Carnival and San Juan

[Midwestgal]

Does Carnival no long sail from San Juan? Looking on the site and there nothing for Fall of 2025.

[pe4all]

They stopped sailing from San Juan years ago.  They still do have San Juan as a port stop on some cruises.

[Midwestgal]

21 minutes ago, pe4all said:

They stopped sailing from San Juan years ago.  They still do have San Juan as a port stop on some cruises.

Okay thank you. 

[teknoge3k]

We were booked on May 31, 2020 from OSJ. That cruise was cancelled because, well, we all know why... The voyage prior to that one I believe was cancelled as well. However the one prior to that went on as normal. 

 

When cruising restarted after, yeah, that, they never resumed from OSJ. They also stopped sailing from Port Everglades as well. 

 

I REALLY wish they would bring back the OSJ cruises. That itinerary was perfect. 

Edited Wednesday at 08:36 PM by teknoge3k
Typo

[tidecat]

2 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

We were booked on May 31, 2020 from OSJ. That cruise was cancelled because, well, we all know why... The voyage prior to that one I believe was cancelled as well. However the one prior to that went on as normal. 

 

When cruising restarted after, yeah, that, they never resumed from OSJ. They also stopped sailing from Port Everglades as well. 

 

I REALLY wish they would bring back the OSJ cruises. That itinerary was perfect. 

Carnival was going to leave San Juan when Fascination was originally scheduled to reposition to Mobile in January 2022. Covid only accelerated the timeline.

 

The earliest realistic chance Carnival could resume homeport operations in San Juan would be 2027, assuming the fleet actually expands with Excel #4. A 2026 return would be on the table only if Carnival is willing to cut service somewhere else.

[Itried4498]

Cruises that begin/ end at San Juan have gradually decreased as cruise lines turn to more and longer sailings to Florida that reach the most popular ports.  Most of the cruise ships home ported there are older and often marketed as “island hoppers.”

 

San Juan has few direct flights and tends to be a pricy airport to fly into.  Last year, Frontier and Spirit both attempted a significant expansion in service that would change that… but some of these flights were cancelled before service was to launch and most of the rest didn’t even make it through the season.

 

Never say never but I doubt San Juan is on Carnival’s radar at the moment.

[Honolulu Blue]

15 hours ago, Midwestgal said:

Does Carnival no long sail from San Juan? Looking on the site and there nothing for Fall of 2025.

 

Carnival Cruise Line does not sail from San Juan anymore. ☹️  My colleagues told that story.

 

However, Carnival Corporation cruise line Princess will be sailing seasonally from San Juan starting late in 2025.  We'll have to see how long that lasts.

[jimbo5544]

Enjoyed our three cruises out of SJ.  Understand the driver to leave it, hopefully they will return some day.  Proliferation of addtional ships might help that to be….time will tell.

[pyropoodle]

i really enjoyed our 1 cruise we took from san juan years ago. it was nice to fly in the day before and enjoy el yunque and the bio bay.  it is still one of my favorite excursions! that glowing plankton water was something else.  my husband, who is not a lover of the cruise, enjoyed this one because there was a different island every day and he wasn't 'stuck on the boat the whole time'.  

 

you can leave me stuck on the boat any day.  i would def cruise from their again if they ever bring it back. 

[BossyKat]

I was told they didn't have enough ships to sail from San Juan.

 

I am hopping that after the improvements in Everglades they will sail there again.

[jimbo5544]

18 minutes ago, BossyKat said:

I was told they didn't have enough ships to sail from San Juan.

 

I am hopping that after the improvements in Everglades they will sail there again.

More a matter of priority than ship availability.  Carnival has mor ships than any other cruise line.

[Diamond-56-Plus]

8 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

Cruises that begin/ end at San Juan have gradually decreased as cruise lines turn to more and longer sailings to Florida that reach the most popular ports.  Most of the cruise ships home ported there are older and often marketed as “island hoppers.”

Island Hoppers, that is a fact. No wonder so many people are Diamond or Platinum. Those quick hope on rates are killer.

