Where Should Celebrity Create New Routes & Sailings?

[mahdnc]

On 6/8/2024 at 3:05 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

We also give the edge to Princess when it comes to their 3-5 week offerings. For example, they have already posted many of their 2026 European itineraries, to include a 14-day August Solar Eclipse cruise and a 28-day Northern Lights/TA cruise.

 

 

Our first cruise (Carnival 1991) was a total solar eclipse cruise.  If Celebrity were to market a TSE cruise in the Mallorca area in Aug 2026, we would sign up in a heart beat.  Besides the Princess offering, Cunard is sending 3 ships to see the eclipse at different places in Europe.

 

Map drawn by National Solar Observatory, AURA, and NSF.

 

Discovery Princess, April 8 2023, near Mazatlan.  Photo by Robert Fritz

Edited June 10 by mahdnc

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, C 2 C said:

Any advice?

 

I have a Live From thread in my below signature area along with some other awesome itineraries we’ve been on lately. With regards to the Iceland B2B cruise in question, do they even offer that B2B NJ to Iceland to Boston B2B cruises anymore?
 

For us we have moved on to Princess and HAL when looking for 3-4 week Northern Europe and Alaska B2B cruises, and even NCL when it comes to going to Longyearbyen. But since this is a Celebrity thread, I’ll leave it at that. 

[Ken the cruiser]

28 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Our first cruise (Carnival 1991) was a total solar eclipse cruise.  If Celebrity were to market a TSE cruise in the Mallorca area in Aug 2026, we would sign up in a heart beat.  Besides the Princess offering, Cunard is sending 3 ships to see the eclipse at different places in Europe.

 

Map drawn by National Solar Observatory, AURA, and NSF.

 

Discovery Princess, April 8 2023, near Mazatlan.  Photo by Robert Fritz

Our mini-suite on the PCL SEC has gone up $2500 per person since we booked it the first day it came out. It will be interesting to see if Celebrity even offers one. And who knows, we might even jump ship over to it if the price is reasonable and the itinerary is even close to the Princess one. 
 

https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=Y625
 

As far as Cunard goes, wearing a sport coat to dinner every night just isn’t my thing. 😁

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Our mini-suite on the PCL SEC has gone up $2500 per person since we booked it the first day it came out. It will be interesting to see if Celebrity even offers one. And who knows, we might even jump ship over to it if the price is reasonable and the itinerary is even close to the Princess one. 
 

https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=Y625
 

As far as Cunard goes, wearing a sport coat to dinner every night just isn’t my thing. 😁

I did look at that Princess sailing when it was released last month for sale and the pricing was already high. Unfortunately the position of Sky Princess for the eclipse is not to my liking in terms of clear skies probability but it’s possible that they will change the route to a better spot like the southern Spanish coast.  Then again two of Cunard’s ships are going to view the eclipse from Iceland which has even worse weather prospects for clear skies. 

Edited June 10 by mahdnc

[Ex-Airbalancer]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Our first cruise (Carnival 1991) was a total solar eclipse cruise.  If Celebrity were to market a TSE cruise in the Mallorca area in Aug 2026, we would sign up in a heart beat.  Besides the Princess offering, Cunard is sending 3 ships to see the eclipse at different places in Europe.

 

Map drawn by National Solar Observatory, AURA, and NSF.

 

Discovery Princess, April 8 2023, near Mazatlan.  Photo by Robert Fritz

Did a Arctic TA in September of 2022 , no Northlights Lights 

InApril 2024 , our house was direct in the path of the Eclipse , and we get heavy cloud cover , couldn’t see nothing 

No way would I pay to do a cruise to see the Eclipse , it would probably be completely cloud over agin 🤣

[mahdnc]

30 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Did a Arctic TA in September of 2022 , no Northlights Lights 

InApril 2024 , our house was direct in the path of the Eclipse , and we get heavy cloud cover , couldn’t see nothing 

No way would I pay to do a cruise to see the Eclipse , it would probably be completely cloud over agin 🤣

 

Yeah, I remember you reporting your dismal eclipse weather and I am sorry for that 

 

Not wanting to buy a cruise just to see an eclipse is understandable.  However your chances of seeing one improve when you are on a mobile platform such as a cruise ship.  During our first cruise ever--which we booked just because of the eclipse--Captain Gallo dropped off passengers at Mazatlan on Jul 11, 1991 morning (eclipse day).  Half got off because they wanted to be on land to see it (included the serious photographers) and half of us (including my wife and I) stayed on board Jubilee as she went back out to sea in search of clear skies.  We managed to find a clearing to see nearly 7 minutes of totality at noon time.  When Jubilee went back to Mazatlan in mid-afternoon to pick up the other passengers, they reported that they were clouded out which was sad.  

