NCL ships leave leave Miami - unknown return date

[Two Wheels Only]

Thanks for the video.

Other than cruising, I rarely see Miami but every time that I see it.....the same road construction is being poorly done. 

[SpainAlien]

I know NCL Epic is due a general dry dock in Europe but that isn't until November so a trip over here now seems premature.

 

Spirit did her dry dock earlier this year so she doesn't need another but was due to spend the season in Athens which has opened for tourists but I can't see them getting enough customers from Europe to fill her even to 50% but maybe? 

 

The other ones I don't know anything about but maybe others do.

 

There must be some financial gain to come out of this you would think otherwise why bother

 

[PelicanBill]

Reasons to move ships to Europe:

- Easier to do crew repatriation and new crew embarkation 

- MAY be able to start cruises before the US allows it

- Hurricane season

 

They can be back at US ports with 2 weeks notice.

 

[Trimone]

Possibly to be refitted for Covid-19 applications, all the shipyards are in Europe 

[chipmaster]

5 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Italy is restarting cruising. Just read about it on the website for the newspaper Corriere della Sera. The Italian premier specifically mentioned cruise ships and commented on the importance of tourism to the Italian economy. Looks like things are improving over there. Only a matter of time before we start cruising on this side of the Atlantic, too.

 

 

LOL, you've been following some recent new about outbreaks, not encouraging even with European better supression.

[luv2kroooz]

5 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Italy is restarting cruising. Just read about it on the website for the newspaper Corriere della Sera. The Italian premier specifically mentioned cruise ships and commented on the importance of tourism to the Italian economy. Looks like things are improving over there. Only a matter of time before we start cruising on this side of the Atlantic, too.

 

Of course it's a matter of time, a looooong time. Head over to Italy and sail away if you see fit.

[cruise47]

The three NCL ships that were dock at the Portsmouth Marina, Portsmouth, VA have all left the port.

[DCGuy64]

I generally try not to get into arguments or debates on Cruise Critic regarding the pandemic and the response. I've found it's just a rabbit hole and quickly descends into pointless arguments and dueling data (with one person typically attempting to discredit the evidence presented by someone of a different mindset). It's a cruise site, after all, not a medical journal. I prefer instead to confine my comments to information relevant to the cruising industry. I pointed out Italy as a means of illustrating that their cruising industry seems to be getting ready to resume after several months in lockdown. Doesn't mean it's guaranteed to restart soon, but I found the comments by PM Giuseppe Conte to be encouraging. I also read elsewhere here on CC the comments of Gianni Onorato from MSC, which are equally encouraging. I won't pretend to know the future, but I was heartened to read this stuff today.

[david_sobe]

2 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

Thanks for the video.

Other than cruising, I rarely see Miami but every time that I see it.....the same road construction is being poorly done. 

Unfortunately its not just road construction that is poorly done but just about everything 😬

[eroller]

3 hours ago, CruiseMH said:

 

So there must be another reason for their reposition to europe.

 

 

 

 

Agreed.  I think there is some reason we are obviously not aware of.  One or two ships is understandable, but not the amount they are sending over.  

[eroller]

1 hour ago, PelicanBill said:

Reasons to move ships to Europe:

- Easier to do crew repatriation and new crew embarkation 

- MAY be able to start cruises before the US allows it

- Hurricane season

 

They can be back at US ports with 2 weeks notice.

 

 

Good suggestions but I don't think any apply.  Somehow I think it's something different.  It may just be they found a cheaper place to tie up, although that doesn't seem likely either since PortMiami has waived all dockage fees and it doesn't cost to anchor in a remote location.  So it's puzzling.  

 

Most crew repatriation efforts are complete.

I don't see ships staffed with a full complement anytime soon. Maybe one when they are sure of a restart.    

One or two ships may be able to start in Europe before the US, but not 7.  

Ships don't have to go all the way to Europe to avoid a hurricane.  They simply move to where the hurricane isn't, like just happened with Isaias (moved to northern coast of Cuba).   

Yes they can be back in the US within 2 weeks, but wasting fuel when a cruise line has relatively no revenue seems counter productive.  

 

[hallux]

2 hours ago, Trimone said:

Possibly to be refitted for Covid-19 applications, all the shipyards are in Europe 

They don't need dry docks or graving docks for that, there are places in the US where they could do the re-fit for that if they had approval from the government to get workers on the ships for it.  Shoot - other than loading/unloading the materials and people (probably the biggest issue due to embarkation restrictions in the US) they may not even need to be at a dock/pier/quay for the work.

