Just venting: No Caribbean sailings this late spring/summer

[roe2ship]

 

Do any lines cruise the caribbean in the summer?? If it is the slow time there, I would think they would give the ships great prices on docking fees, etc. so people would come and spend money in their country.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Additionally, Celebrity, HAL & NCL all do Bermuda cruises in the Summer.

[compozer]

 

Low season??? Hardly! Summer is peak season for many itineraries, Caribbean included....

 

When I said "low season", I was thinking of hotels, etc. in the Caribbean. We use to travel to many of the islands and in researching hotels, their prices were determined by seasons. High season was Dec - April. and you could get much better prices if you went during their low season.

[Iamcruzin]

While the demand is there for Europe, I think they "over supplied" their ships in the area.....there seems to always be sales, I get quite a few e-mails from Princess with sales in Europe.

 

I have been getting them for Europe and Alaska from all of the cruise lines and online travel agents. I would love to go to Europe but I can't get enough time off from work at one time to make the cost of the flight worth the trip.

[LunaMoon]

Hi All,

 

Our last curise was 2 summers ago, July 2010, on the Caribbean Princess out of Brooklyn, NY. It was our 3rd year taking that cruise on the CB out of NY. We loved it.

 

Previous to that we had sailed the Caribbean on Princess out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

 

We still have a future curise depost (made on the 2010 cruise) that we'd like to now use this summer.

 

BUT, when I just searched the Princess site to see what is available for this July and August, we were stunned to find that there are NO PRINCESS Caribbean cruises at all out of Brooklyn AND NO PRINCESS Caribbean cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale at all FOR JULY AND AUGUST 2012.

 

Why? Does anyone know? What happened that Princess has abandoned the Caribbean for the summer months all together?

 

It is so odd considering that everytime we sailed out of Red Hook, Brooklyn on the CB is was booked to capacity (with waiting lists).

 

Why would a company do away with a NYC departure port and itinerary that was extremely popular? And if they did, why would they also do away with their FL departure port for similar itinerary routes?

 

If anyone here has a clue to why Princess appears to have abandoned their Carribbean cruises in July and August we would appreciate your insight; because it makes no sense to us.

[highheel girl]

Marketing, the CB is also heading to Europe.

[rdsqrl]

I doubt they could compete on price with the Behemoths of the Seas out of FLL in summer. However, I agree with you that the New York itinerary was a different thing. That was always completely full and I can't recall ever seeing last-minute deals or flash sales to fill the ship on that itinerary. I only took it once, on the Crown before they switched it to the CB, but would have loved to do it again. Last summer was particularly awesome because they rotated it with the 7-day New England itinerary and I'm bummed various circs prevented me from being able to sail.

 

Those of us tied to the academic calendar really get s-- (er, I mean shortchanged!) by Princess. Hopefully things will shake out differently after the Royal comes online and we'll see that New York itinerary coming back.

[madmacz]

I too miss the summer cruises out of Brooklyn. My wife only gets certain times off from school every year (she teaches) and we really enjoyed taking the Caribbean Princess 9 night cruises in late June. It was also a nice thing to be able to drive to New York for a cruise, rather than fly to Florida, what with all of the insane fees for luggage. When we drove, we could bring whatever we wanted in the car.

 

I realize that Princess is putting all of their ships in Europe and Alaska for the summer, but come on! I have no (read ZERO) interest in going to Alaska. It used to be relatively inexpensive, but now it's as much as a Caribbean cruise and you have to fly to the port. Forget it!

 

As for Princess not being able to compete with other lines for the Caribbean, come on! Their prices have historically been cheaper than RC. The sailings out of New York were always full. I had heard that Princess wanted to stop sailing out of Red Hook, but never heard why.

 

I see that Carnival has a lot of cruises to the Caribbean in the summer. Who cares? I've sailed with them and wasn't impressed. Here's hoping that Princess reconsiders.

