Concerned About Port Time Changes

[Ilovesailing]

To those that stay on ship to take advantage of the FREE stuff that's all l fine and well

But I would guess that most of us cruise to see other countries and to see some of the sites they have to offer, which in turn helps the countries financially.

 

I would never spend tons of money flying just to sit on a ship going to Europe/Med etc. to take advantage of the FREE stuff.

Yes we do stay on ship at a couple of the Caribbean ports that we've been to a hundred times. Being from Canada these cruises are away of avoiding some of the winter.

[Ilovesailing]

For those that want to see there current times (so far not changed) go to vacation2go.com

look up your cruise print a copy or at least write it down as I'm sure the changes will happen soon on that site. Then check NCL from time to time.

[Ilovesailing]

I doubt it. I think it's to get passengers back on the ship. Once the ship leaves they make a bundle with drinks, store purchases, casino, spa, etc. etc. etc.

 

Times that by 2 or 3 hours for a port or two during your cruise....by the amount of people on the ship.....

 

then times that by all the cruises/ships that are doing it...

 

I think that's why.

 

Besides, don't you use more fuel by cruising than by sitting in port?

 

Harriet

 

So what your saying is clearly nothing more than a CASH GRAB and I agree.

[moonieelf]

If you believe that in a single day, the port authorities in multiple countries in multiple bodies of water told NCL to shorten their port time, you are drinking way too much NCL KoolAid. I get that you are a cheerleader, but logic needs to play a role too.

 

If you knew me, you'd know that I am a very logical person. And the fact of the matter is, you don't know the relationship NCL has with these ports. Or if there is another ship that needs to come in. There could be eleventy billion reasons for why these port times have changed. They also might not be perminant changes, but for specific cruises.

[momckb]

Hi all,

This is part of the email that I sent to NCL... mkephart@ncl.com; publicrelations@ncl.com; socialmedia@ncl.com

 

" For me—and likely many of your customers, we are putting great faith in NCL to provide the experience that was promised when we booked. Unfortunately, since booking, the frequent and often, undisclosed changes NCL has made are negatively impacting the experience.

When researching cruises, I turned to Cruise Critic—a very active an informative community of cruisers. I’m sure that you know who they are and, I would be shocked if your company was not following their boards/forums. You really should be listening to them. If I were researching NCL now for a cruise, after reading Cruise Critic, I would likely not choose it. I am aware that the cruise contract allows NCL to make changes at any time for any reason, pretty much, but…..recent actions on your part are SERIOUSLY BAD BUSINESS. I find it totally unacceptable that I do not find out information that directly impacts my vacation from NCL. What about all those cruisers who don’t follow CC? They are likely booking independent tours right now for the times in port that we were given when we booked and turned over our hard earned money.

Here is a post that I made last night in response to the recent discovery that you have significantly changed the time we will be in St. Thomas… these are real concerns and not only mine:

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarpHarp

Just checked the itinerary for the 11/ 14 cruise. They moved up the departure time from St Thomas to 3pm. This former St Thomas resident is Not Happy Since Tortola is a 30 min ferry ride away, we would have been sailing in circles as it is.

 

Ready to cancel

Cindy[/color

 

My response: I was just reading about this on the NCL board. They say that the time changes impact quite a few NCL ships and they believe it is a cost savings/money making move on NCL's part. Cost savings in reduced docking fees in ports and gas (though, in the case of our cruise, doesn't make sense as next stop is Tortola which is so very close) As for money making: less time in port equals more time that we are spending our money on the ship---actually, this was my first thought.

 

NCL should show more respect for those of us who spend our hard earned money on their ships by, at the very least, being upfront and transparent when they make all these changes which directly and, in some cases, negatively impact it's passengers. It is unacceptable that we learn these things from CC not NCL. NCL...if you are reading this, take heed...all this nickel and diming and now, messing with the actual meat of the cruise (as in taking away valuable port time for which passengers have planned ( and, no, adding an hour from 7am to 8am is NOT a fair trade off) -- and...again...not respecting us enough to even inform us.... this may have a big negative effect on your bottom line in terms of passenger satisfaction, loyalty and reviews.

