Nassau turned into sea day on upcoming Independence

[AMCJavelin]

Just received the same notification for our 3 day abroad Independence of the Seas scheduled for March 4th 2022.  The email does say "Any pre-paid Royal Caribbean International shore excursions booked for Nassau will automatically be refunded to your original form of payment. "

 

The change appears to be in effect though at least the beginning of March 2022 based on our booking.   We will enjoy the sea day - we were planning on staying on the ship that day anyway.   Had been to Nassau in 2020 - and had no plans for that day in port anyway.  

[Merion_Mom]

I have it on good authority that the construction at the docks limits the space to two ships at a time.  Thus ships have to be turned away, despite being booked into the port months ago.

 

This is good news for anyone who has the UDP.  Sea day means the specialty restaurants are open and the UDP works for lunch.  🙂 

[bucfan2]

Lucky you….not missing much IMO.

[AMCJavelin]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Nassau for me usually is a sea day.

Same here

 

[coaster]

I can only wonder if Nassau had a better reputation, the ships that go there could of commanded higher prices currently and over the past years.

Edited October 21, 2021 by coaster

[ONECRUISER]

Last time was there the Straw Market was burning down... Many times missed Ports due to Emergency's, Too Many Ships, Hurricanes-during or after. Love my Sea Days, scheduled or not...

[zanydoc]

40 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Last time was there the Straw Market was burning down... Many times missed Ports due to Emergency's, Too Many Ships, Hurricanes-during or after. Love my Sea Days, scheduled or not...

 

Oh, yea- I forgot about the straw market incident! We were on another itinerary and heard about it. I felt bad for all the folks who worked there, but I hated that place and wasn’t sad to see it go. One of the most aggressive and threatening experiences of my cruising days was there...I just wanted to get out asap. Anyway, we are quite fond of the sea days as well, but I kinda wish they would have allowed 2 days at CocoCay this time, instead of the sea day. 

[ONECRUISER]

11 minutes ago, zanydoc said:

 

Oh, yea- I forgot about the straw market incident! We were on another itinerary and heard about it. I felt bad for all the folks who worked there, but I hated that place and wasn’t sad to see it go. One of the most aggressive and threatening experiences of my cruising days was there...I just wanted to get out asap. Anyway, we are quite fond of the sea days as well, but I kinda wish they would have allowed 2 days at CocoCay this time, instead of the sea day. 

Similar experience, the Ex dragged us in there few times before the Fire... Yeah, depending on Weather an overnite at Coco Cay would be nice. 20yrs ago did a Royal 5 nite Bahama Cruise with 2 Sea Days. Ship was puttering around slow as 2-3 mph and even came to Stop one nite middle nowhere. Woke at 3am as Ship was rocking side to side. Weird feeling and prob what woke me, this in Deck 3 Porthole watching the waves hit side ship by Moon Light.  

[coaster]

Nassau was the most threatening port we have ever been to. A woman stalking us in a bloody white dress and someone who insisted we needed a tour guide to walk at a high  point of the island. This was way  back in 1992. I made a personal decision to never book a ship that ports at Nassau again after 19 cruises later. Problem is Royal diverted us from Mexico on Serenade to the Bahamas  and I need to deal with it if we leave the ship.

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, Tee & Chilli said:

Is the Nassau change for all sailings?

No. It is dependent upon dock availability on specific days. Nassau is a massive construction zone. The old Festival Place has been demolished along with work to extend some docks for Oasis-class and other mega ships. 
 

The photo below is from a few weeks back where workers have  scraped the dirt and rocks back enough for a narrow walkway (red circle - hard to see) to the main pier. All of the heavy equipment was operating a few feet from passengers kicking up dust and rocks. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by BirdTravels

[Tee & Chilli]

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

No. It is dependent upon dock availability on specific days. Nassau is a massive construction zone. The old Festival Place has been demolished along with work to extend some docks for Oasis-class and other mega ships. 
 

The photo below is from a few weeks back where workers have  scraped the dirt and rocks back enough for a narrow walkway (red circle - hard to see) to the main pier. All of the heavy equipment was operating a few feet from passengers kicking up dust and rocks. 

Thanks. I’m aware of the construction as we were there in July. Hoping our upcoming stop gets canceled and replaced with Coco Cay😀

[zanydoc]

22 minutes ago, coaster said:

Nassau was the most threatening port we have ever been to. A woman stalking us in a bloody white dress and someone who insisted we needed a tour guide to walk at a high  point of the island. This was way  back in 1992. I made a personal decision to never book a ship that ports at Nassau again after 19 cruises later. Problem is Royal diverted us from Mexico on Serenade to the Bahamas  and I need to deal with it if we leave the ship.

