Same 'ole itineraries....

[Cuizer2]

FOS is a great choice! Did you mean new to you? ? Because FOS is almost ten years old. She was the first Freedom class ship for Royal.

 

7 1/2 years old is almost ten? :confused:

Edited November 10, 2013 by Cuizer2

[crusinpsychRN]

delete

[Aoumd]

I also wish CCL had some better variety in itineraries. Some thoughts:

 

1. Mix up some ports on the New York winter cruises. I'd LOVE to see more HMC and Little Stirrup Cay in place of Freeport and Port Canaveral!

 

2. Find a way to have a regular presence in the Bermuda scene, even if it involves calls on whatever days of the week other, bigger ships aren't at the Dockyard.

 

3. Find a way to offer "one-way" Hawaii cruises, even if it involves boarding the ship in Vancouver or Ensenada. I love cruises and love Hawaii but find it hard to justify a 2-week cruise to Hawaii vacation that involves only three or four 8-12 hour stretches in Hawaii. Cruising for 10 days one way and seeing 2-3 islands in the process, then spending a couple days on land on Oahu and flying home would be GREAT!

[AdrenalineRush]

7 1/2 years old is almost ten? :confused:

 

7.5 is closer to 10 than it is to brand new :)

[golfadj]

I also wish CCL had some better variety in itineraries. Some thoughts:

 

1. Mix up some ports on the New York winter cruises. I'd LOVE to see more HMC and Little Stirrup Cay in place of Freeport and Port Canaveral!

 

2. Find a way to have a regular presence in the Bermuda scene, even if it involves calls on whatever days of the week other, bigger ships aren't at the Dockyard.

 

3. Find a way to offer "one-way" Hawaii cruises, even if it involves boarding the ship in Vancouver or Ensenada. I love cruises and love Hawaii but find it hard to justify a 2-week cruise to Hawaii vacation that involves only three or four 8-12 hour stretches in Hawaii. Cruising for 10 days one way and seeing 2-3 islands in the process, then spending a couple days on land on Oahu and flying home would be GREAT!

 

Never understood how they can sell an itinerary consisting of Freeport and Pt canaveral

[Monthend]

Why don't more cruises stop in Tortola. We went last February and it was great. Fairly short day would have liked a longer stay.

[Aoumd]

Never understood how they can sell an itinerary consisting of Freeport and Pt canaveral

 

I also think HMC and Little Stirrup Cay would be better for Carnival's shareholders and bean counters, with all that shoreside passenger money spent coming back to Carnival at a port of call they own and operate.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Aoumd

[Lyncoya]

FOS is a great choice! Did you mean new to you? ? Because FOS is almost ten years old. She was the first Freedom class ship for Royal.

 

Thanks, I think so too! I've read wonderful reviews and the ship looks beautiful. Yes, I do mean the ship is new to me. I've only been on RC's Majesty of the seas. :\

[golfadj]

I also think HMC and Little Stirrup Cay would be better for Carnival's shareholders and bean counters, with all that shoreside passenger money spent coming back to Carnival at a port of call they own and operate.

 

Dont understand why more Carnival cruises dont go to private island.

 

BTW believe little stirrup cay is RCCL's Coco Cay and they rent it from them.

 

always wondered why Carnival doesnt develop its own private island. Asked JH once and said he would ask but never answered me.

[richstowe]

Never understood how they can sell an itinerary consisting of Freeport and Pt canaveral

YES ! :mad:

I was strongly considering a 8 day cruise on the Splendor this March departing from New York.

Price was great, ship is great and avoiding airfare was great. Problem was joining Freeport and Pt Canaveral as stops was (drum roll please), Nassau.

Nope. :(

 

Another related issue is the short amount of time for port stops. 6 hrs or so for stops are a joke.

I don't know if this is done so they can save fuel by cruising slowly between ports

or because they want you on board for as long as possible. Either way :mad::mad:

[Cuizer2]

7.5 is closer to 10 than it is to brand new :)

 

Using that logic you could say the ship is almost twelve years old.

[dougandmo]

Dont understand why more Carnival cruises dont go to private island.