 

As for me, I am disappointed as this change will greatly impact my plans for a sailing charter in St Thomas and we will likely not be able to go now. But, I have been planning and anticipating for a long time so, will suck it up and will use that extra time on board to fully utilize my UBP (Ha....gotcha NCL.. not gonna save any $ by making me come back to the ship 3 hrs earlier...martinis, and daiquiris and margaritas...oh my!! !) END POST

 

 

I really hope that NCL will seriously consider switching the itinerary back to the original times. If there is a legitimate reason for the change, then, at the very least, be respectful and NOTIFY YOUR CUSTOMERS!!!!! We are all busy working to pay for our cruise, not checking daily to see if you are messing with our port times. I would never have expected that you would not notify me. If it weren’t for CC, I would be booking a long anticipated sailing charter and, likely, losing even more of my money.

[Tinyturtle22]

My Getaway cruise on oct30 2017 now shows all 4 ports as arriving at 8 am and departing at 5 pm. Maybe an attempt to standardize arrival and departures. 3 of the 6 ports on my Getaway Halloween 2016 12 day sailing are also 8-5 but I didnt really look at them before.

[laurabegorrah]

From NCL PR:

 

For the benefit of our passengers, we have decided to place governors on our ships which will limit top speeds to less than 15 knots. We expect this will add to customer satisfaction by allowing their hair to remain in place throughout the cruise. We also expect fewer hats will be blown overboard, lessening the impact of cruising on the environment.

 

And in a first for NCL, there will be no added convenience charge for this. Our new slogan: Slow Down and Enjoy Life!

 

lol

[Samstress]

Where did it post that? I just looked up a date for 2016, the arrival time was still 11:am, with a Tuesday departure of 5:30.

 

This is from MyNCL... Hopefully it's not too jumbled to understand. I just basically copied and pasted directly from the NCL website. Our cruise is October 9th, 2015. I didn't check any of the other departure dates.

 

 

Boston, Massachusetts

 

Day Land Tours And Cruise Ports

Arrive Depart Booked

Fri Boston, Massachusetts ---- 4:00 pm 0

Sat At Sea ---- ---- 0

Sun Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda 1:00 pm ---- 0

Mon Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda ---- ---- 0

Tue Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda ---- 5:30 pm 0

Wed At Sea ---- ---- 0

Thu At Sea ---- ---- 0

Fri Boston, Massachusetts 8:00 am ---- 0

[Travelling2Some]

Add the Jade out of Venice in October to the list. Port time in Mykonos has been shortened by an hour. Why don't they notify the passengers about all these changes? They are hoping to slip it by us, banking on that many passengers won't notice or even remember exactly what the times were when they booked their cruises months ago. The vast majority of their customers have never even heard of Cruise Critic. Lots of people cruise primarily for the shipboard experience and they won't care even if they do notice. Lots of others cruise for the ports and view the ship as more of a deluxe ferry. The second group will be more likely to choose land vacations over cruising in the future if the port times are shortened. My ideal cruise would spend two nights in each port before moving on (not going to happen - I know). The "hit and run" nature of cruising is why we already do more land trips than cruises.

[cardbucfan]

I am a first time NCL cruiser and SO FAR neither of my booked cruises has changed from when I booked.

 

We booked the Getaway cruise for the ship and so far he port times till work with what we have planned in each port.

 

But all of these changes happening so quickly with no notice from NCL are really making me question my Med cruise in May. Unfortunately, we have booked our air and the Spirit remains the only option for us without big change fees or extra expense. I sure don't want to spend the next 9 months worrying about our trip and whether we will get what we booked though.

 

That said, I understand that the cruise line can change ports and times as they see fit but most folks DO choose an itinerary based on the ports. We are looking at the Spirit as our floating hotel and plan to do all independent excursions. Any change in our port times will severely affect those plans.

 

Fingers crossed I guess!

[Samstress]

The oddest thing is that if I go to NCL and do a mock booking our sail date still has the old arrival time of 11AM into Bermuda (on the Dawn).

However, if I go to MyNcl and log into my account it shows us arriving in Bermuda at 1PM.

