Carnival Commits to Jacksonville Cruise Port For At Least 3 More Years

I like Carnival has a ship going out of JAX, it gives another close to home option besides Charleston. Just wondering what ship they will put there if they are forced to start retiring the Fantasy class ships, the Ecstasy will be 30 years old by 2021. The bridge the ships have to pass under restricts the port to ships in the Fantasy class size.

I like Carnival has a ship going out of JAX, it gives another close to home option besides Charleston. Just wondering what ship they will put there if they are forced to start retiring the Fantasy class ships, the Ecstasy will be 30 years old by 2021. The bridge the ships have to pass under restricts the port to ships in the Fantasy class size.

Like I and many have said, Carnival needs to realize that many cruisers like this size of ship!! Build a fleet of new same size ships, maybe 4 of them to sail and people will book them like crazy!!

We too like the size of the Fantasy ships so keep them sailing and consider building a few new ones this size like Holland America.

I will be on the 7 night sailing leaving this Saturday, May 5, my third 7 night cruise from Jacksonville, and my 6th time cruising from there. I hope they will continue to offer 7 and/or 8 night sailings from there from time to time (none showing at this time beyond the one Saturday).

I guess they have given up on building a cruise terminal on the other side of the bridge, like around Mayport?

I will be on the 7 night sailing leaving this Saturday, May 5, my third 7 night cruise from Jacksonville, and my 6th time cruising from there. I hope they will continue to offer 7 and/or 8 night sailings from there from time to time (none showing at this time beyond the one Saturday).

I guess they have given up on building a cruise terminal on the other side of the bridge, like around Mayport?

Hey!... Enjoy your cruise!:)

We sailed a few weeks ago to Bermuda (8 Day Cruise)..... :) Would we do it again? No!

Not because of the ship, but Bermuda doesn't have a lot to offer in the way of excursions. It is not the Bahamas, or the Caribbean by any means. I guess you have to fly there to enjoy many of the other amenities. IMHO!!!:cool:

I think CCL is just floating the 7/8 day cruises out of JAX to see what the interest is? I would take another 7-8 day cruise out of Jax, but only if it bypasses Nassau!!:evilsmile: GT, HMC, hmmm... any port but NAWSAW!:cool::cool:

I like Carnival has a ship going out of JAX, it gives another close to home option besides Charleston. Just wondering what ship they will put there if they are forced to start retiring the Fantasy class ships, the Ecstasy will be 30 years old by 2021. The bridge the ships have to pass under restricts the port to ships in the Fantasy class size.

I guess Jacksonville’s last out would be either the Elation or Paradise, both from 1998. I wouldn’t worry too much about the age given that Tropicale, Holiday, and Celebration are all still sailing, albeit not with Carnival.

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I guess Jacksonville’s last out would be either the Elation or Paradise, both from 1998. I wouldn’t worry too much about the age given that Tropicale, Holiday, and Celebration are all still sailing, albeit not with Carnival.

 

 

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True, but Carnival retired/sold off their earlier ships around the 20 years of service mark. Of course that was probably more due to they had low passenger capacity and they had built over a dozen larger ships by that time. I noticed that they scheduled the Fantasy for dry dock next year, so who knows, they might be around for a while longer.

Like I and many have said, Carnival needs to realize that many cruisers like this size of ship!! Build a fleet of new same size ships, maybe 4 of them to sail and people will book them like crazy!!

Small new ships are reserved these days for the luxury cruise lines because charging premium prices is how ships of this size can make money.

Carnival can offer cheap cruises on these old smaller ships because they are...well....old. But if Carnival were to build brand new ships of this size and place them on these short sailings, you can bet that the fares will be considerably higher to offset the cost of building them. Also, the economics of a smaller ship dictate that the operating costs will be split among less passengers, which will also contribute to the higher fares .

I seriously doubt that the average Carnival cruiser who is interested on a budget priced cruise out of a drive to port will be too crazy about paying the premium prices that small newbuild ships will most certainly command. Yes, I’m sure that the small size of these ships and the convenience of a close port of embarkation attract a lot of customers, but I don’t believe that they would be as popular if sailing on them is going to cost more than sailing on a bigger ship on much better itineraries.

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I am very glad to see that the contract has been extended, embarking from Jacksonville is very easy, and doesn't create extensive study, for a night before a cruise. I too would love to see more 7-8 day cruises from there.

Hey!... Enjoy your cruise!:)

 

Thanks!

John Heald addressed this issue a few months ago.....Carnival is NOT building any smaller ships. Marketing reports prove that the bigger ships with more amenities are the future. It is all cost to operate vs number of paying passengers onboard. People seem to prefer the added "stuff" and are willing to pay more for it, and it is actually cheaper to run a big ship with more passengers, than a smaller ship with half the guests. Its all dollars and cents.

But yes...I like the smaller ships, too.

The Elation and Paradise just had near complete remodels indicating that Carnival plans to keep them around a while. I don't believe Jacksonville is the only port with clearance that restricts them to Fantasy class ships. So long as Carnival intends to keep using existing ports, then they will keep at least some of the Fantasy class ships around for a while.

