A game changer coming for Florida cruising

[voljeep]

oops - my 4-5-4 should have been 5-4-5 to equal 14 days or 2 of 7 days

[cr8tiv1]

25 minutes ago, whitecap said:

Many years ago the 4-5-4 was done and a lot of people took advantage of the "number of cruises" to get to Elite.  I can remember that it was a very sore subject on CC as those that had worked hard doing longer cruises, and only getting credit for 1 or 2, were upset with someone being able to do a 4-5-4, and getting 3 credits.  It was something that Princess offered but the people that booked these trips were thrashed pretty hard.  

They brought the Golden Princess down to LA for short cruises.  Couldn’t sell the cabins.  Not only did they offer short cruises (to reach elite) but offered 100% back as FCC for a 7 day or longer cruise.  

[JimmyVWine]

14 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

4. Partnership with Brightline - Florida residents receive complimentary/reduced fare transport to/from FLL  via Brightline

First thing that came to my mind. 

[Host CJSKIDS]

Don't see  it being Brightline as there are so few stops and they are all on the East Coast with the exception of Orlando.  There are already plenty of discount codes right through Brightline and they always send emails with their specials.  I just got one today as I have an account because I use to use them from Miami to Fort Lauderdale.  Brightline is great, but I'm not sure that would make it a huge announcement and game changer. Of course I could be wrong!

 

[avonlady6390]

If they are going to do 3/4 night cruises out of Florida I hope it's port Canaveral which is half the distance compared to PE.😊

[AtlantaCruiser72]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

4-5-4 also works ... 14 day turnaround E-W-E ... W-E-W

Princess tried 4/5/5 short cruises on the Caribbean Princes about 9-10 years ago, they have also tried 3/4 day sailing mixed with 7 days sailings and year round Caribbean. None of these have previously been successful. Sure markets/demographics change but the short cruise market is saturated. 
 

If they were going to introduce short cruises they would have left a ship out of their recent winter 25/26 deployment releases. The only ship in the fleet without deployment for this timeframe is the Coral and she is rumored for the 2026 World cruise and would not be well suited to the short cruise market. 
 

Moving into short cruise or year round Caribbean would not be a “game changer”. Rather it would be jointing the herd. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

They brought the Golden Princess down to LA for short cruises.  Couldn’t sell the cabins.  Not only did they offer short cruises (to reach elite) but offered 100% back as FCC for a 7 day or longer cruise.  

That was around the same time they offered the 4/5/5 sailings on the Caribbean and had to practically give the cabins away with FCC/OBC promos to fill the ship. 

[FeliciaB]

My guess is it has something to do with stops in Celebration Cay (carnivals private port on grand Bahama).

[555]

1 hour ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

That was around the same time they offered the 4/5/5 sailings on the Caribbean and had to practically give the cabins away with FCC/OBC promos to fill the ship. 

We certainly would be to excited about having to travel further for short cruises. It would have to be a real special price as an incentive.

[smwg]

Maybe they will start going out of Jacksonville!  That would be great!

[vjmatty]

2 minutes ago, smwg said:

Maybe they will start going out of Jacksonville!  That would be great!

Yes it would, that’s where my kids and grandkids live. 

[ldubs]

Game changer.🤔  Florida. 🤔    Maybe cruises to outer space?   

[PrincessBuffy]

On 3/28/2024 at 9:09 PM, Astro Flyer said:

If it’s like too much of her overhyping things, the announcement might not be any “MAJOR news”.
 

Unlike the previous SVP of Sales who didn’t prevent non travel agents from viewing his webinars, she has restricted her webinars to TAs only…why does she block passengers from learning about info that affects us? 🤔

 

She changed that about a month ago thanks to passenger feedback she received - now every other webinar is open to all.

[bmc alabama]

8 hours ago, FeliciaB said:

My guess is it has something to do with stops in Celebration Cay (carnivals private port on grand Bahama).

This is my guess as well...

