How Fast Could/Would Cruise Lines React?

[sail7seas]

As we daily hear reports of air routes being discontinued, local airports severely curtailing service, and the public's general discontent with air travel in the U.S., do you think cruise lines will consider changing itineraries and making plans for more 'home ports'?

 

Seeing as the concerns of poor economy, dropping market, high fuel/food prices and people deciding if they can afford to cruise, when they put more air travel problems and complaints into the mix, do you think more embarkation ports are under consideration?

 

Even if they thought it a good idea, is it logistically feasible? Would they cancel existing itineraries and get creative to get us on the ships?

[kryos]

As we daily hear reports of air routes being discontinued, local airports severely curtailing service, and the public's general discontent with air travel in the U.S., do you think cruise lines will consider changing itineraries and making plans for more 'home ports'?

When it starts cutting into their profits in the form of lower bookings and increased cancellations, you bet your bippee they will. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to see them chartering train cars to get large groups of people down to Florida too ... for, say, a group sailing involving a lot of people from one geographical area.

 

I just hope and pray HAL reconsiders and continues their New York City sailings ... because otherwise I'm gonna wind up having to say goodbye to HAL for a few years ... because after this year, other than for unavoidable business needs, I have no intention of flying anymore. I just no longer have any faith in the safety of the airlines, nor in their ability to be counted upon to get me to my destination in a reasonble amount of time.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[norcal2]

Good question! I'm betting they would change ports to match the hub cities the airlines continue to service if this new condition sets in for any length of time. Seems like they would almost have to. That would be good news for those larger cities but hard on the smaller ones. If that happens it would be interesting to see if all the lines start focusing on hubs caught in the middle, like Texas etc rather than just the two coasts. If this airline crisis keeps up, I suspect things will change.

[sail7seas]

Of course, those "hubs' have to be on a coast...... ie Boston. :)

 

These folks are brilliant business people with loads of experience and success to prove it.

HAL will 'find the answers' necessary IMO

 

[norcal2]

Yep. I'm wondering if they will tactically also consider those mid-country hubs though. Particularly the Gulf States. Population would come into play in the gulf states though so it may not be feasable for the lines.

[Krazy Kruizers]

As more and more get cancelled in our area, cruising and land vacations will be gone for us!!

[sail7seas]

Some people will choose their vacation predicated upon how easily they can get there.

 

If there's a non-stop flight for bearable price to Las Vegas (for example), that may be their vacation though not their first choice of where they really want to go. IMO

[sppunk]

I would doubt NYC/Boston sailings are attractive to cruise lines because of the amount of fuel those trips take ... the costs for them are even greater than the cost of its passengers having to fly to Florida or whatnot.

 

I'm very surprised more ships aren't trying to get to Bermuda - a relatively close distance from the Northeast and you can park the boat and save tons of fuel for three days. I'd imagine RCCL's Explorer of the Seas will be the hardest cruise ticket to get in the next year.

[sail7seas]

Bermuda limits the ships they will permit but stay tuned......there is a rumor mill that HAL may, at some point, consider Bermuda sailings.

 

Yes.....the cost of fuel for Noordam to go New York to Caribbean and back was very high. Sailing with empty cabins is also very costly.

[TCF]

Have to agree with sail7seas.

Most of the people who run the cruise lines, most notably the Carnival lines, are pretty savvy business people who will react to market changes and pressures quickly to insure their continued success.

They are currently facing what might be termed, "the perfect storm". They are being hit from all angles at the same time by some pretty big problems.

People aren't responding as much to the fuel price increases of the airlines as they are to the total lack of service and concern for the needs of passengers by all the airlines. Flying was once an exciting part of going on a cruise...not any more. And the attitude of the airlines...."if you don't like it don't fly"....is now being met with..."OK we won't". We are going to see a resurgence of rail travel...even though it is less convenient...if the major passenger rail providers like Amtrak and VIARail in Canada can start to offer an entertaining product.

