More West Coast Departures

[dugknight]

Anybody else wish Celebrity had more of a presence on the west coast? I remember, we used to be able to jump on 3-day weekend cruises on Celebrity back in the day. That would really help me be able to cruise more and earn more points without taking so much time off work or flying across the country. One can dream...

[mikewomb]

There are the Pacific Coastal cruises which are very nice

[jelayne]

I wish they would put a ship in Galveston so we would have to fly all the time, or cruise on Royal on Carnival.

[HBDave]

1 hour ago, mikewomb said:

There are the Pacific Coastal cruises which are very nice

I think she was referring to the 3 and 4 day cruises done by RCCL, Carnival and Princess. These cruises typically depart from Los Angeles and visit Catalina Island, San Diego and Ensenada. They’re great introduction cruises for new cruisers. Many first-time users will stick with the Cruise Line they stated with and this brings a new set of customers for future cruises.

 

I would also agree for those of us from the west seeking a quick getaway, it would be nice to jump on a local short cruise without having to travel across the county.  

Edited March 15, 2022 by HBDave

[mikewomb]

Well 3-4 days is so short, it isn’t much time, and the same amount of work. A week goes by too fast.

Edited March 15, 2022 by mikewomb

[phoenix_dream]

Don't care to fly cross country for a 3 day cruise but wish for 9-11 days like before.  Had an April this year but it got canceled.  Very disappointing.   I love west coast cruises!

[bigbenboys]

We have done 3 or 4 day sailings on Celebrity Mercury out of Seattle years ago. Also Royal Caribbean out of Seattle I think it was Radiance of the Seas.

[dugknight]

 

I realize they do have some cruises in this area, just nothing on a regular schedule. I wish!

[casandbliz]

This is the reason we jumped from Celebrity to Princess several years ago. Although, when the Millennium came back to San Pedro this year, we booked a 7 day Mexican Riviera for the fall.

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 hours ago, HBDave said:

I think she was referring to the 3 and 4 day cruises done by RCCL, Carnival and Princess. These cruises typically depart from Los Angeles and visit Catalina Island, San Diego and Ensenada. They’re great introduction cruises for new cruisers. Many first-time users will stick with the Cruise Line they stated with and this brings a new set of customers for future cruises.

 

I would also agree for those of us from the west seeking a quick getaway, it would be nice to jump on a local short cruise without having to travel across the county.  

RCCL decided to do exactly that with Royal.  The "booze cruises" to Mexico are not really the type of customer X is trying to attract.

[Denny01]

We love the West Coast repositioning cruises prior and after the Alaska season, and have done 4 of them! Earlier, they were wine-focused and had wine tastings every day, and of course all of them had overnights in San Fran…..I’d tell people they’d have a ‘hotel’ right there in the Embarcadero, walking distance of so much. 

 

But the 3-4 days??? Nope. Not because we are in Florida (well yeah that too) but not only are they way too short, they are not that much ‘fun’ for us. Did a Carnival for 3N and it was more of a zoo. So nope. I’ll do the Up and Down the Coast cruises or over and back to Hawaii, or the Best which is through the Canal and spend some time in San Diego and so on. Grew up in Long Beach and my family would get a little hotel outside Balboa Park in San Diego and spend the week there. 

 

Enough. Do agree that I’d love Celebrity to focus a bit more on the West Coast. Especially with the overseas ‘situations’ being so tricky. 

 

Den

 

 

[WonderMan3]

The more ships that get added to the fleet increases the possibility of cruises like that being added.

[Cruise Raider]

6 hours ago, jelayne said:

I wish they would put a ship in Galveston so we would have to fly all the time, or cruise on Royal on Carnival.

 

I just read that Princess will be putting a ship in Galveston full time starting at the end of the year.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

RCCL decided to do exactly that with Royal.  The "booze cruises" to Mexico are not really the type of customer X is trying to attract.

 

In addition to some one off sailings, they have two ships doing booze cruises right now out of south FL, they go to Mexico and/or the Bahamas

[jy0ung1]

 Wish they would do  7-10 Mex cruises.  (Cabo, Puerto Viarta, La Paz & Lareto.  I would like to see an X ship out of San Diego or San Francisco.  LA is not a very attractive Port to Sale from.  I also had a Pacific Coast cruise cancelled this spring.  We really like sailing out of San Diego.  Nice City, easy access, lots of things to do and hotels to stay at closes to cruise terminal.

[jimmieg]

Millennium will sail 7 day itineraries this fall from Los Angeles.

