RCCL: PLEASE get more creative w/your itineraries!

[mlbcruiser]

We love RCCL and are diamond members. However, we are TRYING To find a more imaginative CARIBBEAN itinerary than they offer! They have SO many sailings that go to the "usual" E. carib. (San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thos.) and W. Carib. (Jamaica, Gr. Cayman and Cozumel). Sometimes Nassau, Coco Cay or Labadie is thrown in at best. And when they do have anything that is remotely novel, it is always one of their older ships. Even Celebrity seems not so varied now that it's under RCCL's wing. We WANT to sail RCCL but are finding other lines have more varied itineraries. Some go to Tortola; some to Turks and Caicos; some to Dominica, Margarita Island or Bonaire. Why can't RCCL mix it up a bit? We are thinking of going on an NCL ship next yr. Went on a Princess last yr. due to itinerary and Carnival this past spring due to their itinerary (and we are not big fans of Carnival - just wanted a different itinerary!), and may do NCL next spring for the same reason. (HAL also sometimes has good itineraries, though we are somewhat scared that line might be a bit too sedate for us.) We WANT to sail w/RCCL again, but :confused: .

[Merion_Mom]

mlb: I agree with you completely.

 

I would say that with the huge similarities between RC and Princess, itineraries are the source of most of the leakage from RC to P.

[Merry_Sea_Witch]

I wish RCI would listen to the boards. I am not the only one who doesnt care if I am on the biggest ship or surf at sea or eat johnnie rockets. ;) I cruise so I can learn about diffrent places and have new expereinces.:) I realy like RCI but I cant stick with them if they keep cruising the same old same old:(Wish they could try newstuff like Princess and NCL.:)

[glen tev]

I;m doing e.carib this year on explorer and 12 day southern next year on explorer.After that i don't know what.How many times can you go to the western carib.I wish they did a aruba/curcoau cruise without flying to san juan.A stop at Turks would be nice.And hopefully Fidel won't last much longer and cuba will open up,now that would be a great stop.

[Jimbo]

Sad but true the intineraries are getting boring, we are heading over to try Disney and Holland America for our next 2 cruises.(Just booked Westerdam for Februaury)

 

Jimbo:)

[wmorrell35]

We are looking at the HAL Westerdam for the Aruba cruise in the Fall of 2007. We sailed Zuiderdam eastern route a few years back. Lovely trip, but seen it done it kinda thing.

[Bayonnegrl]

I;m doing e.carib this year on explorer and 12 day southern next year on explorer.After that i don't know what.How many times can you go to the western carib.I wish they did a aruba/curcoau cruise without flying to san juan.A stop at Turks would be nice.And hopefully Fidel won't last much longer and cuba will open up,now that would be a great stop.

 

 

I'm going on the explorer doing the aruba and curcoau trip it leaves from bayonne new jersey and ends in miami in november.

[thepeacha]

Lots of caribbean islands are not equipped or sometimes even desiring cruise ship travel. There are lots of logistical issues to be ironed out when 3000 people descend on small islands with a population of 20,000 people. Services and goods must be provided, and that is assuming the banana republic government is even able to come up to snuff for the ships to elect to come!

 

I too enjoy seeing different islands on ships but having lived here for 5 yeards, I have a good understanding of how an islands changes when cruise ships arrive. It tkaes $$$ to build the docks piers security etc, and $$$ is not always in high supply, due to blatant, rampant embezzlement and nepotism, trust me. Basically, the islands take time to get together a nice tourist product, and while they are still getting ready- everything takes forever in the caribbean!- the ships start to come, folks don't like the work-in-progress and complain, ships stop coming, funding dries up... cruisers want a nice experience now and it is not often delivered correctly on a developing island. Way more passengers complain about the dirt in Domininica, the poverty on Anguilla, than the stops on STT or St Martin... and complaints are not good for business.

 

So RCL, etc go where their passengers are happy, and can you blame them? They are no fans of striking pax who want their money back b/c they did not like the experience provided...

 

... and more than a few small islands decline to be courted by large ship lines, to avoid the nightmares they see on other islands...

[mdmourges]

I think if you stick with the Caribbean, regardless of cruiseline, you will get bored fairly quickly. I mean how different are most of the islands anyway? If you want something different try different world locations. Mexican Riviera, Hawaii, Europe, etc. I know, I know, it takes longer to get there but hey..... you only go around once.

 

Mark

[irishnyc]

I think if you stick with the Caribbean, regardless of cruiseline, you will get bored fairly quickly. I mean how different are most of the islands anyway? If you want something different try different world locations. Mexican Riviera, Hawaii, Europe, etc. I know, I know, it takes longer to get there but hey..... you only go around once.

