This didn't start well - Encore

[TominNC]

Announcement tonight that GSC is out for tomorrow.  Kind of figured that with the wind in the forecasr.  So we're going to Nassau.  Oh joy.  We've been there more than enough times.  Hopefully lots of people will get off.

 

Then as we waited in the theater for the Beatles show, that was cancelled due to "technical difficulties".  So we got one of this week's comedians, wheo frankly, wasn't all that funny.  

 

Food was good and the drinks were too.  So there was that.

 

Now I'm waiting for something about Puerto Plata.  

[PATRLR]

I will give them credit for communicating the GSC change early, NCL isn't good about communication in my experience.  But on further thought they want to sell excursions on Nassau, so that's why they said something ahead of time.

Bummer about the Beatles change though.  We enjoyed both their shows in the Encore theatre last month and found their shows in Cavern Club to be over filled so we couldn't get in.

Edited December 19, 2022 by PATRLR

[KAYKAY121]

Can you post updated dailies? Just curious as to how many dress up or not days there will be. 

[weltek]

I was on last week's sailing and Saturday night's theatre shows were cancelled due to unexpected sound issues. Seems it didn't get fixed before you departed. Yikes.

[TominNC]

22 hours ago, KAYKAY121 said:

Can you post updated dailies? Just curious as to how many dress up or not days there will be. 

No dress up days.It’s NCL

[TominNC]

And it gets worse. Just announce that”due to unforeseen circumstances” we’re not going to Puerto Plata.  So two ports we sign  up for and we go to neither.

 

And the “unforeseen”is total BS. They knew damn well we couldn’t go there so why sell the cruise.

 

Shows cancelled, ports cancelled. Time to check out other lines.

[Crazy planning mom]

Why cant you get into Puerto Plata?  Bad weather?

The weather isnt their fault.  The shows are a different story.

[AwesomO]

the port NCL uses in Puerto Plata can't handle the large NCL ships so they've had to use Amber Cove. but Amber Cove can only handle 2 ships and is owned by Carnival, so they get dibs. This is been a reoccurring issue that is not at all difficult to predict. 2 Carnival and Co ships scheduled in port, NCL isn't going to stop there. Not weather related at all, nor is it "unforseen"

Edited December 20, 2022 by AwesomO

[European_CruiseGirl]

Just now, Crazy planning mom said:

Why cant you get into Puerto Plata?  Bad weather?

The weather isnt their fault.  The shows are a different story.

Puerto Plata is a known problem. Big NCL ships cannot use Puerto Plata’s Taino bay port as they are too big for it. That leaves only the second port of Puerto Plata (Amber cove) for big NCL ships to use. But Amber cove port is a Carnival Corp built port and only fits two ships so when two Carnival Corp ships are there NCL will be booted out. And NCL very well knows this in advance and has the port schedules available in advance. 
 

Looking at Amber cove port schedule for the upcoming days it is obvious that the same day Encore is supposed to be there (Dec 21) there is already Carnival Magic and Carnival Mardi Gras ships -> there was never any chance for NCL to dock there and NCL very well knew it in advance. 

[Crazy planning mom]

Ok, I didnt remember that about Puerto Plata.  I am supposed to go there on the Celebrity Apex.

I wonder if we will have the same problem.

[Homosassa]

Why don't you all check out the marine forecast for the ports in question before casting aspersions on the cruise line for port decisions?

[TominNC]

58 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Why cant you get into Puerto Plata?  Bad weather?

The weather isnt their fault.  The shows are a different story.

No not weather. It’s going to be beautiful.

 

it’s simple but they sell you on something they can’t provide.  Amber Cove holds two ships. It’s a Carnival port and they’ve had two ships scheduled there for weeks..  Taino Bay’s port has not been fixed or dredged or whatever since the accident there earlier this year. They know full well they aren’t going there yet but they let everyone play the “which port” game rather than telling us beforehand what the deal is.

[TominNC]

9 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

Why don't you all check out the marine forecast for the ports in question before casting aspersions on the cruise line for port decisions?

Why don’t the professsionals at the cruise line stop selling what they can’t provide?

[CruiserEK]

Yikes! I am currently on the Bliss and we had some itinerary changes too. We were supposed to go to Harvest Caye today and that got switched around for Costa Maya Mexico. We are headed back south to Harvest Caye tomorrow and then back north to Cozumel on Thursday. On top of that the arrival and departure times changed for Costa Maya, Harvest Caye, and Cozumel which caused an issue with shore excursions. The notice said the issue was due to port congestion. We also had boarding delays and it took us an hour to get onboard.

[SeaShark]

19 minutes ago, TominNC said:

Why don’t the professsionals at the cruise line stop selling what they can’t provide?

 

Why don't you ask that question of the "professionals at the cruise line" instead of expecting that we should somehow know the "why" behind what they do? It might come as a surprise to some, but the cruise line generally doesn't ensure that people on Cruise Critic are informed of the "why" behind decisions.

[TominNC]

40 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Why don't you ask that question of the "professionals at the cruise line" instead of expecting that we should somehow know the "why" behind what they do? It might come as a surprise to some, but the cruise line generally doesn't ensure that people on Cruise Critic are informed of the "why" behind decisions.

Actually I DID ask crew yesterday and got a palms up "we don't know".  And isn't this Cruise Critic, note kiss the Cruislines butt.com?  I'm letting people know of thse issues and letting them know that they can't rely on the cruiselines being forthright.  It's a message board for information, not a Cruise line cheer squad.

