What Does This Mean - Adventure from Nassau?

[bstel]

14 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

What does this mean

 

 

it means exactly what it says.  so if you booked previously for Adventure the 2 major changes are:

 

1.  Now 16 and 17 year old people need a vaccine, down from the original 18 years.  So that could suck for a few families.

2.  You now no longer need a PCR test to get on the ship if you are 16 and above.  Originally Bahamas required a PCR test to enter country, then they dropped that, but RCCL still required one.  Now they don't.

 

So for the early June cruises we now know:

1.  No PCR to enter the country or get on the ship if you are vaccinated (16 and up)

2.  PCR to enter the country and rapid covid test to get on the ship if you are 15 or younger.

3.  No masks on CoCo Cay.

4.  RCCL will give you a COVID test while on board for your re-entry into the US.

5.  Ships should be sailing at about 50% capacity, but we don't know that for sure.

6.  You need to fill out and purchase the Bahamas Health Visa before entering the country.

 

What we don't know:

1.  If masks on board will be required, inside or outside.  My guess is that they will not be required outside, but maybe inside in certain venues like the theater.

2.  What dining seating in MDR will look like.  When I booked they still asked if I wanted a large or small table, so maybe that indicates they will mix and match different groups of passengers, like normal?

3.  If ship sponsored excursions are required for Cozumel and Grand Bahama, or if they will allow you to go on your own.

 

Overall these cruises feel like they are going to be pretty normal, all things considered.

 

I am glad I am on a June cruise, because I feel that later sailings may get cancelled if US cruising actually picks up in July, and the demand for Adventure drops, kinda like Bermuda.

[bstel]

4 hours ago, dswallow said:

 

Good thing Royal Caribbean has a bunch of ships with which they could move things like supplies.

I'm with you on this.  Since Freeport is a larger port, I don't think the overall costs to provision the ships will be significantly higher.  They will be somewhat higher, though.  Bahamas as a long term embarkation port is more dependent on airfare and what itineraries they offer.  If flights are higher than Miami or Orlando people won't travel to the Bahamas to jump on a ship.  I would see Bahamas, at best, being another Tampa, Jacksonville, Baltimore, NJ type port.  But those ports typically are getting the convenience factor crowd, which Bahamas will never have.

[John&LaLa]

5 hours ago, dswallow said:

 

Good thing Royal Caribbean has a bunch of ships with which they could move things like supplies.

 

Extremely inefficient 

[John&LaLa]

19 minutes ago, bstel said:

I'm with you on this.  Since Freeport is a larger port, I don't think the overall costs to provision the ships will be significantly higher.  They will be somewhat higher, though.  Bahamas as a long term embarkation port is more dependent on airfare and what itineraries they offer.  If flights are higher than Miami or Orlando people won't travel to the Bahamas to jump on a ship.  I would see Bahamas, at best, being another Tampa, Jacksonville, Baltimore, NJ type port.  But those ports typically are getting the convenience factor crowd, which Bahamas will never have.

 

No size restrictions in Nassau.

Plenty of restrictions in Jax, Tampa, Baltimore

[dswallow]

4 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Extremely inefficient 

 

Efficiencies come over time with experience. Right now this is basically a 3-month experiment, and at 50% capacity so the requirements are a lot less than they could be if they home port a ship there on any sort of permanent or seasonal basis. There are also multiple cruise lines doing this, thus already some market benefit to adapt to provide the services.

 

Royal Caribbean also has CocoCay as a transit point as well, such that long-term, if there were benefit to do so, they could place facilities there to allow them to move supplies between ships as well, with interim storage on-island.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by dswallow

[John&LaLa]

17 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

Efficiencies come over time with experience. Right now this is basically a 3-month experiment, and at 50% capacity so the requirements are a lot less than they could be if they home port a ship there on any sort of permanent or seasonal basis. There are also multiple cruise lines doing this, thus already some market benefit to adapt to provide the services.

 

Royal Caribbean also has CocoCay as a transit point as well, such that long-term, if there were benefit to do so, they could place facilities there to allow them to move supplies between ships as well, with interim storage on-island.

 

 

 

You are definitely going all in.

 

As farvas Coco Cay, I wouldn't count on it. We had to miss it on Mariner once because someone forgot to secure one of the gangways, it fell off the pier overnight, and we couldn't dock. Real crack dock team they have

[Ocean Boy]

5 hours ago, dswallow said:

 

Good thing Royal Caribbean has a bunch of ships with which they could move things like supplies.

Instead of cruising with paying passengers?

