HAL Please Dock a Ship at Port Canaveral

Although I've never been lucky enough to meet Ruth C. I would say as wonderful as she is through her helpful and kind posts that the sun might come out just to see her. [emoji274] Sail - I appreciate all of your helpful and well informed posts as well. Thanks

 

Michael

 

What a nice post, Michael.

 

Thank you. :)

 

There was an announcement in our local media that NCL will be basing the Epic (world's 3rd largest cruise ship, but #1 ugliest :) ) at Canaveral starting Nov next year. With that added to the Carnival, RCCL, and Disney ships based there, I think HAL would be very hard pressed to fill even a small ship.

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Edited August 27, 2015 by jtl513

Of course there are people who would like to see HAL also sail out of Norfolk, as they did before, and Galveston where Carnival has had a presence with Princess and Carnival for several years. Each has it's attractions and distractions.

We have cruised at least 8 times from NYC or NJ and almost always in Jan-Feb-Mar and have always found that by the second evening or at least the third day the weather was always very nice and was like the Carolina's.

 

bosco

 

The last time we cruised out of NYC was to Bermuda in 2010..We took an up-sell to a Lanai on the Veendam.. It was a great cruise.. Sailing past the Statue of Liberty was very special for us..:)

 

It was also the last time we were able to spend a lovely extra week with DH's Brother, Sister-in-law & their kids. They have both passed away since then..

Edited August 27, 2015 by serendipity1499

And then there is Seattle, San Franscisco, Long Beach & San Diego some great West Coast ports with no on-going HAL sailings...

Doesn't help that HAL is going "south" in terms of number of ships. Now that might be a temporary situation but I suspect that more of the R and S class ships will be repurposed over the next few years and I don't have a crystal ball that indicates a one-for-one replacement of those ships. If HAL doesn't replace them on a one-for-one basis then that means something has to give in terms of the variety and number of itineraries.

And then there is Seattle, San Franscisco, Long Beach & San Diego some great West Coast ports with no on-going HAL sailings...

 

Where can they sail to considering PVSA?

Sure, Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii but all the great West Coast ports present a problem in terms of foreign ports.

Other than Mexico closed loop cruises and Hawaii (too long for many people and too many sea days for others) other cruises likely would have to be open jaw ending in Canada. That sometimes translates to high air fare.

Edited August 27, 2015 by sail7seas

I sailed on the Zaandam out of Pt. Canaveral back in 2004 or 2005. I flew into Orlando and took a hotel shuttle from the airport to the Hilton Garden Inn. The next morning I took the hotel shuttle back to the airport, and from there took the HAL shuttle over to the port. Not impossible, but not convenient either. Much prefer sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa if I have to fly.

 

Roz

And then there is Seattle, San Franscisco, Long Beach & San Diego some great West Coast ports with no on-going HAL sailings...

 

How about dedicating a ship to a series of monthly cruises from all around the country. A month of 12 day Caribbean cruises from NYC, a month from Charleston, a month from Florida, a month from San Juan then after a month of sunfarers a full canal crossing and a similar series from West coast ports.

 

I bet there would be enough passengers anxious to cruise from each port to fill a ship during a one month series of 3 cruises. Running the same cruise from the same port for 3 or more months drains the demographic pool making it more difficult to sail at full capacity without discounts.

 

Just a thought and of course OMO.

 

bosco

How about dedicating a ship to a series of monthly cruises from all around the country. A month of 12 day Caribbean cruises from NYC, a month from Charleston, a month from Florida, a month from San Juan then after a month of sunfarers a full canal crossing and a similar series from West coast ports.

 

I bet there would be enough passengers anxious to cruise from each port to fill a ship during a one month series of 3 cruises. Running the same cruise from the same port for 3 or more months drains the demographic pool making it more difficult to sail at full capacity without discounts.

 

Just a thought and of course OMO.

 

bosco

There's a massive support infrastructure required at each "home port" that takes time and significant money to establish. I doubt that HAL or other lines would even contemplate trying to establish temporary home ports for such short periods of time.

There's a massive support infrastructure required at each "home port" that takes time and significant money to establish. I doubt that HAL or other lines would even contemplate trying to establish temporary home ports for such short periods of time.