So, if I were booking that same cruise today I would assume that my arrival time would be 11AM when in actual fact it is 1PM. I think:D

NCL needs to get all their ducks in a row before they start changing ANYTHING. It is just confusing and upsetting to lots of people to have so many differing pieces of info out there.

Ah well, this too shall pass.

[SliceOfLife]

Hi everyone,

 

We are looking into these itinerary changes and were wondering if you could provide the exact ships that are being affected by the changes, and what ports have been adjusted. (Time in port has been shortened as well?)

 

Thank you!

 

~Cruise Critic staff

 

Escape - December 12, 2015 sailing

St. Thomas - was 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

NOW 7 a.m. to 3 p.m

Nassau - was 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

NOW noon to 7 p.m.

[SeaWatcher65]

Escape - December 12, 2015 sailing

St. Thomas - was 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

NOW 7 a.m. to 3 p.m

Nassau - was 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

NOW noon to 7 p.m.

 

I know people always say this... but we might cancel our NCL cruise. If we were not looking forward to the new ship, Escape, I would have already canceled. But the ports are just as important.

 

Same for Escape sailing in Jan. 2016. Not very attractive.

 

ST. THOMAS -- 7am is fine but... but NOT a 3pm departure. That allows very little time to do anything at St. Thomas. Our last cruise on the Getaway, NCL told us to be back on the ship 2 HOURS before departure time... we figured we had more time but did as we were told. Even if not really necessary, our taxi driver said it was a good choice to aim to be back much earlier because the traffic in St Thomas gets congested and backed up when everyone is trying to get back to the ships. The other downside.... if I am going to be back on the ship by 1 or 2pm, I will surely get off the ship at 7am to get the most time. That means I'm going to bed early and missing a whole night of evening entertainment the night before.

 

NASSAU -- 12n-7pm also rules out doing much fun. Not worth spending all the money for Atlantis if not getting there until 1pm when it's already crowded. And I heard that things at Nassau start to shut down at 5pm anyway.

[Barb Nahoumi]

also email publicrelations@ncl.com and socialmedia@ncl.com

 

done

[Windorian]

Hi everyone,

 

We are looking into these itinerary changes and were wondering if you could provide the exact ships that are being affected by the changes, and what ports have been adjusted. (Time in port has been shortened as well?)

 

Thank you!

 

~Cruise Critic staff

 

Breakaway 11/8 – 11/15

 

 

Original Arrival at Port Canaveral: 12 noon

New Arrival time: 1 pm

Departure time of 9 pm remains the same

 

 

For those thinking about Disney, Universal, or SeaWorld, this is a fairly significant change. No notification was received regarding change in schedule.

[theloo]

No changes yet on my Mexican Riviera cruise in January, but all these changes do make me anxious, which is not what we hope for when planning a vacation.

Edited July 20, 2015 by theloo

[brookie848]

I know people always say this... but we might cancel our NCL cruise. If we were not looking forward to the new ship, Escape, I would have already canceled. But the ports are just as important.

 

We are on the Escape in February and cruising for the ship. If this was any other ship, I would seriously be looking at another option right now. I have reluctantly decided to keep this cruise even though I am greatly disappointed with the port time being changed in St. Thomas.

 

Our problem is that we are spoiled by the combination of the Haven perks and the casualness of NCL. After spending some time looking at MSC Yacht Club, I would certainly miss some aspects of NCL.

 

We will stick with where we are for now, but hope that at least some of these itinerary changes are reversed. Or, at the very least, some real explanation is given.

[youngestof9]

the thing that doesn't make sense is St. Thomas and Tortola are so close to each other. So leaving at 3:00 to get to Tortola the next morning at 8:00 is strange. There's no way it's about saving fuel because in that case, they're so close they already go really slow to get to Tortola. All aboard is 1/2 hour before sailing, so basically you have to be back onboard at 2:30. I just returned from Getaway and STT where departure was 6 and all aboard was 5:30. 3 hours is a big difference, especially when you want to go to St. John or other parts of the island. Disappointing for sure.

 

FYI my Escape sailing in August of 2016 has 8-6 in STT, but my Escape sailing on 11/14/15 is STT 7-3.

