Breakaway departure time from Bermuda changed to 3 PM?

[danyel]

This will affect my plans for the day of departure since I booked a taxi tour for the day. I'm sure others have booked private excursions that will be affected. Some of the NCL excursions that were leaving at 1:00 for four hours will be affected too. I would understand if they change with future cruises with enough time to adjust plans but not after final payment. We are cruising Aug. 2 and wouldn't have thought to check itinerary if I wasn't following on cruise critic. Thanks for all of the information on these forums!

[fiftyguy]

I noticed that topic too and was wondering if this was something similar. If so, it's kind of a bummer.

 

Even with this change, the Breakaway still has more island time than the Dawn. If the Breakaway arrives at 8 AM on Wednesday and leaves at 3 PM on Friday, that's 55 hours. The Dawn is scheduled for an 11 AM arrival on Sunday, and a 5 PM departure on Tuesday, so that's 54 hours.

 

I guess it's not a huge loss, we'll just have to get an earlier start on Friday so we get more time in.

 

I see my Dawn 9/4 sailing this year is listed with 1pm arrival on Sunday. The Dawn has lost two more hours in Bermuda. The website hasn't changed our September 2016 sailing yet, but I'm sure they will.

[Cauzneffct]

While I respect that they have the right to change itineraries around, the lack of notification is a problem.

 

I respect their right to modify to an extent -- weather, safety, sickness, overboard, issues with the port,etc. --- provided they attempt to perform the itinerary I booked. My respect evaporates when they modify w/o notice because they want to get more/spend less money.

Edited July 19, 2015 by Cauzneffct

[Turtles06]

The way things have been going the past couple of months maybe the Gem's Tortola port time will be cut from 7am to 1pm to 7am to 11am. :eek:

 

 

LOL. Still showing 7-1 for our cruise next Feb.

 

I'm sorry about the loss of time in other ports, and I agree the lack of notification by NCL is inexcusable.

[HarpHarp]

They are cutting times on short island hops. The Escape has changed from leaving St. Thomas at 3 (from 6), and the next stop is Tortola. It does get in to St. Thomas an hour earlier, so in reality it's a 2 hour difference, but this doesn't make any sense.

 

 

Yeah for sure this doesn't make any sense. There is a 30 minute ferry ride to the next stop. I could stay in St Thomas over night & just about beat the ship to roadtown if I took the first ferry. WTH???

[JuneauMe]

This will affect my plans for the day of departure since I booked a taxi tour for the day. I'm sure others have booked private excursions that will be affected. Some of the NCL excursions that were leaving at 1:00 for four hours will be affected too. I would understand if they change with future cruises with enough time to adjust plans but not after final payment. We are cruising Aug. 2 and wouldn't have thought to check itinerary if I wasn't following on cruise critic. Thanks for all of the information on these forums!

People were told @ the port today about the time change...

NCL could at least start notifying people with up coming cruises, and

NCL could have been nice about this and made the change for cruises that were still outside of final payment, but to just slam it on people...well that just sucks now, doesn't it!?

[trex-de]

Sounds like a renegotiation of port times with port authorities + other means of cost savings were just rolled out in one batch

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LrgPizza]

Sounds like a renegotiation of port times with port authorities + other means of cost savings were just rolled out in one batch

I was also wondering if perhaps this comes from a contract with the port, and not something that was necessarily initiated by NCL. Who knows. I gave them permission to change things in my contract, so now I just roll with whatever.

 

For my May 21 Escape sailing, it still shows 6pm departure from St. Thomas.

Edited July 19, 2015 by LrgPizza

[MigMan]

This thread is the exact reason that we follow cruise critic so closely. Never would have known about the 3pm departure or thought to check our itinerary without it. Thanks again for being so informative!!

[trex-de]

I wonder how many Piña coladas and Miami Vices DW and I can enjoy in that 2 hrs extra on the ship. ---->UBP!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jmele999]

I was also wondering if perhaps this comes from a contract with the port, and not something that was necessarily initiated by NCL. Who knows. I gave them permission to change things in my contract, so now I just roll with whatever.

 

For my May 21 Escape sailing, it still shows 6pm departure from St. Thomas.

 

Are you looking on your vacation summary. On NCL.com, it says 6:00 pm, but the vacation summary says 3:00 pm.

[jmele999]

I wonder how many Piña coladas and Miami Vices DW and I can enjoy in that 2 hrs extra on the ship. ---->UBP!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I think that besides saving fuel, NCL is also looking at this as a revenue-making opportunity. The more time spend onboard, the more you spend.

[spidybabe]

Just looked at mine for next Sunday. Arrival time is still showing 8AM, but departure time is now 3PM. A notification would have been nice. I am going to be sure to alert my roll call; I think most people are planning to stay near the ship on Friday, but you never know, this could affect someone's plans.

 

Thanks for the info...same for Aug 9th sailing. We also just posted the change on our roll call. Really won't effect us, but who know it may effect others.

