Delayed embarkation for Summit 5/19/19 sailing

[Alsmez]

Apparently the Anthem of the Seas has been delayed by a day due to a medical evacuation, and now they will be returning to Bayonne just ahead of Summit on 5/19/19. We just received the following email from Celebrity regarding embarkation for Summit's 5/19 sailing:

 

We look forward to welcoming you aboard Celebrity Summit^® for your 7-Night Bermuda Cruise departing this weekend from Port Cape Liberty, New Jersey. Before we board, we have some important information to share with you.

 

Yesterday two guests aboard Anthem of the Seas experienced life-threatening medical emergencies which required Anthem to change course and facilitate medical evacuations.  Both guests are now on shore receiving all required medical care.  However, this change in course will require the Anthem to dock in Cape Liberty the morning of May 19^th at the time the Celebrity Summit was originally scheduled to arrive for debarkation.

 

In order to accommodate debarkation and embarkation procedures for both vessels, the Celebrity Summit will now arrive in Port Cape Liberty after Anthem of the Seas.  Embarkation procedures for guests sailing on May 19^th have now been scheduled for 2:00 – 3:45 PM. 

 

Please note, seating is limited within the terminal, to avoid standing in long lines please plan on arriving to the Pier on time.  The Celebrity Summit will depart at 5:00 PM.  All guests must be checked in and onboard 60 minutes prior to our scheduled departure.

 

We appreciate your understanding under these unique circumstances. As always, our primary concern is the health and safety of our guests and crew.  Once again, we look forward to welcoming you aboard the Celebrity Summit and providing you an unforgettable vacation.

 

 

[warmwinds]

We're leaving Sunday on the Summit, too, and I'm following this on the RCCL board, too (as I see you are also).

 

Glad the sick passengers are ok but what a mess Sunday is going to be.  We're coming from JFK (not our choice) so the timing is going to be very difficult.  We're having the car service pick us up at our JFK hotel at 1 pm, hopefully that will get us to Bayonne about 2-2:30.

[MikeKl]

On Summit now, received the following regarding our disembarkation:  The port will not be fun on Sunday!  See you all in NJ

[warmwinds]

I'm not 100% on how airline changes work, but I thought it was a $125 fee (or thereabouts) for the change alone - PLUS - you had to pay the difference in fare.  A last minute ticket a day later (or several hours later) is going to be a LOT more than just giving you $150 to cover both.  Even if you wait and get this change fee waiver, will everyone still have to pony up the difference in fare out of their own pockets?

 

Let us know if you have any more updates.

[Alsmez]

I saw on the Anthem thread that those folks will get their change fees waived but will have to pay any fare difference themselves - pretty crappy of RCCL not to cover that, IMO. Last minute fares are never cheap, and may not even be available same-day.

[warmwinds]

I'm sure if you bought travel insurance it would be covered, but it could be a big expense for those that did not.

 

I also agree that RCCL should foot the bill, even though it was out of their control, it was even more out of the control of the passengers.

 

We were wondering if they airlifted the passengers off by helicopter or if they actually went and docked in Nassau.

 

For those of us leaving Bayonne at 5 pm Sunday, it is going to be a mess getting luggage, having the muster drill before we depart...and not to personalize this, but we just bought that fancy first night dinner that is supposed to start at 5:30 - I wonder what will happen to that?

[Alsmez]

3 minutes ago, warmwinds said:

For those of us leaving Bayonne at 5 pm Sunday, it is going to be a mess getting luggage, having the muster drill before we depart...and not to personalize this, but we just bought that fancy first night dinner that is supposed to start at 5:30 - I wonder what will happen to that?

 

Since our scheduled departure is at 5pm, all aboard is at 4 - I wouldn't think your 5:30 dinner would be affected (at least I hope!). 

[warmwinds]

You're right, I'm all messed up with all the Celebrity times and Royal times.  

 

I wonder what time the muster drill will be.

 

What's really ironic is that since we HAD to fly into JFK, we'll have time in the morning to go check out the new TWA hotel.  So a bit of a silver lining for us.  And our hotel was great about granting us a late checkout, too.

[Alsmez]

Just now, warmwinds said:

You're right, I'm all messed up with all the Celebrity times and Royal times.  

 

I wonder what time the muster drill will be.

 

What's really ironic is that since we HAD to fly into JFK, we'll have time in the morning to go check out the new TWA hotel.  So a bit of a silver lining for us.  And our hotel was great about granting us a late checkout, too.

 

Nice that there's a bright side! We live about 30 mins from Bayonne so we're driving - trying to decide whether we should come a little later or just head to Jersey in the late morning as originally planned and punt when we get close if the port traffic is horrible. We can always get lunch or kill a couple of hours shopping in Elizabeth.

[warmwinds]

Do you live in NJ or NY?  We lived in Bergen County for a while.

 

 

[Alsmez]

We're in southern Westchester county, NY. Lived in the city for 15 years before moving north for more space and more green! 😁

[warmwinds]

Did you see the post on the other board where a Summit passenger is saying he was told to get there at the USUAL time?

 

How much more confusing is this going to get?

[Alsmez]

21 minutes ago, warmwinds said:

Did you see the post on the other board where a Summit passenger is saying he was told to get there at the USUAL time?

 

How much more confusing is this going to get?