[dswallow]

7 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Instead of cruising with paying passengers?

 

They coordinate moving entertainers during common port visits of ships; it's not that far out of the line to coordinate moving some amount of cargo, too. I swear this group has turned negative about everything these days and no longer seems to have an ability to solve a problem, but instead just wants to find road blocks. You know there's innumerable ships available to move cargo between ports, right? One could contract with any number of them to move cargo from one place to another. The US is how far from The Bahamas? This is hardly rocket science or trying to home port a ship in Guam. It's very straightforward logistics.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by dswallow

[John&LaLa]

22 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

They coordinate moving entertainers during common port visits of ships; it's not that far out of the line to coordinate moving some amount of cargo, too. I swear this group has turned negative about everything these days and no longer seems to have an ability to solve a problem, but instead just wants to find road blocks. You know there's innumerable ships available to move cargo between ports, right? One could contract with any number of them to move cargo from one place to another. The US is how far from The Bahamas? This is hardly rocket science or trying to home port a ship in Guam. It's very straightforward logistics.

 

Just curious, do you have a background in purchasing, supplies, or logistics?

 

I'm sorry if you think I'm negative, but just trying to point out all the challenges. There are many, that's just a fact. 

 

I'm just not a Kumbaya kinda guy

[Ocean Boy]

57 minutes ago, dswallow said:

 

They coordinate moving entertainers during common port visits of ships; it's not that far out of the line to coordinate moving some amount of cargo, too. I swear this group has turned negative about everything these days and no longer seems to have an ability to solve a problem, but instead just wants to find road blocks. You know there's innumerable ships available to move cargo between ports, right? One could contract with any number of them to move cargo from one place to another. The US is how far from The Bahamas? This is hardly rocket science or trying to home port a ship in Guam. It's very straightforward logistics.

 

 

So you don't feel that supplying a ahip in the Bahamas will be more expensive than doing the same in Florida? It isn't as if moving a ship to the Bahamas is going  to open up some great itinerary that couldn't be sailed more easily from Florida....  more conveniently and with less expense.

 

You are correct, this is hardly rocket science. If you just want to read feel good posts then you are in the wrong place.

[Shorewalk Holmes]

I don't know anything about logistics, or even much about cruising compared to you folks.  But FWIW here's my thinking as a consumer in a prime demographic (old 😄).

 

1. We probably won't reach herd immunity, so covid may live among unvaccinated people for years, including people who arrive from other countries to cruise.

 

2. If Florida's anti-proof law or some other factor results in Royal being unable to offer vaccinated cruises, I will (sadly) choose The Bahamas or some other non-Florida port every time, as long as vaxxed cruises are available.

 

If many other cruisers share my preference, then perhaps The Bahamas may have a shot at making this investment work for them, even if it's more costly.

 

OTOH, if Royal can offer vaccinated cruises from Florida indefinitely, then my Adventure B2B this summer may be the only one I'd choose from The Bahamas.

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Shorewalk Holmes

[dswallow]

53 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

So you don't feel that supplying a ahip in the Bahamas will be more expensive than doing the same in Florida? It isn't as if moving a ship to the Bahamas is going  to open up some great itinerary that couldn't be sailed more easily from Florida....  more conveniently and with less expense.

 

You are correct, this is hardly rocket science. If you just want to read feel good posts then you are in the wrong place.

 

It simply could be opening up less headache-inducing cruises, especially for people from other countries, to avoid the whole mess that is US Customs & Immigration. 🙂

 

Royal Caribbean is making a number of investments in New Providence and in Grand Bahamas; they could envision land/sea combinations leveraging those investments.

 

A lot of supplies come to the United States from other countries. It could be less expensive for them to come in to The Bahamas instead, if there were longer term commitments. 

 

There are so many aspects being ignored in examining why or why not this could make sense. It doesn't always boil down to who can make the cheapest thing. Royal Caribbean and most all the other cruise lines just have extended billions of dollars essentially doing nothing productive this past 14 months or so. They have longer-term goals here.

[John&LaLa]

7 minutes ago, Shorewalk Holmes said:

I don't know anything about logistics, or even much about cruising compared to you folks.  But FWIW here's my thinking as a consumer in a prime demographic (old 😄).

 

1. We probably won't reach herd immunity, so covid may live among unvaccinated people for years, including people who arrive from other countries to cruise.

 

2. If Florida's anti-proof law or some other factor results in Royal being unable to offer vaccinated cruises, I will (sadly) choose The Bahamas or some other non-Florida port every time, as long as vaxxed cruises are available.

