Stay tuned...new homeport announcement tomorrow

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

San Diego was a great So Cal homeport. We sailed from there many times. Just having a ship based in So Cal once again would be fantastic. 

Agree a plus, but would have preferred San Diego

[SNJCruisers]

26 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Im going out of Philadelphia.  30 minutes away

Good luck.  I prefer non stops.

[SNJCruisers]

25 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Problem with sailing out of LA is you have to go to LA. Not exactly my favorite place to drive.  Though I guess it'd be OK if you could fly into LGB for a reasonable price.

What's wrong with staying at a LAX hotel and just taking a shuttle service or Uber to the cruiseport in the morning?  This way you're not driving at all.

[jean87510]

4 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Good luck.  I prefer non stops.

I do also just because of the masks now.  But since the cruise is in February, I would choose a flight where Miami is the stopover so at least if there is snow forecasted, we can have a lovely 18 hr drive or Charlotte with a 9 hour drive.  Or we just change our flights and go down earlier.  I hate JFK.  I do like EWR because its an hour away and we normally get a rental to go up and back when we did our transatlantic cruises.  If that's offered and the price is significantly better, we will do it.  

[hallux]

1 minute ago, SNJCruisers said:

What's wrong with staying at a LAX hotel and just taking a shuttle service or Uber to the cruiseport in the morning?  This way you're not driving at all.

That's what I did for my two LA cruises.  Taking the cruise line shuttle would require returning to the airport to get on.  You also then rely on the hotel shuttle and that still has to cope with LAX traffic.  You're almost better off grabbing a hotel near the port (it's 45 minutes from LAX) that has a shuttle to port and grabbing an Uber to get there from LAX.

[Ashland]

This is setting us up to fail with RCI...3/4/5 night cruises (and assume the holiday cruises will be crazy over priced just to stay over night in Cabo). Why would anyone fly for basically just Cabo. I won't even drive an hour for this itinerary.

Celebrity offers some great Mexican itineraries.

This is so disappointing RCI...after all these years and this is the best you can do ??

[Ashland]

14 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree a plus, but would have preferred San Diego

I was looking forward to San Pedro...but not this itinerary. The true original Mexican Riviera would have been a better choice.

 

RCI used to do 3/4 nights on Monarch...just party boats. Now they want to turn the Navigator into a party boat...so sad and disappointing.

[Tree_skier]

It’s a start. I’ll take what I can get. The three nights will probably be party boats but the four nights will be a little more restrained I think. Doing a Monday to Friday sounds perfect for me. As I work a lot of weekends. 

[Ashland]

3 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

It’s a start. I’ll take what I can get. The three nights will probably be party boats but the four nights will be a little more restrained I think. Doing a Monday to Friday sounds perfect for me. As I work a lot of weekends. 

Well my "Bad"...I always thought I would take what I could get also if RCI would bring a ship back...but this itinerary...no thanks to only Cabo..the other so called ports no need for them...soooo sad !!!

[bucfan2]

22 minutes ago, Ashland said:

This is setting us up to fail with RCI...3/4/5 night cruises (and assume the holiday cruises will be crazy over priced just to stay over night in Cabo). Why would anyone fly for basically just Cabo. I won't even drive an hour for this itinerary.

Celebrity offers some great Mexican itineraries.

This is so disappointing RCI...after all these years and this is the best you can do ??

Sounds like a very simple solution for you -  cruise Celebrity.

[edspec]

I am thrilled, thank-you RCI.  Cannot wait to book.

[crzndeb]

Remember, there are a lot of new cruisers on the West Coast who will love having a ship, regardless of itineraries. They may not be able to take longer cruises, or afford flights to other ports. For some who want a new ship experience or getaway,  will maybe book a B2B or more.

[Ashland]

37 minutes ago, bucfan2 said:

Sounds like a very simple solution for you -  cruise Celebrity.

I've tried PCL for the Mexican Riviera (wasn't impressed but loved the itinerary).

Celebrity is an option (have cruised them once for Ireland, Iceland & Scotland) but sad, as RCI has always been my preference and was hoping the itinerary would have been better with the options they could have chosen.

[Ashland]

30 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

Remember, there are a lot of new cruisers on the West Coast who will love having a ship, regardless of itineraries. They may not be able to take longer cruises, or afford flights to other ports. For some who want a new ship experience or getaway,  will maybe book a B2B or more.

