Constant change in boarding time

[Takoyaki]

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Over the last month my upcoming cruise has had a change of boarding times about 15 or so times. Some of these changes occur more than once a day. Sometimes people in our roll call have drastically different boarding times on e-docs all printed same day (3 hour or larger discrepancies).

 

It makes it very hard to plan arriving in port when you cannot get a straight answer. My concierge said check in started at 11am an hour after my e-docs and check in page changed to say not to show up until at least 3:30. When I tried calling and inquiring they simply read me my e-docs (which had already changed multiple times in the days leading up to the call and have changed a few times since)

 

In fact today it changed again from "arrive between 4:00-4:30" to "arrive between 4:30-5:00" this is a 7:00 departure, that is cutting things close. I intend on calling again tonight and trying to push for a supervisor(?) We are traveling with friends, and our 2 year old, trying to plan things when they cannot set a time is getting frustrating. Also a 5:00 boarding time means we miss basically a whole day of the trip.

 

Any advice or suggestions? or are we simply at their will?

[don't-use-real-name]

First off - What Port and Ship are you boarding ?

 

Ship arrives and everyone on board disembarks - cleared by CBI - ship cleaned and resupplied -

Boarding commences by groups status and category - everyone must be on board a couple of hours before sailing

and attend a muster drill - - -

 

So where the heck is all this conflicting misdirection misinformation stuff coming from -

Boarding is supposed to be straight forward - the only time that times change is if the ship arrives late from its

previous cruise.

 

Maybe NCL is having a bad hic-cup computer day ?

 

[tomservo]

Just to add to this, the ship is coming up from Florida without any passengers. The port schedule shows it arriving around 2pm. Not sure if it needs a coast guard or USPH inspection. If everyone needs to be on board an hour or 2 before departure, I have no idea how they're going to get everyone on board on time. Some are worried that they might push the departure time back.

 

4 minutes ago, don't-use-real-name said:

First off - What Port and Ship are you boarding ?

 

This is the Getaway 4 day Bermuda cruise out of Manhattan.

[Takoyaki]

3 minutes ago, don't-use-real-name said:

First off - What Port and Ship are you boarding ?

 

Ship arrives and everyone on board disembarks - cleared by CBI - ship cleaned and resupplied -

Boarding commences by groups status and category - everyone must be on board a couple of hours before sailing

and attend a muster drill - - -

 

So where the heck is all this conflicting misdirection misinformation stuff coming from -

Boarding is supposed to be straight forward - the only time that times change is if the ship arrives late from its

previous cruise.

 

Maybe NCL is having a bad hic-cup computer day ?

 

New York,

Ship will be empty,

it is disembarking in Florida on the 7th and we board on the 9th.

Others in our roll call have been informed that muster is at 5 which is funny because that is when we are being told to arrive.

 

I would agree with the computer comment but it has been going on for weeks and we are all getting different answers when we reach out to ncl.

[tomservo]

Myself and others are upset at how late boarding time is. We payed for a 4 day cruise, not for one that is 3 days and change. Has anyone else seen a ship board this late?

Edited April 1, 2019 by tomservo

[Jembeccatoo]

Last year I sailed on the Escape out of Manhattan. It was arriving empty from Florida. The evening before the cruise, NCL sent out texts and calls telling passengers not to arrive before noon. 

The ship had to wait for the tide to go out to be able to pass under the Verizzano bridge. Being empty, it was riding higher and that affected the clearance.

[Takoyaki]

17 minutes ago, Jembeccatoo said:

Last year I sailed on the Escape out of Manhattan. It was arriving empty from Florida. The evening before the cruise, NCL sent out texts and calls telling passengers not to arrive before noon. 

The ship had to wait for the tide to go out to be able to pass under the Verizzano bridge. Being empty, it was riding higher and that affected the clearance.

Interesting!

 

Tides are low at 6:40am high 12:45 and low again at 6:30pm so let's home they are not going to wait for 6:30pm lol

[Homosassa]

2 hours ago, tomservo said:

Myself and others are upset at how late boarding time is. We payed for a 4 day cruise, not for one that is 3 days and change. Has anyone else seen a ship board this late?

 

I pulled this cruise up and it is listed as a four night cruise and not a four day cruise. You are getting four nights.

 

Embarkation and debarkation days are always short days.

