Escape TA Sold Out

[floridafish]

I'm booked on the Escape, April 8th, 16 night TA. It's been sold out for over a week now. Wonderful itinerary so I'm not too surprised about the popularity of this sailing but I always heard most TA's are usually less than full. I guess cruising really is back. 

 

 

[complawyer]

we're booked on the apr 10th TA on the star. rio to lisbon. booked early, got a great price on the 2bedroom (but then again, its the star) lol

[Wayward Son]

31 minutes ago, floridafish said:

I always heard most TA's are usually less than full. I guess cruising really is back. 

 

Same with Encore's repo to Seattle. Always heard it ran less than capacity. Not this year.

 

[laudergayle]

Here’s a thought.  They may have a large number of crew departing in the US for summer Caribbean season and have capped occupancy on your sailing to ensure a workable guest:crew ratio.  Selling full capacity on a ship as large as Escape for a 16-day TA doesn’t seem reasonable.  Even the absolutely packed spring break cruises have inside cabins available two weeks before sailing.  

[Wayward Son]

21 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Here’s a thought.  They may have a large number of crew departing in the US for summer Caribbean season and have capped occupancy on your sailing to ensure a workable guest:crew ratio.  Selling full capacity on a ship as large as Escape for a 16-day TA doesn’t seem reasonable.  Even the absolutely packed spring break cruises have inside cabins available two weeks before sailing.  

 

Certainly possible, but unlikely. A comment from the other site mentioned that the repo from Seattle last October was at 3800, just short of capacity. I'm not surprised the April cruise is sold out. Nice 21-day, few kids, probably just two per cabin (or one). Older demographic, quiet, relaxed. Lots of sea days.

 

Just our style.

 

(Talking about the Encore, in my case)

 

 

 

Edited March 15 by Wayward Son

[lorif]

We're on the Jewel transpacific in April and I think it's just about sold out.

[laudergayle]

15 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

 

Certainly possible, but unlikely. A comment from the other site mentioned that the repo from Seattle last October was at 3800, just short of capacity. I'm not surprised the April cruise is sold out. Nice 21-day, few kids, probably just two per cabin (or one). Older demographic, quiet, relaxed. Lots of sea days.

 

Just our style.

 

(Talking about the Encore, in my case)

 

 

 

Wow, your cruise sounds amazing.  Wishing you the perfect cruise…I’m envious…even with a sold out ship.  

[laudergayle]

Well I guess I’m glad I have my 100 shares😊

[BirdTravels]

44 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Here’s a thought.  They may have a large number of crew departing in the US for summer Caribbean season and have capped occupancy on your sailing to ensure a workable guest:crew ratio.  Selling full capacity on a ship as large as Escape for a 16-day TA doesn’t seem reasonable.  Even the absolutely packed spring break cruises have inside cabins available two weeks before sailing.  

More likely sailing full. Pent up desire to travel. We have cruises booked in Feb, Mar, Apr, Sep, and Oct (haven’t figured out the summer and end of year yet) 

[laudergayle]

46 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

More likely sailing full. Pent up desire to travel. We have cruises booked in Feb, Mar, Apr, Sep, and Oct (haven’t figured out the summer and end of year yet) 

I looked at a few TAs and I am pleasantly surprised that these long sailings are sold out.  That’s great for NCL and their financial recovery.  Enjoy your upcoming cruises.

[Wayward Son]

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

Wow, your cruise sounds amazing.  Wishing you the perfect cruise…I’m envious…even with a sold out ship.  

 

Many passengers will be disembarking in LA on day 15. The last 6-days are going to be heaven.

 

[yakcruiser]

3 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

 

Many passengers will be disembarking in LA on day 15. The last 6-days are going to be heaven.

 

Did this cruise in 2022. Reduced sailing to begin with and then dropped off almost 50% of passengers in LA and another 10% or so in SF. It was like having our own private cruise ship.

[Wayward Son]

4 minutes ago, yakcruiser said:

Did this cruise in 2022. Reduced sailing to begin with and then dropped off almost 50% of passengers in LA and another 10% or so in SF. It was like having our own private cruise ship.

 

Did they reduce staff, or was it one bartender per person? 😄

 

[yakcruiser]

Just now, Wayward Son said:

 

Did they reduce staff, or was it one bartender per person? 😄

 

They reduced staff some. I saw quite a few disembark in LA but there were enough that stayed that you never waited for anything. No lines at bars or restaurants. And the staff seemed so much more relaxed and personable not being so rushed.

[Wayward Son]

4 minutes ago, yakcruiser said:

And the staff seemed so much more relaxed and personable not being so rushed.

 

I can believe that, for sure.

 

I guess this is still on topic given the OP. Did any venues close for maintenance, cleaning, repair, etc.? Were there more staff drills and such?

 

I guess the question would be how a repo differs from a "normal" cruise.

 

[www3traveler]

7 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

 

I can believe that, for sure.

