Will there be a lot more ships at each port now that eastern Caribbean has moved to w

[Loncallen11]

Ships in Port

 

 

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[don't-use-real-name]

Yes there will be more ships plying the western Caribbean and they can't all be calling at the same port due

to limited pier space. If that happens one or more of the ships may have to tender.

But what is most likely to happen is that a port that usually had one ship from a cruise line once a week is now

going to have visits maybe 2 or more times in a week with other ships in that cruise line fleets.

Now that is just NCL - add in Carnival Disney Holland-America Royal Caribbean etc. so now these cruise lines

are going to have to schedule their port calls to share the available pier space. Ports that had a frequency of

twice a week visit are going to be seeing a ship every day of the week. Factor in that your planned vacation

starting on a Sunday to Sunday week will maybe moved to a Monday to Monday or other later in the week

sailing. Ports like Cozumel could handle 4 ships Roatan 3 Costa Maya 2 at pier docking and one port Belize

since it is a tending port any number of ships - NCL however is alternately using Harvest Cay. There are other

ports of call that I haven't been to - Jamaica Cancun Merida (Progreso) Caymans etc.

With coordination and mutual cooperation it is workable but will be overkill to some ports.

Depending on how fast the infrastructure of the devastated islands can be restored there could perhaps be a

mix of ports making some cruises very interesting as sea cruises or port intensive cruises.

There will be something for everyone. It would be an interesting mix combining some southern Caribbean ports

with western.

So YES loncallen11 - there is a Santa Claus but there will not be any chimney visits for awhile !

[zqvol]

There are quite a few ports in the Western Caribbean that NCL does not use. They may have to make arrangements with those places. I expect to see more stops at Grand Cayman. I also think that you will see more use of the three Jamaica stops. Lines will probably double up on places like Roatan whihc can handle up to four or five ships a day (there is dock space for at least three and it is not uncommon even now for one to tender).

 

Cozumel can accommodate up to eleven ships a day, though it is a circus when that happens.

 

Belize City is now underutilized with the opening of Harvest Caye. Additionally it can probably handle twice as many ships on a given day as it accepts now. Tenders might be the issue but the ships can always use their own tenders.

 

I think that you will also see cruise lines changing the order of port calls. You might even see some ships adding places like Mobile and New Orleans as ports of call. New Orleans could even be an over night stop.

 

It is going to be an interesting year or two (maybe longer) before the traditional eastern ports of call are ready to accept visitors again.

[newmexicoNita]

Ships in Port

 

 

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yes, there will be a lot more, but there are a lot of Western ports to split up the mass migration. I know, I have already thought about that when planning our tours for out Nov sailing out of New Orleans. That being said, we were in port, I don't remember which one a few years ago along with 8 other ships. It caused no real problems and was sorta fun watching each ship sail away. It happened NCL was one of, if not, the last ship to leave that day. By the time we left it was dark so all the ships had lights on. I think the biggest concern is going to be booking tours.

[legion_ninja]

won't some if the longer cruises (9+ days) go south? I searched through all of NCLs Caribbean ports and don't recall seeing any stop at Martinique or Grenada or Montserrat (but I could be wrong). Do any ships ever stop at Trinidad or Tobago? Just curious. my heart goes out to all those impacted.

 

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[oldplayer532]

They will shorten the port time to 6 hours and add more sea days perhaps. Just like they do in Key Weat, Old San Juan , and Victoria.

[sunny2runner]

Add in all the ships coming to the Caribbean in November through April repositioning from Alaska & Europe. Cruise lines are going to have to get super creative in building itineraries

 

Ships coming from Port Canaveral won't be able to travel as far the ABC islands or the southern Caribbean so they will be limited to cruise lines private island - some might add Dominican Republic ports like Amber Cove and La Romana and Puerto Rico and I think all the Jamaican ports will be in play. Also, Costa Maya instead of Cozumel as Cozumel port is already mostly full for winter season with the exception of early in the week like on Mondays/Tuesdays. In addition an older port that Carnival uses Progreso in Mexico maybe added when a ship can't get into Costa Maya or Cozumel.

 

Ships coming from Port Everglades & Miami will have more options in St. Croix, Martinique, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts and maybe to go as far as ABC islands.

Edited September 15, 2017 by sunny2runner

[sunny2runner]

won't some if the longer cruises (9+ days) go south? I searched through all of NCLs Caribbean ports and don't recall seeing any stop at Martinique or Grenada or Montserrat (but I could be wrong). Do any ships ever stop at Trinidad or Tobago? Just curious. my heart goes out to all those impacted.

 

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Yes some of Princess 10-14 days itineraries stop at Trinidad, Tobago as well as Martinique, Grenada, St Vincents, St. Lucia. I think the longer cruises have more time to travel the distance but the 7 days cruises limit the distance that most ships coming from Miami/Ft Lauderdale can travel.

 

I just read on the Princess forum that someone doing a 10 night in October had ports changed from St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Tortola to St. Croix, Martinque and Grenada.

Edited September 15, 2017 by sunny2runner