Escape Departure time changed

[HowardK]

Funny thing is I signed up for a ship with a 4pm departure as well as million dollar quartet and margarittaville as included. Its called cruising for a reason. If I wanted to stay on land a few extra hours I might as well book disney at this point.

[NCLfamily]

Funny thing is I signed up for a ship with a 4pm departure as well as million dollar quartet and margarittaville as included. Its called cruising for a reason. If I wanted to stay on land a few extra hours I might as well book disney at this point.

 

 

What a load of rubbish. You never even looked at the departure time when booking. No one does. It's immaterial. Secondly, you'll not be on land any longer than with a 4pm sailing. You'll board at the same time.

 

But hey, don't let common sense get in the way of your right to needlessly complain.

Edited February 26, 2016 by NCLfamily

[rvsullivan]

Funny thing is I signed up for a ship with a 4pm departure as well as million dollar quartet and margarittaville as included. Its called cruising for a reason. If I wanted to stay on land a few extra hours I might as well book disney at this point.

 

I hadn't even thought about it until you posted. I now looked and sure enough, my cruise contract does stipulate my exact entertainment and departure time!! I wonder if I can sue???:rolleyes:

[bruadhin]

What a load of rubbish. You never even looked at the departure time when booking. No one does. It's immaterial. Secondly, you'll not be on land any longer than with a 4pm sailing. You'll board at the same time.

 

But hey, don't let common sense get in the way of your right to needlessly complain.

 

Hey, hey, be nice. Departure time is very relevant.

 

Howard is scheduled to turn himself into the local sheriff at 6pm. 4pm departure? Well out into international waters and quite safe. 7pm? Trouble is brewing and may get a special escort from the ship. ;)

[travelinmoma]

I booked Teppanyaki for the first night at 5:15, so I wonder if this means we will miss sail away now or if they will cancel our booking. I bet I can't get another time slot at this point. I'm so sick of changes. Ugh

[bruadhin]

I booked Teppanyaki for the first night at 5:15, so I wonder if this means we will miss sail away now or if they will cancel our booking. I bet I can't get another time slot at this point. I'm so sick of changes. Ugh

 

At first I thought, why would they cancel your booking, but then I realized, they still will have to do muster drill. That will be interesting as it will be right in the middle of dinner. The law is it has to be within 24 hours of departure, although most lines choose to do it just prior to departure.

 

My guess is you will keep your booking, you may miss sailaway depending on the pacing of your meal, and that muster will be done the next day.

 

That said, NCL still shows 4pm departures. The OP may be mistaken about the change?

[CruiseDrew74]

I am both a travel agent and also booked on the September 2016 sailing.. I have yet to receive any updates from NCL regarding this change to my personal booking or any other bookings for that matter. We shall see. But I would be fine leaving later, I won't feel rushed getting to the port... less crowds too. And I don't mind paying a few extra taxes for drinks. I am going to have fun no matter what.

[backsbanny]

Thats Definitely not a change made by ncl..If this is true then ncl loses big money due to this!!!They leave 3 hours late which means losses for all the onboard shops and especially big loss for the casino!!!An other big loss the ship has to catch up on this delay which means higher speed thus burning more fuel!!!No way Ncl would like to change the departure time...If they left earlier yes that could be a cost saving thing for ncl making profit of it...But since they lose money out of this this change is NOT theirs!!The new increase in UBP though is theirs!!! For our convenience as always

[travelinmoma]

On a side note, (hopefully not hijacking), how important is the arrival time you pick during online check in? We picked the earliest time just because we were excited to get on the ship, but does it really matter? Or does everyone just arrive whenever they arrive and they will check you in no matter what? I'm also asking because I went through the check in process for my husband and me, but didn't complete it for my tween son. We were waiting on his passport. It arrived today, and when I went online to check him in, the arrival time I picked for my husband and me was no longer available. So he is technically arriving a half hour after us.

