My October cruise to Canada is going to Bermuda instead!

[reeinaz]

Got an email today notifying me of the itinerary change. I was booked on a 5 day cruise to Canada out of NYC. It's now a 5 day cruise to Bermuda with an overnight! The email also said that I would be getting a 10% FCC. I'm pleased about the change considering my April Bermuda cruise was cancelled. 

[shof515]

I am booked on the 9 day Canada/New England cruise on the Encore for September. I wonder what is going to happen to my cruise next. Maybe i am going to Bermuda too..who knows

 

Here is a copy of the letter that was sent out, i found it in a group on a different site about your cruise

Edited June 10, 2020 by shof515

[reeinaz]

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ITINERARY CHANGE

Reservation: 43979428   Date: 06/10/2020   Dear Valued Guests & Travel Partners: Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Encore's 5-day Canada sailing from New York, NY on October 20, 2020. Travel partners are asked to cascade this information to their impacted guests.  As a result of our fleet's re-deployment, Norwegian Encore will no longer sail to Canada. However, we are excited to announce that due to updated port availability, the ship will now sail a 5-day Bermuda cruise, our most popular itinerary departing from New York. Please review the revised itinerary information below:   Original Day Destination Arrive Depart   Tue NEW YORK CITY, NY   4:00 pm   Wed AT SEA       Thu SAINT JOHN, BAY OF FUNDY, CANADA 7:00 am 4:00 pm   Fri HALIFAX, CANADA 10:00 am 8:00 pm   Sat AT SEA       Sun NEW YORK CITY, NY 7:00 am     Revised Day Destination Arrive Depart   Tue NEW YORK CITY, NY   4:00 pm   Wed AT SEA       Thu ROYAL NAVAL DOCKYARD, BERMUDA 12:30 pm Overnight   Fri ROYAL NAVAL DOCKYARD, BERMUDA   5:00 pm   Sat AT SEA       Sun NEW YORK CITY, NY 7:00 am     All active reservations will be automatically updated. As a goodwill gesture, we have arranged for a future cruise credit, worth 10% toward your future cruise, to be issued to all guests. This can be used for up to one-year from today's date and can be applied towards any of our currently published sailings beginning January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022. If you have any questions regarding this change, or if you wish to make any changes to your reservation, please contact us at (866) 234-7350, visit us at www.ncl.com or contact your travel professional. Please note, depending on nationality, guests may require a passport and/or a visa to visit certain ports of call. Failure to obtain these documents will result in denial of boarding. For more information regarding documents required for all ports of call, please visit our website's Required Documents page (https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/cruise-travel-documents). Please note, requirements and policies are always subject to change. Please ensure you have all required documentation printed and available to present at check-in on embarkation day.  We sincerely appreciate your understanding and look forward to welcoming you aboard the beautiful Norwegian Encore for your vacation at sea!  Sincerely, Katty Byrd Vice President, Guest Services

[reeinaz]

3 minutes ago, shof515 said:

I am booked on the 9 day Canada/New England cruise on the Encore for September. I wonder what is going to happen to my cruise next. Maybe i am going to Bermuda too..who knows

 

 

 

 I was kind of settled that I wouldn't be cruising in October. So not only am I cruising but it's going to be a completely different kind of cruise... Canada vs Bermuda. 

[Desert_ Dweller]

10 minutes ago, reeinaz said:

Got an email today notifying me of the itinerary change. I was booked on a 5 day cruise to Canada out of NYC. It's now a 5 day cruise to Bermuda with an overnight! The email also said that I would be getting a 10% FCC. I'm pleased about the change considering my April Bermuda cruise was cancelled. 

What ship would that be ? And what is the date of  your  cruise ?

[bluesea777]

The Encore!

 

Her first cruise post covid will be on Sept 29 NYC-BDA-NYC.

 

 

[Budget Queen]

Don’t get too excited.    No guarantee Bermuda is going to be open.  🤩

[njhorseman]

19 minutes ago, reeinaz said:

Got an email today notifying me of the itinerary change. I was booked on a 5 day cruise to Canada out of NYC. It's now a 5 day cruise to Bermuda with an overnight! The email also said that I would be getting a 10% FCC. I'm pleased about the change considering my April Bermuda cruise was cancelled. 

I hope for your sake the cruise actually sails, but you have to understand that there's no guarantee this itinerary will be good to go either.

 

The original itinerary can't take place because Canada won't allow it. However, there's no guarantee as of today that the CDC will approve NCL's passenger health and safety plans required under the No Sail Order, there's no guarantee that Bermuda will be open for cruise arrivals...as of today Bermuda is not allowing any arrivals, whether by air or ship, and there's no guarantee that NY City will permit cruising to take place from their port terminal by that date.

[shof515]

13 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

The Encore!

 

Her first cruise post covid will be on Sept 29 NYC-BDA-NYC.

 

 

what is the source of this?

[ColeThornton]

4 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

I hope for your sake the cruise actually sails, but you have to understand that there's no guarantee this itinerary will be good to go either.

 

The original itinerary can't take place because Canada won't allow it. However, there's no guarantee as of today that the CDC will approve NCL's passenger health and safety plans required under the No Sail Order, there's no guarantee that Bermuda will be open for cruise arrivals...as of today Bermuda is not allowing any arrivals, whether by air or ship, and there's no guarantee that NY City will permit cruising to take place from their port terminal by that date.

 

 

[njhorseman]

6 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

 A chance...yes...but a good chance I'm not so sure.

[Budget Queen]

21 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

The Encore!

 

Her first cruise post covid will be on Sept 29 NYC-BDA-NYC.

 

 

There is no “will be”.        

[deweytrader]

That is awesome!