[jimbo5544]

9 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

Cruises that begin/ end at San Juan have gradually decreased as cruise lines turn to more and longer sailings to Florida that reach the most popular ports.  Most of the cruise ships home ported there are older and often marketed as “island hoppers.”

 

San Juan has few direct flights and tends to be a pricy airport to fly into.  Last year, Frontier and Spirit both attempted a significant expansion in service that would change that… but some of these flights were cancelled before service was to launch and most of the rest didn’t even make it through the season.

 

Never say never but I doubt San Juan is on Carnival’s radar at the moment.

I would agree it is certainly not in the cross hairs with Carnival to sail from SJ as a homeport.  My guess (no inside knowledge) is that it would have way more to do with the financials (of costs tied to home porting a ship there) as opposed to cruise length.  When they sailed it was a 7 day cruise, and the vast majority of CCL cruises are 7 days or shorter.

[chill6x6]

There are still PLENTIFUL cruises from San Juan, but not from Carnival.  You can pick from Explora, NCL, Virgin, Royal, Regent, and Viking for 2025.  

 

Editing to add...

NCL Viva- Launched 2022

Viking Sea- Launched 2015

Virgin Resilient Lady- Launched 2021

Edited Thursday at 05:04 PM by chill6x6

[kad56]

On 9/26/2024 at 12:46 PM, chill6x6 said:

There are still PLENTIFUL cruises from San Juan, but not from Carnival.  You can pick from Explora, NCL, Virgin, Royal, Regent, and Viking for 2025.  

 

Editing to add...

NCL Viva- Launched 2022

Viking Sea- Launched 2015

Virgin Resilient Lady- Launched 2021

 

Yeah, but most of those are going to be pricier than Carnival. I'm excited about the princess intineraries.

[jimbo5544]

On 9/26/2024 at 12:46 PM, chill6x6 said:

There are still PLENTIFUL cruises from San Juan, but not from Carnival.  You can pick from Explora, NCL, Virgin, Royal, Regent, and Viking for 2025.  

 

Editing to add...

NCL Viva- Launched 2022

Viking Sea- Launched 2015

Virgin Resilient Lady- Launched 2021

Too lazy to look, do they sail from there as a homeport regularly?

[kad56]

Princess is starting in 2025, and if you cruise for the ports like I do, the itineraries look great. The remind me of the old carnival itineraries.

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

That is an interesting commitment from Princess. Nice itineraries also.

[chill6x6]

4 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Too lazy to look, do they sail from there as a homeport regularly?

Royal does home port there a good part of the year as does NCL.  Explora has a neat itinerary that goes from Miami to SJU then back for a while, Virgin uses SJU as a home port pretty much. Viking and Regent come and go.  

4 hours ago, kad56 said:

 

Yeah, but most of those are going to be pricier than Carnival. I'm excited about the princess intineraries.

 

4 hours ago, kad56 said:

Princess is starting in 2025, and if you cruise for the ports like I do, the itineraries look great. The remind me of the old carnival itineraries.

 

 

 

 

Yeah those are good itineraries.  My first cruise out of SJU was on the Valor in 2013...We did St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts, and St Maarten. This year we did Jewel of the Seas out of SJU and went to Trinidad and Tobago. Tobago is a 10 out of 10.  

 

Princess does look like the low price leader. About $700 difference on an OV. Royal DOES go to Martinique however.  They are all good itineraries.  

[ontheweb]

We truly enjoyed our cruise from San Juan on the Fascination. It was a very lively cruise with a different than usual mixture of passengers many from Puerto Rico. Lots of dancing, which made DW very happy.

[kad56]

10 hours ago, chill6x6 said:

Princess does look like the low price leader. About $700 difference on an OV. Royal DOES go to Martinique however.  They are all good itineraries.  

 

Princess has some 10-day itineraries out of Fort Lauderdale that go to Martinique.

[chill6x6]

9 minutes ago, kad56 said:

 

Princess has some 10-day itineraries out of Fort Lauderdale that go to Martinique.

I know! I had one of those booked but swapped for a Panama Canal one... I'd like to go back to Martinique but as I'm sure you know....so many cruises, so little time.