[Seago2]

Same with NCL- hard pressed to find any Caribbean itineraries in the summer.

 

Loved my Princess cruise last August and would loooove to go again.

[paul929207]

Princess can charge much higher fares in Europe and Alaska than they can in the Caribbean during the summer.

[chopper825]

I don't get it either. We ended up booking the 10/31 cruise out of Red Hook which is a re-positioning cruise ending up in Fort Lauderdale. We hate to fly as well so we are renting a car and taking our time driving back making a few stops along the way. There are two couples so we can split the cost and still pack whatever we want and buy as much alcohol as we want to bring back. It's a great itinerary as well. Check it out.

[LunaMoon]

Whomever at Princess thought it was a "good idea" to abolish a very popular and fully booked Caribbean itinerary that left from Red Hook, Brooklyn in June, July and August and replace it with NOTHING (not even in FL) made a significant marketing mistake.

 

Now that we can finally cruise again, and have discovered this inexplicable void in summer Caribbean cruises (we can only cruise in the summer), Princess has left us with no choice but to ask for a refund of our future cruise deposits.

 

What a shame.

 

Now, that's brilliant marketing!

[jbu]

Another consideration is the fact that the summer is hurricane season. Although hurricanes are infrequent, they could wreak havoc with an itinerary, etc. If Princess has figured out that Alaska and Europe are easy to fill and they can avoid the risk of horribly inclement weather, they may have determined it's just not worth it to schedule the Caribbean until hurricane season has past.

 

I don't know that for sure, of course - just speculating...

[MarvKirsch]

We live in the NY area, and if possible prefer not to fly. With that said, we have 3 ports: NJ (Served by Royal Caribbean & Celebrity), NYC (Served by Carnival, Norwegian & Cunard) and Brooklyn (Served by Princess). We mostly cruise with Princess and I just noticed that there are only a few cruises leaving from Brooklyn, mostly to Canada/New England. Has Princess given up on Brooklyn??? :eek:

[jojochef]

That's what I am trying to find out as well. For years we have had a princess ship coming from Brooklyn to the Caribbean and all of a sudden nada, nothing... Which I find very odd because I always heard that the ships left at full capacity. I hope they come back in 2013!

[bermuda triangle]

I was on the last Caribbean Princess from Brooklyn sailing last July. It's been known since at least then that they were pulling out of nyc. That doesn't mean they won't be back in the future.

Laura

[Mr XFT]

I wouldn't be surprised if somebody in NYC, union, gov't, etc; tried to pull some kind of crap with a huge new "fee" or "tax" and Princess told them to stick it. This is purely a guess, but it would fit their MO perfectly.

[Loucat]

Oh yes there are. Hurricanes don't come that often; cruises go out almost every day. In the past 30 years, FLL area has had only 4 hurricanes; I don't count 1992 Andrew because that one was Miami. You guys have earthquakes all the time. :p

Pia-I live in Florida too and hope you are jesting about 4 hurricanes in 30 years. Wish it were true!

[Loucat]

Living in SWF we would love to see Princess keep a ship in FLL year round.:)

 

The port facility at Port Everglades is nice, close to not only FLL airport but Miami and a few others. Like others have said most families with kids can only vacation in the summer & Princess should keep a ship here too.

So, if they do read these boards, they might consider having summer cruises in the Caribbean again!!;)

Hey Sanibel Gal! What about creating a port here in SW Florida? Too shallow I know but can you imagine?? We could tender to the ship from Fort Myers!

I agree that Princess should keep a ship in Florida but I am sure they have measures where the profits can be reaped. The other issue is how often can you go on the same ports?

[Iamcruzin]

Pia-I live in Florida too and hope you are jesting about 4 hurricanes in 30 years. Wish it were true!

 

I think there were 5 hurricanes between 2004 and 2005. :confused:

[Pia1913]

I think there were 5 hurricanes between 2004 and 2005. :confused:

 

Pia-I live in Florida too and hope you are jesting about 4 hurricanes in 30 years. Wish it were true!

