Why Doesn't Celebrity do a Round Trip Hawaii Cruise?

[CruisingWalter]

1 minute ago, dlh015 said:

Yes, I did that cruise on the Ruby Princess out of San Francisco last March. Love the ship *except* for the buffet...much too congested and it was its own 'spreader event' on my cruise. (Assumption on my part, no real proof) But still had a great time with all the sea days and exploring the islands....didn't test positive until I was home a couple of days...( a mild case...)

 

Yeah the buffet layout on that class of ship is weird. Very tightly designed, I will agree with you there. But Mardi Gras was worse. Even though there was a ton of space for people to move, absolutely no emphasis on cleaning your hands, or wearing shoes, or a shirt.... I'll take the Princess 'intimate' buffet over that anytime. 😆

[mcrcruiser]

51 minutes ago, WheresWalter said:

I agree it would be nice for Celebrity to do a roundtrip Hawaii, but I will say Princess has quite a few 15 day roundtrips from LA, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver BC that all look amazing. They're showing 11 Itineraries including a few longer repositioning cruises. Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald and Crown Princess are four of the ship, all of them quite lovely. My personal favorite of the four is the Sapphire which we sailed to Alaska. If you're a Celebrity fan, you'll probably like Princess as well. The decor is a bit more 'classic' with more wood, more earth tones and of course the Italian piazza as the atrium, but I think they match up with Celebrity Solstice and Millennium class ships closer than most people think. And that new Sun Princess, well that is going to be crazy beautiful with shades of the Edge class. 

Sorry I had a   night mare dealing with Princess on how to down load their Ocean Ready program . since they hired new people post pandemic none  of those people & over 6 hours on the phone had  any clue of what to do .

 

 I still have the $934  FCC with Princess that expires  after  Dec21 ,2022  .I turned around & booked a B2B with Holland America from San  Diego ,our home port   because it was so easy for me to go into  my account & out un all the pre boarding information as well as I immediately got all my bag tags . By Oct 27th I will have our 2 boarding passes 

 

 The crappy experience  I had with Princess drove me away for ever  . I had no grudge against any cruise line but what those people did who were totally untrained was never to be forgotten 

 

 BTW high jacking this thread to tout Princess is against Cruise Critic rules  

 

 This is the Celebrity Board not the  pro  Princess board 😡

 

 

 

 

[mcrcruiser]

Perhaps when we cruise on Soltice B2B   & go to new cruises ,we can ralk to the rep & recommend that Celebrity  bring back  the round trip Hawaii cruise from San  Diego    .We are Elite  Plus with X  so  we  have come to really like sailing  with Celebrity   .Last time Hawaii was on the  Infiniti like  the OP was commenting as well . It was a really good cruise . We also did it on Century when she was in Service 

[Cachecara]

On 10/17/2022 at 1:33 AM, mcrcruiser said:

We have had to sail on Holland  America  recently for a  R/T SanDiego  to Hawaii   .not that HAL is a bad cruise line  but we are Elite + & would enjoy this cruise . We had done that cruise on the Infiniti  in the past long ago 

We did a lovely X round trip out of San Pedro port Nov 2019.  Hopefully, it will be scheduled in the future.  

[Cachecara]

On 10/17/2022 at 6:45 AM, WestLakeGirl said:

We heard that the potential for rough seas going both ways with so many sea days put people off and it never sold well

We did an X RT Nov 2019, Eclipse.  It was sold out and no rough seas at all. 

[Purplsmurf]

Yes!! My parents just asked my brother and sister in law, along with us, if we would do a cruise with them. Think it will be their last one. I was pushing for a TA from Europe, but they are insisting on a R/T Hawaii cruise. Doesn’t make sense to me because they have been there many times and have said in the past that they have zero interest in going there again. Unfortunately Celebrity doesn’t do this cruise. My parents are strictly Princess cruisers, my brother Carnival, and us, Celebrity. Carnival was mentioned and I’m SO glad they don’t do this particular cruise in the fall, so Princess it is. We have been on Princess before, but love Celebrity more, especially since I am gluten free and the menus specify gf items. The last thing I want to do after being stuffed from dinner is decide what I want to eat the following night. Who knows what they want to eat the next night? Also, the casino on Princess allows smoking. Not good. Sailing with my parents is #1 so I will have to get over it…..…but I sure wish Celebrity offered a R/T LA to Hawaii!

[baldilocks]

On 10/17/2022 at 9:00 AM, njsmom said:

What rules require a stop in Mexico? I'm curious and learning. 🙂

 

The Jones Act requires a visit to a foreign port if sailing starts and ends in USA.

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 10/17/2022 at 6:00 AM, njsmom said:

What rules require a stop in Mexico? I'm curious and learning. 🙂

 

9 minutes ago, baldilocks said:

 

The Jones Act requires a visit to a foreign port if sailing starts and ends in USA.

 

There also another dynamic called the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA), short version, if you start in the US and disembark the ship in the US before visiting a foreign port, Uncle Sam will charge you $812/person (according to carnival).  Some exceptions exist:

 

[mcrcruiser]

Thanks every one for your contributions   to this  topic😀

[WNcruiser]

On 10/17/2022 at 4:45 AM, WestLakeGirl said:

We heard that the potential for rough seas going both ways with so many sea days put people off and it never sold well

That is false. When Eclipse did r/t Hawaii from Los Angeles a couple years ago suites were sold out in 2 days and all other cabins within a week or so. 
 

We were waitlisted and never cleared. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 10/18/2022 at 7:45 PM, baldilocks said:

 

The Jones Act requires a visit to a foreign port if sailing starts and ends in USA.

