Mexican Riviera - Celebrity's untapped market?

[Leviathan2772]

So does anyone else hope that Celebrity returns back to the Mexican Riviera cruise market?

[RickT]

Personally no. I've done the Mexican Riveria and was not that keen on it. I understand it helps those on the West coast but given the limited number of ships that X has I think they should explore different routes in the Caribbean and hopefully bring back more Hawaiian cruises.

 

The Pacific coastal cruises they had this year were also interesting however I can see how they would not appeal to those living on the Pacific coast.

[CRUZBUDS]

YES., YES, YES -we loved the 10/11 day Mexico cruises the Mercury used to do from San Diego - We also enjoyed the 15 Hawaiian cruises the Mercury and later the Century did.

 

Both are gone :(

[patty1955]

We would love more Pacific Coastal/Mexican cruises. We've been/done Mexico, but it would be great to cruise without a 5 hour flight on each end.

And please, a Pacific Coast or Hawaiian cruise that doesn't include Canada. They have very strict laws regarding tourist with criminal backgrounds and they include DUI as a criminal background. Yes, I agree it's a crime, even a serious one but it would be nice if Celebrity recognized that not everyone can go to Canada.

[Patrick IL.]

Yes please on all pacific coast cruises. We loved the Mexican Riv out of San Diego, now its gone. We also did a wine cruise down from Vancouver to San Diego, a re-positioning, wonderful cruise! We had a round trip booked for Hawaii out of San Diego, that is gone :(

We would love to do a RT Hawaii, but flying to both Hawaii and Vancouver and paying for a cruise is too expensive and ridiculous. It appears if we want a round trip Hawaii out of the west coast we have no option but trying another line, X's loss....

[miched]

Did a few on Princess. The Ports weren't that great at the time and that was a few years ago. The situation in Mexico has got worse so I have no desire to go back.

 

That is my opinion but I can appreciate others wanting to sail from a port close to home so they don't have to fly.

 

🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Classynfun1]

I loved the California Coast cruise I did last month on the Century. Left out of LA and sailed to Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Francisco (overnight in port), Catalina Island, and Ensenada. Would happily do it again next yet, but it is gone as the Century is leaving the fleet. I don't think this seasons cruises sold well.

 

Honestly, Celebrity leaving the West Coast is our own fault. The cruises, even to Hawaii, do not sell well consistently (unlike the East Coast cruises whose prices seem to steadily rise). Celebrity saw that and said, "they don't want us, so we will go somewhere else." Sad, but I completely understand.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited May 6, 2014 by Classynfun1

[koolforkatz]

I'm a west coaster and love the Pacific coastals. I would happily do one a year. Mexico, meh..... as previously stated the longer ones out of San Diego on the Mercury were great. The seven day ones hold no appeal to me.

[cruisestitch]

I think there are several factors at play here --

 

Iffy weather and seas plagued ships leaving from LA or SD and heading south, and on the return

 

A lot of people have become wary of going ashore in Mexico. Not so much Puerto Vallarta and Cabo, but Acapulco and Mazatlan have become real turn-offs for many Americans.

 

Problems with San Diego as an embarkation or disembarkation point also were rife in previous years. Some of this was due to Customs/Immigration and were out of the cruise lines' control, but it put a bad taste in people's mouths. You also see this in the huge drop off in the number of cruise ships using that port recently compared to years past.

 

To go to/from Hawaii requires either a stop in Mexico or Canada. There have been enough reports of bad experiences with the Mexican option that Celebrity has decided to use it sparingly. So that puts a lot of limitations on their options.

[Bruin Steve]

Oh...please, please, PLEASE!!!

 

I've been begging for this for years now...

Since Celebrity/Royal Caribbean largely abandoned this market, I've taken two Princess cruises and even a Carnival out here...

I get the whole Mexico scare of late...but Cabo and Puerto Vallarta have always been relatively safe and Princess has even added Mazatlan back onto their itineraries...And various cruise lines have extended to other ports including some in the Sea of Cortez...

 

As a Southern Californian, I can appreciate those "Pacific" or "California Coastals"...And I wouldn't mind jumping on a ship just for the sake of being on a ship...BUT...I live about halfway between the Port in San Pedro/Long Beach and the port of Santa Barbara...It's about an hour drive for me to embark on a ship...and it's about an hour drive for me to visit Santa Barbara...San Diego is only a three hour drive and I have family there and am there all the time anyway...Even San Francisco is just a 6 hour (or less if I drive fast) drive for me and, with a daughter and a brother there, I am there quite a bit anyway. Sort of hard for me to get too excited about a cruise that goes to a lot of places I drive to regularly...

