Carnival adds longer itineraries from Galveston ~ will Princess @ Houston follow?

[JimAOk1945]

A friend who loves to cruise on Carnival out of Galveston told me that Carnival has added 3 new itineraries from Galveston on the Triumph. They are 10, 11, and 12 day cruises. I checked the Carnival website and verified that this is accurate information.

 

I was thinking it would be nice to have longer Princess itineraries like these that include some new ports on the cruises out of Houston.

 

Does anyone else feel as I do, that maybe . . . just maybe, Princess might copy Carnival to keep up with the competition?

Edited August 2, 2014 by JimAOk1945

[Skai]

 

Does anyone else feel as I do, that maybe . . . just maybe, Princess might copy Carnival to keep up with the competition?

 

I would hope so. There are sufficient ports of call close enough to Houston to accommodate 10-14 day (RT) sailings

[RickEk]

A friend who loves to cruise on Carnival out of Galveston told me that Carnival has added 3 new itineraries from Galveston on the Triumph. They are 10, 11, and 12 day cruises. I checked the Carnival website and verified that this is accurate information.

 

I was thinking it would be nice to have longer Princess itineraries like these that include some new ports on the cruises out of Houston.

 

Does anyone else feel as I do, that maybe . . . just maybe, Princess might copy Carnival to keep up with the competition?

 

Well, in winter 2015-16, Caribbean Princess will be mixing it up a bit. Besides the usual ports of Belize City, Cozumel and Roatan, she'll be rotating through a 7-day Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel itinerary and a Belize City, Roatan, Costa Maya itinerary and a Costa Maya, Belize City and Cozumel itinerary.

 

Longer cruises would be surely be welcome...:)

Edited August 2, 2014 by RickEk

[JimAOk1945]

Well, in winter 2015-16, Caribbean Princess will be mixing it up a bit. Besides the usual ports of Belize City, Cozumel and Roatan, she'll be rotating through a 7-day Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel itinerary and a Belize City, Roatan, Costa Maya itinerary and a Costa Maya, Belize City and Cozumel itinerary.

 

Longer cruises would be surely be welcome...:)

 

Yes, I noticed those itineraries on the Princess website. We have visited all of the ports already while cruising on RCI. This was before Princess started sailing from Houston.

 

They are all very enjoyable ports, but we are hoping to see some longer cruises with a variety of itineraries in the future.

[Pam in CA]

Follow the money. Always.

 

If Princess can fill a ship on a longer itinerary at premium prices, they might do it. Chances are slim because if Carnival is sailing these itineraries, Princess won't be able to charge high prices.

 

One thing I noticed on my Crown cruise last years was a large number of passengers booking B2B, B2B2B, and even B2B2B2B cruises. Unusually large number for 7-day cruises.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Pam in CA

[Colo Cruiser]

Don't want to gamble with the fog. :(

[caribill]

What Carnival has added is

 

o 11 day itinerary Galveston to San Juan

o 10 day itinerary San Juan to Galveston

 

On this B2B, only one port (St. Thomas) repeats.

 

They have also added a 12 day Galveston-Galveston cruise which goes as far as Colon, Panama. This is scheduled after one of the above mentioned 21 day B2Bs.

 

Carnival has three ships** based in Galveston year round, so they can have one of the ships make these limited number of longer journeys while still offering 7 day and shorter cruises.

 

 

** With this number of ships, they also have (or contract for) their own dedicated buses that take passengers from the Houston airports to Galveston. The back of the bus has a sign reading "Follow me to the fun." Of course, the sign says the same thing when bringing passengers back to the airport.

[beckntom]

Of course, the sign says the same thing when bringing passengers back to the airport.

 

 

Now THAT is funny! :D

[satxdiver]

A friend who loves to cruise on Carnival out of Galveston told me that Carnival has added 3 new itineraries from Galveston on the Triumph. They are 10, 11, and 12 day cruises. I checked the Carnival website and verified that this is accurate information.

 

I was thinking it would be nice to have longer Princess itineraries like these that include some new ports on the cruises out of Houston.

 

Does anyone else feel as I do, that maybe . . . just maybe, Princess might copy Carnival to keep up with the competition?

