Why Have NCL Cancel Bonaire as a Port Visit?

[cruise47]

Why have NCL cancel Bonaire as a Port Visit ?

[yakcruiser]

1 minute ago, cruise47 said:

Why have NCL cancel Bonaire as a Port Visit ?

To cut fuel costs.

[Tyskie]

Some ports are closing to ships for over tourism

[Luv2bcruising56]

When is your cruise?  We’re going to Bonaire in April 2025, haven’t heard differently. 

[CILCIANRQTS]

Bonaire now only lets in one cruise ship a day.

They were early into the limiting cruising game.

https://infobonaire.com/bonaires-one-cruise-ship-policy/#:~:text=In a recent press conference,are being made for Bonaire.

Edited August 26 by CILCIANRQTS

[JSar]

I read they are doing some dock repairs - but I am not certain... 

[CILCIANRQTS]

1 hour ago, Luv2bcruising56 said:

When is your cruise?  We’re going to Bonaire in April 2025, haven’t heard differently. 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/kralendijk-bonaire-cruise-ship-schedule-2025.html

[mattie00]

4 hours ago, cruise47 said:

Why have NCL cancel Bonaire as a Port Visit ?

We are cruising March 2025 and haven't heard that we won't be stopping at Bonaire.  When is your cruise?

[Seas2mountains]

We received an email one day before final payment was due for our December Viva cruise. 
 

The reason given is “optimal guest experience top-of-mind”. Translation - they will save on fuel costs by skipping Bonaire. 
 

This is our third dropped port with a Sea Day added this year. It happened on our May Breakaway cruise with Tortola being dropped after final payment, this Viva cruise and Ensenada being dropped from a late December Joy cruise two weeks before final payment. It’s getting frustrating to count on these itineraries and having them dropped to cut expenses. 

[Alatraveler1]

If this keeps up I will not be comfortable giving NCL my $$$.  It would seem like ordering  and paying for the Antarctic Blue Super Sportswagon and getting to the dealership where they gave me the Metallic Pea Wagon Queen Family Truckster.  I know some things are beyond their control, but just for "fuel savings or guest satisfaction" isn't sufficient. After final payment is unacceptable, one day before isn't much better.  Just hope they aren't advertising it as a port call on a day that know they can't deliver.  Looking at the port schedule I do see at least one NCL voyage/stop on a day another ship is also scheduled to be there.

Edited August 26 by Alatraveler1
clarification

[JSar]

35 minutes ago, Alatraveler1 said:

If this keeps up I will not be comfortable giving NCL my $$$.  It would seem like ordering  and paying for the Antarctic Blue Super Sportswagon and getting to the dealership where they gave me the Metallic Pea Wagon Queen Family Truckster.  I know some things are beyond their control, but just for "fuel savings or guest satisfaction" isn't sufficient. After final payment is unacceptable, one day before isn't much better.  Just hope they aren't advertising it as a port call on a day that know they can't deliver.  Looking at the port schedule I do see at least one NCL voyage/stop on a day another ship is also scheduled to be there.

Having Bonaire cancelled was definitely disappointing - however at least they gave more time at several other ports in exchange - so the amount of land vs sea time is similar to when we were going to Bonaire. I do wish the sea days were more spread out and mostly at the beginning. And yeah - I was looking forward to Bonaire! I wish it was one of the Dominican Republic ports that was cancelled instead. I have seen no confirmation that this is for "fuel savings" (and that guest satisfaction is a bogus response). BUT - if it is indeed due to dock repairs as I read somewhere... then it is understandable. I also read somewhere else that Bonaire simply wants to enforce one ship/day which means this is out of Norwegian's control. 

[CruiseMH]

Bonaire has significantly reduced the amount of cruise ships they allow to dock.

As the berths are usually reserved years in advance it is unavoidable that some cruise lines have to cancel the port stops there.

Fuel saving is rubbish.Bonaire is right next to Curacao, so the amount of fuel savings is irrelevant.

