Cruises with long (overnight) port stays

[KyloRen]

I did a two night three day Bermuda port stay (6n cruise) two yrs ago with Carnival Magic. My hubby likes the long stays. Are there any other long port stay cruises that carnival offers?

 

 Thanks! 

[mz-s]

They may not do it anymore but they used to do "Cozumel Plus" before COVID where they'd stay late into the night.

 

And often with ABC itineraries, you'll stay until 10PM at one of the islands. With mine it was Curacao and that island is beautiful at night.

[KyloRen]

35 minutes ago, mz-s said:

They may not do it anymore but they used to do "Cozumel Plus" before COVID where they'd stay late into the night.

 

And often with ABC itineraries, you'll stay until 10PM at one of the islands. With mine it was Curacao and that island is beautiful at night.

Ohh that would be great as well!! I hate leaving so darn early JUST when the good Resturants start to open. I take the 5D Ensenada/Catalina cruise a few times a year and we always leave just before things get fun! 😞 I’m gonna go look into this one! Thank you 

[Saint Greg]

Overnight Bermuda and Overnight Cabo I believe.

 

As for long days my upcoming abc has 8am-10pm in both Aruba and Bonaire.

[mikayla73]

It's a rarity for sure (except it seems for Bermuda), but I do like staying overnight in a port. We did the overnight in Cabo once from LB. We made sure to be back on the ship though before they pulled up anchor for the night. I know there were people who stayed at a hotel in Cabo that night. My only thought was what happens if they can't tender the next day, which happens at times in Cabo. I wouldn't want to deal with that "what if" for my vacation. 

 

I know this is a CCL forum, but we did an RCCL cruise too that stopped overnight in San Francisco and enjoyed a baseball game while we were there. This was in 2015 though. You might look at other lines that have overnights in port too.

 

I would always prefer to be docked if we're doing an overnight, just to eliminate having to deal with the potential "what if's" if the ship can't tender the next day and I didn't get back on before they took up anchor. Otherwise to me it's really just B2B at the same port for a tender.

Edited April 19 by mikayla73

[ninjacat123]

DH and I have a Bermuda cruise Sept 1, 2024.  We port at the Dockyard in Bermuda Wednesday, Sept 4 at 8am, according to my Cruise Manager.  The next morning Thursday, Sept 5 my Cruise Manager says 10am. We don't leave Bermuda till Friday, Sept 6 at 12pm. What does "10am" mean?  Does the ship move and come back at 10am?  Can I not get off the ship before 10am on Thursday?  Thanks for any insight!

Edited April 19 by ninjacat123

[shof515]

Bermuda cruise ship schedule: http://www.rccbermuda.bm/Documents/Shipping_schedules/2024 Cruise Ship Schedule.pdf shows the ship in port 8am on Wednesday September 4 and leaving on 12pm on Friday 

 

the cruise manager may not be used to overnights so it could be glitch on the website. i seen overnights listed like Bermuda day 1 8am to 11:59pm, Bermuda day 2 12:00am to 11:59pm and so on 

[ninjacat123]

8 minutes ago, shof515 said:

Bermuda cruise ship schedule: http://www.rccbermuda.bm/Documents/Shipping_schedules/2024 Cruise Ship Schedule.pdf shows the ship in port 8am on Wednesday September 4 and leaving on 12pm on Friday 

 

the cruise manager may not be used to overnights so it could be glitch on the website. i seen overnights listed like Bermuda day 1 8am to 11:59pm, Bermuda day 2 12:00am to 11:59pm and so on 

Thanks for the info! I’m trying to plan our Thursday (the one full day) with a visit to the Caves and I was planning on buying tickets (I’ve read on CC that the Caves can get booked up) and I was hoping on catching the earliest ferry to Hamilton. If I can’t get off the ship before 10am, my plans get pushed later and later. It’s a conundrum 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Tiger0613]

10 hours ago, mz-s said:

They may not do it anymore but they used to do "Cozumel Plus" before COVID where they'd stay late into the night.

Cozumel Plus only meant one extra hour(at least out of New Orleans).

