Any predictions/wants of new deployments?

[Redking]

16 hours ago, chemmo said:

I would love an Indian Ocean cruise...Maybe starting off with a couple of Indian ports, then Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar...

Second that Chemmo. I have been hoping for one that starts in Cape Town, cruises the Indian Ocean and Finishes in Perth. Some good news today that the Eclipse will home port in Melbourne in 2020  for the season post 'revolutionising'

[Redking]

14 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Two ships in Australia/South Pacific with some Perth options. Also looking for at least 4 in a row. 

Your wish may have been granted https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=8959 Not clear yet if Perth is included.

[Sailor Taylor]

Better ports in general.   Princess and Holland America can do it, Celebrity should be able to.  

[Cruise Junky]

7 hours ago, Redking said:

Your wish may have been granted https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=8959 Not clear yet if Perth is included.

Yes I knew I’d get the two ships but was expecting more imagination -  no Perth. Pretty vanilla itineraries. 🤨

Edited October 30, 2018 by Cruise Junky

[Redking]

8 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Yes I knew I’d get the two ships but was expecting more imagination -  no Perth. Pretty vanilla itineraries. 🤨

Agree!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Actually, it may be the itineraries rather than the ships which drive me to other cruise lines.  Really tired of same old, same old.  Although I get that Celebrity doesn't value me as a client even though I have over 200 nights on board.

[dkjretired]

Whenever one of these threads open up which is frequent, posters need to understand that right now Celebrity only has 9 ships  (not counting yachts)  and they can't put them all over the world.   Royal has 25 ships.   

Edited October 31, 2018 by dkjretired

[govanguy]

Black Sea for me. We had booked on Conny a few years ago for a cruise around the Black Sea. Unfortunately, it was cancelled

[Cruise Junky]

2 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Whenever one of these threads open up which is frequent, posters need to understand that right now Celebrity only has 9 ships  (not counting yachts)  and they can't put them all over the world.   Royal has 25 ships.   

Having two ships downunder doing the same itineraries as each other just from a different departure port does not take much brain power.  They could have easily switched that up.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Cruise Junky

[AtlantaCruiser72]

2 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Whenever one of these threads open up which is frequent, posters need to understand that right now Celebrity only has 9 ships  (not counting yachts)  and they can't put them all over the world.   Royal has 25 ships.   

 

1 minute ago, Cruise Junky said:

Having two ships downunder doing the same itineraries as each other just from a different departure port does not take much brain power.  They could have easily switched that up.

 

The Royal Caribbean Fleet Planning team - which includes Celebrity and Azamara - has never been know for their creativity in itinerary planning.  They tend to stick with the tried and true and focus primarily on where they feel they will see the highest yield.  they have decades of analytics that show them what types of itineraries sell, and sell at higher margins, or produce more back end revenue in onboard (ancillary) purchases.  They are a corporation driven more by accountants and bottom line than creative itinerary planning.  If there were significant profits to be had in a large selection of lengthy, exotic cruises, or shorter cruises with boutique ports, then the ships would sail them.  That said occasionally they come up with something interesting, but not often.  A good example are the Spring/Summer/Fall 2019 itineraries for Infinity and Constellation in the Med - they are selling VERY well due to the uniqueness of them compared to some other lines.

 

I'd personally love to see Celebrity add a 3rd ship in Alaska doing 10/11/14 day cruises from Vancouver Round Trip.  It's not going to happen as the longer cruise would cannibalize their CruiseTour product sales, which are extremely good money makers for all the cruise lines.  HAL struggles to fill a 12-1300 passenger ship for a full season from Seattle doing 14 day cruises.  That speaks volumes as to the struggles Celebrity would face in filling (profitably) a much larger Millennium or Solstice Class ship on a similar itinerary.

 

I'd also like to see Celebrity offer some longer 21+ day cruise options on a regular basis, but that's also not likely to happen as corporate prefers average cruise length be 14/15 days maximum, and more than not in shorter segments of 12 days or less.  The longer the cruise the more you see a decline in ancillary revenue, the shorter the cruise the more those sales increase per guest - Alcohol, shops, Spa, Shore Excursions, Casino, etc, etc.  There is a good reason Celebrity do 4/5/5 rotations on Infinity in the winter from FLL rather than deploying her on longer cruises and it's called ancillary revenue!

[Cruise Raider]

On 10/29/2018 at 3:39 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

-I would love to see a Baja peninsula itinerary leaving from LA or San Deigo.  A few years ago Celebrity sent me a survey about possible itineraries and they mentioned that one as an option.  I said it was "very appealing" so maybe?  Several other lines currently do this one...not Celebrity.

 

San Diego would be good, but San Francisco would be even better!  Coastals or Mexico on Celebrity would be great.  They have a couple of sailings this year out of LA but one looks to be a possible charter (the one I booked) and the others are currently overpriced.  I would like to see Celebrity leave a ship on this coast year around.  I don't even mind if it is one of their older ships, just leave it here on the west coast.  

 

And, btw ... would love to see these be 9-10 day sailings but even a 5-6 day one would be ok with me, as well.  

Edited October 31, 2018 by Cruise Raider

[AUPilot14]

A stop at the RCCL owned private islands would be nice. Labadee or CocoCay. Preferably during the summer Caribbean offerings.

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, AUPilot14 said:

A stop at the RCCL owned private islands would be nice. Labadee or CocoCay. Preferably during the summer Caribbean offerings.

I have visited Labadee on a Celebrity ship before but agree that those stops are too few and far between.  It was a great time!

[CEOofVacation]

Long round trip from San Diego or Los Angeles to Hawaii (they have one in 2019), to South Pacific/Polynesian islands and Australia.  Sell them as separate as well as combined.

[AUPilot14]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I have visited Labadee on a Celebrity ship before but agree that those stops are too few and far between.  It was a great time!

 

I always enjoy the private islands when we stop (on previous RCCL cruises). A lazy day on the beach is always a must! 

[gg88]

Not sure if everyone has seen this, but some of the new deployment comes out tomorrow (the "exotics" itineraries). Interesting to note that Eclipse is moving to Australia (as previously announced); and Silhouette is replacing Eclipse in South America.

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/18064325_CEL_Deployment_Opening_Schedule_2020_2021_Flyer.pdf

[gg88]

Sorry, one more observation: it looks like Apex will also be available for booking beginning Nov 27 for Europe, and Nov 4 for Caribbean.