What happened to USA costal cruises?

[jgreenwo17]

I was bored at work and when I am bored at work I often go onto X website to gaze at different itineraries, pricing, etc. Two things shocked me. The absence of California costal cruises and the cathouse prices on a lot of sailings where X sails. (With the exception of the Caribbean and Alaska).

 

DW and I were very fortunate to sail from Hawaii to YVR last May and were in A2 accomodations that were under $2k each. For a 10 night cruise I thought that was a square deal. A similar cruise next year is a whole heck of a lot more than what I paid for this year.

 

Is X in such high demand now that they can charge these outrageous fares? I love X but not that much. Their product is the best mass market product out there but not worth the way higher fares they are charging now.

 

Will they ever do CA costals or Mexican riviera cruises again?

[cruisead]

When the new CEO came on board, the prices shot up. Not only that, but Celebrity has sold a few ships and, most importantly, Celebrity has decided to not concentrate on their North American customers as evidenced by their deployment of ships to Australia and Asia. Consequently, there aren't enough ships to do different itineraries in this part of the world.

[WestLakeGirl]

Also....

 

The PVSA makes them difficult

The environmental restrictions put in place by state of Calif add complexity

pacific reputation for rough seas

So many sea days getting to/from Hawaii

Passengers don't like Ensanada

 

Lots of reasons more, too

[rucruisn2]

Great point. Last year we did a Pacific coastal cruise on the Solstice. We loved it so much we wanted to do another one next year. None to be had. Royal had a few on the Jewel, but the prices were more than double of what we paid before. I think not for us!

[Cruise Junky]

Instead of the doom and gloom of Celebrity being bad...I look at it that they finally wised up and dropped Ensenada as an embarkation/disembarkation port so Solstice comes right into Vancouver. No need for the coastals anymore

[JanineM]

It is a matter of economics.

[alcpa1]

The only way to do a true coastal - either east or west is on a U S flagged ship. There is only one large cruise ship that is termed U S flagged and that is an NCL ship in Hawaii. On the east coast and in Oregon there are small ships or river boats that were built in the U S and registered under U S laws.

Our antiquated naval laws have a lot to do with North American ( Canada to Mexico) itineraries.

I would love to sail from Seattle to Astoria to San Francisco/Napa to LA to San Diego too.

[Algebralovr]

We did the Ensenada to Seattle run in May 2013. While our bus ride down wasn't bad, we heard many horror stories about other buses. Ours was a bit dirty, and the bathroom wasn't something I wanted to venture into, but there were many that were much, much worse.

 

Between the issues with buying between San Diego and Ensenada, and the California laws, my understanding is that Celebrity decided not to bother. That is why this year's repositioning cruise was from Hawaii to Vancouver.

 

Additionally, the coastal cruise didn't really sell very well. They ended up discounting severely in order to fill the ship.

[Cruise Junky]

The only way to do a true coastal - either east or west is on a U S flagged ship. There is only one large cruise ship that is termed U S flagged and that is an NCL ship in Hawaii. On the east coast and in Oregon there are small ships or river boats that were built in the U S and registered under U S laws.

Our antiquated naval laws have a lot to do with North American ( Canada to Mexico) itineraries.

I would love to sail from Seattle to Astoria to San Francisco/Napa to LA to San Diego too.

 

So Canada doesn't have coasts anymore? A Vancouver to LA isn't a coastal? Princess does them just fine

[CRUZBUDS]

We are tired of flying, we prefer Celebrity, but they have abandoned the west coast.

 

We are likely going to go back to Princess a try for a B2B -- 7 day Mexico then a 7 day coastal.

[Rob the Cruiser]

It is a matter of economics.

 

Agreed. The prices are high because people are willing to pay.

 

While on the roundtrip San Diego/Hawaii aboard the Century last year, one of the Future Cruises representatives told me that Celebrity would stop offering that itinerary. She didn't know all of the reasons but she said that California's environmental restrictions, docking fees and "being harassed" by the Coast Guard were three examples.

[d4m]

Agreed. The prices are high because people are willing to pay.

 

Not quite true this year. Prices are starting off the chart, not gradually increasing when the cruise is selling lots of rooms. (ie same itinerary as last year, but this year day 1 with CC discount was $500 pp higher) Same all over Celebrity year and next. Yes, been heading this way since new CEO took over and his thrust was in increasing profit

[rucruisn2]

Instead of the doom and gloom of Celebrity being bad...I look at it that they finally wised up and dropped Ensenada as an embarkation/disembarkation port so Solstice comes right into Vancouver. No need for the coastals anymore

 

 

Who Is doom and gloom? Simply saying if I pay top $$, I want a better ship than Jewel of the Seas. They could do roundtrip from LA or Vancouver.

[BEAV]

Instead of the doom and gloom of Celebrity being bad...I look at it that they finally wised up and dropped Ensenada as an embarkation/disembarkation port so Solstice comes right into Vancouver.

 

As much as I love Pacific Coastal cruises, I agree the Ensenada embark/disembark operation is disaster on many different levels.