 

Yikes, horrible! Sounds like a horror movie! I have actually had a couple of good experiences there, too, though still not one of my favorite ports. One time we walked down to the beach and went to Fat Tuesdays and had delightful frozen drinks all day and went to Junkanoo beach another and had some delicious conch fritters. The only threatening thing that occurred both of those times was the scary sidewalk and taxi ride back to the ship! 😆 

[wayne_trisha]

4 hours ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Could this be due to construction at the port?

There is definitely construction at the port. We would be happy to take a sea day instead of Nassau.  Harmony OTS still scheduled for Nassau on 30 NOV 21. 

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

No. It is dependent upon dock availability on specific days. Nassau is a massive construction zone. The old Festival Place has been demolished along with work to extend some docks for Oasis-class and other mega ships. 
 

The photo below is from a few weeks back where workers have  scraped the dirt and rocks back enough for a narrow walkway (red circle - hard to see) to the main pier. All of the heavy equipment was operating a few feet from passengers kicking up dust and rocks. 

That's not good.  Looks like a safety issue too.

[kpauley]

Received notification from TA yesterday Puerto Plata, DR on our 12/11 Allure was replaced with Nassau and we were arriving in St. Thomas a half hour later. Lucky us. 😞 I was hoping for CocoCay.

[death_star]

7 hours ago, dezertcruzer said:

I hear this all the time.  I love going to Nassau because I love going to Ardastra Gardens.  They have the most unbelievable flamingo show with trained flamingos.  The other birds are incredible.  The grounds are beautiful.  It's definitely worth a visit!

We went there twice with our DD within 4 months in 2019. It's really a nice place with an easy bus ride and bit of walk up hill to get to. The fish fry is right there at the main road for food.

 

Our upcoming February Freedom cruise had Nassau and Cococay days switched due to berthing issues it said. 

[Javajitterz]

20 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I have it on good authority that the construction at the docks limits the space to two ships at a time.  Thus ships have to be turned away, despite being booked into the port months ago.

 

This is good news for anyone who has the UDP.  Sea day means the specialty restaurants are open and the UDP works for lunch.  🙂 

We were in Nassau on the NCL Gem two days ago and the MSC Meraviglia and another smaller cruise ship were in port with us at the same time. There is no docking closest to the port itself but the last 2 piers are open to ships

[Midwestgal]

IV always had port fees returned to me when we missed a port. It was never much but something.

 

[deliver42]

There were 4 ships in there today. Carnival Sunrise, Edge, Freedom of the Seas, and i don't remember the 4th.

[Tee & Chilli]

Is the schedule change due to space?

[ulcards99]

On 10/21/2021 at 4:54 PM, AMCJavelin said:

Just received the same notification for our 3 day abroad Independence of the Seas scheduled for March 4th 2022.  The email does say "Any pre-paid Royal Caribbean International shore excursions booked for Nassau will automatically be refunded to your original form of payment. "

 

The change appears to be in effect though at least the beginning of March 2022 based on our booking.   We will enjoy the sea day - we were planning on staying on the ship that day anyway.   Had been to Nassau in 2020 - and had no plans for that day in port anyway.  

We are supposed to go in December.  Our Nassau day was changed to the last day on the 4 day cruise.  So not completely canceled... yet....

[AMCJavelin]

2 hours ago, ulcards99 said:

We are supposed to go in December.  Our Nassau day was changed to the last day on the 4 day cruise.  So not completely canceled... yet....

Hmmm - wonder why they are cancelling some but not all.  I'm sure it will all become clear soon enough.  For us Nassau being removed is no big deal.

[Ofmyheart]

Sorry for those that have had bad experiences in Nassau. I have spent several weeks there through out the years. I have also stopped countless times on ships. Never had a bad experience, walk all around town with the grandkids.

 

There is really a lot to see and do there for next to no cost 

[Eddie Wilson]

Just received email this week that our Dec 5 sea day and Dec 6 Labadee stop is replaced with Dec 5 stop at Nassau and Dec 6 sea day cruising toward San Juan.

 

So Nassau seems to be open still"......

 

Eddie

[BuckeyeMark]

On 10/23/2021 at 1:05 PM, Ofmyheart said:

Sorry for those that have had bad experiences in Nassau. I have spent several weeks there through out the years. I have also stopped countless times on ships. Never had a bad experience, walk all around town with the grandkids.

 

There is really a lot to see and do there for next to no cost 

Not to hijack the thread - maybe you'd post it in the Bahamas forum - but I'd be interested in what you do there that you enjoy.  Looking at Royal's shore excursion offerings I can kinda understand why people stay on the boat... Not trying to be difficult, just saying I haven't seen a lot there that looks good and I'd love some tips.  What have you done that is good?