On and off a la Easy Cruise. Good idea or no?

[Pudgesmom]

The new Easy Cruise line allows passengers to pay by the night. They embark and disembark at various ports along the way.

 

I DON't want to cruise on Easy Cruise, but I think the flexible itineraries are very interesting. Could this work on an existing cruise line? Do you think one would try it? Would you try it?

 

I am prompted by the idea after reading Brian's review of the X Mercury, and his departure (unplanned, I know) after two days. Also, I know some of the longer world cruises can be bought in segments.

 

I don't know if I would try this or not. I wonder if some of the "completeness" of a 7, 10, or 14 day cruise would be lost.

 

Beth

[kryos]

The new Easy Cruise line allows passengers to pay by the night. They embark and disembark at various ports along the way.

 

I DON't want to cruise on Easy Cruise, but I think the flexible itineraries are very interesting. Could this work on an existing cruise line? Do you think one would try it? Would you try it?

 

I am prompted by the idea after reading Brian's review of the X Mercury, and his departure (unplanned, I know) after two days. Also, I know some of the longer world cruises can be bought in segments.

 

I don't know if I would try this or not. I wonder if some of the "completeness" of a 7, 10, or 14 day cruise would be lost.

I would not classify Easy Cruise as a cruise, per se. To me, it sounds more like a means of transportation that allows you to see a lot of different places at a reasonable cost. Basically, you pay for everything ala carte, from what I understand ... accommodations by the night, meals, etc. The accommodations are rather spartan from what I've heard, and the ship has no real entertainment options since they sail at night and are docked during the day in various ports. Thus, the ports provide the entertainment ... not the ship. I would also imagine that when in port, pretty much no one stays on the ship since they took the cruise specifically to visit those ports (or embark/disembark at them). Therefore, you have very little interaction with your fellow passengers since they are really only on the ship to eat and sleep.

 

If you board an Easy Cruise ship for the sole purpose of getting to certain ports so that you can spend time there, then I think it's a fine concept. But if you are going for a "cruise experience," I think you will be sorely disappointed since you will have very few of the onboard ammenities we come to associate with cruising.

 

But ... Easy Cruise certainly has its market niche, and for them it's probably a great idea.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Pudgesmom]

Rita,

 

Maybe I did a poor job of phrasing my question, It is:

 

Would HAL (a full service cruise line) ever offer this type of on-and-off cruising, ie, you pick the days and ports you want to visit? (I'm not trying to ask if HAL would go low frills.)

 

If it were offered, would you partake in it?

 

(I'm thinking sort of all-inclusive at sea.)

hope this clears it up.

Beth

[arzz]

Several years ago we took a cruise on Fantasy Cruises Amerikanis (Fantasy cruises was own by Chandris who started their new, upscale, Celebrity line a couple of years after our cruise). At that time they were offering an itinerary that the staff referred to as the "cruise bus". It was a full service cruise, but we embarked and disembarked passengers in Caracas, Martinique and San Juan. Fantasy was in no way a luxury or premium operator (food was mediocre - at least no food poisoning) but all the traditional amenities of a cruise were there including the Captain as Santa Claus on Christmas morning.

 

The entertainment on board was fantastic -- there was a small group of about five dancers, two singers (one male and one female) and a gentleman who had trained as a Cirque de Soliel clown who did solo routines that were perfect for an audience that spoke three different languages. We could have done without the musical combo who felt obligated to address both Christmas and their Spanish speaking guests by playing Felis Navidad continually for about 20 hours a day all over the ship.

 

The staff had great difficulties dealing with the many native languages among the passengers and I remember one overworked member of the cruise staff who was multi-lingual who spent all day every day making announcements in three languages (which got tiresome to listen to) and spent the rest of her time translating for other crew who needed to address passenger concerns that they could not understand.

 

The most difficult feature of this arrangement was that one night there was a welcome dinner, the next night was a farewell dinner -- again and again all the way through the cruise -- the waiters, each farewell, promised us a BIG surprise and did the same parade with the same music and same props through the diining room. It got old. We forged no new friendships because of the language barriers and the fact that the ship's complement changed every other day.

 

Even if the cruise line did away with the traditional welcomes and farewells, the fact of the changing passenger complement alone would put me off as this would cause a great change in the cruise atmosphere. Years ago we only did one lifeboat drill during the whole week week, but today's rules would require one every other day. I do think that it would get old and tiresome.

 

Just my humble opinion.

[jhannah]

It would seem to me that the only feasible way for a full-service main line cruise company to do this would be like HAL does in selling legs of a world or other longer cruise. Having people get on and off every few days would be a nightmare to sell and administer, IMO.

[cruisegirl]

This may be an interesting concept but in my opinion it's not to be equated with taking a "cruise." It's just sounds like a way to get from point A to point B. Of course, my reaction is probably because my favorite part of a cruise is the ship - not the ports!

[kryos]

Rita,

 

Maybe I did a poor job of phrasing my question, It is:

 

Would HAL (a full service cruise line) ever offer this type of on-and-off cruising, ie, you pick the days and ports you want to visit? (I'm not trying to ask if HAL would go low frills.)

 

If it were offered, would you partake in it?

 

(I'm thinking sort of all-inclusive at sea.)

hope this clears it up.

Beth

I doubt it ... not the way Easy Cruise does it, anyway. HAL does allow some flexibility in where to embark/disembark on certain cruises. For example, I've seen cruises where you can embark either in Seattle, San Francisco or LA, and your cruise price is adjusted accordingly. I'm going on a HAL cruise in October that permits passengers to get on either in New York or in Fort Lauderdale. Another cruise I am doing next April allows passengers to disembark in either New York or Fort Lauderdale (Cunard). But, other than those choices, I don't see HAL ever offering total flexibility in their itineraries such as being able to board and disembark at any port you choose.

