Let the itinerary speculation begin!

[ce_cruise]

Have been following this subject and appreciate all the work that has been done to filter out information. I have a couple of questions. If it is a 7/7/14 day cycle then would you assume it to be Eastern Med/ Western Med & ???? What would be differant for the 14 day? Very easy to assume the 14 day is eastern & western combined, but if it was combined then they could just let people do B2B and not have a seperate itinerary.

[heatherbelle]

In the surveys that Carnival sent out last year, ports included were Istanbul, santorini, Athens, Malta, plus the usual ones, Naples, Marseilles, Barca, Livorno, etc.

 

There is nothing concrete though as Carnival were seeking feedback.

 

Someone on FB I think it was mentioned that if the ship left Barcelona on a Saturday, and arrived in Rome on a Tuesday that would put the ship at Livorno on a Monday and viewing to see David in Florence is not available then as all the museums are closed. I feel that if they have Rome as the embarkation port, they are offering something different and it opens up more choice rather than what most of the main stream are offering, same old same old ports. I am sure given a choice their US customers would prefer to start in Rome rather than Barcelona, especially if they are repeat Med customers.

[Mattsudds]

On the assumption that the calls are Tuesday's and weekly (I can't get the Rome port website to show me that but have no reason to doubt the OP), I would suggest that Barcelona is the embarkation port. That would give a close to weekend departure day from Barcelona, and a standard 7 day circuit. I would imagine calls will include Marseille or Toulon for Provence, possibly Monaco, Livorno (for Pisa).

[trvlgirlmq]

Riviera ports do not have Carnival listed at all for 2016. This includes Cannes and Villefranche. As mentioned earlier a weekend departure from BCN puts the ship in Livorno on Monday . I think that would be a disaster for them and I am sure TPTB know this.

 

Alternating eastern/ western med followed by one long combined cruise from Rome makes more sense. (to me at least!). Like Heather said Rome would be a great choice especially for repeat cruisers who have probably already sailed from Barcelona.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[JWGrayson]

In the surveys that Carnival sent out last year, ports included were Istanbul, Santorini, Athens, Malta, plus the usual ones, Naples, Marseilles, Barca, Livorno, etc.

 

There is nothing concrete though as Carnival were seeking feedback.

 

...I feel that if they have Rome as the embarkation port, they are offering something different and it opens up more choice rather than what most of the main stream are offering, same old same old ports. I am sure given a choice their US customers would prefer to start in Rome rather than Barcelona, especially if they are repeat Med customers.

 

I also took the survey and think that Rome is the likely choice for the embarkation port. It is POSSIBLE that the 14 days cycle is really 2 x 7-day cruises with Athens as the break. While the 7-day options could alternate Eastern and Western Med. This would satisfy a lot of folks and if done properly could allow 28 days of cruising with mostly new ports on each leg.

 

We are really looking forward to the Vista and to the announcements starting Jan. 22nd! John

[ce_cruise]

So I went back and looked at the survey and the itineray choices. They all started in Barcelona except for 1, which was a starting point of Athens, Greece. A startining point of a cruise on a Tuesday seems unusual but it sure would be great for us. Leave home on a Friday arrive in Rome on the Saturday, tour Rome and surrounding areas Saturday to Monday and start the cruise on Tuesday.

[SHAZA0208]

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

Can I ask a silly question?

'How do back to backs work?'

 

Say I started in Rome/Barcelona for a seven night cruise on the Vista, do I then book from the disembarkation port to wherever next for the next 7 or 14 nights?

 

I have decided that Carnival is my type of cruise and want to enjoy Carnival as much as possible while it is in Europe as the airfare to the USA to cruise with them is something else.

[JWGrayson]

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

Can I ask a silly question?

'How do back to backs work?'

 

Say I started in Rome/Barcelona for a seven night cruise on the Vista, do I then book from the disembarkation port to wherever next for the next 7 or 14 nights?

 

I have decided that Carnival is my type of cruise and want to enjoy Carnival as much as possible while it is in Europe as the airfare to the USA to cruise with them is something else.

 

Glad to answer. Anytime we book a cruise, we look at the cruise before the one that caught our attention and the one after. Last year we knew that we wanted to take the Legend around Great Britain. We booked that cruise and the TA after, then the one to Norway and Northern Europe before, giving us a 39-day B2B2B cruise. If you book them all together you have a much better chance of getting the same cabin for the entire trip. Hope that helps. John

[BaseballMomof4]

They could be doing a revolving embarkation/debarkation similar to NCL as well. When we sailed NCL in 2013, there were 3 ports on our 7 day at which passengers got on and off - Barcelona, Marseille and Rome. So while we were on Day 3 of our 7 day when we got to Rome (we boarded in Barcelona) some passengers were just starting their 7 day, as so on.....

[BaseballMomof4]

Riviera ports do not have Carnival listed at all for 2016. This includes Cannes and Villefranche. As mentioned earlier a weekend departure from BCN puts the ship in Livorno on Monday . I think that would be a disaster for them and I am sure TPTB know this.

