San Juan base

[kayehall]

Does RCCL still base a ship in San Juan?  I can't find any itineraries.  Thanks

[orville99]

5 minutes ago, kayehall said:

Does RCCL still base a ship in San Juan?  I can't find any itineraries.  Thanks

Rhapsody is sailing out of San Juan

 

[Biker19]

19 minutes ago, kayehall said:

I can't find any itineraries. 

RCI's search filters has ports as one of the options.

[Ocean Boy]

26 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Rhapsody is sailing out of San Juan

 

For me that is equivalent to not having a ship home ported there.

[leaveitallbehind]

There are numerous SJU based sailings with Rhapsody through late 2025 with Jewel and Brilliance commencing alternating sailings in late 2025.

[smokeybandit]

You can find these on a simple search on RC's website.

[DutchCruiseFan]

I was surprised to see Jewel and Brilliance sail the same sort of itineraries one day apart from each other for a whole winter season. I thought it was wrong for a long time. Rhapsody must be performing well?

[cot427]

25 minutes ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

I was surprised to see Jewel and Brilliance sail the same sort of itineraries one day apart from each other for a whole winter season. I thought it was wrong for a long time. Rhapsody must be performing well?

Rhapsody isn't bad for a port intensive cruise, but its nice to have the option of slightly newer, slightly larger ships. Especially when the competition has newer ships like Valiant/Resilient Lady and NCL Viva. 

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

I was surprised to see Jewel and Brilliance sail the same sort of itineraries one day apart from each other for a whole winter season. I thought it was wrong for a long time. Rhapsody must be performing well?

It is not so much ship based as favorable logistics. Cruises out of San Juan, in particular with the Southern Caribbean itineraries, historically sell well as the full region can be easily reached from there with 7-night itineraries.  Florida based sailings to that region are typically longer or with less ports of call.  As example, 7-night itineraries from Florida would not typically include the ABC's as a result.

 

Alternating itineraries a day apart from SJ would really be no different than the similar scheduling from any of the Florida based itineraries.  Clearly it would be based on demand. The cycle with Jewel and Brilliance appears to be over a 6-7 week November - December period, which then shifts back to Rhapsody an a weekly basis.

Edited August 27 by leaveitallbehind

[orville99]

13 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Florida based sailings to that region are typically longer or with less ports of call.  As example, 7-night itineraries from Florida would not typically include the ABC's as a result.

True. We currently have 4 southern Caribbean cruises booked on Adventure out of Port Canaveral between 10/2024 and 10/2025. All are 8 night. One does Aruba, Curacau, Cabo Rojo, and Coco Cay, one just does the ABC islands, and two do A, C, and Coco Cay. We also have an 11-night cruise on X out of FLL that does Columbia, a partial transit of the Panama canal, and the ABC islands, and an 11-night on X (also out of FLL) that does most of the windward islands.

 

There are a lot of options for sailing to those locations other than sailing out of San Juan

[leaveitallbehind]

27 minutes ago, orville99 said:

True. We currently have 4 southern Caribbean cruises booked on Adventure out of Port Canaveral between 10/2024 and 10/2025. All are 8 night. One does Aruba, Curacau, Cabo Rojo, and Coco Cay, one just does the ABC islands, and two do A, C, and Coco Cay. We also have an 11-night cruise on X out of FLL that does Columbia, a partial transit of the Panama canal, and the ABC islands, and an 11-night on X (also out of FLL) that does most of the windward islands.

 

There are a lot of options for sailing to those locations other than sailing out of San Juan

Just to confirm your comments we are on a Celebrity 8 night from FLL in November that goes only to the ABC's.  But that is the shortest we've been on from Florida that would touch all three.  Most others have been 9+.

Edited August 27 by leaveitallbehind

[cruiseguy1016]

9 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

For me that is equivalent to not having a ship home ported there.

 

Me too. We sail out of San Juan more than ay other port. I prefer Voyager or Freedom class ships but have sailed on Radiance class many times from there. Until those ships come back, I won't be sailing out of San Juan.

 

ETA: after reading other posts, I see Brilliance & Jewel will be coming back in late 2025. I'd still prefer Voyager or Freedom class but Radiance works for us.

[not-enough-cruising]

20 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Just to confirm your comments we are on a Celebrity 8 night from FLL in November that goes only to the ABC's.  But that is the shortest we've been on from Florida that would touch all three.  Most others have been 9+.

Royal also offers 8 day ABC from FLL, also 8 day AC Perfect day.

[leaveitallbehind]

16 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Royal also offers 8 day ABC from FLL, also 8 day AC Perfect day.

Yes, and thanks for including that.  I was just using our upcoming Celebrity cruise as example indicating longer cruises required from FL for the ABC's.  Our recent NYE on Oasis was a 9-night that included CocoCay, Aruba, Curacao, and Falmouth, Jamaica from FLL.