Europe 2013

[chessbriar]

I was reading the news about the discounting of cruises from England and it got me thinking. With no end to the financial problem in Europe out there, can X really justify having 6 ships over there next year. Constellation, Infinity, Eclipse, Equinox, Reflection, and Silhouette.

 

I wonder if a ship or two might be pulled back to the Caribbean for the summer. Only time will tell.

 

When you add in 9 RCI ships as well. That's a ton

[Denny01]

They seem to be doing fine, if I'm any example. Did a Baltic out of Southampton earlier, going to Venice for the Reflection cruise to Barcelona then staying on to go to Miami.

 

The Euro is dropping and is $1.22 right now. that of course can change in a day, but interesting watching it.

 

Next year, have not set a cruise yet, and friends are working us to go to Paris for 4+days then do a land tour of Provence...may do that.

 

So yes, the economy is hurting many....I'm trying to vacation and travel before I get too old and get 'stuck' at home and so on, and can still afford it, so will take full advantage of Europe and other places.

 

As to the Caribbean in the Summer? Realize that is popular for families and easy time off/travel, but I'm personally very tired of the Caribbean and now pick cruises there with max sea days, if/when we do cruise there. Guess Celebrity could go more diverse and work the W Coast or up/down the E Coast with new ports.

 

Just my thoughts...not sure if the large number in Europe is hurting Celebrity, there was a ton of Brits on our Baltic cruise and that was fun! Got to our SR and there was a pot to make hotwater for tea. My wife took one look and asked the Steward to remove it....she said she isn't even boiling water and dipping a teabag in on her vacation!

 

Den

[Presto2]

Got to our SR and there was a pot to make hotwater for tea. My wife took one look and asked the Steward to remove it....she said she isn't even boiling water and dipping a teabag in on her vacation!

 

Den

 

How sad --- not to have a cuppa each day - you missed out there !!! :)

One thing I hated on Silhouette was not having a kettle to make boiling water to make the tea. Its a British thing ;)

 

PLEASE remember that the UK is NOT part of the Euro zone ---- and I, for one, am proud of that !!! (Though feel so sorry for Greece!)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I think that the baby boomer's will fill the ships.

[SoBe2010]

Even with all the discounts the average fares are still much higher then when they cruised the Caribbean during summer. And still there are Celebrity ships on the continent in the summer season.

 

There is no economic firework in the US that you could justify a further pullout.

 

I think the future targets are Asia and Australia while Europe will become more and more a decent cash cow like the US Market is today.

[Andy]

I was reading the news about the discounting of cruises from England and it got me thinking. With no end to the financial problem in Europe out there, can X really justify having 6 ships over there next year. Constellation, Infinity, Eclipse, Equinox, Reflection, and Silhouette.

 

I wonder if a ship or two might be pulled back to the Caribbean for the summer. Only time will tell.

 

When you add in 9 RCI ships as well. That's a ton

 

Hi Rick,

 

Nice to see your post. I hope all is well.

 

I'm also wondering if Celebrity is a bit overdeployed in Europe, especially in light of the myriad of uncertainties out there. While much of Celebrity's deployment will remain in Europe for Summer 2013, I feel that Celebrity is missing an opportunity, in not having 1 ship sailing the Caribbean next Summer. There are plenty of US Guests who prefer to sail close to home, and desire a Celebrity product. It seems their mindset is... those who wish to sail Celebrity, will opt for Oasis & Allure. I do not believe that's a given, as they are very different ships & brands.

 

Overall, the Europe & Alaska marketing is relentless. I've never seen so many marketing pieces in recent months. They are jamming my mailbox. If you think Europe is bad, has anyone looked at Alaska ? I've noticed several emails for $299-$499 sailings. FYI, the $299 price was from another line. That's scary.

 

While I suspect it's not easy to compete with Oasis & Allure... why not think outside the box, and offer alternatives to 7 day Cruises ? How about offering a mix of sailings, ranging from 4-10 nights ? I'd love to see a 10 night itinerary of the ABC Islands (Aruba-Bonaire-Curacao). The ports should be able to accomodate this. With a mixed deployment, there's something for everyone.

 

I'm not suggesting that Celebrity make radical changes. Between the softness in Europe & Alaska, there's plenty of room for 1 ship to be redeployed to the Caribbean. I hope Celebrity will consider it.