[JustAPilot]

You know what this video is missing is where are all the billionaires are parking their yachts these days, I don’t see any yachts in this Miami video 🙃

[eroller]

3 hours ago, Trimone said:

Possibly to be refitted for Covid-19 applications, all the shipyards are in Europe 

 

 

Great suggestion and possibly spot-on.  Virgin Voyages SCARLET LADY sailed all the way back to her birthplace in Italy to have her HVAC system retrofitted with Hepa filters and I think UV light filters as well.  Funny to think she hasn't yet carried a single paying passenger yet she is already back where she was built.  

 

NCLH might be doing to the same for their various ships (NCL, Oceania, Regent).  It would make sense why so many are sailing to Europe at once.  

 

One thing I've read about these Hepa filters being retrofitted is that they could result in warmer ships.  The systems were not originally designed for filters, so it might slow down air flow increasing the temperature of the ship.  Also ship operators may have to run HVAC's at a higher load to compensate for the decreased air-flow, which in turn will use more fuel.  It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.  

[Cruise Wonderland]

13 hours ago, eroller said:

NCLH appears to be sending a large portion of its fleet to Europe.  I'm not sure why?  

 

NORWEGIAN BLISS

NORWEGIAN ENCORE

NORWEGIAN DAWN

NORWEGIAN EPIC

NORWEGIAN SPIRIT

SEVEN SEAS EXPLORER

OCEANIA RIVIERA

OCEANIA SIRENA

 

It's all these ships you see mid-Atlantic and getting close to Europe.  

 

In addition, below ships are already in Europe for some time.

NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY

NORWEGIAN GETAWAY

NORWEGIAN STAR

NORWEGIAN JADE

OCEANIA MARINA

OCEANIA NAUTICA

SEVEN SEAS VOYAGER

SEVEN SEAS NAVIGATOR

[eroller]

4 hours ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

 

In addition, below ships are already in Europe for some time.

NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY

NORWEGIAN GETAWAY

NORWEGIAN STAR

NORWEGIAN JADE

OCEANIA MARINA

OCEANIA NAUTICA

SEVEN SEAS VOYAGER

SEVEN SEAS NAVIGATOR

 

Wow that is a lot of ships in Europe.  I wonder what they are up to? 

[shof515]

Breakaway and Getaway were already in Europe due to regular schedule drydock maintenance

[PelicanBill]

I don't think Breakaway is a scheduled dry dock since it had one in 2018 in Brest France.  But it has completed dry dock for a week now and has been sitting in the same dock but wet since (It took a spin around the bay before being parked back in the dock.)

 

And Getaway has been tied up alongside but wet the whole time.  Some conjecture the two ships could be getting scrubbers for their emissions systems since they are behind in that.  And dry dock usually means Azipod maintenance... good opportunity since these have not been making it the 5 years typical life needed. I was on Anthem of the Seas last June and had an opportunity for Q&A with the ship's Chief Engineer. I asked how the Azipod bearings were holding up and he laughed pretty hard before answering they're good. That was just after several ships had gone to reduced speeds due to Azipod issues.

 

 

 

 

[roger001]

Dry dock repair is interesting.  Are the crew restricted to the ships during this time?   Are the dry dock workers screened before entering the ships?  Many logistical questions.  

[BermudaBound2014]

If quarter 2 starts April 1st, then it appears NCL plans to keep several of these ships in laid up for the next 8 months :(.

 

"Outlining Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ roadmap for returning to service, CEO Frank Del Rio said on the company's second quarter earnings call that the earliest he envisions full deployment of the fleet would be in the second quarter of 2021."

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23344-norwegian-outlines-roadmap-for-returning-to-service.html

[ew101]

It is time for the Bat-Signal.  

[ew101]

https://maritime-executive.com/article/cruise-ships-depart-us-ports-for-european-lay-up

 

[Sand and Seas]

16 minutes ago, ew101 said:

https://maritime-executive.com/article/cruise-ships-depart-us-ports-for-european-lay-up

 

   

Interesting to read confirmation of  NCLH strategy in moving the ships.

Thanks for providing this link!

[BirdTravels]

On 8/5/2020 at 7:55 AM, hallux said:

July 30, shortly before Isaias was due to hit Florida, no?  Anyone stop to think that they "got out of Dodge" in an effort to avoid damage if the storm strengthened?  In fact - MANY (all?) of the ships anchored in the Bahamas made the same exact move West to avoid the storm... A little dramatic on this, aren't we?

Many headed to the Mediterranean and Sweden. A long way to go to dodge a storm. And that is dramatic. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by BirdTravels

[hallux]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Many headed to the Mediterranean and Sweden. A long way to go to dodge a storm. And that is dramatic. 

When I posted my comment 2 days ago, just after Isaias had passed by, nobody had made any comment or indication that they were on the move to Europe.  I didn't watch the video on the YouTube page, where the description does indicate they were heading East.  Because of that, I could still draw the conclusion that I did.