Will Princess eventually enter short-market cruises?

With the introduction of the Royal Princess into the fleet and her arrival into Ft. Lauderdale at the end of October 2013, will Princess Cruises finally enter the short market 4- and 5-night cruises like the rest of the mass market lines?

Celebrity Cruises had the Celebrity Century then the Celebrity Millennium doing these cruises, as well as the Celebrity Constellation at the end of this year. Both Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean have some of their larger 110k ton ships doing these cruises. And NCL also has their hand in the pie as well.

This would be seasonal of course during the Winter months after ships reposition back to the US and before the Spring migration back to their alternate Summer deployments. It would be nice to see a Grand-class doing short cruises out of FLL.

With the introduction of the Royal Princess into the fleet and her arrival into Ft. Lauderdale at the end of October 2013, will Princess Cruises finally enter the short market 4- and 5-night cruises like the rest of the mass market lines?

 

Celebrity Cruises had the Celebrity Century then the Celebrity Millennium doing these cruises, as well as the Celebrity Constellation at the end of this year. Both Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean have some of their larger 110k ton ships doing these cruises. And NCL also has their hand in the pie as well.

 

This would be seasonal of course during the Winter months after ships reposition back to the US and before the Spring migration back to their alternate Summer deployments. It would be nice to see a Grand-class doing short cruises out of FLL.

Every now and then Princess has short sailings along the West coast while repositioning their ships from California to Washington/Canada and vice versa.

Princess does not routinely have short sailings like the other lines do.

I for one would love to see Princess do some 4 & 5 night Caribbean cruises. Maybe I could go more often;)

I doubt it. There is no indication they have any interest in shorter cruises. They only do the ones in the Pacific NW to comply with the PVSA each spring and fall as the ships are moved to and from Alaska.

As retirees living in Florida, we don't want more short cruises. We want to see longer cruises offered that are NOT back to back. That's a waste of time and money for us. We enjoy 10-12-14 day cruises round trip out of Ft. Lauderdale and no return to Ft. Lauderdale until end of cruise. We sould also like to see some cruises offered to the Western Caribbean. Not much cholce there anymore. So for us, No to more shorter cruises unless they offer more longer cruises as well that are no back to back. :D

I doubt it.

Princess will by then have 17 ships in it's fleet compared to Celebrity's 11 ships. I can't imagine just a few years back Celebrity Cruises would have thought they would be spending millions of dollars in the Solsticization of Celebrity Constellation only to have her doing 4- and 5-night cruises out of Miami in Winter 2012/13.

So it's really not a far stretch to have one of the older Sun- or Grand-class doing these same short cruises out of Port Everglades and Miami that Independence of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Carnival Freedom, Celebrity Constellation, and Disney Wonder will be doing.

Especially after the second Royal-class (Princess Cruises 18th ship) comes out in 2014.

I doubt if they'll implement short cruises because they generally fill up all of their ships on 7+ day cruises. I've taken a few short cruises from LA on Carnival & RCCL and the atmosphere onboard was much different than on a Princess cruise. They were more like a gamblers special & not the type of experience I'd want with Princess.

With the introduction of the Royal Princess into the fleet and her arrival into Ft. Lauderdale at the end of October 2013, will Princess Cruises finally enter the short market 4- and 5-night cruises like the rest of the mass market lines? .

I sure hope not

They already do on the westcoast, and I think they do a few short AU cruises. I'm not sure Princess is the right demographic for short Caribbean cruises. They have a tendency of being party cruises.

They already do on the westcoast, and I think they do a few short AU cruises. I'm not sure Princess is the right demographic for short Caribbean cruises. They have a tendency of being party cruises.

I tend to agree. Princess, part of Carnival Corp., is not a line that leans toward short cruises. It isn't their kind of market. Just like it isn't the market for HAL which is also under the Carnival Umbrella.

Unlike RCI, which runs 2 lines (to the best of my knowledge) Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, and NCL which is in and of itself, Carnival Corp. has so many different brands under its umbrella that the management of the individual brands are encouraged to carve out their own niché. Amongst the brands that are the most prevalent in North America, Carnival is the party cruise line with the shorter itineraries. Princess, and HAL offer a different atmosphere and type of cruise than Carnival and as such, people who may start out as Carnival patrons may end up moving to Princess or HAL later on in their cruising experience as they chose to move away from the party or entertainment cruise.

