Coral Princess-Aruba, why so short?

[BopRN]

We just booked the partial transit Panama Canal cruise for October. The stop in Aruba is from 7am-12:30 pm. That is no time to do much of anything. Does anyone have ideas as to why this is so? In past reviews, the ship was in port for a full day.

[satxdiver]

Princess needs time to get to your next port and does not want to run at full speed using more fuel. Look at your itinerary at the next port and time.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

We just booked the partial transit Panama Canal cruise for October. The stop in Aruba is from 7am-12:30 pm. That is no time to do much of anything. Does anyone have ideas as to why this is so? In past reviews, the ship was in port for a full day.

 

When we took the partial in 2014, it was an 11-night cruise. You stayed in Aruba all day, then the next day was a full sea day, arriving in Cartagena the day after that.

 

For whatever reason, as when we went two weeks ago, they changed this cruise to a 10-night. So now you leave Aruba early afternoon and get into Cartagena the next morning. We actually liked the 11-night better as have to be up & off the ship real early for excursions in Aruba.

[BopRN]

That's a real bummer! Would have loved a whole day at the beach and an extra day on the cruise!

[VTX-AL]

We just booked the partial transit Panama Canal cruise for October. The stop in Aruba is from 7am-12:30 pm. That is no time to do much of anything. Does anyone have ideas as to why this is so? In past reviews, the ship was in port for a full day.

 

We are on a 21-day Fll to Vancouver April '17 with a port stop in Aruba also of 5 1/2 hours. That is so ridiculous as to be pathetic ! By the time you get off the ship there is barely enough time for a short visit to Oranjestad, let alone anywhere else on the island, before you have to get back to the ship. Bummer indeed !!:( :mad:

 

...VTX-Al

[Colo Cruiser]

On our Coral e/b full transit we were in Cartagena until 1:00 and Aruba until 1:00. Both were terrible for excursions or time in port. I would prefer to lose the Aruba stop and spend all day in Cartagena. This has been like this for years. :(

[Eagle_and_hawk]

We are on a 21-day Fll to Vancouver April '17 with a port stop in Aruba also of 5 1/2 hours. That is so ridiculous as to be pathetic ! By the time you get off the ship there is barely enough time for a short visit to Oranjestad, let alone anywhere else on the island, before you have to get back to the ship. Bummer indeed !!:( :mad:

 

...VTX-Al

 

I have often wondered if the bean counters figured out how to generate more revenue from cutting it back to 10-days. It was two years later, between the 11-night and the then the 10-night we just took. Both were close to the same price, although not that far fetched with price increases.

 

If you dropped it back to a 10-day, charged same price as the 11-day before, they could squeeze in a couple more 10-day cruises during the PC sailing season.

[BopRN]

We are on a 21-day Fll to Vancouver April '17 with a port stop in Aruba also of 5 1/2 hours. That is so ridiculous as to be pathetic ! By the time you get off the ship there is barely enough time for a short visit to Oranjestad, let alone anywhere else on the island, before you have to get back to the ship. Bummer indeed !!:( :mad:

 

...VTX-Al

 

And on top of that, we are probably paying plenty in port charges and not getting any advantage from it!

[DougH]

Short port times anywhere are almost always due to the distance to the next port. Remember its not like getting into an airplane at 500mph, or even you car at 60, The ship usually is only traveling about 20-25 mph so it takes time to get to the next destination.

[BopRN]

Short port times anywhere are almost always due to the distance to the next port. Remember its not like getting into an airplane at 500mph, or even you car at 60, The ship usually is only traveling about 20-25 mph so it takes time to get to the next destination.

 

Yes, of course, I know that! If you look below, you can see I am not new to cruising. In all of our cruises, we have NEVER had such a ridiculously short time in a port. Makes NO sense to me! But now hearing it was cut from an 11 day to a 10 day cruise, it is obviously all about the money.

[shredie]

Maybe it is easier to sell a 10 day cruise rather than an 11-day one. Who knows?

[Happy2cruise]

We just booked the partial transit Panama Canal cruise for October. The stop in Aruba is from 7am-12:30 pm. That is no time to do much of anything. Does anyone have ideas as to why this is so? In past reviews, the ship was in port for a full day.

Sailed the Coral in December doing the partial transit of the Panama Canal and we also had the 7am to 12:30 time in Aruba:(. It's a good thing we had been there before so didn't even get off the ship.

[Colo Cruiser]

Maybe it is easier to sell a 10 day cruise rather than an 11-day one. Who knows?

 

 

Did the same on the 15 day too. :(

[h20skibum]

When we did it, it was an 11 day one with our time in port at Aruba from 8 am till 6:30 pm. We then had a sea day, but only were in Cartagena from 7 till 1:30. That was a short time at Cartagena.

 

It is all about getting to the next port on time.

[Keith1010]

I never understand port stops that are so short like this one is.

 

Keith

[golfb4cruzing]

That's a real bummer! Would have loved a whole day at the beach and an extra day on the cruise!

 

The port area is fun to explore and nearby beach is enjoyable. We did an excursion last time that was fair. We grabbed an open air bus at the port and did an island tour. We also are doing the PC trip, the end of October for us.

[sunsetbeachgal]

That really is a bad port time, especially considering it starts so early and then all aboard is probably noon.

[cb at sea]

Hardly worth the effort!

[tiessa]

We just booked the partial transit Panama Canal cruise for October. The stop in Aruba is from 7am-12:30 pm. That is no time to do much of anything. Does anyone have ideas as to why this is so? In past reviews, the ship was in port for a full day.

 

 

I would rather skip a port than feel like I am dashing from port to port. We did the partial transit in January and were late to several ports which messed up many excursions. In fact, they refunded the cost of one it was such a mess. Princess has been doing this for years. You would think they would have it down by now but they don't. I hope yours is better trip than ours was.

[DocF]

In this case, a visit to the tourist trap shops in the port and the immediate vicinity will be a good chance to pick up souvenirs for a lot less than in most ports we have visited.

 

This is a case of, "When life gives you lemons, hope you can find a bottle of gin and make a Tom Collins."

 

Doc:p