Short Caribbean cruises not selling

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Looks like short Caribbean are not selling that great , they are offering upgrades already 

[PTC DAWG]

Veranda for Ocean View price, I’ve seen those pretty close on lots of cruises I have priced..

[Georgia_Peaches]

Hmmm...interesting!  I'm booked on the Reflection for a 4 nighter embarking on July 29th.  I just took a look at the availability for this sailing and both Insides and Outsides are showing as sold out.  There are a number of balcony staterooms and some Concierge/Aqua class rooms and a few Sky suites and 1 Royal suite still available.  So not sold out completely but there's still time.  My issue with the shorter cruises is it's not worth my while to fly in for 3 or 4 nights.  @GenerationX has made it work by booking multiple legs to lengthen the trip and make flying in more worth while.  I'm guessing a lot of people do this.  It's great for folks who live near the port and only want a quick get away!  Having said all that...the 4 nighter we booked fits with my dear mother's comfort level, which is why we booked it.  Maybe Celebrity is trying to target multiple pools of people and travel needs.  Should Celebrity suddenly/eventually stop with the short cruises, I guess we'll know why...

[Jeremiah1212]

Three factors. New to the short Caribbean market, hurricane season and short cruises always sell much closer in compared to longer cruises. 

[phoenix_dream]

8 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Three factors. New to the short Caribbean market, hurricane season and short cruises always sell much closer in compared to longer cruises. 

Agree these could be factors.  Other factors I think are that many of the people jumping on short cruises are younger, working people with kids.  They likely prefer other lines like Royal.  They also may try out Celebrity once and then decide it's just not their thing.  They also have less vacation time or free time as older or retired cruisers, as well as possibly less disposable income.  And last and not least, the much larger Royal (and other lines) have tons of berths to fill so how many more are needed in the first place?  I for one can only hope that the trend of not selling well (if that's what this is) continues.  I never understood why Celebrity felt it had to compete with it's sister brand (Royal) when it was doing just fine as it was.  I would love to see Celebrity revert to more options of longer (7 nights or preferably more) cruises in the future!

[markeb]

10 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Agree these could be factors.  Other factors I think are that many of the people jumping on short cruises are younger, working people with kids.  They likely prefer other lines like Royal.  They also may try out Celebrity once and then decide it's just not their thing.  They also have less vacation time or free time as older or retired cruisers, as well as possibly less disposable income.  And last and not least, the much larger Royal (and other lines) have tons of berths to fill so how many more are needed in the first place?  I for one can only hope that the trend of not selling well (if that's what this is) continues.  I never understood why Celebrity felt it had to compete with it's sister brand (Royal) when it was doing just fine as it was.  I would love to see Celebrity revert to more options of longer (7 nights or preferably more) cruises in the future!

 

I wonder about that. They don't release financials other than at the RCG level, so it's entirely possible they aren't/weren't doing as fine financially as it appeared. New cruisers or even new to Celebrity cruisers likely spend more on extras and the shorter cruises would seem to attract new cruisers (and those with limited time off). I still wonder if all the "be more like Royal" comments that caused so much consternation really meant bring in revenue like Royal...

 

On the other hand, they do a pretty good job of being Celebrity and I doubt they can do as good a job of being someone else. 

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Hmmm...interesting!  I'm booked on the Reflection for a 4 nighter embarking on July 29th.  I just took a look at the availability for this sailing and both Insides and Outsides are showing as sold out.

Sold out? Or not presently being sold?

[CNSfromHI]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Looks like short Caribbean are not selling that great , they are offering upgrades already

This crossed my mind recently -- seems like most of the Celebrity promo emails I receive lately push Caribbean jaunts. Thanks for posting this.

 

cjr

[Tom and Ingrid]

For me, a short cruise fails the "bang for the buck" calculation I do which includes flights, but more importantly logistical planning at home to get care for my aging pup covered.  Add in "off for a day, week, or two weeks still results in a song and dance at work", and I'm most inclined to aim for longer duration cruises or land vacations.  

 

From a "been there, done that" perspective, I'm also not too excited about the options available for super short cruises. From a "steep discounts" perspective, I'm also not too excited by a potential large group of booze cruisers on board.

[Jeremiah1212]

44 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Agree these could be factors.  Other factors I think are that many of the people jumping on short cruises are younger, working people with kids.  They likely prefer other lines like Royal.  They also may try out Celebrity once and then decide it's just not their thing.  They also have less vacation time or free time as older or retired cruisers, as well as possibly less disposable income.  And last and not least, the much larger Royal (and other lines) have tons of berths to fill so how many more are needed in the first place?  I for one can only hope that the trend of not selling well (if that's what this is) continues.  I never understood why Celebrity felt it had to compete with it's sister brand (Royal) when it was doing just fine as it was.  I would love to see Celebrity revert to more options of longer (7 nights or preferably more) cruises in the future!

 

2/3 of cruisers are <60 years old so I see the need to try to grab new guests. The short Caribbean cruises have been conceptually sold and marketed as an additional cruise, rather than a replacement for someone who typically goes on 6-9 night cruises.  Their "refreshed" audience is experienced cruisers 45+ (that is not an assumption - that's straight from Celebrity) The bulk of the 6-8 day North America market has an average age of 45 so they have taken that data and hit it head on. Today's 45 years olds will be 55-60 nearing retirement soon enough, so get them locked in to the brand. 