 

Actually the Jones Act only applies to non-US registered ships starting their cruises in the U.S. That's why the NCL Pride of America can do round trip Hawaii all year long, she's registered in the U.S. Non US flagged ships must stop at a foreign port if its' a round trip US cruise.

 

And there was a big deal made to override that for the 2021 Alaska season because Canada was still closed to cruising. There was some talk of reconsidering the Act for all cruising, but that was only a short-lived conversation. So far as i know, that Alaska season is the only time non-US flagged ships were allowed to do round trip US without going to a foreign port. 

[rj59]

Celebrity hasn't been as commited to LA as other lines that sail more frequently out of California cities that would allow a R/T, whereas Princess and Carnival have multiple ships that do longer Mexican and Hawaii itineraries. It looks like Celebrity is evening finishing up in LA in December 2023, with the Eclipse leaving LA on December 7 and not returning until April before the Alaska season. Having been on a 1-way HAL cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii, hitting a surprise storm with waves crashing over my balcony, and going stir-crazy not seeing land for 7 days, I don't think it would be a big enough draw for a a younger X crowd that might still be working and unwilling or unable to be on a ship for over 14 days. Besides low demand, they also don't get much excursion money, even more important to X since they provide drinks packages to most so they'd lose a lot of that income potential. If you want a super-long cruise from LA, though, the December/April Eclipse trips are to and from Chile, 16 days. 

[Guest ldtr]

On 10/18/2022 at 10:28 AM, WheresWalter said:

 

Yeah the buffet layout on that class of ship is weird. Very tightly designed, I will agree with you there. But Mardi Gras was worse. Even though there was a ton of space for people to move, absolutely no emphasis on cleaning your hands, or wearing shoes, or a shirt.... I'll take the Princess 'intimate' buffet over that anytime. 😆

Keep in mind on the Ruby Princess that normally you also had the third buffet area open at the back of the ship with the two side areas basically serving the same things each day, and the back doing different ethnic offerings.  Since the restart the back area has pretty much been shutdown.  Hopefully as the ships get back to full occupancy they will be reopening that area as well.

 

Will be nice when all of the ships on all of the lines get back to full operations.

Edited October 22, 2022 by ldtr

[Guest ldtr]

15 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

 

Actually the Jones Act only applies to non-US registered ships starting their cruises in the U.S. That's why the NCL Pride of America can do round trip Hawaii all year long, she's registered in the U.S. Non US flagged ships must stop at a foreign port if its' a round trip US cruise.

 

And there was a big deal made to override that for the 2021 Alaska season because Canada was still closed to cruising. There was some talk of reconsidering the Act for all cruising, but that was only a short-lived conversation. So far as i know, that Alaska season is the only time non-US flagged ships were allowed to do round trip US without going to a foreign port. 

Actually it is PVSA - Passenger Vessel Services Act.  Jones Act is similar but only for Cargo.

[mcrcruiser]

We have sailed Celebrity quite often in the past  when we were flying to  Europe  from San Diego &  into the Caribbean through  the  Florida ports   .now we decided because of the hassles of flying ^ accelerated costs we  only want to cruise from  our two southern California  ports  .  Whether Celebrity ever decides  to sail E/T itineraries  to Hawaii  remains to be seen  .

 

 Because I   won't wait & hope  for X to accommodate my desire   for a R/T Hawaii cruise ,we just ,yesterday  ,booked a 18 night Hawaii R/T San Diego   Hawaii  cruise on Holland's Kpningsdam  built in 2018 & she will be dry docked before the Jan 30 ,2024 cruise   ,This vessel us a tad  smaller than the Soltice class but a tad larger than  the Millenium class   .she has great entertainment ,great speciality restaurants    & a ambiance much like Celebrity  but lower prices . since we need a handicap cabin now  we book as soon as the ship lists the cruise we want  .with Holland we can upgrade with Cliub Orange for a better cabin & dining in the club Orange restaurant vs the MDR   . The extra cost is well worth the upgrade alone  . On this Jan 30 ,2024 Hawaii cruise HAL is giving a $600  OBC & since we has 100 shares of Carnival stock we get another $260 on board credit   .We cover all the tips for  the 18 day cruise plus left over to cover special restaurants  

 

 The tip is book into a balcony at the lowest price point  & for just $ 270   each we get a much more expensive cabin  plus the special restaurant  

 

 Yes I like Holland America a lot because   it serves us well out of our  home port   &  truly has  the flavor of a Celebrity cruise as well  .

 

 now I am working on getting those really long cruise deal s for a pittance through  the casino deals ,like a 34 & a 35 day cruise for $200 each inside cabin but I always upgrade & pay the differences    for Balcony cabins handicap   .We are also members of Celebrity /EDL   Blue Chip   casino club  ,so we get many great deals there as well . 

 

 We truly find that Holland America   has been our go to cruise line ever since X   does not sail the West coast ports on a continual basis 

 

Whether sailing on a Celebrity ship or a Holland America ship you can't go wrong  .😀 

[AnnaNicole]

5 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

 

 

 now I am working on getting those really long cruise deal s for a pittance through  the casino deals ,like a 34 & a 35 day cruise for $200 each inside cabin but I always upgrade & pay the differences    for Balcony cabins handicap   .We are also members of Celebrity /EDL   Blue Chip   casino club  ,so we get many great deals there as well . 

 

 

BCC offers 34 & 35 day inside cabins for $200 each???!!!!     What do you pay for the upgrade?

What level BCC are you?