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Two ships on simultaneous itineraries -- how does that work?


DaveinCharlotte
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Planning on taking the American Star on its Inland Passage trip (Baltimore to Jacksonville) next fall, but noticed that the American Independence does the same trip on exactly the same day (11/06/21).  Checked the schedules for other trips, and discovered many duplications:

 

On 10/03/21, 10/09/21, 10/16/21, 10/23/21, 10/02/22, 10/08/22, 10/15/22, and 10/22/22, both the Star and the Independence start their Hudson River Fall Foliage cruises on the same day.  And on three of these dates, they are joined by the Constitution as well.

 

On 10/31/21, both Star and Independence start their Chesapeake Bay cruises.

 

I have been to most of the ports on the Hudson River,  Chesapeake Bay, and Inland Passage cruises, and many of those ports seem much too small to accommodate two ships.  (Let alone three on the Hudson River, along with all those other cruise lines that will probably be doing the same thing.)  How does ACL handle this?  Does one ship raft up alongside the other, forcing passengers from the outer ship to clamber through the inner ship?  (On Blount, had to do that at West Point once.)  Does one ship stick to the advertised itinerary while the other one follows a very different itinerary?  (That might work when starting and ending cities are the same, but don't see how that could work on Baltimore-to-Jacksonville trip.)  Do we have to share bus rides with the other ship and hope we both fit in the same museums, etc.?  Both ships look identical from a distance, and I can see us returning to the port and discovering we're walking toward the wrong ship!

 

Hopefully someone here can clue me in to what I'm missing here... 

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If you look closer, you will probably find that on any specific start date, one ship leaves Jacksonville headed North and the other leaves Baltimore headed south. Same situation on many ACL cruises Like Columbia-snake River.  You cross half way thru the cruise and may or may not be in a port with the other ship, or you may cross in the night!

 

think about it, if it takes a week for the ship to go from Baltimore to Jacksonville, it’s not going to return to Baltimore empty for the next cruise.

 

Edited by BaumD
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Baum, I think you have cruises like the Historic South Golden Isles in mind...those cruises are a week, with each ship starting from a different end.

 

But none of the cruises I cited work that way.  The Hudson River cruises start and end in the same port, NYC.  The Chesapeake Bay cruise starts and ends in the same port, Baltimore.  And for the Inland Passage cruise, both ships start in Baltimore and both ships end in Jacksonville.  The Inland Passage is a long trip, really a repositioning cruise, occurring once in the spring heading north, and once in the fall heading south.  Heading north, the two ships do leave on slightly different days next year, but heading south, they leave on the same day.

 

And think about it...you can't get from Baltimore to Jacksonville in just a week! 

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Dave

I looked up one of the cruises you mentioned.  I agree it is strange.  I think it is an error.  I have a trip to PUGET Sound there are two ships and they are staggered.  One leaves on Saturday the other leaves on Tuesday.    If you are interested in one of the cruises with duplicates stick with the ship that is the “regular” for the itinerary.   
 

 

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ACL website just changed overnight, but a quick check shows the same cruise dates.  Unfortunately, when it comes to the Independence and the Star, there is no "regular" ship for these itineraries.  Both ships have to reposition from their northern stomping grounds to their southern ones.  And for the Hudson River foliage cruises, both ships do them every week.  Yes, it is only the cruises I mentioned that duplicate itinerary and starting dates; Puget Sound and all others are, as you say, staggered.  I'd like to think it's an error, but wonder.  Looking at our old catalogs, I've discovered several other examples like these in the past.  

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