Caribbean Year-round

[sapper1]

Sail is correct in what she says. Hurricane Juan devasted Halifax in Sept of 2003. We were there a few days after the storm and were amazed at all the downed trees everywhere.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Juan

 

You have to scroll down a bit to get to the part about Halifax.

 

In August of 09 we were on a transatlantic on the Eurodam from Copenhagen to NYC and we were scheduled to visit St John's Nfld. Due to a hurricane headed up the coast we skipped that port and went to the other side of Nfld to Cornerbrook, and then waited out the storm in the Gulf of St Lawrence before heading back out into the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The Caribbean is definitely not the only cruise destination affected during hurricane season.

[SetAnOpenCourse]

It all comes down to filling the ships.

 

The summer months are really not a popular time to visit the Caribbean.

 

If they were more ships would sail this itinerary.

 

Keith

A quick look at prices for this Summer suggests it is indeed popular, although of course it cannot be compared to Wintertime popularity. I think the market could bear another ship in the Summer. Perhaps FL to Bermuda would be even more attractive.

[sail7seas]

Cruising Boston to Bermuda is very popular but I hesitate to think FL to Bermuda would b e.

 

 

When we sailed HAL many summers in the C aribbean those cruises were quite full if not sold out.

[SetAnOpenCourse]

Boston is closer by a couple hundred miles to Bermuda than Port Canaveral. But for people closer to or in Florida it would be a great alternative to been-there-done-that Caribbean.

[navybankerteacher]

A family member said their ship would head out to sea during a hurricane as it was not safe to be "tied up" in port. I'm thinking you mean they set anchor. Did you receive any credits for the changes?

 

When they head out to sea it is to sail out of the area threatened by the hurricane. They do not "set anchor" (a shallow, coastal waters concept)).

[djhsolara]

When they head out to sea it is to sail out of the area threatened by the hurricane. They do not "set anchor" (a shallow, coastal waters concept)).

 

 

 

When we sailed in a hurricane (Sandy), the captain felt it was safest to take us directly through the hurricane. We left from Port Liberty, made it out of NY Harbor in less than 20 minutes (we were told that takes over an hour in normal conditions) and continued straight through the hurricane to Bermuda. He told us that it was safer to go through because anything else and we would have either been chasing it or being chased by it.

 

It was QUITE the experience.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[KAKcruiser]

I would love to have HAL do a Fort Lauderdale to Bermuda itinerary. At least it would be something different from the usual ports. Celebrity used to do an itinerary a couple of times a year that went Fort Lauderdale, Bermuda, Charleston and then back to Fort Lauderdale. Carnival does a few Florida to Bermuda itineraries that also stop in Grand Turk.

[sail7seas]

that is a long time getting there and being there a very short time unless the cruise is more than 10 + days.

[boscobeans]

We too, miss not having choices leaving New York. We would cruise more if it didn't involve so much flying (not a fan). Wish HAL would reconsider these. Sea days to get down there are always a relaxing interlude prior to those luscious days on the islands.

 

 

Several of our most memorable cruises have been on the Noordam out of New York. We always cruise between January and April to get away from the Winter and recharge our batteries. Those cruises on the Noordam always appeared to be running at full capacity and given the enormous population within 150-200 miles of the port I can't understand why they left. The cruises were always 10 days to the Caribbean and as stated above the day and a half going down and returning were excellent to get acclimated to the heat and back to the cooler Northeast. 12 days would have even been better and since no airline costs or associated hotel costs are involved the wasted money as well as the days wasted pre and post cruise from Florida could be better spent ON THE SHIP.

 

I wonder if the 28 million dollars that are going to be spent improving the MCT (Manhattan Cruise Terminal) might open a few eyes and provide this huge population of potential cruisers with more choices as to Cruise Lines, Ships and Itineraries instead of the limited choices now available.