 

However, now that Solstice is capable of entering Vancouver, in the future they can schedule one-way Coastal cruises (Spring/Fall) from San Diego, LA or SF without having to deal with Ensenada.

 

I like how Carnival gets their one ship to/from Alaska and LA for the seasonal repositions. They do something like 15 nights LA (Long Beach) to Vancouver via Hawaii. If X were to offer an itinerary like that, I'd be the first to book.

[jgreenwo17]

We are tired of flying, we prefer Celebrity, but they have abandoned the west coast.

 

We are likely going to go back to Princess a try for a B2B -- 7 day Mexico then a 7 day coastal.

 

Excellent Idea! Good tip.

[jgreenwo17]

As much as I love Pacific Coastal cruises, I agree the Ensenada embark/disembark operation is disaster on many different levels.

 

However, now that Solstice is capable of entering Vancouver, in the future they can schedule one-way Coastal cruises (Spring/Fall) from San Diego, LA or SF without having to deal with Ensenada.

 

I like how Carnival gets their one ship to/from Alaska and LA for the seasonal repositions. They do something like 15 nights LA (Long Beach) to Vancouver via Hawaii. If X were to offer an itinerary like that, I'd be the first to book.

 

Sounds like another awesome itinerary. What Carnival ship?

 

Thanks,

 

jgreenwo17

[maggie.1008]

We are tired of having to fly long distance to ports. I have booked Princess 7 nt. coastal on Oct. 4th. Wish I was on X getting my Elite plus benefits. Would go on HAL but the smoking on the balconies bothers me. We are doing the Vancouver to Honolulu Sept. 2015 on the Solstice. Would cruise on X more if they did Pacific coast. Have been on Alaska cruise with X 3 times but had bad weather on all. Those of you that have had great weather in Alaska consider yourselves lucky. Traveled there on business for 25 years.

[aquaclass]

One thing is for sure, if Celebrity thought they could make more profit with some (or more) California Coastal, Mexican Riviera, or cruises to Hawaii, they would do it in a heartbeat.

 

I don't think they are as profitable as other cruises

[mike x ftc]

We did the pacific coastal cruise on the Millennium 2 years ago and loved it, a few days in Vancouver first then 8 days down to San Diego - perfect. We would do it again if they did it - but they stopped. We also wanted a round trip Hawaii and then they stopped that too!! So we are looking at Princess now for that as they do good round trip itineraries. We seem to be the kiss of death to certain routes - so if there are any you want stopping just let us know and we'll plan them:):)

[hvsteve1]

I know San Diego is considered a problem port for the cruise lines. Several years ago we sailed out of there on a HAL Vista Class ship at the same time as a large Carnival ship. This means there were probably 5,000 or so people going through the terminal. Halfway through boarding, the Port of San Diego shut everything down for no apparent reason. There was a long line of people snaking down the street waiting for the doors to reopen. I assume they had checked their luggage before being thrown out of the building. Those of us arriving by taxi, bus or other transportation were dumped in the middle of the street with our luggage. So, rather than having the car pull onto the pier and the porters taking the bags, we were now tasked with eventually hauling them up the street ourselves and dragging them onto the pier on our own, not an easy job for some of the elderly folks (this was, after all, HAL) and others with limited mobility. On the ship, I was told by one of the senior officers that this type thing was not all that unusual for the port and one of the reasons why HAL and other cruise lines were looking for ways to get out. While HAL and others are still sailing from there, I suspect business for the port has dropped over the past few years.

[JanineM]

Agreed. The prices are high because people are willing to pay.

 

Actually I believe that they don't charge ENOUGH for some of these itineraries. Sailings from California weren't full - so X had to drop the prices so much that it wasn't profitable. Routes shouldn't be subsidized.

 

And I figure Celebrity needs to raise their prices on pretty much every sailing in order to keep up/improve food offerings. JMHO and I know not everyone shares it.

[davekathy]

We're doing an 8 night on RCLs Jewel Of The Seas 18 September 2015. Staring out in Vancouver and ending in LA with a lot of great stops in between. Thought the price and the perks the TA gave us was a bonus.

[Ontario Cruiser]

Jacking up the prices covers the 123 Promo's. The only inexpensive cabins are the inside ones that don't qualify. Ontario Cruiser

[April29]

The pricing is higher whenever there's a promo.

 

Also, CEL couldn't fill their ships when they had the coastals.

 

People said they wanted it but didn't book.

[jammen]

I was bored at work and when I am bored at work I often go onto X website to gaze at different itineraries, pricing, etc. Two things shocked me. The absence of California costal cruises and the cathouse prices on a lot of sailings where X sails. (With the exception of the Caribbean and Alaska).

 

DW and I were very fortunate to sail from Hawaii to YVR last May and were in A2 accomodations that were under $2k each. For a 10 night cruise I thought that was a square deal. A similar cruise next year is a whole heck of a lot more than what I paid for this year.

 

Is X in such high demand now that they can charge these outrageous fares? I love X but not that much. Their product is the best mass market product out there but not worth the way higher fares they are charging now.

 

Will they ever do CA costals or Mexican riviera cruises again?

 

We will be on one 10/18 and one on 10/24 out of S.F.