Ecstasy and Sensation are now due to retire

[sanmarcosman]

The article in the first post says Ecstasy was the first in the class. Not so.

[CruiseAdict218]

1 hour ago, sanmarcosman said:

The article in the first post says Ecstasy was the first in the class. Not so.

From the cruise industry news post? Does not mention that, rather the following....

 

Carnival Cruise Line today announced two more ships would leave its fleet, as the company will say farewell to the Sensation and Ecstasy. Carnival also outlined a number of deployment changes.

 

The 1991-built Ecstasy and 1993-built Sensation are the two oldest ships in the cruise operator's fleet.

 

 

[CruiseHealing]

7 hours ago, cmichael1221 said:

I wonder if they end up here?  Quote at the bottom says they'll be looking for more ships eventually.

 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Margaritaville-at-Sea-Set-to-Launch-in-April-2022

That was my original thought. They have lots of money and this theme cruise line is not a gimmick. They will be a force in the cruise industry as they commercialize their cruise line.  

[DallasGuy75219]

2 hours ago, brilliantseas said:

 

I don't see them pulling the short cruises out of NOLA to support MOB. The NOLA cruises benefit from the much larger airport.

Me neither. Carnival replaced Elation with Triumph in 2016 due to demand for 4/5 night cruises out of NOLA and is now up to Conquest class with Valor.

[toad455]

The speculation with the Margaritaville Cruise Line is that they'll want another ship to do cruises to Nassau and utilize their new Margaritaville Hotel there. Can see them doing 4-day cruises to Bimini & overnight in Nassau with their second ship.

[bobbyandali]

3 hours ago, tidecat said:

Any chance NOLA loses the short cruise business to MOB, but keeps the longer cruises?

I was on Valor in November and I was stunned at the fly-in traffic for that 5 night cruise. 

But what people were doing were flying in two nights earlier, check out NOLA, then 5 nights on Valor then head home. So a week vacation.

Not sure Mobile can compete with that. 

[Tapi]

7 hours ago, ledges1 said:

Mobile does not make good business sense in the current environment. Unfortunate for Mobile. They have a cruise port and parking deck that is owned by the city with no direct revenue to pay down the debt. Without the cruise ship, the deck sits empty.

 

4 hours ago, brilliantseas said:

 

I agree that Mobile is unfortunately difficult to get to by air and will always be cannibalized by New Orleans. As a drive-to port, Mobile is fantastic. I would take it every day over New Orleans. 

Mobile is definitely not easy to fly into with a tiny regional airport. But it was never intended to be attractive to people who fly to cruise. For those of us who live in the Atlanta area (specially the suburbs south of the metropolitan area), Mobile is by far the easiest drive -to port. From our house we can be at the port of Mobile in a little over 4 hours (Jacksonville and Charleston are second closest at about 5.5 hours). If I’m going to drive longer than that, I’d pick Port Canaveral over New Orleans. Much better itineraries and ships from many more cruise lines.
 

I think that Mobile has survived because of its proximity to Atlanta and the millions of people that Carnival can draw from that area. When we last sailed from Mobile in 2019 during our kids school break, the cruise director mentioned that 80% of passengers were from Georgia. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Tapi

[ch09]

28 minutes ago, toad455 said:

The speculation with the Margaritaville Cruise Line is that they'll want another ship to do cruises to Nassau and utilize their new Margaritaville Hotel there. Can see them doing 4-day cruises to Bimini & overnight in Nassau with their second ship.

West Palm Beach cannot support a bigger ship than what it has due to the turning basin. So a bigger ship like the Ecstasy or Sensation would have to go out from the bigger ports. Fort Lauderdale would be the likely option, since it was the port where the 2-night cruises to Nassau happened long ago with the Regal Empress and the Bahamas Celebration that got moved to West Palm Beach prior to the Grand Celebration.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

It's interesting that the Spirit becomes unassigned about 10 days before the Pride leaves Tampa on a 14 day transatlantic to start her European season. I wouldn't be too surprised if the Spirit took over her sailings and she stayed behind here in the US.

[brilliantseas]

4 hours ago, ch09 said:

West Palm Beach cannot support a bigger ship than what it has due to the turning basin. So a bigger ship like the Ecstasy or Sensation would have to go out from the bigger ports. Fort Lauderdale would be the likely option, since it was the port where the 2-night cruises to Nassau happened long ago with the Regal Empress and the Bahamas Celebration that got moved to West Palm Beach prior to the Grand Celebration.

 

I didn't realize West Palm Beach was so small that it couldn't support a Fantasy class ship? It makes me curious as to the history of their cruise port. When was it built, and what was the long-term business plan? 

[Earthworm Jim]

23 hours ago, pogoism9 said:

 

Have they though? Right now, we have XL2 and XL3 being built, and the Costa ship that is being converted (which is a Destiny class). What leads you to believe we won't see an XL4, 5, and 6? At some point they are going to have to either A) Rehab the Spirit ships, or B) design and build out a completely new class from the ground up. I guess they could just transfer some smaller ships from another line, but that's kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul right?

 

Or C) Give up on the smaller ports entirely. But that seems like it would be a significant contraction of their business, even allowing that some of the remaining ports would have bigger ships than they currently have.

 

The A option of rehabbing ships, or acquiring existing smaller ships from their other brands, is only a stopgap solution anyway. Eventually those ships will get too old too. At some point they are going have to decide to either build new smaller ships, which we've seen no indication of yet, or give up on smaller ports.

