Fleet deployment after new Panama opens

[simcoeguy]

In a conversation with an officer during a most travelled reception, he reported that internal speculation is a major change in vessel deployments will occur once the new Panama locks open up. He sees Pacific and Ocean disposed off, apparently they are only leased and are plagued with mechanical/sea keeping issues and poor passenger ratings. Coral and Island will become the ocean roamers taking longer voyages such as Tahiti, India Ocean ports and other trips now done by Ocean and Pacific. Panamas will be done by Grand class vessels. Two new builds will focus on Med and Baltic in the summer months and head to head with the other major newbuilds on the 7 day market from Florida. Any thoughts?

[Beopthtuh]

was hoping princess would keep small ships to get into small ports as they,re many places where these big resort ships just cant go.

be nice for the grand class ships to navigate the panama canal prices may drop to an affordable rate.

can we see princess going bigger than 180,00 to 200,00 tonne in future,hope not

[paul929207]

I too hope the little ships will stay. It was so nice docking on places like Shanghai and Hong Komg where you are in the middle of town.

[Loonbeam]

There is one HUGE factor that is TBD and that is the rate for ships in the new canal - that will be a big determinant of cost of cruise and therefore viability.

[Pam in CA]

Princess would have to eliminate world and exotic cruises, which I don't see them doing anytime soon. The Coral/Island Princess are too big for many ports. No more stops in Israel, no more stops in many small ports that can't handle or process immigration for 2,000+ passengers and crew.

 

I don't see this happening for quite a while or until Princess is no longer able to fill the world or exotic itineraries.

[SkystheLimit]

Would love to see the Coral and the Island doing some different and more varied itineraries.

[lovevacadays]

I would see them keeping the small ships as they seem to fill up for those exotic itineraries.

[Cruise Junky]

Princess would have to eliminate world and exotic cruises, which I don't see them doing anytime soon. The Coral/Island Princess are too big for many ports. No more stops in Israel, no more stops in many small ports that can't handle or process immigration for 2,000+ passengers and crew.

 

I don't see this happening for quite a while or until Princess is no longer able to fill the world or exotic itineraries.

 

Why would Israel be off the table? Plenty of large ships stop there.

[Pam in CA]

Why would Israel be off the table? Plenty of large ships stop there.

How many passengers? I've been there three times (on Princess and HAL) and each time, it took over 6 hours for Israeli immigration to check everyone out, and these were on ships with about 700 passengers. Unless Israeli Immigration has changed, I don't see how it would be possible to process 2000+ people.

[Cruise Junky]

How many passengers? I've been there three times (on Princess and HAL) and each time, it took over 6 hours for Israeli immigration to check everyone out, and these were on ships with about 700 passengers. Unless Israeli Immigration has changed, I don't see how it would be possible to process 2000+ people.

 

I know Mariner of the Seas stops there and she's huge. Queen Elizabeth does too as well as at least one Celebrity ship.

[Pam in CA]

I know Mariner of the Seas stops there and she's huge. Queen Elizabeth does too as well as at least one Celebrity ship.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I was going by my experience where the officials spent 5-15 minutes with each passenger, going over every page of their passport, checking multiple lists, asking questions, etc. I was told by Princess officers that the larger ships don't stop there because it takes too long. Perhaps it depends on where the ship is sailing from before arriving in Israel. If there is a full sea day or two sea days, I suppose it can be done.

[Loonbeam]

I don't know the ports in Israel but its possible there is another docking facility for larger ships that has more staff??

 

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I was going by my experience where the officials spent 5-15 minutes with each passenger, going over every page of their passport, checking multiple lists, asking questions, etc. I was told by Princess officers that the larger ships don't stop there because it takes too long. Perhaps it depends on where the ship is sailing from before arriving in Israel. If there is a full sea day or two sea days, I suppose it can be done.

[Pam in CA]

I don't know the ports in Israel but its possible there is another docking facility for larger ships that has more staff??

I dunno. The times I've gone, it was done on the ship, not in port. The officials boarded the ship at the previous port and passengers were assigned times to go to the lounge or place where they were holding court. You waited in line, sometimes for hours, before you got in front of them. A lot of people were grumbling and angry at Princess when it was the Israeli's holding things up.

[caribill]

Princess would have to eliminate world and exotic cruises.

 

Sun Princess (1990 PAX) did a world cruise this year.

 

That said, it cannot go to many of the ports that the little ladies currently go to.

 

And most people that have sailed on the Ocean and Pacific love them.

[Pam in CA]

And most people that have sailed on the Ocean and Pacific love them.

I agree with the last. Sometimes, cruiselines take that into consideration in spite of operating costs. HAL's Prinsendam has an extraordinarily loyal following and I've been told by HAL staff that because of that, they've kept her in the fleet.

[Tiffany's mom]

I dunno. The times I've gone, it was done on the ship, not in port. The officials boarded the ship at the previous port and passengers were assigned times to go to the lounge or place where they were holding court. You waited in line, sometimes for hours, before you got in front of them. A lot of people were grumbling and angry at Princess when it was the Israeli's holding things up.