 

The 1/20/18 sailing on the Triumph was in Cozumel overnight(8:00pm-7:00pm).  A lady went overboard on 1/21 somewhere north of Cancun.  After searching for 12 hours(8:00pm-8:00am), we were allowed to keep going.  We were supposed to be in Cozumel at 8:00am on 1/22.  Progreso on 1/23 was canceled.  We actually docked in Cozumel at 8:30pm at the International Pier instead of Puerta Maya.  We were supposed to dock at Puerta Maya, but it was going to be full on 1/23.

 

We were free to get off the ship, but I dont think many people did.  A couple port shops were still open.  There was no port security in either direction when we got there.  The gates were just open.  No one checked ship cards to get through the gate and back on the pier.  No food sniffing dogs either.  Port security arrived in the morning.

Edited April 20 by Tiger0613

[teknoge3k]

18 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

DH and I have a Bermuda cruise Sept 1, 2024.  We port at the Dockyard in Bermuda Wednesday, Sept 4 at 8am, according to my Cruise Manager.  The next morning Thursday, Sept 5 my Cruise Manager says 10am. We don't leave Bermuda till Friday, Sept 6 at 12pm. What does "10am" mean?  Does the ship move and come back at 10am?  Can I not get off the ship before 10am on Thursday?  Thanks for any insight!

 

I had this exact same scenario last year with Carnival in Bermuda and I found out the hard way. NCL & RCCL have port priority in Bermuda. Depending on the port schedule, Carnival ships may not dock in Bermuda. Instead, they tender in using the lifeboats from the ship. So even though we were there for multiple days, they still had an "all aboard" time each night to be back on the ship. I believe that was 11pm iirc. After that, they do not run the lifeboat tenders back and forth. Then the next day they did not start the tenders until 9am. It was very frustrating and our biggest complaint. We LOVE Bermuda. We're going back next month but going with NCL because they're docked in port for the entire 3 days. That way we can come/go as we please all night. 

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

 

I had this exact same scenario last year with Carnival in Bermuda and I found out the hard way. NCL & RCCL have port priority in Bermuda. Depending on the port schedule, Carnival ships may not dock in Bermuda. Instead, they tender in using the lifeboats from the ship. So even though we were there for multiple days, they still had an "all aboard" time each night to be back on the ship. I believe that was 11pm iirc. After that, they do not run the lifeboat tenders back and forth. Then the next day they did not start the tenders until 9am. It was very frustrating and our biggest complaint. We LOVE Bermuda. We're going back next month but going with NCL because they're docked in port for the entire 3 days. That way we can come/go as we please all night. 

Here is the schedule for the port. If I’m reading this correctly, Venezia is docked at Heritage Wharf till 4pm on September 4 when we dock at 8am. Then we (Pride) will be at the dock alone until September 6 when Serenade of the Seas arrives at 10am and we depart at 12pm. Does that look correct?

[shof515]

yes that is correct. If a ship were to tender, it will say grassy bay on the schedule

[staceyglow]

We are on the Panorama transpacific from Singapore to LA  on October 12 and it includes an overnight stay in Honolulu.  It was originally supposed to be a stop in Maui and a stop in Honolulu. but they canceled the Maui stop and replaced it with 2 days in Honolulu.

[ninjacat123]

40 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

We are on the Panorama transpacific from Singapore to LA  on October 12 and it includes an overnight stay in Honolulu.  It was originally supposed to be a stop in Maui and a stop in Honolulu. but they canceled the Maui stop and replaced it with 2 days in Honolulu.

I love Hawaii!! I’m sorry you won’t be stopping in Maui.

[Honolulu Blue]

Quickie comments:

 

• My one overnight on Carnival was in Honolulu on a cruise from Vancouver to the islands several years ago
• I recently had an overnight in Nassau that wasn't on Carnival
• It's tricky to find overnight stays on Carnival cruises, but I think they still exist
• I've had some late stays (10 PM or later) in Aruba and Curacao
• When Carnival sailed out of sunny San Juan, some of their departures from that port weren't until 10 PM, since the first port was nearby St. Thomas.

