wil e coyote

I'm not sure how priority calls are made between Celebrity (owned by RCL) and NCL. It seems pretty clear that any Carnival-group ships get first priority since CCL owns Amber Cove. After that, I don't know.

We're on the same sailing. I would say it looks doubtful that we will actually stop at PP. Escape has only used Amber Cove for several months, and AC will be full on the 30th with two Carnival ships. When there are two Carnival ships at AC, Escape has been taking a sea day instead. Of course, things could always change...

I don't know anything about what it takes to build a dock like that, but I agree it would be nice. RCL is right next door and they have one (it's pretty long - I am guessing so they can get out to deep water.)

I've been thinking about this. I agree with your statement. At the same time, it seems like there are more "wave-offs" at tender ports than there used to be. In 1997, we went on an SS Norway sailing in the Caribbean, and I believe every port call was a tender port due to the Norway's deep draft. We didn't miss any of them. In 2018, we sailed on Princess and tendered to Princess Cay. No issue. Now I know my observations are unscientific, but I have to wonder whether our current litigious world has made NCL less tolerant of marginal seas when they have to tender. All it takes is one lawsuit to wipe out the profitability of a sailing, I'd guess...

At least you have realistic expectations! 😀 FWIW, I work for a large corporation, and we all get training on what we can and cannot say to the public about "company matters." I'm sure the NCL staff gets similar training.

FWIW, I cannot find any evidence this is happening or planned. I can't find any news articles or statements that PP plans to do any additional dredging at Taino Bay. Considering that RCL is routinely docking their Oasis-class ships at Taino Bay, the port authorities may believe the port is adequate as-is. But just to be clear, even my statements here are conjecture based on publicly available info (or the lack thereof.) The data says that NCL isn't taking larger ships into Taino Bay. Something (we don't know what) needs to change before they start that again. In the meantime, NCL appears to be at the mercy of Carnival's schedule at Amber Cove.

More likely, your sailing is falling victim to NCL's current practice of not taking ships into Taino Bay in the DR. They have only been taking their larger ships into Amber Cove, but there is only space for two ships at Amber Cove, and there are already two ships scheduled there for 1/17.

Most likely, NCL's software was written by the same outfit that created SWA's crew scheduling software! 🤪

Wishing you safe and uneventful travels! Love your attitude!

That is exactly what I keep telling myself too!

@tbo, no one knows if there is any work going on (or planned) at Taino Bay. Other lines (like RCL) have been sending very large ships into Taino Bay right along. I don't think anyone on the boards knows the reason why NCL isn't sending their large ships there.

Wow - so sorry to hear this. Just looking at FlightAware's cancelation info - looks like SWA has already canceled 62% of their flights for Wednesday and 16% on Thursday. https://flightaware.com/live/cancelled/today Hope you are able to get to your NYE cruise!

Great point!

Continuing to build data here...yesterday, 12/26, Escape was due in the DR. While Escape shows on both the Taino Bay and Amber Cove schedules for yesterday, it appears it was actually in Amber Cove. I know that is no surprise for anyone, but if I project this forward into January, it looks like Escape will probably only stop in the DR on 1/2, 1/16, and 1/23. The other Mondays in January (1/9 and 1/30) have two Carnival ships scheduled for Amber Cove. Again, this assumes NCL continues to not use Taino Bay, and that past performance is an accurate indicator of the future. YMMV, and all that!

One thing I have been thinking about in all this - how would you like to be one of NCL's contracted shorex providers in the DR? Seems like it is a coin flip (at best) whether a shorex provider would have a full set of customers or a day with no work (and no pay) from NCL. If I were one of those providers, NCL would go pretty far down my priority list. I don't know if that is how things actually work, just a thought...

Just gotta share - when I saw the title of this thread, I thought "Oh no - are we supposed to give gratuities to the gate agent at embarkation?" 🤪

Wow - you must live just the other side of the airport fence! It takes me 20 minutes to get the last 4 miles to the airport!

We fly out of BDL regularly, and I am a guy (if that matters.) I wouldn't take that flight to SJU if I wanted to be confident of getting on the ship, even in the summer. You only need to be late by about an hour before you're really in jeopardy of making the sailing. With national on-time rates for US airlines at about 77% this year, you're looking at a 1-in-4 chance of running like crazy to make it to your cruise vacation or missing it altogether. There really isn't a good alternate airport in Puerto Rico if you need to fly into somewhere else for flight options - as compared to Miami, where you can also fly into Fort Lauderdale or even Palm Beach if you had to and rent a car. All that together - we would (and did) fly in a day early. Less stress and good insurance.

At the risk of being lumped into the "cheerleader" crowd, I'll simply observe that there is a lot we don't know, and probably can't know unless we find someone at NCL who will tell us. Is it possible that NCL is planning ships into the DR with no intention of actually docking there? Yes, though I'd like to hope this isn't the case. Is it possible that NCL is working to get back into Taino Bay with their larger ships and can't predict when that work will conclude? Yes, this is possible too. Perhaps NCL is negotiating with their insurers as some have speculated. Perhaps Taino Bay is planning to do some dredging work and it keeps slipping out. Perhaps it is something else. I'm not claiming any of these possibilities are in fact what is happening - simply that there are other possible explanations. I do think it is interesting that the Escape is on Taino Bay's schedule every Monday into the beginning of January.

@CruzinMel, you probably shouldn't use the term "hit" when talking about the Escape and the DR...🤣

We're on the same sailing - as they say, past performance is no guarantee of future results, but at present it appears NCL won't take the larger ships into Taino Bay, and Escape is a larger ship. So, barring a change in NCL's practices, or a cancellation by one of the two Carnival ships currently scheduled to be at Amber Cove on 1/30, it looks like we will get another sea day. To be honest, it doesn't affect us all that much. The port call is so short that we were seriously considering staying on board anyway. But if I had an excursion I really wanted to do (like Damajagua Falls, for instance) and then we got cancelled, I'd be disappointed.

Thanks! I'm watching this with some interest as we are on the Escape next month and scheduled to be in Puerto Plata on 1/30. But as others have noted, there are no NCL ships on the Amber Cove schedule in January, and the Taino Bay January schedule is empty. There are two Carnival ships scheduled for Amber Cove on 1/30, so it seems unlikely that Escape will be there.

Both Amber Cove and Taino Bay show Escape on their schedules for yesterday, 12/19. Does anyone know which port (if any) Escape actually used?

@sarr7 for the win! Thank you! We are on this itinerary at the end of January. Time to plan!

FWIW (which isn't much), I agree with you, and I also support paying the DSC. If I didn't, I would find another cruise line. But I can't prove my belief, and neither can anyone else...🤪