WorkingForOBC Posted November 29, 2022 #1 Share Posted November 29, 2022 (edited) Hi all, Just wanted to post the notice I received. Original itinerary was: Embark: NJ At Sea Orlando Nassau Coco Cay Miami At Sea At Sea Debark NJ Based on earlier reports of this same itinerary, it seems that the port day in Miami was a total mess due to customs, and pax not getting off the ship for the mandatory inspection. Rather than try to improve the process, it seems Royal has decided to drop Miami. Now there is an extra sea day, and we are scheduled to arrive in Orlando and Nassau earlier. The new itinerary is: Embark: NJ At Sea At Sea Orlando Coco Cay Nassau At Sea At Sea Debark NJ Edited November 29, 2022 by WorkingForOBC added information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FionaMG Posted November 29, 2022 #2 Share Posted November 29, 2022 Interesting. I think you're probably right as to the reason; makes sense. I'm on the same itinerary in April but our sailing has Miami in between PC and Coco Cay, so in theory it shouldn't be changed, although I actually wouldn't mind skipping Miami in order to get longer at the space centre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeW Posted November 30, 2022 #3 Share Posted November 30, 2022 Second one makes more sense - passengers have to process through immigration at the first US port after a foreign port. Certainly partly depends on when they have space available at each port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cargopilot Posted November 30, 2022 #4 Share Posted November 30, 2022 This itinerary of 8 days was previously used from NJ. This allows you to spend a FULL day in Orlando where there is more to do than Miami. Consider yourself lucky. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelblu Posted November 30, 2022 #5 Share Posted November 30, 2022 17 hours ago, FionaMG said: Interesting. I think you're probably right as to the reason; makes sense. I'm on the same itinerary in April but our sailing has Miami in between PC and Coco Cay, so in theory it shouldn't be changed, although I actually wouldn't mind skipping Miami in order to get longer at the space centre. I have the same itinerary for my February 4th sail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2cruise23 Posted November 30, 2022 #6 Share Posted November 30, 2022 We were on the 8 day Halloween sailing that included Miami at the end. I can confirm that it was a disaster and this change is a huge improvement. There are always going to be selfish cruisers that think the rules don’t apply to them and that translated to people being stuck in the arrival hall for 4+ hours without food, water etc. Consider yourself lucky that they made this change because I know I would never intentionally book this itinerary again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomUser123 Posted November 30, 2022 #7 Share Posted November 30, 2022 8 minutes ago, love2cruise23 said: We were on the 8 day Halloween sailing that included Miami at the end. I can confirm that it was a disaster and this change is a huge improvement. There are always going to be selfish cruisers that think the rules don’t apply to them and that translated to people being stuck in the arrival hall for 4+ hours without food, water etc. Consider yourself lucky that they made this change because I know I would never intentionally book this itinerary again. I was on the same cruise too. Absolutely ridiculous what happened. There were a couple moments where I thought it was going to get to a riot stage and had the phone ready to film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mac_tlc Posted November 30, 2022 #8 Share Posted November 30, 2022 Having the entire day at Port Canaveral (Orlando) is a big plus. At least folks can now realistically consider a theme park visit, albeit an expensive one. Or a great Space Center day, mac_tlc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davy jones Posted November 30, 2022 #9 Share Posted November 30, 2022 53 minutes ago, love2cruise23 said: We were on the 8 day Halloween sailing that included Miami at the end. I can confirm that it was a disaster and this change is a huge improvement. There are always going to be selfish cruisers that think the rules don’t apply to them and that translated to people being stuck in the arrival hall for 4+ hours without food, water etc. Consider yourself lucky that they made this change because I know I would never intentionally book this itinerary again. I was also on the cruise and could not agree more. Wise move by Royal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saab4444 Posted November 30, 2022 #10 Share Posted November 30, 2022 If they changed it because of the latest chaos in Miami why did they change the 2024 but not the upcoming 2023 sailings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare shof515 Posted November 30, 2022 #11 Share Posted November 30, 2022 10 minutes ago, Saab4444 said: If they changed it because of the latest chaos in Miami why did they change the 2024 but not the upcoming 2023 sailings? depend on which sailing you are looking at. the website can be confusing and not the show the correct itinerary for a specific sail date. if the ship goes from Port Canaveral, Miami, Coco Cay, Nassau then there is no issues at all and that itinerary is fine if the ship goes from Port Canaveral, Coco Cay, Miami, Nassau or Port Canaveral, Coco Cay, Nassau, Miami then you will get the issue like what is posted about here with clearing customs and the requirement of getting on and off the ship in miami this problem is not unique to Florida/Bahamas cruises. i read some complaints with the Canada New England cruises with a similar customs issues depending on the itinerary and the ship previous port Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorkingForOBC Posted November 30, 2022 Author #12 Share Posted November 30, 2022 Yes. I see 2 in 2023 scheduled to makes stops #1&2 in Orlando and Miami, then go to the Bahamas, and then back to NJ. This schedule won't incur the customs inspection nightmare that previously occurred. Currently, for the 2 sailings in Feb 2024 that were scheduled to go to Miami after the Bahamas, the website still shows the original itinerary, but when you click through, it shows the update. Those trip reports from the Halloween cruise were quite scary (no pun intended). People's health was actually in danger due to some very selfish individuals. Sorry you were subjected to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2cruise23 Posted November 30, 2022 #13 Share Posted November 30, 2022 The Captain was asked lots of questions about the Miami fiasco and he told the audience that Royal has to slot the planned ports 2 years in advance. Going to Miami after hitting international ports is far from ideal and after deeming it difficult to get passengers to do what is required (get off in the first stateside port and clear customs before anyone being allowed back on), I believe RCCL will avoid this situation in the future. He even stated that he went to the gym at 11:30 to get a run in and a passenger came and got on the treadmill next to him. We were all supposed to be off the ship by 10am. He looked at the man and told him to get off of his ship, but people are just selfish and don’t always follow the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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