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Originally posted by HomeLines:
I just got a call from my travel agent that our cruise on the Mercury has been cancelled. We were scheduled to do the March 14 sailing from Fort Lauderdale and apparently Celebrity has cancelled thos sailings from February 28 onward and will move the ship to California! I guess it wasn't selling well. Our price had gone down three times since we booked it in August.

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WOW, that is news! My parents just came off the MERCURY about a week ago and had a fantastic time. Although I've already sailed on MERCURY, I was considering another cruise on her. I liked the late Friday departures. I thought they might be popular??

Any idea of where she will cruise in California? That is a very tough market. Three negatives.....
1. It's a very local market... most don't want to fly to LA for a 7-day Mexico cruise.
2. Limited ports - West Coast of Mexico... that's about it in 7-days.
3. The cruise lines really have to compete more with land based options, such as Vegas, Palm Springs, and even Mexico.

It will be interesting, and now with such a short lead-in time, I wonder how successful Celebrity will be at filling the ship? Not much time to advertise and get the word out.

One other consideration..... the brand new STAR PRINCESS will be tough competition if MERCURY goes the 7-day Mexico route. While the design of STAR is old news for the East Coast.... this is big stuff for LA!

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Originally posted by skyej:
Maybe she'll do the Hawaii run, or longer trans canal cruises from LA.

I just hope Celebrity doesn't try the 3/4 day Mexico market- not when they are trying to remake their brand identity into are more premium/luxury product.

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Oh I hope not either. Not very premium huh??

I'm real curious what they will do with MERCURY. She is such a great ship.

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Originally posted by HomeLines:
Well the agent said we're getting $150 per person shipboard credit and the same rate if we switch to the Century or the Enchantment of the Seas. So we're going to take the Century (even though we've sailed on her four times!).

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Not bad! I actually prefer the CENTURY over the MERCURY.... although both are beautiful ships!

Mercury has 7,9, and 11 night cruises scheduled for California. Both San Francisco and San Diego.

The bookings for the western itinerary out of Miami have been abysmal. Problem with Friday night departures is that most working people only get two weeks vacation per year. If you fly in the day of the cruise, you need to use 6 of those precious vacation days.

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Originally posted by ocngypz:
Ernie:

Mercury has 7,9, and 11 night cruises scheduled for California. Both San Francisco and San Diego.

The bookings for the western itinerary out of Miami have been abysmal. Problem with Friday night departures is that most working people only get two weeks vacation per year. If you fly in the day of the cruise, you need to use 6 of those precious vacation days.

Honestly, I did not care for Mercury's itinerary.
I much prefer Horizon's out of Tampa.... or Century's out of FLL.

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Thanks for the info. Are the MERCURY's new itineraries loaded into Celebrity's system for sale yet?

You are quite right about the Friday night departures for most people, although for me they would work out great. Also agree about that MERCURY's current itinerary. Not enough sea days for me, and I prefer the Eastern Caribbean anyway.

A few years back, I sailed on the MERCURY with almost the same itinerary she currently sails. I think the only difference was that Calica was substituted for Progresso. The group I was with laughed because half the time the ship was sailing at something like 6-10 knots. Very slow and we always felt like we were piddling along. I like a little motion, and to actually feel like I'm going somewhere.

I guess I won't have to worry about that next month on the QE2! BTW, just received the docs today.... very nice presentation.