 

I would personally prefer 12 days on a ship rather than a ten day cruise with 2 days spent wandering around airports and a day at some hotel. I would also prefer to spend money wasted, because of Florida departures, on a ship from NYC.:(

 

Just wishing.

 

bosco

[Florida_gal_50]

Several of our most memorable cruises have been on the Noordam out of New York. We always cruise between January and April to get away from the Winter and recharge our batteries. Those cruises on the Noordam always appeared to be running at full capacity and given the enormous population within 150-200 miles of the port I can't understand why they left. The cruises were always 10 days to the Caribbean and as stated above the day and a half going down and returning were excellent to get acclimated to the heat and back to the cooler Northeast. 12 days would have even been better and since no airline costs or associated hotel costs are involved the wasted money as well as the days wasted pre and post cruise from Florida could be better spent ON THE SHIP.

 

I wonder if the 28 million dollars that are going to be spent improving the MCT (Manhattan Cruise Terminal) might open a few eyes and provide this huge population of potential cruisers with more choices as to Cruise Lines, Ships and Itineraries instead of the limited choices now available.

 

I would personally prefer 12 days on a ship rather than a ten day cruise with 2 days spent wandering around airports and a day at some hotel. I would also prefer to spend money wasted, because of Florida departures, on a ship from NYC.:(

 

Just wishing.

 

bosco

It seems there are many, many cruise lines leaving out of New York already. I have a friend that lives there and she goes on many cruises. She never has problems finding one to her liking. She does not fly. Given the choice of going from Florida or NYC, I personally would pick Florida. The hotel room prices are much cheaper in Florida and the weather is much warmer than NYC in the winter.

[boscobeans]

It seems there are many, many cruise lines leaving out of New York already. I have a friend that lives there and she goes on many cruises. She never has problems finding one to her liking. She does not fly. Given the choice of going from Florida or NYC, I personally would pick Florida. The hotel room prices are much cheaper in Florida and the weather is much warmer than NYC in the winter.

 

The number of cruises leaving from NYC-NJ ports during a two week period is usually overshadowed by the number of cruises leaving Florida in one day. YOU are lucky, the cruises from Florida often go to Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, the Panama Canal and because of the variety in ship sizes several of the cruises go to places none of the BIG (NYC-NJ) ships can visit. You have Canaveral, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Miami and out of these ports almost EVERY CRUISE LINE operates a variety of itineraries during an extremely wide time frame.

 

I have no wish to have you or anyone else, especially from Florida, undergo the same problems we do when we decide to cruise on specific cruise lines on specific itineraries and on dates that are so widely available you.

 

You have NO NEED to travel a day or two ahead of your cruise in order to negate the problems often encountered during the winter months or even any time of year when flying 1 or 2 thousand miles. You can drive to a port without hotels bills, airline fares, restaurant expenses and days and hours wasted in airports.

 

My ONLY wish would be for a line like HOLLAND AMERICA to explore the POSSIBILITY of placing a ship like the NOORDAM which isn't a floating amusement park with 8 story water slides, rock climbing walls, indoor ice skating, Robotic bartenders and other things that make a cruise seem like a visit to Vegas or Coney Island,

 

Would one or two cruises during the Winter to Summer repositioning of a ship or two be too much ?

 

Just ask the client base if they would be interested in 12-14 days to the Southern Caribbean cruise with maybe a venture into Lake Gatun and a visit to Aruba, Curacao or Bonaire thrown in. Not everyone wants to go back to St. Maarten or SanJuan on every cruise out of New York or Jersey.

 

Happy cruising

 

bosco

[Florida_gal_50]

The number of cruises leaving from NYC-NJ ports during a two week period is usually overshadowed by the number of cruises leaving Florida in one day. YOU are lucky, the cruises from Florida often go to Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, the Panama Canal and because of the variety in ship sizes several of the cruises go to places none of the BIG (NYC-NJ) ships can visit. You have Canaveral, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Miami and out of these ports almost EVERY CRUISE LINE operates a variety of itineraries during an extremely wide time frame.

