard to make plans/choices w/o prices for sure 

[snoozecrooze]

If anyone wants to sit through today's replay for an overview of the live FB presentation from Princess's VP of Sales (Carmen Roig) about the new deployments (Caribbean & Australia/NZ), the link is here. 

 

• Skip forward to 7:15ish for the beginning of Caribbean overview.
• 14:47 for beginning of Caribbean deployment ship-specific discussion (I thought it was interesting the man said "for the time being, we still have 2 homeports" -- very peculiar; if you read between the lines, they were really trying to spill a few hints there for a potential future expansion).
• 16:15 for Sun from Port Everglades (no mention of what those few days that Sun arrives early in October are for)
• 23:30 for Enchanted's 10-day route
• 25:25 for 14-day Circle Caribbean
• 26:47 for Galveston

 

• Skip to 28:15 for the beginning of Australia/NZ overview (the guy they invited to present this part was recently poached from Royal Caribbean -- he's only been at Princess for 3 weeks) 
• 41:38 for transpacific

 

Opening dates for booking:

[Coral]

45 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

If anyone wants to sit through today's replay for an overview of the live FB presentation from Princess's VP of Sales (Carmen Roig) about the new deployments (Caribbean & Australia/NZ), the link is here. 

 

• Skip forward to 7:15ish for the beginning of Caribbean overview.
• 14:47 for beginning of Caribbean deployment ship-specific discussion (I thought it was interesting the man said "for the time being, we still have 2 homeports" -- very peculiar; if you read between the lines, they were really trying to spill a few hints there for a potential future expansion).
• 16:15 for Sun from Port Everglades (no mention of what those few days that Sun arrives early in October are for)
• 23:30 for Enchanted's 10-day route
• 25:25 for 14-day Circle Caribbean
• 26:47 for Galveston

 

• Skip to 28:15 for the beginning of Australia/NZ overview (the guy they invited to present this part was recently poached from Royal Caribbean -- he's only been at Princess for 3 weeks) 
• 41:38 for transpacific

 

Opening dates for booking:

Thank you!

[cruisingrob21]

 

4 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

 

• 14:47 for beginning of Caribbean deployment ship-specific discussion (I thought it was interesting the man said "for the time being, we still have 2 homeports" -- very peculiar; if you read between the lines, they were really trying to spill a few hints there for a potential future expansion).

I read it the other way, as in they could go back to just Fort Lauderdale.  Princess is still trying out Galveston - with many other cruise lines rushing to sail out of Galveston with large ships it could have an effect on pricing and ultimately push princess back to sailing solely out of FLL.  Recall that Princess sailed from Galveston 5-6 years ago and it must not have worked out at that time since they left after a year or two.  Caribbean margins are tight since there is so much supply.  I remember cruising out of San Juan on Princess as recently as 2010 but I think they had trouble selling those voyages also.

 

In previous webinars Carmen has indicated that if Galveston doesn't sell well they won't send ships there.  So take that for what its worth.  Remember when Princess was all ready to sail RT from San Diego, and then did a pretty quick about face - clearly the post covid world with CCL management expecting positive returns to pay down debt is pushing cruise execs to take chances hoping to strike gold, or be ready to pull up stakes quickly.

Edited April 7, 2023 by cruisingrob21

[snoozecrooze]

1 hour ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I read it the other way

Yeah that's fair. Basically that and/or adding capacity to an existing homeport in their network. Can't expect too much out of Princess for the time being given CCL Corp is still in a world of debt right now.

[BettyCruiser]

Caribbean2024-25Standard_PlusSailingScheduleFaresAmenities_2023_0405 3.xls

 

This has prices

[ProfMHC]

22 minutes ago, BettyCruiser said:

Caribbean2024-25Standard_PlusSailingScheduleFaresAmenities_2023_0405 3.xls 176 kB · 0 downloads

 

This has prices

Wow! Prices went up but not as bad as I thought between Sky and Sun 

Thank you do much!