 

Apr 8 2024 Total Solar Eclipse at Vienna, IL

 

We are booked on a land tour to see the Aug 2027 total solar eclipse at Luxor, Egypt.  99.9% chance of clear skies, but it's gonna be hot.

 

Tell me that you got that you were able to see the fantastic aurora display on May 10th?  Or did you sleep through that one?!

 

May 10 2024 aurora borealis display at Madison, WI

Edited June 10 by mahdnc

[Ex-Airbalancer]

37 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Yeah, I remember you reporting your dismal eclipse weather and I am sorry for that 

 

Not wanting to buy a cruise just to see an eclipse is understandable.  However your chances of seeing one improve when you are on a mobile platform such as a cruise ship.  During our first cruise ever--which we booked just because of the eclipse--Captain Gallo dropped off passengers at Mazatlan on Jul 11, 1991 morning (eclipse day).  Half got off because they wanted to be on land to see it (included the serious photographers) and half of us (including my wife and I) stayed on board Jubilee as she went back out to sea in search of clear skies.  We managed to find a clearing to see nearly 7 minutes of totality at noon time.  When Jubilee went back to Mazatlan in mid-afternoon to pick up the other passengers, they reported that they were clouded out which was sad.  

 

Apr 8 2024 Total Solar Eclipse at Vienna, IL

 

We are booked on a land tour to see the Aug 2027 total solar eclipse at Luxor, Egypt.  99.9% chance of clear skies, but it's gonna be hot.

 

Tell me that you got that you were able to see the fantastic aurora display on May 10th?  Or did you sleep through that one?!

 

May 10 2024 aurora borealis display at Madison, WI

I was joking about not wanting to cruise to an Eclipse, but I might have a bit of a dark cloud over me for events 🤔🤣
For the May Aurora Borealis event , I was in Ottawa, ( 3 hour drive from home) looking after our 2-1/2 year old grandson , by myself , as my son and his wife were at a military conference in Tampa

there where too many city lights to see anything and the little guy was fast asleep 😴 so couldn’t drive out to the country where it was darker 

just my luck 🤣 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I did look at that Princess sailing when it was released last month for sale and the pricing was already high. Unfortunately the position of Sky Princess for the eclipse is not to my liking in terms of clear skies probability but it’s possible that they will change the route to a better spot like the southern Spanish coast.  Then again two of Cunard’s ships are going to view the eclipse from Iceland which has even worse weather prospects for clear skies. 

IMHO the Sky Princess Captain should have more options on the high seas to find clear skies than ships docked at some port in Iceland.

[NMTraveller]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I did look at that Princess sailing when it was released last month for sale and the pricing was already high. Unfortunately the position of Sky Princess for the eclipse is not to my liking in terms of clear skies probability but it’s possible that they will change the route to a better spot like the southern Spanish coast.  Then again two of Cunard’s ships are going to view the eclipse from Iceland which has even worse weather prospects for clear skies. 

The Princess itineraries come out in June and the Celebrity itineraries in December.  It would help Celebrity out if they listed theirs in June as well. 

 

8 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I was joking about not wanting to cruise to an Eclipse, but I might have a bit of a dark cloud over me for events 🤔🤣
For the May Aurora Borealis event , I was in Ottawa, ( 3 hour drive from home) looking after our 2-1/2 year old grandson , by myself , as my son and his wife were at a military conference in Tampa

there where too many city lights to see anything and the little guy was fast asleep 😴 so couldn’t drive out to the country where it was darker 

just my luck 🤣 

 

You should be able to cruise to an Eclipse on the Celebrity Eclipse 🤣

[mahdnc]

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

IMHO the Sky Princess Captain should have more options on the high seas to find clear skies than ships docked at some port in Iceland.

He will have more options for sure. Better options though if he were south of Spain instead of north where the itinerary currently has him. 

[mahdnc]

13 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I was joking about not wanting to cruise to an Eclipse, but I might have a bit of a dark cloud over me for events 🤔🤣
For the May Aurora Borealis event , I was in Ottawa, ( 3 hour drive from home) looking after our 2-1/2 year old grandson , by myself , as my son and his wife were at a military conference in Tampa

there where too many city lights to see anything and the little guy was fast asleep 😴 so couldn’t drive out to the country where it was darker 

just my luck 🤣 

 

Alright. You have me convinced. We need to stay away from you!

