Weird/Bad Itineraries out of Northeast?

[lovescats5]

I really wish you Northeasterns would stop complaining about the port stops you do or don't like.  For us to even get to a port on the eastern coast costs at least $2000 so for us we take the ports that come with the cruise that works best with our schedule.  We will be in Port Canaveral in April and might not even get off the ship but at least we will be on vacation.  You want to complain about port stops just look at the ships going to Mexico, every one stops at the same ports.  At least you can get a few different ports sailing down the east coast and into the Bahamas or Bermuda.

[Baron Barracuda]

Royal has offered the 9 day itinerary out of Bayonne for many years using various combinations of Bermuda, St. Thomas, St Martin, San Juan and Labadee.  Never a port call in Florida.  Since '06 we have done it on Explorer, Quantum, Liberty and Anthem.  The itinerary remains very popular (especially with Northeasterners) and I hope they keep it when Anthem is replaced in 2020.  

[reallyitsmema]

3 hours ago, Homosassa said:

🙄 Did you read the entire thread? The person I was responding to claimed his cruise from Baltimore stopped in Orlando. I suggested he check the departures from Frederick, Maryland for different itineraries. 

 

Please check state maps for Florida and Maryland if you need help with the cruise port cities of Orlando and Frederick. 

 

Whether you like it or not, the cruise line advertises a stop in Orlando.  You, as well as everyone else on this thread knows they are referring to Port Canaveral, but Orlando is still listed as a port stop and a departure port.

[laumicmah]

By the way, the cruise out of Baltimore that stops at Charleston, PC and Miami is a 9 day not a 7 day. We are booked for Jan as DH loved the itin. Me not so much. We live in NC and drive to Hilton Head 1-2 times a year and to Disney 2-3 times a year. So I was like "huh" when he wanted to book it. But A) we're from Baltimore and all our family is there (and we will be up there to take DDs back to college as soon as we get off the cruise). B) we never really get to Charleston so we're looking forward to that. And C) it also stops in Cococay (and Nassau but meh). D) it's more interesting than the 7 day CCL Pride that stops at Freeport, Nassau and private island and even the private island, Grand Turk and Freeport as Freeport is the worst and Grand Turk is almost as bad lately. Anyway, was told that they have so far down to go that they can only get to the northern area of the Caribbean. Like mentioned, you'd have to do 12 days or so to get better ports. And we're pushing it to be able to do 9 (DH getting off work).

Edited November 12, 2018 by laumicmah

[Merion_Mom]

6 hours ago, schlimazel_traveler said:

I'm disappointed in these itineraries, too.

We did an 11-night Caribbean cruise out of Baltimore in January '17 and loved the block of sea days in each direction. We would have been glad to do it again. Unfortunately, the first sailing of the year (which is the one that works with our schedule) was the Charleston/Florida/Florida/Bahamas route that doesn't really appeal.  We love sea days!

 

I was hoping that January '19 would be an opportunity for something more appealing but it was the same itinerary as last January...

 

I do wish the sailings from Baltimore didn't include these coastal stops but obviously some people like them.

 

 

So you are not disappointed in the itineraries; you are sad that the cruise that you want - the 12 nighter to the Southern Caribbean - is a little later in January than you want.

[joand452]

We booked a cruise on the Anthem in April that we believed was spending two overnights in Bermuda!  Well, it was changed and is now spending a day in Boston.  Many people who were already booked cancelled.  They didn't want to go to Boston in April (I've spent plenty of April days in Boston!).  We're originally from RI and have spent of time in Boston, but this time we get to play tourist for the first time in many years (or rent a car and drive to RI to visit family), so we're looking forward to it.

 

I guess everyone has different ideas of their relaxing vacation.

[elhenry]

Want a better itinerary (meaning one you like better)? Move to Florida.

Since I live in the Christmas City, (Penna) I’ve sailed out of Bayonne twice, NYC twice, Ball’mer twice. (not all RCCL, also NCL)

I personally would love to stop in Charleston after a relaxing day at sea rather than drive all sorts through all sorts of fresh hell on 95 to get there.

and I presume RCCL keeps the ports on their itineraries to appeal to folks like me😎

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by elhenry

[elhenry]

1 minute ago, elhenry said:

Deleted

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by elhenry

[stowite]

13 hours ago, pjlee3333 said:

And to show how different people can be, I love the Canada new England cruise.  Despite the fact I've done it about 14 times there are places I want to spend more time at.

When I was looking at a Canada trip, I decided the cruises didn't have enough time in Prince Edward Island for me so we ended up taking a 2 week land trip to Nova Scotia and PEI. So much to see there and such beautiful coastlines.

 

[laumicmah]

1 hour ago, elhenry said:

Want a better itinerary (meaning one you like better)? Move to Florida.