[DallasGuy75219]

3 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Or C) Give up on the smaller ports entirely. But that seems like it would be a significant contraction of their business, even allowing that some of the remaining ports would have bigger ships than they currently have.

 

The A option of rehabbing ships, or acquiring existing smaller ships from their other brands, is only a stopgap solution anyway. Eventually those ships will get too old too. At some point they are going have to decide to either build new smaller ships, which we've seen no indication of yet, or give up on smaller ports.

C seems unlikely and contrary to Carnival's organic growth strategy. Carnival has a niche with drive-to homeports that drives future business.  Smaller, older ships in ports like Mobile and Jacksonville don't command the revenue premium of the Vista or XL class but do introduce new customers to cruising with shorter, less expensive itineraries. Some of these customers will later branch out to newer, bigger (and more expensive) ships in fly-to ports, creating future customers and brand loyalty.

 

Some of these homeports also grow as markets in their own right over time, e.g. New Orleans started with Tropicale(?) and  Galveston with Celebration and are now home to multiple Carnival ships. 

[ledges1]

Mobile is a port that has potential when the cruise industry is booming. When the industry is struggling, it is not a port that generates revenue for Carnival. Other than easy access if you drive to the port, the destinations are the same as N.O. and Galveston and similar to Tampa for 4 and 5 day cruises. Carnival was suppose to return this past October to Mobile, then delayed to January and delayed again until March 5. Now they will cancel after a 6 month cruise season. Mobile will always be at the bottom of the pecking order as a cruise port. I live in the area and it does not have much to offer the tourist to come in early and spend a few days. I would not spend the money to fly to Mobile to take a cruise on the Ecstacy.

[brilliantseas]

9 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

C seems unlikely and contrary to Carnival's organic growth strategy. Carnival has a niche with drive-to homeports that drives future business.  Smaller, older ships in ports like Mobile and Jacksonville don't command the revenue premium of the Vista or XL class but do introduce new customers to cruising with shorter, less expensive itineraries. Some of these customers will later branch out to newer, bigger (and more expensive) ships in fly-to ports, creating future customers and brand loyalty.

 

Some of these homeports also grow as markets in their own right over time, e.g. New Orleans started with Tropicale(?) and  Galveston with Celebration and are now home to multiple Carnival ships. 

 

It also gives Carnival a home for the smaller, older ships with little to no local competition. These ships are fully paid for, and although they still require regular maintenance, they add capacity at virtually no capital investment cost. While oil prices are low(ish), these ships are reported to turn a profit with only about half of the berths sold. This is why you see cruise lines like Bahamas Paradise (Margaritaville at Sea), Pullmantur (now defunct), and CMV still sailing half-full ships that were built in the 80s. So long as oil prices are low and Carnival doesn't believe it is cannibalizing sales for sailings from other ports, it will continue to position its oldest and smallest ships at smaller drive-to ports where it can continue to profitably sail them without the need to discount significantly to compete with competition. 

[pogoism9]

59 minutes ago, brilliantseas said:

it will continue to position its oldest and smallest ships at smaller drive-to ports where it

 

I mean, Baltimore, Jacksonville and Tampa require older smaller ships at this point due to bridges they have to go under

[SisterHavana]

Oh, this makes me sad. My first cruise was on Ecstasy in 1992. I loved it!

Edited February 6, 2022 by SisterHavana

[CarnivalShips480]

I noticed that Ecstasy and Sensation aren't up for sale anymore.

 

I know Sensation was sold to the scrap yard, but it seems to be sticking around too long for that to happen.

[ninjacat123]

On 2/5/2022 at 10:17 AM, ledges1 said:

Mobile is a port that has potential when the cruise industry is booming. When the industry is struggling, it is not a port that generates revenue for Carnival. Other than easy access if you drive to the port, the destinations are the same as N.O. and Galveston and similar to Tampa for 4 and 5 day cruises. Carnival was suppose to return this past October to Mobile, then delayed to January and delayed again until March 5. Now they will cancel after a 6 month cruise season. Mobile will always be at the bottom of the pecking order as a cruise port. I live in the area and it does not have much to offer the tourist to come in early and spend a few days. I would not spend the money to fly to Mobile to take a cruise on the Ecstacy.

We are driving to Mobile for a May 28 cruise on Ecstasy. Staying in the Historic District near the port.  Any recommendations for dinner?  TIA!

[ledges1]

13 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

We are driving to Mobile for a May 28 cruise on Ecstasy. Staying in the Historic District near the port.  Any recommendations for dinner?  TIA!

I would suggest Felix Fish Camp on the Causeway. Also The Original Oyster House is very good (also on the Causeway). I would also suggest the Battlehouse Hotel. It is a great hotel and I think you can leave your car. It is walking distance to the ship. Have a great trip and enjoy Mobile.

[CruiseAdict218]

16 hours ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

I noticed that Ecstasy and Sensation aren't up for sale anymore.

 

I know Sensation was sold to the scrap yard, but it seems to be sticking around too long for that to happen.

Depending on what company she was sold too, probably have to wait for their scrapping slot to open up, Aliaga is pretty book up with older various ships and with some waiting out in Greece so probably using her for crew quarantine in the mean time. 
 

Ecstasy’s fate probably won’t be revealed for a little while since she won’t depart the fleet till October.