[voljeep]

yep, that works - about $2,500 for 5 days balcony (lead in cat) with PLUS, port, and insurance.

 

5 without any OBC, and might/prolly splurge on Priemer to include the 2 specialty dinners each. So $100 'extra' each , but $70-80 of that covers the SD

[cruisecat4]

So now that so many more of the itineraries are known, anyone figure out which ships will be doing the 2024-2025 LA round trip to Hawaii?

[snoozecrooze]

1 minute ago, cruisecat4 said:

So now that so many more of the itineraries are known, anyone figure out which ships will be doing the 2024-2025 LA round trip to Hawaii?

I think we can guarantee Discovery will be in LA at that time. It might do a Hawaii trip or two.

 

Here's what's unaccounted so far:

- Ruby (most likely stationed in SF)

- Emerald (most likely Panama Canal)

- Caribbean (most likely Panama Canal partial)

- Coral (unaccounted for after fall 2024 dry dock; will probably be in Asia until returning to Aus in mid-2025)

- Sapphire (I'm guessing she will continue to do South America/Antarctica, but there can be some Hawaii/South Pacific sailings from LA before she goes there)

- Majestic (between the conclusion of her Alaska season and her first Caribbean sailing in January, I'm guessing she will likely spend some time in LA as well before circumnavigating South America)

- Grand (this leads me to deduce that Grand will be the main second LA ship)

 

In my mind, I could feasibly see Grand, Sapphire, and Coral all being interchangeable in my head right now in terms of port combinations.

[cruisefan2012]

@AtlantaCruiser72 @Coral

 

Any ideas when Princess will release California itineraries....

 

I`d like to do Vancouver to California............ 

[Coral]

11 minutes ago, cruisefan2012 said:

@AtlantaCruiser72 @Coral

 

Any ideas when Princess will release California itineraries....

 

I`d like to do Vancouver to California............ 

I do not. They usually space out the releases.

 

Vancouver to CA is a great cruise. I have done it several times!

[cruisefan2012]

4 minutes ago, Coral said:

I do not. They usually space out the releases.

 

Vancouver to CA is a great cruise. I have done it several times!

 I sailed on Star Princess Vancouver to Alaska in 2018, itching to sail Vancouver to California !!

[nasa1974]

10 hours ago, BettyCruiser said:

Caribbean2024-25Standard_PlusSailingScheduleFaresAmenities_2023_0405 3.xls 176 kB · 69 downloads

 

This has prices

Thank you.

[Steelers36]

On 4/6/2023 at 5:43 PM, Wishing on a star said:

Onesource is only for registered travel companies/agents, right?

I wonder what a balcony on that first 5-day on the Sun is priced at?

It used to have some accessible items, but it's all behind the login now.

[talkorpi]

On 4/6/2023 at 11:18 PM, cruisingrob21 said:

 

I read it the other way, as in they could go back to just Fort Lauderdale.  Princess is still trying out Galveston - with many other cruise lines rushing to sail out of Galveston with large ships it could have an effect on pricing and ultimately push princess back to sailing solely out of FLL.  Recall that Princess sailed from Galveston 5-6 years ago and it must not have worked out at that time since they left after a year or two.  Caribbean margins are tight since there is so much supply.  I remember cruising out of San Juan on Princess as recently as 2010 but I think they had trouble selling those voyages also.

 

In previous webinars Carmen has indicated that if Galveston doesn't sell well they won't send ships there.  So take that for what its worth.  Remember when Princess was all ready to sail RT from San Diego, and then did a pretty quick about face - clearly the post covid world with CCL management expecting positive returns to pay down debt is pushing cruise execs to take chances hoping to strike gold, or be ready to pull up stakes quickly.

