Less Time in Ports - Is it a Trend?

[Kaye25e]

If everyone is onboard the ship can leave early

 

 

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[Randyk47]

If everyone is onboard the ship can leave early

 

 

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Yes, maybe, and no. Certainly have experienced early departures because everybody is on the ship and accounted for but have also waited well after scheduled departure time, even with a full count, because of port traffic and harbor pilot availability.

[DFD1]

Interesting discussion.

 

Hal is trying hard to minimize costs and maximize profits....and, more importantly for many, keep fares as low as possible to compete and stay in business.

 

Nothing new here, IMO.

[Tarpeian Rock]

Interesting discussion.

 

Hal is trying hard to minimize costs and maximize profits....and, more importantly for many, keep fares as low as possible to compete and stay in business.

 

Nothing new here, IMO.

 

 

 

Sure, but it still begs the question whether 5 or 6 hours in a port is really a "port day," a fair visit, or what people are expecting when they see a cruise itinerary.

[cruisemom42]

Interesting discussion.

 

Hal is trying hard to minimize costs and maximize profits....and, more importantly for many, keep fares as low as possible to compete and stay in business.

 

Nothing new here, IMO.

 

I suppose it's all relative. Not all of us want to see HAL minimize costs to the extent that the line becomes a shell of its former self. Keeping fares reasonable is fine with me if a good product is offered. I don't need to know that they are "as low as possible" -- perhaps that is just TOO low for me to enjoy the experience, with all the things that would be missing.

 

Sure, but it still begs the question whether 5 or 6 hours in a port is really a "port day," a fair visit, or what people are expecting when they see a cruise itinerary.

 

Exactly. Although as long as HAL sticks as closely as possible to the published times, there is no reason to complain. If I didn't like the port times, I wouldn't take the cruise in the first place.

 

(Having said that, 5-6 hours in Half Moon Cay is just fine with me. But 5-6 hours in Athens would be another story...)

[sail7seas]

Overnights in ports are great. I wish HAL started doing that years ago. DH and I would have loved being able to have dinner ashore in various ports.

[cruz chic]

Interesting discussion.

 

Hal is trying hard to minimize costs and maximize profits....and, more importantly for many, keep fares as low as possible to compete and stay in business.

 

Nothing new here, IMO.

 

The problem with Hal is the fares are sky high to begin with and they give away the farm at the end. Why not have a more reasonable rate from the beginning then they wouldn't have to have a fire sale. Hal needs to have a better pricing strategy. I paid more than $500 a day for my 14 day cruise last month. That's not a low fare. I will not be repeating that again.

Edited June 5, 2014 by cruz chic

[sammygoose]

Overnights in ports are great. I wish HAL started doing that years ago. DH and I would have loved being able to have dinner ashore in various ports.

 

Yes to this. That's why we jumped on the July 27th Baltic Adventure leaving Stockholm. The regular itinerary is Copenhagen to Copenhagen 7 days I think.

This one is 12 days. Ours is Stockholm to Copenhagen with Overnights in Stockholm,St. Petersburgh and Copenhagen. Overnights beginning and end. It's basically a stretched Baltic.

Too sweet to pass up.

I think HAL is doing a great job of offering these types of cruises. My research showed the ship to be very full 90 days out and prices still haven't dropped. Ok I didn't check today.

[Sheik]

On our last MS Rotterdam sailing (Feb-Mar 2014) people got upset due to the last minute changes which were make in the schedule. It was also very frustrating and caused a lot of stress, because the private tours where not informed and some tours had to be cancelled or modified. As a result that you simply could not see the main attractions. So people had little choice and booked the shipstour instead. Was that their strategy to force people to book their overpriced shiptours? I don't know, but it smelled dirty.

 

I also cruise with Azamara, Celebrity and RCCL, but never noticed so many changes in the schedule as on the HAL cruises.

 

Each cruise I book, I compared a couple of itineraries between HAL and other lines. The last 5 cruises it happens that HAL offers roughly the shortest days on land. I'm definitely not saying that this is always the case, which it isn't. But I do notice a change in their business model...

