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Royal forever gone from California???

pinkie1

By pinkie1,
in Royal Caribbean International

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pinkie1

pinkie1

Posted
Posted

Royal is my favorite line but I haven't cruised with them much since they pulled out of Port of Los Angeles on their 3 or 4 night Baja Mexico itinerary. I noticed in recent years they'd have an occasional itinerary from CA a few times a year but lately there is NOTHING! I moved out of the country for a while and I'm wondering what I've missed on Royal's latest news.

 

What is going on with Royal in CA? They have fans here too! I know Baja Mex. is not the most popular destination, but other cruise lines are doing well here, e.g. Carnival.

How about Royal cruising up to Vancouver??? Or any place?

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negc

negc

Posted
Posted

On the Anthem last week, Vicki Freed said that while RCI regularly re-evaluates its itineraries, there are no plans, at present, to return any of their ships full time to the West Coast. At least not until they can feel confident that they can fill their ships without drastically reducing cruisefares to the point where they are unprofitable. I think it is a case of "once bitten, twice shy". We sailed the Jewel from San Diego to Vancouver this Spring and enjoyed it tremendously, but I can understand their reluctance to reposition a ship to the West Coast at this time, especially when they can operate their ships more profitably in other regions.

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jonbgd

jonbgd

Posted
Posted (edited)

While I would love RCCL to come back to the best coast they probably wont

 

BUT

 

It would be nice, if Royal doesnt want to be on the Westcoast full time.

Maybe do the SAN to YVR, like the Jewel did and the Radiance, before her annually.

 

The prices, if you didn't book early, were pretty high

So they made money

 

To the OP Maybe bring back one of the older ships to compete with CCL??

Edited by jonbgd
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davekathy

davekathy

Posted
Posted (edited)

We did the Jewel Of The Seas September 2015 from Vancouver to San Pedro. Cruising on the Explorer Of The Seas September 2016 R/T Seattle. Even though the Cruises don't originate out of California they do have ports of call in California.

Edited by davekathy
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Doug S

Doug S

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I have sailed out of California once (on Princess) but that was to Hawaii, with a stop in Ensenada to satisfy the Jones act. Most on board found Ensenada to be a waste of time. For me, I live 3 hours from the Mexican border and choose not to make the trip down to similar border towns, so Ensenada was no draw at all for me.

 

I can understand the desire to have cruising options that are drive-to close like Galveston is for us, but from my perspective, if we are going to visit California ports and tour wine country or whatever, that is something that would definitely be land based for us. We get to that area from time to time on work related trips, so cruising that route holds very little interest for us. I think there is a pretty large demographic that feels like we do. Cruising demand outside the local area is probably pretty soft, which is why Royal home ports where demand is much greater, and offers a few drive by cruises along the west coast to reposition ships.

 

Another way to look at it: To me it compares to a hypothetical cruise leaving from Galveston and going to New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Miami and throwing in a half day stop somewhere foreign to make it legal. NO and Miami at least can be very popular tourist destinations. Not exactly west Coasty, but the same in that those are places I would visit from land, and I would not be interested in that cruise, even if convenient.

 

Not trying to bash and be negative. California can be a great place to visit. Just my thoughts on why RCI may not see it as the best option to home port a ship.

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Motorman23

Motorman23

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

Not trying to bash and be negative. California can be a great place to visit. Just my thoughts on why RCI may not see it as the best option to home port a ship.

 

We were on the jewel trip from Vancouver to Los Angeles with stops in Victoria BC, Astoria OR, San Francisco, Monterrey, and Santa Barbara. It was a great trip for folks from the east coast to see places we had never seen but I doubt we would do it again. It was a great scenic trip but not the kind of trip we do every year in my opinion. I also felt the port of Los Angeles is in definite need of rehab before I would go back. We were among the first off the ship and there was only about 15 cabs waiting, I heard that people who got off later had problems getting cabs, again if true, poor organization by the port. Nice trip but "done that."

 

Mike

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Edited by Motorman23
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akcruz

akcruz

Posted
Posted
We were on the jewel trip from Vancouver to Los Angeles with stops in Victoria BC, Astoria OR, San Francisco, Monterrey, and Santa Barbara. It was a great trip for folks from the east coast to see places we had never seen but I doubt we would do it again. It was a great scenic trip but not the kind of trip we do every year in my opinion. I also felt the port of Los Angeles is in definite need of rehab before I would go back. We were among the first off the ship and there was only about 15 cabs waiting, I heard that people who got off later had problems getting cabs, again if true, poor organization by the port. Nice trip but "done that."

