Why does Carnival only stay in Key West until 1:30?

[Joebucks]

I've heard the explanations of the sunsets. However, Royal is there until 6 pm. Why does Royal get to stay later? I love Key West, but 1:30 departure kills it for me.

[Doggielover68]

Probably because they arrive there very early and have further ports to get to. Carnival itineraries are sometimes more port intensive (less sea days) than the larger RCCL ships so that may be why. 

[Saint Greg]

I’ve read somewhere that the locals want the ships out early so they don’t ruin their sunset. I think we were there later than 1:30 though. Let me check. Our back on board was 3:30.

[hotsauce126]

It's probably cheaper

[ChosenOne]

we are on Paradise in April & don't depart Key West until 6PM...sunset isn't until 7:49 so you wouldn't see if before you sailed any way

 

[jdemps]

Because there's money to be made in bar/casino/shops if you are on the ship, not in port.....lol

 

[crookedhalo]

I think it depends on which pier you're docked at as well - Mallory is in the tourist area so they want the ships out so they don't block the sunset.  Naval pier is off by itself so not as big an issue.

[Lottacruises]

Your question as it is is too vague and seems to be a false generalization. If one brand stays later sail with them.

 

Why to people pick carnival then complain that they are not like royal?

[coevan]

6 hours ago, jdemps said:

Because there's money to be made in bar/casino/shops if you are on the ship, not in port.....lol

 

 

 

It's not that diabolical, it depends on where their next port of call is. The GPS lets them know exactly what time they need to leave a port and get to the next port on time. 

[webzila]

17 minutes ago, Lottacruises said:

Your question as it is is too vague and seems to be a false generalization. If one brand stays later sail with them.

 

Why to people pick carnival then complain that they are not like royal?

 

Why can't people just ask questions without getting flamed? If they want to complain then let them.

 

I find the OPs question interesting and curious as to what the reason is...

[Djptcp]

Not that much to do in Key West in my opinion. Take a trolley tour, tour the Hemingway House, have a drink at Sloppy Joe's Bar, buy a t-shirt at one of the hundred t-shirt shops, that's about it. Been there 3 times and we saw it all the first time there.

[Doggielover68]

2 minutes ago, Djptcp said:

Not that much to do in Key West in my opinion. Take a trolley tour, tour the Hemingway House, have a drink at Sloppy Joe's Bar, buy a t-shirt at one of the hundred t-shirt shops, that's about it. Been there 3 times and we saw it all the first time there.

 I feel the same way. I kind of have a policy in my head that I don't want to cruise to places that I could drive to.

[LadyMac72]

For my cruise, we are there from 12 to 5.

My guess is that they stagger the times so there's not a huge influx of people there at the same time.

[coscab]

The butterfly place at the far end of Duval St. is wonderful, we would go again if Key West was on the itinerary.

[ober134]

We love key west. I agree that port times are inadequate. Just my opinion. I chose RC last time due to port times. So options are available.

[AdGuyMG]

They leave KW at 1:30PM when the next day's port is Cozumel. They have about 430 miles to cover for a 12 noon arrival in Coz and a later departure wouldn't cut it.

[OCruisers]

14 minutes ago, AdGuyMG said:

They leave KW at 1:30PM when the next day's port is Cozumel. They have about 430 miles to cover for a 12 noon arrival in Coz and a later departure wouldn't cut it.

 

Per above ... The ship needs to leave in time to get to Cozumel on time.  

[Joebucks]

9 hours ago, ChosenOne said:

we are on Paradise in April & don't depart Key West until 6PM...sunset isn't until 7:49 so you wouldn't see if before you sailed any way

 

 

I couldn't seem to find this itinerary. Do you have a link?

 

24 minutes ago, AdGuyMG said:

They leave KW at 1:30PM when the next day's port is Cozumel. They have about 430 miles to cover for a 12 noon arrival in Coz and a later departure wouldn't cut it.

 

I think this might make sense! Cozumel has typically been a later port after Key West.

 

1 hour ago, Lottacruises said:

Your question as it is is too vague and seems to be a false generalization. If one brand stays later sail with them.

