NJ Gal Posted July 10 #1 Share Posted July 10 (edited) Why is Celebrity offering so few cruise options & such a short season from Cape Liberty, NJ ? We are tired of just Bermuda. Our area is very congested with lots of people, ships usually are full and many people do not want to fly to Florida. Edited July 10 by NJ Gal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichYak Posted July 10 #2 Share Posted July 10 (edited) I think this is a good question for the Celebrity President's Q&A sub-forum. Edited July 10 by RichYak 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisetonowhere10 Posted July 10 #3 Share Posted July 10 I would love more out of NJ or better yet Boston (and during the summer when I can travel not October— for some weird reason it’s frowned upon for teachers to travel during school time. 😂 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHEZMARYLOU Posted July 10 #4 Share Posted July 10 I would love to see different cruises from Cape Liberty. Even though we flew when cruising from there it is also doable as a drive for us if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1025cruise Posted July 10 #5 Share Posted July 10 Celebrity doesn't have as many ships as RCI. They need to put them where they can make money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minniemouse427 Posted July 10 #6 Share Posted July 10 We have sailed out of Cape Liberty three times in the last 1.5 years on RCCL and Celebrity. Once to Nassau, once to the Southern Caribbean (5 ports we had never been to before), and just last week to Bermuda. Next year we are doing the repositioning from Fort Lauderdale that does the ABCs before heading to Cape Liberty. Three different cruises to three different locations. To be fair they were in February, January, June/July, and will be in April/May ...so the only summer one was Bermuda (which we loved). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare foodsvcmgr Posted July 10 #7 Share Posted July 10 Remember when Silhouette was new she sailed from Cape Liberty to the Caribbean for her first winter? Why are the longer sailings only Royal now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #8 Share Posted July 10 (edited) 1 hour ago, foodsvcmgr said: Remember when Silhouette was new she sailed from Cape Liberty to the Caribbean for her first winter? Why are the longer sailings only Royal now? They have been for a number of years and as mentioned before, it has a lot to do with fleet size and availability of ships for different departure ports. For instance, at any given time RCCL will have one ship based out of Baltimore and two or three based out of Cape Liberty. This allows them greater itinerary options than Celebrity. Celebrity also has modified their Bermuda sailings in recent years by shortening the season and adding Iceland and Canada sailings into October before their end of season repositioning cruises. In short, cruise lines place their ships where the market demand dictates, and cruise lines with comparatively limited fleet sizes have less options than others with more ships. Edited July 10 by leaveitallbehind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Ingrid Posted July 10 #9 Share Posted July 10 (edited) 2 hours ago, RichYak said: I think this is a good question for the Celebrity President's Q&A sub-forum. This for sure. I'm a fan of more options for departure ports. I like Cape Liberty since my siblings can drop me & pick me up and I can leave my car (and pup) with them. For me, there's also the Baltimore cruise terminal where I'd love to see it used by X. Edited July 10 by Tom and Ingrid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #10 Share Posted July 10 5 minutes ago, Tom and Ingrid said: This for sure. I'm a fan of more options for departure ports. I like Cape Liberty since my siblings can drop me & pick me up and I can leave my car (and pup) with them. For me, there's also the Baltimore cruise terminal where I'd love to see it used by X. Enjoyed cruising out of Baltimore, in particular with the sail down the Chesapeake. RCCL has changed those itineraries as well in that they used to offer Grandeur on a 7-night Bermuda cruise, Now Vision only does 5-nights. This is what initially put us on Celebrity as Summit (now Eclipse) does the 7-night Bermuda. While it would be nice to have a Celebrity ship in Baltimore, as mentioned, I don't think their current fleet size will permit that. That is likely why Cape Liberty only has Eclipse and no other Celebrity ship. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Ingrid Posted July 10 #11 Share Posted July 10 1 minute ago, leaveitallbehind said: Enjoyed cruising out of Baltimore, in particular with the sail down the Chesapeake. RCCL has changed those itineraries as well in that they used to offer Grandeur on a 7-night Bermuda cruise, Now Vision only does 5-nights. This is what initially put us on Celebrity as Summit (now Eclipse) does the 7-night Bermuda. While it would be nice to have a Celebrity ship in Baltimore, as mentioned, I don't think their current fleet size will permit that. That is likely why Cape Liberty only has Eclipse and no other Celebrity ship. We did the 7 night Summit to Bermuda and loved it. To me, it's a "repeatable" one like the ABC or other Caribbean ones might be for Floridians. My hope is that as the