 

I have no wish to have you or anyone else, especially from Florida, undergo the same problems we do when we decide to cruise on specific cruise lines on specific itineraries and on dates that are so widely available you.

 

You have NO NEED to travel a day or two ahead of your cruise in order to negate the problems often encountered during the winter months or even any time of year when flying 1 or 2 thousand miles. You can drive to a port without hotels bills, airline fares, restaurant expenses and days and hours wasted in airports.

 

My ONLY wish would be for a line like HOLLAND AMERICA to explore the POSSIBILITY of placing a ship like the NOORDAM which isn't a floating amusement park with 8 story water slides, rock climbing walls, indoor ice skating, Robotic bartenders and other things that make a cruise seem like a visit to Vegas or Coney Island,

 

Would one or two cruises during the Winter to Summer repositioning of a ship or two be too much ?

 

Just ask the client base if they would be interested in 12-14 days to the Southern Caribbean cruise with maybe a venture into Lake Gatun and a visit to Aruba, Curacao or Bonaire thrown in. Not everyone wants to go back to St. Maarten or SanJuan on every cruise out of New York or Jersey.

 

Happy cruising

 

bosco

I do not live in Florida so I must do an overnight in Florida or NYC before a cruise. Warm or cold, I'd pick warm. If it were profitable for hal to be in NYC they would be there. No harm in wishing they would be there.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

One of the big challenges of itinerary planning for Cruise from NY/NJ is Geography and distance. Even on a 10-12 day cruise they cannot go much further than Antigua/St. Maarten due to the sea distances involved. To visit Aruba or the Panama Canal would require a cruise in excess of 12-14 days and have MANY sea days, something that is a tough sell to most cruisers. Also the weather and rough seas along the Us East Coast in winter are a deterrent. Many cruisers would rather start their cruise from a warm water port, with fewer days at sea, more days of sun and fun, etc. This is why FLL/MIA/PCN/TPA are all such popular homeports. While the NYC metro drive market is very large, there are many in the NYC area that DON'T like to cruise from there due to the large number of sea days and cold weather beginning/ending of the trip. Also in terms of cachement of a non-drive market cruise lines can attract a larger and more diverse pool of clients from the Florida ports than say NY/NJ in winter.

 

NCL/RCCL often have trouble filling 3 ships from the NYC cachement area in the winter as is, adding a 4th ship would further dilute the ability to make a profit for anyone.

[sail7seas]

I do not live in Florida so I must do an overnight in Florida or NYC before a cruise. Warm or cold, I'd pick warm. If it were profitable for hal to be in NYC they would be there. No harm in wishing they would be there.

HAL DID have Noordam sailing her Inaugural season out of NYC to Carib ean. They lost money on it and repositoned her the next year.. It rtook lots of fuel, running up an down the coast. People were squeezing every penny out ofc the fares. They insisted on very low fares . Lots of demands but not lots of free spending. Many people loved the availability of the beautiful, brand new Noordam sailing from Nyc in winter but they would hav e preferred if they could have sailed f or free. There was a huge outcry when HAL said no more and they did not leave Noordam there the next winter. I sailed Noordam from NY to Caribbean and loved it. I would wonder if they would be willing to try again

[AtlantaCruiser72]

HAL DID have Noordam sailing her Inaugural season out of NYC to Carib ean. They lost money on it and repositoned her the next year.. It rtook lots of fuel, running up an down the coast. People were squeezing every penny out ofc the fares. They insisted on very low fares . Lots of demands but not lots of free spending. Many people loved the availability of the beautiful, brand new Noordam sailing from Nyc in winter but they would hav e preferred if they could have sailed f or free. There was a huge outcry when HAL said no more and they did not leave Noordam there the next winter. I sailed Noordam from NY to Caribbean and loved it. I would wonder if they would be willing to try again

 