 

I guess this is still on topic given the OP. Did any venues close for maintenance, cleaning, repair, etc.? Were there more staff drills and such?

 

I guess the question would be how a repo differs from a "normal" cruise.

 

A Repo Cruise is usually 15 to 21 days in length.  In this case, ships are re-positioning from their Winter Season (Caribbean or Southeast Asia) to the Summer Season in Alaska.  You have a number of days at Sea, not a different port every day.  They are great fun.  Usually venues are not closed.  There is usually lots and lots of staff training being done, staff are done at least once a week when possible.  From a passengers point of view, very little changes.  With homeschooling being done, there might be a few more kids than you would think.

 

Do not count on less passengers for the cruise between LA and Vancouver, British Columbia.  Lots of people jump on board for these short cruises ( I have done it a number of times because that was all the time I had). 

[Wayward Son]

5 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

With homeschooling being done, there might be a few more kids than you would think.

 

We've got well over 10% participation on the other site. So far, 3 kids. 50 would be just fine.

 

 

6 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Do not count on less passengers for the cruise between LA and Vancouver, British Columbia.  Lots of people jump on board for these short cruises

 

That is not an option on this repo.

 

 

[yakcruiser]

I didn't notice venues being closed more than usual. It did seem like they did a few more drills though. The main theater entertainment was lacking but I from what I read that's the norm now on all NCL ships. They didn't let people board in LA or SF for the short hop to YVR. And it doesn't seem to be an option on this year's cruise as well. It seems the passengers are so much more laidback once they detoxify from there hectic lives at home. 

[yakcruiser]

30 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

 

I can believe that, for sure.

 

I guess this is still on topic given the OP. Did any venues close for maintenance, cleaning, repair, etc.? Were there more staff drills and such?

 

I guess the question would be how a repo differs from a "normal" cruise.

 

And there were more kids onboard than I would have thought but they were all very well behaved.

[Wayward Son]

7 minutes ago, yakcruiser said:

And there were more kids onboard than I would have thought but they were all very well behaved.

 

I believe that. Do you think it was more than 50? Not that it matters. We were on a Bermuda cruise in November during NJ winter break. Overloaded with kids, but amazingly well-behaved.

 

I would expect most of the kids to be home schooled. Again, not that it matters, but that's a very different can of worms.

 

[yakcruiser]

16 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

 

I believe that. Do you think it was more than 50? Not that it matters. We were on a Bermuda cruise in November during NJ winter break. Overloaded with kids, but amazingly well-behaved.

 

I would expect most of the kids to be home schooled. Again, not that it matters, but that's a very different can of worms.

 

I would guess 30 or so. Most left in LA. And I should clarify that when I said the entertainment was lacking, I meant when we left LA. It was very good up until then.

Edited March 15 by yakcruiser

[Jldevlin]

So many transatlantic cruises have crappy ports...this one has lots of good ones with Abiza !! It is a new one for us so we are happy to be on this one. Just the right amount of sea days and port stops to make it interesting. With it leaving from New York it gave is a chance to finally stay there for a few days ahead.

[The Traveling Man]

4 hours ago, floridafish said:

I'm booked on the Escape, April 8th, 16 night TA. It's been sold out for over a week now. Wonderful itinerary so I'm not too surprised about the popularity of this sailing but I always heard most TA's are usually less than full. I guess cruising really is back. 

 

 

We have done three TAs with NCL, one on the Epic in 2018 and two on the Getaway, in 2019 and 2022.  None of them were at full capacity.  The average passenger age was a bit higher than we have seen on other cruises.  Most passengers were experienced NCL cruisers, with lots of upper-tier Latitudes members.  Also there were only a few minors on any of those cruises.  If your cruise is sold out, it would be a bit of a change from previous years.  Hope you enjoy the ship and the itinerary.  Bon voyage.

[fredflint]

I have done quite a few TAs and then we first started taking them they were less than full but once word was out what a great deal they were they have pretty much always been full with the Exception of out Lisbon to Rio cruise but I feel that was also due to lack of staff.

 

The upside is that you have fewer children and more experienced travelers.  Many Europeans seem to use the TAs to spend the winter in Florida no luggage limit and you get a cruise too!

[Miss Ellsworth]

I'm on a TA later this year and booked with some trepidation about crowding. My last TA was in 2016 and sailed at 50%.  A full TA is a very different thing than a less-full TA 

 

If they're full now, maybe it's temporary pent-up demand or maybe it's that people are finding out about them. But whatever the reason, a crowded ship seems like a bigger problem on a TA because it's a lot of days to be penned up with a gazillion other people and few to no port days as relief from the constant congestion. Maybe demand will cycle as crowds discovering TA's stampede en masse onto the ships until word gets out that TA's suck because the ships aren't really made for 6-8 consecutive days of crowding, and the crowds stampede right back out 

 

I'm going to mitigate against my sailing being full by booking a Thermal Suite pass and specialty dining every night