Carnival pulls out of Europe in 2014

[Froufie]

for cheaper flights to europe you might try:

 

http://www.1800flyeurope.com

 

or

 

http://www.skyscanner.com

[kybluecruiser]

Good business decision by Carnival.

 

Sent using my Commodore 64

 

I agree the other lines are cutting back too. Though they had a bigger presence to begin with then carnival. The Europe economy is worst then the us (believe it or not) so it make good buisness sense to pull out.

[T. Advisor King]

I would love to get $900 to $1200 rt to Europe! I'm in Denver....I'll have to play with what city (Miami, NYC, Atlanta etc...) will be the best deal to fly out of to Barcelona. I think I will have enough miles to get to a international hub from Denver.

 

I found flights between $1,300 and $1,400 From DEN to BCN, but obviously I'm just picking my own dates.

[Carnivaluver]

After reading the article, I would have to agree with Carnival's reasoning .... Americans will not bear the high cost of airfares. This is exactly the reason why we won't be cruising in Europe, even though it is our dream cruise. Airfare for 4 people is outrageous, so unless we win the lottery, Europe is out for us.

 

I did get an email yesterday from Holland America with some European sailings and I thought the price was great and included airfare RT from JFK. Oceanview started at $2200 for an 11 day; Oceanview for TA was $1600.

 

I think saying that Americans will not bear the high cost of airfares to Europe is an exaggeration. We go to Europe all the time and are flying there to do several Princess cruises this year. It might be more factual to say that the majority of Carnival customers will not bear the high cost of airfares to Europe IMHO. :cool:

[Carnivaluver]

Not the cruise itself, places and ships will still be beautiful no matter where you sail.

 

I was simply saying if you are paying lots of money for a cruise you are more likely to be sailing with people that are on good wages and with a certain degree of class (although of course there are some cases where this is not true).Same with hotels, 5 star clientele are generally classier than 1 star motel types.

 

Totally agree....water seeks it's own level...:)

[kingoftheicedragons]

Quite a few great comments on this thread, just goes to prove a point about how unrealistic a lot of Carnival regulars and a certain percentage of Americans (not all just a majority) are when it comes to long haul vacations.

 

I put up a thread last year about how it costs our family between $10/15/20,000 to do a proper fly/hotel/explore cruise.

 

The things people moan about on here are laughable.

 

Carnival are right to pull out of Europe, they charge around $1500/2000 for a 7 day cruise which people simply wont pay, Americans pay what $300/500

 

You've no idea how lucky you guys are :rolleyes:

 

Carnival charging $1500-2000 for a European cruise? Huh. So glad that when I originally booked my 12-day European cruise, it was for $950/person. It has since fallen to $600/person. Flight and cruise together is costing me $1800/person, so the airfare is double the amount of the cruise.

[Dorene1]

I am so happy I booked on Carnival Baltic cruise on the Legend for Aug. When I first booked, I had an inside cabin, the price was dropping every day. I now have a balcony with $200 OBC for what my original price was. I am thrilled!!!, my air I am still happy, I am Flying from JFK to Heathrow, and then we are getting off the ship in Amsterdam (staying two nights) and flying back to JFK, from Amsterdam direct flight $1,325.00. I thought it was a lot at first because we usually fly in November but for August I think it's reasonable.

 

The price on Carnival sailing the Baltic was half the price of any other line. I am just happy to be able to do this as this has been my dream.

 

Dorene

[nbsjcruiser]

Quite a few great comments on this thread, just goes to prove a point about how unrealistic a lot of Carnival regulars and a certain percentage of Americans (not all just a majority) are when it comes to long haul vacations.

 

I put up a thread last year about how it costs our family between $10/15/20,000 to do a proper fly/hotel/explore cruise.

 

The things people moan about on here are laughable.

 

Carnival are right to pull out of Europe, they charge around $1500/2000 for a 7 day cruise which people simply wont pay, Americans pay what $300/500

 

You've no idea how lucky you guys are :rolleyes:

 

Yeah, no kidding. When I hear my fellow American cruisers complain about airfare, I roll my eyes. Living in Canada we used to be able to take a cruise only once every couple of years. Why? Airfare was and is a killer. Here's an example from our only national airfare carrier, Air Canada: To fly from our home in Eastern Canada to Florida this fall for our cruise on the Majesty would be $1600 for the two of us which is pretty good. Typically it is around $1900. Ridiculous. What we've been doing is driving to Portland Maine and flying for $200-$300 per person instead. So taking a 5 hour drive saves us about $1500 per trip.

 

So when I hear complaints about expensive American air I think you don't know how good you got it.

[LPYRCRUISER]

Hmmm, we're an hour from Montreal and thought about flying out of there If we fly from Burlington, it doesn't seem any cheaper. Perhaps it would be worth the drive to Boston.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread, but I have a question now that CCL will not be doing Europe in 2014. DH and I are wanting to plan a Sept 14 cruise to the Med. I was waiting for Carnival's schedule before I started planning in earnest.

 

I am looking for opinions about NCL's Epic or RCCL's Liberty of the Seas. Would the cruising experience be about equal? The inside cabins are close in price but the balconies are about $400 pp less on NCL.