 

Alternating eastern/ western med followed by one long combined cruise from Rome makes more sense. (to me at least!). Like Heather said Rome would be a great choice especially for repeat cruisers who have probably already sailed from Barcelona.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

We took a 7 day NCL out of Barcelona in 2013. We went to our furthest port 1st (Naples) and then backtracked to Rome, Florence would have been next but we missed it due to hurricane strength winds, then Marseille and finally Palma de Mallorca. This might explain how they would avoid being in Florence on Mondays.

Edited January 5, 2015 by BaseballMomof4

[trvlgirlmq]

We have Dubrovnik!

 

Tuesday May 3

Saturday May 28

Friday August 12

Saturday September 17

Saturday October 15

 

The Saturday (and 1 Friday) are between the 14 day Rome call. It's not listed in June or July which steams me as those are the months we can cruise and my mom has wanted to see Dubrovnik for years. Now we don't know what to do!

 

http://www.portdubrovnik.hr/girica1.php

 

I don't know how to post a screen shot. I made a post on the other site we are using with the weblink but if someone can post screenshots for the nervous nellie's that would be great!

Edited January 5, 2015 by trvlgirlmq

[BaseballMomof4]

We have Dubrovnik!

 

Tuesday May 3

Saturday May 28

Friday August 12

Saturday September 17

Saturday October 15

 

The Saturday (and 1 Friday) are between the 14 day Rome call. It's not listed in June or July which steams me as those are the months we can cruise and my mom has wanted to see Dubrovnik for years. Now we don't know what to do!

 

http://www.portdubrovnik.hr/girica1.php

 

I don't know how to post a screen shot. Someone more tech-savvy can also repost to the other site we are using (Heather maybe?)

 

Yes! I have been dying to see Dubrovnik!

[trvlgirlmq]

Yes! I have been dying to see Dubrovnik!

 

It's been on my mom's bucket list for years! I am so torn. If we do a sailing in June/July when the kids are out of school then we miss the one place she really wants to go. If we wait for months to find out the new school calendar to see when Fall Break is in October then we risk paying more and the kids would still have to miss up to a week or more with the way these dates fall. Or we abandon Carnival and go with RCCL so we don't feel cheated because they don't stop in Dubrovnik on their 12 night anyway.

[BaseballMomof4]

It's been on my mom's bucket list for years! I am so torn. If we do a sailing in June/July when the kids are out of school then we miss the one place she really wants to go. If we wait for months to find out the new school calendar to see when Fall Break is in October then we risk paying more and the kids would still have to miss up to a week or more with the way these dates fall. Or we abandon Carnival and go with RCCL so we don't feel cheated because they don't stop in Dubrovnik on their 12 night anyway.

 

I am fortunate in that all of my kids are in or already out of college so May would work fine for me since Florida colleges are usually done in early May. I think CCL will probably have itineraries similar to what they had before, meaning it will be a 12 or 14 day that goes to Dubrovnik. We did a 7 day in May 2013 so I wouldn't mind doing the longer one, just to get our monies worth out of the airfare!

 

BTW, if you have more than 2 people and are porting out of Barcelona, check out the apartment hotels. They are similarly priced and far more comfortable. We used one and it worked out wonderfully!

[heatherbelle]

YES! !! Dubrovnik, one of my favourites.

 

This means leaving Rome 09/08, probably Naples 10/08 although she could call there on her way back to Rome, a sea day and then 12/08/16 Dubrovnik. Only Carnival knows for sure.

 

Sorry for you travlgirl, maybe it will work out.

 

Here is what we have so far then, please feel free to update as discoveries are made. I haven't been through Sept or the whole of October for Rome sorry.

 

Vista

Wednesday 11/05/16 Rome

Tuesday 17/05/16 Rome

Tuesday 31/05/16 Rome

Tuesday 07/06/16 Rome

Tuesday 14/06/16 Rome

Tuesday 28/06/16 Rome

Tuesday 05/07/16 Rome

Tuesday 12/07/16 Rome 2 weeks

Tuesday 26/07/16 Rome 1 week

Tuesday 02/08/16 Rome 1 week

Tuesday 09/08/16 Rome 13 nights

Monday 22/08/16 Rome 8 nights

Tuesday 30/08/16 Rome

 

 

 

Port of Gibraltar

 

Sun 23/10/16

 

Dubrovnik

 

Tuesday 03/5/16

Saturday 28/05/16

Friday 12/08/16

Saturday 17/09/16

Saturday 15/10/16

 

We need to find the Greek and Turkish ports, nothing for Athens.

[heatherbelle]

It's been on my mom's bucket list for years! I am so torn. If we do a sailing in June/July when the kids are out of school then we miss the one place she really wants to go. If we wait for months to find out the new school calendar to see when Fall Break is in October then we risk paying more and the kids would still have to miss up to a week or more with the way these dates fall. Or we abandon Carnival and go with RCCL so we don't feel cheated because they don't stop in Dubrovnik on their 12 night anyway.

 

I have seen a lovely Celebrity cruise with lots of Adriatic ports for 2016. Don't give up hope yet, couldn't the kids miss a little bit of school. It looks like there may be a two week cruise in June, the ship might stop at one of the other Croatian ports, I have seen some new ones on the Celeb cruise.

