Ships spending less and less time in port

[waytoodeep03]

What is going on here? 10-20 years ago a ship would be sunup to sundown in a port. Now these days you are lucky to get half a day in a port.

 

For example im on the harmony of the seas. We spent less than 8 hrs in st martin and left for Puerto rico which we are here until after 130pm.

 

What for? They aren't far from each other. We could've at least stayed in st martin until sundown and Puerto Rico until sundown as well.

 

I noticed this same trend on carnival too. Why are ships spending less time in Port these days as compared to years past

[JoyMouse]

Port time is definitely something I consider when booking a cruise.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Guessing to minimize port fees and fuel usage (longer time to make the next port, so less fuel used).

[Cinders411]

Personally, I would rather have fewer ports if the ship stayed in them longer.

[nbsjcruiser]

What is going on here? 10-20 years ago a ship would be sunup to sundown in a port. Now these days you are lucky to get half a day in a port.

 

For example im on the harmony of the seas. We spent less than 8 hrs in st martin and left for Puerto rico which we are here until after 130pm.

 

What for? They aren't far from each other. We could've at least stayed in st martin until sundown and Puerto Rico until sundown as well.

 

I noticed this same trend on carnival too. Why are ships spending less time in Port these days as compared to years past

 

You've hit on a sore point for me as well. Cruising used to be about seeing multiple ports on a cruise and spending nice full days at each. Now the ship is the vacation as far as RCI is concerned. They want to keep you on the ship and spending money in the casino, in bars, on bingo. Its all nickles and dimes now. Its something I've noticed more and more in the last few years. Keep the price of the cruise down and nickel and dime people to death once they're on board. Things have changed in the last 2-3 years have changed though. Now the cruise price is higher AND they nickel and dime anyway. The shine is starting to wear off for me.

[easyboy]

Personally, I would rather have fewer ports if the ship stayed in them longer.

 

 

When cruising, we also choose itinerary on which ports to explore with more time to enjoy.

 

 

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[luvscruising2007]

We are taking a cruise to the ABC islands on the Navigator, a 9 day cruise.

Our itinerary is as follows:

Labadee 8am to 5pm

Aruba 8am to 11:59pm

Bonaire 7am to 8pm

Curacao 7am to 5pm

I believe you have study your itinerary and if long port times are important to you then don't book the cruises that aren't to your satisfaction.

And maybe some of this problem has to do with the newer ships that can only go to certain ports and only do 7 day cruises.

[bouhunter]

You've hit on a sore point for me as well. Cruising used to be about seeing multiple ports on a cruise and spending nice full days at each. Now the ship is the vacation as far as RCI is concerned. They want to keep you on the ship and spending money in the casino, in bars, on bingo. Its all nickles and dimes now. Its something I've noticed more and more in the last few years. Keep the price of the cruise down and nickel and dime people to death once they're on board. Things have changed in the last 2-3 years have changed though. Now the cruise price is higher AND they nickel and dime anyway. The shine is starting to wear off for me.

 

Any time spent here at cruise critic will reveal it's the PASSENGERS as much or more than the cruiseline who say the ship is the vacation/destination for them. With the huge new ships and fewer ports RCCL is just giving a lot of customers exactly what they want.

[cruzinlisa]

Generally I feel like the 8-5 port times, which has pretty much been standard for the Caribbean cruises I have been on is long enough. If its shorter or off times (like once we had 6 a.m. to 1 p.m) in Nassau- then I agree its too short. It probably also depends on what you are doing in port. Most of the time we are doing beach or shopping so 7 or 8 hours in port is MORE than enough time for us. I am not sure which ports I would really want to stay much longer in anyway- except maybe Cozumel.

[waytoodeep03]

Generally I feel like the 8-5 port times, which has pretty much been standard for the Caribbean cruises I have been on is long enough. If its shorter or off times (like once we had 6 a.m. to 1 p.m) in Nassau- then I agree its too short. It probably also depends on what you are doing in port. Most of the time we are doing beach or shopping so 7 or 8 hours in port is MORE than enough time for us. I am not sure which ports I would really want to stay much longer in anyway- except maybe Cozumel.

 

Well today was Puerto rico. A beautiful place with plenty to do. I have no idea why the time was 730am to 130pm. Some Stores didn't open until 10am. Just a total waste at a beautiful place

[Scrap Addict]

I was bummed to discover that we're not in port long enough to take the traditional excursions for 2 of my favorite ports - Malaga (to see Alhambra) and Cadiz (to see Grenada) on my upcoming Indy cruise.

 

None of the tour operators feel our time is port is sufficient for those excursions. Neither does RCCL - they aren't offering them either. :rolleyes:

[fred30]

Generally I feel like the 8-5 port times, which has pretty much been standard for the Caribbean cruises I have been on is long enough. If its shorter or off times (like once we had 6 a.m. to 1 p.m) in Nassau- then I agree its too short. It probably also depends on what you are doing in port. Most of the time we are doing beach or shopping so 7 or 8 hours in port is MORE than enough time for us. I am not sure which ports I would really want to stay much longer in anyway- except maybe Cozumel.

