Why 2 @ sea from NY,1 from Boston...

[neverthought]

Does anyone have any idea why there are 2 sea days leaving from NY to Bermuda, but only one sea day from Boston?:confused: I can't make any sense of it...leaving from Boston gets us an additional full day in Bermuda. Both take only one day to get back. Called my PCC, NCL and neither could give me an answer. IMO, maybe NCL just wants more casino time from NY. Anyone have any insight???

Neverthought

[Rileyz]

Boston has it's 2 sea days coming back since it leaves at 6 am Weds., Weds and Thursday are sea days. There are almost 3 full days in Bermuda on both, they just start and end at different times. Not sure if this helps but there's probably no advantage either way as both seem to be about 2 1/2 days give or take a few hours.

[bluefintuna]

Spirit leaves on Friday and docks at the Dockyard late Sunday morning. When Spirit leaves Bermuda on Wednesday early, Dawn is waiting to dock (having left N.Y. Sunday P.M.) N.Y. is approximately 200 miles further sailing to Bermuda. If either the Spirit or Dawn were cruising flat out it would take considerably less time to get to Bermuda. At one point we were cruising at 9.6 knots and hardly moving at all.

[nycruiser80]

NY to Bermuda and Boston to Bermuda only requires one full sea day. The reason the Dawn has two days at sea on the outbound part of the trip is because the port of Kings wharf, which is the only Bermuda port that can acommodate large ships, only has two docking spots (they actually only had one but I beleive a second is now open and NCL helped finance the project). RCI's Explorer docks here wich is very big, the Dawn and Spirit stop her as well as Princess cruises' Caribbean Princess. Also Bermuda for years has had a limit of the amount of cruise passengers that can be on the island in one day. Not sure if that ban was lifted. For some reason I think it has been relaxed because of the larger ships that stop here. So mainly the reason why the Dawn has two days at sea is because of scheduling reasons.

 

FYI...Bermuda does have two other more centraly located docks in Hamilton and St. George but only the smaller ships can stop there.

[Don Haynes]

Bermuda signed an agreement with NCL for ten years for two big ships, with an exclusive from Boston. Without the agreement I doubt whether Bermuda would have built Heritage Wharf next to Kings Wharf. Since NCL signed a long term agreement, NCL uses the new Heritage Wharf.

 

As noted above, the Spirit leaves Boston on Friday, visits Heritage Wharf on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before departing on Wednesday morning before the Dawn arrives. The Dawn leaves New York on Sunday, visits Heritage Wharf on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before departing on Saturday morning. The Spirit has two sea days going north, while the Dawn has two days going south. Both ships have a similar amount of time visiting Bermuda.

 

Obviously for two ships to share the same one berth in Bermuda, one ship has to leave before the other ship arrives. If anything the Dawn has the better Sunday departure from New York, while the Spirit has the Friday departure from Boston. Keep in mind with the agreement NCL has an exclusive from Boston. This summer the Majesty is departing Baltimore for Bermuda cruises to St. George too.....

 

RCCL has the Voyager of the Seas departing from Bayonne, the NY market as well....along with the Grandeur of the Seas departing from Baltimore. RCCL has their ships doing 9 and 5 day itineraries sharing Kings Wharf, with their 9 day itineraries going as far south as the Virgin Islands.

[Don Haynes]

The RCCL ship might be the Explorer instead of the Voyager departing from Bayonne....I am not as familiar with RCCL ships....

[Rileyz]

It's actually the Grandeur from RCCL. And the other day 2 of it's passengers watched it sail away--they missed the boat, literally!!!

[LOWTYD]

It's actually the Grandeur from RCCL. And the other day 2 of it's passengers watched it sail away--they missed the boat, literally!!!

 

 

Well that has to be the worse day ever!:D

[CruisinMaterial]

It's actually the Grandeur from RCCL. And the other day 2 of it's passengers watched it sail away--they missed the boat, literally!!!

 

The Grandeur of the Seas was the ship behind us docked at King's Wharf in the dockyard. She was only there for two days... arriving at 9AMish one day and leaving the next day by 4PM. None of her passengers missed the boat this cruise though. They made it known they were leaving though with their horn. :eek::)

[neverthought]

Thanks to everyone for their response...the bottom line is scheduling and dock size. We have sailed to Bermuda before and thoroughly enjoyed docking in Hamilton or St.George, and that was on a smaller ship. It just seemed to me that we were losing a day leaving from NY...arvs. on Wed....lvs. Fri 5 PM,leaving from Boston Arvs.Sunday...lvs.Wed 6 AM. I guess leaving from NY is better for us, closer to home etc. Thanks again everyone

Neverthought

[Don Haynes]

Of course, NCL could depart New York on Monday and travel to Bermuda with one sea day too. But I think most New Yorkers would prefer to leave on Sunday. Frankly, I am sure those departing from Boston would prefer Saturday over Friday. But considering both ships are sharing the same berth in Bermuda, NCL has chosen the best days for departures to accommodate both ships.