Safe sailing

[Diver2014]

My opinion is.....the cruise lines do not pick and choose what time their ships will be in port. I was always under the impression that they had to negotiate with each port. On the Epic a few years ago, we were denied a port stop in Nassau even though it was scheduled because of a 'scheduling' issue...there was no room for the ship. So I think it's an issue between the ports and juggling all the ships with the cruise lines. Maybe the ports have upped the docking fees so much that the cruise lines don't want to pay for two hours if they don't have to. Whatever, I've been to St Thomas so many times that I don't care if I get off the ship but it can be a pain for people who have booked tours that now have to be back two hours (or more) earlier than planned. Cruising is still a great vacation if you roll with the seas (notice, I didn't say punches....)

[LrgPizza]

Are you looking on your vacation summary. On NCL.com, it says 6:00 pm, but the vacation summary says 3:00 pm.

 

I logged into my account and looked at the itinerary on my vacation summary. Not all the sailings have changed.

[penwah2002]

I feel if there are going to be changes that involve cost or itinerary changes should only be changes when new schedules come out. It's just bad business to change something that has been purchased months out, just bad business.

[punkincc]

They are cutting times on short island hops. The Escape has changed from leaving St. Thomas at 3 (from 6), and the next stop is Tortola. It does get in to St. Thomas an hour earlier, so in reality it's a 2 hour difference, but this doesn't make any sense.

 

Thanks for the heads up! I just checked MYNCL for our itinerary and saw that our St Thomas port time is now 7:00 to 3:00 rather than 8:00 to 6:00. I knew that 6:00 was too good to be true, allowing a leisurely trip by ferry over to St John and actually time enough to enjoy the place with not having to be back at the ship by 5:30. Well, scratch that idea. Too much taxi, ferry, Safari bus to beach, Safari bus back, ferry, and taxi to port in time to be there at 2:30. Just not worth the effort.

 

We do get in an hour earlier at 7:00, but not sure what good this really does anyone when it comes to tours.

[Cauzneffct]

We do get in an hour earlier at 7:00, but not sure what good this really does anyone when it comes to tours.

 

Wouldn't it make sense to cut off an hour going in (for morning arrivals) than going out? Cutting off an hour when nothing's open would make more sense than cutting short an excursion in the afternoon.

[jd1966]

Hey all,

 

I noticed under Vacation Summary that the departure time from Bermuda for our Breakaway cruise is now 3 PM, instead of 5 PM. I'm wondering whether this is a mistake—or, if it's true, why the change occurred?

 

Maybe fuel costs? Or the Breakaway having trouble holding the schedule?

 

I'm hoping it's incorrect. Not that I'm going to get too worked up about 2 lost hours on the last day of a 3 day visit, it just would be a shame.

Our Breakaway cruise on September 27 is also arriving one hour later in addition to leaving two hours early. Checked our Hawaii cruise and they are now arriving in Nawiliwili at 10 AM instead of 8!!! Nice job NCL!!!!!

[Freckle53]

Not a Bermuda sailing, but I just looked at our Feb. Breakaway itinerary and Port Canaveral was 12-9 and is now listed as 1-9.

[Squirty27]

No, if the ship leaves at 3 you only need to get back to the ship by 2:30. The 2 hours is just for embarkation day.

 

Thanks, that's a bit better

[mitsugirly]

Well don't this just stink! It sure would be nice if NCL would notify people of these changes instead of everyone always having to find out things from here or the social media sites or passengers on board.

 

I absolutely love NCL and have had great experiences with them, but the way things are being handled lately is just putting a sour taste in my mouth.

 

Our upcoming Bermuda cruise...also shows the changes of now not arriving until 9am and then leaving at 3pm. That's a total of 3 hours we will lose. Do they not consider telling people that may have things booked? :(

[CPT Trips]

My opinion is.....the cruise lines do not pick and choose what time their ships will be in port. I was always under the impression that they had to negotiate with each port. On the Epic a few years ago, we were denied a port stop in Nassau even though it was scheduled because of a 'scheduling' issue...there was no room for the ship. So I think it's an issue between the ports and juggling all the ships with the cruise lines. Maybe the ports have upped the docking fees so much that the cruise lines don't want to pay for two hours if they don't have to. Whatever, I've been to St Thomas so many times that I don't care if I get off the ship but it can be a pain for people who have booked tours that now have to be back two hours (or more) earlier than planned. Cruising is still a great vacation if you roll with the seas (notice, I didn't say punches....)

 

It doesn't seem likely that Bermuda authorities are kicking the Breakaway out two hours early and bringing another ship in at 1700.

More likely some bean counter figured out the savings that result from making the trip at one knot slower.

[dcipjr]

I can kinda sorta understand leaving 2 hours earlier to save fuel on the way back.

 

But on the way down from NYC, the Breakaway has two days to get there, which is more than it needs even at a leisurely pace. On the Star and on the Breakaway, I woke up early to find that we were parked off the island awaiting the pilot. We docked earlier both times. So what's prompting the late arrival?

 

It doesn't make sense to keep people on at an early hour like that—are they really drinking and gambling at that hour?

[Dwilli]

Thanks for the tip! We leave on Friday for Bermuda and get there at 1 instead of 11. Messes up my "plan" but that's ok, we're still on vacation :)