Changes across Dailies

[chloe173]

I'm sailing in 3 weeks on the Bliss on a 7-day Western Caribbean itinerary. The Bliss doesn't do this itinerary all that often, and despite copious amounts of searching, I haven't found any post-Covid-shutdown Dailies from it.

 

That got me curious as to whether I could glean any insight from looking at other 7-day itineraries on the Bliss, as to the regular entertainment schedule. So I pulled the dailies people had posted from 6 different recent Bliss cruises, and analyzed them for what days & times different shows were scheduled. 

 

The result? Pure chaos for the most part. 😆  I was especially surprised at seeing that even the 2/20/22 and 2/27/22 Mexican Riviera cruises - back to back cruises with the same itinerary - didn't have the same show schedule at all. And port schedules, other than the presence of occasional daytime shows on days with super late port calls (Victoria) didn't really affect the show schedules all that much either. About all you can really count on is that shows tend to occur about 6:30p - 8:00p, or again from 9p to 9:30p start times. You'll almost definitely have comedy options on the first day, and Beatles in the Cavern the second day. Other than that, it's a crap shoot, lol.

 

Anyhoo, figured I'd post my analysis to save any other extreme over-planners the trouble of doing something similar. (Btw, NCL, if you're listening - Virgin Voyages just posts the live feed of their itinerary in their app about 3 weeks out and it's so much better that way...)

 

Color code:

6/27/22 - Alaska

12/26/21 - Mexican Riviera

2/20/22 - Mexican Riviera (note - no Six)

10/15/22 - Alaska

2/27/22 Mexican Riviera (note - no Six)

11/20/2022 - Mexican Riviera

 

DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3	DAY 4	DAY 5	DAY 6	DAY 7
	6:30 & 9:30 JB 6:30 & 9:30 JB 6:30 & 9:30 JB	7:30 JB 8:00p JB		8p JB	9p JB 6:30 & 9:30 JB	7&10p JB 1p & 4p JB
7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9:30p Comedy	7p & 9p Comedy 8p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy	7p & 9p Comedy 8p Comedy 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy	7p Comedy 9:30p Comedy 8p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7:30p Comedy	7p & 9p Comedy 8p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy	7p & 10p Comedy 8p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 9p Comedy	7p Comedy 9p Comedy 7p & 9p Comedy 9:30p Comedy
8p Beatles Theater 7:30p Beatles Cavern 8p Beatles Theater 8p Beatles Theater 7:30p Beatles Theater	7:30 & 9:30 Beatles Cavern 7:30p Beatles Cavern 7p & 9p Beatles Cavern 7:30 & 9:30 Beatles Cavern 7p & 9p Beatles Cavern 7:30 & 9:30 Beatles Cavern	7:30p Beatles Cavern	7:30 & 9:30 Beatles Cavern 7:30 Beatles Theater 7 & 9 Beatles Cavern 7:30 & 9:30 Beatles Theater 7p & 9p Beatles Cavern 7:30 & 9:30 Beatles Cavern	7p Beatles Cavern 7:30p Beatles Cavern 7:30 & 9:30 Beatles Cavern	7 & 9 Beatles Cavern 6:30 & 8:30 Beatles Cavern 7p & 9p Beatles Cavern 7:30 Beatles Cavern	2:15 & 4:15 Beatles Theater 7:30 Beatles Cavern 8p Beatles Theater 7:30 Beatles Theater
7 & 9:30 Six 8:00p Six	8p Six 7p & 9:30p Six	7p & 9:30p Six		7 & 9:30 Six 7p & 9:30p Six	7:30p Six

[BirdTravels]

Ok. Mixing cruises to Alaska and Mexico, totally different itineraries would be different. 
 

That being said, cruise lines are not allowing pre booking of entertainment right now. Entertainment schedules are being finalized shortly before departure. Things like Covid are influencing schedules. 
 

For example, if a performer or entire cast is quarantined for 5 days, shifting their performance can allow them to preform versus just cancelling a show for a week. 

[eileeshb]

Unfortunately not building their schedule of events/shows around port schedules  seems to be a failing across NCL.  I noticed it particularly with the solos meet-ups being scheduled for 5 or 5.30pm no matter the hours in port were on every sailing I’ve done much to the disgust of the majority of solos.

[chloe173]

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Ok. Mixing cruises to Alaska and Mexico, totally different itineraries would be different. 

 

Obviously. But even on the same itinerary, you see vastly different schedules there. Pre-covid, I didn't usually find that to be the case...I found dailies from the same itinerary/same ship, and planned my cruise accordingly months out, and when I got on board, it was almost always what I found in the actual dailies. 

The purpose here was using actual data across six different recent cruises on 1 ship to show just how different it is. I found it interesting; if you don't, then no worries and keep scrolling. 

 

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Entertainment schedules are being finalized shortly before departure.

That's a reason to prevent pre-booking, sure, but not to prevent simply releasing the anticipated schedules. Other lines have found ways to do that. I've never understood why NCL feels the need to keep their Dailies a big secret, which has been true since even before Covid.

Edited January 23, 2023 by chloe173

[DrUrsula]

OP: you are cruising Valentines Day and SuperBowl. The Dailies would be different even if NCL did this route more than once in a blue moon on Bliss

 

As for changes: our last two cruises in the fall were Celebrity and Royal. You cannot book ahead( Celebrity required no reservations for this cruise) Royal we were in a suite and the concierge only got the show schedule the day before boarding . And the schedule was incorrect, the performers changed 100% for the comedy shows and magic/juggling/etc.

 

Earlier in the spring on Royal  , "MamaMia" cancelled while we were on board due to Covid,; on a summer cruise same ship - the entire Aquatheater schedule was cancelled after the first night due to a broken ankle or rib  and the inability to "replace" the performer.

 

 

On Celebrity we watched the App daily and the acts did the same thing- all non-production theater shows that were scheduled changed multiple times in the course of 3 weeks.

our two comedians on Celebrity morphed In to one comedian who said she barely made the ship ( and I kind of wished she had missed it. Awful. 😄)

 

The  industry has changed for both entertainers and the cruise line. The days of posting dailies that are reliable the next week are over . It is not unique to NCL. 

 

I do like your chart!! That's a lot of work.

Edited January 23, 2023 by DrUrsula

[DrUrsula]

OP

Are you in the Bliss group for this cruise on  the social media site that can't be mentioned? Some good info there. 

[dd likes to cruise]

I’ve been on many cruises and it never occurred to me to try to know, or need to know, every little activity ahead of time.  Yes some of the larger ships you can make nightly entertainment reservations, but other than that, not sure the need. 

[DrUrsula]

1 minute ago, dd likes to cruise said:

I’ve been on many cruises and it never occurred to me to try to know, or need to know, every little activity ahead of time.  Yes some of the larger ships you can make nightly entertainment reservations, but other than that, not sure the need. 

I like to look up the comedians and specialty acts. Some we have come to "know"from shows at sea and on land. Some we look up and know we can skip.

conedian Landry, Phil Palisoul are two that I never want to miss. 

I DO want to book as soon as I can on board if I am not in the Haven because sometimes shows do get fully booked before all guests are boarded. I do not want to miss comedians or ,on Bliss, Jersey Boys. 
 

just my 2 cents 

[chloe173]

7 hours ago, DrUrsula said:

Are you in the Bliss group for this cruise on  the social media site that can't be mentioned? Some good info there. 

Yes. I actually don't really find that group (or the roll calls here on CC) particularly useful, mainly just first-time cruisers asking questions. But I always join just in case there's something out of the ordinary that occurs, as a way of staying abreast of info. On one past cruise I was on we participated in a mid-cruise migrant rescue operation w/ the coast guard and that's the way we found out what all the hubbub was about.

 

7 hours ago, dd likes to cruise said:

I’ve been on many cruises and it never occurred to me to try to know, or need to know, every little activity ahead of time.

Well hooray for you then. 🤷‍♀️ I freely admitted that I'm a big planner. Different strokes for different folks.

[chloe173]

 

7 hours ago, DrUrsula said:

...our two comedians on Celebrity morphed In to one comedian who said she barely made the ship ( and I kind of wished she had missed it. Awful. 😄)

Oh dear. Nearly spit out my coffee laughing on this line, LOL.  😆😆😆

[cruiseny4life]

I'm glad you care about the entertainment. I don't! But, that's not the point of my post. 

 

I do care about the main dining room menu. I'm beside myself that other cruise lines have figured out how to post the main dining room menu in the app, some lines even post it before the cruise! Sure there might be changes, but for the most part, it stays the same. 

 

But, alas, I suppose NCL is watching out for my weight. We have to take the stairs down to the main dining room and look at the menu every day. More steps = better shape, right? 

 

I'm sorry they don't post the schedule ahead of time for you! I'm also sorry (for me) that they don't post the main dining room menus. Heck, I'd take same day! 

 

Also....wow! I don't think I'd have the patience to pull the Dailies to do the kind of analysis you did. I do that too much at work. I'd rather spout off my opinions than use factual data. Well done!

 

That got me thinking, maybe we need someone (not it) to put together a spreadsheet of all the port changes, the reasons, and day from sailing it was announced. This would help us see if port changes are any actual issue or just an unpopular change that devolves into five, six, seven, 28 different topics. 

[eileeshb]

On the entertainment schedule fluctuations, there's always been some changes from normal schedules even before COVID. I had 2 sailings where there was a brand new cast for one of the shows, in both cases it meant that show was only on the latter half of the cruise rather than alternating stagings with the other main show. Then post-COVID I was on 2 sailings of Epic that had cancelled stagings of Priscilla due to individual cast member illness/injuries. Thankfully on the first sailing they managed to get a substitute on-board in time to stage the show before my cruise finished (upside of a Mediterranean itinerary) but on the second one it never got staged(Caribbean itinerary). 

[Dcoy]

Some of the one night entertainers (comics, musicians) go form ship to ship during port stops. Their shows could be scheduled on different nights for different sailings. 

[DrUrsula]

23 hours ago, chloe173 said:

 

Oh dear. Nearly spit out my coffee laughing on this line, LOL.  😆😆😆

It was tragic .