 

It all depends on where you live. 2004 had Frances and Julia and perhaps another minor one. 2005 had Wilma. Correct me if I've missed some, but that's all I recall that mattered in 30 years.

[ginnynj]

Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Additionally, Celebrity, HAL & NCL all do Bermuda cruises in the Summer.

 

While doing a long weekend in Grand Cayman in early June last year, I know the businesses were waiting for the only Carnival ship coming that week. We were in Margaritaville and the only ones out on the deck around noon, and if you have been there in high season you know how crowded that gets when ships are in port. So not having Princess in the Caribbean not only limits our choices, as we do enjoy sailing the Caribbean in the Summer, but also impacts the economies of the islands. Princess, if you are monitoring these boards, and I know you do...think about it! You CAN fill one ship to the Caribbean in the Summer!!!

[Sanibel*Gal]

It all depends on where you live. 2004 had Frances and Julia and perhaps another minor one. 2005 had Wilma. Correct me if I've missed some, but that's all I recall that mattered in 30 years.

 

 

 

Eeeek - 2004 brought our area hurricane Charlie and he took our roof!!!:eek: Other than that we've been pretty lucky.;)

[Pia1913]

Eeeek - 2004 brought our area hurricane Charlie and he took our roof!!!:eek: Other than that we've been pretty lucky.;)

 

And to us, Charlie didn't even take a shrub.

[nattie]

... So not having ships there Princess is potentially losing on revenue for not only that cruise, but potentially future cruises if those people happen to like another line better....

 

.... If Princess isn't in the Caribbean next year, we will likely try some other line that is which certainly isn't a bad thing for us, but perhaps it could be for Princess if we like them better.

 

That is exactly what I mean! I have sailed Princess, Carnival, NCL, RCL and Holland and prefer Princess to all of the above. Am I going to have a good cruise regardless of the line? Yes. BUT not being able to sail my line of choice really frustrates me. I mean can you at least leave us Caribbean Princess??? Honestly that ship is not equipped to sail Northern Europe, it was meant for warm weather.

[nattie]

Hi All,

 

Our last curise was 2 summers ago, July 2010, on the Caribbean Princess out of Brooklyn, NY. It was our 3rd year taking that cruise on the CB out of NY. We loved it.

 

Previous to that we had sailed the Caribbean on Princess out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

 

We still have a future curise depost (made on the 2010 cruise) that we'd like to now use this summer.

 

BUT, when I just searched the Princess site to see what is available for this July and August, we were stunned to find that there are NO PRINCESS Caribbean cruises at all out of Brooklyn AND NO PRINCESS Caribbean cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale at all FOR JULY AND AUGUST 2012.

 

Why? Does anyone know? What happened that Princess has abandoned the Caribbean for the summer months all together?

 

It is so odd considering that everytime we sailed out of Red Hook, Brooklyn on the CB is was booked to capacity (with waiting lists).

 

Why would a company do away with a NYC departure port and itinerary that was extremely popular? And if they did, why would they also do away with their FL departure port for similar itinerary routes?

 

If anyone here has a clue to why Princess appears to have abandoned their Carribbean cruises in July and August we would appreciate your insight; because it makes no sense to us.

 

Here is an email I have received from Princess when I asked the same question:

 

Dear Mrs. -

 

Thank you for your e-mail and your suggestions regarding our itineraries. We value your ideas and they will be passed along to our planning department.

It has been a business decision to not visit the Caribbean during the summer of 2012.

Our summer 2013 will be published shortly and we hope there will be a cruise that interests you and you will once again sail with Princess.

 

Sincerely,

 

Princess Cruises

Customer Relations Specialist

customerrelations@princesscruises.com

 

And of course Summer 2013 is a disappointment also... I just hope that "bussiness decision" will be a disappointment.