West Coast will be crowded this post-Alaska season as Princess is re-deploying two large ships (homeported in San Francisco, San Diego), in addition to Los Angeles.  This is due to delaying some Singapore and Australia/New Zealand sailings.

 

Carnival and RCI also have a large presence in primarily the 3-4 day cruises, and I think HAL is out of San Diego.  Also some smaller luxury brands have sailings.

Some of these are Pacific Coastal, but also 7/10 day Mexico and 15 day RT Hawaii.

While I like to roam the world, sometimes the ship is the destination and Los Angeles is close. I particularly like 10 day Mexico, which includes charming Loreto in the Sea of Cortez. I like the 15 day Hawaii, but I like days at sea.

Will be interesting to see what a crowded market with extra bigger ships will do to fares.  Maybe they'll lose a little bit on each one and make it up on the volume?😉

[Cruising89143]

At least they’re starting to add more cruises from the west coast. We have the Millie booked in October of this year and the Eclipse for 2023. For the shorter cruises we’re starting to cruise with RCI again on the Navigator out of San Pedro. We were on it two weeks ago and have it booked again for August. It was a nice cruise. In between we will do other X cruises leaving out of other ports. 

[Denny01]

6 hours ago, jy0ung1 said:

 Wish they would do  7-10 Mex cruises.  (Cabo, Puerto Viarta, La Paz & Lareto.  I would like to see an X ship out of San Diego or San Francisco.  LA is not a very attractive Port to Sale from.  I also had a Pacific Coast cruise cancelled this spring.  We really like sailing out of San Diego.  Nice City, easy access, lots of things to do and hotels to stay at closes to cruise terminal.

Whaaaat!?! Love that port - San Pedro is a very interesting area with lots of great Portuguese restrauants and so on…..just don’t go wandering around after dark!! And it’s just across the bridge to the Lovely, Lovely Long Beach…..well it was lovely when it had the Pike and that great roller coaster and saltwater pool (right next to the Pacific Ocean…which is a bit weird), and the live chicken with no head!! Great Stuff!

 

I know, nobody knows what I’m talking about……or cares.

 

den

[casandbliz]

11 hours ago, Denny01 said:

Whaaaat!?! Love that port - San Pedro is a very interesting area with lots of great Portuguese restrauants and so on…..just don’t go wandering around after dark!! And it’s just across the bridge to the Lovely, Lovely Long Beach…..well it was lovely when it had the Pike and that great roller coaster and saltwater pool (right next to the Pacific Ocean…which is a bit weird), and the live chicken with no head!! Great Stuff!

 

I know, nobody knows what I’m talking about……or cares.

 

den

And once the old Ports O' Call area is renovated, it should be really nice. I know there's not much to look at, with all the shipping containers and their ships. Maybe that's why people aren't thrilled with it.

[Denny01]

32 minutes ago, casandbliz said:

And once the old Ports O' Call area is renovated, it should be really nice. I know there's not much to look at, with all the shipping containers and their ships. Maybe that's why people aren't thrilled with it.

I think you hit it right there - we each enjoy differing things. Nothing I enjoy more than pulling into an actual working port and see all the tankers/carriers being loaded and unloaded and working their way through the port. I’m not big at all on the ‘shopping village’ right outside the pier. To each our own. 

 

Den

 

[cookiersmom]

I think the Pacific Coastals or this spring were likely cancelled because they were last minute adds to replace Australian season and likely were under booked, and X used the opportunity to use crew on other ships affected by Omicron. (back when they were cancelled, this is when crews were heavily impacted). 

I would like West Coast departures, but need new ports!  Maybe some new ports in Baja (not the tired old ports) or even Northern California (north of Bay Area) and Oregon. Maybe some further south in Central America!

[Cruising89143]

We stayed in the San Pedro area for one night a few weeks ago. They have been working hard on the waterfront area and it’s starting to look good. We walked around some in the evening after dinner with no issues. Actually felt safer here than across the street from the Hyatt Long Beach where we stayed pre cruise a few years ago. I have no issues with the Los Angeles ports. 

[sergel02]

I dream for one of their new ships like Ascent or the one after to come to the West Coast (the realist in me knows it won’t) just so I don’t have to fly across the country or the world to try out the new ship lol.

 

Cruising on the West Coast of North America has certainly grown from what it used to be. Ships could go do California and the Mexican Riveria (Puerto Vallarta is great) and then when Alaska seasons comes go do that. Some ships have started going to less known ports like in Astoria, Oregon or Santa Barbara.