 

If many other cruisers share my preference, then perhaps The Bahamas may have a shot at making this investment work for them, even if it's more costly.

 

OTOH, if Royal can offer vaccinated cruises from Florida indefinitely, then my Adventure B2B this summer may be the only one I'd choose from The Bahamas.

 

 

The Nassau terminal project really never expected to be utilized as a Homeport. They are trying to be flexible and seize an opportunity.  No idea if it will be successful 

[rolloman]

1 hour ago, dswallow said:

 

It simply could be opening up less headache-inducing cruises, especially for people from other countries, to avoid the whole mess that is US Customs & Immigration. 🙂

 

Royal Caribbean is making a number of investments in New Providence and in Grand Bahamas; they could envision land/sea combinations leveraging those investments.

 

A lot of supplies come to the United States from other countries. It could be less expensive for them to come in to The Bahamas instead, if there were longer term commitments. 

 

There are so many aspects being ignored in examining why or why not this could make sense. It doesn't always boil down to who can make the cheapest thing. Royal Caribbean and most all the other cruise lines just have extended billions of dollars essentially doing nothing productive this past 14 months or so. They have longer-term goals here.

I am not sure what your cruise/Bahama island background is but I can assure you, there are major road blocks which stand in the way. Here are a few more points to consider while you are sorting this out in your NJ command post. As I alluded to previously, the Bahamas are on Island time. They do nothing quickly, mainly due to the fact they do not have the infrastructure. By the time they even could start to become a serious embarkation point, the US which contains the vast majority of paying customers (particularly Florida) will be back in full strength.  Trust me, I am the king of thinking outside the box and get railroaded on this site regularly and even I have negative sentiment on this idea....the Bahamas are just a few miles from me and I visit regularly. We actually have  ships, (Bahamas Paradise) the people of Freeport use to come to Florida to shop for necessities. This has been going on for decades...why? Because the Bahamas do not have the infrastructure nor will they get it anytime soon. Your idea of taking assets ( passenger ships) out of production to replenish assets is a major expense, in essence cutting their fleet in half, is also financial suicide.  Again, I can agree with a few sailings short term...buys some time, allows RCCL to get the house back in order and is semi-doable. In addition they make their point to the CDC they won't be held hostage. However, long term like you are alluding to, is really comical. 

[kearney]

Another point... Royal has been looking at purchasing Grand Lucayan Resort on Grand Bahamas... so they are making a significant investment in that area.  That video suggests that the Bahamians have made significant progress on the port...despite the pandemic. 

[rolloman]

2 hours ago, dswallow said:

 

Gotcha. Bahamians are just a slow uneducated people who can't be trusted to do anything well or timely. 

 

Jeez.

 

Wow...you should be banned.....

[NightOne]

On 5/22/2021 at 1:55 AM, rolloman said:

Have you been to Freeport? The island was leveled from a recent Hurricane. I am not sure how resupplying mega ships on a weekly basis is somehow a different discussion versus Nassau. 

 

I've been to Freeport post-hurricane.

 

You make it sound like the whole island is a dirt lot.

 

It is not.

[NightOne]

On 5/22/2021 at 7:38 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

You still have to stock them

 

How do you think all that Chinese stuff gets into American warehouse? 🙂

[John&LaLa]

11 minutes ago, NightOne said:

 

How do you think all that Chinese stuff gets into American warehouse? 🙂

 

Sure, but we're kinda discussing perishable stuff

[rolloman]

8 minutes ago, NightOne said:

 

I've been to Freeport post-hurricane.

 

You make it sound like the whole island is a dirt lot.

 

It is not.

Your perception of what I wrote may be... however, in reality, what I am trying to convey is that in addition to other obvious reasons mentioned, the island has not recovered from the most recent hurricane enough to sustain themselves as a long term solution for mega ships.  

[NightOne]

2 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Sure, but we're kinda discussing perishable stuff

 

Gotcha

 

I suppose they could fly in fruits, vegetables, and things that cannot be frozen.

 

And don't get me wrong...I think Nassau is a temporary homeport for sure.

[NightOne]

2 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Your perception of what I wrote may be... however, in reality, what I am trying to convey is that in addition to other obvious reasons mentioned, the island has not recovered from the most recent hurricane enough to sustain themselves as a long term solution for mega ships.  

 

I think they say something like 75-85% of things are back up and running. Commercial properties/buildings are in a different category that small homes and small businesses.

 

The shipyard was re-opened about 3 weeks after Dorian.

 

It is also coming on 2 years since Dorian hit.