John Heald hints at World Cruise?

[jsglow]

Here's a linked article.  We likely wouldn't consider the whole thing but I bet we'd consider a particularly interesting segment or two. I suspect this wouldn't be before '25 or '26 as folks can't do that on a whim. But at least they're seemingly floating a test balloon.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-hints-at-possible-world-cruise/129053

 

What say you?

[lazydayz]

I would be very interested.  Royal’s world cruise was a little too long.  But this might be the spark I need to actually retire. 

[SDPadreFan]

Kinda "been there, almost done that" courtesy of the U.S. Navy. I was on the USS Kitty Hawk (ships company) when in January of 1987 we left San Diego, headed on a circumnavigation ending in Philadelphia. 6 month cruise. It was planned on a major "show the flag" event where we would pull into port after port in the Med (once we got there). We got as far as Hawaii and were suddenly asked how quickly we could get to the Persian Gulf region. So all our planned port visits went right in the toilet. We spent a very quick 48hrs in the Philippines (doing resupply) and then went straight to the North Arabian Sea. Back in '87 - Carrier Groups didn't really operate in the Persian Gulf. While a carrier could operate there and do turns (donuts), a task group of a carrier with several additional ships in a picket line couldn't really do that together and still protect the carrier. So we operated in the North Arabian Sea. Spent 106 consecutive days at sea (working every day). If memory serves - we got 2 beer days during that time frame where each crew member got 2 beers each time. Kind of a very limited Cheers Program (and just short of the coveted 6 pack cruise). At that point, we finally got a 5 day port call in exotic Karachi, Pakistan. But in the 80's, Karachi was a 99.9% alcohol free city. But I actually had a fairly decent time on my 2 days off there. Then - after a couple more weeks on station, came another real garden spot, Mombasa, Kenya. I made the most of it with a 3 day photo safari to Amboseli National park at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Then we did the "ditch" (Suez Canal) - 2 stops in the Med. Cannes, Fr. and Palma de Majorica, Sp. before heading to Philly.

 

I would imagine a Carnival World Cruise might be just a little bit different.

[dolphinsfan246]

I love John Heald as a person, but let’s be realistic. He tends to hint at a lot of things that’s mostly just blowing smoke. I mean he’s been hinting at the “brilliant” new VIFP program that’s been right around the corner since like what ? 2017? I wouldn’t get your hopes up. 

[jimbo5544]

10 minutes ago, dolphinsfan246 said:

I love John Heald as a person, but let’s be realistic. He tends to hint at a lot of things that’s mostly just blowing smoke. I mean he’s been hinting at the “brilliant” new VIFP program that’s been right around the corner since like what ? 2017? I wouldn’t get your hopes up. 

His job is to be the brands spokesperson.  he does that very well.  We are here discussing his comments…check

[tidecat]

1 hour ago, jsglow said:

I suspect this wouldn't be before '25 or '26 as folks can't do that on a whim. But at least they're seemingly floating a test balloon.

I doubt 2025 would be feasible at this point unless if it started in late 2025.

 

If Carnival does this, it would probably be late 2026 or early 2027. Given that the Spirit class is used primarily for Alaska, and that Tampa, Jacksonville, and Baltimore have limited options for what ships can operate there, I could see Carnival doing a world cruise that starts in the fall after the Alaska season from Long Beach. By the time it takes 4-5 months to circle the globe, it's almost time for the Alaska season again. Maybe Carnival tacks on some Hawaii or Mexican Riviera cruises after the World cruise while waiting for the new Alaska season to start. 

[dolphinsfan246]

38 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

His job is to be the brands spokesperson.  he does that very well.  We are here discussing his comments…check

I am discussing his comments, my thoughts on his comments are don’t get your hopes up. 

[jimbo5544]

35 minutes ago, tidecat said:

I doubt 2025 would be feasible at this point unless if it started in late 2025.