Another reason why past ship retirement is not a good indicator of when Carnival will retire the Fantasy class is this... We were on the Behind the fun tour on the Fantasy back in January and learned something quite interesting. The Fantasy was the first commercial cruise ship to employ diesel/electric propulsion. Instead of giant diesel engines directly driving the propeller shafts, the Fantasy class (and later ships) use electric motors to drive the shafts. Those motors get electric power from a series of diesel generators. This is far more efficient and reliable than the old direct drive diesel engines. If a generator is down for maintenance, then the other generators are still more than enough to carry the load and produce the power for the entire ship. If I remember correctly, the Fantasy has something like 7 generators. The electric motors have fewer moving parts and are far more reliable than direct drive engines, so this keeps the Fantasy class in service more often, and with fewer problems than the older ships. This also likely means that the Fantasy class will outlast the previous ship classes by quite a bit.

Additionally, the Elation and Paradise were the first cruise ships fitted with the Azipod propulsion system (rotating pods instead of a long propeller shaft), so I imagine that may have something to do with those two getting all the nice new drydock upgrades indicating that Carnival will keep them around.

Now whether Carnival keeps them all, moves some of them to their other brands, or sells some, I do not know. But I think it's safe to say that Carnival will keep at least some of the Fantasy class ships around for quite a while.

Like I and many have said, Carnival needs to realize that many cruisers like this size of ship!! Build a fleet of new same size ships, maybe 4 of them to sail and people will book them like crazy!!

I agree! We didn't think we would enjoy the smaller ships but we've found that we actually prefer

them over the larger ones especially if it's just the hubby and myself.

The Elation and Paradise just had near complete remodels indicating that Carnival plans to keep them around a while. I don't believe Jacksonville is the only port with clearance that restricts them to Fantasy class ships. So long as Carnival intends to keep using existing ports, then they will keep at least some of the Fantasy class ships around for a while.

 

Another reason why past ship retirement is not a good indicator of when Carnival will retire the Fantasy class is this... We were on the Behind the fun tour on the Fantasy back in January and learned something quite interesting. The Fantasy was the first commercial cruise ship to employ diesel/electric propulsion. Instead of giant diesel engines directly driving the propeller shafts, the Fantasy class (and later ships) use electric motors to drive the shafts. Those motors get electric power from a series of diesel generators. This is far more efficient and reliable than the old direct drive diesel engines. If a generator is down for maintenance, then the other generators are still more than enough to carry the load and produce the power for the entire ship. If I remember correctly, the Fantasy has something like 7 generators. The electric motors have fewer moving parts and are far more reliable than direct drive engines, so this keeps the Fantasy class in service more often, and with fewer problems than the older ships. This also likely means that the Fantasy class will outlast the previous ship classes by quite a bit.

 

Additionally, the Elation and Paradise were the first cruise ships fitted with the Azipod propulsion system (rotating pods instead of a long propeller shaft), so I imagine that may have something to do with those two getting all the nice new drydock upgrades indicating that Carnival will keep them around.

 

Now whether Carnival keeps them all, moves some of them to their other brands, or sells some, I do not know. But I think it's safe to say that Carnival will keep at least some of the Fantasy class ships around for quite a while.

Good points. And like I said, I saw the Fantasy is going for a 2 week dry dock in January next year just before her 29th birthday, so I guess maybe she will be around for some time to come.

Not because of the ship, but Bermuda doesn't have a lot to offer in the way of excursions. It is not the Bahamas, or the Caribbean by any means. I guess you have to fly there to enjoy many of the other amenities. IMHO!!!:cool::cool::cool:

We had a blast on our cruise to Bermuda. We were there three overnights, and did not purchase any excursions... we made our own. Here's a partial list of things we did for little or no cost:

• Bought Bus/Ferry pass to give us access to anywhere on the island for one low cost
  
• Explored caves (found some cave entrances on public property (Hotel) where you don't have to pay
  
• Explored hiking along the coast line
  
• Beach day at pink sand beach
  
• Collect sea glass in cove
  
• Walked around botanical gardens
  
• Explored shops in a couple of towns
  
• Toured old forts and museums
  

We did lots more than that, but you get the idea... lots to do. Not sure what excursions you were looking for, but we sure had no shortage of fun things to do. Can't wait to go back,

We had a blast on our cruise to Bermuda. We were there three overnights, and did not purchase any excursions... we made our own. Here's a partial list of things we did for little or no cost:

 

 

 

• Bought Bus/Ferry pass to give us access to anywhere on the island for one low cost
  
• Explored caves (found some cave entrances on public property (Hotel) where you don't have to pay
  
• Explored hiking along the coast line
  
• Beach day at pink sand beach
  
• Collect sea glass in cove
  
• Walked around botanical gardens
  
• Explored shops in a couple of towns
  
• Toured old forts and museums
  

We did lots more than that, but you get the idea... lots to do. Not sure what excursions you were looking for, but we sure had no shortage of fun things to do. Can't wait to go back,

You did 3 days...we did about 36 hrs. As I said, if you fly there (or cruise from NY) , you'll have much more time to explore Bermuda. Would I fly there NO! Very small island, not much to do. :cool::cool: