Itried4498

There's a handful of itineraries with a late port night, and there's a smaller number with two days at a specific port, but the days of true overnights seem to be over. For example, Carnival has a handful of itineraries with an overnight at Cabo and a handful with an overnight at Ensenada. But in both locations, you need to re-join the ship the first night -- as late as 8PM in Cabo and as early as 5PM in Ensenada. You are no longer allowed to get a hotel -- you need to get back on the ship. It's incredibly rare these days to come across an itinerary where the ship is docked overnight and you can come and go as you please. Carnival regularly did this at Puerta Vallera and Ensenada in the past...

Not an instance in which insurance will help. They were literally mowed down by a Hilo Hattie's shuttle bus. Hilo Hattie's and/ or the operator of the shuttle bus (if it's outsourced to an independent contractor) almost questionably be responsible for all medical bills and costs incurred from the incident. There will be additional settlements and/ or judgements as well.

Another way of putting it is that Disney has a dedicated, cult like fan base who won't be happy with anything but a Disney experience and are willing to pay for it. My oldest brother and his wife are good examples -- huge Disney fanatics that live, eat and breath Disney. They live in a crappy house in a crappy neighborhood, she works two crappy jobs and every penny they make goes toward Disney (many weeks DVC, DCL, etc.). You can't even have normal conversation -- you could say 'did you hear about the horrible tragedy this morning down the street from you, in which numerous people lose their lives' and he will respond with 'OMG - speaking of horrible tragedy, Tiana's Bayou Adventure's soft opening was pushed back a few days.' These aren't rational people. Hence why DCL's prices are in the stratosphere. DCL offers an excellent product but you have to be a Disney fanatic to convince yourself it's that much more exceptional.

I'd bet PC & Miami generate more revenue than Galveston but that could change really soon. PC, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Galveston and Los Angeles/Long Beach/San Diego is pretty much where most of the growth capacity has went post-pandemic.

Yup, my point is that things aren't always the way they appear. Just taking this a step further... for winter 2026, if we segregate the 3/4 day local cruises from Long Beach from the rest of the itineraries, the average fares from Long Beach (for simplicity, I used the published fares for two adults) are about $20 less per night for the 3/4 day local cruises whereas the other cruises average a slightly higher rate. Those 3/4 days have some of the least miles traveled on them and are heavy on alcohol sales.

I understand your argument. Looking at 2025, New Orleans consistently has higher fares than Orlando and Miami. If published fares told the entire story, it makes no sense Carnival is adding capacity to PC, LB, etc. but not NO. Post-pandemic, fares have soared at many of the secondary ports and I doubt it's pure demand driven. You can maximize revenues by selling a product at an inflated price and highly restricting discounts to select groups.

I didn't compare New Orleans; it often has higher pricing than PC/FLL/Miami at the moment and I'm not convinced it's demand based. RCL's published prices for New Orleans and Tampa are high, but there's heavy discounts (and/or incentives) if you purchase through select travel agents, which isn't something I've seen before. Disney is exiting (its limited presence) from New Orleans and per some unconfirmed reports, auxiliary revenues were poor.

But again, you're largely basing your conclusions off one-off teaser rates. If I price a 7-night cruise for four people (two adults & two teens) on the Firenze out of Long Beach in October, interior & balcony rooms are running about a TOTAL of $100 less then the Marid Gras and Celebration (both of which have higher taxes & fees, so the actual difference is less). If I compare an 8-night cruise on the Panorama to a 7-night on the MG and 8-night on the Celebration next summer, the Panorama is running $300-$400 cheaper for an interior, but balcony prices are between $100 less and $200 more. If I look at 6-night cruises on the Firenze during Feb/Mar 26 vs a similar cruise on the Vista out of PC, interiors are running $100-$300 less but balconies are going for $100 less to $100 more. So yes, interiors tend to sell less at LB, but balconies, suites, etc. are on par with the newest ships. Supplement for the third and fourth person is often more out of LB than Florida. And RCL said the LA-based Navigator was generating among the highest per person, per day auxiliary spending in the network. If you dig deeper, I don't think things are as they appear.

What people complain about is the cost. Agree turndown service is nice but if you contact guest services I'm confident you could get a simple turndown service (one lines that discontinued twice daily room service). If that doesn't work, slipping your room attendant a few bills will :). And everybody has their opinion on which lines serve the best food.

No way an Excel ship goes to New Orleans anytime soon. I'd say four of the five ships will be homeported in PC and Miami (possibly a return to Fort Lauderdale) and the fifth at Galveston. Possible seasonal service at NYC & Europe. Outside chance Long Beach gets one, with possible seasonal Alaska.

RCL is sending the Quantum of the Seas to Cabo and MSC the Bellissima. Why are we thinking an Excel class ship can't do it?

It's not just Europe. It's a combination of a small fleet, huge demand and cult like following that enable Disney to charge huge monies for its itineraries. We are doing a 7-night Mexican Riviera on Princess (utilizing what's currently their newest ship). It's less than $3,000 for two adults / two teens in a balcony with Princess Plus for the adults and soda packages for the kids. Meanwhile... Disney's lowest price for a similar itinerary departing the day after was over $4,500 for an interior and $7,000 balcony (without the added inclusions, sans soda).

