Now offical - Costa leaving New England in 2011

[G.M.T.]

It has now been annouced that Costa will not be returning to New England in 2011. Very strange that Costa pulls out of a new market when others are beefing up their presence there.

 

http://www.cruise-community.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3178&catid=910&Itemid=69

 

Ron

[kuldalai]

Costa Management and Marketing leaves a lot to be desired . Asia is booming so Costa puts its oldest vessels there, not good enough . Australia & NZ is booming - Costa has no presence there at all, still !!! Overall Costa is a 3.5 out of 5 Cruise product, but could be 5 with a bit more effort . Itineraries sort of OK, Food excellent, Staff generally good, on board organization of many things, especially Passports and Immigration is an utter shambles. But then organizing things efficiently has never been an Italian strength .

[Goldryder]

I think the reasoning behind pulling out of the New England/Canada cruises has less to do with marketing and more to do with a problem that occurred a few weeks ago in Halifax. A crewman was arrested, charged & sentenced for having lewd images on his laptop whilst the ship was in Halifax. There is every chance that the company feels that it would not be conducive to go to Halifax for a while, and since that port is one of the most popular on the itinerary, that would make it difficult to go there under the circumstances....the port authorities may have had words with them too.

 

Also there have been problems with access to Sauganay (sp) due to currents & weather, so again an understandable reason to pull out of the region for a while.

 

I think it would be wrong to assume that a cruise line is shifting out of a reason for purely marketing reasons, there will almost always be a more substantial problem that has been encountered that tipped the balance against certain itineraries.

[G.M.T.]

I also do not think it is anything to do with additional tonnage requirements in Europe, for a time frame of two months 25th. March 2011 to 27th. May 2011. Costa will have 10 ships (including 9 big ones) in European waters in this time frame, Romantica and Classica in the Far East, Atlantica and MArina are not listed.

 

Costa is always at the forefront of opening up and keeping a presence in new markets, i.e Indian Ocean, Far East, Dubai. Where Costa sails today the rest follow tomorrow.

 

Costa was the first to go to New England (MSC and Aida with two ships follow). Aida is a daughter company of Costa!!!

 

Costa is not the greatest when it comes to Customer Service but their market research into new cruising areas is very conservative and successful.

 

Who know the true story.

 

Ron

[CtheW0rld]

Costa is not the greatest when it comes to Customer Service but their market research into new cruising areas is very conservative and successful.Ron

 

i completely agree. their unique itineraries is what keeps me coming back to costa.

[td_20]

He would only get arrested if child porn was found on his computer.

Canada's justice system is not that fast, he would be arrested, charged, release on bail, wait for a court date, months later.

 

 

 

I think the reasoning behind pulling out of the New England/Canada cruises has less to do with marketing and more to do with a problem that occurred a few weeks ago in Halifax. A crewman was arrested, charged & sentenced for having lewd images on his laptop whilst the ship was in Halifax. There is every chance that the company feels that it would not be conducive to go to Halifax for a while, and since that port is one of the most popular on the itinerary, that would make it difficult to go there under the circumstances....the port authorities may have had words with them too.

 

Also there have been problems with access to Sauganay (sp) due to currents & weather, so again an understandable reason to pull out of the region for a while.

 

I think it would be wrong to assume that a cruise line is shifting out of a reason for purely marketing reasons, there will almost always be a more substantial problem that has been encountered that tipped the balance against certain itineraries.

[marie0157]

I think the reasoning behind pulling out of the New England/Canada cruises has less to do with marketing and more to do with a problem that occurred a few weeks ago in Halifax. A crewman was arrested, charged & sentenced for having lewd images on his laptop whilst the ship was in Halifax. There is every chance that the company feels that it would not be conducive to go to Halifax for a while, and since that port is one of the most popular on the itinerary, that would make it difficult to go there under the circumstances....the port authorities may have had words with them too.

 

Also there have been problems with access to Sauganay (sp) due to currents & weather, so again an understandable reason to pull out of the region for a while.

 

I think it would be wrong to assume that a cruise line is shifting out of a reason for purely marketing reasons, there will almost always be a more substantial problem that has been encountered that tipped the balance against certain itineraries.

 

Has nothing to do with a crewman being arrested. Costa put out a memo months ago saying they were pulling their ships out of the states. They could not market their ships here.

 

Costa ships sail 1/2 full from the states. Their low prices and kids free still can't keep their ships full.

 

I think they should have put a ship in NYC year round since the Carnival corp port in NYC is not used in the winter.

 

Big Italian population in NYC I bet their ships would fill up.

[leyla]

Lots of Italian in Montreal, Quebec and in Ontario Canada also. I would love to have Costa leaving from New York for Caribbean sailings...Love their music and the dancing above all. Their fun committee gets everyone involved in dancing around the pools and in the various lounges. Lots of fun. Great coffee too. Quite generous with their Costa club; I like the way they use the amount spent on board to arrive at the different levels as well as adding up points for each time we cruise...Doesn't take long before we get a nice bottle of spumante dilivered to the room, fruits basket and a complimentary dinner at their specialty restaurant...The one big complaint I have with them is that they don't stay long enough in ports...few hours only compared to other cruise lines....Keep my fingers crossed for Costa to come down to New York...:cool::cool:

[NSWP]

It has now been annouced that Costa will not be returning to New England in 2011. Very strange that Costa pulls out of a new market when others are beefing up their presence there.

 

http://www.cruise-community.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3178&catid=910&Itemid=69

 

Ron

Tell me about it..I had paid for the Costa Atlantica cruise 25 March, FL to Quebec City (post Star Princess - South America) and was looking forward to seeing east coast of USA. Just got my money back and booked on Westerdam in the Carib to fill the void. Now have to fly from FL to Quebec city to continue with my Canada/USA travel arrangements post cruise. Of course no compensation from Costa re airfares and extra hotel nights I had to purchase because of cancellation, nor will insurance pay out on ship rescheduling.

 

Such is life. Maybe the Europeans in the Med spend more on shorex and drinks than the people cruising New England, I really don't know.

[G.M.T.]

Tell me about it..I had paid for the Costa Atlantica cruise 25 March, FL to Quebec City (post Star Princess - South America) and was looking forward to seeing east coast of USA. Just got my money back and booked on Westerdam in the Carib to fill the void. Now have to fly from FL to Quebec city to continue with my Canada/USA travel arrangements post cruise. Of course no compensation from Costa re airfares and extra hotel nights I had to purchase because of cancellation, nor will insurance pay out on ship rescheduling.

 

Such is life. Maybe the Europeans in the Med spend more on shorex and drinks than the people cruising New England, I really don't know.

 

Sorry to hear about your canceled cruise, hope you enjoy the replacement.

 

I think the pulling of the New England cruises has nothing to do with the ship being required in Europe. The 2011 New England area would have been Costa's second or third season there, why are Costa doing the 2010 Autumn season there, why are other cruises lines expanding their ships there? Many unanswered questions!

 

Ron

[NSWP]

Good post Ron - (Blue Donau.) Thanks for your sympathy, I think the reschedule was all about dollars and cents, sorry Euros. Looking at New England/Canda cruises this year on Atlantica, Costa really had to drop cabin prices to get people aboard, like $500 for an inside cabin, well below half price ! and maybe also not enough being spent on board, i.e. shorex/alcohol. At the end of the day, cruising is a business NOT a service !