 

Mark

 

I completely agree. Why limit yourself to the Caribbean? There are so many other places in the world to see that are so difference than anything in the Caribbean. Each island in the Caribbean may have something special or different about it, but how different can they be?

[MGoBlue2]

We love RCCL and are diamond members. However, we are TRYING To find a more imaginative CARIBBEAN itinerary than they offer! They have SO many sailings that go to the "usual" E. carib. (San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thos.) and W. Carib. (Jamaica, Gr. Cayman and Cozumel). Sometimes Nassau, Coco Cay or Labadie is thrown in at best. And when they do have anything that is remotely novel, it is always one of their older ships. Even Celebrity seems not so varied now that it's under RCCL's wing. We WANT to sail RCCL but are finding other lines have more varied itineraries. Some go to Tortola; some to Turks and Caicos; some to Dominica, Margarita Island or Bonaire. Why can't RCCL mix it up a bit? We are thinking of going on an NCL ship next yr. Went on a Princess last yr. due to itinerary and Carnival this past spring due to their itinerary (and we are not big fans of Carnival - just wanted a different itinerary!), and may do NCL next spring for the same reason. (HAL also sometimes has good itineraries, though we are somewhat scared that line might be a bit too sedate for us.) We WANT to sail w/RCCL again, but :confused: .

I think many of their newer ships are too big for the lesser ports. If you look at what sails to a lot of them, it's mostly more or less Vision-class size and smaller.

 

Anyway, it looks to me like RCI heard you when they made their early 2008 itinerary for Legend. It visits Dominica, Grenada, and Margarita Island (in addition to St. Maarten and Aruba).

[zqvol]

We love RCCL and are diamond members. However, we are TRYING To find a more imaginative CARIBBEAN itinerary than they offer! They have SO many sailings that go to the "usual" E. carib. (San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thos.) and W. Carib. (Jamaica, Gr. Cayman and Cozumel). Sometimes Nassau, Coco Cay or Labadie is thrown in at best. And when they do have anything that is remotely novel, it is always one of their older ships. Even Celebrity seems not so varied now that it's under RCCL's wing. We WANT to sail RCCL but are finding other lines have more varied itineraries. Some go to Tortola; some to Turks and Caicos; some to Dominica, Margarita Island or Bonaire. Why can't RCCL mix it up a bit? We are thinking of going on an NCL ship next yr. Went on a Princess last yr. due to itinerary and Carnival this past spring due to their itinerary (and we are not big fans of Carnival - just wanted a different itinerary!), and may do NCL next spring for the same reason. (HAL also sometimes has good itineraries, though we are somewhat scared that line might be a bit too sedate for us.) We WANT to sail w/RCCL again, but :confused: .

The problem is that the ships are too big and the small "neat" islands do not have the infrastructure to support large ships.

 

As far as Grand Turk is concerned Carnival built the pier and facalities so that is probably out of the question (not that there is anything there anyway).

[Nliedel]

You can't park a Hummer in a garage built for a Jaguar. As others have pointed out there are logistical issues involved.

[Past it]

If your bored with your side of the pond come over this side :) We have some lovely South Pacific island cruises. The islands are small but untouched.Thats why the big ships can't get to them,but we have some nice smaller ships like the old Carnival Jubilee thats now the Pacific Sun. You only have to get to Sydney! Australia Check out my pics

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/cruisediva

[Mildred]

If you think you are bored sailing from the East Coast to the Caribbean you should try sailing from the West Coast. At least you have three regular (Eastern/Western/Southern) routes plus Bermuda. Don't forget the East Coast has the new ships as well ;)

 

Talk about limited and the West Coast has the old ships.

 

The Monarch 3/4 day or the Vision 7 day with the only change being that the Monarch is dropping the San Diego stop for a bit. The Vision goes to the same three ports :( There is not even a 7 day cruise available for the entire summer. HAL at least sails up the Sea of Cortez and X goes as far as Acapulco so why not RCCL?

[nosmothj]

Lots of caribbean islands are not equipped or sometimes even desiring cruise ship travel. There are lots of logistical issues to be ironed out when 3000 people descend on small islands with a population of 20,000 people. Services and goods must be provided, and that is assuming the banana republic government is even able to come up to snuff for the ships to elect to come!

 

I too enjoy seeing different islands on ships but having lived here for 5 yeards, I have a good understanding of how an islands changes when cruise ships arrive. It tkaes $$$ to build the docks piers security etc, and $$$ is not always in high supply, due to blatant, rampant embezzlement and nepotism, trust me. Basically, the islands take time to get together a nice tourist product, and while they are still getting ready- everything takes forever in the caribbean!- the ships start to come, folks don't like the work-in-progress and complain, ships stop coming, funding dries up... cruisers want a nice experience now and it is not often delivered correctly on a developing island. Way more passengers complain about the dirt in Domininica, the poverty on Anguilla, than the stops on STT or St Martin... and complaints are not good for business.