 

BUT, I've always thought they could do this too: Station a ship here in LA year-round...Mix up the itineraries--do some California Coastals for you out of town folk, do some "standard" 7-night Mexican Rivieras, throw in some short 3 and 4 nighters to Baja, do some 14 night round trip Hawaiis, do some 10 and 11 nighters deeper down in Mexico or into the Sea of Cortez...and maybe do some longer one-ways to Peru or Chile--with the next cruise coming back in reverse...If they don't think they could sell a year round, repetitive Mexican Riviera cruise, they could mix it up with enough variety to offer something for everyone...

 

There are close to 40 million people in California alone...Add in almost 7 million in Arizona, 3 million in Nevada, 3 million in Utah, 4 million in Oregon, 7 million in Washington and 2 million in Idaho...That's 66 million people in seven Western states.

 

Many folks who have never cruised before will start out by taking a shorter cruise close to home...and, if they like it, they tend to stay with the cruise line they started with when they book their next cruise and their next cruise...Celebrity/Royal Caribbean has ceded all of these new potential cruisers to Carnival Corp.!! And the rest of us veteran cruisers who would clearly desire to cruise on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean--like me--find ourselves spending a good portion of our cruising dollars on the competition as well. Why? Because I don't have the time and/or budget to FLY clear across the continent or the world to take a cruise every time...Sometimes, I can only get away for a short time...and I want to have the luxury of driving directly to port on the day of the cruise...I can even get to San Diego or San Francisco quickly and cheaply...But Florida means flying in a day early, spending a night in a hotel...spending the better part of two days in airports and on planes and in shuttles and taxis, going through security and check-in lines, dealing with changes of planes and layovers in out-of-the-way airports, dealing with delays and lost baggage...and spending up to $2500 on airfare, hotels and transportation extra...

[johnlcruise]

Oh...please, please, PLEASE!!!

 

I've been begging for this for years now...

Since Celebrity/Royal Caribbean largely abandoned this market, I've taken two Princess cruises and even a Carnival out here...

I get the whole Mexico scare of late...but Cabo and Puerto Vallarta have always been relatively safe and Princess has even added Mazatlan back onto their itineraries...And various cruise lines have extended to other ports including some in the Sea of Cortez...

 

As a Southern Californian, I can appreciate those "Pacific" or "California Coastals"...And I wouldn't mind jumping on a ship just for the sake of being on a ship...BUT...I live about halfway between the Port in San Pedro/Long Beach and the port of Santa Barbara...It's about an hour drive for me to embark on a ship...and it's about an hour drive for me to visit Santa Barbara...San Diego is only a three hour drive and I have family there and am there all the time anyway...Even San Francisco is just a 6 hour (or less if I drive fast) drive for me and, with a daughter and a brother there, I am there quite a bit anyway. Sort of hard for me to get too excited about a cruise that goes to a lot of places I drive to regularly...

 

BUT, I've always thought they could do this too: Station a ship here in LA year-round...Mix up the itineraries--do some California Coastals for you out of town folk, do some "standard" 7-night Mexican Rivieras, throw in some short 3 and 4 nighters to Baja, do some 14 night round trip Hawaiis, do some 10 and 11 nighters deeper down in Mexico or into the Sea of Cortez...and maybe do some longer one-ways to Peru or Chile--with the next cruise coming back in reverse...If they don't think they could sell a year round, repetitive Mexican Riviera cruise, they could mix it up with enough variety to offer something for everyone...

 

There are close to 40 million people in California alone...Add in almost 7 million in Arizona, 3 million in Nevada, 3 million in Utah, 4 million in Oregon, 7 million in Washington and 2 million in Idaho...That's 66 million people in seven Western states.

 

Many folks who have never cruised before will start out by taking a shorter cruise close to home...and, if they like it, they tend to stay with the cruise line they started with when they book their next cruise and their next cruise...Celebrity/Royal Caribbean has ceded all of these new potential cruisers to Carnival Corp.!! And the rest of us veteran cruisers who would clearly desire to cruise on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean--like me--find ourselves spending a good portion of our cruising dollars on the competition as well. Why? Because I don't have the time and/or budget to FLY clear across the continent or the world to take a cruise every time...Sometimes, I can only get away for a short time...and I want to have the luxury of driving directly to port on the day of the cruise...I can even get to San Diego or San Francisco quickly and cheaply...But Florida means flying in a day early, spending a night in a hotel...spending the better part of two days in airports and on planes and in shuttles and taxis, going through security and check-in lines, dealing with changes of planes and layovers in out-of-the-way airports, dealing with delays and lost baggage...and spending up to $2500 on airfare, hotels and transportation extra...