 

If Carnival does this, it would probably be late 2026 or early 2027. Given that the Spirit class is used primarily for Alaska, and that Tampa, Jacksonville, and Baltimore have limited options for what ships can operate there, I could see Carnival doing a world cruise that starts in the fall after the Alaska season from Long Beach. By the time it takes 4-5 months to circle the globe, it's almost time for the Alaska season again. Maybe Carnival tacks on some Hawaii or Mexican Riviera cruises after the World cruise while waiting for the new Alaska season to start. 

Tons of options, if it happens I would not be shocked if they had more home ports (more segments) than their competitors do.  

[jimbo5544]

Just now, dolphinsfan246 said:

I am discussing his comments, my thoughts on his comments are don’t get your hopes up. 

No dog in this fight, but my comment to you was you missed the point.  His job is get and engage people engaged in Carnival discussions.  Just like you and I are doing now. I can tell you that some of his topics are things that they do in fact discuss.  Did he say it was def going to happen?  

[bg2310]

Doesn't sound appealing in the slightest.

 

Cruising is what it is because it's a luxury, a vacation, something to be enjoyed on occasion. Not something you spend months on months doing, with it seemingly never ending (for 6+ months).

 

That just sounds like hell to me peraonally, being stuck on a vessel in the middle of nowhere for months on end with thousands of random people who will run you over the soonest chance they get, and no where to get away or off unless you want to swim with the fish as shark bait!

 

Cool for those who are into that I guess. I'll just stick with my few cruises every year where I can have a nice break from the motion and the endless people/crowds/lines/etc. after a few days! It's always more than enough for me.

[jsglow]

Well it's certainly a different type of cruising @bg2310 and not for everyone but we have found our multi-week European experiences to be fantastic. Personally, our cruise preference is to see new and different places. Judging from the success Carnival has had over there these past 3 seasons I'm guessing they think there is a market for this. Certainly RCCL does.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, bg2310 said:

Doesn't sound appealing in the slightest.

 

Cruising is what it is because it's a luxury, a vacation, something to be enjoyed on occasion. Not something you spend months on months doing, with it seemingly never ending (for 6+ months).

 

That just sounds like hell to me peraonally, being stuck on a vessel in the middle of nowhere for months on end with thousands of random people who will run you over the soonest chance they get, and no where to get away or off unless you want to swim with the fish as shark bait!

 

Cool for those who are into that I guess. I'll just stick with my few cruises every year where I can have a nice break from the motion and the endless people/crowds/lines/etc. after a few days! It's always more than enough for me.

That is why options are always a good thing.  For the record, if and when they do this, the segments would in all likelihood not be months at a time, but more like 3 to 4 weeks.  

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, jsglow said:

Well it's certainly a different type of cruising @bg2310 and not for everyone but we have found our multi-week European experiences to be fantastic. Personally, our cruise preference is to see new and different places. Judging from the success Carnival has had over there these past 3 seasons I'm guessing they think there is a market for this. Certainly RCCL does.

I have been begging them for years to do what they are now doing and for more.  Hope it comes to pass.  We are on the same page.

[tidecat]

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Tons of options, if it happens I would not be shocked if they had more home ports (more segments) than their competitors do.  

If Carnival were going to reposition a ship to Australia, you could have a World Cruise that starts in Long Beach and a largely-overlapping World Cruise that starts in Brisbane. The first leg could be sold as a combination of the World Cruise from Long Beach and a shorter Transpacific sailing. The last leg would be a combination of the Brisbane World Cruise and another Transpacific.

 

If Carnival plays its cards right, it could line up so that a Spirit class ship winds up in Brisbane for the Australian summer (North American winter) and Luminosa repositions to the US for Alaska and Caribbean service, preferably fresh out of drydock with a more through update to be on brand than she had initially.

[jimbo5544]

1 minute ago, tidecat said:

If Carnival were going to reposition a ship to Australia, you could have a World Cruise that starts in Long Beach and a largely-overlapping World Cruise that starts in Brisbane. The first leg could be sold as a combination of the World Cruise from Long Beach and a shorter Transpacific sailing. The last leg would be a combination of the Brisbane World Cruise and another Transpacific.

