RCI to start deployement plans for next year!

[hdbag4vr]

Radiance-class out of Baltimore!

Yes of course a Radiance class ship out of Baltimore. And it (or any ship based there) should do 12 day or longer cruises in Dec. Maybe Western Caribbean to Mexico/Central America? JPK:o

[mcangelwp]

Maybe it's time for Royal Caribbean to be renamed Royal European Cruise Lines.

 

I thought the same thing - I was shocked by how many ships will be in Europe especially with the airfare costs right now to fly to Europe.

 

Another vote for Charleston!

[critterchick]

Bring back the 3/4 night cruises out of LA. The 3-nighter often made Monarch's budget for the entire week. Why let Carnival have all that revenue?

 

Or mix up the 3 nights with 14 nights R/T to Hawaii and 7-11 night Pacific coastals. 11 nights would cut down on the daily fuel costs since they wouldn't have to race to San Francisco as they were doing during the H1-N1 nonsense.

 

 

On a Radiance class ship, please.:)

[ncbamafan]

I thought the same thing - I was shocked by how many ships will be in Europe especially with the airfare costs right now to fly to Europe.

 

Another vote for Charleston!

 

Chiming in for a Charleston sailing also.

 

I can only guess more ships are in Europe due to the weak dollar here?

[erbunny]

Savannah please !!! The

Carnival ship in Charleston has met with some opposition, why should they get the jobs a cruise ship brings if they don't want it? And Savannah is a wonderful add-on for people who've never been there.

 

 

I would like to see more Southern Caribbean itineraries, and also would like to see a cruise that goes to Lake Gatun and returns to the originating port. Princess is the only line offering this. Right now DH and I have neither the time nor resources for a cruise transiting the Canal and all that flying (which is no fun anymore, IMHO)

[mcangelwp]

Savannah please !!! The

Carnival ship in Charleston has met with some opposition, why should they get the jobs a cruise ship brings if they don't want it? And Savannah is a wonderful add-on for people who've never been there.

 

Savannah would be awesome as well - definitely one of our favorite places in the US to visit! We are actually spending two nights in Savannnah in route to Tampa for our December sailing on Jewel of the Seas. Not having to drive another 5 hours beyond Savannah to Florida would be great.

[Cshgrand]

I thought the same thing - I was shocked by how many ships will be in Europe especially with the airfare costs right now to fly to Europe.

 

Another vote for Charleston!

 

Yeah and the real irony is that for some times of year it is cheaper for us ( from UK) to fly to the US and cruise than it is to go out of Southampton. Figure that!! I am sure there must be cheaper ports in the UK like DOver and Harwich maybe...

I would like to see more 9-11 night itineraries from anywhere in the US, this means time to explore the departure state and get a cruise in with a two week holiday. Seven nights just doesn't seem enough and to do two b2b would mean too long off work with travel.

[temple1]

Another vote for a return to the Panama Canal crossing and a vote for another port between Baltimore and Port Canaveral.

[sr4mjc]

Longer itineraries and Southern Caribbean out of South Florida.

[IBookHePays]

Bring back the 3/4 night cruises out of LA. The 3-nighter often made Monarch's budget for the entire week. Why let Carnival have all that revenue?

 

Or mix up the 3 nights with 14 nights R/T to Hawaii and 7-11 night Pacific coastals. 11 nights would cut down on the daily fuel costs since they wouldn't have to race to San Francisco as they were doing during the H1-N1 nonsense.

 

 

On a Radiance class ship, please.:)

 

Either one works for me! :)

[Texas Teen]

We need a ship out of Galveston during the summer months! If Carnival can afford to bring their newest, largest ship to Galveston for 7 night cruises all year long (in addition to a 100,000 ton ship for shorter cruises), Royal Caribbean can afford to bring in a ship all year long, even if it's a smaller ship. There also needs a ship sailing from San Juan to the Southern Caribbean during the summer months. Hard to believe they're pulling out of one of the three main Caribbean destinations during the most popular time of the year to cruise! I would also like to see a ship on the west coast and a ship on the east coast between Baltimore and Port Canaveral.

 

Oh, and the reason we don't have enough options from North America during the summer months is because Royal is taking more and more ships from us each year and sending them to oversaturated Europe, where they already have plenty of options. Notice how everyone is asking for more options from the U.S. and nobody is asking for more options from Europe.

[negc]

Agreed! Charleston would be awesome!! Make it a good ship..not the oldest and smallest like Carnival has....

Given the opposition that Carnival is facing from some groups in Charleston, I doubt RCI or any other line is anxious to move one of their ships there and face the same problems.:rolleyes:

 

Maybe it's time for Royal Caribbean to be renamed Royal European Cruise Lines.