I was also wondering if the cruise lines might be forced into setting up their own Charter Airline(s) to move their passengers to ports??? It might make sense for those areas of the country that have no choice but to fly to the various Home Ports?? When you look at Carnival, Princess and Holland America all leaving from basically the same ports it might make sense. They could even sell off what surplus they had on flights to other lines. Just a thought.

But no matter what happens the next couple of years are going to be very interesting for the travel....but especially the cruise industry.

 

We recently cancelled our Med cruise for two reasons; 1) the air fare, 2) the exchange on the Euro! The cruise itself was a bargain!

 

We replaced it with a longer cruise that had 2/3 less air travel connected to it and all costs were in US$.

[ginagirl]

Not fast enough for me. I am dying for some new itinerary choices out of California.

[Taxguy77]

An interesting idea for the cruise lines to form an airline:cool:

Harrah's Entertainment does that with chartered planes from a small airline. They have tickets that are comped for regular customers, half price for those who have been there before, and higher fares to fill the plane and help offset the cost.

The cruise line could do the same, free air for suites or to fill the ship at the last minute, and a little extra for the rest to defray costs:D

Since CCL owns most of the brands and ships, want to bet they don't have someone working up a business plan already:confused: ?

[cf_chuck]

Of course, those "hubs' have to be on a coast...... ie Boston. :)

 

These folks are brilliant business people with loads of experience and success to prove it.

HAL will 'find the answers' necessary IMO

 

 

I hope so. B,UT, HAL is part of Carnival and Carnival already has subsidiaries serving many east coast home ports. Until the bottom line net to Carnival is impacted, HAL could be constrained to serving where it does. The point is, if someone drops HAL and picks up another Carnival line, Carnival is none the worse off unless HAL starts sailing with empty ships. At that point, there are still options to minimize the negative impact to the bottom line, none of which benefit HAL. I would be more comfortable with your statement if HAL was not a sub of Carnival, but it is.

[cf_chuck]

Bermuda limits the ships they will permit but stay tuned......there is a rumor mill that HAL may, at some point, consider Bermuda sailings.

 

Yes.....the cost of fuel for Noordam to go New York to Caribbean and back was very high. Sailing with empty cabins is also very costly.

 

I'd say "reconsider Bermuda sailings" since I sailed HAL in Aug. 1982 out of NYC to Bermuda and back. Either way, I'd love to see HAL offer Bermuda but somewhere further south than NYC (Balt, Norfolk, Charleston).

[cruznon]

Since HAL is pulling out of San Diego next spring as a home port--many HAL West Coast crusiers will now have to select another cruise line or fly long distances to ge to a dam ship.:( Sure wish they'd reconsider that decision...

[Davey Interweb]

An interesting idea for the cruise lines to form an airline:cool:

Harrah's Entertainment does that with chartered planes from a small airline. They have tickets that are comped for regular customers, half price for those who have been there before, and higher fares to fill the plane and help offset the cost.

The cruise line could do the same, free air for suites or to fill the ship at the last minute, and a little extra for the rest to defray costs:D

Since CCL owns most of the brands and ships, want to bet they don't have someone working up a business plan already:confused: ?

 

Well, CCL tried this in the past with Carnival Air Lines. I'm not sure they'd want to get back into the air business, but if they wanted to pick up an existing carrier US Airways or United aren't really worth anything of note. Either could possibly be purchased with the loose change found in Micky Arison's sofa.

 

Might be worth it for them to investigate, who knows.

[ginagirl]

I truly doubt Carnival would make that mistake again. It reminds me of an old joke - What is the quickest way to become a millionaire?? Be a billionaire that buys an airline. :D

[jec2]

Since HAL is pulling out of San Diego next spring as a home port--many HAL West Coast crusiers will now have to select another cruise line or fly long distances to ge to a dam ship.:( Sure wish they'd reconsider that decision...