final E rolls out, and then the next ones are in the pipeline, that X doesn't start dropping the M class ships, and simply adds a new class so their fleet grows by 5 or so over the next decade. But my "hopes" usually don't match the X/RCCL game plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #12 Share Posted July 10 (edited) 1 hour ago, Tom and Ingrid said: We did the 7 night Summit to Bermuda and loved it. To me, it's a "repeatable" one like the ABC or other Caribbean ones might be for Floridians. My hope is that as the final E rolls out, and then the next ones are in the pipeline, that X doesn't start dropping the M class ships, and simply adds a new class so their fleet grows by 5 or so over the next decade. But my "hopes" usually don't match the X/RCCL game plan. I agree with you. And what frequently happens is the older (and smaller) ships are placed on longer itineraries or do special itineraries that often are longer and to less traveled ports of call. Or are selectively dropped from the fleet. I think it may boil down to a cost effectiveness decision where the costs of maintaining the older fleet are weighed against the return from alternate itineraries or departure ports. Who knows. As to the Bermuda repeatable itinerary, it is actually one of our favorites. It started with RCCL Grandeur out of Baltimore. Now it's Celebrity out of Cape Liberty. We just got back from Eclipse two weeks ago. We typically do that one every other year as it is very convenient for us logistically and one of our favorite places to visit. To us it is a very relaxing itinerary. Edited July 10 by leaveitallbehind 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted July 10 #13 Share Posted July 10 1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said: Enjoyed cruising out of Baltimore, in particular with the sail down the Chesapeake. RCCL has changed those itineraries as well in that they used to offer Grandeur on a 7-night Bermuda cruise, Now Vision only does 5-nights. This is what initially put us on Celebrity as Summit (now Eclipse) does the 7-night Bermuda. While it would be nice to have a Celebrity ship in Baltimore, as mentioned, I don't think their current fleet size will permit that. That is likely why Cape Liberty only has Eclipse and no other Celebrity ship. Overall fleet size -or actual ship size (height)? Out of Baltimore only smaller ships fit under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Or the now destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge. We did Grandeur out of Baltimore and enjoyed it to Bermuda and back. We did a few cruises from Cape Liberty (Summit, Anthem) where ship size (height) is not the issue. One of our favorite cruises was a 12 nighter Can/NE cruise from Cape Liberty. Enjoy not having to fly to the cruise port every now and then. Ages ago some cruise ships left from Philadelphia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #14 Share Posted July 10 1 minute ago, TeeRick said: Overall fleet size -or actual ship size (height)? Out of Baltimore only smaller ships fit under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Or the now destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge. We did Grandeur out of Baltimore and enjoyed it to Bermuda and back. We did a few cruises from Cape Liberty (Summit, Anthem) where ship size (height) is not the issue. One of our favorite cruises was a 12 nighter Can/NE cruise from Cape Liberty. Enjoy not having to fly to the cruise port every now and then. Ages ago some cruise ships left from Philadelphia. I think it's a combination of both as M class Celebrity would certainly work out of Baltimore. I remember the time when RCCL had a Vision class ship sail out of Philadelphia. Never did cruise out of there, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare foodsvcmgr Posted July 10 #15 Share Posted July 10 I sailed out of Philadelphia back in the 80’s on Britanis and Galileo. Somewhat uniquely my understanding is that Philadelphia has stated that they no longer wish to serve cruise ships, only cargo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #16 Share Posted July 10 (edited) 33 minutes ago, foodsvcmgr said: I sailed out of Philadelphia back in the 80’s on Britanis and Galileo. Somewhat uniquely my understanding is that Philadelphia has stated that they no longer wish to serve cruise ships, only cargo. Not sure what facilities those ships sailed from, but when RCCL sailed from there many years ago it was out of the Navy Yard. They also only did so for a couple of years as I recall. That facility is no longer equipped to handle passenger vessels and is not set up anymore with customs & immigration. The cargo statement may also be part of it. But with Cape Liberty 90 miles to the north and Baltimore 90 miles to the south I don't think Philadelphia made much sense and may have not been sustainable from a business standpoint to be a third location. JMO Edited July 10 by leaveitallbehind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheJourney Posted July 10 #17 Share Posted July 10 (edited) 6 hours ago, NJ Gal said: We are tired of just Bermuda. Yeah, and how about Canada / NE? I'm so disappointed (and told them about it more than once) that they moved those cruises to roundtrip Boston instead of Bayonne. As 1025cruise mentioned above, they