Edited July 20, 2015 by youngestof9

[AtlantaCruiser72]

These changes are about money, nothing more, nothing less. NCL knows which sailings have a lower fare basis and therefore will rely more heavily on onboard revenue. They also know from historical patterns which ports see fewer ship sponsored excursions, have more passengers remaining onboard or returning early. They are obviously using this data to target specific ships/ports/dates to increase onboard revenue. Port fees are directly tied to the amount of time docked, so they save money there. Casino, shops, photo gallery, etc produce no revenue in port so leaving earlier will hopefully increase revenues. Why stay in port and lose money???

 

I'm not a fan of this at all, but FEEstyle cruising seems to be here to stay. My upcoming cruise on the Escape is my first foray over to NCL since 1997. It will likely be my last.

Edited July 20, 2015 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Ilovesailing]

If you believe that in a single day, the port authorities in multiple countries in multiple bodies of water told NCL to shorten their port time, you are drinking way too much NCL KoolAid. I get that you are a cheerleader, but logic needs to play a role too.

 

 

Very good point.

[Laszlo]

the thing that doesn't make sense is St. Thomas and Tortola are so close to each other. So leaving at 3:00 to get to Tortola the next morning at 8:00 is strange. There's no way it's about saving fuel because in that case, they're so close they already go really slow to get to Tortola. All aboard is 1/2 hour before sailing, so basically you have to be back onboard at 2:30. I just returned from Getaway and STT where departure was 6 and all aboard was 5:30. 3 hours is a big difference, especially when you want to go to St. John or other parts of the island. Disappointing for sure.

 

FYI my Escape sailing in August of 2016 has 8-6 in STT, but my Escape sailing on 11/14/15 is STT 7-3.

 

 

Correct.........they are only 30 miles apart. Something doesn't add up. NCL is pissing off a lot of people

[kimberja14]

Newbies think you must play bingo....must order drinks to sit in the piano lounge....must take ships excursions....must buy expensive jewelry etc on a cruise

 

Seasoned cruisers might not spend much....but the idiots that fall for everything are who the cruise lines are targeting

 

The number of first time cruisers is absolutely astonishing....and they are the ones that think cruising is expensive

 

People think I'm rich for cruising so often....because their cruises were very costly they say.....but when the details emerge it is easy to see why they spent so much money.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

I am careful when we cruise to how much money we spend. We only do a couple specialty restaurants and drink only if we have the promotion UBP. I don't buy stuff in the gift shops or splurge on the cost extra deserts. However, to some the extras are a fun part of their vacation. It's ok that you don't spend money on those things when you cruise, but what is the purpose of being rude calling people who do "idiots". Less name calling sure would be nice.

[jmele999]

The funny part about all of this is that NCL has yet to post on CC to explain why they are making changes to the itineraries. It it was something beyond their control, I am sure that they would have posted by now. This clearly shows that they are going to make whatever changes they feel like making while continuing their bad habit of not properly informing customers about changes.

[Ilovesailing]

If you knew me, you'd know that I am a very logical person. And the fact of the matter is, you don't know the relationship NCL has with these ports. Or if there is another ship that needs to come in. There could be eleventy billion reasons for why these port times have changed. They also might not be perminant changes, but for specific cruises.

 

I'm not so sure how logical you are.

 

We don't need to know the relationship between ports and NCL as its pretty clear who is in charge and the fact that there are so many port changes it is unlikely that the ports are all singing from the same song sheet or singing all at once.

Another ship coming in is just sheer ridiculous and even so make the other ship tender if there isn't enough space.

You say that they may not be permanent, if so why would they make changes as far out as 2017.

 

I'll wait for your other eleventy billion reasons minus 3.

[Diver2014]

The funny part about all of this is that NCL has yet to post on CC to explain why they are making changes to the itineraries. It it was something beyond their control, I am sure that they would have posted by now. This clearly shows that they are going to make whatever changes they feel like making while continuing their bad habit of not properly informing customers about changes.

Why would NCL post an explanation on CC....since the CC readers are such a tiny fraction of their passengers? Even if they told everyone why they were making changes, CC readers would still complain.