 

Is this only for cruises to Mexico? I see that the Zaandam is sailing to Hawaii thru Dec 09.

[sail7seas]

Oosterdam is going to stop sailing to Mexico.

[jec2]

Oosterdam is going to stop sailing to Mexico.

 

It looks like the Ryndam is taking her place thru 12/09, so HAL is staying in San Diego.

[san diego sue]

The Ryndam has been sailing out of San Diego and is not taking Oosterdam's place. We are losing a quick 7 day easy trip out of our home port San Diego

on the lovely Oosterdam. I have sailed the Ryndam and although I enjoyed it, no comparison. All I see is prices going up on those Mexico cruises by eliminating one ship. Also Princess has pulled out as well. Only other choice is Carnival and that is not choice for us.Looks like Royal Carribean will be doing some short cruises (four day). These short cruises are not to our liking.

We booked an October cruise on Oosterdam to say goodbye. Guess we will be traveling to Los Angeles in the future. San Diego is such a beautiful port to sail from, it is a shame the cruise lines don't see that. We are also keeping our eye on the repositioning cruises that come by beginning or end of Alaska season.

Sue

[Krazy Kruizers]

It looks like the Ryndam is taking her place thru 12/09, so HAL is staying in San Diego.

 

I knew about the Oosterdam.

And I also knew about the Ryndam staying in San Diego.

Originally we were to have been on the Ryndam in Nov for a 23 day cruise - Pan American and Ecuador - which we had just done in 2007 (GREAT cruise). But our TA got notice that it was being cancelled and in place their are 10 and 9 and 7 day cruises.

[sail7seas]

KK..... That seems to be an answer to my question.

 

One can theorize (guess) perhaps bookings for the long 23 day cruise might not have been good so they cancelled and it replaced with cruises that may be easier to sell. Made quick changes to sell what people will buy.

 

[Davey Interweb]

The Ryndam has been sailing out of San Diego and is not taking Oosterdam's place. We are losing a quick 7 day easy trip out of our home port San Diego

on the lovely Oosterdam. I have sailed the Ryndam and although I enjoyed it, no comparison. All I see is prices going up on those Mexico cruises by eliminating one ship. Also Princess has pulled out as well. Only other choice is Carnival and that is not choice for us.Looks like Royal Carribean will be doing some short cruises (four day). These short cruises are not to our liking.

We booked an October cruise on Oosterdam to say goodbye. Guess we will be traveling to Los Angeles in the future. San Diego is such a beautiful port to sail from, it is a shame the cruise lines don't see that. We are also keeping our eye on the repositioning cruises that come by beginning or end of Alaska season.

Sue

 

Royal Caribbean is moving Mariner of the Seas to Los Angeles in April of next year to do the 7-night Mexican Riviera sailings. Oosterdam will be missed and RCI's Voyager-class ships aren't really to my tastes, but it's still a pretty good option otherwise. At least Mariner has broader appeal, I think. San Diego is a little less convenient for me.

[kryos]

Yes.....the cost of fuel for Noordam to go New York to Caribbean and back was very high. Sailing with empty cabins is also very costly.

[/b]

Exactly. And if they can't fill the ship on sailings just from Florida, HAL may be willing to start the cruise in NYC, then head to Fort Lauderdale for more people and then on out into the Caribbean. I was on just such a cruise in late 2006 ... a Panama Canal Sunfarer that began in New York, with two days at sea, and then a stop in Fort Lauderdale, and then the normal ten-day Sunfarer, with the partial transit of the canal, and then back to Fort Lauderdale. If it means the difference between sailing with many empty cabins onboard or sailing R/T New York with a stop in Fort Lauderdale as well to pick up and drop off more people, I think HAL would sooner burn through the extra fuel than sail with maybe a third or a fourth of the boat's cabins being empty because airfare was just too steep to make it worthwhile for people in the Northeast to cruise.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita