Think back to the beginning of the cruise industry at a time when cruise lines, whose names are no longer household words, plied the seas. Ships didn’t go on seven-day cruises that fit neatly into a one-week box, like everybody has the same length vacation. Some did, but that was because seven was just another number. They went on varied itineraries, with ports chosen by the lines because that’s where their customers wanted to go, and the lengths were dictated by how long it would take to get there.
Then as ships became larger and more plentiful, and cruises became more mass market, seven-day cruises rose to fame. Most people wanted to go on a week’s vacation, and with a single itinerary repeating every week, they were easy for travel agents to remember and sell.
Carnival - who was one of the early-adopters of the seven-day concept - is now trying something in New York from days gone by. Next summer Carnival Sunshine will sail 20 cruises from the Big Apple. In those 20 cruises there will be eight different itineraries of varying lengths from two to 10 days.
It feels like the ‘60's again. Except ...
Details appeared in the March 16 edition of Cruise News Daily.
