1/2 Sailing of the Encore Rerouting

[mpk218]

4 hours ago, susanf31 said:

No, it doesn't say that.  It says "3 days prior to travel".  Here it is directly from their site, which was updated 1/3/22.  Domestic Travel (includes U.S. mainland and other U.S. Territories): Domestic travelers must submit a negative result from an antigen or nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) (e.g., RT- PCR) COVID-19 test taken within 3 days of travel.

 

It then gives a diagram for example. Showing that if you are arriving on a Saturday, your "day 3" would be Wednesday.  Day 2 is Thursday.  Day 1 is Friday.  And Saturday is day-of-arrival.

Really ???   

Effective January 3, 2022, the window for taking COVID-19 tests for travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands will be 3 days prior to commencement of travel to the Territory.

[mpk218]

4 minutes ago, mpk218 said:

Really ???   

Effective January 3, 2022, the window for taking COVID-19 tests for travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands will be 3 days prior to commencement of travel to the Territory.

https://www.visitusvi.com/

[nhtravels]

15 hours ago, JBlade70 said:

For rnfulk or anybody on board now....was has been the status of the entertainment and thermal spa.  Anything been cancelled or closed??

Today they cancelled the last 2 showings of Choir of Man, as well as a few other acts.  (I was so glad DH and I saw it earlier in the week!).  

 

According to Sanja, (our wonderful Haven concierge), we are still a go for Nassau (Friday) and GSC (Saturday).  

 

[limeyalchemist]

On 1/5/2022 at 8:46 PM, mpk218 said:

See you Sunday Limey !  Look for the semi old/fat guy with the Big Mustache 😉

Will do…LOL

[NYR56]

We'll be on the Encore 1/9 sailing. What's most frustrating is NCL continues to claim there are no changes to our ship's itinerary, despite the ship being turned away from ports this week. I don't care that much where we end up, but it would be nice to be able to plan at least. They also claim no entertainment is canceled. I understand the difficulties the company is facing, but the lack of communication is deceitful, which is what really bothers me. It would be better if they even said they simply don't know the itinerary yet!

[Karaboudjan]

21 minutes ago, NYR56 said:

We'll be on the Encore 1/9 sailing. What's most frustrating is NCL continues to claim there are no changes to our ship's itinerary, despite the ship being turned away from ports this week. I don't care that much where we end up, but it would be nice to be able to plan at least. They also claim no entertainment is canceled. I understand the difficulties the company is facing, but the lack of communication is deceitful, which is what really bothers me. It would be better if they even said they simply don't know the itinerary yet!

It appears that a lot of the ports have a threshold of positive cases onboard to deny stops.  They test crew frequently, so how do they know now how many cases they will have at any given time next week?

 

It is possible that they could already know that some entertainment will not happen, but I have seen reports of shows running for some days and then being cancelled, so apparently not everything is known prior to the cruise.

[BermudaBound2014]

Just now, Karaboudjan said:

It appears that a lot of the ports have a threshold of positive cases onboard to deny stops.  They test crew frequently, so how do they know now how many cases they will have at any given time next week?

 

I totally get what you are saying, But some of the ports are no longer threshold sensitive.

 

Example, St Thomas entry requirements state:

Only fully vaccinated foreign tourists may disembark cruise ships. All sea travelers 2 and older must provide a negative result from a Covid-19 test taken within three days of arrival.

 

IMO, NCL should be more upfront if the itinerary has St Thomas anytime after day 4 if they aren't planning on providing another test. I know it must be very challenging for them, but transparency is key to build trust.

 

 

 

[Karaboudjan]

12 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I totally get what you are saying, But some of the ports are no longer threshold sensitive.

 

Example, St Thomas entry requirements state:

Only fully vaccinated foreign tourists may disembark cruise ships. All sea travelers 2 and older must provide a negative result from a Covid-19 test taken within three days of arrival.

 

IMO, NCL should be more upfront if the itinerary has St Thomas anytime after day 4 if they aren't planning on providing another test. I know it must be very challenging for them, but transparency is key to build trust.

 

 

 

I believe that was updated to say 3 days prior to commencement of travel, so seemingly the embarkation test that NCL does would suffice for a stop on any day of the cruise - https://usviupdate.com/

 

[Javajitterz]

15 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I totally get what you are saying, But some of the ports are no longer threshold sensitive.

 

Example, St Thomas entry requirements state:

Only fully vaccinated foreign tourists may disembark cruise ships. All sea travelers 2 and older must provide a negative result from a Covid-19 test taken within three days of arrival.

 

IMO, NCL should be more upfront if the itinerary has St Thomas anytime after day 4 if they aren't planning on providing another test. I know it must be very challenging for them, but transparency is key to build trust.

