Will You Vacation Closer To Home in 2008?

Posted by Anne Campbell
Posted in Rants & Raves

According to an Associated Press article, experts predict that Americans will vacation closer to home in 2008 due to the slowdown in the economy, a weak dollar and higher gasoline prices. I also think that negative publicity about airport delays and cancelled flights has caused many of us to rethink travel plans.

I live in New York which has seen a huge increase in passenger shipping. In 2001 a few ships cruised to Bermuda or on Canada/New England itineraries. The increase in ships and cruise passengers has been so great that piers were opened in Brooklyn and Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey. Today two cruise lines offer year-round Caribbean cruises from New York and every major cruise line has two ships based in New York for long seasons.

Personally I don’t want the aggrivation or expense of hopping on a plane and flying to a Florida port to take a ship. I’ll spend extra time at sea to reach the Caribbean just so I don’t have to travel. If I wanted to go to Europe — too expensive for me now — I’d take a ship from New York to get there.

Does the proximity of the nearest port sway your decision on which ships to take?

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17 December

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Rants & Raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Comments Will You Vacation Closer To Home in 2008?

Harry Martin

December 18th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
1

It’s going to be shorter cruises for me — if at all — and due strictly to the horrible economy. Discretionary income is gone!
Anne Campbell

December 18th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
2

Me too. The cost of living has soared in New York. I’ll look for shorter cruises in the Spring and Fall, when prices are better. Hey, I might even sail from New York to the Caribbean in February Only for those who have their sea legs!
smokinbruce

December 19th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
3

We have booked a 7 day New Years cruise for 12/28/08 from P.R. 2 Bel. cabins back in Sept.07 while the prices were cheeper.
We tried the NY cruises in Dec a few years ago. We spent 4 days down in the ship to get warm 2 day going and 2 days comming home. So we lost 4 days of an 11 day cruise the way we look at it. Never again seas were rough.
Anne Campbell

December 19th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
4

Even though I live in New York I’m still surprised that ships sail round-trip to Florida Dec-April. I prefer days at sea, but it’s difficult to get 10 or 11-days.
Suzannah V

December 22nd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
5

we love leaving from new york and do so in winter. Last winter, it was wonderful , over all for us, first and last fll day are cool, but thats OK, we were at the pool day two Jan 07 DAWN. On Spirit, it was cooler day one and two, but they were sea days, and the days for the islands were perfect every ime.
Anne Campbell

December 23rd, 2007 at 7:44 am
6

Yes, it’s wonderful sailing from New York! So many ships now. I love sailing in the winter too…..In 2008, NCL, RCI and Holland America will have ships sailing during winter months from New York.
K.C.

January 17th, 2008 at 8:06 am
7

We are driving to Florida again this year to pick up our cruise.
Hubby hate the airport situations otherwise we would do a Baltic cruise again
We will not stop cruising.
As Canadians we always pay more to travel outside of Canada. Since out $$ is up a bit we can get a bit more (for a change)

We do stick to one line now have tried other but found the one we like so sticking with them