toad455

Puerto Plata has a lot of unpaved roads. In January, I nearly threw my back out because of the rough trip to our beach. If I ever return there, I would just hang out at the pool that's right at the pier.

The issue would be that this "World" cruise would have to use a Spirit-class ship. Alaska/Hawaii gets one, Tampa gets one, Mobile gets one for 6 months, and Baltimore another. Stretches this class a little thin.

Might be time to scrap this ship.

Seems like either Grand Turk or Puerto Plata are the usual substitutes unless it's a short itinerary. I'm sure Royal would prefer two ships at CocoCay everyday, but Grand Turk is a better destination as you can spread out more. I guess RCCL is paying Carnival to use the port?

1 hour ago, BND said:

We just got off Vision today after a b2b.  The Captain said they also expect to return to Norfolk after drydock, so by the end of May.

Which is odd for Carnival to be announcing one cruise at a time. Carnival should just say cruises until the end of May will be moved to Norfolk.

Costa has 9 ships left in their fleet with no new builds planned. Their oldest ship, the Fortuna, is now 21 years old. Maybe they get the old Mediterranea from Adora cruises in a few years if that cruise line doesn't start to get off the ground?

He just got off but has hinted he'll be back shortly. Didn't speculate as to what ship though.

6 hours ago, UPNYGuy said:

This is highly speculative, but this does not bode well for the future of the fantasy class. Those are the smallest ships in the fleet. I can see carnival repurposing two spirit class ships to fill the void. 
 

Plus, those that like the fantasy class really love them. The flipside is those that hate them absolutely despise them. It seems those ships are extremely polarizing because of the lack of features, and the age. 

Paradise and Elation will be 30 years old in 2028. I wonder if any of the Costa ships might bounce over to Carnival by then. Costa seems to be slowly disappearing.

I don't think the Vision left on time today out of Norfolk(5pm). Probably closer to 6:30pm. The Carnival Legend was also late leaving on Monday(~7pm).

Vision is officially docked in Norfolk!

John Heald posted that they're remaining hopefully that the Pride's repo cruise will end in Baltimore. Good for Carnival for being optimistic.

There's also about a dozen ships stuck in the harbor and can't leave. They'll be the priority once it's allowed to reopen.

On 3/28/2024 at 7:54 AM, Biker19 said:

The future 2026-27 deployment thread will have that.

Has this thread been started yet?

Curious to see if any of these Norfolk sailings will become available for sale. Either on the Vision or either Carnival ship.

The Norfolk cruises aren't available to book. At least not yet. Carnival still has the two Pride sailings out of Baltimore in April still available and the repo cruise from Tampa still ending in Baltimore. Carnival seems hopefully the harbor will be clear in time for the Pride to arrive.

only 6 hours in Key West is disappointing.

the one thing that i thought would change would be the departure time out of Norfolk to late evening(8pm or 9pm).

I'm guessing the second cruise is ending a day early because the Carnival ship has the pier on April 20? 

Interesting they decided on Norfolk over Bayonne. Staff were telling guests on the Vision they expected Bayonne. Maybe it's cheaper to go to Norfolk and bus people from there instead of Bayonne?

1 hour ago, BND said:

Yes.  Legend has more passengers than Vision. I'm also pretty sure there are more than 1200 spots at Baltimore and the lots are routinely full or close to it.

I also don't ever remember Norfolk having more than one ship sailing from there. It's always been a limited summer home port for Carnival. Has Royal ever sailed from there?

Why weren't the construction workers told to get off the bridge? They were apparently on a break and the six that died were in their cars keeping warm.

On another note, Vision passengers are saying they'll dock in Bayonne. I'd assume their next two cruises prior to drydock will sail out of there, too.

2 hours ago, StephPS79 said:

 

March 31st out of Norfolk DOES populate on the booking search, but can't process if you try to book.  That is all that is showing though.

All bookings for both the Legend and Pride out of Baltimore in April are showing on Carnival's website.

Are the adjusted cruises out of Norfolk available to book? And how far out does Carnival have these sailings?

There's already the conspiracy theories that this was planned...

3 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Difference is, massively better selection of brands and ships and itineraries from Florida. Baltimore to Nassau is fine once and it’s also fine if I can get to port cheaply and easily. Of course there will always be some flyers. 
 

I would guess if we could see the stats, Baltimore would have one of the highest drive to flight ratios of any US port.

Both Baltimore and Bayonne offer different itineraries for longer cruises. But the 7-day cruises will usually be Bahamas. On a rare occasion, they'll have one to Bermuda.