Bad or good idea sailing on the last day of season region?

[mcatmcat]

HI 

I dont know if its called like that _ end of season region- but I was wondering if its a good or bad idea to sail in the last day of a ship that is ending in a region for example  Caribbean and now its going to for example Alaska. Is that week the end of contract for most employee? are they tired? are they going to be motivated?

 

Thank you guys

 

 

 

[taglovestocruise]

23 minutes ago, mcatmcat said:

HI 

I dont know if its called like that _ end of season region- but I was wondering if its a good or bad idea to sail in the last day of a ship that is ending in a region for example  Caribbean and now its going to for example Alaska. Is that week the end of contract for most employee? are they tired? are they going to be motivated?

 

Thank you guys

 

 

 

We have done a few transatlantic cruises from Barcelona, Rome and Southampton.  I think that would qualify as a end of season cruise.  Very few crew are ending their contracts. For the most part it seems as if the crew are as happy as clams. 12 - 14 days of happy cruisers and no luggage loading or unloading for 2 weeks. 

[neverbeenhere]

Crew Contracts rotate. So that some are always coming and leaving. Last cruises in Alaska can mean that the businesses are more willing to deal on their prices. So, if you have something you want, you could try negotiating. I don't really think the Caribbean season ends, tourist are always traveling to the countries.  Haven't been on final cruises in other areas of the world.

[lovemylab]

As the poster above me stated, contracts for the crew are constantly rotating so there will always be a mix onboard.  The ship never replaces all the crew at once.

 

I've done a few end of season Med cruises and there was nothing different with the staff onboard.  The advantage of end of season is it's usually shoulder season at the ports so less crowds to deal with and better prices at many of the shops.

[Hogbay]

1 hour ago, lovemylab said:

As the poster above me stated, contracts for the crew are constantly rotating so there will always be a mix onboard.  The ship never replaces all the crew at once.

 

I've done a few end of season Med cruises and there was nothing different with the staff onboard.  The advantage of end of season is it's usually shoulder season at the ports so less crowds to deal with and better prices at many of the shops.

Well they don't send the crew to the scrap yard too 🙄 The legend of the seas crew were very anxious as some had not received there new contracts . They all still did a fantastic job .

[Jimbo]

Cheaper cheap T-shirts the ship is selling.

[ONECRUISER]

Crew Contract is mentioned though when it happens, before or after. The one I know, did the Brilliance/Serenade Boston-Florida Repo for 9yrs. Ships did Summer in EU, Fall in Boston but lot of Crew changed AFTER getting back to Florida. This inc Capt, Cruise Director, Dancers and Band. Always did B4B and watched it happen. Though didnt effect ship or notice anything week to week...

[CFIGuy]

So, not crew related, but as others have mentioned, many cruisers with a lot of C&A points do B2B2B cruises (with last week of Europe, TA, then 1st week of Caribbean for example), so you will most likely notice that the lounges (if they re-open, but that’s a whole other can of worms) will be more crowded.  

 

Only other thing to mention is that typically the last week/month of the season is at the end of the peak weather season, so weather might not be as nice as you would expect. But the pricing is typically better.

[alfaeric]

We did a Med cruise on a ship that was going to Brazil about a month after we were done- and most of the crew were already on the ship ready to go to Brazil.  For sure, that is not something I would every worry about- people ready to leave are happy and in a good mood because they are just about to go, new people are happy because they are back with friends making money.  It's the people 5 months into a 9 month contract I would worry about.

[Norwich Cruiser]

We’ve done a couple and noticed no difference at all.

[Ocean Boy]

We have done a couple of cruises to the Caribbean that were the last for the ship for the season and didn't notice any difference from other cruises. We have also done a first sailing for the season to Bermuda which was an awesome cruise.

[orville99]

We've done two (sort of). One was the last caribbean sailing on Disney Magic before she did her TA to Europe, and the only thing that was out of norm was the amount of painting and cleaning that was done on the last two days. The other was same ship, but the last cruise before it went in to dry dock, and on that one they started ripping up the surface of the pool deck mid week, and most of that deck was roped off and unusable. We didn't mind the pre-TA painting cruise at all, but would never do a pre dry dock cruise again.

[deliver42]

As long as the ship isn't going into dry dock, you should be OK

[Ocean Boy]

35 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

As long as the ship isn't going into dry dock, you should be OK

That is a very good point. I have no interest in the last sailing before dry dock or the first one after.

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

That is a very good point. I have no interest in the last sailing before dry dock or the first one after.

We did the first cruise after dry dock for Allure five years ago and there was no Broadway style show as the new cast were still in rehearsal 

[voyager70]

2 hours ago, deliver42 said:

As long as the ship isn't going into dry dock, you should be OK

 

Very true.  We did the last cruise before dry dock once (didn't realize it when we booked) and by midway through the cruise the elevator areas had become storage areas for furniture that was being discarded.

 

[mets07]

We did the last cruise of a Bermuda season. I would not do that again. Weather was not good, we lost a day in Bermuda because too many ships were in port, and the ferries were starting a reduced schedule.  Weather of course was just bad luck. 

 

But overall I would avoid.

[loug1601]

We are booked on the last Caribbean sailing on Odyssey of the Seas in April 2022. The ship then sails a transatlantic. There will be no dry dock. Should this impact our sailing? It is the second leg of a B2B. 
 

Thanks!

[Ourusualbeach]

37 minutes ago, loug1601 said:

We are booked on the last Caribbean sailing on Odyssey of the Seas in April 2022. The ship then sails a transatlantic. There will be no dry dock. Should this impact our sailing? It is the second leg of a B2B. 
 

Thanks!

I can't see any impact at all.

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, loug1601 said:

We are booked on the last Caribbean sailing on Odyssey of the Seas in April 2022. The ship then sails a transatlantic. There will be no dry dock. Should this impact our sailing? It is the second leg of a B2B. 
 

Thanks!

We have the April 23rd 2022 TA booked and are looking forward to it.  Expect very minimal work being done as she heads to Rome. You're sailing will be unaffected  as a happy crew looks forward to a somewhat relaxing 14 nights with a ship filled with undemanding D+ and Pinnacles.  I was hoping for the Allure TA cruise on the 22nd but wife won out. happy cruising 

Edited Tuesday at 06:20 PM by taglovestocruise

[LeeW]

We've done two Alaska cruises that were the last of the season and it was great.  Very few ships so no crowds, shops closing right after we were there so prices were the best.  Also did the train for their last tourist trip - resorts were being winterized so we got better rooms and they were closing after we moved on.

 

Have done several Caribbean trips where ours was the last ship for the season.  Had school kids on the docks serenading us as we sailed.  And once we were the last ship leaving Isla Margarita.  Kids and locals turned out in droves since most of their income was going to zero when we left.

 

Biggest problem for crew is that a new area often has different weather.  They don't have much room to store clothes for an off season.  We saw a lot of crew in Alaska mailing their heavy clothes home on the last trip in the fall.  Some of them had four or five boxes of winter gear.  Our problem was the Post Office ran out of mailing boxes and we were trying to mail souvenirs home from Alaska before we did the train trip.

Edited Tuesday at 11:24 PM by LeeW
clarity

[loug1601]

Thanks to all, and happy sailing!