[electricron]

Does anyone have any idea why there are 2 sea days leaving from NY to Bermuda, but only one sea day from Boston?:confused: I can't make any sense of it...leaving from Boston gets us an additional full day in Bermuda. Both take only one day to get back. Called my PCC, NCL and neither could give me an answer. IMO, maybe NCL just wants more casino time from NY. Anyone have any insight???

 

The NCL ships' days at sea are reversed returning from Bermuda.

Dawn

Sun NYC Arrives 8 am Departs 4 pm

Mon At Sea

Tue At Sea

Wed Arrives Bermuda 8 am (64 hours at sea to)

Thur Bermuda

Fri Departs Bermuda 5 pm (Docked in Bermuda for a total of 57 hours)

Sat At Sea (39 hours at sea back)

Total At Sea = 103 hours

An entire week = 168 hours, 168-8-103-57=0

 

Spirit

Fri Boston Arrives 8 am Departs 4 pm

Sat At Sea

Sun Arrives Bermuda 11 am (43 hours at sea to)

Mon Bermuda

Tue Bermuda

Wed Departs Bermuda 6 am (Docked in Bermuda for a total of 67 hours)

Thur At sea (50 hours at sea back)

Total At Sea = 93 hours.

An entire week = 168 hours. 168-8-93-67=0

 

The Spirit stays 10 hours longer in Bermuda and 10 hours less at sea than the Dawn. But you're probably sleeping at least six, if not more, of those ten hours on either ship, in port or at sea.

 

Much ado over nothing, imho.

[unklez]

Boston has it's 2 sea days coming back since it leaves at 6 am Weds., Weds and Thursday are sea days. There are almost 3 full days in Bermuda on both, they just start and end at different times. Not sure if this helps but there's probably no advantage either way as both seem to be about 2 1/2 days give or take a few hours.

 

Scheduling

[bluesea777]

The RCCL ship might be the Explorer instead of the Voyager departing from Bayonne....I am not as familiar with RCCL ships....

 

It's actually the Grandeur from RCCL. And the other day 2 of it's passengers watched it sail away--they missed the boat, literally!!!

 

Both Explorer and Grandeur - alternate weeks. Voyager stopped here last month on its way to Europe.

[CaptainChoppers]

Actually, the crew can only cope with RED SOX Fans for one day.:D

 

GO YANKS ! ! !;)

[garycarla]

The Grandeur of the Seas was the ship behind us docked at King's Wharf in the dockyard. She was only there for two days... arriving at 9AMish one day and leaving the next day by 4PM. None of her passengers missed the boat this cruise though. They made it known they were leaving though with their horn. :eek::)

 

I assume you mean you did not see anyone on the pier waving to their ship as it left. Someone could still be on the beach somewhere and still miss the ship, yes?

[Dolphins]

The previous posters are correct in pointing out docking space available for the Dawn's extra day at sea. I am sure most passengers would prefer an extra day in Bermuda. In 2010, HAL's Veendam will also be leaving New York on sundays for Bermuda. She will spend 4 days docked in Bermuda (St. George & Hamilton) arriving at 8AM on Tuesday and departing at 2PM on Friday. Since Veendam is a smaller ship, she doesn't have to dock at King's Wharf. It should be noted that the prices for Veendam are much higher than for a similar cabin on the Dawn so you pay for that extra day in Bermuda. Hopefully, when the Spirit eventually leaves NCL, the Dawn will be able to spend 4 days in King's Wharf.

[Don Haynes]

The previous posters are correct in pointing out docking space available for the Dawn's extra day at sea. I am sure most passengers would prefer an extra day in Bermuda. In 2010, HAL's Veendam will also be leaving New York on sundays for Bermuda. She will spend 4 days docked in Bermuda (St. George & Hamilton) arriving at 8AM on Tuesday and departing at 2PM on Friday. Since Veendam is a smaller ship, she doesn't have to dock at King's Wharf. It should be noted that the prices for Veendam are much higher than for a similar cabin on the Dawn so you pay for that extra day in Bermuda. Hopefully, when the Spirit eventually leaves NCL, the Dawn will be able to spend 4 days in King's Wharf.

 

While the Dawn and Spirit may be replaced on these itineraries during the next ten years, NCL did sign a ten year agreement with Bermuda for two big ships sharing Heritage Wharf, with one being an exclusive from Boston. So there will be two big NCL ships doing Bermuda itineraries during the next ten years during the summer months.

 

As noted above there will be competition from New York and other east coast cities, NCL will have an exclusive from Boston for the next ten years. Of course, Bermuda wishes to book through these years both berths at St. George as well with smaller ships too.