 

So RCL, etc go where their passengers are happy, and can you blame them? They are no fans of striking pax who want their money back b/c they did not like the experience provided...

 

... and more than a few small islands decline to be courted by large ship lines, to avoid the nightmares they see on other islands...

 

However your last comments are welll put, as people leave to other cruise lines who deliver a better varoty of stops RCCl may wake up and understand what they are missing. On the other hand if enough people remain it will keep it as is.

 

The consumer will control what happens and let the dollar do the talking.

[negc]

I think many of their newer ships are too big for the lesser ports. If you look at what sails to a lot of them, it's mostly more or less Vision-class size and smaller.

 

Anyway, it looks to me like RCI heard you when they made their early 2008 itinerary for Legend. It visits Dominica, Grenada, and Margarita Island (in addition to St. Maarten and Aruba).

 

I agree with you and RCI regularly uses its smaller and older ships to open new markets to test their marketability. In the next few years, they are adding at least 8 new ports of call, are doing a South America itinerary and are positioning a ship in Santo Domingo. As far as visiting Grand Turk, that would be great, but at the present time Carnival controls who can dock there and I doubt Mickey Arison is inclined to allow Richard Fain to bring any of his ships there. :( As long as they keep filling their ships with their "boring" itineraries, they would be foolhardy to discontinue doing so. As the demand for new and different itineraries grows and as their fleet increases, I think that we will see more itineraries added, but not just for the sake of adding new ones.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

I think if you stick with the Caribbean, regardless of cruiseline, you will get bored fairly quickly. I mean how different are most of the islands anyway? If you want something different try different world locations. Mexican Riviera, Hawaii, Europe, etc. I know, I know, it takes longer to get there but hey..... you only go around once.

 

Mark

 

Mexico is a great itinerary but RCI needs to have a better ship on the West Coast than the Vision of the Seas. We've switched to Princess for the Mexican Rivera because they have both the Diamond and Sapphire Princess for the Mexican Riviera itinerary. I know the market is here................let's have a great ship for West Coast cruising.

[Mildred]

How about a round trip Panama Canal out of San Diego on a Radiance Class ship?

[negc]

Mexico is a great itinerary but RCI needs to have a better ship on the West Coast than the Vision of the Seas. We've switched to Princess for the Mexican Rivera because they have both the Diamond and Sapphire Princess for the Mexican Riviera itinerary. I know the market is here................let's have a great ship for West Coast cruising.

 

If you think that the Caribbean with its dozens of islands can get boring, just imagine the Mexican Riviera itinerary and how quickly you will be bored. :rolleyes: Plus the weather coming and going can be quite iffy. When we sailed in March on the Sapphire Princess, it was gray and extremely chilly both coming and going. The itinerary, itself, was a nice change of pace but certainly would not, IMHO, rank among the great itineraries in the cruise world.:D When and if, the demand for a larger ship than a Vision class ship becomes evident, be sure that RCI will make a change. Until then, given the very limited itineraries available, I wouldn't look to any dramatic realignment of the fleet.

[TEXASMUNK]

I would think that port decisions are also based on fuel consumption today.

A while back there was talk of a fule surcharge, it has not hit yet, but if the ship can save 15,000 gallons by creeping to the next port overnight versus running at 21 knots to a different port, I would wager that is part of the decision matrix too.

[wuppis]

We have done the southern caribbean on the Zenith and saw the QM2 in several ports. Okay, they cannot dock, they have to tender, but she is huge. So if she can come in some ports, smaller RCCL ships also can.

We had to book the Zenith, because RCCL did not offer any interesting cruise for this part of the Caribbean.

And a Zenith is nothing compared to a Radiance Class ship.

Hope RCCL is clever enough to follow the boards, not only about the itineraries, but also about complains about their food on this board, the C&A program and much more.

This is, what people are thinking and talking about and most of them are loyal guests to RCCL and would love to make more cruises on their ships.

[irishnyc]

You know, I'm sure it's about competition as well. If every single cruise line visited every single Caribbean port, there would be no reason for people to choose one cruise line over another.

[hac82]

If you are looking for a different cruise from RCCL, try the one we are going on in November of '07. The ports are ports are San Juan, St Thomas, St Maarten (i know so far the same), but then there are 4 new ports of Antigua, Dominca, St Kitts and Barbados. It is a 12-nighter from Bayonne, New Jersey. And at a great price too.

[masterbaker]

Many people are not willing to fly outside the continental US to embark on a cruise, also many have limited time to vacation so the longer cruises are not an option for them. That means a LOT of people want to sail from US ports on a seven night cruise, and there is only so far you can sail and be back at the homeport in seven days. IMHO, for those reasons the eastern/western itineraries will continue to be offered and popular.