Hopefully this will be profitable and RCI will open up more itineraries...just didn't think they would market Navigator as a 3/4 night party boat.

[Tree_skier]

55 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Well my "Bad"...I always thought I would take what I could get also if RCI would bring a ship back...but this itinerary...no thanks to only Cabo..the other so called ports no need for them...soooo sad !!!

I understand your disappointment.  My hope is that this is just the first of two or three ships to port here.  If it is successful then they will continue to keep building the brand in this area.  it's not like they don't have a enough ships.  

[Ocean Boy]

11 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I understand your disappointment.  My hope is that this is just the first of two or three ships to port here.  If it is successful then they will continue to keep building the brand in this area.  it's not like they don't have a enough ships.  

RCI couldn't make a go if it when they last put Mariner out there. What has changed to make you think they can make 2-3 ships profitable?

[kruzerci]

20 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Hopefully this will be profitable and RCI will open up more itineraries...just didn't think they would market Navigator as a 3/4 night party boat.

Why? That’s exactly what it was revamped for and has been doing from Miami. 

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Hopefully this will be profitable and RCI will open up more itineraries...just didn't think they would market Navigator as a 3/4 night party boat.

I think that their decision to run the 3/4 day itineraries was in large part due to the overwhelming success that they had when they changed from doing the oldest ships in the fleet doing this itinerary to having the Mariner and Navigator freshly amped ship start them.  They are hoping the success that they had with these short itineraries aimed at attracting new cruisers doing the Bahamas runs out of Florida will carry over to California.

[Tree_skier]

4 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

RCI couldn't make a go if it when they last put Mariner out there. What has changed to make you think they can make 2-3 ships profitable?

Nothing I know of.  It is just hope and wishful thinking on my part at this point.  I think Royal is a better product than what Carnival offers and if Carnival is making a go of it my hope is, if marketed correctly, Royal can also.

 

I honestly don't know what the dynamics were back when Mariner was here.  Others with more knowledge might know what led to their disappearance. Most people say that Royal itineraries lag behind Princess and HAL for Alaska cruises but yet in spite of that Royal has operated 3 ships and added a 4th for 2021.

 

 

[davekathy]

Bummer. Cruise lengths are way to short and boring itinerary. We'll pass. 👎👎

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

 

Celebrity offers some great Mexican itineraries.

This is so disappointing RCI...after all these years and this is the best you can do ??

Carnival Panorama and Majestic Princess are doing the Cabo/Maz/PV itinerary often in 2022, while the Norwegian Bliss and the Discovery Princess offer it on a few dates.  Three out of these four ships are new state of the art choices, so the options port wise for what you wish are there to be had.

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, bucfan2 said:

Sounds like a very simple solution for you -  cruise Celebrity.

Not really.  The Millenium does Cabo/PV/Ensenada run during the 4th quarter of 2022.  The other options from Carnival, NCL and Princess would be better since they avoid Ensenada.

[Ocean Boy]

51 minutes ago, kruzerci said:

Why? That’s exactly what it was revamped for and has been doing from Miami. 

I never would have thought that V class ships would have ever been relegated to short, party boat, cruises. They are making their way from RCI's biggest, best, and most innovative to the older dames of the fleet. I still think they are awesome ships and dislike seeing them relegated to short cruises.

 

I guess now I understand how the folks who started cruising before me stll hold the Sovereign class ships in such high esteem while I never had any interest in sailing on one.

[Coralc]

55 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Nothing I know of.  It is just hope and wishful thinking on my part at this point.  I think Royal is a better product than what Carnival offers and if Carnival is making a go of it my hope is, if marketed correctly, Royal can also.

 

I honestly don't know what the dynamics were back when Mariner was here.  Others with more knowledge might know what led to their disappearance. Most people say that Royal itineraries lag behind Princess and HAL for Alaska cruises but yet in spite of that Royal has operated 3 ships and added a 4th for 2021.

 

 

 

H1N1/Violence in Mexico/Recession all at the same time, sort of doomed the Mariner sailings. 

[bucfan2]

59 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Not really.  The Millenium does Cabo/PV/Ensenada run during the 4th quarter of 2022.  The other options from Carnival, NCL and Princess would be better since they avoid Ensenada.

 

Ya missed the whole point of the post...some are just never satisfied.