Ever departed Norfolk VA? Short questionnaire

[HandE]

If you've ever cruised out of Norfolk, VA on Royal Caribbean or if you wanted to but didn't, please take a moment & reply to a few short questions. I have a burning desire to figure this out! (Background information follows)

 

1. How many times have you cruised Royal Caribbean out of Norfolk?

2. Did you cruise Royal Caribbean out of other departure ports while Norfolk was still serving RCCL?

3. If you answered yes to question 2, pls give a brief explanation why.

4. Did you have any concerns or were you dissatisfied with any element about cruising out of Norfolk?

5. Under what circumstances would you cruise Royal Caribbean out of Norfolk again?

 

Out of curiosity, I contacted Stephen Kirkland, the Executive Director of

Nauticus regarding Royal Caribbean no longer departing from Norfolk, Virginia Half Moone Cruise Terminal. I'd heard several stories about Norfolk or Tidewater, in general, charging too many fees or tariffs but quickly found from Mr. Kirkland that it "had nothing to do with Norfolk’s parking situation or any related port charges, taxes, etc. In fact, our overall tariff has remained connsistent since 2006 (prior to Royal Caribbean’s arrival) and has only been adjusted once since we began hosting cruise ships in 2001. ". He said that it had to do with "low yield" (although cabins were filled) not enough people paying enough to warrant staying there.

 

Carnival Cruise Lines is currently scheduled to begin departing Norfolk again in 2015 but I'm specifically wondering about Royal (my very favorite cruise line!). Thanks for your time! :p

[jndsilver31]

Yes I have sailed from Norfolk, VA but it wasn't actually Royal Caribbean more like USN USS John F. Kennedy, but we did got to St. Thomas one year and Barbadoes another year. Does that count?

[musik07]

Took a cruise on the Carnival Pride out of Norfolk in 2012 and we hit two hurricanes on our trip. It was a very rocky journey to say the least. The port was nice, the biggest problems we had in port were:

 

#1: It took forever for the ship to clear customs both the voyage before ours and ours. The ship was not cleared of passengers until well after 1pm both times. We waited in the terminal from 11am until 2pm to get onboard and had to leave our room at 8am and were not able to get off the ship until almost noon!

 

#2: The traffic around the port is horrible. It is right off of a main street in the city that doesn't seem like it is designed to accommodate the type of traffic a ship turn around causes. It took the shuttle to our hotel which was about 5 blocks away an hour to get to the hotel with a full load of cruisers, pick up new passengers, and come back for us.

 

Otherwise I really enjoyed cruising from Norfolk. Nice mall in town to kill time at the night before, many nice restaurants to eat dinner at in town. If the weather is good and you have a car you are only a half hour from Virginia Beach!

[Gayle V]

For what it's worth, I would love to cruise out of Norfolk, simply because it's so much closer than other ports. The only reason we never chose it was due to the age of the ships that used it as a home port, and the uninspiring itinerary offered at the time.

[hollon]

I second that! I would love to leave out of viriginia but like you said Older ship

[cruzinlady1947]

I've cruised out of Newport News, VA a couple times, but that was on Carnival. What ever happened to that cruise port? It was very convenient too. Not fancy, but wasn't bad either.

 

Gwen :)

[beachnative]

We are life-long residents of Norfolk/VirginiaBeach and loyal to Royal Caribbean and are happy to cruise out of Baltimore about 6 times a year.

 

Yes, we've sailed out of Half Moon Cruise Terminal and was disappointed RCI pulled out….BUT I don't blame them.

 

Regardless of what you were told about parking…it was a horrible situation that made the Port Liberty Bayonne terminal and busses seem like as nice as Terminal 18 in Port Everglades. Add to that the fact that the busses in Norfolk transporting passengers from the parking lot to the terminal had to enter the very congested business downtown area, fight the traffic, and then be tied up in the tiny traffic circle in front of the terminal and you had a pull-out waiting to happen.

[HandE]

Yes I have sailed from Norfolk, VA but it wasn't actually Royal Caribbean more like USN USS John F. Kennedy, but we did got to St. Thomas one year and Barbadoes another year. Does that count?

 

Sure! That counts in every aspect!