 

If Carnival plays its cards right, it could line up so that a Spirit class ship winds up in Brisbane for the Australian summer (North American winter) and Luminosa repositions to the US for Alaska and Caribbean service, preferably fresh out of drydock with a more through update to be on brand than she had initially.

Totally agree.  So many good options.

[jsglow]

12 hours ago, tidecat said:

If Carnival were going to reposition a ship to Australia, you could have a World Cruise that starts in Long Beach and a largely-overlapping World Cruise that starts in Brisbane. The first leg could be sold as a combination of the World Cruise from Long Beach and a shorter Transpacific sailing. The last leg would be a combination of the Brisbane World Cruise and another Transpacific.

 

If Carnival plays its cards right, it could line up so that a Spirit class ship winds up in Brisbane for the Australian summer (North American winter) and Luminosa repositions to the US for Alaska and Caribbean service, preferably fresh out of drydock with a more through update to be on brand than she had initially.

No doubt they are already successfully marketing 'ultra long' cruises, typically associated with dry docks or repos. I'm thinking of the trans Pacs to shuttle Luminosa between Alaska and Australia, the Panorama Singapore dry dock, and several Cadiz trans Atl drydocks. Personally what I'd really like to see is a South American circumnavigation but Carnival never goes that way for a 'work related' reason. I do think ongoing Middle East conflict may weigh heavily in any decisions. Those rerouting logistics had to be a nightmare this winter for the '24 world cruises.

[ninjacat123]

I looked at RC's Ultimate World cruise and it's definitely a chunk o' change!  I wonder what Carnival would charge in comparison? Even a 2 month segment (like RC has available) would be awesome!

[kwokpot]

4 hours ago, jsglow said:

No doubt they are already successfully marketing 'ultra long' cruises, typically associated with dry docks or repos. I'm thinking of the trans Pacs to shuttle Luminosa between Alaska and Australia, the Panorama Singapore dry dock, and several Cadiz trans Atl drydocks. Personally what I'd really like to see is a South American circumnavigation but Carnival never goes that way for a 'work related' reason. I do think ongoing Middle East conflict may weigh heavily in any decisions. Those rerouting logistics had to be a nightmare this winter for the '24 world cruises.

We did the Luminosa repositioning from Seattle to Brisbane. We had several itinerary changes which meant the Alaska ports were eliminated and a supposedly nice Port in the Philippines was also cancelled due to a typhoon but it was still one of the best cruises we've ever done.

 

It became ostensibly a Japan cruise with 5 stops in Japan and a stop in a minor port on Indonesia. Brisbane is a beautiful city with lots to do right in the City Center.

 

I will caution people that consider these long itineraries whether they can REALLY handle so many seadays. The cancellation of the earlier Alaska ports meant our first port after disembarking in Seattle was 12!!! Days later in Japan. There were a lot of people going stir crazy.We heard more people disembarking during our last stop in Japan even though there was 12 more days to reach Brisbane. This cruise was offered fully comped to many casino players,so it was enticing to get a $5,000 cruise for free for many people that may not have had the experience of long cruise itineraries with many, many sea days. The original itinerary was 9 port days out of a 30 day cruise, so people should have known what they were getting when they booked.

 

 

Edited April 22 by kwokpot

[jsglow]

I think what actually happened @kwokpotis that the gamblers ran out of $$!  🫣

[kwokpot]

4 minutes ago, jsglow said:

I think what actually happened @kwokpotis that the gamblers ran out of $$!  🫣

Omg. The casino was crazy that whole cruise! It was packed day and night. Due to time changes they actually opened the casino at 4am.

[kwokpot]

20 hours ago, jsglow said:

Well it's certainly a different type of cruising @bg2310 and not for everyone but we have found our multi-week European experiences to be fantastic. Personally, our cruise preference is to see new and different places. Judging from the success Carnival has had over there these past 3 seasons I'm guessing they think there is a market for this. Certainly RCCL does.