 

I sadly understand the problems that may be encountered as well.

 

They do have infrastructure in Boston and NYC and the whole idea is just selfish wishful thinking on my part as I would once again love to sail HAL to the Southern Caribbean or any Caribbean itinerary from NYC or Boston on a 12 night cruise during the coldest months up here.

 

bosco

we might take more cruises if HAL sailed from there

There's a massive support infrastructure required at each "home port" that takes time and significant money to establish. I doubt that HAL or other lines would even contemplate trying to establish temporary home ports for such short periods of time.

 

I agree. A "port de jour" approach is problematic for sure. It might be a little easier at established cruise ports where there are experienced contractors and port infrastructure used to handling cruise ships but to crank that up out of nothing would be a challenge.

 

Once cruised out of Galveston with a nice lady who worked for a local contractor who did terminal support for the cruise lines sailing out of there. Met her through our roll call as she was sailing on a Celebrity cruise we were taking out of Galveston. She shared she had like four or more "uniforms" depending on what ship/line she was working on a particular day. As it was she worked the terminal for our cruise dressed in her Celebrity outfit and boarded the ship at the last minute as a passenger.

Parent line Carnival has a very efficient and significant staff at Port Canaveral. I suspect they could take on the added load of an HAL ship with little additional expense. The question is why would HAL feel the need to do this as long as they are doing very well, thank you, at Port Everglades?

 

<snip>

 

Once cruised out of Galveston with a nice lady who worked for a local contractor who did terminal support for the cruise lines sailing out of there. Met her through our roll call as she was sailing on a Celebrity cruise we were taking out of Galveston. She shared she had like four or more "uniforms" depending on what ship/line she was working on a particular day. As it was she worked the terminal for our cruise dressed in her Celebrity outfit and boarded the ship at the last minute as a passenger.

 

 

 

For the last three of so years, HAL has contracted out ground operations and folks who work HAL's shore ops also work other cruise lines. It is a major company that does shore ops/embarkation/debark all over and they work for many of the cruise line that no longer do their own staffing.

 

I've forgotten the name but think it is something like Intercoastal.

 

 

[quote name='sail7seas'][B] Where can they sail to considering PVSA?
Sure, Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii but all the great West Coast ports present a problem in terms of foreign ports.
Other than Mexico closed loop cruises and Hawaii (too long for many people and too many sea days for others) other cruises likely would have to be open jaw ending in Canada. That sometimes translates to high air fare.
[/B][/QUOTE]

There are some of us who would like generic Pacific coast sailings. We have lots of less used ports for this. For closed loop cruises, that would mean a stop in either Ensenada, Victoria, or Vancouver.

Or, longer cruises to Central/South America would be nice.

There are a lot of hotels at Cocoa Beach who offer the cruise package, spend the pre-cruise night with us, leave your car in our lot and we will shuttle you to the ship and back to our lot when you return. We have done this several times. Who doesn't want to come to a beautiful beach and start their vacation early???

There are some very good seafood and other restaurants in the port area and a lot of the hotels offer shuttles during dinner time.

If you drive from the Orlando airport you will pass Disney bus after bus shuttling their passengers. Hal can shuttle from the airport or if you drive to Port Canaveral you can park at a "park-n-go" type lot for $7 a night.

I just feel HAL would open up another huge market for folks who can and want to drive to Port Canaveral. I know from the 2 group cruises I coordinated, one with over 50 people, no one who flew complained, most of us did the pre-cruise hotel night and shuttle and those who flew in the day of the cruise said everything went smooth.

Thanks for you comments, I know I can always count on my CC pals to come up with some "good" ideas. Linda

As others have said, I think it is unlikely that HAL will use Port Canaveral as an embarkation/debarkation port. With the temporary reduction in size of the fleet, there is not a spare vessel to send to Port Canaveral.

One possible advantage for the Port is the addition of new terminals and parking, as I understand it. This may be a reason NCL is sending Norwegian Epic there. (Hope they keep the web cam pointed away from the ship's bow area.)