will go where they make the most money. I'm betting the Boston roundtrip does better for them than Bayonne. Edited July 10 by OnTheJourney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baron Barracuda Posted July 10 #18 Share Posted July 10 Have trouble with the not enough ships argument. For years Summit sailed 7 night Bermuda sailings all summer long followed by 14 night r/t excursions to Quebec in the fall. Pricing was always firm, especially during fall foliage season. Guests are willing to pay a premium to avoid flying. And all this was at a time when their fleet consisted only of M and S class. Now their focus appears to be running as many 3,4 and 5 day sailings as possible through Coco Cay. Might work in the short haul but doubt a water park will be a consistent draw for most of the cruisers we've met in 30 years on X. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #19 Share Posted July 10 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said: Have trouble with the not enough ships argument. For years Summit sailed 7 night Bermuda sailings all summer long followed by 14 night r/t excursions to Quebec in the fall. Pricing was always firm, especially during fall foliage season. Guests are willing to pay a premium to avoid flying. And all this was at a time when their fleet consisted only of M and S class. Now their focus appears to be running as many 3,4 and 5 day sailings as possible through Coco Cay. Might work in the short haul but doubt a water park will be a consistent draw for most of the cruisers we've met in 30 years on X. The "not enough ships" discussion from my perspective was regarding having only one ship in the northeast versus RCCL with several. The short run itineraries out of FL that include Coco Cay IMO is to further capture the ROI from that destination with RCI by adding Celebrity ships there. Time will tell, as you suggest, if it is successful or not with the different primary demographics between RCCL and Celebrity. But as to fleet size with that, they are going where they at least think the demand is at present with their new launches. We will see if any redeployment takes place. Interestingly, RCCL is dedicating a new Oasis class ship exclusively to the 3/4 night Bahamas / CocoCay itinerary. Edited July 10 by leaveitallbehind 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted July 10 #20 Share Posted July 10 5 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said: Remember when Silhouette was new she sailed from Cape Liberty to the Caribbean for her first winter? Why are the longer sailings only Royal now? yes.. we were on that route.. It was cold the first few days going south.Blankets instead of towels at the pool deck. We returned to find our cars covered in snow.. We were loaned a shovel to dig ourselves out. What fun! But we did love the ship..better to board in Florida! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom and Ingrid Posted July 10 #21 Share Posted July 10 2 hours ago, TeeRick said: We did a few cruises from Cape Liberty (Summit, Anthem) where ship size (height) is not the issue. I'm guessing the Icon (196') is approaching the limit, and the next generation (if taller) will be at the limit for the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (228'). Two more decks? It just might happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #22 Share Posted July 10 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Tom and Ingrid said: I'm guessing the Icon (196') is approaching the limit, and the next generation (if taller) will be at the limit for the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (228'). Two more decks? It just might happen! Currently RCCL Quantum and Oasis class ships fit under the VN bridge and sail from Cape Liberty - far bigger / taller than any Celebrity ship. As you suggest, it would appear as though Icon will fit as well. Hopefully, as has been discussed elsewhere and referenced by RCCL in quarterly meetings, one of their next ship classes will be smaller, mid-sized ships - not bigger. However that is topic for another discussion on a different cruise line thread... Edited July 10 by leaveitallbehind 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blockschip Posted July 10 #23 Share Posted July 10 3 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said: I sailed out of Philadelphia back in the 80’s on Britanis and Galileo. Somewhat uniquely my understanding is that Philadelphia has stated that they no longer wish to serve cruise ships, only cargo. My understanding is that Philadelphia will be served by at least one cruise line starting in 2026 or 2027. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted July 10 #24 Share Posted July 10 13 minutes ago, Blockschip said: My understanding is that Philadelphia will be served by at least one cruise line starting in 2026 or 2027. That's interesting. Have not heard that. Where are you getting this information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blockschip Posted July 10 #25 Share Posted July 10 5 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said: That's interesting. Have not heard that. Where are you getting this information? I can't say, as it has not been released yet, but you should see something in the press in a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now