RCL Opens Cruises From Bermuda Starting in June...Will NCL do the Same? I WISH!

[HBCcruiser]

Royal Caribbean announced that they will be cruising out of Bermuda starting this June. The itinerary includes Bermuda, Sea Days and an overnight at their exclusive Island. I WISH NCL would do something similar! Any word out there? 

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-release/1512/summer-2021-heats-up-with-new-royal-caribbean-cruises-from-bermuda/

[bluesea777]

Sounds marvellous! We wait a few days to see if NCL will do the same .... 

 

FYI, the Vision of the Seas is the smallest of the Royal Caribbean ships. He is 78,340 GT and has double occupancy for 2036. Three NCL ships fit this criteria: Spirit, Sun and Sky - 🤩

 

It's a 2 full day sail between Bermuda and Coco Cay Bahamas. So I reckon it's a at least 4 sea days itinerary.

 

 Our 35 years wedding is coming up in August and we were supposed to be overseas in Europe for that but would settle with a cruise out of de Rock - no flights involved!! If NCL will not homeport a ship here, we may have to go to the dark side 😎🙃 for one cruise.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by bluesea777

[oteixeira]

@bluesea777 I think we will hear something in the next few days as well, the question will be FROM WHERE will the ship leave.

[DaCruiseBug]

The good thing is that if cruise lines can show that cruising can be done safely then there won't even need to be "test cruises" etc in the United States. I mean, that's common sense but...we know it frequently is missing in Government. 

[seaman11]

i dont know where or when to rebook , but im thinking out of another country will be the way this summer., CDC is dragging their feet and dont want any backlash if covid comes up on any ship. 

[roger001]

I wish them well.  And I know they have considered all.  But to home port in Bermuda would be somewhat of a logistical mess I would think.  Provisioning from Bermuda would be expensive since everything in Bermuda already is and everything arrives there by air or boat.   Also, 2000 (or how many passengers arriving at Bermuda on mostly the same day and needing to depart on the same day, assuming they don't stay over, flights.  If I'm reading the Bermuda airport daily flight schedule correctly, they have from 2 to maybe 6 or 7 airline flights a day.  For the cruise needs, it would take between 7 to  10 extra flights, mostly arriving and then departing the same day to handle a normal ship guest capacity.  Again, guess they got it figured out.  

[Cruise Gopher]

All these cruises departing from these remote island ports just sound like a logistical nightmare and untested guest experience for the passengers. Think about getting everyone there on time with flights, taxis, shuttles, hotels potentially, and then the reverse again at the end of the cruise getting off the island again the day of debarkation. 
 

I’m itching and scratching to get on a cruise ship so bad but even I would not even consider this hassle at all. It just would not be worth it. 
 

Then even once you’re on the ship, the food experience will likely be so scaled down due to cost cutting, fewer passengers to feed, provisioning limitations, etc. 
 

 

[bouy]

I was just on NCL web site and no signs of any Bermuda cruises (I have on booked in August) even checked cruise.com and they have no listings for NCL at all for Bermuda I guess another one hits the dust 😩

[RosieRoo]

I checked r/t air from Boston to Bermuda in July and it was $780 pp.  Summer is high season for Bermuda travel.  I think the air may cost more than the cruise. 

[HBCcruiser]

1 minute ago, RosieRoo said:

I checked r/t air from Boston to Bermuda in July and it was $780 pp.  Summer is high season for Bermuda travel.  I think the air may cost more than the cruise. 

 

RCL may be booking airline flights as a perk similar to what NCL does. That is what has been mentioned over on the RCL Board. I guess we will know more tomorrow when the bookings open up for the RCL Bahama cruises out of Nassau. 

[mrlevin]

I am surprised FdR still has a job; everyone else opening up except NCLH.

[farmersfight]

2 hours ago, seaman11 said:

i dont know where or when to rebook , but im thinking out of another country will be the way this summer., CDC is dragging their feet and dont want any backlash if covid comes up on any ship. 

 

Seaman11, I would think you'd be all over these cruise restarts from Nassau, St. Maarten & now Bermuda. I bet you've got RCL & Celebrity on speed dial..

[seaman11]

23 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

Seaman11, I would think you'd be all over these cruise restarts from Nassau, St. Maarten & now Bermuda. I bet you've got RCL & Celebrity on speed dial..

im waiting to see what Carnival and ncl do first.  but im sure ill be on one. god willing.  

[farmersfight]

8 minutes ago, seaman11 said:

im waiting to see what Carnival and ncl do first.  but im sure ill be on one. god willing.  

 

That's a good strategy. It is encouraging that RCL has added another ship to restart out of Bermuda. RCL may not be done yet.

 

If the cruise industry is "monkey see, monkey do", Carnival and/or NCL may be right behind RCL.

 

Good luck, after all, you've got to live up to your CC screen name!

[seaman11]

8 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

That's a good strategy. It is encouraging that RCL has added another ship to restart out of Bermuda. RCL may not be done yet.

 

If the cruise industry is "monkey see, monkey do", Carnival and/or NCL may be right behind RCL.

 

Good luck, after all, you've got to live up to your CC screen name!

I have FCC with Carnival i kept.  So i was hoping for a start in mexico or somewhere close,  i wont get credit but i was the one that mentioned a possible restart from another country easy to fly to from  the US, to circumvent the CDC.  many months ago. I also mentioned they can stop at their private islands, when ppl asked where would they sail to. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by seaman11

[Sand and Seas]

2 hours ago, RosieRoo said:

I checked r/t air from Boston to Bermuda in July and it was $780 pp.  Summer is high season for Bermuda travel.  I think the air may cost more than the cruise. 