[yakcruiser]

8 minutes ago, CruiseMH said:

 

Fuel saving is rubbish.Bonaire is right next to Curacao, so the amount of fuel savings is irrelevant.

The fuel savings come from having an extra 7 hours to get to the next port which means they can sail slower and save fuel. 

[kitkat343]

59 minutes ago, JSar said:

Having Bonaire cancelled was definitely disappointing - however at least they gave more time at several other ports in exchange - so the amount of land vs sea time is similar to when we were going to Bonaire. I do wish the sea days were more spread out and mostly at the beginning. And yeah - I was looking forward to Bonaire! I wish it was one of the Dominican Republic ports that was cancelled instead. I have seen no confirmation that this is for "fuel savings" (and that guest satisfaction is a bogus response). BUT - if it is indeed due to dock repairs as I read somewhere... then it is understandable. I also read somewhere else that Bonaire simply wants to enforce one ship/day which means this is out of Norwegian's control. 

I was there last week on a Princess cruise, and the dock wasn't under construction (that's not to say it won't be in the future).  I do agree that losing a DR port would be preferable to losing Bonaire.

Edited August 26 by kitkat343

[CruiseMH]

22 hours ago, yakcruiser said:

The fuel savings come from having an extra 7 hours to get to the next port which means they can sail slower and save fuel. 

And why are they ALWAYS cancelling Bonaire and not e.g. Aruba? I would guess that Bonaire has the lower berthing fees, so if they want to save money why not cancel Aruba ?

 

[sailingships]

NCL cancelled our Bonaire stop for the Gem Christmas cruise, Dec 20. We have a day at sea instead. We are still going to Aruba as yet.

Edited August 27 by sailingships

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, CruiseMH said:

And why are they ALWAYS cancelling Bonaire and not e.g. Aruba? I would guess that Bonaire has the lower berthing fees, so if they want to save money why not cancel Aruba ?

 

See post #7 by @CILCIANRQTS.  Bonaire has restricted the number of ships docking there.

[dhanakorn]

On 8/25/2024 at 7:42 PM, Seas2mountains said:

We received an email one day before final payment was due for our December Viva cruise. 
 

The reason given is “optimal guest experience top-of-mind”. Translation - they will save on fuel costs by skipping Bonaire. 
 

This is our third dropped port with a Sea Day added this year. It happened on our May Breakaway cruise with Tortola being dropped after final payment, this Viva cruise and Ensenada being dropped from a late December Joy cruise two weeks before final payment. It’s getting frustrating to count on these itineraries and having them dropped to cut expenses. 

Some people may prefer the revised itinerary. Instead of half a day in Bonaire and half a day in Castries. You’ll get a sea day to rest and one full day at Castries. On original itinerary, you can’t do much in Castries. With full day, you can do Pitons excursion. 

[luv2kroooz]

1 minute ago, dhanakorn said:

Some people may prefer the revised itinerary. Instead of half a day in Bonaire and half a day in Castries. You’ll get a sea day to rest and one full day at Castries. On original itinerary, you can’t do much in Castries. With full day, you can do Pitons excursion. 

You are right, but the point is ... Advertise the itinerary you expect to operate. Plan out the fuel costs before you advertise it. Take guest feedback into consideration before crafting the itineraries. Those who like the advertised itinerary and want an extra sea day can book it. Those that don't like it and want two half-day port visits, can pass. 

[Seas2mountains]

2 hours ago, dhanakorn said:

Some people may prefer the revised itinerary. Instead of half a day in Bonaire and half a day in Castries. You’ll get a sea day to rest and one full day at Castries. On original itinerary, you can’t do much in Castries. With full day, you can do Pitons excursion. 

But I booked this itinerary because Bonaire was included. I’ve been to Aruba and St Kitts recently so those were my rest days. 
 

I agree with the points made by @LUV2KROOZ
 

For St Lucia, the excursions all started at 2:30pm or later since it was scheduled to arrive at 1:30pm.
 

