747400sp From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3301 posts, RR: 2 Posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 1494 times:
This year is going to be a sad year for cruise ships fans at LA harbor, because Carnival, Royal Carribbean and now Princess, will stop their Mexican Rivera cruises from there. The reason Carnival and RCCL has stop their Mexican Riveria cruises, is due to the higher crime rate latey in Mexico. This is not just sad for cruise ship fans in the LA aera, but also tour bus and taxi /cab companies, are going to lose money thank to this. Also Port o call village on LA harbor or in Carnival case the Queen Mary in Long Beach will lose money.
I to say the criminals in Mexico, you did a great job in messing up a good thing!
JetsGo From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 2964 posts, RR: 5 Reply 1, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 1477 times:
I knew they had all dropped Mazatlan, but I didn't know they were canceling the Mexican Riviera altogether... Do you have a link? I can't find any news stories on Google...
We are sailing on the Carnival Splendor in November, hope it won't be cancelled if this is true.
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22029 posts, RR: 51 Reply 2, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 1477 times:
I'd hardly worry about the loss of a rather tiny West Coast passenger cruise business.
Anyhow, the ports primary business is cargo - for which they remains the busiest in America, accounting for almost 40% of all the trade that enters the country. Now that is a massive business!
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
mham001 From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 3001 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 1464 times:
Too bad, I will miss the quick 3 and 5 day trips with the Ensenada stop. Cheap easy getaway. No way I'm flying to Florida to cruise and too cold to go north.
vikkyvik From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 8210 posts, RR: 28 Reply 4, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 1458 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW PHOTO SCREENER
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 2): Now that is a massive business!
Indeed.
Every now and then, I'll drive down and across the whole LA/Long Beach Harbors area (via the Vincent Thomas and the other bridge that goes from Terminal Island to Long Beach - so basically from the 110 to the 710). It's just a completely mesmerizing area.
It's always cool to see the cruise ships docked close to the Vincent Thomas bridge, but I'm much more impressed by the sheer volume of container cargo that travels through there!
"Two and a Half Men" was filmed in front of a live ostrich.
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22029 posts, RR: 51 Reply 6, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 1422 times:
Its not the economy, its Mexico. You can see the economy is on the rebound by the increase in tonnage at the port.
Constant near daily bad news out of Mexico has many folks scared and opting for other travel venues such as Hawaii which has seen a strong increase of West Coast travelers this year being up 9.1%.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
Monaco harbour gets less and less cruise ships. Cunarders used to stop here every year at least 7 times two stops each and over - Monte Carlo was one of Cunard's top favourite Med cruises stop over. Now we are lucky if we get to see the Cunard Queens once a year for each.
Many cruise ships got cancelled this season and I see more cancellations. I don't see much in Cannes either. Villefranche gets less prestigious ships but even then, not like before.
The wealthies mega-yachts are constantly growing in numbers replacing the ships on the cruise ship pier and out. The mega-rich get more and more wealth while the rest of us are struck with difficult times. A proof that some are profiteering from the economic slump while most of us don't know what will come next.
The cruise industry is having a difficult time same as many other sectors.
[Edited 2011-06-20 01:39:30]
There was a better way to fly it was called Concorde
747400sp From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3301 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 1347 times:
Quoting JetsGo (Reply 1): I knew they had all dropped Mazatlan, but I didn't know they were canceling the Mexican Riviera altogether... Do you have a link? I can't find any news stories on Google...
Go on Google, look up Cruise News Daily. The Princess story is current, but the Carnival and RCCL stories are older stories.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38503 posts, RR: 80 Reply 10, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1323 times:
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 6): You can see the economy is on the rebound by the increase in tonnage at the port.
Increase of good coming in from China that was once made in the US.
Quoting MadameConcorde (Reply 7): The mega-rich get more and more wealth while the rest of us are struck with difficult times. A proof that some are profiteering from the economic slump while most of us don't know what will come next.
Must be nice to have some money tucked away in tax-exempt foundations and tap in to CCX and Goldman Sachs rake in some serious ca$h so I can buy a mega-yacht.
luv2fly From United States of America, joined May 2003, 11957 posts, RR: 51 Reply 11, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 1270 times:
Having worked for several cruise lines the problem is Mexico cruises are not as popular as other destinations, thus you have to discount and sell for less of a profit. Also cruise line tend to place the older ships in the less popular markets, thus another less desired ship going on a less desired cruise, makes it a tough sell unless you discount heavy.