 

I agree. Very well said.

[spookwife]

So does anyone else hope that Celebrity returns back to the Mexican Riviera cruise market?

 

not even remotely. the Mexican Riviera was our first ever cruise and quite frankly the ports sucked. and this was long before the drug wars and other unrest that has begun to plague the country.

 

all I can say is that the experience overall got us hooked on cruising but the ports.. were a major bust.

[Bruin Steve]

I think there are several factors at play here --

 

Iffy weather and seas plagued ships leaving from LA or SD and heading south, and on the return

 

A lot of people have become wary of going ashore in Mexico. Not so much Puerto Vallarta and Cabo, but Acapulco and Mazatlan have become real turn-offs for many Americans.

 

Problems with San Diego as an embarkation or disembarkation point also were rife in previous years. Some of this was due to Customs/Immigration and were out of the cruise lines' control, but it put a bad taste in people's mouths. You also see this in the huge drop off in the number of cruise ships using that port recently compared to years past.

 

To go to/from Hawaii requires either a stop in Mexico or Canada. There have been enough reports of bad experiences with the Mexican option that Celebrity has decided to use it sparingly. So that puts a lot of limitations on their options.

 

I just have to answer when I read this sort of nonsense...

"Iffy weather and seas"???

Are you kidding? Weather HERE is "iffy"? But 90% humidity and long hurricane seasons are perfectly acceptable?

During the worst typhoons of the season in Puerto Vallarta, ships rarely miss a port call there...and those are RARE...Cabo has year round great weather...So do all of the ports on the Sea of Cortez...Annual rainfall is minimal...

Meanwhile, hurricane season plays havoc with cruise itineraries in the Caribbean...

 

As to Mexico being a deterrent, the ships in the Caribbean run itineraries to Mexico constantly...and have all along...Cancun, Cozumel, Costa Maya...Yes, they are relatively free of crime and violence...but so are Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, La Paz and many others here in the West...

 

And the ships still cruise regularly to Jamaica and other islands in the Caribbean where the crime rate is VERY high...

 

San Diego has issues with embarkation/disembarkation? I've cruised from there...and many, many other ports in the US and abroad...GALVESTON, TEXAS is ten times worse...never seen anything like it...Disembarking in Fort Lauderdale this past January was no picnic either...BUT, Los Angeles (where I've embarked and disembarked many times--and the largest cruise ship capacity and most likely home port) is quite good...

 

As to the foreign port requirement, it doesn't seem to be a major issue for most cruise lines to throw in a quick port call at Ensenada on a 14 night itinerary to satisfy the antiquated requirement--that should not be a major impediment.

 

As to the notion that the cruise lines have trouble filling up the ships here or maintaining price levels...biggest discounts and most last minute sales I see are for Caribbean cruises--especially on the older and smaller ships...RCI/Celebrity gets it's top dollar for it's newer, larger ships...and they beg people to take the space on the older ships...UNFORTUNATELY, for most of its history, its those older ships that RCI/Celebrity usually sent us here on the West Coast...The Viking Serenade, the Monarch of the Seas, the Mercury...all clearly well after their high value first several years were over and they were replaced in the east by larger, newer ships...

 

Even when RCI finally sent us the Mariner of the Seas for a short time, they never really marketed it well out here...ALL of their TV, mailing and even local newsprint advertising was pushing the newer, larger ships out of Florida...

[NEARING 100 CRUISES]

The Century is currently doing a Mexican cruise right now. It is a charter, however for swingers. Maybe we should charter a ship and sail to Mexico.

Jerry

[CruisingChick]

BUT, I've always thought they could do this too: Station a ship here in LA year-round...Mix up the itineraries--do some California Coastals for you out of town folk, do some "standard" 7-night Mexican Rivieras, throw in some short 3 and 4 nighters to Baja, do some 14 night round trip Hawaiis, do some 10 and 11 nighters deeper down in Mexico or into the Sea of Cortez...and maybe do some longer one-ways to Peru or Chile--with the next cruise coming back in reverse...If they don't think they could sell a year round, repetitive Mexican Riviera cruise, they could mix it up with enough variety to offer something for everyone...

 

Even though my DH and I live in CT. Our son lives in Los Angeles....so we could make good use of one airplane ride.