[BaseballMomof4]

YES! !! Dubrovnik, one of my favourites.

 

This means leaving Rome 09/08, probably Naples 10/08 although she could call there on her way back to Rome, a sea day and then 12/08/16 Dubrovnik. Only Carnival knows for sure.

 

Sorry for you travlgirl, maybe it will work out.

 

Here is what we have so far then, please feel free to update as discoveries are made. I haven't been through Sept or the whole of October for Rome sorry.

 

Vista

Wednesday 11/05/16 Rome

Tuesday 17/05/16 Rome

Tuesday 31/05/16 Rome

Tuesday 07/06/16 Rome

Tuesday 14/06/16 Rome

Tuesday 28/06/16 Rome

Tuesday 05/07/16 Rome

Tuesday 12/07/16 Rome 2 weeks

Tuesday 26/07/16 Rome 1 week

Tuesday 02/08/16 Rome 1 week

Tuesday 09/08/16 Rome 13 nights

Monday 22/08/16 Rome 8 nights

Tuesday 30/08/16 Rome

 

 

 

Port of Gibraltar

 

Sun 23/10/16

 

Dubrovnik

 

Tuesday 03/5/16

Saturday 28/05/16

Friday 12/08/16

Saturday 17/09/16

Saturday 15/10/16

 

We need to find the Greek and Turkish ports, nothing for Athens.

 

Looks like alternating 7 and 14 day itineraries.

[trvlgirlmq]

I have seen a lovely Celebrity cruise with lots of Adriatic ports for 2016. Don't give up hope yet, couldn't the kids miss a little bit of school. It looks like there may be a two week cruise in June, the ship might stop at one of the other Croatian ports, I have seen some new ones on the Celeb cruise.

 

I don't think we are Celebrity folks. Hate to dress up and only do it to get my lobster :D

 

We'll just have a difficult decision to make. If it is a Tuesday embark in Rome they would miss 6 days of school in October with the tentative calendar that is out now. The official one won't be approved until November 2015 for that school year.

[zelldriver]

I see Dubrovnik shows a capacity of 4242, not the 4800+ that Gibraltar showed.

[belkin]

Why is it so hard to find the port schedules?

 

I keep searching but coming up with a lot of dead ends. Tried to find Livorno, Messina, and Izmir....

[trvlgirlmq]

Here you go.

 

http://www.porto.messina.it/dettaglio.asp?id=220&porto=1

 

http://www.portolivorno2000.it/it/crociere/calendario-orari?y=2015&m=6&d=10

[LEtue]

I don't think we are Celebrity folks. Hate to dress up and only do it to get my lobster :D

 

We'll just have a difficult decision to make. If it is a Tuesday embark in Rome they would miss 6 days of school in October with the tentative calendar that is out now. The official one won't be approved until November 2015 for that school year.

 

Do not eliminate Celebrity for that reason! I have only been on 2 cruises with them and neither was any different that Princess or RCI in that respect. I hate to dress up anymore and I haven't taken formal clothes on a cruise in 10 years or more...

 

Consider the ship your transporation, hotel and food source only - especially if you find the right itinerary :) On the 2 Med cruises I have been on I didn't even go to the nightly shows because I was too busy getting ready for the next port - so for me that isn't an important critieria either.

[BaseballMomof4]

Do not eliminate Celebrity for that reason! I have only been on 2 cruises with them and neither was any different that Princess or RCI in that respect. I hate to dress up anymore and I haven't taken formal clothes on a cruise in 10 years or more...

 

Consider the ship your transporation, hotel and food source only - especially if you find the right itinerary :) On the 2 Med cruises I have been on I didn't even go to the nightly shows because I was too busy getting ready for the next port - so for me that isn't an important critieria either.

 

Celebrity is pretty pricey. NCL isn't bad. We had a nice cabin on our Med cruise with NCL and while we weren't big fans of the Epic, overall it was an awesome cruise. The inclusive food was not that great, but the pay extra restaurants were outstanding.

[LEtue]

Celebrity is pretty pricey. NCL isn't bad. We had a nice cabin on our Med cruise with NCL and while we weren't big fans of the Epic, overall it was an awesome cruise. The inclusive food was not that great, but the pay extra restaurants were outstanding.

 

Yes, it definitely a bit pricey but I really place itinerary above eveything else and I only have to buy for 1 person. My cruise buddy in Texas feels the same way so we're probably going to book the Equinox (10 night Barcelona to Rome) since we just sailed a 9 night Italy, Greece and Turkey this year :)

 

Thankfully, I have enough FF miles on Delta that I won't have to buy airfare either :D

[SHAZA0208]

Glad to answer. Anytime we book a cruise, we look at the cruise before the one that caught our attention and the one after. Last year we knew that we wanted to take the Legend around Great Britain. We booked that cruise and the TA after, then the one to Norway and Northern Europe before, giving us a 39-day B2B2B cruise. If you book them all together you have a much better chance of getting the same cabin for the entire trip. Hope that helps. John

 

Thanks for your example- I get it now!