 

 

 

EXACTLY. We are supposed to sail tomorrow but are going to cancel. Escape was just refused GSC. Gem was refused yesterday or the day before. We are supposed to go to St Thomas, that's not going to happen. We are supposed to go to San Juan, that's not going to happen for the same reason St Thomas isn't going to happen- unless we test at sea we do not meet the requirements. That leaves just Puerto Plata, and they have refused ships due to the positivity rate onboard, and yet NCL professes to know nothing about any of this when you call and we haven't been notified of any changes to our cruise and they are still selling shore excursions at these ports as well

[Javajitterz]

2 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

I believe that was updated to say 3 days prior to commencement of travel, so seemingly the embarkation test that NCL does would suffice for a stop on any day of the cruise - https://usviupdate.com/

 

Our cruise does not go to USVI first so we most likely would fall under international travel

[BermudaBound2014]

47 minutes ago, Karaboudjan said:

I believe that was updated to say 3 days prior to commencement of travel, so seemingly the embarkation test that NCL does would suffice for a stop on any day of the cruise - https://usviupdate.com/

 

 

I've spent a little bit of time teasing through the St Thomas restrictions and the big question (as you pointed out) is when exactly does travel commence? Seems gray to me.

 

It would be nice if NCL made a statement how they are interpreting the restrictions. That may help to ease the minds of those traveling soon.

[classy_cruiser]

According to someone on Encore right now in the roll call, Puerto Plata is cancelled for next week. St. Thomas and Tortola missed this week. They were able to dock in Nassau. I totally agree that NCL needs to update the itinerary for the next few weeks instead of waiting until people board. Additional entertainment including Choir of Man cancelled

[rnfulk]

If you choose to cruise right now you need to realize that you just aren't going to be able to plan. But you'll be on a ship and there is always plenty to do and see.

The posted itineraries are what are on file with the powers that be and the crew are having to change things on the fly. What is canceled this week may not be next week and any anticipated changes would not be able to be guaranteed. 

Just relax and go with the flow. No one knows what is going to happen in the next few weeks. 

[NYR56]

My comment was more that NCL should be doing a better job with communicating, especially to customers like us who are willing to deal with cruising at this time. If you call, they act as if everything is completely normal and deny any changes. There is no way that between entertainment and ports, they don't know of at least one change for a sailing 2 days away, but they refuse to acknowledge it to us. Even explaining what is up in the air or what they think may happen would be appreciated. As long as the ship is going to sail, I'll be on it (and I'm sure I'll enjoy it) - that doesn't mean I shouldn't expect any communication.

Edited January 7, 2022 by NYR56

[rnfulk]

I guess there are always things to complain about if you are looking for a reason to complain. 

[rnfulk]

Guess what? We have another change in plans. Instead of heading to GSC tonight, we are overnighting in Nassau and will be spending most of the day tomorrow in Nassau.

Another day of warm weather and beaches before heading back to Miami. And the BF will not be able to lose money in the casino tonight. Win, win!

[FrankieCruise]

we have received notice from NCL revised schedule for 1/9

Monday - Nassau 1/10

Tuesday - Sea

Wednesday/Tursday - St. Thomas and Tortola

Friday - sea

GSC - Saturday

[CarolinaMamma]

2 minutes ago, FrankieCruise said:

we have received notice from NCL revised schedule for 1/9

Monday - Nassau 1/10

Tuesday - Sea

Wednesday/Tursday - St. Thomas and Tortola

Friday - sea

GSC - Saturday

What are the hours for GSC? 

 

Our 1/16 sailing still shows the original itinerary, which has is in GSC 7 am -2 pm on Monday.

 

Wondering if you get a longer day at GSC when it’s the last day, since you don’t have far too go to Miami. 

[lakenorman1]

I am on the 1/2 Encore sailing now.  GSC was cancelled for tomorrow and we are docked in Nassau overnight. Supposedly we have a second day in Nassau tomorrow and then depart for Miami at 4pm. We will see if we can get off the ship again. The announcement was made at 6pm that we weren’t leaving. Definitely disappointing but not unexpected. No casino or shops open since we are still docked.  

[RaftingJeremy]

i suspect that this is what will happen for awhile.  If you aren’t flexible with the schedule probably not a good time for you to go.  It will certainly make sense for them to continue to operate and not cancel.  I seriously doubt that places like puerta plata will remain closed and gsc will likely continue to be an option.   I haven’t seen  anything official from the usvi other than the testing requirements.   The schedule will fluctuate and we will just have to adapt.  I, for one , am completely cool with that

[RaftingJeremy]

7 hours ago, rnfulk said:

I guess there are always things to complain about if you are looking for a reason to complain. 

true that

[bfr3pe]

[Sonora5]

We just returned from a week on the Rotterdam. We called in St Thomas on Thursday the 6th. The Carnival Mardi Gras was also there. We had a great beach day at Magens Bay