[panamatiger]

17 minutes ago, Budget Queen said:

Don’t get too excited.    No guarantee Bermuda is going to be open.  🤩

Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 10:00 am ADT

 

To all our valued visitors, 

 

Our island’s borders are currently resticted to residents only. Bermuda’s airport stopped receiving regularly scheduled commercial air service March 20, and vessels, other than vital cargo, are not allowed to enter our seaport. Public-health restrictions are in place for Bermuda businesses and residents. 

[Crazy planning mom]

44 minutes ago, reeinaz said:

Got an email today notifying me of the itinerary change. I was booked on a 5 day cruise to Canada out of NYC. It's now a 5 day cruise to Bermuda with an overnight! The email also said that I would be getting a 10% FCC. I'm pleased about the change considering my April Bermuda cruise was cancelled. 

Now, we know NCL didnt make their cancellation announcement right after Royal did.

[hallux]

There are only so many berths in Bermuda - 2 at the Royal Navy Dockyard and one for much smaller ships in Hamilton (if they're still using that, I thought someone posted about that recently).  Especially with ships staying overnight, that severely limits capacity, if/when the island opens.

[njhorseman]

5 minutes ago, hallux said:

There are only so many berths in Bermuda - 2 at the Royal Navy Dockyard and one for much smaller ships in Hamilton (if they're still using that, I thought someone posted about that recently).  Especially with ships staying overnight, that severely limits capacity, if/when the island opens.

Hamilton and St. George are both still in use, but no NCL ship is small enough to dock at either of those. They can be used by some of the NCLH fleet from Oceania and Regent Seven Seas.

 

Only one of the two Dockyard berths, Heritage Wharf, can be used by the large NCL ships built from the time of Epic and beyond. Kings Wharf can only take the smaller NCL ships .

[shof515]

13 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Only one of the two Dockyard berths, Heritage Wharf, can be used by the large NCL ships built from the time of Epic and beyond. Kings Wharf can only take the smaller NCL ships .

that changed over the years. Recently Kings Wharf was rebuilt and from what i read and saw the last time i was there in November 2019, it can now handle bigger ships

[mugtech]

And if there is an end of September hurricane they can just go to Canada instead.

[jaja]

I really wonder if any ships will be sailing out of NYC in September.  Even with some recent minor relaxing of restrictions...the piers surely will be one of last locations permitted to operate and distancing will make embarkation a really interesting feat!

[njhorseman]

44 minutes ago, shof515 said:

that changed over the years. Recently Kings Wharf was rebuilt and from what i read and saw the last time i was there in November 2019, it can now handle bigger ships

No...the rebuilding of Kings Wharf that took place last year did not enable it to handle the biggest ships. They replaced the deteriorating concrete deck and constructed a new customs building, but the dock still needs to be lengthened in order to handle the biggest ships. That likely would have occurred this coming winter, but given what has happened this year neither the money nor the need to do it may be there.

[mking8288]

Breakaway was originally doing a 5 days to Bermuda this October out of NYC, then it was changed to Canada instead for whatever reasons (pre-pandemic) and since it is now a no-can't-do for Canada this year ... maybe they are going to merge and combine those that dream of cruising to pack for Bermuda on the overnighter.  

 

Brace for that choppy & sometimes unpredictable North Atlantic in September/October, even without a hurricane or tropical storm in the distance - mega/+ ships can easily handle the large waves & gale force cross wind, just brace & hold onto the hand railings.  This season's Bermuda "original" NCL schedule had 2 ships sailing there & back on shorter 5, and 4 (yes) nighters - crank up the engine RPM's, full speed ahead.  

 

That is a big "if" - perhaps, NJH know the answers, is the harbor at Hamilton and/or St. George deep enough now for the bigger mid-size ships to squeeze thru, and the channel into/out of, for that matter.  My poor memory seemed to think, believe that they cannot fit ships in the 85 to 90,000+ tonnage in for safety reasons, especially with changing tides.  We missed sailing the Crown & stepping practically outside and cross the street for the shops after early dinner ... and Harbour Nights.  

 

Hi, Jane - all is well & things okay in Bergen Co.

Edited June 10, 2020 by mking8288

[MsTabbyKats]

2 hours ago, panamatiger said:

Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 10:00 am ADT

 

To all our valued visitors, 

 

Our island’s borders are currently resticted to residents only. Bermuda’s airport stopped receiving regularly scheduled commercial air service March 20, and vessels, other than vital cargo, are not allowed to enter our seaport. Public-health restrictions are in place for Bermuda businesses and residents. 

Assuming this is correct...and knowing the NYC port....I'm not optimistic about cruising out of NYC any time in 2020.

In my very unprofessional opinion...NCL is trying to postpone refunds.

 

[njhorseman]

38 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

That is a big "if" - perhaps, NJH know the answers, is the harbor at Hamilton and/or St. George deep enough now for the bigger mid-size ships to squeeze thru, and the channel into/out of, for that matter.  My poor memory seemed to think, believe that they cannot fit ships in the 85 to 90,000+ tonnage in for safety reasons, especially with changing tides.  We missed sailing the Crown & stepping practically outside and cross the street for the shops after early dinner ... and Harbour Nights.  

 

Ships like the Dawn and the Jewel class ships are too big get into either Hamilton or St. George. They have to use the Dockyard.

[njhorseman]

3 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Assuming this is correct...and knowing the NYC port....I'm not optimistic about cruising out of NYC any time in 2020.

In my very unprofessional opinion...NCL is trying to postpone refunds.

 

It is correct. But in a couple of months it's not totally inconceivable that Bermuda will resume accepting cruise ships. I'm not saying it's likely...only that it's possible.