 

Why to people pick carnival then complain that they are not like royal?

 

I think you're reaching by saying I want them to "be like Royal". I am not asking for the Royal experience at all. In fact, I want the Carnival experience. Royal only sends their small boats there from what I saw, and I have no interest in that itinerary. 

 

1 hour ago, Doggielover68 said:

 I feel the same way. I kind of have a policy in my head that I don't want to cruise to places that I could drive to.

 

To each their own. I think it can be a fun place to visit every now and again. I used to stay in the Keys, and always enjoyed the laid back atmosphere. At a 22 hour drive, that is too far for me even though it is possible to drive there.

[PlanoDebbie]

I just looked at each of the 4 and 5 day itineraries for the Paradise in April, 2019.

 

It sails out of Tampa and mostly goes to a combination of Key West, Cuba and Cozumel.  Every time it goes to Key West, it's in port from noon to 6:00 pm.

[elcuchio24]

13 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

It's not that diabolical, it depends on where their next port of call is. The GPS lets them know exactly what time they need to leave a port and get to the next port on time. 

 

Exactly. I have had departures at 1pm from Key West. 3pm and 6pm too!

[DebJ14]

It really depends on the itinerary. On our 2017 cruise on the Freedom to Key West and the Bahamas we were supposed to arrive in Key West at 10am and stay until 6pm.  However, we had 40kt headwinds and arrived a couple hours late.  Carnival extended our stay until 8pm, which gave us the opportunity to watch an amazing sunset.

[ZoeyVictoria]

I was initially disappointed when I saw we would be in Key West from 7:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on the Victory in May until I remembered what the weather is like there in May.   Now I am looking forward to getting up early and enjoying KW during the (relatively) coolest part of the day.

[Knights on the Beach]

On 2/26/2019 at 7:23 PM, Djptcp said:

Not that much to do in Key West in my opinion. Take a trolley tour, tour the Hemingway House, have a drink at Sloppy Joe's Bar, buy a t-shirt at one of the hundred t-shirt shops, that's about it. Been there 3 times and we saw it all the first time there.

 

I might have the same opinion if I was there for such a short period of time during a port of call.  There's so much more to Key West if you have days, a week or a month to spend there - great snorkeling, kayaking, sailing, fishing, parasailing and other water sports.  Places to visit include Truman's Little Whitehouse, Butterfly Conservatory, Fort Zachary Taylor Park, Lighthouse, Mel Fisher Museum, art galleries, Firehouse Museum, Custom House Museum and Coast Guard Cutter Ingham to name a few.  

 

We visit Key West multiple times a year and there's enough to do to keep us going back over and over - from Songwriters Festival in May to the Lighted Boat Parade in December.  Key West has some of the best live music in the country and rivals what you can find in Nashville or Austin, but most of it starts later in the day so many cruise ship passengers miss it.  Key West celebrates everything with a flare - Conch Republic Celebration in April, Gay Pride in June, Key Lime Pie Festival in July, etc.  And then there's the nightly sunset celebration at Mallory Square.  I could go on and on but this is making me realize something.  How many other islands have we visited via cruise ship but didn't really get to know because we were only there for a few hours?  

[Anyislandwilldo]

I would rather go to Cozumel first and then come back to spend more time in Key West.

[tidecat]

12 minutes ago, Anyislandwilldo said:

I would rather go to Cozumel first and then come back to spend more time in Key West.

It gets a little awkward on a four-day itinerary. Ports.com has the distance from Miami to Cozumel at 607 knots, so if a ship averaged 20 knots, it would leave Miami at 4:00 PM on the embarkation day, and would arrive in Cozumel around 5:30 PM the next day, which is largely useless for excursions. Even if you slow it down and do a 7:00 AM call at Cozumel on the the following day, you still have that 455 knot distance to cover to get back to Key West. A ship that leaves Cozumel at 4:00 PM would get to  Key West around 3:00 PM on Day 4, which realistically means leaving by 10:00 PM to get back to Miami around 6:00 AM.