Shortened Time in Ports....

[OVgirl]

All the cruises we have been on, when HMC was the port before going back to Ft Lauderdale we always left at 4.

 

Now on our recent cruises last spring, we left HMC at 3 PM.

Our itinerary for February shows the ship leaving HMC at 4pm. I sure hope they don't leave earlier, but I'm guessing it is up to the captain.

[Hawaiidan]

You could be right about 4:00, I can't honestly remember. But, I do know it was later than 3:00. I suppose its starting to get dark by 5:00 on winter cruises. But, I still do not believe its a matter of distance.

 

The best I can tell, HMC is about 180nm from Ft Lauderdale. So, at an average speed of 15 knots, they can make the trip in less than 12 hours. If they leave at 5:00PM, they can be in Ft Lauderdale by 5:00AM. The published top speed for the Vista ships is 24 knots. 15 knots seems like loping speed to me.

 

Sure the ship can do 24 knots..that is her hull speed.

However the ship burns 70% less fuel at 15.

 

You too, may have noticed that airlines are stretching out schedules , slowing their aircraft means lowering the fuel burn.

[Randyk47]

Our last two visits to HMC we left, or at least had to be back on board, by 3 PM. As I recall they had a couple of ship's personnel walking the beach the last time we were there around 2:30 PM getting us all to head to the dock. Last visit convinced us we'd probably not be getting a cabana again and since then, to rub "salt in the wound", they've raised the prices. :(

[cruz chic]

All the cruises we have been on, when HMC was the port before going back to Ft Lauderdale we always left at 4.

 

Now on our recent cruises last spring, we left HMC at 3 PM.

Same here. It's never been later then that.

[kazu]

Sometimes HMC is scheduled as the first port........

It is for the Western Caribbean Itinerary on Westerdam which we just did.

 

It is not always the last port of the cruise.

 

 

True, I was just responding to the situation the person was complaining about. Even if it is the first port - the ship still has to time it to get to the next port - so things have to be timed accordingly:D

[kazu]

Did they move HMC recently? In all my Caribbean cruises on HAL, last of which was in 2008, we never left earlier than 5:00, as far as I can recall.

 

No argument from me, but in all of our stops at HMC, we have NEVER left as late as 5 pm. Our latest was 4 pm (and it ended up being 3:30) and our earliest was 3 pm. We have stopped here prior to 2008 and several times after - most recently last week:D

Mind you, weather can play a role here - not just in ability to tender but also in the cruise path to FLL.

No, they haven't moved HMC:D

[sail7seas]

True, I was just responding to the situation the person was complaining about. Even if it is the first port - the ship still has to time it to get to the next port - so things have to be timed accordingly:D

 

 

Yes, certainly. That is true for all ports but that is the point of the thread........

 

Are port times shorter than they used to be?

Unless they moved the islands, the same ships should be able to cover the same distance in roughly the same time UNLESS going a lower speed.

 

[vbmom87]

I wonder if they pay for the pier by the hour? I noticed many HAL cruises with 3:00 PM departures. I will not book them. I always look for 5 and 6 PM departures when I book. I like HAL and Celebrity equally well. Celebrity often has full days in port. My next cruise is the Noordam on the 17th of this month, it had good port times and good pricing. We even stay in Curacao until 11:00 PM.

 

I also wonder if port docking is charged by the hour.

 

Like KK we cruise for the ports. If this keeps up, I doubt you will see us on a cruise ship again. I want full days in ports.

 

That was the case this November when we were in Hawaii and left Maui at 1PM instead of 3PM in the same time period as 2010. When you tender in Maui, it doesn't leave much time to even consider going ashore so we didn't.

 

May also be their solution not to add fuel surcharges and make some reconsider cruising.

 

 

Oh my!!! So little time in Maui!! I would be devastated. When we cruised Hawaii with NCL from Honoulu we had overnights in Maui and Kauai. I can not imagine port time ending at 1:00 p.m. in any port. Totally unacceptable in my book.

[Bearnaise]

You could be right about 4:00, I can't honestly remember. But, I do know it was later than 3:00. I suppose its starting to get dark by 5:00 on winter cruises. But, I still do not believe its a matter of distance.

Perhaps it's a matter of readying the place for the next day's cruise? Lots of cleaning to do and they probably want a couple hours of daylight.

[trixiee]

Just checked our itinerary, we're there from 0800 to 1500. I'm a bit sad about that.

[sail7seas]

That means all aboard at 2:30.

[brazilgirl]

I personally cruise for the ports . I always look at port times when choosing my cruises and tend to avoid any cruise that has me getting back on the ship early .

 

Perhaps if I lived in Florida and could cruise on a dime , I would think differently. I certainly enjoy staying on the ship , but I cruise to see the world :) in a comfortable fashion. There are still sooooo many places I want to go and land trips/ cruises I want to take!

[michmike]

On this past week's trip on Nieuw Amsterdam (returned this morning) we had 2:30 departures from both Grand Cayman and Roatan. As Sail mentioned, I guess we didn't look at the times in port that closely when we booked. The short stay in Roatan was exacerbated by a delay in getting us off of better than 30 min.

 

We enjoy our port time and will definitely be looking closer at port schedules as we book in the future. If that means we need to look at other lines then we may have to do that.

[PathfinderEss]

Haven't notice to much of this on the Mexico cruises. We lost a port, but we gain 1 extra day in PV. Cabo has always been an early port as you are fighting currents all the way back to San Diego.

[George C]

On of the reasons we are on Maasdam in April is we like St Maarten and ship is scheduled to be there from 8am to 11pm