Which Itinerary?

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I saw the NCL Bliss coastal cruise that showed an overnight in Vancouver and then an afternoon in Victoria. We really liked the itinerary and we booked it. This itinerary still shows up on the NCL website but when I sign in it no longer shows the Victoria stop but instead a longer day in Vancouver. I wonder which itinerary is correct? I have never had an itinerary change unless it was due to weather. Have you?

[KeithJenner]

I saw the NCL Bliss coastal cruise that showed an overnight in Vancouver and then an afternoon in Victoria. We really liked the itinerary and we booked it. This itinerary still shows up on the NCL website but when I sign in it no longer shows the Victoria stop but instead a longer day in Vancouver. I wonder which itinerary is correct? I have never had an itinerary change unless it was due to weather. Have you?

 

I've had loads of itinerary changes.

 

There is often a period of confusion as everything gets changed. If your itinerary has in fact changed, you should get an email confirmation (I always have, but some people report not getting them).

 

Are you are talking about the 5 day Pacific Coastal next September/October? If so then this looks like just the sort of itinerary that the NCL site struggles to show correctly. According to the NCL site, it isn't actually an overnight in Vancouver, as you sail away at 1.30am and sail through the night to get to Victoria at 8am.

 

I can't see how it is shown when you sign in, but I bet it isn't clear.

 

My guess is that the NCL booking page is correct and myncl is not displaying it well, but it is always possible that something has changed. If that's the case then it will settle down at some point. I wouldn't bother phoning particularly as the person you speak to will probably just read the itinerary from the booking page.

[littlelulu01]

Myncl is showing day one as a sea day and day two as Vancouver (depart at 1:30 am on October 1) and no Victoria on the day to day itinerary although the map on cruise summary is showing Victoria as a port stop.

 

 

I'm guessing it will be several months before the actual schedule is shored up. The Bliss is a larger ship and so port times and ports are going to be dependent on where the ship can fit and what time the Bliss can sail under the lions gate bridge in Vancouver. San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge will be no problem but the Vancouver bridge may be an issue depending on how high the Bliss sits above water. People have also mentioned potential issues with immigration if Victoria is a port stop so I'm not expecting Victoria to make the final itinerary. It will be a nice surprise if it does.

[casofilia]

Here is what I see:-

 

-Day Pacific Coastal from Vancouver

 

• View All Ports
  
• Print Itinerary
  

DayCruise PortsArriveDepartSunVancouver, British Columbia (EMBARK)---OvernightMonVancouver, British Columbia---1:30 amVictoria, British Columbia8:00 am4:00 pmTueAt Sea------WedSan Francisco, California9:00 am7:00 pmThuAt Sea------FriLos Angeles, California (DISEMBARK)8:00 am---

I presume you board Sunday afternoon and depart from Vancouver very early in the morning of Monday arriving in Victoria at a normal arrival time on Monday. Spend the day there and then depart 4pm.

Remember that the ferry from Tsawassen to Swartz Bay only takes 2 hours so to travel from Downtown Vancouver to Victoria would only take twice that, at most, at ferry speed

[Cruise_More_Often]

I am looking at the same inaccuracy in my booking. NCL's booking engine and MyNCL's Vacation Summary are different, as the above posters fhave mentioned., I don't really care which itinerary turns out to be correct. However, if the actual itinerary and the one NCL is using to "sell" the itinerary are different, it could be considered false advertising if NCL already knows the one it's hyping isn't the one it's going to use. Don't you agree that it isn't hard to make sure the itineraries match?

[KeithJenner]

They often seem to get messed up when there are overnights, or the ship leaves very early in the morning like this one does.

 

I can't comment on how easy it is to get the computers to show this correctly. I guess that the IT guys didn't have these sort of itineraries in mind when programming them.

[shadowmeboy]

The tides for sept 30th/Oct 1 in 2018 are showing a 3.8 ft low tide at 356am on Sept 30th and a 3.8 again on Oct 1st at appropriately 440 am. Due to its height, the Bliss will have to arrive/leave at the lowest tide available to clear the Lions Gate Bridge.

 

In order to give themselves a cushion, it may be in earlier on the 30th and leave slightly later on the 1st.

 

 

This type of maneuver with Victoria not showing will occur each year unless the US changes its law about transporting passengers between two US ports without a distant foreign port stop. Which I do not foresee happening.