In the 'old' days, airfare for us was usually cheaper through the cruise line.   Had a really great charter flight to Aruba for a cruise😎

[AtlantaAlly]

If I had to guess, they may do provisioning in the Bahamas. May figure out logistics to private island or may even stop for a non passenger stop at Nassau to provision only. With vax crew and vax port staff, they can provision pretty safely.

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, bouy said:

I was just on NCL web site and no signs of any Bermuda cruises (I have on booked in August) even checked cruise.com and they have no listings for NCL at all for Bermuda I guess another one hits the dust 😩

Yeah. The were deleted a few days ago. Reservations have not been cancelled yet (we have one). 

[Sand and Seas]

2 hours ago, AtlantaAlly said:

If I had to guess, they may do provisioning in the Bahamas. May figure out logistics to private island or may even stop for a non passenger stop at Nassau to provision only. With vax crew and vax port staff, they can provision pretty safely.

That would probably work.  They already have GSC available to them.   

 

Years ago we did a WindJammer cruise through the Bahamas and also Virgin Islands.    They had a small motorized ship (the Amazing Grace) that cruised around to re-provision some of their sailing ships.

[CaptainHazelwood]

6 hours ago, roger001 said:

Provisioning from Bermuda would be expensive since everything in Bermuda already is and everything arrives there by air or boat.   Also, 2000 (or how many passengers arriving at Bermuda on mostly the same day and needing to depart on the same day, assuming they don't stay over, flights.  

I can't speak to the passenger issue, but I would imagine that they could sail/return and then sail empty ship to major port to reprovision and return.  It might require a rotation of two ships to keep the crew busy.  Not ideal, but we're not living in ideal times.....

[DaCruiseBug]

7 hours ago, roger001 said:

I wish them well.  And I know they have considered all.  But to home port in Bermuda would be somewhat of a logistical mess I would think.  Provisioning from Bermuda would be expensive since everything in Bermuda already is and everything arrives there by air or boat.   Also, 2000 (or how many passengers arriving at Bermuda on mostly the same day and needing to depart on the same day, assuming they don't stay over, flights.  If I'm reading the Bermuda airport daily flight schedule correctly, they have from 2 to maybe 6 or 7 airline flights a day.  For the cruise needs, it would take between 7 to  10 extra flights, mostly arriving and then departing the same day to handle a normal ship guest capacity.  Again, guess they got it figured out.  

 

Royal could easily coordinate with the airlines that currently serve Bermuda to add capacity on Saturdays. The ship holds 2,000 passengers and if they cap it at 75% that's 1,500 passengers. That's about 9 flights to/from. The cruise line can either set up charters from the big hubs or just let the airlines run it.

 

They could add in 2 flights to EWR (United), 1 to JFK (JetBlue), 2 to ATL (Delta), 1 to ORD (American or United), 1 to PHL (American), 1 to CLT (American) and 1 to BWI (Southwest). 

 

The east coast flights could leave around 8am and arrive in Bermuda around 11am-Noon and turn around and head back about 1 hour after they arrive.

[farmersfight]

7 hours ago, seaman11 said:

I have FCC with Carnival i kept.  So i was hoping for a start in mexico or somewhere close,  i wont get credit but i was the one that mentioned a possible restart from another country easy to fly to from  the US, to circumvent the CDC.  many months ago. I also mentioned they can stop at their private islands, when ppl asked where would they sail to. 

 

[bluesea777]

8 hours ago, DaCruiseBug said:

 

Royal could easily coordinate with the airlines that currently serve Bermuda to add capacity on Saturdays. The ship holds 2,000 passengers and if they cap it at 75% that's 1,500 passengers. That's about 9 flights to/from. The cruise line can either set up charters from the big hubs or just let the airlines run it.

 

They could add in 2 flights to EWR (United), 1 to JFK (JetBlue), 2 to ATL (Delta), 1 to ORD (American or United), 1 to PHL (American), 1 to CLT (American) and 1 to BWI (Southwest). 

 

The east coast flights could leave around 8am and arrive in Bermuda around 11am-Noon and turn around and head back about 1 hour after they arrive.

 

Don't forget about us locals .... there is a good percentage here who are serious cruisers! They will welcome that since many are skeptical about flying out of island this year.

 

Maybe the cruise lines will put up charter flights if the normal airlines cannot accommodate the influx of cruise ship passengers.

 

 

[DaCruiseBug]

35 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Don't forget about us locals .... there is a good percentage here who are serious cruisers! They will welcome that since many are skeptical about flying out of island this year.

 

Maybe the cruise lines will put up charter flights if the normal airlines cannot accommodate the influx of cruise ship passengers.

 

 

 

Airlines are still only flying about 60-70% what they did pre-covid. There's plenty of airplanes available to increase service if need be.

[HBCcruiser]

Prices for the RCL Bahama cruise are increasing and going fast. If they were refundable I'd book right now. We have a B2B out of Miami on the Breakaway scheduled for mid July 2021. If that is cancelled I plan on booking on RCl...UNLESS NCL decides to follow RCL's lead and sail out of Bermuda or the Bahamas. RCL opens up bookings for the Bermuda cruise on March 29th. What to do, what to do! Both perhaps??!