[Scrappytraveller]

I'd love to see a 10 night itinerary of the ABC Islands (Aruba-Bonaire-Curacao).

 

That would be fantastic, leaving from Florida please. :)

Returning on United from San Juan is an experience I'd rather not repeat. :eek:

[Andy]

That would be fantastic, leaving from Florida please. :)

Returning on United from San Juan is an experience I'd rather not repeat. :eek:

 

Hi Scrappytraveller,

 

Yes. I was thinking Ft Lauderdale, or possibly Miami.

[Grumpy100]

We are booked on the equinox 11/1/13 and I just checked the prices and they have gone up by $200 PHP for our cruise. I would think they would be going down rather than up with all set to sail next year out of Europe.

We still like celebrity as our number #1 cruise line and I particularly like the solstice class ships.

Happy sailing. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[chessbriar]

Only time will tell. Celebrity has set a prescident in the past of pulling ships back when over deployed. They got big into homeporting in the past when Europe has weakened.

 

For those of you who watch the financials you know how close the Euro is to collapse. If that happens, the number of Europeans to fill those ships will drop drastically. European cruises aren't primarily filled with Americans, but Europeans.

 

Only time will tell.

[librarylady19]

I'd like to see more variety in the Caribbean cruises and more 9-10 nighters. I Have done the E. Caribbean once and that was enough. I was very disappointed that The newest S class ships are on this route.

I actually preferred sailing out of SJ as the seas were calmer and the weather nicer.

[Can'tstopcruising]

Only time will tell. Celebrity has set a prescident in the past of pulling ships back when over deployed. They got big into homeporting in the past when Europe has weakened.

 

For those of you who watch the financials you know how close the Euro is to collapse. If that happens, the number of Europeans to fill those ships will drop drastically. European cruises aren't primarily filled with Americans, but Europeans.

 

Only time will tell.

 

We are booked on the Silhouette, Adriatic, Oct./13. I hope it won't be cancelled.

[stipmom]

We are booked on the June 3 Infinity out of Harwich. Prices have gone up today

[rervousneck]

Only time will tell. Celebrity has set a prescident in the past of pulling ships back when over deployed. They got big into homeporting in the past when Europe has weakened.

 

For those of you who watch the financials you know how close the Euro is to collapse. If that happens, the number of Europeans to fill those ships will drop drastically. European cruises aren't primarily filled with Americans, but Europeans.

 

Only time will tell.

Yep, On our Fjiords cruise on Century in 2009 the Elite Hostess said there were only 133 Americans on board.

[Freecall]

Yep, On our Fjiords cruise on Century in 2009 the Elite Hostess said there were only 133 Americans on board.

 

You have to remember that a lot of European cruises are taken by Brits (not just the ex UK ones) and the British Pound is doing pretty well at the moment at $1.55.

 

.

[TomBeckCruise]

You have to remember that a lot of European cruises are taken by Brits (not just the ex UK ones) and the British Pound is doing pretty well at the moment at $1.55.

 

.

 

Yes, the pound is currently about average for the past 30-40 years, Much lower now than when we were there in 2008 when it was about $1.90.

 

A 100 year graph is not pretty for the pound. It was nearly $5.00 in 1915.

[iancal]

Until last year, we had always rejected Med cruises in favour of doing longer independent land trips.

 

But this changed last year when cruise prices came down so much. Last year, and again this year, we are combining land tours with cruises. Celebrity Med pricing has just been too attractive to pass up-especially on those Sept/Oct cruises.

 

Our attitude is that if we do not take advantage of the opportunity now, we will regret it in the future when the demand curve 'rights' itself and prices increase.

 

We have a list of places to visit but we always take into account price and currency. Our currency has been strong lately vis a vis the USD so we are travelling to the US and taking vacations, like cruises, that are priced in USD. Same for Europe and the UK. After our Med cruise we are going to South Africa-the prices are right and the SA rand has been depreciating in value.

 

Australia is on our list but will have to wait...their currency is just a little too strong for us at the moment! We also find cruise and air prices to be high in that part of the woods. Until they come down a little, we are happy to travel to other parts of the world where our money goes further.

 

So, with a bit of luck, Celebrity and other cruise lines may move too much capacity into the Asia/Pacific and the exchange rate may improve for us. Then we will go.