 

If you haven't already noticed, Royal Caribbean isn't the only line which redeployed a large number of their ships to Europe this summer. If demand drops significantly, you will see all of them move their ships to other locations where they can operate more profitably. Expecting them to operate differently is just totally illogical.:)

[bluecruisin]

We'd love to see a Voyager class or larger doing 10/11 nights out of a Florida port.

[November28]

How about something out of Boston. You could pull from all the New England States the NCL Boston to Bermuda cruise is always sold out.

 

It was great to sail out of Boston and not have athae hasstle of flying.

[Ashland]

Bring back the 3/4 night cruises out of LA. The 3-nighter often made Monarch's budget for the entire week. Why let Carnival have all that revenue?

 

Or mix up the 3 nights with 14 nights R/T to Hawaii and 7-11 night Pacific coastals. 11 nights would cut down on the daily fuel costs since they wouldn't have to race to San Francisco as they were doing during the H1-N1 nonsense.

 

 

On a Radiance class ship, please.:)

ANY West Coast itinerary would be appreciated...I for one miss the Mexican Riviera...You can find danger or it can find you anywhere in the world these days even in your own home...:rolleyes:

[SherriZ366]

Given the opposition that Carnival is facing from some groups in Charleston, I doubt RCI or any other line is anxious to move one of their ships there and face the same problems.:rolleyes:

 

 

 

If you haven't already noticed, Royal Caribbean isn't the only line which redeployed a large number of their ships to Europe this summer. If demand drops significantly, you will see all of them move their ships to other locations where they can operate more profitably. Expecting them to operate differently is just totally illogical.:)

RCI has had a couple of meetings with Savannah city officials about possibly bringing a ship here (we are about 1/2 hour away). The first meeting was at RCI's request.

[negc]

How about something out of Boston. You could pull from all the New England States the NCL Boston to Bermuda cruise is always sold out.

 

It was great to sail out of Boston and not have athae hasstle of flying.

 

Carnival has scheduled one of their ships to sail out of Boston next summer, but at a recent conference of cruiseline executives in NYC, there was general consensus that at the present time there is insufficient demand for these cruises outside of the Fall months and therefore they are not likely to place more ships in the northeast, including Boston,in the foreseeable future. Unless the people at Massport can mount a more convincing argument for what you are proposing, don't expect much more change to occur.

Incidentally, I agree with your comments about sailing in and out of Boston. In fact one of the reasons we have booked the Jewel westbound transatlantic in September and its repositioning cruise in late October, is the convenience of living so close to Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. That said, the fact that one cruise ship regularly sells out, doesn't necessarily mean that there would be sufficient demand to regularly fill two ships. It is just as possible that two ships would simply split the passengers between the two and result in two half-filled ships sailing each week.:) It isn't automatically a case of "if you bring two ships to Boston, "they" (the necessary number of passengers) will come.:)

[Ginnylou]

Bring back the 3/4 night cruises out of LA. The 3-nighter often made Monarch's budget for the entire week. Why let Carnival have all that revenue?

 

Or mix up the 3 nights with 14 nights R/T to Hawaii and 7-11 night Pacific coastals. 11 nights would cut down on the daily fuel costs since they wouldn't have to race to San Francisco as they were doing during the H1-N1 nonsense.

 

 

On a Radiance class ship, please.:)

 

I Second that! :)

[Lazz]

We need a ship out of Galveston during the summer months! If Carnival can afford to bring their newest, largest ship to Galveston for 7 night cruises all year long (in addition to a 100,000 ton ship for shorter cruises), Royal Caribbean can afford to bring in a ship all year long, even if it's a smaller ship. There also needs a ship sailing from San Juan to the Southern Caribbean during the summer months. Hard to believe they're pulling out of one of the three main Caribbean destinations during the most popular time of the year to cruise! I would also like to see a ship on the west coast and a ship on the east coast between Baltimore and Port Canaveral.

 

Oh, and the reason we don't have enough options from North America during the summer months is because Royal is taking more and more ships from us each year and sending them to oversaturated Europe, where they already have plenty of options. Notice how everyone is asking for more options from the U.S. and nobody is asking for more options from Europe.

