Lousy Caribbean Itineraries

[Hilary]

I've been doing research for a possible 2005 Caribbean cruise and have been amazed and disappointed by Celebrity's itineraries. We've done the western twice and are doing the eastern for a second time this winter, so definitely wanted a southern itinerary. We also wanted to cruise RT out of Florida on a 10-12 night cruise at Christmas time. This is the first time that Celebrity has nothing for us!!

 

Although I'm not happy with Celebrity's new policy about discounting, that ultimately isn't what prompted us to book a Princess cruise. Princess has a perfect itinerary for what we want to do (new islands with scuba diving), and the price is fabulous! This will be our second Princess cruise, but the first one in almost 10 years, so I'll be very interested to see the differences between it and Celebrity. 10 years ago I felt the differences in quality and ships were minimal and preferred Celebrity, so we'll see what this cruise brings.

 

So now we'll be on Horizon this Christmas and Princess next Christmas....doesn't seem like a hardship to me! <LOL>

[starsjohn]

We enjoy both lines also, but after recent cruises on both Princess and Celebrity, we think there is quite a pronounced difference between the two. Celebrity being the more upscaled and refined with better food and entertainment.

 

John

[Rat]

Hillary, I totally agree that Celebrity's 2005 Caribbean itineraries aren't that appealing. I hate to admit it, (GASP) I booked on Carnival!

[Andy]

I've been doing research for a possible 2005 Caribbean cruise and have been amazed and disappointed by Celebrity's itineraries. We've done the western twice and are doing the eastern for a second time this winter, so definitely wanted a southern itinerary. We also wanted to cruise RT out of Florida on a 10-12 night cruise at Christmas time. This is the first time that Celebrity has nothing for us!!

 

Although I'm not happy with Celebrity's new policy about discounting, that ultimately isn't what prompted us to book a Princess cruise. Princess has a perfect itinerary for what we want to do (new islands with scuba diving), and the price is fabulous! This will be our second Princess cruise, but the first one in almost 10 years, so I'll be very interested to see the differences between it and Celebrity. 10 years ago I felt the differences in quality and ships were minimal and preferred Celebrity, so we'll see what this cruise brings.

 

So now we'll be on Horizon this Christmas and Princess next Christmas....doesn't seem like a hardship to me! <LOL>

 

Hi Hilary !

 

I have to agree with you. I have been writing about this very issue since the new schedules came out.

 

Although some of the Century's New Itineraries are fine, there are very little choices for Cruises out of South Fl next season, especially in light of the fact that Century will be doing ONLY 9/10 night sailings. For those who want a 7 night sailing, there will be nothing to choose from, until late 2005.

 

I really cannot understand what Celebrity is doing, but from the looks of things and from the many postings on here.... one thing they will do, is lose customers (at least for now) over this. It is really a shame, as Celebrity has one of the best products out there.

 

I keep hoping they will come to their senses, and make some scheudule changes quickly, to resolve this, but I am not hopeful they will.

 

At any rate, whatever line you choose, enjoy your cruise !

 

Regards,

Andy

[Jacqueline]

Variety is good and a way to appeal to repeat cruisers. There are dozens of ports in the Carribean.

Its not like going to say BERMUDA for the week where there is just BERMUDA.

X is not the only line that lacks imagination when it comes to putting together itineraries. But it is too bad. I know when I talked to the onboard rcuise consultant last March on the Connie, what she had to offer me was ...the the exact same thing for the next year.... I mean Caso de Campo was not exactly popular this year !

It also is a shortcoming that there isnt a stop at a private *island*. HAL, Princess and other lines have this great beach day which is a high point for many. It can also be a revenue producer-All I know is that my daughter saw Half Moon Cay on HALS in cabin TV and now really really wants to go there.

[rjack22]

The change of Caribbean intineraries for 2005 is what made me book six months earlier than I had planned.

 

We are on the last 10 day ultimate caribbean for Summit.

[Andy]

The change of Caribbean intineraries for 2005 is what made me book six months earlier than I had planned.

 

We are on the last 10 day ultimate caribbean for Summit.

 

Hi Rjack22 !

 

Are you on the 4/1/05 Sailing ? I am also. I also booked it for that very same reason. I am also going on Summit on 11/26/04.

 

Normally, I would never do the same cruise twice in a row, but as Celebrity chose to end this itinerary, I wanted to go on her again, as it appears it will be a very long time before I am on Summit again :(

 

I was, (and still am) very disappointed that Celebrity chose to take Summit off of this itinerary. She will be greatly missed.

 

I look forward to meeting you at the CC Party. Did you sign up yet ?

 

Regards,

Andy

[OCruisers]

It also is a shortcoming that there isnt a stop at a private *island*. HAL, Princess and other lines have this great beach day which is a high point for many. It can also be a revenue producer-All I know is that my daughter saw Half Moon Cay on HALS in cabin TV and now really really wants to go there.

 

Celebrity now makes stops at CocoCay which is the private island for RCI/Celebrity. We were there in January on Zenith and really enjoyed it!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruises :)

[Hilary]

The change of Caribbean intineraries for 2005 is what made me book six months earlier than I had planned.

 

We are on the last 10 day ultimate caribbean for Summit.

 

Actually, the 10 day ultimate is the one I was interested in, and when I went to look at the offerings for Christmas, 2005 it wasn't there. I was extremely disappointed since that's a great itinerary. Since I'm just not going to settle for an intinerary I'm not that interested in just to be on a Celebrity ship, and I found an outstanding trip on Princess, Celebrity will just lose out on my business this time around.

 

In the past I've always thought about where I wanted to go, then immediately checked Celebrity's offerings for the time frame I was thinking about. If I found what I wanted, I'd check prices, and if they were reasonable, it wasn't unusual to book without checking other options/lines. This is exactly what I did with our upcoming Horizon cruise, which I'm very excited about. (Can you tell I do the cruise planning in my family??)

 

I followed this procedure when snooping for a Southern itinerary, and was extremely disappointed that Celebrity had nothing even to consider. Since I prefer Princess to RCCL, I went there next, and voila! found exactly what I wanted. One big thing for us is that we're scuba divers and Princess offers a lot more scuba diving excursions than either Celebrity or RCCL, so even though RCCL had a similar type of cruise as the one I booked on Princess, they weren't offering as many dive excursions. Since we want the option of booking with the ship if we can't do a private dive, this is an important point for us.

 

Hopefully Celebrity will have some new itineraries for 2006 or 2007 for us.

[rjack22]

Andy,

 

Yes, we are on the same cruise as you! We are registered for the CC party and I received the email confirming that we have enough! So we will meet you then.