dolphinsfan246

As another person posted, the NCL order has no effect on the possible Carnival order. As they pointed out the timing of the NCL order actually more than likely confirms that the Carnival order is coming.

I am discussing his comments, my thoughts on his comments are don’t get your hopes up.

I love John Heald as a person, but let’s be realistic. He tends to hint at a lot of things that’s mostly just blowing smoke. I mean he’s been hinting at the “brilliant” new VIFP program that’s been right around the corner since like what ? 2017? I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

I was just stating that the clientele they build new ships for is the new cruiser. A new Spirit class ship (while appealing to us) is not gonna look great on a commercial and bring in the blue cards.

And the funny thing about that is when you go through and read the comments almost every single one says yes. But it falls on deaf ears, as someone else pointed out the majority of John’s following is seasoned cruisers who appreciate the subtle things that make the Spirit class great. Unfortunately that is not the clientele that Carnival is ordering new ships for.

Only if you bring your own. Bacon is on vacation.

I’m really curious how much money they were playing for. I don’t think I’ve ever made more than $15 in a game of LCR 😂😂

I think Tampa needs to comment on what their plans to accommodate their future is. It’s not going to go the other way around.

I wonder if it has anything to do with all the flooding on the ship that’s been going viral. I heard they were flying contractors in from all over to fix it up quick.

Galveston has quickly become their top homeport. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they got a second Excel class ship for shorter cruises in 2027/2028. The only problem is the itineraries can be so boring. But that’s the way of the industry now, pivoting more towards the ship as the destination and the ports as an afterthought.

In this photo you can see they are preparing to make the same cut as last time. Stubby Freedom rides again! I wonder if they will put a rush on a permanent fix or wait until the next scheduled dry dock. That likely won’t be until 2027/2028.

Fun fact about the Miracle. She actually sailed her maiden voyage from Jacksonville in 2004. A 3 day cruise to Freeport.

The rest of the world hasn’t, so why would they 🤪 It would be nice though.

Savannah, Georgia was exploring the cruise industry years ago before Covid but ultimately decided against it. Personally I would love to see a ship put in Wilmington, North Carolina, but I have no idea about the logistics of that being possible.

No way, big money maker. Big marketing gimmick, great for commercials on TV to bring in blue cards. Then when they get there, charge em $15 to ride it. No way they would give that up.

This is probably a long shot but I wonder if they will give it a quick trim along these lines and it will keep somewhat of a whale tail shape. Do you think this would negatively affect the aerodynamics of the funnel? Overall it’s probably easier to just go back to the stump though since the funnel is made in those 2 pieces anyway.

John Healds post says the funnel is stabilized enough to return to Port Canaveral to debark guests then it’s back to Freeport for the “repair”.

I had an “upsell” offer to go from my Porthole cabin to a regular interior for $44. I thought now wait a minute, when I booked the cruise I paid extra to go from interior to porthole and now you are asking for more money to go backwards? The upgraded room was not even on a higher deck! Sometimes their upgrade algorithm is wild.

She sailed from Grand Turk to Freeport with a half tail. Freeport was where the temporary fix was made. I believe there was at least a few weeks of sailings cancelled that time.

Well they do have a camera pointed at the funnel at all times so if they wanted to they could prove it (or not)

And neither do you. Even in their most recent shuffling of ships they only swapped Glory for Liberty. Swapping a potato for a slightly younger potato is not exactly infusing confidence into that market. It’s a great secondary port for aging ships, but thinking it’s going straight to Excel class anytime soon is joke. You have to know that.

As somebody else mentioned, look at the per day fares for the Dream all the years she sailed from NOLA. Significantly lower than the rest of the fleet. They couldn’t sell the rooms and had to basically give them away at cut rate prices. I paid $239 PP for a 7 day interior room in 2018. That’s stupid cheap.

“It was moved because it was part of the big shuffle of moves carnival did at the time” EXACTLY and they shuffled LESS capacity to New Orleans BEFORE Covid was ever a thing. But by all means let’s send an Excel class there with 2,600+ cabins to fill. Surely that makes perfect business sense to Carnival.

🤦‍♂️ I guess you don’t understand simple cruising economics. I agree embarking and debarking are much more efficient post Covid so NOLA catches a break there. But the Dream wasn’t making money before Covid, so why would they commit to it after Covid? It’s very simple if the Dream was making good profit from NOLA they would have never downgraded the port back to Conquest class on the week long itineraries. It’s just not a market that sustains good fares for that many cabins. If the port was profitable as you claim , they would at LEAST have a Dream or Vista class right now as I type. Now maybe they will try again and see how it goes post Covid, but your assumption that NOLA is ready to skip up to Excel class right now is totally insane. Honestly NOLA is lucky that Covid purged the Fantasy class or I really believe they would have a Conquest/Fantasy lineup right now.

I don’t think it’s invalid NOLA speculation. Of course the ship sails full, occupancy is never the problem with these ports. They will fill the ship no matter what. The problem was they had to severely discount the cabins in order to fill the ship. We did a 7 day on the Dream pre Covid , it was still the cheapest cruise we ever took, we paid around $600 total for the whole thing. That was not with any casino offers or anything. And the terminal experience was complete and uncontrolled chaos. Both embarking and debarking was the worst we ever experienced. It was a joke compared to the Florida ports, even their little sister port Mobile was way better organized. If that’s how it was with a Dream class ship.. there is no way they could handle an Excel class ship with 6,600 coming and 6,600 going at the same time. Not without major port improvements.