 

Mike

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Agree with you on this one. We did the round trip from LA that stopped at Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Monterrey and Ensenada. We booked the first week it was available and took advantage of one of the early BOGO sales so got a pretty decent price. I think we boarded the day you disembarked and yes it was an absolute disaster, worst boarding we have ever had.

 

Glad we did the trip but wouldn't do it again for a while. We like to change up our itineraries. Don't like doing the same ones over and over.

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PCWalton1

PCWalton1

Posted
Posted
On the Anthem last week, Vicki Freed said that while RCI regularly re-evaluates its itineraries, there are no plans, at present, to return any of their ships full time to the West Coast. At least not until they can feel confident that they can fill their ships without drastically reducing cruisefares to the point where they are unprofitable. I think it is a case of "once bitten, twice shy". We sailed the Jewel from San Diego to Vancouver this Spring and enjoyed it tremendously, but I can understand their reluctance to reposition a ship to the West Coast at this time, especially when they can operate their ships more profitably in other regions.

 

Late 2010 we took one of the last Mexican Riviera cruises on Mariner. It was by far the cheapest priced cruise we have been on. At the time we were told they could not filled the ships so they slashed prices which people in the southern California area took advantage of. The problem with people repeating over and over is they spend less and less on board. Slashed cruise prices and low per passenger spending, not surprising they left.

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pinkie1

pinkie1

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Posted
We were on the jewel trip from Vancouver to Los Angeles with stops in Victoria BC, Astoria OR, San Francisco, Monterrey, and Santa Barbara. It was a great trip for folks from the east coast to see places we had never seen but I doubt we would do it again. It was a great scenic trip but not the kind of trip we do every year in my opinion. I also felt the port of Los Angeles is in definite need of rehab before I would go back. We were among the first off the ship and there was only about 15 cabs waiting, I heard that people who got off later had problems getting cabs, again if true, poor organization by the port. Nice trip but "done that."

 

Mike

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Yeah, I kinda get the sense that the CA ports are not that big of a draw. When I've gone down to Ensenada (either on RCI or Carnival) I never get off the ship because I could care less. But I like to cruise this same itinerary for a quick get away and relax on the ship. I grew up in Santa Barbara and have visited San Francisco many times so I wouldn't get off the ship there too. I'd really like RCI here to rack up my points and bump me up to the next level. :D

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critterchick

critterchick

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Posted

Forever is a long time. I doubt that Princess would be in the West Coast market with 4 ships from September-April if they weren't making money. Carnival has 3, NCL has one and we get the occasional visiting ship as well, and I suspect that they all are doing well enough or they wouldn't be here. Jewel was nearly sold out a year in advance and commanded premium pricing, so Ms. Freed's comments about discounting cabins doesn't seem to be based on current data. I don't know what the onboard spending was like, although we did our part.:D

 

RCI have made money, and has made its shareholders happy, by chasing hot new markets. They seem content to let the competition work this market, but I am reminded of an old (possibly outdated) adage that you have to spend money to make money. By turning a market of 40 million people over to the competition, they have lost the opportunity to introduce those people to their product - if somebody tries and like Princess or another line, s/he is more likely to stick with that line. If not, then s/he is are likely to conclude that she/he doesn't like cruising and won't try another line.

 

As for the itineraries, as a local, I had a ball on the California coastals. We always talk about going to San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Monterey, but never seem to do it - driving takes too long and flying is a hassle. Cruising was a near-perfect way to do it. Ensenada is our spa day, as we've found an excellent day spa in town that we know will give us great service.

 

So we are hoping to see a Viking Crown Lounge visit the port of LA for more than 2 cruises in the next year or three.

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Firefighterhoop

Firefighterhoop

Posted
Posted (edited)

I remember when the Mariner was doing the cruises out of LA and quite often the fares would come down to 399.00 or less (For an inside stateroom).

 

That's great for the consumer, but not really for the company - especially if the onboard spending of the guests was low.

 

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the Coastal Cruise from YVR to LAX this September and plan on doing the Explorer on a similar route next year (however it goes Seattle to Seattle)- but i'm sure if they thought a permanant or full seasonal ship would be profitable there they would put a ship back in an instant.

Edited by Firefighterhoop
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