Why are the ships so empty?

[Intr3pid]

Aren't the discounted rates all GTY or *GT? It means while those cabins appear available to book, they will be assigned closer to the sailing date to someone. If most folks are booking the discounted rates, there is still a large contingent on the sailing - just with unassigned rooms.

 

[tvguy]

I don't know about cruising but flying into Miami is easier for us because of more direct flights.
However it is hard to fly cross country to Florida and not add WDW or Universal even for a couple
of days for this family.

We booked the Dream for later in the year but after my husband saw the driving distance
to Orlando we canceled. Going on Fantasy instead. The rental car prices/gas prices helped make
that decision. We would consider Dream again if they ever went to 6 or 7 nights because it is a beautiful
ship.

That may be an option now that we are retired. Never could get more than a week off from work when I working, so it was either a 7 day cruise, OR a week at WDW, not both.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You must live in Orlando or drive from the north to port. Or do WDC/ cruise combos.

Having FLOWN To both Miami and Orlando to cruise I have to say cruising out of Miami was a much better experience than Port Canaveral. The port and city are right there to the airport. Port Canaveral is still quite a distance from MCO compared to Miami. And we loved staying on Miami Beach pre-cruise. Cocoa beach is a dump compared in my opinion.

I agree. People who fly into FLL may disagree but when flying into MIA, the port is such a short ride. I prefer the airport hotels at MCO though. Most MIA area hotels get mixed reviews except EB Hotel, where we stayed last time. I do enjoy PC for the DCL theming. That is one thing you don't get from sailing out of other ports.
In Sept, we're staying at the Marriott Biscayne Bay and booked a bay/port view room so we'll wake up and see our ship outside.

When we cruised from Miami last November, we had 2 choices for return flights: 10am or 2pm. Given such a short ride, I knew a 2 pm would mean hours and hours of sitting at the airport. So we chose the 10am. We did self-debark option as soon as they'd let us and still had time to sit around a while at the gate. We were back in Philly by 12:30pm. So easy. We'll be doing that again in September.

 

[mousefan73]

The best thing out of sailing from Miami is the sail away. You have the most beautiful skyline views and South Beach forever. I think my mom and I were standing on the back of the ship for two hours watching the city gets smaller with the sunset. It was December so the timing was right with the sunset.

 

[holula]

The best thing out of sailing from Miami is the sail away. You have the most beautiful skyline views and South Beach forever. I think my mom and I were standing on the back of the ship for two hours watching the city gets smaller with the sunset. It was December so the timing was right with the sunset.

Agree, the sail out from Miami is gorgeous.