Carnival ships leaving fleet.

[falkcor]

Elation & Paradise are the youngest of the Fantasy class ships, so I wouldn't expect them to be the first ones to sell. Carnival could have put the new waterslide & resort style pool on these ships, but they chose not to. It's good to not have every single ship being clones of one another. People will keep coming back to different ships if they are actually different.

 

I would expect Fantasy to be sold first, but not sure after that. They may not go exactly by the date of the ship. Holiday cruises will pack out every ship, but the real test is how they do in the low-demand times. It seems to me that the Fantasy class ships overall don't do well in those times. You can get on those ships dirt cheap in those times.

 

however, elation and paradise are the two with azipods. carnival does NOT like the azipods on their fantasy class ships, it seems. i think that is why they are the two which did NOT receive the same upgrades the rest of the fantasy class ships did. even with elation's recent drydock, it defies reason why they continue to not invest in them, except if they really have such a qualm about their 'quirks' vs. the rest of the fleet, in terms of the azipods. perhaps that makes them more marketable, with a more 'modern' system, but carnival remains to not like azipods, evidenced by the fact that they have eschewed them in subsequent builds.

 

it's similar to what happened with holiday, in that it was the oldest of the class of ships to be disposed of / cycle out of the fleet. logic would dictate that yes they would get rid of the oldest ship first, but history does not show that to be true.

 

regardless, no, fantasy class ships cannot command premium prices on holiday sailings as you mentioned, just like they can't vs. just about any modern tonnage at any other time, carnival or not. the fantasy class is approaching economic obsolescence, in my opinion, as no matter what the price is, there's a lot of the cruising public which are frankly just not interested in sailing on a 25 year old ship showing its (their) age.

[falkcor]

It's good to not have every single ship being clones of one another. People will keep coming back to different ships if they are actually different.

 

and i meant to add... although i agree with you in principal, this statement in particular stands against everything that carnival has been doing for the last few years. they are 'standardizing' or 'branding' spaces on all of their ships.

 

it has been in the past that the individual venues were unique on each ship - in terms of their name and indeed their design. however, they are now re-branding whatever was the wine bar on any ship as alchemy... they are re-branding the previously named bars on lido to red frog rum bar and blue iguana tequila bar... and the list continues...

 

there is something to be said for that, for standardizing expectations and guest experience across the board, but they obviously are not emphasizing the concept of 'keeping ships different' as you are speaking of... they are doing the absolute opposite, and clearly do not see benefit to 'keeping ships different'...

 

and ya know what, for that most part, it's working. the '2.0 upgrades' are often discussed here, and some swear they won't sail without them. guys burgers, blue iguana cantina, etc. - they're all questions on the first page of this forum pretty much every day...

 

the fact that they are intentionally NOT adding these to fantasy class ships, i think, speaks volumes. every time a fantasy class ship goes into drydock, you can expect it won't for another 2.5 years (because they're older ships, they skirt the 5 year rule), and the fact that they keep doing it indicates that they are not 'fully invested' in their future.

[k2excursion]

regardless, no, fantasy class ships cannot command premium prices on holiday sailings as you mentioned, just like they can't vs. just about any modern tonnage at any other time, carnival or not. the fantasy class is approaching economic obsolescence, in my opinion, as no matter what the price is, there's a lot of the cruising public which are frankly just not interested in sailing on a 25 year old ship showing its (their) age.

 

What I was meaning was that a Fantasy class ship might be packed for a holiday cruise, but that doesn't mean that the ship is doing well overall. A holiday cruise on Fantasy will be way more expensive than an October cruise on Fantasy. Holiday sailings on Fantasy will be turning a big profit on that sailing, because of the higher price tag, but that's not a fair representation of how the ship is doing overall. That was the point I was trying to make. I wasn't meaning to compare holiday Fantasy sailings to holiday Dream sailings or anything like that. The point I was making serves to reason that Carnival probably will be looking to sell a couple Fantasy class ships sooner rather than later. If Carnival has to lower the price so much during low demand times, that might not even pay the bills for those times.

[falkcor]

What I was meaning was that a Fantasy class ship might be packed for a holiday cruise, but that doesn't mean that the ship is doing well overall. A holiday cruise on Fantasy will be way more expensive than an October cruise on Fantasy. Holiday sailings on Fantasy will be turning a big profit on that sailing, because of the higher price tag, but that's not a fair representation of how the ship is doing overall. That was the point I was trying to make. I wasn't meaning to compare holiday Fantasy sailings to holiday Dream sailings or anything like that. The point I was making serves to reason that Carnival probably will be looking to sell a couple Fantasy class ships sooner rather than later. If Carnival has to lower the price so much during low demand times, that might not even pay the bills for those times.

 

i apologize if i misunderstood your previous comment, but i do agree with you given your clarification, regardless :)