Does Carnival offer ANY Panama Canal cruises?

[Drew B]

I looked on their website, as well as on several travel agencies' sites and couldn't find a single Canal cruise. Does anybody have any idea why? All the other major lines have a variety of Panama Canal cruises from which to choose...:(

[CruiseCentric]

I looked on their website, as well as on several travel agencies' sites and couldn't find a single Canal cruise. Does anybody have any idea why? All the other major lines have a variety of Panama Canal cruises from which to choose...:(

 

You just missed it. Elation did the PC cruise last month. Rumor has it another cruise might happen in a couple of years.

[mrdood]

Carnival's market favors "low cost" - a trip through the canal would take longer than Carnival's business model (Europe excluded) for cruises and there are additional costs for navigating through the canal. They also do not want to compete with their own sister brands for that business.

 

They do frequent trips to the Atlantic side of the canal... but the ship just docks and does go in, but you can tour the locks.

 

That is my opinion... they do occasionally have repositioning cruises through the canal.

[Drew B]

That's a shame. RCCL and NCL are also lower-cost cruiselines, but they both offer numerous Panama Canal cruises...

[chasetf]

That's a shame. RCCL and NCL are also lower-cost cruiselines, but they both offer numerous Panama Canal cruises...

The Carnival model has almost all of their ships in the Caribbean year round. That means they donot need to reposition (through the canal). RCCL and NCL are repositioning to Alaska, Mexican Riveria, etc, so they need to pass through the canal.

 

Carnival could do back and forths say like Princess (San Juan to Acapulco for instance) but that would not be in line with their low cost approach as mentioned above.

[Drew B]

The Carnival model has almost all of their ships in the Caribbean year round. That means they donot need to reposition (through the canal). RCCL and NCL are repositioning to Alaska, Mexican Riveria, etc, so they need to pass through the canal.

 

Carnival could do back and forths say like Princess (San Juan to Acapulco for instance) but that would not be in line with their low cost approach as mentioned above.

 

MANY lines do back and forths. Canal cruises are available on other lines all winter long -- not just twice a year for repos...

 

And I don't understand why Carnival has SO MANY ships in the Caribbean, many of them doing a variation of the same itinerary. If they had ONE ship going back and forth doing canal transits, I bet it would sail full, even at a higher cost.

 

Even if full transits would make for long cruises and [perhaps prohibitively] more expenses cruises. However, they should look into doing 10-day partial transits which give you a Caribbean plus the added benefit of the canal experience.

[CruiseCentric]

MANY lines do back and forths. Canal cruises are available on other lines all winter long -- not just twice a year for repos...

 

And I don't understand why Carnival has SO MANY ships in the Caribbean, many of them doing a variation of the same itinerary. If they had ONE ship going back and forth doing canal transits, I bet it would sail full, even at a higher cost.

 

Even if full transits would make for long cruises and [perhaps prohibitively] more expenses cruises. However, they should look into doing 10-day partial transits which give you a Caribbean plus the added benefit of the canal experience.

 

Well...they are the #1 cruise line and all ships are already sailing full. What you are requesting is just not within their current business model. The big selling point is having "ports close to home" so many people can just drive to ships.

They also love to cash in on the 3rd and 4th passenger rates. Normally cruises over 8 days have fewer kids/total passengers.

[Drew B]

Hmmm. Good point. I'm surprised that ALL of those CCL ships competing against each other in the Caribbean are able to sail full. If that is true (and I mean sail full without resorting to drastically resorting fares to sell out the ship at the last moment), then I'm sure you are right. Diversification, though, is good in ANY business model. I'd love to see them do an experiment for one season. I think they would make more money, but even if you are right and that strategy would NOT be the best to maximize profits, I don't think they would suffer much by just trying it out.

[Cruzman]

Carnival's Destiny Class and Conquest Class are too large for the Canal as it now exists. That only leaves the Holiday, Fantasy and Spirit Class with the capability of navigating the Canal. The Fantasy Class and Holiday Class ships are, with few exceptions, dedicated to short 3, 4 and 5 day cruises which are Carnival's bread and butter. That only leaves the Spirit Class which does do Panama Canal transits periodically. By the way, to give you an idea about what the toll for navigating the Canal is, the record toll for any cruise ship is owned by Ocean Princess, with a toll of $217,513.75. That's one way!

