Los Angeles resident says PLEASE ...

[bigque]

Cruises out of California would be good if there was good itineraries, but as far a having one there becase it cost a lot for airfare for West Coast people is a lot to get to the ports for cruises??............Well that is basically the same thing for people all over the U.S. except Florida people! So we fly....you fly! Expensive for you...Expensive for us!

[mgoblue19]

I chime in on this!! We're in Chandler, AZ and LA/San Diego is only about a 5 1/2 hour drive for us and we are dying to not have to fly!! Oh please, please, please bring us back a ship! As it stands now we can only afford one cruise a year because we have to fly to Galveston (closest port for a Caribbean/warm itinerary).

 

In fact, it's so bad...we're considering trying out Carnival this summer. I know...eeeek! But the kids and are dying to cruise and we've yet to do Mexico...and Carnival is the only line I see that cruises south from LA in summer months. But oh...can I do it? Can we become Carni's...even for one sailing? :eek:

 

I agree! I'm in Glendale and a Royal Caribbean option within driving distance would be great. We're doing a family cruise in Europe next summer, but planned a Disney World trip this fall instead of a cruise since if we're spending money on flights and whatnot we'd rather do that. Costs a good amount to fly to Florida from AZ...

[grnyel05]

Princess has some nice itineraries coming up in 2013/14, including some 3/4 nighters mixed in with coastals, Hawaii and the Mexican Riviera. We just got home from Maui and saw 3 of their ships while we were there. Yet RCi can't find a way to make money sailing from the West Coast...

 

Thanks for posting this information. Really glad to see Princess offering the 3 and 4 night itineraries. I don't mind Carnival for the 3 night options but having another cruise line in the market is great. Also, the 4 night itineraries leaving on Thursdays going to either Santa Barbara/San Diego/Catalina in addition to Ensenada sound like a nice change for a long weekend.

[eel]

Welcome to my world! Diamond members but WAY too far away from any cruiseline port (unless you count the ferry across Lake Michigan) not to have to drive!:D

 

Cruises out of California would be good if there was good itineraries, but as far a having one there becase it cost a lot for airfare for West Coast people is a lot to get to the ports for cruises??............Well that is basically the same thing for people all over the U.S. except Florida people! So we fly....you fly! Expensive for you...Expensive for us!

 

Yes, it is a fact that people not near an ocean have to fly to cruise. And of course it is hard to have sympathy to what seems like whining. But if you ARE living near an ocean and there are other cruise lines avaialble from those ports it is rather frustrating when your preferred line is not there. Also the cost and time to fly from the west coast to Florida is somewhat higher than flying from the middle of the country. So it becomes a trade-off that people just won't make (or at least not make very often). Especially true for frequent cruisers or those that wish they could be!

[Desert Cruizers]

Whether we are on the left or right Coast, we each have the advantages of cruises leaving from our nearby ports, otherwise we fly . I can't imagine someone from Europe having to pay the air to leave from the West Coast, yet no differance then we in Calif having to fly to Rome etc. We are all separated by to many miles and the ships spread out so somewhere along the way we have to fly to cruise.

[leaveitallbehind]

Suggest everyone email their concerns to RCI - doubt if they read these threads too closely. Here are the email addresses of their senior management:

 

Richard Fain, Chairman, CEO & Director

rfain@rccl.com

 

Adam Goldstein, Pres. & CEO, RCI

agoldstein@rccl.com

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

Lovely thought, but it won't happen any time soon, RCCL has forsaken us LA folk!!:eek:

 

Mexico is a huge mess right now, I have a time share there and tourism is going to hell due to the increase in crime. To give you an idea, as an exchange, my time share property used to rank a 27 on the exchange scale, now it has dropped to a 19 due to decrease in demand.

 

People are simply afraid to go, and as long as that stays true, no boat for us!!!:mad::(

[Susie51]

In 2011 we planned to go to Disneyland and then cruise on Mariner, but Mariner left the west coast so we had to pay the extra money and go to the east coast and Disney World.

 

Please bring back a RCI ship to CA.

[Ashland]

Looks like a good way to checkout Princess.

Hmmm..been there tried that..now I know I "really" want an RCI ship back ;)

[sredish]

Hmmm..been there tried that..now I know I "really" want an RCI ship back ;)

 

Agree. Our first cruise was on the Diamond Princess. While it was a beautiful ship and the service was good...we much prefer RCI now. In my opinion, better food, better service and better ships. Plus much better nightlife and onboard entertainment. I felt the Princess ship shut down at 10PM every night. While we aren't exactly party animals, it is nice to have the option to stay up late and listen to good music or dance. I have to confess to chasing points, so the money we DO spend on cruising I'd much prefer spending on RCI.

[Rockfordcruiser]

So for the 26 states or so that don't have ports near us we shouldn't have to fly either to go on a cruise? A lot of cruises that left out of cali if I remember right were discounted heavily. I think for now RC is doing whats best for them..

