Weird/Bad Itineraries out of Northeast?

[JulofDenial]

I have only been on one cruise before which was a Wester Caribbean cruise on the Grandeur with my mother. We live in Southern Pennsylvania so cruising out of Baltimore saves us all the inconveniences and costs of flying. I was wanting to go on another cruise from Baltimore or New Jersey, but when browsing the itineraries I noticed that they were lacking. They almost all stop in Florida or South Carolina no matter where the cruises stated destination is. There are even cruises billed as being cruises to the Bahamas that have more ports in Florida than in The Bahamas. I honestly would rather be on a cruise that has one stop on an island and after meandering aimlessly out in the ocean for a few days than pay the port fees for a place I could drive in a day. On top of that I think most people from the Northeast have been to Florida more than once because it is inexpensive to fly there. What's the deal with this? Do people want these sorts of cruises or is there something else at work here?

[AshleyDillo]

I'm guessing since the cruise starts so far north that it's really an issue that it takes so long to get down to the Caribbean.  The cruise would have to be a longer cruise which doesn't likely hit the most profitable demographic for them.

 

Anthem does a couple 9, 10, 11 and 12-night itineraries that hit more stops that may interest you.  The 7-night cruises really can't go much further than the Bahamas and that limits the ports.

 

 

[mets123]

What about Bermuda, New England/Canada, Eastern Caribbean, or Southern Caribbean?  They all leave from Bayonne or Baltimore.

[CruiseGal999]

27 minutes ago, JulofDenial said:

I have only been on one cruise before which was a Wester Caribbean cruise on the Grandeur with my mother. We live in Southern Pennsylvania so cruising out of Baltimore saves us all the inconveniences and costs of flying. I was wanting to go on another cruise from Baltimore or New Jersey, but when browsing the itineraries I noticed that they were lacking. They almost all stop in Florida or South Carolina no matter where the cruises stated destination is. There are even cruises billed as being cruises to the Bahamas that have more ports in Florida than in The Bahamas. I honestly would rather be on a cruise that has one stop on an island and after meandering aimlessly out in the ocean for a few days than pay the port fees for a place I could drive in a day. On top of that I think most people from the Northeast have been to Florida more than once because it is inexpensive to fly there. What's the deal with this? Do people want these sorts of cruises or is there something else at work here?

 

To get the experience you are looking for, your best bet is to cruise out of Florida.  Or across the country for LA or Seattle, etc.  But for Caribbean islands ... sail out of San Juan, PR or Florida and pick an itinerary that suits you.  

[abkl]

so we live in DC and we've done virtually all the itineraries out of Baltimore - Both the southern and northern on RCCL and the southern on Carnival.  I agree that the FL port stops are kind of lame - one we took last year was a 9 day on RCCL and did Charleston, Orlando, and Miami in addition to Nassau.  But it is what it is for those northern departures.  The only other stop you'd really have a chance to get to would be Coco Cay or Freeport.  You'd need to look for the longer itineraries to get further away and they don't run those as frequently.

[cruisinfanatic]

58 minutes ago, JulofDenial said:

I have only been on one cruise before which was a Wester Caribbean cruise on the Grandeur with my mother. We live in Southern Pennsylvania so cruising out of Baltimore saves us all the inconveniences and costs of flying. I was wanting to go on another cruise from Baltimore or New Jersey, but when browsing the itineraries I noticed that they were lacking. They almost all stop in Florida or South Carolina no matter where the cruises stated destination is. There are even cruises billed as being cruises to the Bahamas that have more ports in Florida than in The Bahamas. I honestly would rather be on a cruise that has one stop on an island and after meandering aimlessly out in the ocean for a few days than pay the port fees for a place I could drive in a day. On top of that I think most people from the Northeast have been to Florida more than once because it is inexpensive to fly there. What's the deal with this? Do people want these sorts of cruises or is there something else at work here?

There are plenty of cruises that don't go to Florida. They need to be longer than 8  days out of Bayonne to get there though

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by cruisinfanatic

[AdGuyMG]

Between next month (December 2018) and the end of next year (December 2019) there are 6 sailings of the Grandeur Of The Seas from Baltimore going for 12 nights to:

 

Saint Croix / Antigua / St Lucia / St Kitts / St Maarten   .. 3 Days at Sea going down & 3 Days at Seas coming Back

 

 

 

[mattb31]

Anthem spends almost the entire summer sailing to Bermuda and does several 9 night cruises to the Eastern Caribbean.

 

Baltimore and Bayonne are too far from the Caribbean to do 7 night sailings to most of those islands. That's the trade-off you get for a Northern departure port. 