 

This did not happen on our cruise in May. We pickup our passports with Israel board cards. No meeting in any lounge and not questions.

[pris993]

Princess would have to eliminate world and exotic cruises, which I don't see them doing anytime soon. The Coral/Island Princess are too big for many ports. No more stops in Israel, no more stops in many small ports that can't handle or process immigration for 2,000+ passengers and crew.

 

I don't see this happening for quite a while or until Princess is no longer able to fill the world or exotic itineraries.

 

We have cruised to Israel on large ships on other lines, so don't see why Princess can't do Israel. We were just there on the Cunard Queen Victoria, had docked in Haifa and Ashdod on the Celebrity Equniox as well.

[robsaw]

In a conversation with an officer during a most travelled reception, he reported that internal speculation is a major change ...

 

Princess is part of a publicly traded corporation. Anything involving major capital changes is subject to securities-exchange disclosures. ONLY senior, executive management and a few necessary employees will have any idea on long-term plans until they are publicly announced.

 

Ocean and Pacific WERE leased from 2002 - 2004 by Princess but have been owned outright since. Since the officer can't even get publicly available facts correct on his own ships, why give credibility to anything else stated as anything other than pure speculation.

 

The Panama locks (and avoiding them) is more a matter of cost than size BUT the bigger a ship is the more it will pay to use the canal. A few $100,000 for a big cruise ship. The new locks are more about cargo than passenger ships.

[dorisis]

I too hope the little ships will stay. It was so nice docking on places like Shanghai and Hong Komg where you are in the middle of town.

 

Hi Paul and Jeanie, Jim and I love those small ships, too. We will be transferring our loyalty to Oceania and HAL if Princess goes mega mega.

 

Doris... who was with Paul and Jeannie on the Star a few years ago.

 

Paul, Drop me a line and let me know what you 2 are up to. DorisIs@webtv.net. Would love to hear from you.

[Weluv2cruise2007]

On our cruise in August I was asking the Future Cruise rep if she had any details about the Royal Princess and the Panama Canal thing came up. It was purely speculation, but she had an interesting theory that with the new large lane opening up, it would allow for longer coastal cruises such as Fort Lauderdale - through the Panama Canal all the way to Alaska! Wouldn't that be a great itinerary!

[Coral]

t was purely speculation, but she had an interesting theory that with the new large lane opening up, it would allow for longer coastal cruises such as Fort Lauderdale - through the Panama Canal all the way to Alaska! Wouldn't that be a great itinerary!

 

This can be done now on Coral and Island Princess. I know people who have done it (they started in FLL and then ended up with a B2B in Alaska) and got off in Vancouver. I don't know if you could get off in Whittier but this can currently be done on these 2 ships.

[Weluv2cruise2007]

This can be done now on Coral and Island Princess. I know people who have done it (they started in FLL and then ended up with a B2B in Alaska) and got off in Vancouver. I don't know if you could get off in Whittier but this can currently be done on these 2 ships.

 

I suspect she meant as one continuous itinerary...not a B2B.

[Coral]

I suspect she meant as one continuous itinerary...not a B2B.

 

I have seen a FLL to Vancouver cruise on the Coral or Island as one itinerary - so that exists, it could also be booked as 2 cruises. I think it gets confusing when you add Alaska due to the PSA depending on what port you disembark on. If you stay on to Whittier, it may be a violation, not sure - that is why my friends did a B2B (in Alaska after panama canal transit) to end up in Vancouver after seeing Alaska. It probably wouldn't be an issue if Princess did a RT Vancouver but they don't do them (or if they do it is only one per year).

 

Not sure if you can go FLL to Whittier with out violating PSA.

[simcoeguy]

I've a problem with part of Robsaw's response! While indeed MAJOR issues are the privy of ONLY the upper executives, other facts are available to some officers. For example, the fleet itineraries for the public have been published until the spring of 2013, while vessel deployements are published for bridge officers until June of 2014, and thing such as that are not really part of corporate level announcements. Also some senior officers are part of the long range itinerary and port planning; often done 2-3 years in advance. The chap we were speaking with was very good friends of a Captain that had been ashore for almost 4 months working on upcoming itineraries. I don't think that senior executives are involved at that level!!

[Cruise Junky]

I have seen a FLL to Vancouver cruise on the Coral or Island as one itinerary - so that exists, it could also be booked as 2 cruises. I think it gets confusing when you add Alaska due to the PSA depending on what port you disembark on. If you stay on to Whittier, it may be a violation, not sure - that is why my friends did a B2B (in Alaska after panama canal transit) to end up in Vancouver after seeing Alaska. It probably wouldn't be an issue if Princess did a RT Vancouver but they don't do them (or if they do it is only one per year).

 

Not sure if you can go FLL to Whittier with out violating PSA.

 

FLL to Whittier is fine if you go through the Canal. It's no different than the normal disembarking in LA