 

Cruise lines created a monster when they started offering a lunch the day of embarkation.  People started to think they were entitled to, and paying, for a full day on embarkation day when the cruise actually starts at sail away.

 

And yes, I have been on cruises that didn't board until after 5 PM.

[tomservo]

15 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

 

I pulled this cruise up and it is listed as a four night cruise and not a four day cruise. You are getting four nights.

 

Embarkation and debarkation days are always short days.

 

NCL says otherwise:

 

 

Regardless, it wouldn't bother me as much if it were a 7 day/night cruise, but it makes a difference on this short of a cruise. If I knew we would be boarding 5 hours after I would expect to, that's the kind of information I would use in order to decide whether or not I was booking this cruise. My edocs said noon before I made final payment. Now weeks before, they're pushing it back 5 hours?

 

20 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

Cruise lines created a monster when they started offering a lunch the day of embarkation.  People started to think they were entitled to, and paying, for a full day on embarkation day when the cruise actually starts at sail away.

 

Lunch is not one of my priorities. I want to explore the ship.

[don't-use-real-name]

*"BUT"* this all goes back to the confusion of the eDocs boarding and check-in times being changed.

 

NCL please one standard straight forward answer.

 

So the ship is a deadhead to NYC and may have tidal bridge clearance problems as well as Hudson river

traffic - THAT does not mean that the eDocs have continual changing information.

Also note that while the ship may not need CBI inspection it still needs to have provisions loaded for the

cruise and the luggage of the guests - AND - then the guests themselves.

[luv2kroooz]

Sorry to hear about this delay. Frank Del Fee-O surely will have something to say about this. Just think about all the 20%service charges he won't be able to collect!!

[Thegigs103]

On this cruise also....after over 45 cruises never saw such confusion!!!  What a mess!😳

[PTC DAWG]

Sounds awful, I would cancel. I predict you will be back at port 4 days after you leave...still, sounds awful, I would cancel. 🙂

Edited April 2, 2019 by PTC DAWG

[Takoyaki]

As an update:

My TA spoke to NCL last night and was told boarding and check in begin at noon

 

Someone in roll call called this morning and was told ship wont arrive to NY until 2 and boarding begins then.

 

 

[PTC DAWG]

Just now, Takoyaki said:

As an update:

My TA spoke to NCL last night and was told boarding and check in begin at noon

 

Someone in roll call called this morning and was told ship wont arrive to NY until 2 and boarding begins then.

 

 

There are a few sites where you can track the ships location... Marine Tracker is one, google will give you more.  

 

 

[tomk3212]

Am amazed that NCL would "deadhead" an empty ship from FL to NYC.  Does this happen often?  How long is the transit time?  I would think that unless there's a regulation or something that limits the number of days that they'd be able to sell a repositioning cruise from FL to NYC.  I know they can no longer do the one night cruise-to-nowhere itineraries from US ports so maybe it's something like that.

 

We sailed on the Breakaway last October from NYC to the Caribbean & we had all kinds of time-related issues also.  Ship was late arriving from Europe (an hour or so) but USCG had to do a full inspection since ship was newly arrived from Europe (that's what we were told anyway...) so we didn't start boarding till 130PM or so.  Coming back from the Caribbean we had a medical emergency that delayed the scheduled arrival from 0800 till 5PM.  THEN we ran into a big storm near NYC and had to render assistance to a storm-related  "man overboard" incident on a neighboring ship.  THEN we had to offload pax who had a DIFFERENT medical emergency in Staten Island.  THEN we ran into harbor pilot issues (again, storm related) that delayed our entrance and subsequent docking till 930PM! 

 

We thought NCL would postpone Breakaway's intended departure till the following next day (it was going to NOLA via the Caribbean) but we saw the pax waiting in the terminal  to board as we docked.  While our pax were rather angry (MANY folks missed overseas & other flights) & annoyed I can only imagine how the pax about to board were feeling after having waited most of the day for our arrival.

[beerman2]

1 hour ago, Takoyaki said:

As an update:

My TA spoke to NCL last night and was told boarding and check in begin at noon

 

Someone in roll call called this morning and was told ship wont arrive to NY until 2 and boarding begins then.

 

 

" check in " begins at noon with " boarding" at 2:00 is a realistic timeframe.

 

Boarding and check in at noon doesn't even make sense, considering  check in always comes first.

 

[Takoyaki]

1 minute ago, beerman2 said:

" check in " begins at noon with " boarding" at 2:00 is a realistic timeframe.