 

This may seem like an odd way of re-prioritizing travel but now that we are retired we have the flexibility to take advantage of the offers that wished we could have when we were working.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I'd like to see more variety in the Caribbean cruises and more 9-10 nighters. I Have done the E. Caribbean once and that was enough. I was very disappointed that The newest S class ships are on this route.

I actually preferred sailing out of SJ as the seas were calmer and the weather nicer.

Me to 9-12 day cruises...

[shoreham01]

We do not like to fly anymore and always sail out of our local dock which is Southampton, an hour and a half train journey from home.

 

For 2013 I notice that many of the sailings to northern Europe are going out of Harwich. For us to get to Harwich it would mean three different trains, almost impossible with suitcases as our train services are very over crowded and at times difficult to negotiate. (Even at Southampton in June we had to climb up and down a large flight of steep steps as their one lift was out of order and there were only two members of staff available, who for health and safety rules were unable to help us with our cases).

 

There are several dates for the Eclipse going to the Baltics from Southampton, but we did that cruise this year. We do not like cruising the Med as we do not sit in the sun anymore. Not much choice from Celebrity for us next year then.

[buggins0402]

Would love to see more 9-10 day itineraries in Caribbean also.

 

I don't know if this was just an odd occurance - but we booked a flight for a cruise out of Rome (unfortunately not Celebrity - which is our favorite) in November. It was $300 less p/p than we paid to get to Barcelona last year's November cruise. If this is a trend - it might help fill the ships.

[Pokeraddict]

We just got back from 14 Adriatic Cruise on NCL Jade. We had this trip booked for this Sept and had to cancel then I'm reading the paper one day and see flights out of Toronto at $600 tax in so I went on line and sure enough $600 buck return and direct flight to Venice, so I decided to see if I could tie in a cruise sure enough booked the same cruise at $3000 K less than what we had it booked for end of season Sept.

Since being home have been reading numerous articles on Europe travel particularly cruises and how Europe is over loaded with ships and there not being filled, also because of the economy, euro and political turmoil in parts of Europe ie Greece.

I'm glad we jumped on the band wagon because I cannot imagine doing Europe with 10 to 14 cruise ships in ports such as Venice and others.

 

There was also an article in today's paper talking about the economy in parts of Europe such as Rome, Venice and Greece and how they are selling some histroic places in order to maintain others and allowing large advertisements to be put up on historical building while it is being reno'd.

So I guess the economic situation is/will put a strain on Europeans wanting to travel. JMO

[SoBe2010]

Hi Rick,

 

Nice to see your post. I hope all is well.

 

I'm also wondering if Celebrity is a bit overdeployed in Europe, especially in light of the myriad of uncertainties out there. While much of Celebrity's deployment will remain in Europe for Summer 2013, I feel that Celebrity is missing an opportunity, in not having 1 ship sailing the Caribbean next Summer. There are plenty of US Guests who prefer to sail close to home, and desire a Celebrity product. It seems their mindset is... those who wish to sail Celebrity, will opt for Oasis & Allure. I do not believe that's a given, as they are very different ships & brands.

 

Overall, the Europe & Alaska marketing is relentless. I've never seen so many marketing pieces in recent months. They are jamming my mailbox. If you think Europe is bad, has anyone looked at Alaska ? I've noticed several emails for $299-$499 sailings. FYI, the $299 price was from another line. That's scary.

 

While I suspect it's not easy to compete with Oasis & Allure... why not think outside the box, and offer alternatives to 7 day Cruises ? How about offering a mix of sailings, ranging from 4-10 nights ? I'd love to see a 10 night itinerary of the ABC Islands (Aruba-Bonaire-Curacao). The ports should be able to accomodate this. With a mixed deployment, there's something for everyone.

 

I'm not suggesting that Celebrity make radical changes. Between the softness in Europe & Alaska, there's plenty of room for 1 ship to be redeployed to the Caribbean. I hope Celebrity will consider it.

 

We also receive tons of marketing prices for Caribbean Cruises in Winter here in Europe. I don´t think that this indicates too much.

 

If you compare the fares you can see, that it´s still twice or three times as much as they have taken in the past when they based a ship in Miami or FLL during summer.

 

I miss the Caribbean cruises by Celebrity not only in summer but also in fall, since the season realy starts in late November or even December.

However, the profit seems to be too low for them with Caribbean summer cruises.

 

I hope though for a new try in the near future.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

So far they are still high ...