How often does Princess change the itineraries?

[Princess Cruises Fann]

I like when Princess sailed out of San Juan. They had great seven day itineraries on the Caribbean Princess. We did the following itineraries:

2008- San Juan, At sea, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, St. Thomas, San Juan

2010- San Juan, St. Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, At sea, San Juan

[LMADAMS91]

1 hour ago, Princess Cruises Fann said:

I like when Princess sailed out of San Juan. They had great seven day itineraries on the Caribbean Princess. We did the following itineraries:

2008- San Juan, At sea, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, St. Thomas, San Juan

2010- San Juan, St. Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, At sea, San Juan

Even though we've been to almost all of these ports, I'd love it if they did these again. We love sailing out of San Juan and the southern Caribbean routes are our favorite. 

 

[donaldsc]

15 hours ago, Hlitner said:

You need to consider that many Caribbean ports (including all three of the ABC islands) have limited docking facilities.  When cruise lines develop their itineraries (often 2+ years in advance) they must work with the days when there are available berths in each port.  The itineraries must also give great consideration to time/distance.  Passengers are not very happy when their ship must leave a port at 3pm in order to make their next port on time.   The planners will often go out of their way to schedule full port days (i.e. 8 - 5) which can make for some strange routings.  There is also consideration given to the speed that must be achieved to keep to the schedule.  Cruising at 15 knots is much more economical then making a high speed run at 22 knots.

 

Hank

 

If they didn't cruise so slowly to save fuel, they might not have to leave at 3 PM.  Many of the apparently stupid itinerary decisions that cruise companies make a driven by their need to save fuel.

 

DON

[Hlitner]

3 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

If they didn't cruise so slowly to save fuel, they might not have to leave at 3 PM.  Many of the apparently stupid itinerary decisions that cruise companies make a driven by their need to save fuel.

 

DON

Completely agree.

 

Hank

[BarbinMich]

9 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

If they didn't cruise so slowly to save fuel, they might not have to leave at 3 PM.  Many of the apparently stupid itinerary decisions that cruise companies make a driven by their need to save fuel.

 

DON

What's wrong with saving fuel?  The alternative is to charge more a cruise.

[BarbinMich]

12 hours ago, Princess Cruises Fann said:

I like when Princess sailed out of San Juan. They had great seven day itineraries on the Caribbean Princess. We did the following itineraries:

2008- San Juan, At sea, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Tortola, St. Thomas, San Juan

2010- San Juan, St. Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, At sea, San Juan

We sailed out of SJ on our first cruise back in 1994 [on Celebrity] and have since visited it as a port on 4 later cruises--the historic part of the city is a wonderful place to wander around and we also enjoyed an excursion to El Yunque Natl Forest which is SE of SJ.  The main "hassle" with sailing out of SJ is the longer and more expensive flight than going out of Ft Lauderdale.  We like sea days and have been doing longer cruises since retirement 18 yrs ago.  Obviously, for many folks, 7-day cruises are the preferred length.  "Different strokes for different folks."

Edited December 24, 2019 by BarbinMich