 

These time may be long enough but on days where there a longer port times there is much less congestion getting on and off the ship. Watch the Webcam in Bermuda. When the ship is staying overnight people are returning at a much more spread out leisurely pace. But when the ship is leaving at 5:00pm there is always huge amounts of people returning at once. They are moving at faster pace with more lines and congestion.

 

And if it's a tendered port the lines are really long on shorter days. When we were in Bar Harbor on the Quantum we waited in line about an hour to get on a tender to return to the ship.

[mcatmcat]

I avoid booking a cruise with stops at Nassau or Puerto Rico due to their schedule

 

 

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[setsail]

I was bummed to discover that we're not in port long enough to take the traditional excursions for 2 of my favorite ports - Malaga (to see Alhambra) and Cadiz (to see Grenada) on my upcoming Indy cruise.

 

None of the tour operators feel our time is port is sufficient for those excursions. Neither does RCCL - they aren't offering them either. :rolleyes:

 

Does this mean you booked the cruise before checking on port and excursion times?

[atanac]

From a business standpoint this is fairly obvious. On sea days the ship will take in much more money than on a port day. I'm sure the company ethos for cruise lines is to maximize profits and this is one way to do that.

[fred30]

Plus with the amount of people on-board it is much easier to start dinner and evening activities between 5 and 6pm then it would be to jam it all in a couple of hours later.

[kruzerci]

It's a win-win for them.

 

The slower they can sail, the lower the fuel cost. On top of that, when the ship is docked, people can spend money on and off the ship, when it is at sea, the only option is to spend money onboard.

 

I agree, though. The port times on the Eastern itineraries in particular has gotten to be so short. A lot of times the arrival in St. Thomas from the Bahamas is 10:30-11AM. It doesn't take that long- they used to leave Nassau or CocoCay mid afternoon and still arrive in St. Thomas at 8AM.

[yuvraj]

I agree with the comments on this thread.

 

On our next cruise, we have just half a day in Nassau. It's not just about how much time is sufficient but the stress caused by having to rush or worrying about not having enough time.

[mek]

If you don't like the amount of time spent in a particular port why would you book that cruise? Especially in the Caribbean???????

[CRUISEFAN0001]

This is a classic "It depends" topic.

 

We've had several cruises where we were in port all day and even later. In 2015, we spent roughly 12 hours in La Spezia and Civitavecchia ports.In other ports, we have spent a solid 8 hours in the Caribbean.

 

Agree with the other ports where one should consider the time in port when booking.

[island lady]

Also agree. There is less time in ports, but perhaps due to cost of being docked longer and many pax wanting to be back early to get ready for early dinner, cocktails...etc. Not worth the extra cost?

 

The ships do indeed make more money when you are on the ship, and not spending in port, with the obvious exception

of a controlled situation like Labadee and Coco Cay...the bulk of the money spent at those ports going into RCI's pockets. ;)

[thejewgernaut]

Obviously just one cruise of many itineraries, but I am on Harmony with a Western Caribbean itinerary next week and it's something like 11 hours in Cozumel and 9 in Jamaica. I also didn't feel shorted on the Med cruise I took a couple of years ago.

 

At least for me it seems to be driven by ship selection. The Oasis class definitely has less port stops. There seem to be many stops in various itineraries for the smaller ships.

[JKHawaii]

According to the Royal Caribbean website, the port time in St Maarten was 8 AM - 5 PM, which was the same as my Harmony cruise in January. If you had to leave before 5 PM, I'm sure there was a valid reason .......... ask the crew! From my cruising experience, they try their best to stick to the schedule unless there is some circumstance that causes them to deviate.

 

As for leaving San Juan at 2 PM, it takes the Harmony about 19 hours to reach Labadee, the next stop. If you left San Juan at sunset, you wouldn't reach Labadee until just before sundown ............ giving you only an hour or two there.

 

The Harmony is a big ship and doesn't have as high a cruising speed as some smaller ships. For me, ships like the Harmony ARE the destination, especially if you've been to all the Caribbean ports a few times. I'll get off the ship and walk around for a bit, but happy to return after a few hours to free food, sparkling pools, air conditioning, and clean rest rooms!

 

As others have mentioned, it might be a good idea to plan ahead and look for itineraries that suit you BEFORE you book. Celebrity, for example, now have some overnight stops.

[island lady]

Obviously just one cruise of many itineraries, but I am on Harmony with a Western Caribbean itinerary next week and it's something like 11 hours in Cozumel and 9 in Jamaica. I also didn't feel shorted on the Med cruise I took a couple of years ago.

 

At least for me it seems to be driven by ship selection. The Oasis class definitely has less port stops. There seem to be many stops in various itineraries for the smaller ships.

 

There are many ports the big Oasis class ships cannot access. They also are not set up to tender at ports, and must always be one with a hard dock. That limits where they can go. Labadee used to be a tender port, and now Coco Cay is putting in a hard dock.

[shipgeeks]

I go on a cruise to be on a ship, so time in port is just waiting to get going again. If I could just sail around the Carib for a week or so without actually docking anywhere, I'd love it.