Should Celebrity consider more interesting itineraries?

[Mynki]

I've just been looking at the itineraries offered by Celebrity X. There's certainly a few great looking trips left on our bucket list. But then I look at Holland America. OK so they're completely different cruise lines aimed at completely differrent people, but their itineraries make Celebrities look positively dull by comparison.

 

I appreciate the older clientel on HAL are far more likely to be retired and so can consider trips of upto 105 days more easily than those of us who still work etc. But would it be good to see the X product at least offer some 21 or even 28 day itineraries with new ports?

[Can'tstopcruising]

We would do a 21 night cruise in Europe, especially if there were overnights in ports that were close to the city/town.(i.e. not Rome)

[Cruise Junky]

I get that people that don't want to fly are frustrated with what's on offer out of the UK but I think Celebrity is far better than say Princess in the Med. Want more variety, fly.

[Mynki]

I get that people that don't want to fly are frustrated with what's on offer out of the UK but I think Celebrity is far better than say Princess in the Med. Want more variety, fly.

 

Not at all relevent. The fact that I live in the UK has no bearing what so ever with this poll.

 

I fly (Out of the UK) to Singapore in two days time to board an X ship. However I am still very limited to 14 day itineraries with this line. I would like to travel on X ships for longer, more interesting trips with Celebrity and am already prepared to fly so I can sail with them.

[Rob the Cruiser]

A round-trip Hawaii, Tahiti and South Pacific from Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego would be great. Something around 30 nights.

[chemmo]

B2B cruises offer quite a few options, especially if tagged onto a TA or a TP.

 

We cruised from Hawaii to Sydney last year and met up with a NZ couple who had done the last Alaska cruise of the season, crossed to Hawaii, cruised round the islands, continued on our cruise and then had the first 2 Australian cruises of the season.

 

Connie in 2017 has an interesting run of cruises, I think Hong Kong to Singapore, Singapore to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Rome via the Suez Canal.

[Mynki]

I was waiting for B2B to be mentioned. :)

 

Though I was really thinking about single cruises. Even when considering the back to back factor, the line is still very lacking compared to HAL. I'm not too sure TA's and TP's could be considered all that interesting from a port perspective either. :)

[az_tchr]

Your poll is interesting but what does it mean? Would I like an itinerary that is more interesting to me? Absolutely. So would everyone else. I problem is everyone has different ideas. I would like a series of West Coast USA cruises like we had years ago. My DW would like more Northern European adventures. Your results I would think would be more meaningful if it had a number of choices as to where and how long.

[villauk]

I do hope they add some Pacific Coastal cruises for the summer in the new deployment. Anything on the west coast of the US would be good. We do fly, so the UK Eclipse sailings hold nothing for us ;).

 

Mynki,

 

Please report back on your Millie cruise. We're taking the HK to Sin route next year. Would love to hear your thoughts after your sailing. Thanks :).

[Mynki]

Your poll is interesting but what does it mean? Would I like an itinerary that is more interesting to me? Absolutely. So would everyone else. I problem is everyone has different ideas. I would like a series of West Coast USA cruises like we had years ago. My DW would like more Northern European adventures. Your results I would think would be more meaningful if it had a number of choices as to where and how long.

 

It means, would you like to see Celebrity offer longer cruises, perhaps over 21 or 28 nights so that you can take in more ports etc. Excluding TA, TP and repositioning cruises as a B2B.

 

Personally I'd like to see Hawaii, Tahiti and South Pacific as already mentioned, and a lot more of South America etc.

[K.T.B.]

I think Celebrity offers a huge variety of options in terms of itineraries. However, what one might consider "interesting" vs. "not interesting" is a matter of opinion.

[chemmo]

I think all cruise lines struggle to offer the 'new' when so many cruisers want a cruise which includes 'the best of'.

 

To drop Rome, for example from a Western Med cruise and to replace it with Sardinia would go down well for those of us who have cruised (and land based visited) but would not be popular for those doing their first Med cruise.

 

The change I would like most is for all cruise lines to avoid container ports, especially for overnight cruises.

 

it would be interesting if Celebrity did trial a few 'Small Island' itineraries both in the Caribbean and the Med. They may be limited by size to using the M class....or would they see this as possibly competing with their sister line Azimara?

[Mynki]

 

Mynki,

 

Please report back on your Millie cruise. We're taking the HK to Sin route next year. Would love to hear your thoughts after your sailing. Thanks :).

 

Will do. :)

 

First time on an M class ship for us, so it should be interesting to see how it compares to others we have sailed on.

[Going Coastal]

The five back to backs we strung together for 65 days from Auckland to Seattle on Solstice was very interesting to us, with no long flight home.

[Cruise Junky]

Not at all relevent. The fact that I live in the UK has no bearing what so ever with this poll.

 

I fly (Out of the UK) to Singapore in two days time to board an X ship. However I am still very limited to 14 day itineraries with this line. I would like to travel on X ships for longer, more interesting trips with Celebrity and am already prepared to fly so I can sail with them.

 

Then why don't you wait for the rest of the fleet to be released before complaining?

[Mynki]

Then why don't you wait for the rest of the fleet to be released before complaining?

 

No one complaining here. :)

 

It's just a simple question, some people get it, others inevitably won't... That's internet forums for you.

 

It would be great to see the new Edge class ships offer longer itineraries than current offerings, not sure that will happen though.

[cruisemom42]

I've just been looking at the itineraries offered by Celebrity X. There's certainly a few great looking trips left on our bucket list. But then I look at Holland America. OK so they're completely different cruise lines aimed at completely differrent people, but their itineraries make Celebrities look positively dull by comparison.