 

Although I really like HAL's itineraries, I prefer more time on land than on the ship.

[sailandcruise]

This has been going on for a long time. My first post, way back in 2007, happened to be about this very same topic. :). Here's the link, for anyone interested in (ancient ?) history: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=628709 :)

[Sheik]

So not much has changed ;)

[Randyk47]

Exactly. Although as long as HAL sticks as closely as possible to the published times, there is no reason to complain. If I didn't like the port times, I wouldn't take the cruise in the first place.

 

(Having said that, 5-6 hours in Half Moon Cay is just fine with me. But 5-6 hours in Athens would be another story...)

 

We were aware, at least in the sense that we knew the itinerary and port times before we cruised, but the real impact of what the shortened port times meant really didn't hit us until we were on the ship and actually felt rushed at several ports. All is good though and while we weren't totally pleased with our last Caribbean cruise it did make us consider other destinations and we've subsequently had three wonderful cruises in the Med. Good things sometimes come out of bad or less than desirable circumstances. :)

[cbr663]

We are also now looking at Med cruises. The only downside is the flight time, but we just need to research it a bit more.

[Randyk47]

We are also now looking at Med cruises. The only downside is the flight time, but we just need to research it a bit more.

 

No doubt about it, the flight times, and fares for that matter, for us from San Antonio are a real challenge and issue. Our best was 16 hours and our worst was 22 hours. Folks who live near a major international hub have a great advantage. We made friends with a couple on our last cruise and we both flew out of Rome on the way home. They had one 9+ hour flight directly to Atlanta and home while we had 16+ hours and several airports to get home. They were home by 3 or 4 PM and we weren't in our house until 11:30 PM. Certainly worth it in the sense there's no easy and quick way for us to get to the Med but nonetheless tiring and a bit of a hassle.

[DFD1]

I agree.

 

HAL may be shooting itself in the foot by going to what many consider extremes to reduce costs, maximize profits and keep fares low,.....but I do think that's what is driving these changes.

 

I also believe it is part of the publicly (sp) stated intent of Carnival Corp, under the direction of Donald Arnold, for all the brands to share more operating philosophies for the greater good of the corporation.

 

IMO

[cruz chic]

But they don't keep the fares low. What they do is have sky high fares in the beginning and after final they give away the farm. That is not keeping fares low. That is a bad pricing strategy.

[kazu]

But they don't keep the fares low. What they do is have sky high fares in the beginning and after final they give away the farm. That is not keeping fares low. That is a bad pricing strategy.

 

I do believe you have hit the nail on the proverbial head:D

[sail7seas]

Those who book early to get the cabin they want are paying a very dear price for that.

Many will reconsider if it is worth it to them.

Fortunately for HAL, many cruisers (particularly newbies) don't know that early bookers are paying way more than those who wait for price drops for cruises that aren't selling well.

 

Those of us who come to these forums know it but the percentage of cruisers that visit often has been reported to be rather low.

 

HAL may lose the pricey bookings of those who have this information but the cabins will be sold to others who may have no idea how low some of those cabin prices MAY drop.

 

[cruz chic]

I'm not particularly fussy about my cabin. For me its about fitting cruises into my vacation time and getting the air that isn't stupid expensive. If I'm taking a west coast cruise I have way more flexibility in terms of flights. I do hope hal wakes up and appreciates the loyalty they have before people get fed up.

Edited June 7, 2014 by cruz chic

[Hlitner]

Those who book early to get the cabin they want are paying a very dear price for that.

Many will reconsider if it is worth it to them.

Fortunately for HAL, many cruisers (particularly newbies) don't know that early bookers are paying way more than those who wait for price drops for cruises that aren't selling well.

 

Those of us who come to these forums know it but the percentage of cruisers that visit often has been reported to be rather low.

 

HAL may lose the pricey bookings of those who have this information but the cabins will be sold to others who may have no idea how low some of those cabin prices MAY drop.