[klepton]

What a load of rubbish. You never even looked at the departure time when booking. No one does. It's immaterial. Secondly, you'll not be on land any longer than with a 4pm sailing. You'll board at the same time.

 

But hey, don't let common sense get in the way of your right to needlessly complain.

 

I wouldn't call it rubbish, and I wouldn't call it a lack of common sense either. Different things are important to different people. As mentioned, if sailaway is at 7 instead of 4 some people will miss it because of dining reservations. Also, for those that do enjoy sailaway, it might make the difference of watching sailaway during the daytime or at night. For my particular sailing sunset will be at 5:33pm, so it will be pretty dark by the time we sail (assuming we do sail at 7:00).

 

And I actually do look at departure times pretty religiously, from homeports and each individual port. One of my favorite things about cruising is sitting on my balcony watching land disappear at sunset. I actually started paying attention to departure times and sunset times after my first cruise out of New Orleans. Believe it or not one of the things I was really looking forward to was sailing the Mississippi River for 8 hours and being able to see everything. I didn't even factor in that the sun would set within 45 minutes of shoving off the pier, thus the entire transit was at dark. :D Lesson learned! But I was bummed at the time.

 

I'm not saying I'm going to cancel my cruise or even that it will bring me down at all. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed at not getting to see Miami slip into the horizon while the sun was still shining. It's the little things... :) In fact I booked an Aft Haven Penthouse specifically so I could watch sailaways from there.

[NCLfamily]

To be clear, when I say the departure time isn't relevant. I mean no one looks at a cruise and decides to book or not to book depending on the departure time (short of someone not being able to make an earlier one due to travel).

[RuthlessBoss]

Funny thing is I signed up for a ship with a 4pm departure as well as million dollar quartet and margarittaville as included. Its called cruising for a reason. If I wanted to stay on land a few extra hours I might as well book disney at this point.

 

What do they have to do with leaving later?:eek: Will they go away? What is your point?

[HowardK]

I wouldn't call it rubbish, and I wouldn't call it a lack of common sense either. Different things are important to different people. As mentioned, if sailaway is at 7 instead of 4 some people will miss it because of dining reservations. Also, for those that do enjoy sailaway, it might make the difference of watching sailaway during the daytime or at night. For my particular sailing sunset will be at 5:33pm, so it will be pretty dark by the time we sail (assuming we do sail at 7:00).

 

And I actually do look at departure times pretty religiously, from homeports and each individual port. One of my favorite things about cruising is sitting on my balcony watching land disappear at sunset. I actually started paying attention to departure times and sunset times after my first cruise out of New Orleans. Believe it or not one of the things I was really looking forward to was sailing the Mississippi River for 8 hours and being able to see everything. I didn't even factor in that the sun would set within 45 minutes of shoving off the pier, thus the entire transit was at dark. :D Lesson learned! But I was bummed at the time.

 

I'm not saying I'm going to cancel my cruise or even that it will bring me down at all. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed at not getting to see Miami slip into the horizon while the sun was still shining. It's the little things... :) In fact I booked an Aft Haven Penthouse specifically so I could watch sailaways from there.

 

 

I agree- to me one of the best parts of the cruise is the initial rush when it starts to leave and then how it gradually becomes dark once it's at sea.

Hopefully this was just for that one sailing I would have thought NCL would have sent an announcement and/or mass mailing.

 

It's a seven day cruise- if I board around 11:30am I simply don't want to wait until 7pm to sail, and come the following Saturday morning I am off the ship easy walk off by 7:30am or so.

 

The one thing comforting me either way is that the UDP raised in price and I had it locked in as a promo. Guess I could take advantage of it for those 3 hours while waiting to sail to a certain extent.

[LMaxwell]

To say it is solely the port authority that decides is not accurate. The cruise line also will request a departure slot. For instance Divina leaves later than most because they get a LOT of Europeans that fly in on later flights and the later departure helps to accommodate that.

 

Maybe NCL has found they get a lot of international guests that fly in the day of and needed more time so worked together with the port authority for a later departure.