The best example of this, at least until recently, was the American auto industry. Ford had 3 brands, Ford, Mercury and Lincoln. Ford was an entry level vehicle. Mercury was a mid-market vehicle and Lincoln was a luxury vehicle. The idea, at least on paper, was that Ford could sell a vehicle to any potential buyer demographic and still win by being able to sell to all potential demographics and also be able to follow people through their life cycle and be able to sell cars to them in all stages of life. That isn't the case anymore since most of the American car brands have dropped lines that didn't provide any benefit to the core company anymore.

However in the cruise industry what Carnival has done is different. They may own the cruise line brands and those brands may all offer different types of cruises and cruise vacation experiences, but those brands are still highly independent of each other, are separately managed and keep their own taste and style about them. Unlike the car industry which was highly saturated when the car companies started dropping brands, the cruise industry, highly competitive as it is, still seems to be able to manage the number and variety of lines out there and those lines continue to make money. The structure alone of the Princess organization may prevent them from making short cruises profitable whereas the structure of Carnival may allow them to see huge profits on their short itineraries.

I've taken a few short cruises from LA on Carnival & RCCL and the atmosphere onboard was much different than on a Princess cruise. They were more like a gamblers special & not the type of experience I'd want with Princess.

The same has been said by some that took the Celebrity Millennium 4-night cruises last year to Key West and Cozumel. Lots of younger people, first timers, and a different (younger, rowdier, louder) demographic in what you would normally see on the longer Celebrity cruises.

I did a 10-night B2B on Celebrity Millennium Nov. 28th - Dec. 8th and it was a pretty sedate crowd. I guess because it was between the big end of the year holidays and there were very few kids on board.

Princess will by then have 17 ships in it's fleet compared to Celebrity's 11 ships. I can't imagine just a few years back Celebrity Cruises would have thought they would be spending millions of dollars in the Solsticization of Celebrity Constellation only to have her doing 4- and 5-night cruises out of Miami in Winter 2012/13.

 

So it's really not a far stretch to have one of the older Sun- or Grand-class doing these same short cruises out of Port Everglades and Miami that Independence of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Carnival Freedom, Celebrity Constellation, and Disney Wonder will be doing.

 

Especially after the second Royal-class (Princess Cruises 18th ship) comes out in 2014.

Though Princess has more ships in Exotic areas compared to other lines. I think this is the main difference.

would,nt like to see more mini cruises on princess theyre just rowdy party cruises .

as for princess fleet size when royal 2 comes on line one of the sun class ships is moving to p&o so looks like fleet will never go above 17 ships

would,nt like to see more mini cruises on princess theyre just rowdy party cruises .

as for princess fleet size when royal 2 comes on line one of the sun class ships is moving to p&o so looks like fleet will never go above 17 ships

Unless you mean P&O Australia the Sun-class will be staying with Princess. P&O will be getting their own version of the Royal-class in 2015 which will be the third hull built from this design.

http://maritimematters.com/2011/06/monfalcone-to-build-biggest-ever-po-ship/

There's no need for them (P&O) to take on a second hand old Sun-class hand me down. They may get one of the Grand-class after a refit similar to what happened to Grand Princess.

We did a short trip on Caribbean Princess a few years ago out of Port Everglades - what a different crowd. Right around graduation time and we found many more of the younger crowd. Much more of a party atmosphere. Dinner conversation on first night included to a young girl making arrangements to hook up for the evening with two guys she just met - and I don't mean for MUTS! We are in our 50's and not prudes by any means, but that was just downright tacky. We love Princess and the experience we have on board. No more short cruises for us!

Starting Jan 2014 Princess has 4 and 5 day cruises to the Caribbean from FLL.

See the new 2014 schedule on their website.

Apparently next fall or 2013, there's going to be several short cruises on the coastal route off of the West Coast. But what would be nice is if one of the newer ships was sent over here, in addition to the ones ported on our coast. Many west coasters love being able to drive (or have a quick flight) to one of the ports here. Unfortunately, we can't all year round unless we go on Carnival.

