Fourth Excel Ship Ordered for a 2027 Delivery

[Itried4498]

On 2/23/2024 at 8:56 AM, Saint Greg said:

And im not lobbying for it. Panorama is still the fourth newest ship in the fleet and it’s consistently the cheapest 7-day cruise. But it’s there for a reason…and that reason is it sales… so I assume carnival would love to put an Excel ship there.

 

 

That's not quite as true these days.  The pricing disparity has softened -- most weeks this fall, the base fares on the Excel ships aren't materially different than those on the Firenze.  A year ago, LB's local newspaper asserted that Los Angeles sailings often lead RCL's systemwide network in alcohol, spa, duty free, etc. sales.  

 

It's been an interesting few years, though.  Carnival has dramatically increased capacity with the Panorama, Firenze and Radiance.  RCL entered the market with Navigator and is adding as second, Quantum-class ship.  Princess debuted its newest ship and added summer sailings.  MSC is expected to launch service next fall (alternating with Alaska in the summer).

 

But there's also signs the market didn't perform as expected.  Princess has reduced the number of calls and is the ship mentioned earlier to Australia (although it will return in a couple years and is being replaced with a similar ship).  Norwegian has cut the number of calls from LA/SD, as has Disney.  Celebrity tried and exited the market (and RCL's second ship may be here temporarily to fulfill contractual requirements for initial subsidies).

 

That said, I wouldn't entirely rule out the Excel ship coming to LB.  With all the new capacity coming into the Florida, it's going to get interesting.  (If the Excel does indeed come to LB, what an amazing feat to go from the Miracle to an Excel-class ship in less than a decade).

Edited March 12 by Itried4498

[bg2310]

Yea, it's definitely evident that signs more likely point to either MG being switched to 3/4 or 4/5/6 night itineraries in Miami, or be moved to another port in Florida, before it or any other Excel ship (bar Jubilee ofc) is going to be homeported outside FL. Celebration Key is right there! 

[Saint Greg]

55 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

 

That's not quite as true these days.  The pricing disparity has softened -- most weeks this fall, the base fares on the Excel ships aren't materially different than those on the Firenze.  A year ago, LB's local newspaper asserted that Los Angeles sailings often lead RCL's systemwide network in alcohol, spa, duty free, etc. sales.  

 

It's been an interesting few years, though.  Carnival has dramatically increased capacity with the Panorama, Firenze and Radiance.  RCL entered the market with Navigator and is adding as second, Quantum-class ship.  Princess debuted its newest ship and added summer sailings.  MSC is expected to launch service next fall (alternating with Alaska in the summer).

 

But there's also signs the market didn't perform as expected.  Princess has reduced the number of calls and is the ship mentioned earlier to Australia (although it will return in a couple years and is being replaced with a similar ship).  Norwegian has cut the number of calls from LA/SD, as has Disney.  Celebrity tried and exited the market (and RCL's second ship may be here temporarily to fulfill contractual requirements for initial subsidies).

 

That said, I wouldn't entirely rule out the Excel ship coming to LB.  With all the new capacity coming into the Florida, it's going to get interesting.  (If the Excel does indeed come to LB, what an amazing feat to go from the Miracle to an Excel-class ship in less than a decade).

It’s pretty darn consistent. Search right now. Not counting Australia. The cheapest 5 day is Firenze.

 

 

cheapest 6 day is panorama

 

 

2nd cheapest 6 day is radiance
 

 

Cheapest 7 day is Firenze 

 

 

2nd cheapest 7 day is panorama.

 

 

I wouldn’t rule out excel either. I think I’m the one who suggested it. Carnival obviously loves the port. But for years now they’ve had the cheapest cruises and that hasn’t changed.

 

Edited March 12 by Saint Greg

[jsglow]

The cheapest 4 night is almost always the M-F Catalina sailing. We've done it 3 times I think, and always enjoy ourselves. But it's too far flung to make sense if you're not already on the west coast.

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

That said, I wouldn't entirely rule out the Excel ship coming to LB.

Where will it get the LNG it requires?

[tidecat]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Where will it get the LNG it requires?

Technically the Excel class could run 100% on diesel, but it would seem like a tremendous waste to put a LNG-capable ship in a non-LNG capable port. Port Canaveral started out having LNG delivered from Georgia, not sure where a similar bunkering barge would be based on the West Coast.

