Kralendijk, Bonaire dropped from itinerary

[farjar]

We are on the Jan. 19-28, 2022 Getaway cruise to the southern Caribbean.  Kralendijk, Bonaire has now been dropped from the itinerary.  Instead we have an extra sea day and  more time in Aruba.  I doubt we will ever have the opportunity to visit there in the future. ☹️  It will be interesting to see what other changes occur over the next month.

[craig01020]

That's a shame. It's my favorite port.

[Cruise Gopher]

Existing thread on the topic…

 

[Firstin87]

Sorry you are missing Bonaire.  Haven' been, but it's on our list.

 

We're on an 11 day Caribbean cruise in late January.  I'm curious if many ports will be cancelled and at what point might NCL cancel the cruise entirely.  

 

[Russiamomm]

I am on the January 5 sailing.  Same changes.  I don’t think they will cancel, but do suspect there will be more before we actually sail.  
 

What I don’t understand is why the prices haven’t dropped.  I have a friend that wants to go, but the solo rates are still outrageous. I keep thinking they are going to drop just to fill a few more cabins, but I’m starting to lose hope.  

[Firstin87]

that does seem odd that the prices haven't dropped.  Being so close to sailing and with fewer ports that may make the trip less attractive to some, you'd think they'd lower the price.  Maybe the day after Christmas - some "Happy New Year" sale?  Hope they go lower so your can friend can join you.

[BermudaBound2014]

44 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

What I don’t understand is why the prices haven’t dropped.  I have a friend that wants to go, but the solo rates are still outrageous. I keep thinking they are going to drop just to fill a few more cabins, but I’m starting to lose hope.  

 

RCL has shut off all new bookings until mid January. According to a travel agent on social media the reason is that they want to limit the number of guests onboard to deal with omicron. I can verify that all RCI sailings are removed from the booking engine through mid-January, but unfortunately RCL has not made a formal announcement so until then it's just rumor.

 

And yes, I know this is the NCL forum but that could be a possible reason you aren't seeing price drops on January sailings. Sometimes that first week of January can be busy as people extend the holiday, but the second week of January should already be seeing price drops. Also, maybe have your friend keep an eye on RCL to see what the official announcement is, because if they are just shutting off bookings to reduce capacity he/she may want to book now.

 

 

 

 

[MaineYachtClub]

I'm curious where the information that the stop in Kralendijk is canceled is coming from.  We're on the Jan 16 sailing on the Epic and Bonaire is still showing on my itinerary.

[ggTexasGal]

4 minutes ago, MaineYachtClub said:

I'm curious where the information that the stop in Kralendijk is canceled is coming from.  We're on the Jan 16 sailing on the Epic and Bonaire is still showing on my itinerary.

Itinerary Change Notice Emails directly from NCL!

[BermudaBound2014]

5 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

Itinerary Change Notice Emails directly from NCL!

 

Other lines are sending out itinerary change notices also so it's not just NCL :(.

 

Carnival Freedom  was denied entry today to Bonaire. 

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-ship-denied-to-make-scheduled-call-at-bonaire/62251

 

The Netherlands increased the measures of their lock down again which may apply to Bonaire: https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2021/12/18/slowing-the-spread-of-the-omicron-variant-lockdown-in-the-netherlands

Edited December 22, 2021 by BermudaBound2014

[njhorseman]

46 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Other lines are sending out itinerary change notices also so it's not just NCL :(.

 

Carnival Freedom  was denied entry today to Bonaire. 

https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-ship-denied-to-make-scheduled-call-at-bonaire/62251

 

The Netherlands increased the measures of their lock down again which may apply to Bonaire: https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2021/12/18/slowing-the-spread-of-the-omicron-variant-lockdown-in-the-netherlands

According to the article Carnival Freedom was denied entry to Bonaire because of the number of crew COVID cases . The article doesn't say the port is closed to cruise ships, although from a practical perspective  testing requirements for entering Bonaire may have the effect of making it difficult or impossible to call there.

[BermudaBound2014]

5 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

According to the article Carnival Freedom was denied entry to Bonaire because of the number of crew COVID cases . The article doesn't say the port is closed to cruise ships, although from a practical perspective  testing requirements for entering Bonaire may have the effect of making it difficult or impossible to call there.

 

Correct. And it looks like there was a cruise ship allowed to dock today, just not Freedom who is currently reporting 2.5% of crew is infected. 

 

This part of the article was interesting to me:

[cruising sister]

Bonaire itself is having a surge in Covid and placed at Level 4 on the 20th. Since it is so small they probably can’t risk more sick people. I have been there and they have to send people off island for higher level of care other than routine primary care.