How come Carnival dose'nt

[Crusin Hogs]

sail to the southern Caribbean from FL ? You have to fly to San Juan 1st

Booked Princess to Aruba , Cauraco , Princess Cay , From Ft Lauderdale in a balcony room .699.00 -7days Cruised Carnival 5 times ,1st one on Princess

[gooselover]

I just booked a "southern" on the Breeze. It is an 8 day going to Curacao, Aruba and DR.

[ccruisequeen]

Same reason they don't go to Canada from long beach on the West coast -no imagination!

[Normal 1]

Freedom and Valor both have Southern itins.... They switch between a couple different options each month.

[Crusin Hogs]

Freedom and Valor both have Southern itins.... They switch between a couple different options each month.

 

But where do you leave from?

[BigRed93]

Freedom and Valor both have Southern itins.... They switch between a couple different options each month.

 

And Breeze does as well, that's 3 options of Ft Lauderdale and Miami departures.

[satbeachbill]

Freedom is out of Ft Lauderdale. Valor is out of Miami. Breeze will be Miami.

[NCTribeFan]

Because those islands are a long, long way away?

 

I did 8-night to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize on Miracle from FLL. Great cruise.

 

HAL does 10 night cruises to Panama. HAL's passenger demographic is different from Carnivals. Carnival caters a lot to younger families. Those younger pax with kids can't always take a 8-10 night cruise. They're expensive!

 

Hey, I want every possible excuse to go to San Juan, thanks. It's a vacation destination all on it's own. Wanted a longer cruise in November 2013. The options for 10-14 days on other lines, even with reduced solo suppliments were too expensive. Found the repo on Conquest 8-nights San Juan to Miami. For the difference in price, I can fly down to San Juan at least 2, maybe 3 nights early and make my own longer vacation.

[jpg1747]

I don't like cruising out of San Juan. I prefer a longer cruise from Florida to the Southern Caribbean. Carnival doesn't do those 10 day cruises, but other lines do, so I'll book with them. I'm just having trouble finding a cruise that goes to all the ports I want.

[JdoggCruiser]

We are booked on the Breeze going to Aruba, Curacao in 2014 from Miami.

[beachbum53]

I don't like cruising out of San Juan. I prefer a longer cruise from Florida to the Southern Caribbean. Carnival doesn't do those 10 day cruises, but other lines do, so I'll book with them. I'm just having trouble finding a cruise that goes to all the ports I want.

 

San Juan is a great port to visit, but the airport is a giant p.i.t.a. to fly out of at the end of a cruise, since there are also three or four other ships debarking at the same time.

[AdrenalineRush]

San Juan is a great port to visit, but the airport is a giant p.i.t.a. to fly out of at the end of a cruise, since there are also three or four other ships debarking at the same time.

 

Its been years, since 3 or 4 ships sailed out of SJ on the same day.

 

In the winter you will have 2 on sat and 2 on sunday. In the spring/summer..just one on sunday and one on saturday.

[ej22ndrow]

I just got off the Freedom 7/28/12 - 8/5/12. It was 8 days Southern Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale. We went to Aruba, Curacao, Dominican Republic & Grand Turk.

 

Fabulous itinerary!

[kyrisong1]

sail to the southern Caribbean from FL ? You have to fly to San Juan 1st

Booked Princess to Aruba , Cauraco , Princess Cay , From Ft Lauderdale in a balcony room .699.00 -7days Cruised Carnival 5 times ,1st one on Princess

I wish, wish, wish Carnival would do some 10 and 11 day cruises and go to some of the more Southern and South American ports, we are looking at HAL for next year because of the amazing itens.

Carole

[dclark]

As pointed out, they usually have one or two ships doing an 8 dayer to the south.

It would take more than that to really get into the south carrib (I did a nine day on Princess last Jan) but the problem here is 8 days- CCl appeals more to people who can only do 7 days. On the 8 days cruises we have done, they were slightly cheaper, on a per day basis, than the 7 day cruises.Add that to the extra fuel cost and you have a profit problem that's why they dropped the run to Panama.

[jpg1747]

San Juan is a great port to visit, but the airport is a giant p.i.t.a. to fly out of at the end of a cruise, since there are also three or four other ships debarking at the same time.

 

I like San Juan as a port; just not as an embarcation point.

[StillPooh]

Its been years, since 3 or 4 ships sailed out of SJ on the same day.

 

In the winter you will have 2 on sat and 2 on sunday. In the spring/summer..just one on sunday and one on saturday.

There were three in port on the Sunday we sailed and on the Sunday we flew home, this winter. And the airport was a GINORMOUS cluster. I would never do it again, if I could help it.

 

Even if there are only 2, you are still talking about roughly 7000 people coming and another 7 going, all at once. San Juan's airport is woefully ill-equipped to handle that many. We had to sit in it for 5 hours waiting for our departing flight. "Sit" being a figure of speech, since they didn't have remotely enough chairs in the entire terminal for all the people waiting.

[Tapi]

Its been years, since 3 or 4 ships sailed out of SJ on the same day.

 

In the winter you will have 2 on sat and 2 on sunday. In the spring/summer..just one on sunday and one on saturday.

 

When I started cruising, San Juan would have 5-6 ships a day on the weekends. I remember seeing 2 Cunard, 1 Costa, 1 Carnival and 1 Royal Caribbean on the same day , and the ships would spend the entire week chasing each other all over the Southern Caribbean.

 

Granted, back then the ships were much smaller. My first cruise was aboard the 16,000 ton Cunard Princess, and we thought she was HUGE!

[vaguy22]

Another reason is that they are SLOW (22knots). Building a faster ship is not the answer,it would be too expensive to operate.(fuel).

[jsfromsc]

We did an 8 day Southern Caribbean cruise from Ft. Lauderdale. I didn't want to fly to San Juan either. It was a good thing because the airlines canceled our flight the night before we were supposed to leave and we had to drive to Ft. Lauderdale. I couldn't have driven to San Juan. :D

[golfadj]

But where do you leave from?

 

Miami, did this on the Valor in Jan.

[ddoc]

Miami, did this on the Valor in Jan.

 

 

And a great cruise it was. Would like to do it again. Let us know if you schedule it.

[golfadj]

And a great cruise it was. Would like to do it again. Let us know if you schedule it.

 

Probably do it on the Breeze down the road a bit possibly Feb 2014

[h0mbr3]

I just booked a "southern" on the Breeze. It is an 8 day going to Curacao, Aruba and DR.

 

Me too!!! :) .....but I have to wait until February! :(

[PROCRUISE]

I don't like cruising out of San Juan. I prefer a longer cruise from Florida to the Southern Caribbean. Carnival doesn't do those 10 day cruises, but other lines do, so I'll book with them. I'm just having trouble finding a cruise that goes to all the ports I want.

 

Check out Celebrity, Princess, and HAL for some real itineraries in the Caribbean. A slightly older group of passengers,yes, and slightly more expensive too, but well worth it for 10, 12, 14 day cruises. :)