Is Carnival ever going to change up itineraries?

[CruizinSusan70]

On 11/14/2022 at 7:30 PM, vwrestler171 said:

The issue is that the ports that people want, simply can't be done in the time frame.  Yes, they may be able to get 1-2 ports, but many people want more ports days and less sea days.  

If you want more port days you need to cruise out of San Juan where you can visit 5 or 6 ports in a week.  But you need to cruise on those lines that offer it.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 11/13/2022 at 9:34 AM, BlerkOne said:

MSC is a niche player.

With a substantially larger foot print on the other side of the pond and financially deeper pockets with the backing of their parent company and their cargo shipping money.  

[ProgRockCruiser]

I was poking around yesterday briefly looking at sailings in late 2024 out of the three home ports I might consider here in FL: PC, Tampa, Miami.  I noticed that none of them (as far as I could tell) visited St Kitts.

 

I just searched for cruises from the Destination page for St Kitts, and there are just a handful of sailings to there over the next two years, most of them Journeys type cruises.

 

We enjoyed our cruise to St Kitts and St Maarten (and San Juan and Grand Turk) out of PC a few years ago, and it seemed to be a common stop, but it appears the port has been dropped in general.

 

There are still sailings to St Maarten, which is nearby, so not sure why they don't want to go just a little further to St Kitts like they did previously so much.

 

We have started to tick off the majority of the usual ports of call for Carnival out of PC (our closest port, an easy drive), so we'll start being more selective for any future cruise bookings, which may result in cruising less often.  Which is OK, we have too much of the rest of the world to explore...

Edited November 18, 2022 by ProgRockCruiser
spelling

[jsglow]

1 hour ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I was poking around yesterday briefly looking at sailings in late 2024 out of the three home ports I might consider here in FL: PC, Tampa, Miami.  I noticed that none of them (as far as I could tell) visited St Kitts.

 

I just searched for cruises from the Destination page for St Kitts, and there are just a handful of sailings to there over the next two years, most of them Journeys type cruises.

 

We enjoyed our cruise to St Kitts and St Maarten (and San Juan and Grand Turk) out of PC a few years ago, and it seemed to be a common stop, but it appears the port has been dropped in general.

 

There are still sailings to St Maarten, which is nearby, so not sure why they don't want to go just a little further to St Kitts like they did previously so much.

I think this might be because not all the ship itineraries for 2024 are up yet.  Certain ships, yes.  I note that Vista is combining St. Maarten with St. Thomas in '24.  It doesn't appear that Magic out of Miami has their schedule out. Perhaps they'll get there.

[CarnivalShips480]

On 11/18/2022 at 12:01 PM, jsglow said:

I think this might be because not all the ship itineraries for 2024 are up yet.  Certain ships, yes.  I note that Vista is combining St. Maarten with St. Thomas in '24.  It doesn't appear that Magic out of Miami has their schedule out. Perhaps they'll get there.

It won't be in Miami during the summer though, remember it goes to Norfolk

[bguppies]

On 11/18/2022 at 10:48 AM, ProgRockCruiser said:

We have started to tick off the majority of the usual ports of call for Carnival out of PC (our closest port, an easy drive), so we'll start being more selective for any future cruise bookings, which may result in cruising less often.  Which is OK, we have too much of the rest of the world to explore...

We are in the same boat.

We've been to all the regular "main" ports of call, many, many, many times.

But I don't mind so much as I love Cozumel, Grand Cayman and to a lesser extent, Nassau.

 

We have less issues with the port choices than we do with the dilution of the quality of Carnival's product.

 

After seeing your thoughts on moving on from cruising to other vacation options made me realize 2 of our land based vacations in the past 5 years or so have been soooo much better than any of the multitude of cruises we've taken in the same timeframe.

 

Carnival cruises used to be a good value for the money.

Now, not as much. (our last booked cruise in 2 weeks will tell the tale)

 

I think at this point, vacationing half as much on land, but having a much more fullfilling, memorable experience is a better way to go for us moving forward.

(You may notice up to 2012 we cruised 2-3 times a year. Then we slowed up to save for a vacation to England for DW's 50th and that trip was so much better than our best cruise by a country mile. It may have cost 2-3 times more than a comparable cruise, yet it was 100 times more satisfying.)

Edited November 20, 2022 by bguppies

[MichiganFisherman]

3 minutes ago, bguppies said:

We are in the same boat.

We've been to all the regular "main" ports of call, many, many, many times.

But I don't mind so much as I love Cozumel, Grand Cayman and to a lesser extent, Nassau.

 

We have less issues with the port choices than we do with the dilution of the quality of Carnival's product.

Are you sailing other lines or have you? Why keep going to the same places on the same cruiseline especially if you don't like the quality of the product? Have you done the Panama Canal? Hawaii? Alaska? Europe and the Baltic cruises?  

[jsglow]

I still think cruising is a fantastic way to see the world.  And there are excellent cruise lines that can accommodate.  Carnival fills a role, but it is not the be all and end all.  Even Carnival would admit to that.  We've sailed Princess and enjoy it.  We anticipate sailing HAL.  We've also done other boutique lines and very much enjoyed them.  And we've done land touring and all-inclusives.  I guess we enjoy travel.  But for a week or so of fun in a tropical environment during the cold winter, I really don't think you can beat Carnival's product at the price point it's at.