 

We have done NCL many many years ago, RCCL twice, but have been doing CCL lately. We feel it's a good bang for the buck. Am looking for anyone who may have cruised these other lines. We've never had a bad cruise, by the way, and are not particularly hard to please! We feel cruising is a great way to visit new countries.

 

Thanks in advance...........

[shipfriend_max]

Any information where Legend could operate in summer 2014 before she operates in Australia/New Zealand?

 

Maybe Alaska?

[nonna5]

Hmmm, we're an hour from Montreal and thought about flying out of there If we fly from Burlington, it doesn't seem any cheaper. Perhaps it would be worth the drive to Boston.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread, but I have a question now that CCL will not be doing Europe in 2014. DH and I are wanting to plan a Sept 14 cruise to the Med. I was waiting for Carnival's schedule before I started planning in earnest.

 

I am looking for opinions about NCL's Epic or RCCL's Liberty of the Seas. Would the cruising experience be about equal? The inside cabins are close in price but the balconies are about $400 pp less on NCL.

 

We have done NCL many many years ago, RCCL twice, but have been doing CCL lately. We feel it's a good bang for the buck. Am looking for anyone who may have cruised these other lines. We've never had a bad cruise, by the way, and are not particularly hard to please! We feel cruising is a great way to visit new countries.

 

Thanks in advance...........

 

To me all the cruise lines have their good and bad points. I would say the main difference is that NCL has many more pay restaurants than the other cruise lines. Also NCL has no assigned seating dinner, which can be an advantage on a port intensive where you have to be back to the ship at different times. I have never been on the Epic so I cannot compare the two ships for you. Hopefully someone who has been on both ships will be able to help you.

[spencercoop]

Any information where Legend could operate in summer 2014 before she operates in Australia/New Zealand?

 

Maybe Alaska?

 

Caribbean out of Tampa

[Ned Flanders]

Europe's loss is Australia's gain! Having the Legend sail over to Oz, even for the 6 months Sept - March cycle, gives us a 2nd Carnival option.

 

Cruising numbers have really escalated here over the past 3 years. Seems to be the current "in thing" & our sailing numbers are said to be close to world's highest levels on a pro-rata basis.

 

Where will she go for the other 6 months?:o

[nybumpkin]

Europe's loss is Australia's gain! Having the Legend sail over to Oz, even for the 6 months Sept - March cycle, gives us a 2nd Carnival option.

 

Cruising numbers have really escalated here over the past 3 years. Seems to be the current "in thing" & our sailing numbers are said to be close to world's highest levels on a pro-rata basis.

 

Where will she go for the other 6 months?:o

Right now all Carnival is saying is "the Northern Hemisphere.":rolleyes:

[Velvetwater]

Just as I discovered Carnival here in Europe it goes out again, ah well.

 

Hubby and I were looking at Grecian/Croatian cruises next year with NCL, Costa and MSC all looked quite good but generally all have similar customer satisfaction so we are not sure.

 

I completely trust Costa btw even after the accident but various other business plans of theirs put me off.

 

There was a mini storm about cheap cruising when Carnival had its campaign here in the UK. Looks like the rest of Europe was less keen. If I enjoy my first cruise experience I will be sure to go on another soon. When I am over stateside I would also consider booking a mini Carribean cruise with Carnival as part of my holiday as well.

[firefly333]

[quote=LPYRCRUISER;38355429

 

I am looking for opinions about NCL's Epic or RCCL's Liberty of the Seas. Would the cruising experience be about equal? The inside cabins are close in price but the balconies are about $400 pp less on NCL.

 

Seems to be hijacking, so Ill keep it brief. People I know compare Epic to Allure or Oasis, RCL's top ships.

 

Epic gets rave reviews.

[LPYRCRUISER]

Seems to be hijacking, so Ill keep it brief. People I know compare Epic to Allure or Oasis, RCL's top ships.

 

Epic gets rave reviews.

 

Thanks, I didn't want to hijack, but I didn't want to start another thread on this Med topic. Thanks for your answer!

[gstewart]

We'll probably go for the Epic. She looks fantastic.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We'll probably go for the Epic. She looks fantastic.

 

Yes she does look fantastic but the layout of the bathroom in the cabin has scared me off from cruising on the epic.

 

I'd probably get over it but ....

 

Bill

[emarismom]

I've cruised on both the EPIC and the Liberty of the Seas. I was not to impressed with the EPIC. We were on during it's first month and the entertainment was not well organized at all. I also really did not like the bathroom layout at all. We liked the Liberty ALOT! RCL has great entertainment options. I will say though my family actually prefers Carnival, unfortunately only the Breeze is in the same league as these two ships.

[gstewart]

I think for all the time we would spend in the cabin we would get over the bathroom layout. I think NCL have had a chance to fix the original niggles with the Epic and I now see a lot of positive reviews. She is consistently rated high for entertainment.

I'd also like to try a 12 night grand med on the new Royal Princess. Prices are still a wee bit too high for us though.

[shipfriend_max]

[quote name='nybumpkin']Right now all Carnival is saying is "the Northern Hemisphere.":rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

So maybe Carnival will have two ships in Alaska soon, if Legend moves to Alaska?