April 2020 - School Vacation Week

[kenns]

Hi All -

 

I know April 2020 is a year away but I am already looking at April 18/April 19 to April 25/26 as that is school vacation week for those of us in Boston. I am looking at NCL's newest ships: Encore, Bliss, Joy, Escape, Getaway and Breakaway. I can't see any 7 day options for any of these 6 ships for that week. 

 

a) The Encore returns to Miami on the 19th, but doesn't sail again until Wednesday, April 22 (3-4 days later) on a 4 day NYC to Bermuda cruise, ending on Sunday, April 26. Does this mean she is deadheading from Miami up to NYC? That would be 3-4 days of no passengers on board. 

b) The Bliss is leaving on a 21 night cruise on the 19th so she is out.

c) The Joy is doing a 5 day Pacific Coastal cruise from LA to Vancouver on Sunday, April 19 to Friday, April 24 (not interested in this cruise due to itinerary)

d) The Escape is showing nothing for the entire month of April - has she been charted out for the entire month?

e) The Getaway returns to New Orleans on the 19th, but doesn't sail again until Thursday, April 23 (4-5 days later) on a 15 night transatlantic from NYC. Does this mean she is deadheading from New Orleans to NYC? That would be 4-5 days of no passengers on board.  

f) The Breakaway has two options:

    1. April 18th to April 22: 4 night Bahamas from Orlando 

    2. April 23 to April 26: 3 night Bahamas from Miami (does she deadhead the night of April 22 from Orlando to Miami?)

 

Unfortunately, given this, I will likely have to go with RC as they have multiple 7 day cruise options that week - unless we do the 4 day on the Encore to Bermuda or wait and see on the Escape. (we're not interested in the Epic or the older ships)

 

Thanks!

Edited February 22, 2019 by kenns

[rabidstoat]

I have no knowledge of the ship itineraries but wanted to mention -- and presumably you know this if you have school-aged kids and have vacationed before -- the flight costs out of Boston during winter and spring breaks are pretty nuts. There are probably tips on how to get cheaper airfare but I remember being shocked when looking for flights to fly my sister's family down to Florida that week as a Christmas present.

[Visigoth]

Most colleges in Massachusetts the last classes prior to spring break will be on March 6th in 2020.   Nationally this week and the following week will be the start of spring break for the majority of US students.

[raitch]

5 hours ago, Visigoth said:

Most colleges in Massachusetts the last classes prior to spring break will be on March 6th in 2020.   Nationally this week and the following week will be the start of spring break for the majority of US students.

 

They’re talking about elementary & high school spring break.  It’s always the week of Patriots Day in Massachusetts because of the Boston Marathon.

[TrpngBilly]

On 2/22/2019 at 5:17 PM, kenns said:

Hi All -

 

I know April 2020 is a year away but I am already looking at April 18/April 19 to April 25/26 as that is school vacation week for those of us in Boston. I am looking at NCL's newest ships: Encore, Bliss, Joy, Escape, Getaway and Breakaway. I can't see any 7 day options for any of these 6 ships for that week. 

 

a) The Encore returns to Miami on the 19th, but doesn't sail again until Wednesday, April 22 (3-4 days later) on a 4 day NYC to Bermuda cruise, ending on Sunday, April 26. Does this mean she is deadheading from Miami up to NYC? That would be 3-4 days of no passengers on board. 

b) The Bliss is leaving on a 21 night cruise on the 19th so she is out.

c) The Joy is doing a 5 day Pacific Coastal cruise from LA to Vancouver on Sunday, April 19 to Friday, April 24 (not interested in this cruise due to itinerary)

d) The Escape is showing nothing for the entire month of April - has she been charted out for the entire month?

e) The Getaway returns to New Orleans on the 19th, but doesn't sail again until Thursday, April 23 (4-5 days later) on a 15 night transatlantic from NYC. Does this mean she is deadheading from New Orleans to NYC? That would be 4-5 days of no passengers on board.  

f) The Breakaway has two options:

    1. April 18th to April 22: 4 night Bahamas from Orlando 

    2. April 23 to April 26: 3 night Bahamas from Miami (does she deadhead the night of April 22 from Orlando to Miami?)

 

Unfortunately, given this, I will likely have to go with RC as they have multiple 7 day cruise options that week - unless we do the 4 day on the Encore to Bermuda or wait and see on the Escape. (we're not interested in the Epic or the older ships)

 

Thanks!

I also noticed this a while back, the absence of any 7-day itineraries during that particular week.  We were on the Bliss last week during the Feb vacation and I asked a CruiseNext representative why there were no cruises listed for that week.  She could not give me a definite answer as to why there were no sailings offered, and offered to help me book a Trans Atlantic cruise.  She did say that it could have something to do with the fact that it is a popular week for ships to re position.  Last year we found a 6-day itinerary on the Escape out of Miami.  It turned out to be the week before the ship was relocated to NYC.  We learned that after we docked in Miami the ship would be empty (except for crew) on it's sail from Miami to NYC.  And for what it's worth, we were able to find reasonably priced round trip flights from LGA to Miami that week for the four of us so we could take advantage of the school break here in Massachusetts.  The drive from where we live on Cape Cod to LGA is pretty straightforward and we found a long term parking lot near the airport for less than $150 for the week.  We've actually used JFK and LGA for flights in the past and wouldn't hesitate to do so again given the considerable price differences.

[WestfieldTraveler]

That Encore "deadhead" cruise Miami to NYC does seem to be a mystery, my guess would be that as a repositioning cruise with maybe one port it would have to visit (Nassau!) it would probably set a new low price point per day.  Unless you would have a bunch of snowbirds using it as a cheap way north I doubt many would want to be on it so NCL probably would rather take the loss without having to fully provision the ship (or maybe just giving the passenger-facing crew a holiday!).  Same concept with the Getaway.,

 

Of course if it was a grateful dead themed cruise they could probably fill it up (and have to expand the "smoking" area!).

 

As for your week I'd just recommend one of the Oasis class ships out of Fla - plenty of flight options and always a lot to do on those ships. My big online TA has rooms at around 800 pp on the symphony (fits two)  for the 19th or you may be able to pack everyone into a single cabin if the kids are free works for you,

[Alegeeter]

With all those itineraries you described it seems like the week all ships are transitioning to their summer home ports. It's likely that the weeks before and after will have several 7-Day options but unfortunately your kids' spring breaks fall within this twice a year transitioning week. Silly that NCL would do this when they could seemingly get high prices on this peak week but I guess they want all their ships in place by the beginning of May.

[shof515]

40 minutes ago, WestfieldTraveler said:

That Encore "deadhead" cruise Miami to NYC does seem to be a mystery, my guess would be that as a repositioning cruise with maybe one port it

 

Most likely NO. Most of the re positioning cruises between NYC and Florida is always a deadhead cruise. a non revenue cruise with crew only sailing between the two ports.

Edited February 25, 2019 by shof515