Is this a new things cruise lines are doing ? Our 2023 cruise to "nowhere"

[splash_in_the_water]

So last year we did a 3 night cruise out of Miami last July. One stop, Bimini in Bahamas. Wife wanted to stay on the boat and I only left to go swimming off the beach near the port where the ship docked. Also being July it was Hot, not just hot, but hot- hot. Like 90-95. 

 

SO why did I call it trip to nowhere you might ask? well here's why. Technically it wasn't nowhere but pretty darn close. Here was our cruise path.  Crazy huh? we had been on quite a few cruises here and there, most have been mostly at least 4 night to multiple ports so we had not experienced this before. From what I know a fast boat can get to Bahamas in like 3 hours, and maybe 7-8 for a slower boat? So carnival just had us basically drifting in the channel between Florida and Bahamas...probably just using bow thrusters to keep us in the circle. I get wanting to save some fuel but this was crazy. And since most of the travel was done overnight Instead so we were doing circles on our sea days, there was just about no breeze at all which really did not help create a breeze, and it was scorching on deck. I know Bimini isn't far but they could have done some bigger loops to at least get a few more miles on the trip. Also I'm not sure but I doubt this was to avoid "weather" further south. That could probably be figured out pretty easy.

 

So that's it. I'm sure this has come up before, I just haven't been on CC for a long time. 

  

Edited April 21 by splash_in_the_water

[Frank12]

When I was younger me and my buddies used to go from Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini fishing all the time.  It only took about an hour to get there!😜

[stobe1]

Just curious. Would you have noticed this had you not looked at the map? Water is water no matter if you are doing circles there, north of there, south of there or east of there. You cant really tell a difference. A sea day is a sea day, especially when the port of call is so close. 

 

Take a look at Radiance over out of Long Beach. It goes between LA and Catalina and Ensenada. That ship basically does circles all day every day just off the coast.

[splash_in_the_water]

oh, perhaps it's even closer than I realized. I was basing what I thought on a video from a Youtuber. Before we went I guess I didn't realize it was so close. We had previous been to Nassau like 3-4 times, but like I said on cruises with multiple ports, necessitating longer sails, but dang I didn't know they'd just go in circles all day!

[rbelshaw]

I have recently been twice on the left coast version - Long beach to Catalina. That's about 30 miles. Took the Miracle 15 hours; the ferry does it in 1-2. On an aft facing cabin, its apparent the props, when running at all, are not churning up a wake at night. I only figured it out on my second voyage: For those extra hours, the bars are pouring and the slots are spinning.  That's fine with me- I like my nights at sea.

 

I am told that QM2 can make NY from Southampton in 4.5 - 5 days, rather than the scheduled 7. But nobody wants that.

 

 

[splash_in_the_water]

2 minutes ago, stobe1 said:

Just curious. Would you have noticed this had you not looked at the map? Water is water no matter if you are doing circles there, north of there, south of there or east of there. You cant really tell a difference. A sea day is a sea day, especially when the port of call is so close. 

 

Take a look at Radiance over out of Long Beach. It goes between LA and Catalina and Ensenada. That ship basically does circles all day every day just off the coast.

you know I think we didn't really notice til we did look at the map, good catch. We just felt like if we were moving a bit more it would have made a little more breeze.

[Sabalon]

Guess no one wants to go on a one day cruise.  I actually wouldn't mind if they brought back the cruises-to-nowhere.   Guess it's hard to sell excursions on those though!!!

[splash_in_the_water]

Regardless this was probably the shortest cruise we've been on and honestly I don't know that i'd want to do it again. The term "booze cruise" was definitely applicable this time. Normally we book longer cruises but we were already in Florida so this was just a little bonus. Basically the old "you don't know til ya know" situation.

[DallasGuy75219]

52 minutes ago, Sabalon said:

I actually wouldn't mind if they brought back the cruises-to-nowhere.

They're now officially prohibited from the US with the kind of visa that most mass market line crew possess.

[bg2310]

Hmmmm interesting.

 

At least you got to go somewhere! Some people are left on an actual, literal cruise to nowhere due to inclement weather that doesn't allow them to get off on any port. I guess we should just take what you can get because it can always be worse! And things could have gone wrong, which in your case they didn't. 

 

 

[splash_in_the_water]

ha. for sure I shouldn't fuss too much but isn't that what people do here on CC? But yeah that wouldn't be fun to miss a port due to inclement weather. We've always been fortunate. My biggest complaint was it was so hot! (says the guy who went to Florida in july) 😂

[Butterbean1000]

It's called "cruising" for a reason.

[Frank12]

1 hour ago, splash_in_the_water said:

oh, perhaps it's even closer than I realized. I was basing what I thought on a video from a Youtuber. Before we went I guess I didn't realize it was so close. We had previous been to Nassau like 3-4 times, but like I said on cruises with multiple ports, necessitating longer sails, but dang I didn't know they'd just go in circles all day!

Miami to Bimini is 48 Nautical miles.

[jsglow]

Look, on a going forward basis, 7 day Carnival cruises are likely not getting any farther than Grand Turk or Amber Cove. Throw in a Celebration Key stop and HMC after the pier gets built and they control 100% of your spend. Plus they save gas. There's huge demand for that kind of product, especially on these extra fancy new builds. Doesn't interest me in the slightest but that's where the mass markets are going.

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

They're now officially prohibited from the US with the kind of visa that most mass market line crew possess.

I know what you are saying, but I think it could be worded better. They are allowed, but the crew would need a different sort of visa which is more expensive. None of the major cruise lines seems to be willing to add this extra expense to allow a "cruise to nowhere". 

[DallasGuy75219]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I know what you are saying, but I think it could be worded better. They are allowed, but the crew would need a different sort of visa which is more expensive. None of the major cruise lines seems to be willing to add this extra expense to allow a "cruise to nowhere". 

It's just not worth the extra expense and possibly longer processing time and scrutiny considering how few were scheduled even when they were allowed. The cruise lines pretty much only scheduled them when had a 2-3 open days before or after a repositioning or for example if a hurricane cut a scheduled cruise short.

[BrentD]

Pretty much every cruise can get from port to port much faster than they actually do. But the longer you're on the ship, the more money you're spending. We just got off the Mardi Gras a couple weeks ago and noticed quite often we would be hauling tail for an hour or two and then all of a sudden we were using virtually no propulsion and practically drifting. Sometimes they can actually be avoiding a storm or rougher seas, but I'm convinced most of it is just to keep you on the ship longer. San Juan was our only stop where the port area wasn't almost entirely financed by the cruise line. It's not just a coincidence that just about every port has a Diamonds/Tanzanite International, Cariloha, Del Sol, Effy, etc.