 

We loved the California Coastal Cruise we did on Mercury 10 years ago. We almost did book Century for March 21st, but something else came up. Would have loved to sail on Century.

[steveweese]

Here is my Answer. i would cruise 1-2 more times a year with Celebrity if they came back.

 

66 million people out here I bet we can talk a few more into doing the same!

[Leviathan2772]

Simply, there is a market here. Carnival, HAL, and Princess all cruise here.

La Paz, Manzanillo, Ixtapa, and Haultalco are just a few other ports Celebrity could visit? When it comes to safety, I feel far safer in Mexico than the Caribbean. I think most other west coast cruiser would agree with me.

[steveweese]

Simply, there is a market here. Carnival, HAL, and Princess all cruise here.

La Paz, Manzanillo, Ixtapa, and Haultalco are just a few other ports Celebrity could visit? When it comes to safety, I feel far safer in Mexico than the Caribbean. I think most other west coast cruiser would agree with me.

 

I agree

[cruzsnooze]

I'm not interested in any more Mexican cruises. Been there, done that dozens of times since I am a southern Californian. I would imagine Celebrity has done their homework and knows what the demand would be like for a Mexican cruise. If they believe there's demand they'll do it.

Edited May 6, 2014 by cruzsnooze

[cruzsnooze]

Simply, there is a market here. Carnival, HAL, and Princess all cruise here.

La Paz, Manzanillo, Ixtapa, and Haultalco are just a few other ports Celebrity could visit? When it comes to safety, I feel far safer in Mexico than the Caribbean. I think most other west coast cruiser would agree with me.

How do you know what other west coasters think? I think Mexico is unsafe and over cruised by us Southern Californians. I wouldn't book a cruise there and i live an hour from the San Pedro pier. I'm looking for some new and different places to cruise to.

[LeftcoastBC]

Simply, there is a market here. Carnival, HAL, and Princess all cruise here.

La Paz, Manzanillo, Ixtapa, and Haultalco are just a few other ports Celebrity could visit? When it comes to safety, I feel far safer in Mexico than the Caribbean. I think most other west coast cruiser would agree with me.

 

I agree

 

Me too.... One ship from RCI (preferably X) out of LA one week north (in season) one week south would work for me. Use Victoria if you can do that on a return 7 dayer or if not the Ensenada shuffle

Edited May 6, 2014 by LeftcoastBC

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

No particular interest in cruises to Mexico--been there, done that, don't need to do it again. But cruising up and down the west coast of America? And into Canada. Yes, please! I've booked another trip to Alaska just because it departs from and returns to San Francisco. Since I am totally land locked in the middle of the country, cruising always requires flying for me. I can fly to the west coast as easily as I can fly to the east coast.

[chief190]

As a northern Californian we would love more left coast cruises either Hawaii or Canada or coastal with a stop in mexico. I don't have any real desire to visit mexico but if it necessary for legal reasons I would just stay on board and relax. We did the four day out of San Pedro 4 times and loved not needing to fly. We miss royal and celebrity on the west coast but not bad enough to try carnival.

 

Sent from my Venue 8 3830 using Forums mobile app

[CRUZBUDS]

Simply, there is a market here. Carnival, HAL, and Princess all cruise here.

 

Those lines are here, just barely. They have reduced there west cost presence. HAL and Carnival have cut back dramatically :(

 

Mazatlan was one of our favorite ports. Riding ATVs on the deserted beach on Stone Island was a blast.

 

Zihuatanejo is one of the most beautiful ports anywhere -- love spending the day at Las Gatos beach.

 

I hope it turns around -- San Diego is optimistic. We have 7 more cruises this year over last. It's the first time the number hasn't gone down in a while. :)

[C 2 C]

I remember the last time when we arrived on the pier in Cabo.

 

The Mexican cops with machine guns and batons glaring at cruisers as they disembarked made up our minds... No more Mexico for us.

 

When Mercury sailed there Celebrity always had to lower prices to fill the ship.

 

San Diego immigration procedure has always been poorly organized on B2B cruises on our Panama trips.

 

The Riviera: money losers, dangerous ports, rotten disembarkation in San Diego... forget about it..

 

Which itinerary would have to be cancelled to put a ship on the west coast:

Infinity South America now very popular and very $$$

Millennium in Asia: a large growing market even attracting Royal's newest ship

Summit San Juan.. ?

Constellation short winter cruises... perhaps if more people really would book compared to Mercury days.

 

But the danger in Mexico only gets worse.