 

Also, if HAL were to offer that kind of flexibility, the per diem rate would have to be quite high. For HAL to go all-inclusive, and still offer all the onboard services it does today, would drive that per diem quite high since some passengers would only be sailing for two or three days, while others would be planning to be onboard for weeks at a time.

 

No, I don't think HAL's market would go for an Easy Cruise type experience in this regard. HAL's customers like set itineraries and a cruise of a certain length that meets their needs. I'd be willing to bet that the Easy Cruise experience probably appeals mostly to younger folks who use the ship as their floating hotel instead of staying in various youth hostels along their way. Since Easy Cruise is relatively cheap to sail, it works great for them with their limited budgets ... letting them see a lot of different places in a relatively short amount of time and on a rather strict budget. There would be no benefit for a cruise line such as HAL to offer this, since HAL's customers are generally older and of more means. They cruise for the cruise experience, and not necessarily for the chance to see a lot of ports.

 

Of course, I don't work for HAL, so I could be totally off-base about this ... but it just doesn't seem to be the kind of experience that HAL would be interested in offering or their established customer base would be interested in buying.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

We would not be interested in such a cruise.

[Islandbuoy]

Yes, it wouldappeal to us.

[Silver Pearl]

The new Easy Cruise line allows passengers to pay by the night. They embark and disembark at various ports along the way.

 

I DON't want to cruise on Easy Cruise, but I think the flexible itineraries are very interesting. Could this work on an existing cruise line? Do you think one would try it? Would you try it? . . . Beth

 

Beth, Silversea has been offering this option for some time now, calling it the "Personalized Voyage" program. You select an existing cruise and determine where you want to embark and disembark. You must book a minimum of four nights. Of course, Silversea is about as far from Easy Cruise as you can get. Pretty much everything is included.

 

I've heard that Silversea does this well, though I would not choose the option myself. Personalized Voyages are all at full price, I believe, while one can occasionally find a very good discount on set voyages.

 

--Rich

[arzz]

It occurs to me that Silversea cruise ships are smaller than average? or am I wrong -- this may be easier to deal with in a smaller venue -- and it does sound like Silversea is in the drivers seat with charging full brochure price.

 

I still would not be interested.

[Brandis]

Isn't Residensea also offering this? I think you have to stay for at least 7 days, but you are pretty much free about where to board and disembark.

 

Marc

[Druke I]

I for one am not interested in this concept.

 

Forty years ago, I probably would have jumped on the bandwagon, but not now. (Too many gray hairs.)

[Pudgesmom]

Yes, Residensea offers this type of experience. I didn't know about Silverseas.

 

Both of these are in the luxury market. Interesting that it is being tried at both ends of the spectrum. Hmm...

 

 

Beth

[Brandis]

Even though EasyCruise and Residensea are on opposite ends of the luxury scale, there still are similarities which might help with the "board anywhere you want" style. I understand that Residensea also doesn't offer much of nighttime entertainment and the restaurants are also A la Carte, though for cruise guests eating there is included in the cruise fare. I remember reading a review some time ago where the reviewer mentioned that it was a bit strange to get menu cards which listed prices for all items but they were told that they could order from it whatever they wanted and it would be included.

 

Marc

[Djptcp]

Since I haven't flown since 2002 (flew 22 times during the 12 months preceding) I would love to hop on a cruise "shuttle" to get to an island and stay for a week or so and then hop back on and take it home. It would be like taking the train. I wouldn't care about entertainment, well, maybe a casino, etc. but it would just be a mode of transportation for DH and me rather than flying from Jacksonville (close to where we live) to Nassau -- we could board on Saturday morning and be in Nassau the next morning, stay in Nassau until the following Saturday when we board again and get off in Jax on Sunday. These ships would be just dedicated to this concept and not mix in people who want the cruise experience. I guess there would have to be a fairly significant number of ships making the Caribbean routes. Sounds like an entrepreneurial venture to me :D

Holland America - 2004, 2006

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006

Royal Caribbean - 2002

[Silver Pearl]

It occurs to me that Silversea cruise ships are smaller than average? or am I wrong -- this may be easier to deal with in a smaller venue -- and it does sound like Silversea is in the drivers seat with charging full brochure price.

 

I still would not be interested.

 

Silversea has 4 ships. The two larger ones, Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper, are about 610 feet long, 80-odd feet wide, and have 10 passenger decks. They can accommodate up to 378 passengers, which give them the largest space/passenger ratio at sea.

 

You are probably right that the relatively small size has something to do with the concept working. The other thing is that the ships have a staff to passenger ration of 1 to 1.3. So that probably has something to do with it, too.

 

For me, knowing that I can occasionally get a 9-night cruise on Silversea discounted for only slightly more than 4 nights of my choice, makes my choice simple. I would only go with the customized program if I win the lottery. If I did, though, I think we'd be talking world cruise. :)

 

--Rich

[sail7seas]

How does Jones Act (Passenger Carriage Act) fit into this style of cruising?

 

If passengers are boarding in one U.S. port and disembarking in a different one (and not all pax in the same ports), wouldn't that consitute violations?

[sail7seas]

The way presented here.....No, that does not appeal to me as a style of cruising we want to try.

[Pudgesmom]

Is it possible that the law applies to individual passengers, not only ships?

 

Maybe each passenger would have to meet the requirements?

 

I think a passenger could avoid ports they don't like, or really high airfares. For example, board in Florida, travel to Jamaica, get off and stay a few days, then reboard that or another ship for the sail back to Florida.

 

Beth