 

When we were on the Serenade this past June, we talked to the Staff Captian about how sad we were that RCCL has so few options in the summer beginning in 2012. He stated (no joke) that one of the main reasons for repositioning to Europe was to avoid direct competition with Carnival. He also stated that European cruises offered more profit per deim than US cruises. Seems shocking to me, but when I look back on our past cruises on RCCL and Celebrity in recent years, I have noticed smaller crowds in the casino and less acohol consumption. I have also noticed more kids. Would families spend less on board? What do others think? I am sad about the lack of choices for summer cruising (I am a teacher and can not cruise in the winter) and my summer vacations may now be spent at places like Sandals instead of a cruise.

[negc]

When we were on the Serenade this past June, we talked to the Staff Captian about how sad we were that RCCL has so few options in the summer beginning in 2012. He stated (no joke) that one of the main reasons for repositioning to Europe was to avoid direct competition with Carnival. He also stated that European cruises offered more profit per deim than US cruises.

It is always so reassuring to know that Staff Captains and other RCI officers and crew are so knowledgeable about the marketing strategies of the parent company and know the particular reasoning behind the strategies adopted by the cruise line's executives and are so willing to share that inside information with the passengers.:rolleyes:

[Lazz]

It is always so reassuring to know that Staff Captains and other RCI officers and crew are so knowledgeable about the marketing strategies of the parent company and know the particular reasoning behind the strategies adopted by the cruise line's executives and are so willing to share that inside information with the passengers.:rolleyes:

 

I agree. I do not know how involved the ships officers are involved in these types of decisions. Some of the waiter/waitress staff were complaining to us as well. Those who live in the carribean said that they have difficulty finding affordable airfare to and from the ship. One bar waiter claimed that Europeans do not order as many of the expensive fancy drinks that Americans consume. That lowers their tips according to them.

[Maraprince]

As long as the US dollar is weaker than the Euro, RCL will keep their ships in Europe. No one questions the fact that they are in business to make money but they will lose passengers to the competition.

 

You will hear things like due to England having the Olympics in 2012, ships are being sent to Europe or there is a large market in the Orient and Australia, etc. But the reality is that the non US market consumes more alcohol per person and the sale of alcohol is a bigger revenue generator that shore excursions, the casino, and everything else.

 

Hopefully, the Europe market will force cabin prices down so low that there is not enough profit to be made even with the higer alcohol sales that some of the ships return to the US.

 

While RCL may not be able to fill 2 ships out of Boston, their competition is sailing out of Boston at lower prices. That may be more of the reason than anything else since RCL has stated it doesn't want to discount prices to fill up their ships. Funny how they will discount cabin prices in Europe but not in the US!

 

MARAPRINCE

[Syran]

I wish they had itineraries that left out of: Southport, NC; Savannah, GA; and Charleston, SC. That would be awesome. Any class, but the Sovereign class.

 

Savannah had been working on

some cruise site locations.

 

I think Hutchinson island would be the best spot in Savannah for the port, but that's just me. Maybe in 2-3 years. :)

[negc]

As long as the US dollar is weaker than the Euro, RCL will keep their ships in Europe. No one questions the fact that they are in business to make money but they will lose passengers to the competition.

 

You will hear things like due to England having the Olympics in 2012, ships are being sent to Europe or there is a large market in the Orient and Australia, etc. But the reality is that the non US market consumes more alcohol per person and the sale of alcohol is a bigger revenue generator that shore excursions, the casino, and everything else.

 

Hopefully, the Europe market will force cabin prices down so low that there is not enough profit to be made even with the higer alcohol sales that some of the ships return to the US.

 

While RCL may not be able to fill 2 ships out of Boston, their competition is sailing out of Boston at lower prices. That may be more of the reason than anything else since RCL has stated it doesn't want to discount prices to fill up their ships. Funny how they will discount cabin prices in Europe but not in the US!

 

MARAPRINCE

Have you actually checked the prices that NCL is charging to sail the Dawn to Bermuda out of Boston? They are definitely not "lower" People are paying the prices that they are charging because of the convenience of sailing out of a local port and because it also eliminates the necessity of flying to the ship.

It is not that RCI can't fill two ships out of Boston. Neither can NCL and, until Carnival begins sailing from there we won't know if the market will support two ships sailing from there during the same time frame. I am not sure where you get the idea that they will not discount cabin prices in the US as that is certainly not true. If they don't discount a particular cruise it is because they believe that they can fill the ship at the prices they are charging. There are several different types of discounts available on many RCI cruises out of US ports and we found a 9 night cruise over New Year's Eve that was only two hundred dollars more than a 4 night New Year's Eve cruise on one of their other ships. Supply and demand has not been repealed, and if they have to discount European cruises too deeply, they will redeploy those ships to other regions where thay can operate more profitably.

[Desertbelle]

I would love to see the new larger ships doing longer cruises out of Florida, 12-14 days would be great.