[Merion_Mom]

There have been many threads in the past on Cruise Critic begging for “coastal cruises”. Someone always has to explain about the PVSA. 

 

There is a demand for these itineraries or the ships would not be sailing them, and sailing them full. 

 

As for for being able to drive to Charleston in a day?  Um, no.

 

I LOVE cruising to Charleston. I’m doing  it again in January.  Do I love a port call in Miami or Port Canaveral?  No, but I can visit friends and family.  I could visit the Kennedy Space Center every year, it’s such a wonderful place. 

 

When you tire of a port, try a walking food tour. It’s a whole new/different experience from other kinds of excursions. 

 

And the oddest part part of the OP’s question is:  only been on one cruise. 

 

One cruise, and you don’t like the itineraries?????  A little soon to be proclaiming that, IMO, in light of the many options. 

[Sailor Taylor]

Florida ports are truly lame.  Most are huge departure ports, already frequented by cruisers.  

 

Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah are much better.  

Edited November 9, 2018 by Sailor Taylor

[JulofDenial]

39 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

There have been many threads in the past on Cruise Critic begging for “coastal cruises”. Someone always has to explain about the PVSA. 

 

There is a demand for these itineraries or the ships would not be sailing them, and sailing them full. 

 

As for for being able to drive to Charleston in a day?  Um, no.

 

I LOVE cruising to Charleston. I’m doing  it again in January.  Do I love a port call in Miami or Port Canaveral?  No, but I can visit friends and family.  I could visit the Kennedy Space Center every year, it’s such a wonderful place. 

 

When you tire of a port, try a walking food tour. It’s a whole new/different experience from other kinds of excursions. 

 

And the oddest part part of the OP’s question is:  only been on one cruise. 

 

One cruise, and you don’t like the itineraries?????  A little soon to be proclaiming that, IMO, in light of the many options. 

Yes, I can get to Charleston in less than 12 hours from where I live. South Carolina is a popular summer beach spot vacation from where I live it is warm and easy to get there by car which makes it cheaper and more convenient than a trip to Florida which is why I question it being on a itinerary out of Baltimore since it is a place that Northeasterners are typically familiar with and can easily reach if they want to.

Yes, I do not like the itineraries. It does not matter how many cruises I have been on. I know I don't like the itineraries because I have been to South Carolina and Florida both. I did not need to take a plane or boat to get to either of them. I would rather not pay port fees for places that close to were I live and have become mundane for me.

[Merion_Mom]

1 minute ago, JulofDenial said:

Yes, I can get to Charleston in less than 12 hours from where I live. South Carolina is a popular summer beach spot vacation from where I live it is warm and easy to get there by car which makes it cheaper and more convenient than a trip to Florida which is why I question it being on a itinerary out of Baltimore since it is a place that Northeasterners are typically familiar with and can easily reach if they want to.

Yes, I do not like the itineraries. It does not matter how many cruises I have been on. I know I don't like the itineraries because I have been to South Carolina and Florida both. I did not need to take a plane or boat to get to either of them. I would rather not pay port fees for places that close to were I live and have become mundane for me.

 

Then choose a New England/Canada trip, or Bermuda, or Southern Caribbean, or Eastern Caribbean. 

[Merion_Mom]

P.S. To me, 12 hours is not a day’s drive. It’s a gruesome chamber of horrors.

 

😄

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, abkl said:

so we live in DC and we've done virtually all the itineraries out of Baltimore - Both the southern and northern on RCCL and the southern on Carnival.  I agree that the FL port stops are kind of lame - one we took last year was a 9 day on RCCL and did Charleston, Orlando, and Miami in addition to Nassau.  

If you stopped in Orlando, it was an unique cruise that will never be repeated.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Homosassa

[juju2454]

Have to say yes you can get to Miami in a day or less.  We drove it back a forth many times all the way from Homestead AFB to Central NY.    Made it in about 17 hours... sometimes less if we drove a night.

[juju2454]

4 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

P.S. To me, 12 hours is not a day’s drive. It’s a gruesome chamber of horrors.

 

😄

yeah I get that, but to me it's over and done, I hate looking  at  several days worth of car and nothing much to do , esp if you're driving.... 

[JulofDenial]

To clarify a few things, this is less to complain about the itineraries (even though I do think that they suck) than to enquire why they are the way they are.

Examples of what I am talking about.

-I don't necessarily consider a cruise to Florida and the SE coast to be weird in and of itself. They may appeal to Canadians and such. They are just not what I am looking for in a cruise. What I do consider to be odd are cruises billed as 'Bahamas' or 'Bermuda' cruises which have just as many, if not more, PoCs on the mainland.