 

 

We do agree that HAL sometimes has huge price drops. But we are not so sure it matters when you book unless you are willing to book inside the final payment period (only a couple of months before a cruise) when you can sometimes get great deals..but other times might get "Jack." When we do book early on HAL, we routinely monitor the pricing on our cruise and have our TA rebook if there is a major price drop. We have onc current HAL booking where our initial price was a bit over $20,000. The cost of that cruise is now about $12,000 (for the same cabin) and our TA has simply repriced the booking a couple of times (so far). For us, it is no big deal to have a cruise repriced/rebooked as it only means I send a quick e-mail to our TA who immediately does the deed. My time is about 30 seconds to send the e-mail. If I decide to call our TA it might take an extra 5 min which is why we prefer e-mail :)

 

Hank

[sail7seas]

We do agree that HAL sometimes has huge price drops. But we are not so sure it matters when you book unless you are willing to book inside the final payment period (only a couple of months before a cruise) when you can sometimes get great deals..but other times might get "Jack." When we do book early on HAL, we routinely monitor the pricing on our cruise and have our TA rebook if there is a major price drop. We have onc current HAL booking where our initial price was a bit over $20,000. The cost of that cruise is now about $12,000 (for the same cabin) and our TA has simply repriced the booking a couple of times (so far). For us, it is no big deal to have a cruise repriced/rebooked as it only means I send a quick e-mail to our TA who immediately does the deed. My time is about 30 seconds to send the e-mail. If I decide to call our TA it might take an extra 5 min which is why we prefer e-mail :)

 

Hank

 

 

You cannot know if you are receiving the e-mails offering great discounts. We always had multiple cruises booked and never heard from HAL. When we didn't have a cruise booked, they found my DH's e-mail address. If you don't get the snail or e-mail, you do not know if there is an even better offer out there that someone else learned about. Your mulitple TA's do not get them all either. ;)

 

[cruz chic]

We do agree that HAL sometimes has huge price drops. But we are not so sure it matters when you book unless you are willing to book inside the final payment period (only a couple of months before a cruise) when you can sometimes get great deals..but other times might get "Jack." When we do book early on HAL, we routinely monitor the pricing on our cruise and have our TA rebook if there is a major price drop. We have onc current HAL booking where our initial price was a bit over $20,000. The cost of that cruise is now about $12,000 (for the same cabin) and our TA has simply repriced the booking a couple of times (so far). For us, it is no big deal to have a cruise repriced/rebooked as it only means I send a quick e-mail to our TA who immediately does the deed. My time is about 30 seconds to send the e-mail. If I decide to call our TA it might take an extra 5 min which is why we prefer e-mail :)

 

Hank

That is exactly what I am talking about. The low prices inside final. I am also talking about shorter cruises, not exotic ones.

[cbr663]

You cannot know if you are receiving the e-mails offering great discounts. We always had multiple cruises booked and never heard from HAL. When we didn't have a cruise booked, they found my DH's e-mail address. If you don't get the snail or e-mail, you do not know if there is an even better offer out there that someone else learned about. Your mulitple TA's do not get them all either. ;)

 

 

There is an easy work around - set up another account with another email address. I ended up with 2 accounts with HAL and I receive the emails all the time. Booked cruises are always tied to my mariner id and the promotions are tied to the account which considers me a new passenger who has yet to travel.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

I myself would like to have about half the ports, but stay over night in the ones that we did visit. We would book such a cruise. BTY I put that on my last "comments" to HAL

 

I agree, depending on the ports. I was on a cruise once that did overnights in Kauai and Maui. It was nice not having to watch the clock constantly, and worry about missing the ship. We went offship for dinner and drinks, and could really relax.

[Globaliser]

But they don't keep the fares low. What they do is have sky high fares in the beginning and after final they give away the farm. That is not keeping fares low. That is a bad pricing strategy.

Why is it bad? It might be very profitable for HAL, in which case it would be a good pricing strategy.