 

 

I think you've answered your own question, more or less. Many of HAL's ships are smaller and older than Celebrity ships. Thus, HAL can offer some unusual itineraries without having to worry about getting 3,000 passengers to pony up fares.

 

Celebrity would also need to up its game in regard to handling the risks associated with more unusual, less common or exotic ports. For example, the recent debacle in which Celebrity cancelled both a planned overnight in Istanbul and later cancelled both ports in Israel due to "security concerns."

 

Interestingly, HAL had two ships in port in Israel during the same time frame that Celebrity cancelled. I wonder what made it safe for HAL to call but not for Celebrity? :cool:

[2NHcruisers]

I couldnt agree more; We've done two Hawaii round trips out of SanDiego with X and loved them. We are heartbroken Celebrity stopped doing them, so are looking elsewhere; We arent keen on flying for N days to get to board, so really would prefer RTs....

 

A round-trip Hawaii, Tahiti and South Pacific from Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego would be great. Something around 30 nights.

[Jade13]

We prefer Celebrity but HALs itineraries are so much better.

 

 

They should consider the Amazon River, Sea of Cortez, Tahiti (not a repo to/from Sydney), Seychelle Islands, South Africa around Capetown to name a few.

Edited November 17, 2015 by Jade13

[Karynanne]

As another poster mentioned, Azamara might fit the bill for you. The large S-Class ships are restricted from smaller ports, as are the M-Class ships.

 

We usually sail b2b cruises. Living in CA. usually means that we have to fly "somewhere" in the world to start our trip.

[jan-n-john]

We prefer Celebrity but HALs itineraries are so much better.

 

 

They should consider the Amazon River, Sea of Cortez, Tahiti (not a repo to/from Sydney), Seychelle Islands, South Africa around Capetown to name a few.

 

Celebrity's ships are very big to make trips like those agreeable or even possible. For example, I doubt they could go up the Amazon at all; the largest ships going up to Manaus now are barely over 700 feet (including HAL), while the M class are 965. In other cases, most of the ports would have to be tender ports, which would raise another host of complaints. Generally speaking, the bigger the ship, the more likely it will be necessary to stick to the usual ports. Big ships and "interesting" itineraries are somewhat mutually exclusive.

Edited November 17, 2015 by jan-n-john

[Mynki]

As another poster mentioned, Azamara might fit the bill for you. The large S-Class ships are restricted from smaller ports, as are the M-Class ships.

 

We usually sail b2b cruises. Living in CA. usually means that we have to fly "somewhere" in the world to start our trip.

 

Azamara look good in their own right. It's certainly only a matter of time before we book with them. They don't offer any 21 or 28 day cruises though.

 

That said, the thread isn't about me, it's really asking if other X cruisers would like to see them offer longer itineraries and would they work with their 'Modern Luxury' product.

 

 

 

As for the obvious limitations of the larger ships, it doesn't stop Celebrity offering month long trips around South America, Africa or visiting islands in the South Pacific / Hawaii etc. So the two are most certainly not mutually exclusive IMHO.

Edited November 17, 2015 by Mynki

[shipfriend_max]

In relation to the relatively small fleet, compared to other major lines, the itineraries of Celebrity are quiet interesting and diversified, IMHO,

 

But, regardless that fact, IMHO many itineraries are standardized, and there are not many new itineraries when the new seasons/Deployments are released, some few, new cruises, but all in all, nothing that really surprises...

 

Princess and HAL have more to offer, I must say, and, as mentioned above, also longer itineraries and world cruises.

 

And what I definitely like more at HAL/Princess: Baltic (Scandinavia/Russia) and Northern Europe are also offered from copenhagen, which allows to create more port-intensive itineraries. Celebrity sails from Amsterdam, which is logistically not perfect, IMHO.

 

And I really miss the Arctic circle itineraries, the range of Norway cruises is quite poor the upcoming seasons... :(

[TN Vol Fan]

OP- You are asking for a ship line with a very small fleet to dedicate ships to longer trips that would mainly appeal to a very limited section of the cruising population. X will not sacrifice their profits to do that, particularly since they are aiming to broaden their target audience.

 

We have found several ways to take our longer cruises with more unusual itineraries on X by doing B2Bs and looking for itineraries that move the ships from on area of the world to another, and we have yet to do a TA with all the DAS in a row. You just cannot compare different cruise lines and expect them to be all the same.

Edited November 17, 2015 by TN Vol Fan

[ghstudio]

Celebrity is a mass market cruise line with a mass market focus. Larger ships are more cost effective so that's their direction. I suspect that not too many here remember when Celebrity started their (I forget the name) smaller ship/specialty cruise focus with the Xpedition. Turned out the Xpedition was the only ship and the whole idea just disappeared. That ship remains unique...everything's included...no specialty restaurants, spa, casino, drink packages, fee excursions, art auctions....no extra profit centers...how Celebrity HQ must hate that ship.

 

Other cruise lines like Princess maintain a few smaller ships with more interesting (personal view) cruises to ports where larger ships would have problems. Holland has the Prinsedam cruising the world...but they are moving their other smaller ships out of the fleet.

 

I think the best Celebrity can do is to vary ports a little from year to year....they seem to always stop at the same Caribbean ports...but they are after new cruisers who haven't been there a few times before. In 2018, they seem to be adding some new ports in Europe...that's a good step. They've added Dubai which is, I guess, exciting to some. However, if you want interesting cruises which tend to draw fewer first time cruisers and tend to be longer cruises attracting those with time available (read that as older, retired...definitely not Celebrity's current target audience)...I think you have to work with other cruise lines.

Edited November 17, 2015 by ghstudio