Apparently next fall or 2013' date=' there's going to be several short cruises on the coastal route off of the West Coast. But what would be nice is if one of the newer ships was sent over here, in addition to the ones ported on our coast. Many west coasters love being able to drive (or have a quick flight) to one of the ports here. Unfortunately, we can't all year round unless we go on Carnival.[/quote']

 

OP here:

 

I actually started this thread about a month before the 'official' announcement thread was made...

 

HERE

 

To me it only made sense but there were doubters. Guess I was right. ;)

 

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I have searched the different cruise lines for short cruises hoping that while in Florida visting the in-laws we could get away for a few days. What I have found is that the cost per day on a 4-5 day cruise is more than a 7 day cruise and that just doesn't sit right with me. They do seem to sell out and I havn't seen any last minute deals for the time we will be in Florida. However I have seen some great deals for 7days. I would like to see more 9 day cruises since we don't have time to do B2B or 14 day cruises.

We hope not! For us 7 day Cruises are too short. 10 plus days or B2B'ers for us.

Another Princess consideration is the Captain's Circle. You can advance thru the ranks based on either days on the ships or cruises. The few short cruises in the Pacific NW are needed to reposition the ships and keep the PVSA happy. Adding frequent short cruises would make many people Elite with few days at sea.

To me it only made sense but there were doubters. Guess I was right. ;)

Reading this thread gave me quite a chuckle. It was very prescient of you, And good strategic thinking, but the idea was certainly dismissed by many, thinking Princess was "classier" than that. With the addition of another ship and pulling out of San Juan it made sense. There are only so many places to put the ships during the northern hemisphere's winter months. I was personally hoping for a return to true 14-night itineraries, but since Princess just recently abandoned them, I guess it is too early to hope they'll reconsider that move. But one might have thought they'd put a ship out of Fort Lauderdale doing the Western route...

I think dollars will be the driving factor in what Princess does with their ships. If the shorter cruises add more to the bottom line than the longer ones, they will be doing the shorter cruises.

Must keep us shareholders happy !!!!

Unless you mean P&O Australia the Sun-class will be staying with Princess. P&O will be getting their own version of the Royal-class in 2015 which will be the third hull built from this design.

 

http://maritimematters.com/2011/06/monfalcone-to-build-biggest-ever-po-ship/

 

There's no need for them (P&O) to take on a second hand old Sun-class hand me down. They may get one of the Grand-class after a refit similar to what happened to Grand Princess.

FYI, P&O already has a Sun-class hand-me-down, the Oceana (formerly Ocean Princess) and Sea Princess went to P&O for a number of years as the Adonia, but came back to the Princess fleet a few years ago .

Apparently next fall or 2013' date=' there's going to be several short cruises on the coastal route off of the West Coast. But what would be nice is if one of the newer ships was sent over here, in addition to the ones ported on our coast. Many west coasters love being able to drive (or have a quick flight) to one of the ports here. Unfortunately, we can't all year round unless we go on Carnival.[/quote']

 

meh... that's okay. The East Coast can keep the newer super-Grand-class vessels. I think we have a good mix of the smaller Grand-class ships here especially with the renovated Sapphire Princess as the crown jewel of the west coast fleet, so to speak. But you know, once the new Panama Canal opens, Princess will be able to move their fleet around much more easily and we may see the larger vessels here on the West Coast.

 

Reading this thread gave me quite a chuckle. It was very prescient of you, And good strategic thinking, but the idea was certainly dismissed by many, thinking Princess was "classier" than that. With the addition of another ship and pulling out of San Juan it made sense. There are only so many places to put the ships during the northern hemisphere's winter months. I was personally hoping for a return to true 14-night itineraries, but since Princess just recently abandoned them, I guess it is too early to hope they'll reconsider that move. But one might have thought they'd put a ship out of Fort Lauderdale doing the Western route...

 

And really, there are only two ships doing regularly scheduled shorter cruises (beyond repositioning coastal cruises), the Golden Princess on the West Coast and the Ruby Princess on the East Coast. It's not like the entire fleet will be doing these shorter cruises. I do think it is a way to introduce the Princess brand to people who might not have considered a Princess cruise before...