Their Galveston strategy is all wrong. They are trying to compete with the existing lines by doing the same boring itineraries every week on “fancy” ships. As CCL/RCCL continue to add bigger and bigger ships, the small amount of accessible ports from GLS for seven-day Caribbean cruises gets smaller as we now have to remove tender ports in Belize and Grand Cayman. Thus, these two ports (along with Jamaica) are being dropped completely from Galveston regular week-long runs at the end of this year. Seriously, go look at the schedules - Carnival Jubilee and whatever Oasis class ship is in Galveston do the same Roatan-Costa Maya-Cozumel itinerary every single week through 2025. Princess ships could fill this role of being something DIFFERENT and I have no idea why those in charge can’t figure that out.
 

Princess had a real opportunity to be the “interesting itinerary” niche in Galveston and they blew it. Not sure why they won’t consider calls in Jamaica, Cayman, or Key West. With Carnival replacing Vista with the Jubilee, no ships from Galveston will visit Grand Cayman or Jamaica anymore except on longer 10+ day cruises that only occur a couple times a year and are astronomically expensive. So now we have three cruise lines sailing the exact same itinerary every single week to the exact same ports. Most people would probably pick the Allure/Harmony OTS or the Jubilee over the Regal Princess.
 

Wish they would cancel this sale release and go back to the drawing board. I would book a cruise out of Galveston on the Regal in a heartbeat if it was the Montego Bay - Grand Cayman - Cozumel itinerary that Carnival is dropping after sailing it for years here. With their current offerings I’m not interested, especially considering that I’m on the cruise with the same boring Roatan, Belize/Mahahual, Cozumel itinerary that had 2/3 cancellations this week. Not doing that one again on Princess.
 

Sorry. Rant over. It’s just frustrating that Galveston is growing as a port but simultaneously becoming super boring with nothing new to offer, and Princess for some reason wants to try to play the catch up game to some of the world’s newest, largest, and amenity-filled cruise ships (of which they can’t compete) rather that stick what they preach they are the best at, which is unique ports and itinerary variation.
 

Please fix it, Princess, there’s still time!

Edited April 8, 2023 by talkorpi

[CruizinSusan70]

20 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Their Galveston strategy is all wrong. They are trying to compete with the existing lines by doing the same boring itineraries every week on “fancy” ships. As CCL/RCCL continue to add bigger and bigger ships, the small amount of accessible ports from GLS for seven-day Caribbean cruises gets smaller as we now have to remove tender ports in Belize and Grand Cayman. Thus, these two ports are being dropped completely from Galveston regular week-long runs at the end of this year. Princess ships could fill this role and I have no idea why those in charge can’t figure that out.
 

Princess had a real opportunity to be the “interesting itinerary” niche in Galveston and they blew it. Not sure why they won’t consider calls in Jamaica, Cayman, or Key West. With Carnival replacing Vista with the Jubilee, no ships from Galveston will visit Grand Cayman or Jamaica anymore except on longer 10+ day cruises that only occur a couple times a year and are astronomically expensive. So now we have three cruise lines sailing the exact same itinerary every single week to the exact same ports. Most people would probably pick the Allure/Harmony OTS or the Jubilee over the Regal Princess.
 

Wish they would cancel this sale release and go back to the drawing board. I would book a cruise out of Galveston on the Regal in a heartbeat if it was the Montego Bay - Grand Cayman - Cozumel release that Carnival is dropping after sailing it for years here. With their current offerings I’m not interested, especially considering that I’m on the cruise with this itinerary that had 2/3 cancellations.
 

Sorry. Rant over. Please fix it, Princess, there’s still time!

And as of November, the NCL Prima will be homeported in Galveston as well.

Princess's niche would be to offer 10/11 day itineraries that would go to different ports that their competition.  

Ship wise, they are going against Harmony OTS (2016) Prima (2022) Jubilee (2023).

[talkorpi]

15 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

And as of November, the NCL Prima will be homeported in Galveston as well.

Princess's niche would be to offer 10/11 day itineraries that would go to different ports that their competition.  

Ship wise, they are going against Harmony OTS (2016) Prima (2022) Jubilee (2023).

