Carnival: would a Venezia World Cruise work?

[gkbiiii]

As a Diamond Plus member at Royal Caribbean, I was/am proud & impressed, that Royal Caribbean was able to sellout their fist World Cruise.

Do you think if Carnival was to have a World cruise on Venezia, would it be a success?  Are there enough upper income Carnival cruisers, to sell out such a voyage?

Would you all, be interested in a three month plus voyage?  If so, where would you like ship to go, for a "once in a lifetime voyage?"

 

Some people might think this is an absurd idea, however, there are now 30 day Pacific crossings to Australia, so perhaps it might work.

What are your general thoughts? 

 

[shof515]

carnival other brands like Princess and Holland is better suited for the  world cruises

[gkbiiii]

3 minutes ago, shof515 said:

carnival other brands like Princess and Holland is better suited for the  world cruises

But they don't get much crossover from Carnival guests.  Their market and cruise styles (Cunard, Seabourn, Princess, P&O, Holland America) are not something many Carnival guests would like.

[coldweather]

Carnival is definitely repeating too many of the same ports and it is time to add some new ones. I am not sure a 3 month world cruise is the place to start. 

 

I would like to see a South America route and more Southern Caribbean cruises. 

[stobe1]

1 hour ago, gkbiiii said:

As a Diamond Plus member at Royal Caribbean, I was/am proud & impressed, that Royal Caribbean was able to sellout their fist World Cruise.

Do you think if Carnival was to have a World cruise on Venezia, would it be a success?  Are there enough upper income Carnival cruisers, to sell out such a voyage?

Would you all, be interested in a three month plus voyage?  If so, where would you like ship to go, for a "once in a lifetime voyage?"

 

Some people might think this is an absurd idea, however, there are now 30 day Pacific crossings to Australia, so perhaps it might work.

What are your general thoughts? 

 

"Upper income" is only half of the equation. The other half is finding the passenger demographics that have the ability to be gone for 100+ days. Most of Carnival's prime demographics are younger people and middle aged families.  The people that have the money AND the time to be gone for 3+ months at a time tend to be retirees.  The 30 day one-off sailings sailings tend to be reposition cruises due to fleet homeport reshuffling or positioning to or from dry dock.

 

Carnival does do a variety of Journeys sailings of 10+ days to many destinations that they do not typically visit, of which I have done several.  One particular itinerary for a Journey sailing I would love to see would be a 2 week Amazon river cruise out of Miami (assuming their smaller Fantasy or Spirit class ships can sail the Amazon, much like Holland America does. Perhaps @chengkp75 can chime in the specifics of that idea).

Edited February 18, 2023 by stobe1

[gkbiiii]

What are the "Journeys sailings" like?

[staceyglow]

Carnival's market skews younger than those other lines, and although I was recently on a journeys cruise that had a pretty high median age, I doubt there would be demand for a Carnival Cruise for that length of time.

 

For example, if I am an early retiree.  Even though in theory I have the time to take a 3-month cruise, I have elderly parents and young adult children that I would not want to be halfway around the world  from them for that long.

 

 

[stobe1]

Just now, gkbiiii said:

What are the "Journeys sailings" like?

They aren't much different than your typical Carnival cruise except that they are longer in length, usually go to ports that Carnival doesnt always visit and they may do a few extra theme nights like "Throwback sea days" or do a midnight buffet. 

[gkbiiii]

What are "throwback days?"

[stobe1]

5 minutes ago, gkbiiii said:

What are "throwback days?"

They have try and have a day where the cruise is how cruising was back a few decades. But that seems to be hit or miss in terms of how in depth they go on it. I recall one throwback day where they went all out with their pool parties, buffet offerings, dinner service, etc. There was another where I really didnt notice anything different so it may depend on the cruise director.

[crzndeb]

1 hour ago, gkbiiii said:

Royal Caribbean was able to sellout their fist World Cruise.

I don’t believe it’s a sellout, since they are breaking it down even further to 17 legs.

[RD64]

1 hour ago, staceyglow said:

Carnival's market skews younger than those other lines, and although I was recently on a journeys cruise that had a pretty high median age, I doubt there would be demand for a Carnival Cruise for that length of time.

 

For example, if I am an early retiree.  Even though in theory I have the time to take a 3-month cruise, I have elderly parents and young adult children that I would not want to be halfway around the world  from them for that long.

 

 

I agree - also an early retiree - but there are those other responsibilities that prohibit me ( my situation - not everyone is the same) that prohibit such an extended time away. I just booked a 13 day Transat on HAL which involved an inordinate amount of planning - not a complaint on my part at all. At this point in my life I do have the financial resources for such an undertaking but would not feel comfortable being away for so long. One day definitely though…

[kelkel2]

I’d love to do one, but I could never get away from work that long. I just feel like carnival’s primary demographic is too young to be able to get away to do it. 

[staceyglow]

2 hours ago, RD64 said:

I agree - also an early retiree - but there are those other responsibilities that prohibit me ( my situation - not everyone is the same) that prohibit such an extended time away. I just booked a 13 day Transat on HAL which involved an inordinate amount of planning - not a complaint on my part at all. At this point in my life I do have the financial resources for such an undertaking but would not feel comfortable being away for so long. One day definitely though…

Exactly. When I become the elderly parent that everyone worries about, that's when I'll go! 🤣

[gkbiiii]

4 hours ago, kelkel2 said:

I’d love to do one, but I could never get away from work that long. I just feel like carnival’s primary demographic is too young to be able to get away to do it. 

