Ships spending less and less time in port

[danp]

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

Look at the port in San Juan,we received a notice from RCCL that they are cutting our time there,as you say,we are are now leaving SJ at 2pm not 3pm,we checked the port for the day that we are there and there are ships coming in at 3pm so the port can make more money

[Biker19]

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.

Cruises to nowhere are no longer scheduled by cruise lines.

[paigebeverly]

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.

 

I never looked at it that way. We will be on the Allure on the 18th and I was bummed out they took and hour from Puerto Rico. But my husband reassured me that 6 hours is more than enough time their in the summer time. Plus we plan on just walking off the ship and just winging it anyways.