[Cruise_More_Often]

. . .

This type of maneuver with Victoria not showing will occur each year unless the US changes its law about transporting passengers between two US ports without a distant foreign port stop. Which I do not foresee happening.

I'm confused. How do two stops within Canada impact the Passenger Service Act?

[shadowmeboy]

I'm confused. How do two stops within Canada impact the Passenger Service Act?

 

 

Having the difficulty of getting a bigger ship in and out of Vancouver. Customs will require Vancouver to be the ending point in Canada. But if US law were to change, they could skip the call on Vancouver completely and do a Seattle to LA with a stop in Victoria. This would not require complicated maneuvering to get the ship under the Lions Gate Bridge. That is what I was talking about in my reply.

 

The Bliss itinerary, on the website, will always be messed up online as long as they have to leave at the lowest possible tide to fit.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Cruise_More_Often]

Thanks! Understood now. :D

[xlxo]

With this many passengers... the added evening time will help with boarding....

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruises/5-day-pacific-coastal-from-vancouver-BLISS5VANVICSFOLAX?numberOfGuests=4294953449&ships=Norwegian_Bliss&state=null&destinations=Pacific_Coastal_Cruises&itineraryCode=BLISS5VANVICSFOLAX

 

It's going to be a real tight fit under that bridge!

 

Getting to Victoria at 8am the next morning shouldn't be a problem. On my other reports departing around 4pm.... I remember getting to the Victoria area about 4 hours or so later.

[Cruise_More_Often]

With this many passengers... the added evening time will help with boarding....

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruises/5-day-pacific-coastal-from-vancouver-BLISS5VANVICSFOLAX?numberOfGuests=4294953449&ships=Norwegian_Bliss&state=null&destinations=Pacific_Coastal_Cruises&itineraryCode=BLISS5VANVICSFOLAX

 

It's going to be a real tight fit under that bridge!

 

Getting to Victoria at 8am the next morning shouldn't be a problem. On my other reports departing around 4pm.... I remember getting to the Victoria area about 4 hours or so later.

Except that the ship might not be going to Victoria at all. The itinerary that is showing on "MyNCL" has the ship overnighting in Vancouver and then leaving the following afternoon at 4:00 p.m. with no stop in Victoria.

[shadowmeboy]

Except that the ship might not be going to Victoria at all. The itinerary that is showing on "MyNCL" has the ship overnighting in Vancouver and then leaving the following afternoon at 4:00 p.m. with no stop in Victoria.

 

MyNCL had difficulty showing Tracy Arm after Juneau last year on the Sun.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Myncl is showing day one as a sea day and day two as Vancouver (depart at 1:30 am on October 1) and no Victoria on the day to day itinerary although the map on cruise summary is showing Victoria as a port stop.

 

 

Mine is now showing that we depart Vancouver at 4 PM on October 1. That would be nice. If we can't go to Victoria, I would like to have more time in Vancouver.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I've had loads of itinerary changes.

 

There is often a period of confusion as everything gets changed. If your itinerary has in fact changed, you should get an email confirmation (I always have, but some people report not getting them).

 

Are you are talking about the 5 day Pacific Coastal next September/October? If so then this looks like just the sort of itinerary that the NCL site struggles to show correctly. According to the NCL site, it isn't actually an overnight in Vancouver, as you sail away at 1.30am and sail through the night to get to Victoria at 8am.

 

I can't see how it is shown when you sign in, but I bet it isn't clear.

 

My guess is that the NCL booking page is correct and myncl is not displaying it well, but it is always possible that something has changed. If that's the case then it will settle down at some point. I wouldn't bother phoning particularly as the person you speak to will probably just read the itinerary from the booking page.

 

Yes, the 5 day Pacific Coastal. I will admit I was confused at first with the overnight and told my friend that we got to stay the night in Vancouver, be there the next day and then we were going to Victoria. Wrong 😂

 

I won't call anybody to check on it because on this cruise the ship is our destination. She sounds awesome. That new ship smell.

[GUT2407]

NCL seem to have a lot of itinerary changes.

 

Just got notice of changes to my cruise in December, not happy that we go from pretty much Port day sea day, repeat type itinerary, to three port days in a row.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Except that the ship might not be going to Victoria at all. The itinerary that is showing on "MyNCL" has the ship overnighting in Vancouver and then leaving the following afternoon at 4:00 p.m. with no stop in Victoria.

