Fall 2003???

Does anyone know when Princess will release the fall 2003 Caribbean schedule?

[norm]

Mike,

"Does anyone know when Princess will release the fall 2003 Caribbean schedule?"

It should be announced any time now. The press releases seem to dribble out as arrangements for various destinations become definitive. Princess has already announced that MV Star Princess will go to the Western Pacific (Pacific Rim, Australia, and New Zealand) for the 2003-2004 fall and winter season, that MV Royal Princess will operate in the Mediterranean for the fall of 2003, that MV Golden Princess and MV Regal Princess will go to Canada/New England in September and October of 2003, and that MV Regal Princess will operate 15-day Hawaii cruises round trip from Los Angeles for the winter of 2003-2004 (which apparently means that she also will have a full transit of the Panama Canal to reposition the vessel in late October or early November of 2003).

Although there's no formal announcement yet, it's not too difficult to fill in the blanks. MV Royal Princess is the near-certain winner of the South American itineraries in the winter of 2003-2004. MV Grand Princess and MV Golden Princess are sure to operate the seven-day Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean itineraries from Fort Lauderdale for the fall and winter of 2003-2004. MV Diamond Princess is certain to take over the seven-day Mexican Riviera itineriaries. That leaves four ships -- MV Sun Princess, MV Dawn Princess, MV Coral Princess, and MV Island Princess -- to fill out the remaining itineraries, which include

>> Hawaii & Tahiti,

>> 10-Day Mexican Riviera,

>> Panama Canal (full transit and partial transit/Caribbean),

>> Seven-Day Southern Caribbean from San Juan, and

>> Ten-Day Eastern/Southern Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale.

Since the four vessels are pretty comparable in size and capacity and all four will be in Alaska for the summer of 2003, there's no clear preference as to which vessel draws which combination of these itineraries. My guess is that one of these vessels will go to San Juan to do the seven-day Southern Caribbean routes for the whole season, one will head to the Mexican Riviera for the season, possibly with a few full transits of the Panama Canal intermixed, one will do a set of Hawaii/Tahiti runs en route to Fort Lauderdale to pick up the ten-day Caribbean routes for the winter season, and the final vessel will do Panama Canal runs. Nonetheless, your guess is as good as mine as to which vessel will go where.

Norm.

[Kuki]

I believe Princess will have NO ships in the Caribbean for summer of 2003. Certainly the Golden and Grand will return to the Carib. after their Europe season.. likely early fall.
Other than that, I haven't heard a thing yet.

I guess they have figured they cannot compete for the summer market with RCL and CCL. Too bad.

[norm]

Kuki,

MV Golden Princess is scheduled for seven-day "Canada/New England" itienraries in Sepember and October of 2003. I'm guessing that MV Grand Princess will go straight to the Caribbean at the end of her Mediterranean season, currently scheduled for early September. Here's the text from Princess's press release announcing this schedule (http://www.princess.com/news/article...rticleId=na530)

"Golden Princess' seven-day itinerary will again offer scenic cruising past the most colorful autumn displays along the East Coast, combined with a multitude of onboard dining and entertainment options. The convenient round-trip cruise from New York departs on Saturdays and sails to Halifax (Nova Scotia), St. John (New Brunswick) -- including Bay of Fundy cruising, Bar Harbor (Maine), Boston and Newport (Rhode Island). The ship offers four voyages between September 20 and October 11."

It looks like MV Golden Princess is going to "book it" from Southamton to New York since an earlier Princess press release (http://www.princess.com/news/article...rticleId=na508) states the following.

"In addition to their Grand Mediterranean voyages, each ship will also offer a Mediterranean/ Atlantic and two trans-Atlantic sailings that will take them to a number of new ports. Grand Princess' Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona crossing on May 4 includes two first-time calls for the ship in Gibraltar and Alicante, Spain. The Mediterranean/Atlantic cruises (September 2 on Golden Princess and September 11 on Grand Princess) travel between Barcelona and Southampton, stopping at Marseille, Livorno, Cannes, Gibraltar, Casablanca (maiden calls for both ships), Cadiz (Spain -- also first-time calls), Lisbon, Vigo (Spain) and Le Havre."

That cruise has ten ports of call, so it has to be at least twelve nights -- which means that she won't be in Souhthampton until the 14th at the earliest and she's due in New York on the 20th -- six days later. Likewise, it seems likely that MV Grand Princess won't return to the Caribbean before early October based upon the dates in this paragraph.

Norm.

[norm]

Mike,

I understand that Princess is having no trouble selling MV Grand Princess, but the yields (average revenue per passenger-day) in Europe have consistently been higher. Since the company is in business to make money, it obviously makes sense to deploy the vessels wherever they will generate the most revenue.

Norm.