Did the Escape miss GSC again today

[wolft927]

So looking at Cruisemapper, Looks like the escape is off the coast off Freeport but was scheduled to be in GSC this morning. Anyone know if They missed it again?

[Noworkforme23]

We are supposed to stop there on the Encore on 12/16, but the current weather report shows 65% chance of rain.  😒😒

[Laszlo]

9 minutes ago, Noworkforme23 said:

We are supposed to stop there on the Encore on 12/16, but the current weather report shows 65% chance of rain.  😒😒

Its not the rain the stops the ships, its the wind and waves. They really need to invest in a pier

[shof515]

1 hour ago, Laszlo said:

Its not the rain the stops the ships, its the wind and waves. They really need to invest in a pier

Even with a pier, wind and waves can force a cancellation. Royal island is near great stirrup cay and they have a pier. Sometimes they can not dock 

[Noworkforme23]

1 hour ago, Laszlo said:

Its not the rain the stops the ships, its the wind and waves. They really need to invest in a pier

Agree, but the wind forecast for that day shows winds 18-25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph in the weather app. 😒. Only positive is I will get my excursion money back from the amount I paid for the ocean villa at GSC.  

[julig22]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

Even with a pier, wind and waves can force a cancellation. Royal island is near great stirrup cay and they have a pier. Sometimes they can not dock 

And don't forget that they have to look at the forcast for the entire day. What goes out on a tender has to come back at the end of the day!

[BirdTravels]

We stopped at GSC on Tuesday. There were a couple of passing showers, but the tendering was very smooth. 

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

We stopped at GSC on Tuesday. There were a couple of passing showers, but the tendering was very smooth. 

What does that have to do with this thread?

[DrUrsula]

On Encore now, staff tells us Escape and another ship were unable to stop at GSC yesterday. We have our fingers crossed that we can tender today.

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, zqvol said:

What does that have to do with this thread?

If you took the time to read the thread, which obviously you didn’t, post #2 asserted that rain would prevent a pot call to GSC. My response was that a few rain showers does not prevent a stop at GSC.  And provides current, relevant, objective evidence to that fact.
 

What does you post have to do with the thread?  

[wolft927]

Thanks to the poster that confirmed escape missed GSC. Hopefully when we go there in January we will be able to make the stop 

[ChiefMateJRK]

We missed it on the Pearl last Friday.  The weather was pretty nice and we sailed up just about to the island.  Then the Captain came on and did a pretty crappy announcement (I think he was reading a script).  They're getting so good at missing GSC that they already have Plan B excerpts for the daily composed.  They just take about an hour to overload the printer and then distribute them.  We did enjoy a nice lunch in the MDR that was not supposed to be open.  Of course, they got the Casino opened PROMPTLY.  🤣

[mugtech]

On 12/9/2023 at 8:45 AM, BirdTravels said:

If you took the time to read the thread, which obviously you didn’t, post #2 asserted that rain would prevent a pot call to GSC. 

Did not know that NCL made pot calls to GSC.  I know they have dogs search the ships in Bermuda.  Anyone know if they make pot calls to Jamaica?

  

 

[DrUrsula]

Made it in easily on Saturday on Encore. They took an "alternate longer and safer" route from the ship to the island. We didn't notice anything different.

There were 3-4 foot swells , much larger on the tender back. Very windy all day.

We were coming off a Friday of 8-10 foot waves with 20-25 mph winds 

Edited December 11, 2023 by DrUrsula

[mjkacmom]

16 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

We missed it on the Pearl last Friday.  The weather was pretty nice and we sailed up just about to the island.  Then the Captain came on and did a pretty crappy announcement (I think he was reading a script).  They're getting so good at missing GSC that they already have Plan B excerpts for the daily composed.  They just take about an hour to overload the printer and then distribute them.  We did enjoy a nice lunch in the MDR that was not supposed to be open.  Of course, they got the Casino opened PROMPTLY.  🤣

So do you think they purposely miss their private island? We made it 3 times out of 4, and were bummed because we had booked excursions. I suspect they lose money when the stop is skipped.

[wolft927]

1 minute ago, mjkacmom said:

So do you think they purposely miss their private island? We made it 3 times out of 4, and were bummed because we had booked excursions. I suspect they lose money when the stop is skipped.

They never want to miss private islands as all revenue goes to NCL. Tender ports are hit and miss depending on wind and swells. Grand Cayman is a 50/50 shot a lot of the times. When I worked onboard ships grand cayman was a coin toss if we made it. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

So do you think they purposely miss their private island? We made it 3 times out of 4, and were bummed because we had booked excursions. I suspect they lose money when the stop is skipped.

Of course not.  We've missed it two out of four times, but after being there twice I can take it or leave it.  I'm probably shifting over to my friend @complawyer's club when it comes to GSC.  On the beach I get heat, free booze, a hamburger or tacos (with flies) and much more sun than my dermatologist would ever approve of (regardless of SPF bazillion long sleeve swim shirt and reef destroying sunscreen).  On the ship I get a nice sit down lunch with free booze in the air conditioning without flies or skin cancer.  Like I said, I can take it or leave it.  My only disappointment last Friday was that DD and DW wanted to visit GSC.

