orchestra not getting into port in time for the Bahamas?

I have been reading the posts and is this true that the orchestra was arriving late for the Bahamas and if so why?? I have a hotel stay booked next to Atlantis and since we only arrive at 12 the water park closes at 5, so if the ship lets their passengers off at 3 by the time we check into the hotel/get our wrist bands we will only be able to use the water park for about 1 hr :(. I don't know if we should cancel our reservation or not??

I have been reading the posts and is this true that the orchestra was arriving late for the Bahamas and if so why?? I have a hotel stay booked next to Atlantis and since we only arrive at 12 the water park closes at 5, so if the ship lets their passengers off at 3 by the time we check into the hotel/get our wrist bands we will only be able to use the water park for about 1 hr :(. I don't know if we should cancel our reservation or not??

Which hotel did you book, is that allows you to use pools at Atlantis? We've been in Atlantis few times already when on a ship, just buying tour and walk around the grounds, but kids would like to use their pools.

We were thinking of either going into the Atlantis lobby just to see it and then walking over to Cabbage Beach OR getting a day pass for Wyndham Cable Beach.... but if our time in this port is severely curtailed then we will simply walk down the street and swim in the beach in front of the Colonial Hilton and then maybe poke a bit in the open air markets on the way back to the ship.

We were on the 2 day cruise in January & took a taxi over to Atlantis ($12.) We walked around & enjoyed the beautiful decorations, saw the fish & walked down on the beach for a little bit (windy). We took a private taxi ($20) back to the ship since we didn't feel like waiting for one to fill up. That is all we spent- other than food & gambling! I have seen some posts where there is a $40 charge but unless we did something wrong nobody charged us for anything. Where is the Hilton somebody mentioned? :confused:We missed the straw market but will be going there in April.

Last Friday the Orchestra docked just before 3pm (should have been noon) and our feet literally hit the dock at 3:20pm.

I had to cancel a catamaran tour for 50 people due to this very late arrival. It was to be the highlight of the week for most. So I had to refund everyone's $ and apologize to the crew of the Flying Cloud (who were very understanding, thankfully).

We were told that the Orchestra had a broken stabilizer and couldn't sail any faster without it being rough so for the length of the whole cruise, almost all ports of call were abbreviated. Some say it was due to the rough weather/seas...hmmm...I've been on cruises that have been more bumpy so I didn't know who to believe.

So to those of you hoping for a full day at Atlantis, I wish you luck.

Was on that cruise and I need to tell you that you should be happy it got in late and you used that as an excuse not to have to do the excursion. It was COLD . No way would anyone have wanted to do anything related to the water on that day....and i am a water lover! We heard it needed to slow down speed, usually travels fast at 23 knots but without the stabilizers. With them it needed to slow down which caused the problem. They could have done full speed ahead but would have then had many sick passengers.

I guess the captain just can't win.. go fast people are sick and complaing'.

go slow... everyone is short time at the port!

I , for one, tend to think the captain of this large ship kinda knows what he is doin.. what 'cha think?

we have had ports before that was too rough to even dock..

or how about all the people who got detoured due to Ike?

i think these captains know best!

Which hotel did you book, is that allows you to use pools at Atlantis? We've been in Atlantis few times already when on a ship, just buying tour and walk around the grounds, but kids would like to use their pools.

The Comfort Suites allows it's guest access to the water park at Atlantis.

We were on the 2 day cruise in January & took a taxi over to Atlantis ($12.) We walked around & enjoyed the beautiful decorations, saw the fish & walked down on the beach for a little bit (windy). We took a private taxi ($20) back to the ship since we didn't feel like waiting for one to fill up. That is all we spent- other than food & gambling! I have seen some posts where there is a $40 charge but unless we did something wrong nobody charged us for anything. Where is the Hilton somebody mentioned? :confused:We missed the straw market but will be going there in April.

The Colonial Hilton is the yellow hotel just to the left of the Straw Market, right beside I think Senor Frogs (?). It was $15 pp for us to use the beach, towels, toys, and pool. They didn't charge for DS who was under 10 at the time. We didn't have to reserve, just walked over from the ship and in through the front lobby and paid at the front desk. Unfortunately, the weather turned quite cloudy and cool about an hour after we arrived so we didn't quite get our monies worth but we enjoyed it while it was warm.

You got lucky at the Atlantis. We went one year and tried to go outside towards the beach but were told that we needed a bracelet which would cost about $25.00 each. We decided not to bother, we just wanted to look around.

The Hilton is to the right of the cruise ship pier next to Senor Frogs.

It looks like MSC is making changes. I went on their web site today & noticed that our arrival time in Nassau has offically been changed from noon to 3pm. :(

It arrived late last week due to rough seas and high winds the day before. The captain had to slow the ship down to compensate.

It looks like MSC is making changes. I went on their web site today & noticed that our arrival time in Nassau has offically been changed from noon to 3pm. :(

Had TA call MSC--they told her that the ship still plans on getting in at 12noon. Not sure what to do...have the dolphin swim booked, leaving at 130. :confused:

Had TA call MSC--they told her that the ship still plans on getting in at 12noon. Not sure what to do...have the dolphin swim booked, leaving at 130. :confused:

IMHO, for what it's worth, I think there is a huge disconnect between MSC Customer Service and what is actually happenning on the ship. Not sure when you are sailing, but I would continue to check the port arrival times before committing a large amount of $ to a dolphin swim. You can always book the excursion through the ship; this way, if the timing doesn't work out, you're covered financially.

I checked with MSC directly as well....She stated that the official time in port will be noon!