I'm crossing my fingers but this wouldn't be the first time the Port's website posted schedules prematurely.

It's been hit-or-miss for years. We've used the same phone, traveled on the same ship and had different results on different sailings. I've never understood why this topic continually resurfaces. A lot of us are cheap and have searched for the magic spell that enables us use iMessage without paying for WiFi but none of us have found it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We don't know why but we've tried to figure out. Even when it works, it's intermittently. If you need access to iMessage, there's no other workaround besides purchasing a WiFi package.

I'm extremely disappointed. There's a whopping two sailings available at the moment; there's significantly more offered from Florida (albeit on bigger ships and higher price points). The Venezia has the most offerings, which probably partially explains why the ship is being moved to PC part-year.

I meant 3/4 day itineraries from Florida are cheaper than 3/4 from LB.

That's slightly deceitful as many of those prices are for a single cruise. Looking at the fall months, Miami and PC have far more cheaper 3/4-day itineraries. And while LB is often the lowest priced cruise for 5/6/7-day itineraries, the pricing disparity isn't that large. I've been researched cruises for mid-Oct to mid-Nov for awhile and the pricing gap on the MG/Celebration is definitely coming down. Los Angeles-based itineraries were the "Kirkland Signature" special at Costco for many years but now there's more Florida-based itineraries. Definitely think times are changing.

That's not quite as true these days. The pricing disparity has softened -- most weeks this fall, the base fares on the Excel ships aren't materially different than those on the Firenze. A year ago, LB's local newspaper asserted that Los Angeles sailings often lead RCL's systemwide network in alcohol, spa, duty free, etc. sales. It's been an interesting few years, though. Carnival has dramatically increased capacity with the Panorama, Firenze and Radiance. RCL entered the market with Navigator and is adding as second, Quantum-class ship. Princess debuted its newest ship and added summer sailings. MSC is expected to launch service next fall (alternating with Alaska in the summer). But there's also signs the market didn't perform as expected. Princess has reduced the number of calls and is the ship mentioned earlier to Australia (although it will return in a couple years and is being replaced with a similar ship). Norwegian has cut the number of calls from LA/SD, as has Disney. Celebrity tried and exited the market (and RCL's second ship may be here temporarily to fulfill contractual requirements for initial subsidies). That said, I wouldn't entirely rule out the Excel ship coming to LB. With all the new capacity coming into the Florida, it's going to get interesting. (If the Excel does indeed come to LB, what an amazing feat to go from the Miracle to an Excel-class ship in less than a decade).

I wonder if this will ever happen. MSC had talked about coming to the West Coast since 2019…

I’ve done two B2B on the Navigator. Both times there was about a dozen people, so maybe 6 staterooms. Three people (solo travelers) were on ship for over 30 days. One woman was spending 6 months.

In an alternate universe where every Royal ship was a Quantum or Oasis Class, prices would be lower. The reason they’re so high is because demand exceeds supply. ironically, those “old ships” help Royal maximize its profits.

The dynamics are definitely different on the West Coast. Most of the people on the 3/4 day cruises are locals, and most all the rest live regionally. There’s a large faction of regular cruisers. 7 days cruises draw nationally but are still dominated by locals. 10+ day cruises tend to draw nationally more than locally. I’m sure there’s similar trends anywhere outside of Florida. First time cruisers have surged in the post-pandemic era, largely because cruising was a good value compared to land vacations. But that’s often no longer true, especially in peak periods. Gotta wonder how long it’ll last.

Is port space really that limited? LA can accommodate four ships at the same time but are only literally a handful of days where there’s three this year and none I can find with four. Princess is significantly reducing its calls beginning later this year, NCL has already done so and it appears Celebrity is leaving the market. Maybe RCL’s agreement with the port guaranteed a number of calls and passengers, and they felt Quantum was a better fit than the Celebrity brand? but I’m with everyone else. I don’t understand why they didn’t schedule Quantum mostly on the 3/4 day weekend runs and move Navigator to mostly 7 days. And creative one-off itineraries to Hawaii, Alaska, etc. Biggest problem with LA is that the closest warm weather beach market (Cabo) takes a 5 day itinerary. Not much you can do locally…. Santa Barbara would pee and moan over a regular cruise ship.

I don’t think so. MSC Bellissima will be doing 7 day turns. That ship is even larger than Quantum. - - - I’m exciting to see all these new ships in LA, but it seems like market is overcrowded. Even LA-based Princess is shifting capacity away, including moving the current flagship Discovery to Australia. Disney (San Diego, but same catchment) and Norwegian have/ are cutting back on the number of calls here as well. Maybe RCL had some type of incentive agreement with the port that required so many calls? Looks like they’re pulling the Celebrity ship that’s here seasonally. Quite a change from 20 years ago when the Port didn’t want cruise ships as they made far more money from cargo :). Maybe we’ll one day get a proper cruise terminal instead of the homeless encampment RCL is currently using.

Do you have any evidence to support your assertions or are you just making assumptions? No doubt casinos are lucrative but they're not as lucrative as you think. The casino keeps only a small percentage of those "thousands" that are blown; the rest is returned to the gambling population. Yes, that small percentage adds up... but there's noticeably less foot traffic in the casinos today than there was in yesteryear -- that's especially been true as crowds have gotten younger. Heck, Bingo is practically dead.