[D_And_K_gocruising]

Yes, GSC was cancelled.  We pulled in, guess they brought a tender boat out, but were looking at the weather and supposedly the seas were supposed to deteriorate thruout the day..  No clue if that happened or not, but person in a FB group said they've missed GSC last 3 cruises they were on.. Very common.  They were saying the island manager makes the call.  There were also supposed to be TWO ships there that day, and neither stopped.  They weren't as concerned about getting people off the ship, but were concerned about getting them back onboard at the end of the day.   It didnt "seem" bad, but who knows what currents were doing, what they saw they didnt like.  It really doesnt matter, the call was made, and we puttered back to PC about 10 knts.  As expected there were some people that threw a fit about their cruise being ruined and how dare they cancel the port the weather was fine blah blah blah..   So from what I can tell, do NOT get your heart set and base your whole cruise around GSC.. 

[mjkacmom]

15 minutes ago, D_And_K_gocruising said:

Yes, GSC was cancelled.  We pulled in, guess they brought a tender boat out, but were looking at the weather and supposedly the seas were supposed to deteriorate thruout the day..  No clue if that happened or not, but person in a FB group said they've missed GSC last 3 cruises they were on.. Very common.  They were saying the island manager makes the call.  There were also supposed to be TWO ships there that day, and neither stopped.  They weren't as concerned about getting people off the ship, but were concerned about getting them back onboard at the end of the day.   It didnt "seem" bad, but who knows what currents were doing, what they saw they didnt like.  It really doesnt matter, the call was made, and we puttered back to PC about 10 knts.  As expected there were some people that threw a fit about their cruise being ruined and how dare they cancel the port the weather was fine blah blah blah..   So from what I can tell, do NOT get your heart set and base your whole cruise around GSC.. 

I guess that’s why I thought chiefmate might’ve been complaining, because I’ve seen that complaint many times, and could never figure out why it would benefit NCL to skip their own private island (we missed one out of four).

[D_And_K_gocruising]

6 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I guess that’s why I thought chiefmate might’ve been complaining, because I’ve seen that complaint many times, and could never figure out why it would benefit NCL to skip their own private island (we missed one out of four).

Only going by the information given out lol.. 🙂   Bummer me out because I was looking forward to an empty ship haha.  Good news is that going that slow the vibe was open and WONDERFUL to have as the day before they never opened while cruising.. Think our speed plus maybe a headwind = like 40-50 knt winds.. Top 2 decks were closed off.  

[detroitlions]

I have been cruising a long time with NCL I only made GSC 1 time out of about 7 or 8 tries. 

[IrieBajan54]

I was on the Jade's most recent cruise that ended yesterday and we stopped at GSC on November 28. Everything went smoothly. Saw two Royal ships docked at their pier.

Edited December 11, 2023 by IrieBajan54
correction

[zackarykeef]

We had a VERY rocky day at sea on Friday on Encore, so it makes sense that Escape and Pearl were unable to make GSC that day. We were worried we wouldn’t make it on Saturday, but we did without issue. I can say those were the two roughest tender rides I have ever been on, though! It was still pretty windy and wavy.

 

Call me lucky, but I have never missed GSC…made it 5/5 times now. If you want to go, schedule your next sailing with me 🤣

 

Regardless, don’t be upset if your ship doesn’t make it. It does happen, but I guarantee you the experts making the call whether to stop or not are doing what’s best for the safety of everyone involved. I don’t get all the people complaining and saying things like “the weather is fine, they made a bad call” etc…I doubt the guests are more of an expert on the topic than the staff. It doesn’t help NCL to skip GSC, so just be prepared either way and enjoy your vacation.

[Laszlo]

Missing GSC is nothing compared to having your cruise screwed up by a hurricane. We were on the Escape in 2017? It went from a 7 day cruise to Bermuda to a run down to Port Canaveral, Nassau and a day at GSC. Two other cruise lines made it to Bermuda no problem since the hurricane shifted. We made it down to PC, found out later that day we were going to miss both Nassau (no room) AND GSC. We had a very slow 3 day cruise back to NYC. I've never seen so many angry people Lol

[mking8288]

NCL ship's misery has company ... this week, Prima skipping Grand Cayman's tender stop today due to wind, last minute safety call by Captain per CC roll call/M&G member onboard earlier this morning.  Onward to Cozumel, Mexico ... 

 

Twin nieces currently on the Getaway at St Maarteen for a planned 1/2 day stop getting an extra 90 minutes to roam / stay on the beach or near the waterfront, etc. - as captain ALSO announced this morning that the planned short 6 hour visit to stop at Dockyard, Bermuda is cancelled due to weather - going to be 3 "easy" sea days back to NY for a Saturday disembarkation.  NCL gets to run at half speed (2 engines) - cruise and sustain, for our (in)convenience.   Of course.  Safety first.

 

We missed our Bermuda stop last month on the TA heading back to NY and of course, our 7 days Canada/New England cruise out of NY in mid September was great, with a 10% FCC issued along with 3 fine evenings anchored off Staten Island with a great view of NY skyline ... the Lower NY Bay and no rought seas, swell and waves to deal with.  It's all first world problems, go with the flow, humor and sometimes, just let it go.  Just remember to ask about any partial refund or credit issued for the missed port, taxes & fees/charges - $20 ($10 x 2) is good for something to spend onboard & refundable otherwise. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by mking8288