[Drew B]

Carnival's Destiny Class and Conquest Class are too large for the Canal as it now exists. That only leaves the Holiday, Fantasy and Spirit Class with the capability of navigating the Canal. The Fantasy Class and Holiday Class ships are, with few exceptions, dedicated to short 3, 4 and 5 day cruises which are Carnival's bread and butter. That only leaves the Spirit Class which does do Panama Canal transits periodically. By the way, to give you an idea about what the toll for navigating the Canal is, the record toll for any cruise ship is owned by Ocean Princess, with a toll of $217,513.75. That's one way!

 

That's the RECORD toll, which I assume means that most are lower. The capacity on Spirit is 2667 (which I think means double occupancy, no 3rd or 4th in the cabin). Let's say it's NEARLY full but not entirely packed to capacity, and say that 2,500 guests sail each Panama Canal cruise. If you divide $217,513.75 by 2,500 guests, that comes out to $87 per guest. And as I said, it is possible (likely) that the toll would be less and the number of passengers would be more, so the price per passenger would be less. That's not much for the added experience of the canal.

 

Yes, Panama Canal cruises will be more expensive than your standard 7-day Eastern or Western Caribbean cruise or Baja California cruise. I certainly wouldn't suggest that Carnival REPLACE the standard cruises altogether with Panama Canal cruises. However, Carnival already has tons of options in the standard markets. They can branch out a little and have a few higher-priced but more extraordinary itineraries. If nothing else, this will keep loyalists more happy, as most people don't want to do the same cruise(s) 20 times!

[Senoj84]

Yes, mine is this Sep 29th-Oct 7. 8 days. It's the Panama Canal, Costa Rico and Mexico. The ship is leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

[TexBear]

Hmmm. Good point. I'm surprised that ALL of those CCL ships competing against each other in the Caribbean are able to sail full. If that is true (and I mean sail full without resorting to drastically resorting fares to sell out the ship at the last moment), then I'm sure you are right. Diversification, though, is good in ANY business model. I'd love to see them do an experiment for one season. I think they would make more money, but even if you are right and that strategy would NOT be the best to maximize profits, I don't think they would suffer much by just trying it out.

 

Seems that Carnival is experimenting with new cruises in Europe. In particular, I'd site the N Europe cruise from London (Dover) to St Petersburg.

 

As someone who works in accounting and finance, I know business need to gauge the impact of investments (new or expanded service, capital improvements to the fleet, etc...) to please the board of directors and more importantly, the shareholders.

[chasetf]

MANY lines do back and forths. Canal cruises are available on other lines all winter long -- not just twice a year for repos....

Some do have one ship doing a back and forth.... Like the Regal Princess did a while back. But most ships that do a transit are moving to Alaska from the Caribbean or vice versa. Others do partial transits on the Caribbean side. We have done both. The full transit was on the Dawn Princess which was on its way to Alaska.

And I don't understand why Carnival has SO MANY ships in the Caribbean, many of them doing a variation of the same itinerary. If they had ONE ship going back and forth doing canal transits, I bet it would sail full, even at a higher cost.

I don't either. I would get tired of always doing nothing but the Caribbean. There is so much of the rest of the world to see.

Even if full transits would make for long cruises and [perhaps prohibitively] more expenses cruises. However, they should look into doing 10-day partial transits which give you a Caribbean plus the added benefit of the canal experience.

Princess usually has two ships doing the 10 day partial during the Caribbean season. Other lines also do it too.

 

Those repos are usually the best deals. The Dawn Princess I mentioned above was probably our most economical (per day cost) of all our cruises. We got a last minute deal (which happens all the time) because they are repo'ing in Apr and late Sep which is not a convenient time for most families.

[chelledun]

I really wish they did the Panama canal and some other more unusual itineraries. We love cruising Carnival, but we can't do it as much as we would like because we've simply grown tired of the traditional eastern/western Caribbean routes. If they threw in some South American and a more diverse set of European routes, I doubt we'd sail with anyone else.

 

I understand this isn't their current business model, it's just my personal wish :).