[Ken the cruiser]

5 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

He will have more options for sure. Better options though if he were south of Spain instead of north where the itinerary currently has him. 

Here’s the projected path, which we will be right in its path.

 

  

Edited June 11 by Ken the cruiser

[mahdnc]

5 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

 

You should be able to cruise to an Eclipse on the Celebrity Eclipse 🤣

I agree completely (that’s what she’s made for, Barbie). Shipboard apparel and souvenir sales would go through the roof for that sailing!

[mahdnc]

18 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s the projected path, which we will be right in its path.

 

  

 

Sky Princess will be in the moon's shadow for sure!  However this is what I am worried about:  cloud cover probabilities.  The map below shows what to expect based on past history.  Blue is good, orange is not.  Significantly better chances of clear skies in the Mediterranean Sea near Mallorca.  Not so good on the north coast.  Iceland (not on this map) is even worse. 

 

The data in the map only talks about probabilities.  What actually happens can be different.  Northern Vermont and Maine were not supposed to have clear skies for the solar eclipse last April (according to the data) and Texas was supposed to be the best bet for clear skies.  When Apr 8th finally rolled around, the exact opposite was true!

 

But your chances are improved because you are on a mobile platform (and of course, I hope you see it!)

 

 

Edited June 11 by mahdnc

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Sky Princess will be in the moon's shadow for sure!  However this is what I am worried about:  cloud cover probabilities.  The map below shows what to expect based on past history.  Blue is good, orange is not.  Significantly better chances of clear skies in the Mediterranean Sea near Mallorca.  Not so good on the north coast.  Iceland (not on this map) is even worse. 

 

The data in the map only talks about probabilities.  What actually happens can be different.  Northern Vermont and Maine were not supposed to have clear skies for the solar eclipse last April (according to the data) and Texas was supposed to be the best bet for clear skies.  When Apr 8th finally rolled around, the exact opposite was true!

 

But your chances are improved because you are on a mobile platform (and of course, I hope you see it!)

 

 

This is why the complete itinerary counts, and for us the Princess one is loaded with some cool ports we either haven’t been to before or were fun enough to enjoy visiting again. 

[mahdnc]

Just now, Ken the cruiser said:

This is why the complete itinerary counts, and for us the Princess one is loaded with some cool ports we either haven’t been to before or were fun enough to enjoy visiting again. 

 

Totally true.

[bigbenboys]

On 6/9/2024 at 9:26 AM, atakkat said:

We would love to see a Celebrity sailing out of Galveston!

I looked at sailings out of Galveston. The most interesting was a 12 night Galveston to Fort Lauderdale. The only new stop out of Galveston I saw was Merida (Progreso), Mexico. I would like to see sailings like Galveston to LA or to Peru.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On 6/9/2024 at 12:26 PM, atakkat said:

We would love to see a Celebrity sailing out of Galveston!

International airport is to far from the port 

[NMTraveller]

Danube, Rhine, etc.  Time for Celebrity to get some riverboats...

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

Danube, Rhine, etc.  Time for Celebrity to get some riverboats...

RCG probably should bought  Crystal Cruises river ships When they went belly up 

[PH2]

Looks like Celebrity is scaling back in the Galapagos, selling its 2 smaller vessels to Lindblad.

[NMTraveller]

33 minutes ago, PH2 said:

Looks like Celebrity is scaling back in the Galapagos, selling its 2 smaller vessels to Lindblad.

Hmmm.  Those were destinations definitely worth going to ...

The Celebrity list gets shorter and shorter and shorter ...

Edited June 12 by NMTraveller

[retired dude]

14 day cruises to the caribbean from tampa would be a plus.

[hcat]

18 minutes ago, retired dude said:

14 day cruises to the caribbean from tampa would be a plus.

but on an updated ship!

we would def sign up!

[retired dude]

On 6/12/2024 at 9:58 AM, hcat said:

but on an updated ship!

we would def sign up!

not too many options-"connie" is it....She just went into dry dock but we were upset that they did nothing to update the deck 7/8 balcony cabins that we have booked in past five sailings on this old ship.....The updates were to other cabins and public areas....We are back on her in nov and still like the old tub, but we would be pleased with a newer ship out of tampa, but that is not going to happen with the current fleet.. We just came off of the reflection in march and were not impressed with the food at all, but the ship was nice...Hope that celebrity will build a ship that can get under the bridge for the tampa market  but i doubt that is going to happen...We wont sail ncl or carnival and still sail rccl radiance class ships out of tampa, but once again, no 14 day cruises to the deep caribbean.. wish you well....B&B in clearwater.