In some of the more interesting news in big ship Caribbean cruising in a while, Celebrity Cruises has announced that it is adding overnight stays to some of its Caribbean itineraries. While overnights aren’t unheard of for big ships, they tend to be in European ports. Celebrity’s Caribbean overnight program will begin in January 2016 and offer 40 sailings that have overnight stays in ports like Cartagena, Colombia; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Cozumel, Mexico; Aruba; Curacao and Barbados. (Image courtesy of Celebrity Cruises)
According to Celebrity, “Guests and travel agents love our overnight program in Europe, Asia and around the world, and their feedback has been amazing. This demand led us to revisit our current Caribbean itineraries and add even more overnights in one of the most beautiful places we sail to each year,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises. “With more overnights in the Caribbean than any other cruise line, we are offering our guests an incredible, unrivaled experience. They can enjoy the destination like a local before returning to our stylish, modern luxury ships.”
Overnight stays offer cruise guests the opportunity to experience a bit more of the local culture. Personally, I love the idea of not needing to worry about making it back to the ship for a 6pm departure after a day of plane spotting at St. Maarten’s Maho Beach. It will be interesting to see if these turn out to be a revenue positive for Celebrity.
You can learn more about Celebrity’s new itineraries here.
It will certainly help with the ship saving money on meals! Many will eat lunch and dinner out, plus they will run more dinner theater type excursions, I am sure. Fuel will be saved as the ship will not need to be at full power and underway at sea. Any additional port charges will be passed on to the customer!
That photo looks like Hakodate, Japan.
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Very interesting and a great idea, IMO. Allows you to slow down a bit and take it in.