[jimbo5544]

15 minutes ago, tidecat said:

Technically the Excel class could run 100% on diesel, but it would seem like a tremendous waste to put a LNG-capable ship in a non-LNG capable port. Port Canaveral started out having LNG delivered from Georgia, not sure where a similar bunkering barge would be based on the West Coast.

Doubt that would ever happen.  Wherever an excel class goes there will be LNG, count on it.

[BlerkOne]

LNG is MUCH cheaper than diesel.

[Itried4498]

5 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

It’s pretty darn consistent. Search right now. Not counting Australia. The cheapest 5 day is Firenze.

...

I wouldn’t rule out excel either. I think I’m the one who suggested it. Carnival obviously loves the port. But for years now they’ve had the cheapest cruises and that hasn’t changed.

 

 

That's slightly deceitful as many of those prices are for a single cruise.  Looking at the fall months, Miami and PC have far more cheaper 3/4-day itineraries.  And while LB is often the lowest priced cruise for 5/6/7-day itineraries, the pricing disparity isn't that large.  I've been researched cruises for mid-Oct to mid-Nov for awhile and the pricing gap on the MG/Celebration is definitely coming down.

 

Los Angeles-based itineraries were the "Kirkland Signature" special at Costco for many years but now there's more Florida-based itineraries.  Definitely think times are changing.

[Saint Greg]

12 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

 

That's slightly deceitful as many of those prices are for a single cruise.  Looking at the fall months, Miami and PC have far more cheaper 3/4-day itineraries.  And while LB is often the lowest priced cruise for 5/6/7-day itineraries, the pricing disparity isn't that large.  I've been researched cruises for mid-Oct to mid-Nov for awhile and the pricing gap on the MG/Celebration is definitely coming down.

 

Los Angeles-based itineraries were the "Kirkland Signature" special at Costco for many years but now there's more Florida-based itineraries.  Definitely think times are changing.

Of course 3/4 days are going to be cheaper than 5-7 days. It’s not deceitful at all. I know they’re consistently up there because the way I search for cruises is I set it to 7 days and sort by lowest price. LB is always on top. That’s why I went on panorama in 2021. It was cheaper to fly to LAX and cruise on Panorama than it was to drive a few hours and get on Vista.

 

Edited March 13 by Saint Greg

[Itried4498]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

Of course 3/4 days are going to be cheaper than 5-7 days. It’s not deceitful at all. I know they’re consistently up there because the way I search for cruises is I set it to 7 days and sort by lowest price. LB is always on top. That’s why I went on panorama in 2021. It was cheaper to fly to LAX and cruise on Panorama than it was to drive a few hours and get on Vista.

 

 

I meant 3/4 day itineraries from Florida are cheaper than 3/4 from LB.

 

 

[Saint Greg]

21 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

 

I meant 3/4 day itineraries from Florida are cheaper than 3/4 from LB.

 

 

I didn’t even know they were doing 3 day cruises out of LB now. I’ll give you that. Miami has cheaper 3-4 day cruises. I personally have never even been on a 3-4 day cruise so I never look at them.

 

Edited March 13 by Saint Greg

[jimbo5544]

8 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

 

That's slightly deceitful as many of those prices are for a single cruise.  Looking at the fall months, Miami and PC have far more cheaper 3/4-day itineraries.  And while LB is often the lowest priced cruise for 5/6/7-day itineraries, the pricing disparity isn't that large.  I've been researched cruises for mid-Oct to mid-Nov for awhile and the pricing gap on the MG/Celebration is definitely coming down.

 

Los Angeles-based itineraries were the "Kirkland Signature" special at Costco for many years but now there's more Florida-based itineraries.  Definitely think times are changing.

I bet the board is really disappointed they are no longer the “costco special”.  

[Itried4498]

9 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

I bet the board is really disappointed they are no longer the “costco special”.  

 

I'm extremely disappointed.  There's a whopping two sailings available at the moment; there's significantly more offered from Florida (albeit on bigger ships and higher price points).  The Venezia has the most offerings, which probably partially explains why the ship is being moved to PC part-year. 

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

 

I'm extremely disappointed.  There's a whopping two sailings available at the moment; there's significantly more offered from Florida (albeit on bigger ships and higher price points).  The Venezia has the most offerings, which probably partially explains why the ship is being moved to PC part-year. 

You can always fly to cheaper ports.