Since I live in the Christmas City, (Penna) I’ve sailed out of Bayonne twice, NYC twice, Ball’mer twice. (not all RCCL, also NCL)

I personally would love to stop in Charleston after a relaxing day at sea rather than drive all sorts through all sorts of fresh hell on 95 to get there.

and I presume RCCL keeps the ports on their itineraries to appeal to folks like me😎

 

 

 

 

Yep. We just drove 14 hours to port of Miami for a cruise and that was a bit much. We can drive 5 hours to my mom's, stay there a night and get up and drive 25 minutes to the port of Baltimore. Maybe even have mom drive us to avoid parking fees. We could drive to Jax port in about 7 hours but they have stinky itins and they are short cruises. Now I wouldn't do this itin every time. But it's not a bad choice every now and again. 

[Iamcruzin]

I have to say that Royal Caribbean offers some decent itineraries to the Caribbean from the Northeast. We have been to many of the islands at least twice if not more.  The only one that wouldn't interest me is the one that calls on two Florida ports. We visit family in Florida at least once a year. I would rather do a land trip there than waste my cruise dollars stopping in Orlando or Miami. We are not theme park fans and if we did visit a theme park we wouldn't want a time restriction. I also realize that for some this is the only opportunity to visit Disney or Universal. With that said I wouldn't mind a port of call in the Keys. We are booked on the 9 day Anthem calling on Bermuda (our favorite island) San Juan, St Maarten and Labadee. The only new port for us is Labadee. I will enjoy the sea days and since we have been to all of these islands many times we won't be booking excursions. The itineraries out of Florida aren't any more exciting or new than the ones in the northeast. The unique itineraries  depart from San Juan which at this point we have sailed from more times than from Ft Lauderdale. We have also sailed repositioning cruises that started in San Juan and ended at Cape Liberty or Red Hook Brooklyn. These were sailed on Princess and Celebrity. If you can't start your vacation from home this is a nice way of starting in the Caribbean and ending at home. I have booked cheaper flights to San Juan than I have booked for Florida.  

[abkl]

23 hours ago, Homosassa said:

🙄 Did you read the entire thread? The person I was responding to claimed his cruise from Baltimore stopped in Orlando. I suggested he check the departures from Frederick, Maryland for different itineraries. 

 

Please check state maps for Florida and Maryland if you need help with the cruise port cities of Orlando and Frederick. 

We could keep the joke going with a Harpers Ferry stop for Frederick, but I think at that point we're limiting the amount of people that will get the joke.

[dswallow]

Let's face it, most people don't cruise monthly. 🙂  Now, that said, would it really cost anything to swap a port every 6 or 8 months for something different? St. Maarten feels to me much like the Nassau of yesteryear -- tiring and repetitive and all-too-common. It'd also be nice to see menus changed up in the dining room more than every 5 or 6 years... as long as I'm asking for stuff. 🙂

[gatour]

On 11/10/2018 at 12:51 AM, JulofDenial said:

Did you miss the places where I repeatedly said that the object of the post was not to complain, but that I was wondering why the itineraries were the way they were?

For seven day cruises it is a matter of logistics.  Most people expect 3 or 4 ports of call.  Ships normally sail around 18-19 knots.  You can only cover so much ground given these constraints, thus the need for a Florida port.  As other have said you need to look at longer cruises to get a true Caribbean cruise.

 

Also New York is not the center of the universe in regards to where cruise ship passengers are home based.   People come from all over to do a cruise.  If they are going to fly anyway to get to an embarcation port, they may like to take a NE cruise that stops in Boston etc.

 

Although I agree Port Canerval would not be my favorite port of call, enough people are buying cruises that include this stop, so the cruise lines continue to offer this type of sailing.

[asalligo]

I think many people do not realize that a large percentage of working age cruisers cannot take longer than a seven day cruise in the window they have available. I took a seven day out of Baltimore a few years ago when living within a days drive. The kids were only out of school and I off work for one week, so the cruise had to be seven days or less. Yes, it was an Itinerary I did not care for (Orlando, Nassau and Freeport), but cruising was what I wanted to do for my vacation so this itinerary worked. Even adding a day to this cruise (Sunday to Sunday) would have made it not work for my cruising window. Flying my family of four to Miami would have added a minimum $2000 to my cruise price because of spring break pricing.

 

So to answer your question, these itineraries fill the boat on certain weeks and make a ton of money. 

[Iamcruzin]

  That's probably a popular itinerary with families. Beach days and Disney that's what kids like and it doesn't require much planning for the islands.  I haven't  been to either Nassau or Freeport in 20 years if Port Canaveral was replaced with Key West I would probably book that itinerary.