-Out of 22 different Itineraries that take you to The Bahamas out of Bayonne and Baltimore only 1 does not include a stop in Charleston or Florida. Of the others some are up to nine nights long and have up to 4 PoCs in Charleston and Florida.

-There are only 4 Itineraries to Bermuda out of Bayonne and Baltimore. Two of them only visit Bermuda which is something, but they never overnight in Bermuda as I have seen some Bermuda Cruises do from other departure ports.

-Out of the other two Bermuda cruises the one that departs from Bayonne has a PoC in Boston for a reason I can't conceive. The ones that follow this itinerary are all in April when the weather in Boston is particularly miserable. The other departs from Baltimore and goes to Charleston which is actually further away from Baltimore than Bermuda is.

-The first cruise I took was on the Grandeur out of Baltimore. It was a 9 night Western Caribbean cruise and the ports were Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, and Labadee so it is possible to get there and back in a reasonable amount of time. There now don't seem to be any Western Caribbean cruises out of Baltimore or Bayonne.

 

-There are Eastern and Southern Caribbean itineraries as well as New England cruises. New England cruises don't appeal to me, but I don't consider the itinerary to be 'weird'.

-I don't necessarily consider a cruise to Florida and the SE coast to be weird. They may appeal to Canadians and such. Not ideal, but not odd. What I do consider to be odd are cruises billed as 'Bahamas' or 'Bermuda' cruises which have just as many, if not more, PoCs on the mainland.

[shipgeeks]

We will soon be on one of the 12-night Grandeur cruises mentioned above; it will be perhaps the fourth time we've done it.  Three days at sea, five Caribbean ports, three days returning.  To us, it's the perfect combination.

[dahirsh]

I've cruised RC out of Bayonne 5 times, not one of them ported in SC or FL.  But every one of them was 9 nights or more.  I guess I've just missed them but I've not even noticed an itinerary that had a SC port from Bayonne.

  

[joand452]

We did a 12-day on Anthem from Cape Liberty, without stopping in Florida. We also did an 8-day on Quantum that did stop in Port Canaveral (the port for Orlando).  It rained the entire week; the only thing we did was go to the surf shops in Cocoa Beach.  We were supposed to stop in Coco Cay but couldn't tender.

 

We're in northern Virginia, and we just plan on flying to Florida for any Caribbean cruise.  

[GUT2407]

Do know why anyone books an itinerary they don’t like?

[suncruiser]

The only itinerary to the Caribbean worth going on from Baltimore is the 12 day. The 7 day itineraries are horrible. Would rather fly to Florida and get a decent 7 day itinerary. 

[meadowlander]

2 hours ago, JulofDenial said:

 

-There are only 4 Itineraries to Bermuda out of Bayonne and Baltimore. Two of them only visit Bermuda which is something, but they never overnight in Bermuda as I have seen some Bermuda Cruises do from other departure ports.



 

I don't know where you are getting your information but it is wrong. Every Anthem 5 day Bermuda cruise in 2019, all 13 of them, spend an overnight in Bermuda.

 

In addition all 8 of their 9 night 2019 Caribbean cruises and all 4 of their 12 night Caribbean cruises do not call on Florida or Bahamas. Neither do their Canada/New England cruises.

[JulofDenial]

2 hours ago, meadowlander said:

I don't know where you are getting your information but it is wrong. Every Anthem 5 day Bermuda cruise in 2019, all 13 of them, spend an overnight in Bermuda.

 

In addition all 8 of their 9 night 2019 Caribbean cruises and all 4 of their 12 night Caribbean cruises do not call on Florida or Bahamas. Neither do their Canada/New England cruises.

I am getting my information from the Royal Caribbean sight and yes, I see that about the Bermuda cruises now. I was reading off of the search list on the RC page while scanning it so it gave the impression that they were only spending one night there.

I am citing itineraries, not individual cruises. I have not bothered to go and count how many times each individual itinerary sails for the 40 cruises that are sailing out of Bayonne and Baltimore. I have noted that yes, there are cruises that don't have the weird itineraries I am talking about. There just aren't many of them.

And this still doesn't answer my question which is why so many of those itineraries exist compared to the other ones. Do people actually like those cruises? Do they get kickbacks from those ports? Does it somehow save the ship money? What happened to the Western Caribbean cruises? And so forth.

[mets123]

Here's a simple solution. Either don't cruise any more or find another cruise line. All of your points have been answered many times. Maybe cruising isn't for you?