We did 3 b2b2b on the Pride in May/June. '22 for a total of 32 days consecutive days on 1 ship. What was nice was there wasn't any repeat ports ( we could have stayed on for a 4th cruise that wasn't repeats in the Baltics but we decided against it) and we went to many places for the first time, including Bilbao,Spain and the Norwegian fjords. It was a wonderful trip!

[toad455]

The issue would be that this "World" cruise would have to use a Spirit-class ship. Alaska/Hawaii gets one, Tampa gets one, Mobile gets one for 6 months, and Baltimore another. Stretches this class a little thin.

[jsglow]

2 minutes ago, toad455 said:

The issue would be that this "World" cruise would have to use a Spirit-class ship. Alaska/Hawaii gets one, Tampa gets one, Mobile gets one for 6 months, and Baltimore another. Stretches this class a little thin.

There are 5 Spirits in total and now with 27 total ships back in the fleet Carnival has all it's bases covered. The Tampa Spirit class is typically a 6 month boat with her relocating to Europe for the summer, so that's #1. Baltimore accounts for #2. Luminosa typically does the Alaskan 6th month run coupled with Australia: #3. A second Spirit (#4) has recently split between Alaska and Mobile, but Firenze is perfectly suited for the Alaskan portion providing many additional berths and a protected Lido freeing up the Mobile boat to 'fill in' during Long Beach summers, if necessary. Plus, that 5th Spirit has been doing Long Beach full time running the 5/5/4 schedule (plus some Hawaii) that now belongs to Firenze during high season so she's available to 'roam' as all the low bridges are accounted for.

 

Now Carnival can do a few things with #5, maybe a bit different every year.

- Winter 'world traveler'

- Winter multiple Journeys from Mia/Galveston

- Winter San Juan

- Summer Tampa (if demand justifies)

- Summer Long Beach OR Alaska (now two available boats covering what one did historically)

- Summer 2nd Europe (again, if demand justifies)

 

Other thoughts on assignments?

 

[SDPadreFan]

2 hours ago, toad455 said:

The issue would be that this "World" cruise would have to use a Spirit-class ship. Alaska/Hawaii gets one, Tampa gets one, Mobile gets one for 6 months, and Baltimore another. Stretches this class a little thin.

The Hawaii route (about 6 cruises a year) from Long Beach has been handed over to Carnival Radiance (so no longer Spirit class on the primary Hawaii route). Legend only looks to make one Hawaii run from San Francisco in 2025. Spirit has just one each year from Seattle (2024 & 2025).

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, jsglow said:

There are 5 Spirits in total and now with 27 total ships back in the fleet Carnival has all it's bases covered. The Tampa Spirit class is typically a 6 month boat with her relocating to Europe for the summer, so that's #1. Baltimore accounts for #2. Luminosa typically does the Alaskan 6th month run coupled with Australia: #3. A second Spirit (#4) has recently split between Alaska and Mobile, but Firenze is perfectly suited for the Alaskan portion providing many additional berths and a protected Lido freeing up the Mobile boat to 'fill in' during Long Beach summers, if necessary. Plus, that 5th Spirit has been doing Long Beach full time running the 5/5/4 schedule (plus some Hawaii) that now belongs to Firenze during high season so she's available to 'roam' as all the low bridges are accounted for.

 

Now Carnival can do a few things with #5, maybe a bit different every year.

- Winter 'world traveler'

- Winter multiple Journeys from Mia/Galveston

- Winter San Juan

- Summer Tampa (if demand justifies)

- Summer Long Beach OR Alaska (now two available boats covering what one did historically)

- Summer 2nd Europe (again, if demand justifies)

 

Other thoughts on assignments?

 

Had not thought about the addition of the additional ship to this class.  I tdoes offer up some good options.  Problem is, I like almost all of the options you describe.  Most are mutually exclusive I would think, with the exception of of the winter/summer swaps.  Personally, doing a world cruise segment of two would be the best option for me (wife may have a different view), but if that dog don’t hunt, going back to more extended Journey’s would be sweet.