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22029 posts, RR: 51 Reply 12, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 1223 times:
Quoting MadameConcorde (Reply 7): The cruise industry is having a difficult time same as many other sectors.
Au contraire. Not in the US.
The US cruise business is booming with record traffic in 2010 (10.6mil folks; up 13.5%) and strong financial earnings for the companies involved. Cruise ship utilization rates are up, all the while new ships continue to enter the market also.
The West Coast to Pacific Mexico destinations is simply a unique market that has seen decline (-21%) much due to the continued bad news out of Mexico.
As comparison other markets like Caribbean saw an 18% increase year over year, Canadian Maritimes +17%, Bahamas +13%, Central America/Trans-Canal +14%.
Quoting Superfly (Reply 10): Increase of good coming in from China that was once made in the US.
And nothing wrong with that in my book. If they can produce more cost efficient for the same or better quality amen to them.
Anyhow, port traffic is up all around the US, its not just a West Coast thing. Trade is rebounding nicely.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
scamp From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 533 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 1190 times:
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 6): Its not the economy, its Mexico
That's a shame. Three of my family members and I cruised to Mexico last October and had nothing but a lovely time. Never felt threatened or frightened in any port.
But, as noted by another poster, the fares were great and I got a phabulous deal on a deluxe suite for a song!
EA CO AS From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 12559 posts, RR: 64 Reply 14, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 1140 times:
Quoting luv2fly (Reply 11): Having worked for several cruise lines the problem is Mexico cruises are not as popular as other destinations, thus you have to discount and sell for less of a profit.
That shouldn't be as big of a concern as you'd think though, as most cruise lines are realizing they'll make money not on fares, but on value-added services like premium onboard restaurants and the like. They also aggressively upsell in the room categories (Upgrade to an outside cabin for just $20 more per day! Upgrade to a suite for just $50 more per day!). In fact, RCCL and other lines are exploring flat daily rates for all-inclusive beer, wine and liquor. The cruise lines understand that low fares are the norm, and the change is structural, not cyclical - high fares won't be coming back.
In the case of Los Angeles, it's truly the concerns in Mexico that are driving traffic down.
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem - government IS the problem." - Ronald Reagan
bananaboy From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 1558 posts, RR: 26 Reply 15, posted (1 year 11 months 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 1044 times:
I wonder how the year end results for the majors will look this year. There seemed a belief that Europe would be the easy way to make money, but by the time the troubles in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and so on were happening, it was by and large too late (and too expensive) to change much of the deployment. Royal was one of the few(perhaps the only) line to make a major change and pull a ship out of the Med early. Even so, yields are horrible and whilst I agree that on-board revenue is key, the low,low rates that I have heard are being offered are painful (at least from a cruise line point of view). Even with these deals, at least from a European market perspective, the numbers are not coming in in the volumes that would be expected.
Combine that with the fuel costs at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some lower profits on the back of the northern summer.
Mark
All my life, I've been kissing, your top lip 'cause your bottom one's missing
luv2fly From United States of America, joined May 2003, 11957 posts, RR: 51 Reply 16, posted (1 year 11 months 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 960 times:
Quoting EA CO AS (Reply 14): In the case of Los Angeles, it's truly the concerns in Mexico that are driving traffic down.
That is a big part of it. Though Mexico Cruise is not as popular as other areas and is in fact a harder sell to begin with, you then go add the Mexico problems, you can't win.
travelin man From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 3311 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (1 year 11 months 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 952 times:
I know some cruise lines are stopping Mexico, but a quick glance at the Carnival schedule still shows them doing their 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 day cruises from Long Beach.
Disney Cruises just began their Mexico cruises from L.A. this year.
Princess is doing their 14 day Hawaii cruises starting again in September, with a few Mexico, Panama Canal, Tahiti, etc. trips also in the mix.
Royal Caribbean is gone.
So it's not like there are NO cruise ships coming out of L.A./L.B., but with the violence in Mexico it's not surprising that many of them are cutting back.
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