[dexter17]

Is it not just sailing out of Port Canaveral? Caribbean Princess starts there on 1st December. 

[talkorpi]

Initial thoughts (from least to most likely) are:

 

- Updates to Princess Cays

- Adding homeport in Tampa

- Updates to Port Everglades terminal

- Year-round shorter cruises

- BERMUDA

 

I'll admit that the last one is probably a stretch, but it's what I want to see the most! Too bad I can't attend the webinar since I will be on an airplane at the time.

[MISTER 67]

2 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Initial thoughts (from least to most likely) are:

 

- Updates to Princess Cays

- Adding homeport in Tampa

- Updates to Port Everglades terminal

- Year-round shorter cruises

- BERMUDA

 

I'll admit that the last one is probably a stretch, but it's what I want to see the most! Too bad I can't attend the webinar since I will be on an airplane at the time.

As Florida residents we would love to see round trips to Bermuda from any port

 in Florida.

[Thrak]

Inside Info:

 

Princess is installing a dunk tank at PE and JP will be the one on the hot seat.

[FlorenceItaly]

On 3/28/2024 at 9:38 PM, sunviking90 said:

I’m guessing it is a standby program like the one HAL has rolled out. 

This was my first thought!

[JimmyVWine]

29 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

I'll admit that the last one is probably a stretch, but it's what I want to see the most!

I'm on the other end of that scale.  No interest whatsoever in a cruise to Bermuda.  A couple days to get there and a couple days to get back to spend 36 hours in Bermuda.  Much better to hop on a flight, get to Bermuda in 2.5 hours and then spend 5 days there before flying back.  If one wants to go to Bermuda, then just GO to Bermuda.  

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm on the other end of that scale.  No interest whatsoever in a cruise to Bermuda.  A couple days to get there and a couple days to get back to spend 36 hours in Bermuda.  Much better to hop on a flight, get to Bermuda in 2.5 hours and then spend 5 days there before flying back.  If one wants to go to Bermuda, then just GO to Bermuda.  

 

The good news is, if they DO start offering cruises to Bermuda, no one will force you to take one! For the rest of us who enjoy Bermuda cruising, it will give us another option of cruise line.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Lots of chatter here about terminal upgrades, short itineraries, new homeports, standby program etc.  None of these would be considered "Game Changers" as they are already existent from one or more competitors sailing from Florida and would be more akin to 'Keeping up with the Joneses' and none would specifically benefit 'residents of the region' for Florida Cruisers.  Rather they would benefit ALL Princess cruisers sailing from Florida.

 

This is why I keep coming back to a specific program that would benefit the Florida drive market, or Florida residents only - special parking benefits, partnership with Brightline, special cruise program only for Florida residents that is based on a buy in for a specific number of cruise night/weeks/sailings per annum with bulk purchase discounts, etc.  A true "game changer" would be something a) no one else offers and b) something new to the industry as a whole.

[charliedalrymple]

4 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm on the other end of that scale.  No interest whatsoever in a cruise to Bermuda.  A couple days to get there and a couple days to get back to spend 36 hours in Bermuda.  Much better to hop on a flight, get to Bermuda in 2.5 hours and then spend 5 days there before flying back.  If one wants to go to Bermuda, then just GO to Bermuda.  

 

Them's fightin' words for members of this community!   🙂  Many of us enjoy the onboard experience as much as the ports, if not more.  

 

 

Edited April 2 by charliedalrymple

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, charliedalrymple said:

 

Them's fightin' words for members of this community!   🙂  Many of us enjoy the onboard experience as much as the ports, if not more.  

 

 

 

Not "fightin' words" for me but I do definitely tend to enjoy the sea days more than the port days.

[MISTER 67]

10 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

The good news is, if they DO start offering cruises to Bermuda, no one will force you to take one! For the rest of us who enjoy Bermuda cruising, it will give us another option of cruise line.

Spot on also what’s wrong with 2 days at sea, 2 full days in Bermuda and 2 days again at sea, we love sea days and that would be a perfect cruise.