[HandE]

Took a cruise on the Carnival Pride out of Norfolk in 2012 and we hit two hurricanes on our trip. It was a very rocky journey to say the least. The port was nice, the biggest problems we had in port were:

 

#1: It took forever for the ship to clear customs both the voyage before ours and ours. The ship was not cleared of passengers until well after 1pm both times. We waited in the terminal from 11am until 2pm to get onboard and had to leave our room at 8am and were not able to get off the ship until almost noon!

 

#2: The traffic around the port is horrible. It is right off of a main street in the city that doesn't seem like it is designed to accommodate the type of traffic a ship turn around causes. It took the shuttle to our hotel which was about 5 blocks away an hour to get to the hotel with a full load of cruisers, pick up new passengers, and come back for us.

 

Otherwise I really enjoyed cruising from Norfolk. Nice mall in town to kill time at the night before, many nice restaurants to eat dinner at in town. If the weather is good and you have a car you are only a half hour from Virginia Beach!

 

We really enjoyed it, too! Thanks for replying! :)

[HandE]

I second that! I would love to leave out of viriginia but like you said Older ship

 

For what it's worth, I would love to cruise out of Norfolk, simply because it's so much closer than other ports. The only reason we never chose it was due to the age of the ships that used it as a home port, and the uninspiring itinerary offered at the time.

 

We thought the same thing..itineraries weren't that great & old ships, for sure. You'd think Norfolk could accommodate almost any size ship RC has!

[HandE]

I've cruised out of Newport News, VA a couple times, but that was on Carnival. What ever happened to that cruise port? It was very convenient too. Not fancy, but wasn't bad either.

 

Gwen :)

 

It's still there mainly used for big events now. I really like that terminal. Carnival is coming back in 2015 & I wish RC would, too"

[HandE]

We are life-long residents of Norfolk/VirginiaBeach and loyal to Royal Caribbean and are happy to cruise out of Baltimore about 6 times a year.

 

Yes, we've sailed out of Half Moon Cruise Terminal and was disappointed RCI pulled out….BUT I don't blame them.

 

Regardless of what you were told about parking…it was a horrible situation that made the Port Liberty Bayonne terminal and busses seem like as nice as Terminal 18 in Port Everglades. Add to that the fact that the busses in Norfolk transporting passengers from the parking lot to the terminal had to enter the very congested business downtown area, fight the traffic, and then be tied up in the tiny traffic circle in front of the terminal and you had a pull-out waiting to happen.

 

You are right there...seemed as if they could have made that part a little smoother. Thanks for replying!

[cb at sea]

Yes...Granduer out of Norfolk...a great port...easy in and out. Wish they still used Norfolk! Much easier to get to than Baltimore, for me!

[Coralc]

We've never cruised out of Norfolk. But we have stayed there several times overnight before heading to the Outer Banks the next morning.

 

It seems to be a nice town, and we have always enjoyed our stay. :)

Edited June 22, 2014 by Coralc

[grneyes]

Parking and getting to the terminal was a nightmare!!!

[Janet524]

If you've ever cruised out of Norfolk, VA on Royal Caribbean or if you wanted to but didn't, please take a moment & reply to a few short questions. I have a burning desire to figure this out! (Background information follows)

 

1. How many times have you cruised Royal Caribbean out of Norfolk?

 

Twice

 

2. Did you cruise Royal Caribbean out of other departure ports while Norfolk was still serving RCCL?

 

Yes

 

3. If you answered yes to question 2, pls give a brief explanation why.

 

There was only one RC ship going to the same place(s). We cruise 3-4 times a year and like to sail different ships and different itineraries.

 

4. Did you have any concerns or were you dissatisfied with any element about cruising out of Norfolk?

 

We live 45 minutes from the pier and had friends drop us off. This process was difficult given the location of the drop off point being right on a main thruway. Also, if we had driven I would not like the idea of remote parking and shuttling 2 miles from the parking lot to the ship and back again.

 

5. Under what circumstances would you cruise Royal Caribbean out of Norfolk again?

 

I would sail RC our of Norfolk again in a heartbeat. It's close to home for us and the proximity to open ocean is much better than sailing down the bay from Baltimore to get out to sea.

 

Out of curiosity, I contacted Stephen Kirkland, the Executive Director of

Nauticus regarding Royal Caribbean no longer departing from Norfolk, Virginia Half Moone Cruise Terminal. I'd heard several stories about Norfolk or Tidewater, in general, charging too many fees or tariffs but quickly found from Mr. Kirkland that it "had nothing to do with Norfolk’s parking situation (I would take exception to that portion of his statement.)or any related port charges, taxes, etc. In fact, our overall tariff has remained connsistent since 2006 (prior to Royal Caribbean’s arrival) and has only been adjusted once since we began hosting cruise ships in 2001. ". He said that it had to do with "low yield" (although cabins were filled) not enough people paying enough to warrant staying there. Huh? sailing full, but not enough revenue? I don't get that!