 

For a while Celebrity did send out messaging to travel agents that was all about how Celebrity has something for everyone. I don't particularly agree with that approach. It's too early to tell how many new to brand people come back. I'm not sure what their goal is. You can already see it in some areas. Let Carnival be Carnival, let Virgin be the party, RCI can be the amusement park at sea, let HAL do the long itineraries, etc. The almost hard cutoff at 12 day itineraries was purposely crafted under the old leadership. I also don't see many longer routes coming any time soon. If anything they will try more transparently sell back to back opportunities with no repeating ports.

 

The current Celebrity president was the leader behind CoCo Cay being what it is today as well as many of the RCI new builds, so we'll see if she can pull herself away from the RCI brand concept not. So far, I'm seeing far more RCI influence than anything uniquely Celebrity.

[39august]

True, unfortunately. We came from RCI and have no wish to go back. Alas, she is trying to make X more like RCI. 

[1025cruise]

I don't fly for anything less than 5 days.

[lv2cruisgrl]

We looked at 5 nites or less as we can drive but we feel the price is too high.  They need to get real!  

[563toM]

On RC we cruised on a 4 day and 3 day so we could visit Coco cay twice and it was still a 7 day cruise.  It was on the same ship but we learned our lesson and never again.  They were both a booze cruise and for the 3 day no one got at Nassau which ruined our quiet ship plan.

 

Anymore due to the cost of airfare and hotel etc we now book two cruises back to back.  In December we are cruising a 7 day followed by a 6 day.  

[zitsky]

I thought many of the Edge class ships were moved to the Caribbean and that was supposed to attract people to these 3-4 day cruises?

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

Sold out? Or not presently being sold?

Good question!  The average cruise consumer doing a little shopping would never really know for sure, I guess.

Taken from my booking go-to:

Edited Tuesday at 06:48 PM by Georgia_Peaches

[Lena11033]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

My issue with the shorter cruises is it's not worth my while to fly in for 3 or 4 nights.

 

This, one I did not enjoy my 4 day cruise last year as much but also I either have to drive cross border or spend a day travelling - 3 or 4 nights just isn't worth it for me

[Dolebludger]

I had always thought those short cruises out of Florida (and those last minute deals out of Florida) were designed for those within driving  distance of the port. This is an advantage of living in Florida or close. But those of US who live in the middle of the U.S. don’t find an economic advantage in booking a flight for anything less than a seven nighter, and we can’t find decent air on short notice.

[Salt Lifer]

I personally just don't see Celebrity doing well in the short cruise market.  Too much competition from lines whose existing demographic better fit the market.

[Jeremiah1212]

5 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

I had always thought those short cruises out of Florida (and those last minute deals out of Florida) were designed for those within driving  distance of the port. This is an advantage of living in Florida or close.

 

The top passenger markets for Caribbean cruises leaving from Florida have always been pretty much Tampa south plus New York. I haven't seen data to back it up, but I suspect the Port Canaveral winter sailings will be full of drivable Central FL retirees. 

[Stem to Stern]

For me living in Florida there is very little additional effort involved in a 7-plus night sailing versus a 3-4 night one.  The same amount of time and energy is spent on both lengths of cruises researching, choosing, booking, planning excursions, packing, driving to the port, unpacking once on board, repacking, and driving home.  
So for us we ask ourselves why bother with a short cruise.  They can be fun, but by the time we get settled into our home away from home the ship is on its way back to Florida.  Not interested in a B2B that involves  a turn around day spent on board parked at the dock or repetitive ports of call.

[CTCruiser76]

If the short Celebrity cruises were out of Port Canaveral.....I bet they would sell more.....Closer for us Southeastern folks and close to WDW/Universal so people could wrap it together. 

 

Its only 7.5 hours from CLT to Port Canaveral, but 9.5/10 hours to FLL...that's a big difference when driving. 

[Hawkstar33]

They do it because they make a killing on the drinks...Heavy drinking on the short trips, means more money...Casino is also packed out on the short ones....Seems Nassau is always in it somewhere, as well as Key West, trending as a stop in last couple yrs Bimini, and of course the ultimate money maker, Coco Cay...Money, money money.   We try to combine and do some kind of BTB, or side to side, to make it worthwhile with the current cost of flying...

[Dolebludger]

Yep, we’ve done only two B2Bs in all our years of cruising. Both times we changed neither the ship nor the room. The most recent was our booking on a 2014 Moody Blues five night music cruise on the MSC Divinia Yacht Club.  We were given an opportunity to stay on this same ship and suite for the five night Cruise to the Edge right after. The other was on a seven night in French Polynesia cruise on the Paul Gauguin around 20 years ago. We were given the opportunity to stay on for another view of the same itinerary without getting out of the ship or suite. Another offer we couldn’t resist. But we’d never do a B2B where getting off one ship and boarding another is involved. Our recent experiences with port terminals make us question whether we even want to cruise again.

[Team Stag]

We did a short cruise a couple weeks ago & it was sold out.  I will also say - it was a lot of fun.  Very lively crowd but not over the top.  I know weekend cruises tend to be more lively; but I thought Celebrity showed themselves very well & are definitely appealing to a new customer base.  We thought we would be stuck with VV as short cruise line; but had twice as much fun on our Reflection weekend getaway.

 

One thing I think gets missed - we had several on our cruise who combined a 4 day & 3 day B2B but basically a 7 day cruise with a Ft Lauderdale beach day.  

Edited Tuesday at 10:51 PM by Team Stag