 

It would be really nice but with only one ship in Houston in the winter, it is not likely. Carnival at this time has the Texas port traffic tied up year around making it difficult for other cruiselines to enter the market. Although RCI now keeps one ship in Galveston year around for now.

 

We are on the March 1 sailing and the ports are Cozumel, Costa Maya and Belize City. We have been to all of them many times so it will be a relaxation cruise and we may not even get off the ship particularly in Belize where it is a tender port.

[islandatsea]

 

They are all very enjoyable ports, but we are hoping to see some longer cruises with a variety of itineraries in the future.

 

We agree...........a variety of itineraries would be nice to see.

[lovevacadays]

What Carnival has added is

 

o 11 day itinerary Galveston to San Juan

o 10 day itinerary San Juan to Galveston

 

On this B2B, only one port (St. Thomas) repeats.

 

They have also added a 12 day Galveston-Galveston cruise which goes as far as Colon, Panama. This is scheduled after one of the above mentioned 21 day B2Bs.

 

Carnival has three ships** based in Galveston year round, so they can have one of the ships make these limited number of longer journeys while still offering 7 day and shorter cruises.

 

 

** With this number of ships, they also have (or contract for) their own dedicated buses that take passengers from the Houston airports to Galveston. The back of the bus has a sign reading "Follow me to the fun." Of course, the sign says the same thing when bringing passengers back to the airport.

 

I know they won't but it would be nice if Princess would follow suit. It sounds like fun cruises to me.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Princess has pretty much abandoned the longer Caribbean cruise market out of Fort Lauderdale, except for 10-night cruises on one ship, so I have a hard time seeing them expand their Houston offerings to include longer cruises.

[letsgo39]

Since Princess is owned by the Carnival Corp I would doubt they would feel the need to compete with themselves.:rolleyes:

[JimAOk1945]

Since Princess is owned by the Carnival Corp I would doubt they would feel the need to compete with themselves.:rolleyes:

 

Yes, they are owned by the same corporation. Nevertheless, it would be good business for Princess to offer similar itineraries as long as they can make money from it. It all comes down to the bottom line . . . making a profit. :cool:

[Times Prince]

A friend who loves to cruise on Carnival out of Galveston told me that Carnival has added 3 new itineraries from Galveston on the Triumph. They are 10, 11, and 12 day cruises. I checked the Carnival website and verified that this is accurate information.

 

I was thinking it would be nice to have longer Princess itineraries like these that include some new ports on the cruises out of Houston.

 

Does anyone else feel as I do, that maybe . . . just maybe, Princess might copy Carnival to keep up with the competition?

Back when the Grand Princess cruised out of Galveston we were on an 11 day cruise over the New Year's holiday that went down to Colon, Panama. It was a really nice change,, but the timing of Christmas and New Year's that year made it such that the normal 7 day cruises would not work.

 

This year's cruising starts with Emerald Princess Nov 11, 2014 doing a 5 day to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico, followed by the normal 7 day Roatan, Belize, Cozumel itinerary, which would make a nice 12 day B2B.

[caribill]

Back when the Grand Princess cruised out of Galveston we were on an 11 day cruise over the New Year's holiday that went down to Colon, Panama. It was a really nice change,, but the timing of Christmas and New Year's that year made it such that the normal 7 day cruises would not work.

 

This year's cruising starts with Emerald Princess Nov 11, 2014 doing a 5 day to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico, followed by the normal 7 day Roatan, Belize, Cozumel itinerary, which would make a nice 12 day B2B.

 

Some people are doing the 5-day cruise as the second segment of a B2B including the TA from England and some are booking it as the 12 day B2B you mention.

 

Even better would be to make that a special 12 day cruise to Colon and back.

 

As currently scheduled, the ship goes to Cozumel twice and three days are spent returning to Houston, turnaround day in Houston, and then back across the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Like the four day Veterans cruise which was the first cruise out of Houston last fall, I do not think the 5 day cruise is selling well.

 

By the way, we were on that Grand cruise over Xmas and New Years. It went from Galveston to Costa Maya, Belize, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, Cristobal (Colon), Cozumel and back to Galveston.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2014 by caribill