[leaveitallbehind]

Lovely thought, but it won't happen any time soon, RCCL has forsaken us LA folk!!:eek:

 

Mexico is a huge mess right now, I have a time share there and tourism is going to hell due to the increase in crime. To give you an idea, as an exchange, my time share property used to rank a 27 on the exchange scale, now it has dropped to a 19 due to decrease in demand.

 

People are simply afraid to go, and as long as that stays true, no boat for us!!!:mad::(

 

Unfortunately the issues in Mexico likely is the real reason for the change in West Coast itineraries. The recent problem with the tourists on the Carnival excursion certainly can't help any! Really a shame as that is a nice itinerary.

[Debitoo]

I'll chime in too....Bring back RCCL to CA!

[jmf123]

Bring Back A SHIP TO L.A. Harbor... PLEASE!!!! We just hope that RCI remembers that there are "Diamond" Members here on the West Coast that would PREFER to sail on their cruise line.

 

Markmom, I previously posted the Celebrity info below, for Celebrity 2013-14 sailings out of LA and San Diego. While Celebrity (as well as Azamara) operate loyalty programs independently of RCI (and points are not given), they offer reciprocal benefits to Captain's Club members. I believe that Platinum and Emerald get recognition as Celebrity Select, and Diamond and above as Celebrity Elite. So until RCI makes the decision to return to the West Coast, at least we have opportunities on Celebrity (albeit an older, but nice ship). I like the idea of the Pacific Coastal Wine Cruise. :)

 

'Celebrity Cruises to add winter sailings out of Los Angeles'

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY 3/28/2012

 

Celebrity Cruises plans to send a ship to Los Angeles in early 2014 for a series of cruises to Hawaii and the Pacific Coast.

 

The line today announced that the 1,814-passenger Celebrity Century will sail from the city between February and May 2014 after spending the first part of the winter of 2013-14 cruising out of San Diego.

 

Celebrity hasn't based a ship in Los Angeles for a series of cruises since 2010.

 

The new voyages out of Los Angeles will include a new "Pacific Coastal Wine Cruise" itinerary that will feature stops in Santa Barbara, Calif., as well as an overnight stay in San Francisco. The Hawaii cruises will be 15 nights and include stops at several Hawaiian islands.

[Emperor Norton]

Or how about sailing out of San Francisco? Just watched a Princess ship sail out under the Golden Gate and it was magical! With what I could save on airfare, I could afford to book a really nice suite!

 

That port is so poorly managed that you get the impression the city wants it to fail. To put it another way - people returning from a world cruise said out of every port they visited, San Francisco's was the most problematic.

[squadron]

As a Western Canadian I too would like to sail ouyt of LA again - or any other port. Airfare to Florida is very expensive.

[Markmom18]

I'd love to try a Celebrity cruise BTW. We probably will one day. We do own a small family biz (20+ years) and close the last 2 weeks of August each year. That's just what has worked out best. So, a week's cruise at any other time is just not do-able.

 

Carnival's Splendor is leaving the L.A. Port, and replacing it with another ship. That ship will NOT be offering summer bookings. We don't sail till August. I know our family will have a blast, just cause that's how we work it :D

 

Still, PLEASE bring Royal back to the LOYALS here in So Cal, pretty please with sugar and cherry on top:o

[foxesden1]

Yep same with us, if we wnt to cruise, it's Carnival fro now on. Paying air on top of the higher cruise fare, just does not cut it for us.

[skandls]

Love booking LA cruises - not a lot of planning. We could go last minute or when a good deal showed up. Now if we have to book air fare and plan ahead.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Count us in too!!!!! We are so land locked here in AZ!

 

Just as everyone else has already said, airfare to the east coast kills the deal, way too expensive!

 

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[RumRunner01]

I would LOVE to see an RC ship on the West Coast also (as would many other people in my area). A four hour drive to a port is much better than a 3 hour drive to a major airport plus the cost and time of a flight to the east coast.

[wl2cruise]

It may be "hard to figure that RC would lose $$$ having a ship on the west coast" but that is apparently what was happening when they did have ships there, or at least they determined that the "$$$" they were making wasn't what they could be making by sailing from other ports with a wider variety of possible itineraries. Economic conditions on the West Coast, problems involving both crime and disease in Mexico, and a limited number of cruise itineraries all contributed to their decision and it should be pointed out that RCI was not alone in pulling back from the West Coast. When most of those conditions change for the better and it makes good business sense for them to return to the West Coast, they will do so, but not until then.

 

There loosing money in Asia and there sending another ship there go figure bird flu and all....:confused:

[soulpower]

I, too, would love a RCL home port in California! It would save me a lot of money by not flying all the way to Florida (although I do love pulling the "Since we flew all the way here we haaaave to go to Disney World" card). ;)

 

Looks like I'll be giving Princess a go within the next few years..

[koikat]

definitely would love to have Royal Caribbean here on the west coast. If not all my points are going to Carnival and Princess. Which I love too!

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

OK we all understand and agree about Mexico and not being safe.

But there are other itineraries they could do out of SD, LA or SF.

 

But they are not even trying.

 

They are just handing money over to other cruise lines!

 

Not very smart RC, not very smart at all.

 

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