 

I'm guessing that poster is referring to the same notice I posted above, or perhaps the text I received earlier, which states:

 

"Embarkation procedures for the Summit are now scheduled for 2:00-3:45pm. Please plan on arriving to the Pier on time. Summit will depart at 5:00pm."

 

Since they don't specify what time "on time" is, it's very easy to think they mean to arrive at the regularly scheduled time (i.e. before noon), rather than around the new 2pm embarkation start time.

[warmwinds]

No, I read that as being that 2 pm is the new time, and you should be "on time" at 2.  I haven't received that text/e-mail at all, just the original one you posted in post #1.

[Alsmez]

1 minute ago, warmwinds said:

No, I read that as being that 2 pm is the new time, and you should be "on time" at 2.  I haven't received that text/e-mail at all, just the original one you posted in post #1.

 

I read it that way too, but I do understand how others might not.

[HardyVA]

This is confusing. We usually get to Bayonne about 10. (This is our 5th cruise to Bermuda on Summit) A bit early but we breeze right through security and check in.  So we changed our limo pick up to get there at 11 because of the email we received. 

Will the porters be available curbside at 11even though Summit is disembarking at 11?  

[Alsmez]

Just now, HardyVA said:

This is confusing. We usually get to Bayonne about 10. (This is our 5th cruise to Bermuda on Summit) A bit early but we breeze right through security and check in.  So we changed our limo pick up to get there at 11 because of the email we received. 

Will the porters be available curbside at 11even though Summit is disembarking at 11?  

 

I would imagine that the port will be absolute madness at 11am, given that people departing Summit will be scrambling to make their flights on time. 

[HardyVA]

So what time do you suggest we get there?

[warmwinds]

24 minutes ago, HardyVA said:

So what time do you suggest we get there?

We're going to aim for 2 pm, the earliest time they said. 

[HardyVA]

Some one on RCCL msg board said they got a notice to arrive the regular time?  They didn't post the notice.

[Alsmez]

1 hour ago, HardyVA said:

So what time do you suggest we get there?

 

We've been talking about it and we've decided to aim for between 1-1:30pm, traffic permitting. There are a couple of big events happening on Sunday that could create traffic issues in NY/NJ (a bike race that begins and ends at the George Washington Bridge and a KTS concert at the Meadowlands), so we'll have to keep an eye on Google traffic to avoid those slow downs. The bike race is the biggest issue for us since we live north of the city, but shouldn't affect anyone coming from LGA or JFK.

[seadays4me]

1 hour ago, Alsmez said:

 

I'm guessing that poster is referring to the same notice I posted above, or perhaps the text I received earlier, which states:

 

"Embarkation procedures for the Summit are now scheduled for 2:00-3:45pm. Please plan on arriving to the Pier on time. Summit will depart at 5:00pm."

 

Since they don't specify what time "on time" is, it's very easy to think they mean to arrive at the regularly scheduled time (i.e. before noon), rather than around the new 2pm embarkation start time.

I read as "on time" being the scheduled appointment time on your Xpress Pass.  I think that 12:00 PM is the earliest appointment time.  If 2200+ passengers don't show up until after 2:00pm they would not all be checked in and on the ship by 4:00PM.  But that's just my opinion of how its worded.  Even under normal conditions passengers are checking in while passengers are still getting off the ship.  

[Alsmez]

1 minute ago, seadays4me said:

I read as "on time" being the scheduled appointment time on your Xpress Pass.  I think that 12:00 PM is the earliest appointment time.  If 2200+ passengers don't show up until after 2:00pm they would not all be checked in and on the ship by 4:00PM.  But that's just my opinion of how its worded.  Even under normal conditions passengers are checking in while passengers are still getting off the ship.  

 

I agree, getting everyone checked in between 2pm and 4pm is going to be challenging. I also totally understand why you interpret "on time" as you do - IMO it is ambiguously worded, and I'm sure many people will read it the same way you do. The only reason I interpreted it as meaning closer to the new time is because they made a point to state that there is limited seating at the terminal and they want to avoid having people stand in long lines. I think we're in for a lot of traffic and confusion regardless! 

[warmwinds]

4 minutes ago, seadays4me said:

I read as "on time" being the scheduled appointment time on your Xpress Pass.  I think that 12:00 PM is the earliest appointment time.  If 2200+ passengers don't show up until after 2:00pm they would not all be checked in and on the ship by 4:00PM.  But that's just my opinion of how its worded.  Even under normal conditions passengers are checking in while passengers are still getting off the ship.  

The new times are because of the EMERGENCY on the Royal Caribbean ship.  Usually one ship a day would be in port (Anthem on Saturday, Summit on Sunday), but because of this one-off, unusual circumstance, they have had to change all times to let 2 ships be able to disembark and embark on the same day.

 

What you printed on your express pass weeks ago is totally irrelevant under these emergency circumstances.

[seadays4me]

8 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

 

I agree, getting everyone checked in between 2pm and 4pm is going to be challenging. I also totally understand why you interpret "on time" as you do - IMO it is ambiguously worded, and I'm sure many people will read it the same way you do. The only reason I interpreted it as meaning closer to the new time is because they made a point to state that there is limited seating at the terminal and they want to avoid having people stand in long lines. I think we're in for a lot of traffic and confusion regardless! 

I agree the wording isn't clear.  I plan to chill and check the port web cam for when the Summit actually docks and plan

accordingly.  We live 45 minutes from the pier.  The Adventure of the Seas left from Bayonne today.  Busy port this weekend.