 

As long as the itinerary is still met this falls under "no big deal" to me.

 

I am booked on the ship and have received no notification of change of time.

Edited February 27, 2016 by LMaxwell

[Minoushka]

I like leaving when all is lit up ...very cool if you are having dinnerby a w indow ..watching city lights as you sail away .I always felt 4 pm too early in anycase ..esp after I missed my cruise because of bad weather on same day ....long story ..cruise got me the flight ...bad choice

Wewere flown to our second stop Cozumel and picked up the ship there .I will never forget our 20 hours at the airport .... A real nightmare

Lesson learned ..now. i try to leave at least a day early ...sometimes 2 ...hey I like Florida

 

I have no problem leaving at 8 pm ...all good

 

Im going on btb from Miami wonder if all ships will be affected sailing out of POM on weekends

 

 

By the way this was our cruise on Costa Atlantica ..which was great after all that

Edited February 27, 2016 by mmemichele

[Nator72]

My June 18th still has 4 Pm. But we all know they are not always on the ball when it comes to updating the web site.

 

As long as we can still board around noon. The only issue is paying tax on the drinks we will order so what $1 something a drink still a great deal

 

Taxes on drinks? Is this because we're still in port? Sorry, as you know, this is all new to me.

[dcipjr]

If this is true, I don't mind the change. We're doing a B2B on the Escape out of Miami, and this means we'll have more time to explore Miami on the turnaround day.

[rusticfurnituremaker]

I just randomly checked 10 different dates in the period mentioned by the OP. All of them still say 4:00 departure, including my cruise leaving on June 11. It would make a difference to me, as we are on a family cruise (many cabins) and some would rather fly down the day of if departure is at 7:00.

 

I called NCL and they (not that you can count on it) said 4:00 for my cruise in June.

[JenniSurf]

I just downloaded the eDocs for our May trip.

Under Cruise Itinerary it states a 4PM departure, however, under Boarding Process it states: Boarding begins 12PM & Departure is listed as 7PM.

[tggs726]

It is now being reported on the not to be mentioned site escape group as well. I'm assuming getting everything updated on the website will take time. Time will tell.

 

-Matt

[beerman2]

It is now being reported on the not to be mentioned site escape group as well. I'm assuming getting everything updated on the website will take time. Time will tell.

 

-Matt

 

Anymore word from your contact?

[Jenjer]

Taxes on drinks? Is this because we're still in port? Sorry, as you know, this is all new to me.

 

Yes while in port in Miami you have to pay the sales tax on your drink, It is usually around $1.00 a drink. Its not NCL's rule but Florida's rule.

 

The other ports Escape visits do not have this charge.

[NCLfamily]

It's 7% tax on drinks whilst in port. So between 50c and 70c for most drinks.

[tggs726]

IMPORTANT: ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

 

In an effort to allow more guests the opportunity to sail Norwegian Escape's 7-Day Eastern Caribbean itineraries from Miami, we have changed her scheduled Miami departure time from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This change will allow guests later flight options for arriving in Miami and will apply to all 7-Day Eastern Caribbean sailings from May 7 - December 31, 2016. Guests continue to be invited to board the ship at their regularly scheduled times and begin enjoying all the exciting amenities Norwegian Escape has to offer.

 

Guests booked on the affected sailings need to be aware of this change and as a courtesy we are sending them a notification today.

[olcar]

IMPORTANT: ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

 

In an effort to allow more guests the opportunity to sail Norwegian Escape's 7-Day Eastern Caribbean itineraries from Miami, we have changed her scheduled Miami departure time from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This change will allow guests later flight options for arriving in Miami and will apply to all 7-Day Eastern Caribbean sailings from May 7 - December 31, 2016. Guests continue to be invited to board the ship at their regularly scheduled times and begin enjoying all the exciting amenities Norwegian Escape has to offer.

 

Guests booked on the affected sailings need to be aware of this change and as a courtesy we are sending them a notification today.

 

 

Any word with the 8-day sailings?