 

Boarding and check in at noon doesn't even make sense, considering  check in always comes first.

 

I agree, TA called again and was now told check in at noon boarding begins around 1.

 

I see a park with a playground next to the pier, maybe I will just go early and worst case take my daughter to the playground until check in hah.

[shof515]

57 minutes ago, tomk3212 said:

Am amazed that NCL would "deadhead" an empty ship from FL to NYC.  Does this happen often?  How long is the transit time?  I would think that unless there's a regulation or something that limits the number of days that they'd be able to sell a repositioning cruise from FL to NYC.  I know they can no longer do the one night cruise-to-nowhere itineraries from US ports so maybe it's something like that.

 

 

it is common for ships to deadhead between FL and NYC, usually happens at least once to twice a year. Other cruise lines do it too when ships change homeport between FL and NYC

 

It takes about 2 days for the ship to go between FL and NYC. They are various regulations that require a ship  embarking in US port and disembarking in a different US Port to visit a distant foreign port of call

[tomk3212]

To shof515: Thanks for the information!  I didn't think of it from the Jones Act POV re: touching a foreign port but what you say makes perfect sense from that POV!

 

Thanks again!

[don't-use-real-name]

1 hour ago, tomk3212 said:

Am amazed that NCL would "deadhead" an empty ship from FL to NYC.  Does this happen often?  How long is the transit time?  I would think that unless there's a regulation or something that limits the number of days that they'd be able to sell a repositioning cruise from FL to NYC.  I know they can no longer do the one night cruise-to-nowhere itineraries from US ports so maybe it's something like that.

 

We sailed on the Breakaway last October from NYC to the Caribbean & we had all kinds of time-related issues also.  Ship was late arriving from Europe (an hour or so) but USCG had to do a full inspection since ship was newly arrived from Europe (that's what we were told anyway...) so we didn't start boarding till 130PM or so.  Coming back from the Caribbean we had a medical emergency that delayed the scheduled arrival from 0800 till 5PM.  THEN we ran into a big storm near NYC and had to render assistance to a storm-related  "man overboard" incident on a neighboring ship.  THEN we had to offload pax who had a DIFFERENT medical emergency in Staten Island.  THEN we ran into harbor pilot issues (again, storm related) that delayed our entrance and subsequent docking till 930PM! 

 

We thought NCL would postpone Breakaway's intended departure till the following next day (it was going to NOLA via the Caribbean) but we saw the pax waiting in the terminal  to board as we docked.  While our pax were rather angry (MANY folks missed overseas & other flights) & annoyed I can only imagine how the pax about to board were feeling after having waited most of the day for our arrival.

The hazards of tight scheduling - airlines do it all the time - creates a domino effect disrupting everything thereafter

until the dawn of new day when there is a bit of respite to recover. Result is time lost in any event and the customer

is the time lost recipient.

[don't-use-real-name]

Just now, tomk3212 said:

To shof515: Thanks for the information!  I didn't think of it from the Jones Act POV re: touching a foreign port but what you say makes perfect sense from that POV!

 

Thanks again!

It is not the (Cargo) Jones Act but the PVSA (Passenger Vessel) - exceptions are made for NON-Revenue sailing.

However ship Repositioning cruises are another thing requiring that foreign port call.

[tomk3212]

To  don't-use-real-name: Thanks!  I thought the Jones Act was all-inclusive (cargo & passenger) but obviously not.  Thanks once again! 

[Takoyaki]

Thank you for the insight!

[mking8288]

Getaway and/or other cruise ships sailing to/from and thru this area will possibly need to slow it down or speed throttled due to mandatory USCG enforced restrictions for the endangered Right Whales zones, including specifically, entrance area for NY Harbor, in & around Sandy Hook, NJ - between November 1 & April 30th - as whales and young calves migrate along the Atlantic and sometimes play & stray away from the "defined" routes and waters.  

 

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation/reducing-ship-strikes-north-atlantic-right-whales#seasonal-management-areas---northeast

 

Ship has a very tight schedule to keep to do this run on 5 days - it's going to need all the speed & good tailwind, running mostly near top speed for a day stop at Dockyard.   

 

Those using Brooklyn's Red Hook terminal are going to have logistical issues with ground transfers and pier layout, as NCL seldom use it ... except, later this month - going to be a new & different, interesting experience on how things are mapped & implemented.