Oh yes, thank you for reminding me. So make that FOUR ships that are all doing the EXACT same itinerary. Like literally they do not change. Only 4 choices of ports - Roatan, Belize, Cozumel, or Costa Maya. No more Grand Cayman, no more Jamaica, no more Key West. 

Of course, Carnival and Royal Caribbean have added some 9-12 day cruises in the winter season on some of their smallest, oldest ships that still visit these places and even go to the ABC islands or Grand Turk. The problem is that these cruises are so prohibitively expensive and so hard to come by that it’s probably easier and cheaper to just fly to Florida and do the same itinerary in 6-8 days.
 

If Princess could find a way to fill in the gap being left by the mainstream lines’ exit of Jamaica/Cayman as well as offer these longer voyages to ports considered exotic from Texas at a better value then I think they could be a tremendous success here. I don’t know why they aren’t doing that. 

 

There’s just no way Princess can compete with Prima, Jubilee, or Harmony. Not even the Sun can compete with those ships if you’re trying to do a “ship is the destination” type of thing, much less the Regal or Ruby. 
 

If Princess wants to be serious about competing in Galveston they should realize what the other cruise lines are having to sacrifice in order to increase capacity and capitalize on that - ESPECIALLY since it already fits in their niche. It really is a no brainer to me and to see what they are doing instead is just painful. It’s almost like they want to fail in Galveston.

Edited April 8, 2023 by talkorpi

[heatherl2]

11 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

I think we can guarantee Discovery will be in LA at that time. It might do a Hawaii trip or two.

 

Here's what's unaccounted so far:

- Ruby (most likely stationed in SF)

- Emerald (most likely Panama Canal)

- Caribbean (most likely Panama Canal partial)

- Coral (unaccounted for after fall 2024 dry dock; will probably be in Asia until returning to Aus in mid-2025)

- Sapphire (I'm guessing she will continue to do South America/Antarctica, but there can be some Hawaii/South Pacific sailings from LA before she goes there)

- Majestic (between the conclusion of her Alaska season and her first Caribbean sailing in January, I'm guessing she will likely spend some time in LA as well before circumnavigating South America)

- Grand (this leads me to deduce that Grand will be the main second LA ship)

 

In my mind, I could feasibly see Grand, Sapphire, and Coral all being interchangeable in my head right now in terms of port combinations.

Do you think the Regal will continue to do the British Isles for summer 2025? TIA! 

[snoozecrooze]

1 hour ago, talkorpi said:

Sorry. Rant over. It’s just frustrating that Galveston is growing as a port but simultaneously becoming super boring with nothing new to offer, and Princess for some reason wants to try to play the catch up game

I loved the rant because I've thought the same exact thing too. It's shocking to me how banal the itineraries are for Regal. It's clear Carnival Corp is trying to position Princess to be more family-oriented than a Celebrity or HAL but what young family would also choose Regal Princess over Harmony of the Seas? The only reason with which I can justify their itinerary choices is to galvanize the aged-out Carnival/Royal cruisers to try something new with Princess, hopefully get them to like the brand, and then they'll be lured to check out the rest of their offering from Florida, etc. Hopefully it works out well for them. But I still don't know why they couldn't add a different port in a 7-day, like you've said.

 

I know they're also trying to make this #LovePrincess slogan a thing to galvanize the brand's "romantic aura", but it's....not happening. Frankly, the marketing campaign (or lack thereof) is so vague and uninspiring. After the Real Love Boat flop, it's clear their creative juices are empty. When MSC comes and eventually plows through Galveston, Galveston would have to become a loss leader for a comparably niche brand like Princess, wouldn't it? (as if it isn't probably already with the solo supplement dropped this year for Ruby)

 

Also peculiar to me is the choice for Carnival Corp to give the interesting itineraries from Galveston to Carnival Miracle for Journeys cruises. You would think Princess would be the go-to but I mean...obviously they've done all the market research from years of operating from Galveston, so they know better than we do, but still. Hmph.

[snoozecrooze]

2 minutes ago, heatherl2 said:

Do you think the Regal will continue to do the British Isles for summer 2025? TIA! 