KK mentioned the need for some new itineraries from Florida; I agree. How about these ideas: place a HAL ship at Port Canaveral and offer a Bermuda/Bahamas 7-8 day itinerary. Or, offer a Western and Eastern Caribbean 10-14 day itinerary as Sitmar used to do from Fort Lauderdale.

we live north of Atlanta and have sailed out of port Canaveral 4 times it is about the same distance for us to tampa. the rest our family comes from new York and new Hampshire. they get transfers from the airport through the cruiseline . the hotels in port Canaveral are soooo much less than tampa or ft .lauderdale. you could opt to stay near the airport in Orlando and there is plenty to do around there. when we do sale out of ft. Lauderdale we stay in Orlando an the way down and park at the port.

[quote name='retdon']There are a lot of hotels at Cocoa Beach who offer the cruise package, spend the pre-cruise night with us, leave your car in our lot and we will shuttle you to the ship and back to our lot when you return. We have done this several times. Who doesn't want to come to a beautiful beach and start their vacation early???

There are some very good seafood and other restaurants in the port area and a lot of the hotels offer shuttles during dinner time.

If you drive from the Orlando airport you will pass Disney bus after bus shuttling their passengers. Hal can shuttle from the airport or if you drive to Port Canaveral you can park at a "park-n-go" type lot for $7 a night.

I just feel HAL would open up another huge market for folks who can and want to drive to Port Canaveral. I know from the 2 group cruises I coordinated, one with over 50 people, no one who flew complained, most of us did the pre-cruise hotel night and shuttle and those who flew in the day of the cruise said everything went smooth.

Thanks for you comments, I know I can always count on my CC pals to come up with some "good" ideas. Linda[/QUOTE]



[B]
What about those of us who fly to our cruises in Florida?
No way I am going to drive from Boston to Cocoa Beach when I can fly non-stop to FLL and Miami.

Leaving my car at 'park and cruise' motel means nothing to a great many of us who don't live in Florida.
[/B] Edited August 28, 2015 by sail7seas

[quote name='sail7seas'][B]What about those of us who fly to our cruises in Florida?[/B][/quote][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]Even more flights into Melbourne wouldn't help much, as that's 45 minutes from the port.

Except for those doing package deals combining a Disney cruise and a stay at a Disney resort, I would guess that the majority of cruisers out of Canaveral are from FL or GA and are happy with cheap "mini-cruises" of 3 or 4 days. (We've done a couple since we're just 30 minutes away.) It's just not a market that I would expect HAL to do well in.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[quote name='sail7seas'][B]
What about those of us who fly to our cruises in Florida?[/B][/QUOTE]
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Moving one ship to Pt. Canaveral still leaves a lot of choices out of Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa for those who prefer that.
Adding Pt. Canaveral to the mix is merely more choices. Choices is good, in this case.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[quote name='RuthC'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Moving one ship to Pt. Canaveral still leaves a lot of choices out of Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa for those who prefer that.
Adding Pt. Canaveral to the mix is merely more choices. Choices is good, in this case.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
[B]

There are two fewer ships in the fleet, two (both my favorites) are going to Australia, Amsterdam will do World Cruise, Volendam Asia, Prinsendam doesn't sail the Caribbean but for holiday cruises, is it Zaandam to Hawaii,,,,,,,

Off the top of my head, means there are not that many ships doing FLL and Tampa. :) (I loved sailing out of Tampa, wonderful embark/debark city.)

[/B]

Within the last few years, HAL had seven day Caribbean Zaandam sailings from Jacksonville. I remember because it offered two sea days at the start of the cruise (sea days are my favorite). HAL hasn't planned them since, but Jacksonville isn't a bad drive from Canaveral.

[quote name='serendipity1499'][SIZE="3"]Suggest you pull up HAL's page on Facebook & put your request in there..

They rarely have anyone reading Cruise Critic these days.. We used to have some HAL employees on CC but have not seen them posting for many years..

The problem with Port Canaveral, is the nearest large commercial airport with many airlines in & out is over an hours drive..

Ft. Lauderdale & Tampa have airports which are a stones throw away with many departures & arrivals.. In addition they have lots of excellent hotels & restaurants..

I would love to be able to drive to Port Canaveral to pick up a ship, but it's not that convenient for out of Towner's../SIZE][/QUOTE]

Amen! That is probably why HAL pulled out in the first place. The Zaandam used to do cruises out of there but that stopped a long time ago.