Celebrity bids adieu to River City

[asonj23]

Celebrity bids adieu to River City

Cruise ship finishes its second season sailing out of Jacksonville

By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union

Celebrity Cruises has no plans on returning to the Jacksonville market now that it has finished its second season sailing out of the First Coast.

The ship, which sailed from Jacksonville for half the year, has moved on to New Jersey, where it will be based for the next six months before returning to Florida, as it did last year.

When it returns this time, though, its home port will be Miami.

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I hate to see them go. Hopefully there will be another cruise line to fille the hole.

[Urban_Legend]

Aw, peas. I hope this doesn't suggest that Jax can't handle or support a cruise market.

[bobliocatt]

They were only supposed to be here originally for a year anyway. Instead they made it two.

BTW, I believe Carnival Cruises still operates here.

[RiversideGator]

No reason was given by Celebrity for leaving??

[asonj23]

I guess things weren't as lucrative as they thought.

[La Florida]

The port authority needs to find an alternative to the current cruise ship terminal. I mean, i have taken cruises out of Jax and Tampa, and i hate to admit it but if it wasnt for the conveinence of the short drive on 295, i would rather take a cruise from Tampa anyday. reason being is that jax's terminal is too far from anything worth seeing. I overheard someone on the ship say, "Wow, there's definately nothing fancy about this place, where's the city?" I feel that instead of trying to get in bigger and bigger ships to come into port, we should specialize in the smaller more intimate ship industry so that we could get those ships closer to downtown jax. Not to mention how amazing and exciting it was to see ships downtown during the superbowl. Bottom line, Miami and Tampa are the Mecca for the major ships, Jax needs to boom in the area that they are not...

[Viper]

Aw, peas.  I hope this doesn't suggest that Jax can't handle or support a cruise market.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The article said they ran at close to full capacity on every cruise so a lack of butts in beds was not the problem.

Besides, as Lakelander said, they were only scheduled for a single year but we got 2 out of them.

[Urban_Legend]

The port authority needs to find an alternative to the current cruise ship terminal. I mean, i have taken cruises out of Jax and Tampa, and i hate to admit it but if it wasnt for the conveinence of the short drive on 295, i would rather take a cruise from Tampa anyday. reason being is that jax's terminal is too far from anything worth seeing. I overheard someone on the ship say, "Wow, there's definately nothing fancy about this place, where's the city?" I feel that instead of trying to get in bigger and bigger ships to come into port, we should specialize in the smaller more intimate ship industry so that we could get those ships closer to downtown jax. Not to mention how amazing and exciting it was to see ships downtown during the superbowl. Bottom line, Miami and Tampa are the Mecca for the major ships, Jax needs to boom in the area that they are not...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A very good point, La Florida! Think of what it could do for the Landing and the Adam's Ma.....I mean the Hyatt! That would be a great combination for tourists to see.

[asonj23]

I loved the boats downtown!! Like La Florida said, we don't need the biggest boats in the industry. Three or four of the small to mid sized ones like the Raddison boat that docked for the superbowl would be perfect.

I thought of a new use for the shipyards.... A cruise terminal with surrounding resedential and commercial towers. We know it is primed for big boats. Imagine that view from your office or condo!! Sign me up!!

[rockhilljames]

I don't think it really matters where the cruises leave from (other than time to destination), I mean, Port Canaveral has a huge terminal, and there's not much else around.

[bobliocatt]

I loved the boats downtown!!

[asonj23]

Alright. Now all we need is a few hundred million, a good design, and someone like TUC with some political backing and we're on our way. Who's with me!?!

[Urban_Legend]

I am!

[wolfdawg54]

I think that Celebrity had booked another city for this next year and was only planning to have a test run in jacksonville. The run lasted two years as opposed to one. Carnival still operates in jacksonville with 2-3 weekly cruises.