Celebrity faced a similar issue when they based a ship from NYC in the winter a few years ago - I think it was the Eclipse or Silhouette during it's inaugural season (can't remember which). Longer cruises from cold weather ports can be a tough sell, even in a large market like NYC

[boscobeans]

HAL DID have Noordam sailing her Inaugural season out of NYC to Carib ean. They lost money on it and repositoned her the next year.. It rtook lots of fuel, running up an down the coast. People were squeezing every penny out ofc the fares. They insisted on very low fares . Lots of demands but not lots of free spending. Many people loved the availability of the beautiful, brand new Noordam sailing from Nyc in winter but they would hav e preferred if they could have sailed f or free. There was a huge outcry when HAL said no more and they did not leave Noordam there the next winter. I sailed Noordam from NY to Caribbean and loved it. I would wonder if they would be willing to try again

 

We sailed out of NYC on the Noordam in 2007 and 2008. One was in January and the other in April. Both cruises were in suites and were on par price wise with similar cruises of the same length on Celebrity, from Bayonne, which at that time we had sailed on 8 cruises.

 

Maybe the fault was not the ship, the price or the clientele but rather the ports of call and the number of cruises in a row to the same places.... Same old, same old ports from New York from every line??

 

Maybe only ONE OR TWO deep south cruises,(Aruba-Canal-etc.) might spark interest in folks not interested in being lifted a few hundred feet in the air or riding bumper cars and being served drinks by a robot, I know for sure My wife and I aren't looking for that kind of entertainment. Holland America is to us a line that is a cruise ship line and not an amusement park.

 

Just hate spending only 10 days of a two week vacation on the ship and the rest getting to or from the ship.

 

Happy sailing to all.

 

bosco

[SetAnOpenCourse]

that is a long time getting there and being there a very short time unless the cruise is more than 10 + days.

Getting there would take about 54 hours vs. 45 from Boston.

 

I've considered flying to Boston or NY for a Bermuda cruise, but I wouldn't really want 3 days in one port as part of a cruise.

[boscobeans]

Celebrity faced a similar issue when they based a ship from NYC in the winter a few years ago - I think it was the Eclipse or Silhouette during it's inaugural season (can't remember which). Longer cruises from cold weather ports can be a tough sell, even in a large market like NYC

 

We've done a few cruises on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean as well as Holland America from both Bayonne and NYC during the "Winter" months and just wonder if the reason they failed to turn a profit was OVERKILL.

 

Maybe the logistics of offering only a few cruises from the Northeast is a problem but setting up TOO MANY is a sure way to thin the demand to a point it would be hard to fill the ships to capacity?

 

Just wondering how difficult it would be during the changeover from Winter to Summer schedules to plan one or two LONGER (14 day) cruises to more distant ports in the Caribbean?

 

For us, at least, it takes 2 weeks of our available vacation time to squeeze in a 10 day cruise from Florida considering the fact that we must plan on flying down one or two days pre-cruise (weather worries) as well as an occasional extra post-cruise day, depending on flight schedules. Granted there will be longer periods of days at sea reaching some ports but if the itineraries skipped some of the ports many seasoned cruisers have been to repeatedly, the chance to visit the less frequented places like Aruba or even a partial canal cruise might be tempting. Not to mention the expense of flying down to and staying in Florida as well as the time spent in airports (ugh).. LOL

 

Many folks are willing to spend TEN days at sea for a round trip to Hawaii, why not one with 7 days at sea and 7 days to ports of call only available to Florida departures?

 

Again this is only our dream and our opinion and what would be great for us, as we really enjoy being at sea and don't mind missing the usual repetitive Caribbean ports.

 

Definitely not for everyone but it might be tempting enough to fill a ship.

 

Happy cruising to all no matter how long or short your cruises are or wherever they take you.

 

bosco

[colonialinnkeeper]

Bosco,

 

We're with you--count us in! :cool:

[boscobeans]

Bosco,

 

We're with you--count us in! :cool:

 

It is just a wish or maybe a dream but it would be interesting for sure.