My gut tells me yes. It's really random but there's a Regal listing in the Grand Cayman schedule for October 2025 that corresponds directly with the date in which it appears on the Fall 2024 transatlantic sailing from Southampton to Galveston. So for now, that's my instinct. I think summer 2025 could actually be quite a large soup of ship swaps with the introduction of Sun's sister, but Regal will probably still do the British Isles.

[heatherl2]

1 minute ago, snoozecrooze said:

My gut tells me yes. It's really random but there's a Regal listing in the Grand Cayman schedule for October 2025 that corresponds directly with the date in which it appears on the Fall 2024 transatlantic sailing from Southampton to Galveston. So for now, that's my instinct. I think summer 2025 could actually be quite a large soup of ship swaps with the introduction of Sun's sister, but Regal will probably still do the British Isles.

Thanks for the info! 

[talkorpi]

13 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

I loved the rant because I've thought the same exact thing too. It's shocking to me how banal the itineraries are for Regal. It's clear Carnival Corp is trying to position Princess to be more family-oriented than a Celebrity or HAL but what young family would also choose Regal Princess over Harmony of the Seas? The only reason with which I can justify their itinerary choices is to galvanize the aged-out Carnival/Royal cruisers to try something new with Princess, hopefully get them to like the brand, and then they'll be lured to check out the rest of their offering from Florida, etc. Hopefully it works out well for them. But I still don't know why they couldn't add a different port in a 7-day, like you've said.

 

I know they're also trying to make this #LovePrincess slogan a thing to galvanize the brand's "romantic aura", but it's....not happening. Frankly, the marketing campaign (or lack thereof) is so vague and uninspiring. After the Real Love Boat flop, it's clear their creative juices are empty. When MSC comes and eventually plows through Galveston, Galveston would have to become a loss leader for a comparably niche brand like Princess, wouldn't it? (as if it isn't probably already with the solo supplement dropped this year for Ruby)

 

Also peculiar to me is the choice for Carnival Corp to give the interesting itineraries from Galveston to Carnival Miracle for Journeys cruises. You would think Princess would be the go-to but I mean...obviously they've done all the market research from years of operating from Galveston, so they know better than we do, but still. Hmph.

Ugh, I know, it’s really annoying. I’m a Gold on Carnival but I have zero interest in sailing on those cruises on the Miracle. The ports are nice but the ship is (IMO) the ugliest in the fleet and the prices for those cruises are SUPER expensive even with my discounted VIFP rates. At that price I might as well fly to Miami for an 8 day southern that costs half as much and goes to the exact same places. 
 

I’m hoping to start building my Princess loyalty but the terrible itinerary choices from Galveston are not making it easy. I like some of their itineraries from Ft. Lauderdale but I don’t like how it adds $1000+ to my trip cost.

Edited April 8, 2023 by talkorpi

[Wishing on a star]

If I am reading things right, I am seeing changes to the FLL Caribbean sailings.

 

I don't know if this is any factor.  But, from Galveston, could it be port availability that is determining these itinieraries?   With SO many cruise ships and cruisers.  Port availability could be a big thing?

 

[BabsinTX]

On 4/1/2023 at 6:43 PM, snoozecrooze said:

Thank you always @Coral for sharing with us the info! I stand corrected in assuming Princess would just keep dragging it out with the Caribbean sailings. They've even been generous in telling us what Enchanted will basically be doing for the next 2+ years.

 

Remarkably short season for Sky in the Caribbean. Majestic popping up in January tells me a South America circumnavigation must be in the works. She's also been appearing in some European port schedules in '25, but we all know things can change quickly.

 

I noticed this too. There's a portion that has Sun visiting Belize City twice. Missing asterisks for disclaimers. Emerald randomly being there for a holiday cruise. It's shocking how often they release these materials with their mistakes.

I've been watching for the South America circumnavigation for two years.  Nine friends are waiting patiently for this.  From your lips to Princess's ears.