Exactly. The itinerary that we purchased showed the Victoria stop. Once we purchased and I signed into my NCL I saw that Victoria was dropped.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

NCL seem to have a lot of itinerary changes.

 

Just got notice of changes to my cruise in December, not happy that we go from pretty much Port day sea day, repeat type itinerary, to three port days in a row.

 

I agree, that's a bummer.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I was thinking that it was OK if we missed Victoria on this cruise because we will be stopping there the week before on our round-trip LA to Alaska cruise but I was wrong. That cruise stops in Vancouver not in Victoria. The reason we booked this cruise was because of the Victoria stop. Ugh, I hope they add Victoria back on because my friend will not be happy. I'm bummed.

[martincath]

I was thinking that it was OK if we missed Victoria on this cruise because we will be stopping there the week before on our round-trip LA to Alaska cruise but I was wrong. That cruise stops in Vancouver not in Victoria. The reason we booked this cruise was because of the Victoria stop. Ugh, I hope they add Victoria back on because my friend will not be happy. I'm bummed.

If Victoria is a bucket-list port, you do have options - look at flying up to YYJ instead of YVR (or SEA then taking the Clipper ferry) on your way up to Vancouver. Getting from Victoria to Vancouver on the day of your cruise is very feasible - you have multiple potential BC ferry crossing for a very modest cost, with coach service to the ferry and ferry to downtown Vancouver available (approx $65pp), renting your own car and driving it over on the ferry, taking public transit, flying over by floatplane or chopper from downtown to downtown, or even a commuter plane from YYJ to YVR.

 

Doing it independently offers you MUCH more flexibility in what you do in and around Victoria - although it seems the Bliss was going to give you a longer day in Victoria than many cruises, even if it does get added back on the timing could be less-than-optimal depending what you wanted to see. Arrive yourself pre-cruise and you can devote as many days as your vacation allowance has available... you'll also enjoy popular spots like Butchart Gardens much more if you can choose to go at a time where there aren't multiple cruise buses full of people jamming the place up;-)

[Cruise_More_Often]

martincath, you always offer such great information on these boards. I know when I open one of your posts, I will learn somethng new. Thank you!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

If Victoria is a bucket-list port, you do have options - look at flying up to YYJ instead of YVR (or SEA then taking the Clipper ferry) on your way up to Vancouver. Getting from Victoria to Vancouver on the day of your cruise is very feasible - you have multiple potential BC ferry crossing for a very modest cost, with coach service to the ferry and ferry to downtown Vancouver available (approx $65pp), renting your own car and driving it over on the ferry, taking public transit, flying over by floatplane or chopper from downtown to downtown, or even a commuter plane from YYJ to YVR.

 

Doing it independently offers you MUCH more flexibility in what you do in and around Victoria - although it seems the Bliss was going to give you a longer day in Victoria than many cruises, even if it does get added back on the timing could be less-than-optimal depending what you wanted to see. Arrive yourself pre-cruise and you can devote as many days as your vacation allowance has available... you'll also enjoy popular spots like Butchart Gardens much more if you can choose to go at a time where there aren't multiple cruise buses full of people jamming the place up;-)

This sounds wonderful and if we were not coming off of a 12 night cruise the week before, I would do this. What a great suggestion. My problem is that I'm a bit worried that work will get in the way.

[martincath]

martincath, you always offer such great information on these boards. I know when I open one of your posts, I will learn somethng new. Thank you!

Well shucks :o

This sounds wonderful and if we were not coming off of a 12 night cruise the week before, I would do this. What a great suggestion. My problem is that I'm a bit worried that work will get in the way.

If your job interferes with vacation planning it's time to find a new one! ;)

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Well shucks :o

 

If your job interferes with vacation planning it's time to find a new one! ;)

Ha, ha. Good one ;p

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I was thinking that it was OK if we missed Victoria on this cruise because we will be stopping there the week before on our round-trip LA to Alaska cruise but I was wrong. That cruise stops in Vancouver not in Victoria. The reason we booked this cruise was because of the Victoria stop. Ugh, I hope they add Victoria back on because my friend will not be happy. I'm bummed.

Boy am I confused. We will be in Victoria the week before so it's fine for us (at least with me) if we skip it on this cruise. I am looking forward to sailing with NCL and on the Bliss.