[Drew B]

I really wish they did the Panama canal and some other more unusual itineraries. We love cruising Carnival, but we can't do it as much as we would like because we've simply grown tired of the traditional eastern/western Caribbean routes. If they threw in some South American and a more diverse set of European routes, I doubt we'd sail with anyone else.

 

I understand this isn't their current business model, it's just my personal wish :).

 

Carnival, with such a large (and ever expanding) fleet, has the luxury to be all things to all people. They can continue to do all the standards, but still have a couple of ships venturing out and doing more exotic stuff.

 

Lines with smaller fleets - take Celebrity for example - have a hard time because they CAN'T do both. When they focus on off the beaten path cruises, people complain "Where are the 7-night Caribbean cruises? Where are the Mexican Riviera cruises?" However, if they stuck to the standards, their client base would object to that, too.

 

Carnival doesn't have that problem. They can do BOTH.

[DaytonCruiser]

I really wish they did the Panama canal and some other more unusual itineraries. We love cruising Carnival, but we can't do it as much as we would like because we've simply grown tired of the traditional eastern/western Caribbean routes. If they threw in some South American and a more diverse set of European routes, I doubt we'd sail with anyone else.

 

I understand this isn't their current business model, it's just my personal wish :).

 

You might find this thread of interest..3 SA cruises.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=582013

[chelledun]

You might find this thread of interest..3 SA cruises.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=582013

 

Thanks! That's actually great news. SA is next on our list after the Med.

 

Michelle

[dan40]

We have done both full and partial canal transits on Carnival. Both times in OV cabins at around $50. pppd. When Carnival can fill ships with Carib itineraries at $75. to $100 pppd, why would they want to continue to struggle to fill ships at reduced rates and increased expenses. Plus Carnival's peak season is summertime. You DO NOT want to visit Panama in July or August. 100+ degrees and 100% humidity when its NOT raining. [almost never] Everytime a ship goes thru a lock, it uses 26 MILLION GALLONS of water, which is simply released, not reused. [it would never be built that way today] All that water for every ship [thousands of them and TRILLIONS of gallons] comes from Gatun Lake. And ALL the water in the lake comes from the local rainfall. Spring and fall repo cruises are all you want to do with the canal.

Easy for me to say, I've been. And it was great.

 

Dan

[chasetf]

.........You DO NOT want to visit Panama in July or August. 100+ degrees and 100% humidity when its NOT raining. [almost never]

I agree. It was even hot and humid in April when we did a full transit.

.........Everytime a ship goes thru a lock, it uses 26 MILLION GALLONS of water, which is simply released, not reused. [it would never be built that way today] All that water for every ship [thousands of them and TRILLIONS of gallons] comes from Gatun Lake. And ALL the water in the lake comes from the local rainfall. Dan

That 26 million gallons would just flow into the ocean anyway..... Gatun Lake or no Gatun Lake. Panama has more water than they know what to do with. (typical of any rainforest) ;)

 

And I disagree. If (and they plan to) build it today (they are going to build bigger locks) they would do it the same way. Pumping water just does not make sense. The canal design leverages the natural extreme rainfall they get in the region. Plus.... there is water splitting over the Gatun dam in addition to the water that is released through the locks.

[dan40]

I agree. It was even hot and humid in April when we did a full transit.

 

That 26 million gallons would just flow into the ocean anyway..... Gatun Lake or no Gatun Lake. Panama has more water than they know what to do with. (typical of any rainforest) ;)

 

And I disagree. If (and they plan to) build it today (they are going to build bigger locks) they would do it the same way. Pumping water just does not make sense. The canal design leverages the natural extreme rainfall they get in the region. Plus.... there is water splitting over the Gatun dam in addition to the water that is released through the locks.

 

You may be right about the new locks. I just figured the tree huggers would be all up in arms about mixing all that fresh water with salt water.

And in today's world, why go with something that has worked for about a hundred years when there is some expensive unproven method to flush money even faster than they do water..

 

Dan

[chasetf]

........I just figured the tree huggers would be all up in arms about mixing all that fresh water with salt water.......Dan

If they did get up in arms about it, think of all those rivers around the world that flow to seas / oceans / gulfs / .......... they would have to stop from doing that very thing. :D