 

Carnival Cruise Lines is currently scheduled to begin departing Norfolk again in 2015 (this does not do anything for me. I'm not the Carnival "demographic.")but I'm specifically wondering about Royal (my very favorite cruise line!). Thanks for your time! :p

 

 

My comments are inserted into the body of your text.

[HandE]

Yes...Granduer out of Norfolk...a great port...easy in and out. Wish they still used Norfolk! Much easier to get to than Baltimore, for me!

 

Thanks for the feedback! :)

[HandE]

We've never cruised out of Norfolk. But we have stayed there several times overnight before heading to the Outer Banks the next morning.

 

It seems to be a nice town, and we have always enjoyed our stay. :)

 

We enjoy Norfolk. I worked there for many years & still meet friends for lunch or dinner sometimes! I hope you're still visiting the Outer Banks! We love it!

[HandE]

Parking and getting to the terminal was a nightmare!!!

 

Sorry to hear it was so bad for y'all! 😔

We didn't have any real trouble, once we found out what was expected. It definitely wasn't the most ideal situation and I'm hopeful they can come up with an alternative!

[HandE]

My comments are inserted into the body of your text.

 

Thanks very much for your feedback! It sounds as if both Norfolk & RC need to make some changes for Norfolk to be a viable departure port again. Maybe we can start some movement. Big things sometimes start small! 😊

[TravelerThom]

My comments are inserted into the body of your text.

 

He said that it had to do with "low yield" (although cabins were filled) not enough people paying enough to warrant staying there. Huh? sailing full, but not enough revenue? I don't get that!

 

Virtually all cruises sail full or almost full. BUT the cruise line may have dropped the cabin prices very low to get there. I was on the Liberty of the Seas TransAtlantic last month, and cabin prices got as low as $369pp for a 13 night cruise. That is how it ended up full.

 

Actually RCCL income from cabin sales is about three/quarters of a Billion dollars a year LESS than the expenses of running the ships. This is offset by $1.3 Billion profit from on-board sales (bars, shops, casino, tours, etc), so "low yield" also results from less than expected on-board sales.

 

Thom

[HandE]

He said that it had to do with "low yield" (although cabins were filled) not enough people paying enough to warrant staying there. Huh? sailing full, but not enough revenue? I don't get that!

 

Virtually all cruises sail full or almost full. BUT the cruise line may have dropped the cabin prices very low to get there. I was on the Liberty of the Seas TransAtlantic last month, and cabin prices got as low as $369pp for a 13 night cruise. That is how it ended up full.

 

 

 

Thom

 

Thanks, Thom! That's a great observation! We did a transatlantic (13 or 14 night) on Jewell for that price! Loved it!

[Gayle V]

I guess that makes sense. People who are accepting an older, smaller ship, going on a less inspiring itinerary, in order to be able to cruise, are also likely to continue to be thrifty with their spending once on board.

[bettyboop16]

2004 we sailed on the Maasdam from Norfolk...great itinerary! The ship was just ok. We were 5 hrs. late getting back to port because of weather conditions.

 

2012 & 2013 we cruised on the Carnival Glory to the Bahamas both cruises were great. We didn't care for the Bahamas, but we do love cruising!& would go again.

 

Most likely we won't cruise from Baltimore. I don't want to travel north & then cruise south.

 

Betty:)

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We sailed the Grandeur from Norfolk on an E Caribbean route. We loved leaving from Norfolk. You got to the ocean much sooner than from Baltimore. However, I agree that traffic around the drop off point is crazy. We almost asked our cab driver just to let us out to walk. Our DS [lives in Norfolk] picked us up. He parked in a nearby condo area [where his friend lives] when he picked us up.

 

The problem is that 2 main streets meet and form a right angle. The cruise port is at the intersection of that angle. Add to that the Waterside shopping/restaurant complex and the MANY high-rise downtown hotels, banks, lawyers offices and you have a perfect storm of traffic. Arrival on a weekend morning is OK, since there is much less traffic then. However, by Sat or Sunday afternoon this area gets busy again for the waterside venues.