[SeaShark]

6 minutes ago, TominNC said:

Actually I DID ask crew yesterday and got a palms up "we don't know".  And isn't this Cruise Critic, note kiss the Cruislines butt.com?  I'm letting people know of thse issues and letting them know that they can't rely on the cruiselines being forthright.  It's a message board for information, not a Cruise line cheer squad.

 

Needless to say, if NCL doesn't know "why" then how could you expect anyone here to know "why"? Again...they don't inform us of the "why" behind their decisions. If you don't like the answer you get from the crew onboard, then perhaps you should go up their chain of command until you find the person who can explain "why" in a sufficient manner.

 

And please, while it is Cruise Critic, I'm sure you could offer more than that tired old "if you don't hate like I do, the you're a CHEERLEADER" argument. Logical fallacy aside, it is really a lame point to try to make.

 

And while the site is named Cruise Critic, that is "Critic" as in:

 

"one who expresses a reasoned opinion on any matter especially involving a judgment of its value, truth, righteousness, beauty, or technique"

 

...it does not mean "Critic" as in:

 

"One who tends to make harsh or carping judgments; a faultfinder".

[binro01]

NCL ships should be able to port in Taino bay. We ported there just recently on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, an Oasis class ship, which was absolutely HUGE, so the NCL ship size should not be a hindrance. Just a point of information.

[PATRLR]

3 hours ago, TominNC said:

And it gets worse. Just announce that”due to unforeseen circumstances” we’re not going to Puerto Plata.  So two ports we sign  up for and we go to neither.

 

And the “unforeseen”is total BS. They knew damn well we couldn’t go there so why sell the cruise.

Wow, if I was in your shoes, I'd be asking this question of the Captain or any other officer who might make themselves available - and when they tried to blow it off, I'd push them with the knowledge you have from this and other threads.  It's total BS and I'd call them on it as uncomfortable as that might be. 

 

 

 

[weltek]

1 hour ago, TominNC said:

Actually I DID ask crew yesterday and got a palms up "we don't know".  And isn't this Cruise Critic, note kiss the Cruislines butt.com?  I'm letting people know of thse issues and letting them know that they can't rely on the cruiselines being forthright.  It's a message board for information, not a Cruise line cheer squad.

Don't ask "crew," ask the leadership staff if you are on board. Go to the Cruise Critic meet & greet, where every department generally has their managers present that can answer your questions. You'll even get their phone numbers.

FWIW, I think the cruise line has known it would be at Amber Cove for the first month of sailings to the Caribbean this year, and I agree it should've been publicized to guests sooner. We knew before going that we'd end up there, but the letter didn't arrive until day two or three of our sailing.

Edited December 20, 2022 by weltek

[djtx2]

Does anyone know if we need Covid tests prior to sailing on the Encore from Miami Feb 12-19?

 

Hope all these problems rectify by February.

 

Please keep everyone posted that know something.

 

Thanks all.  Travel safe!!!

[TominNC]

16 hours ago, weltek said:

Don't ask "crew," ask the leadership staff if you are on board. Go to the Cruise Critic meet & greet, where every department generally has their managers present that can answer your questions. You'll even get their phone numbers.

FWIW, I think the cruise line has known it would be at Amber Cove for the first month of sailings to the Caribbean this year, and I agree it should've been publicized to guests sooner. We knew before going that we'd end up there, but the letter didn't arrive until day two or three of our sailing.

Actually I did go to the meet and greet. I did walk up to the group of crew leadership and I did ask who could best answer a question about the port. They all pointed to the same man. I asked about the ports and about Carnival having two ships in etc. He’s the one who gave me the palms up.  The. They all left rather than mingling.

[TominNC]

17 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

Needless to say, if NCL doesn't know "why" then how could you expect anyone here to know "why"? Again...they don't inform us of the "why" behind their decisions. If you don't like the answer you get from the crew onboard, then perhaps you should go up their chain of command until you find the person who can explain "why" in a sufficient manner.

 

And please, while it is Cruise Critic, I'm sure you could offer more than that tired old "if you don't hate like I do, the you're a CHEERLEADER" argument. Logical fallacy aside, it is really a lame point to try to make.

 

And while the site is named Cruise Critic, that is "Critic" as in:

 

"one who expresses a reasoned opinion on any matter especially involving a judgment of its value, truth, righteousness, beauty, or technique"

 

...it does not mean "Critic" as in:

 

"One who tends to make harsh or carping judgments; a faultfinder".

Consider me to be making a judgement on value.  And as to the cheerleader part, anyone who spends any time here knows  there are those who defend their line of choice to the bitter end.

[cruiseny4life]

15 hours ago, djtx2 said:

Does anyone know if we need Covid tests prior to sailing on the Encore from Miami Feb 12-19?

 

Hope all these problems rectify by February.

 

Please keep everyone posted that know something.

 

Thanks all.  Travel safe!!!

No. February's a long way away during cold, flu, RSV, mad cow, hand, foot, mouth, and COVID, so best to keep updated by taking a look at this page every so often. It's the page on NCL's site that updates any additional requirements. 

 

https://www.ncl.com/sail-safe

[weltek]

1 hour ago, TominNC said:

Actually I did go to the meet and greet. I did walk up to the group of crew leadership and I did ask who could best answer a question about the port. They all pointed to the same man. I asked about the ports and about Carnival having two ships in etc. He’s the one who gave me the palms up.  The. They all left rather than mingling.

Wow, that's surprising that you got that response.

They mingled at ours for about 20-30 minutes, said a few things, then left. They had the Latitudes party to get to right after our M&G.