 

BTW believe little stirrup cay is RCCL's Coco Cay and they rent it from them.

 

always wondered why Carnival doesnt develop its own private island. Asked JH once and said he would ask but never answered me.

 

Developing a private island from scratch would be an expensive proposition I imagine, especially if you assume it would need to be able to dock at least one to two ships of the largest class in order to pay off. I don't know how many undeveloped islands of sufficient size there are in the Bahamas.

 

From looking at the port schedule for Half Moon Cay it looks like it can handle about 4000 people. At least they don't ever have it's port load significantly higher than that. So essentially it can take one ship a day, maybe two if they are smaller, but all the new builds are 3000+ plus passengers. Oddly it only seems to get used about 2/3 of the month. So it seems like there is more capacity there.

[sonicbuffalo]

I will, can you post the link again, I only have my iPad today.

 

Here's the link.....enjoy! The 11 day cruise....but we did go to Antigua and Tortola on the Breeze review!

Edited November 11, 2013 by sonicbuffalo

[ccruisequeen]

Dont understand why more Carnival cruises dont go to private island.

 

BTW believe little stirrup cay is RCCL's Coco Cay and they rent it from them.

 

always wondered why Carnival doesnt develop its own private island. Asked JH once and said he would ask but never answered me.

 

Saw a documentary on Disney cruise line. It took them years to find an island that would fit their needs, distance, size, plumbing and utilities, and something they could purchase to use under their brand. I imagine carnival doesn't want to put their time and effort into that.

 

 

[golfadj]

Developing a private island from scratch would be an expensive proposition I imagine, especially if you assume it would need to be able to dock at least one to two ships of the largest class in order to pay off. I don't know how many undeveloped islands of sufficient size there are in the Bahamas.

 

From looking at the port schedule for Half Moon Cay it looks like it can handle about 4000 people. At least they don't ever have it's port load significantly higher than that. So essentially it can take one ship a day, maybe two if they are smaller, but all the new builds are 3000+ plus passengers. Oddly it only seems to get used about 2/3 of the month. So it seems like there is more capacity there.

 

HMC doesnt have a dock use tenders back and forth. That would save a bunch of money.

 

Further at a private island they control all of the passengers spending.

 

It would appear that both HMC and the Princess private island are very much under utilized. Have always wondered why Carnival does not use the Princess one.

[jimbo5544]

Here's the link.....enjoy! The 11 day cruise....but we did go to Antigua and Tortola on the Breeze review!

Just read your review. I really enjoy yours, your pictures are great. Gave a real feel for the ship as well as the itin. Enjoyed the comparison as of your past cruises as well. Thanks!

[jimbo5544]

Saw a documentary on Disney cruise line. It took them years to find an island that would fit their needs, distance, size, plumbing and utilities, and something they could purchase to use under their brand. I imagine carnival doesn't want to put their time and effort into that.

 

 

Not sure why it is relevant, but they did not have to. HMC is great.

[golfadj]

Not sure why it is relevant, but they did not have to. HMC is great.

 

Wonder how much Holland America actually paid to develop the island?

 

Beach was probably there just probably had to add a lot of sand to the beach and than put in roads and some infrostructure.

[jimbo5544]

Wonder how much Holland America actually paid to develop the island?

 

Beach was probably there just probably had to add a lot of sand to the beach and than put in roads and some infrostructure.

Was thinking about that on our last stop there in August. My guess that the most expensive part was makiing the channel out of the rock to the dock for the tenders. I actually have no idea, but it is pretty cool how you come in there.

Edited November 11, 2013 by jimbo5544

[AdrenalineRush]

Wonder how much Holland America actually paid to develop the island?

 

Beach was probably there just probably had to add a lot of sand to the beach and than put in roads and some infrostructure.

 

According to this cc link they paid $6 mil for the island and another $15 mil to spruce it up.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=531

 

Ncl private island..Great stirrup cay just recently completed a refurb to the tune of $25 mil, so hard to say how much and island would cost these days.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=530

Edited November 11, 2013 by Caribbean King1

[jimbo5544]

According to this cc link they paid $6 mil for the island and another $15 mil to spruce it up.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=531

Nice find.