[ninjacat123]

On 4/19/2024 at 11:53 AM, Saint Greg said:

Overnight Bermuda and Overnight Cabo I believe.

 

As for long days my upcoming abc has 8am-10pm in both Aruba and Bonaire.

I read both of your blogs on Bermuda but didn’t notice if you could exit the ship when you wanted or had to wait till a designated time. Thanks for any info!

[Saint Greg]

35 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I read both of your blogs on Bermuda but didn’t notice if you could exit the ship when you wanted or had to wait till a designated time. Thanks for any info!

I think you could go at any time. If you look at the fun times there was no back on board time the first day. There was no gangway open the second day. Just gangway open 9:15 the first morning and back on board 3:30pm the second day.

 

Edited April 21 by Saint Greg

[jsglow]

7 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Quickie comments:

 

• When Carnival sailed out of sunny San Juan, some of their departures from that port weren't until 10 PM, since the first port was nearby St. Thomas.

Back in the day, I believe all their San Juan departures were 10p. As you said, they could practically drift over to St. Thomas by morning. Plus it afforded folks to fly in that day quite reasonably if they chose. AND it meant passing by the fort when it was all light up at night.

 

Man I miss sailing from San Juan.

Edited April 21 by jsglow

[KyloRen]

Wow these are great replies! Thank you!

 

 Oh yes I’m once did the 2d in Cabo but I hated having to get back on the bed boat at like 6pm. Some people were staying overnight in port. I loved being off the boat past midnight in Bermuda it was so fun drinking rainwater IPAs at 1am at the Frog and Onion.

[Honolulu Blue]

3 hours ago, jsglow said:

Back in the day, I believe all their San Juan departures were 10p. As you said, they could practically drift over to St. Thomas by morning. Plus it afforded folks to fly in that day quite reasonably if they chose. AND it meant passing by the fort when it was all light up at night.

 

Man I miss sailing from San Juan.

I too miss sailing from SJ on Carnival.  I've partially scratched that itch by cruising with other cruise lines from there.

 

The last year or two before the pandemic had the Fascination leaving San Juan at 6 PM.  I don't know why.

[ontheweb]

Never had an overnight on Carnival, but have had on other cruise lines. I think they are more common on other cruise lines.

 

We had overnights on Princess in St. Petersburg (obviously that is not happening again) and Rosyth for Edinburgh. On NCL just last summer we had an overnight in Reykjavik.

[May1cruiser]

Our favorite overnight was Cuba on Paradise. One full day, that night and left at noon the following day. They allowed us to bring and open liquor purchased in Cuba. The top decks were loaded that night with empty bottles of rum and Cuban cigar butts everywhere. It was extremely memorable for many reasons but was one of our favorite cruises. This was 2018.

[rogueriver]

We will have two nights in Honolulu on an upcoming October cruise.  We were thinking about possibly flying over to Maui to spend the night (since our cruise will not be able to stop there).  Does Carnival allow passengers to be away from the ship for the night and return the next day before sail away?

[mz-s]

46 minutes ago, rogueriver said:

We will have two nights in Honolulu on an upcoming October cruise.  We were thinking about possibly flying over to Maui to spend the night (since our cruise will not be able to stop there).  Does Carnival allow passengers to be away from the ship for the night and return the next day before sail away?

 

If the ship is docked overnight then yes. You can come and go as you please.

 

Sometimes the ship will leave overnight and do maneuvers offshore so they can open the casino, shops, etc., so keep that in mind. I don't know if they're doing that for your particular cruise.

[Itried4498]

There's a handful of itineraries with a late port night, and there's a smaller number with two days at a specific port, but the days of true overnights seem to be over.

 

For example, Carnival has a handful of itineraries with an overnight at Cabo and a handful with an overnight at Ensenada.  But in both locations, you need to re-join the ship the first night  -- as late as 8PM in Cabo and as early as 5PM in Ensenada.  You are no longer allowed to get a hotel -- you need to get back on the ship.

 

It's incredibly rare these days to come across an itinerary where the ship is docked overnight and you can come and go as you please.  Carnival regularly did this at Puerta Vallera and Ensenada in the past...