What about selling the World Cruise, as a Blogger's World adventure?  There are many youth, that work from home and are mobile.  Many of these types, make good money, like far flung travel, and are open to multi-month adventures. 

[gkbiiii]

Also, considering Costa has been doing World Voyages for years, why not use the Costa vessel, for an annual World Voyage?

[kelkel2]

7 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

What about selling the World Cruise, as a Blogger's World adventure?  There are many youth, that work from home and are mobile.  Many of these types, make good money, like far flung travel, and are open to multi-month adventures. 

Yeah I’m a surgical scrub tech on a labor and delivery unit. I’m not working from home, ever. I’m happy for people that do that, but that’s just not me. 

[broadwaybaby123]

I'm actually heading on the Venezia next year and I'm also a veteran Royal cruiser.  I'll let you know my thoughts next year.

[staceyglow]

9 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

What about selling the World Cruise, as a Blogger's World adventure?  There are many youth, that work from home and are mobile.  Many of these types, make good money, like far flung travel, and are open to multi-month adventures. 

Enough to fill a 5100-passenger ship? 

[CruiseAdict218]

18 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

As a Diamond Plus member at Royal Caribbean, I was/am proud & impressed, that Royal Caribbean was able to sellout their fist World Cruise.

Do you think if Carnival was to have a World cruise on Venezia, would it be a success?  Are there enough upper income Carnival cruisers, to sell out such a voyage?

Would you all, be interested in a three month plus voyage?  If so, where would you like ship to go, for a "once in a lifetime voyage?"

 

Some people might think this is an absurd idea, however, there are now 30 day Pacific crossings to Australia, so perhaps it might work.

What are your general thoughts? 

 

Carnival is slowly experimenting with longer cruises so it could be on the horizon one day, however with that said if any ship were to do a world cruise for Carnival it would be Luminosa. Venezia is much too big for a world cruise run and Costa uses Luminosa’s sister Deliziosa to cover theirs. 

[EngIceDave]

I have always viewed Carnival as their entry level product. Cheap, fast, ton to do....go go go.....but as we all age, we slow and mellow, so we graduate to the more sophisticated products, like Holland, Princess or even Cunard.

 

I doubt many who cruise on Cunard today started there. They started on lower tier offerings and as available time, age and wealth allowed, they graduated to the more fancy lines.

 

These are the ones that should service long term and adventure voyages, other than repositioning.

[ashkir]

With Starlink coming, I can probably work from ships and would love to do this.

[tidecat]

7 hours ago, CruiseAdict218 said:

Carnival is slowly experimenting with longer cruises so it could be on the horizon one day, however with that said if any ship were to do a world cruise for Carnival it would be Luminosa. Venezia is much too big for a world cruise run and Costa uses Luminosa’s sister Deliziosa to cover theirs. 

I would agree, although I think any of the Spirit class ships could be in play. With Firenze apparently displacing Miracle from Long Beach, there's a chance we might see something for early 2025.

[natefish95]

I would rather jump overboard than eat Carnival MDR or buffet food for anything longer than 2 weeks. 

[MJSailors]

@EngIceDave I have to debate your theory that Carnval is an entry level cruise experience where customers graduate to a more sophisticated travel experienceafter experiencing the Carnival product in their younger days.

    Our first cruise  was the Big Red Boat out of Port Canaveral. This was in 1986. My DH was 35, I was 33. The next cruise we took was NCL ,NYC to Bermuda in 1993. We were 42 and 40. In 2001,we sailed Cunard,TA from NYC to Southampton ,England. we were 50 and 48. 

Subsequently, we sailed Princess,Celebrity and NCL.

  We have never considered Carnival because of the marketing idea that they were the fun ships (remember the commercials featuring Kathy Lee Gifford?)That style of cruising never appealed to us regardless of the low fares or the extensive drink packages offered by Carnival. 

Carnival’s customer base seems to be people attracted to these low fares,liberal drinking policies and short cruises. Carnival serves a purpose to those who are aware of cost and the opportunity to party for short duration of time. That’s why there are many cruise lines available to offer a cruise product to people who seek various types of vacations. The travel industry is not a one size fits all kind of business. 

    For the President of Carnival to issue a statement about unacceptable behavior on the line’s ships says a lot about the atmosphere on the ships and the passengers’ apparent disregard to having respectful  manners in relating to other passengers on a cruise vacation. Being in such an atmosphere may not be appealing to a wide number of vacationers. Therefore they choose another cruise line for a pleasant vacation experience.

     Carnival is not the type of cruise experience that would support a world cruise. Other lines such as Princess,HAL,Cunard and ,now, Royal Caribbean are cruise lines with  the typical demographics that would attract passengers to such voyages. 

Anyone interested in taking a world cruise would look elsewhere besides Carnival  due to the perceived notion of what can go on during a Carnval cruise..

     It was posted on the RCCL forum that a world cruise in a grand suite category has a price of over $344,000.00 That is quite pricey and certainly not equivalent to the per day charge of a typical Carnival cruise.

As the saying goes- follow the money.

MJ

Edited February 20, 2023 by MJSailors