 

We get enough JUNK mail from Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and NCL telling us about the same old cruise itineraries and how they are always pushing the "EDGE" no pun intended, how about a comprehensive POLL.

 

Ask their already established client base if they would be interested in one or two longer cruises from the population rich Northeast to places different than the Eastern Caribbean or what they call the Southern Caribbean?

 

If they get enough interest and open up such an itinerary I am sure there would be enough ocean lovers to fill a ship like the Summit or most other ships that size for a SEASONED SAILORS SPECIAL.

 

How many experienceD cruisers decide to stay on the ship when they dock at some of the usual ports of call? More time on board to enjoy the spas, the ocean and don't forget the CASINO..LOL..

 

A great way to SPEND our money on a ship, rather than WASTING IT JUST GETTING TO AND FROM THE PORT OF EMBARKATION:).. .

 

We can only dream,.

 

bosco

[sail7seas]

It is just a wish or maybe a dream but it would be interesting for sure.

 

We get enough JUNK mail from Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and NCL telling us about the same old cruise itineraries and how they are always pushing the "EDGE" no pun intended, how about a comprehensive POLL.

 

Ask their already established client base if they would be interested in one or two longer cruises from the population rich Northeast to places different than the Eastern Caribbean or what they call the Southern Caribbean?

 

If they get enough interest and open up such an itinerary I am sure there would be enough ocean lovers to fill a ship like the Summit or most other ships that size for a SEASONED SAILORS SPECIAL.

 

How many experienceD cruisers decide to stay on the ship when they dock at some of the usual ports of call? More time on board to enjoy the spas, the ocean and don't forget the CASINO..LOL.. We very often stayed on the ship in port if we had been there a number of times in the past, or got off an walked around the port area, had lunch or a quick errand and back aboard. Some times we didn't get off at all. We thought of the ship as our destination for many cruises but for Europe, of course.

 

A great way to SPEND our money on a ship, rather than WASTING IT JUST GETTING TO AND FROM THE PORT OF EMBARKATION:).. .

 

We can only dream,.

 

bosco

 

 

 

 

Please count me in for a YES vote. I would love 10, 12, 14 days Boston to C aribbean to Boston any / every month of the year.

 

btw, the ship's casino is almost always closed when the ship is in port (with a few exceptions)

Edited July 4, 2017 by sail7seas

[boscobeans]

Please count me in for a YES vote. I would love 10, 12, 14 days Boston to C aribb ean to Boston any month of the year.

 

Boston is fine with me as well...

 

bosco

[footballmp]

A BIG yes vote from me on a summer Caribbean sailing out of FLL. Our first cruise was on the Maasdam to the Eastern Caribbean and also the inaugural year for the Zuiderdam Western Caribbean. We loved both! Since then without HAL, we have had to sail on Disney (too expensive!) and RCL (ships in Caribbean way too big, 6500 passengers!). Bring back HAL in the summer please!

[sail7seas]

Getting there would take about 54 hours vs. 45 from Boston.

 

I've considered flying to Boston or NY for a Bermuda cruise, but I wouldn't really want 3 days in one port as part of a cruise.

 

Has to sail thre and back. My DH and I fllew to Bermuda a number of times through gtghe years and stayed in resorts I have sailed there thre eor f four times.

[sail7seas]

Getting there would take about 54 hours vs. 45 from Boston. I've considered flying to Boston or NY for a Bermuda cruise, but I wouldn't really want 3 days in one port as part of a cruise.

Has to sail there and back. My DH and I flew to Bermuda a number of times through ghe years and stayed in resorts I have sailed there three or f four times. sailed from both NY and Boston. All CRUISE ships that sail T o VBermuda as primary or only locagion FROM nYC and Bostont do so to spend the time in bemruda. Therefore, such a cruise may not be for everyone. choose another. ;) Edited July 4, 2017 by sail7seas