With the new itinerary, they had to cancel the excursions that got back after 5pm which was most of them and they haven’t offered the new ones yet. Who knows if they will or not. They are going to save $ on fuel.

 

And they got us hooked on this itinerary and changed it. Just like they did with two other cruises we are on this year. 
 

We will have a lovely time and we are blessed to be on this cruise. But we are sick of the itinerary changes issued at or after final payment to provide fuel savings for NCL. 

[complawyer]

while us mere mortals may/will never understand the inner mind workings of NCL, i'm pretty sure that changing ports/itineraries is not being done to piss off thousands of their ship passengers. 

while you may have been disappointed in the cancelation of bonaire, we've been there, and unless youre into scuba diving, snorkeling or surfing, there aint a whole lot going  on in bonaire.

 

curacao is much more picturesque, and interesting to just walk around town. aruba, meh!

 

we've been to a great many carribbean islands, and im still chafing at the bit to visit st lucia

[kitkat343]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

while us mere mortals may/will never understand the inner mind workings of NCL, i'm pretty sure that changing ports/itineraries is not being done to piss off thousands of their ship passengers. 

while you may have been disappointed in the cancelation of bonaire, we've been there, and unless youre into scuba diving, snorkeling or surfing, there aint a whole lot going  on in bonaire.

 

curacao is much more picturesque, and interesting to just walk around town. aruba, meh!

 

we've been to a great many carribbean islands, and im still chafing at the bit to visit st lucia

It's a beautiful island, as close to uncrowded as you can get on a Caribbean cruise.  We were originally scheduled to go landsailing there because that's one of the few places where the wind conditions allow landsailing.  Hurricane Ernesto screwed up their wind patterns and that was cancelled.  I emailed every boat provider on the island the night before and was very fortunate that one had availability.  My kids really loved visiting Klein Bonaire, an uninhabited island with beautiful clear water and calm waves perfect for young children.  They even caught a fish with a net standing in the beach.

 

I think there is also a lot of wind sailing available on Bonaire.

 

St Lucia is beautiful but tough as a cruise destination - sometimes you have to tender, and there is a long drive through windy roads through the mountains to get to the waterfalls and drive up volcano.  One megaship can make those destinations really crowded and hard to appreciate the beauty of the island.  

 

 

[Tyskie]

1 hour ago, kitkat343 said:

It's a beautiful island, as close to uncrowded as you can get on a Caribbean cruise.

I think there is also a lot of wind sailing available on Bonaire

Totally agreed re Bonaire - also one of the best snorkeling & diving in the Caribbean 

[bluesea777]

I read somewhere in the CC that Bonaire is building 2nd dock, perhaps that is why they’re limiting the ships … maybe the tender dock isn’t available???

 

 

[CILCIANRQTS]

42 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

I read somewhere in the CC that Bonaire is building 2nd dock, perhaps that is why they’re limiting the ships … maybe the tender dock isn’t available???

 

 

 

Where cruise ships dock in Bonaire

Cruise ships dock in one of two piers on a wide bay on the Southern part of the West coast of the island of Bonaire, right by Kralendijk the main city and capital of the island known as:

• Southern Pier
• Northern Pier

The two piers are suited to moor up to three cruise ships, although only very seldom this happens. If there are two cruise ships docking, the larger one will always moor on the Southern Pier and the smaller on the Northern Pier.

Northern pier

The northern pier is perpendicular to the coast, just over 200 feet long, with the exit gates opening directly into a pedestrian street right in front of the Wilhelmina Park. This pier is next to the Old Fort and very close to the Sea Promenade (a long and beautiful street along the coast) and Kaya Grandi one block behind, which is the main shopping street of Kralendijk.

Southern pier and terminal

The Southern Pier aka New Pier is parallel to the coast and to get to the main street the cruise traveler will have to walk through a well maintained, small cruise terminal.

This open-air shopping complex is known as Harborside Mall. Naturally, it is always a delight to walk down the gangway right into the city center but even when docked at the Southern Pier the cruise passenger is at less than 300 feet (100 meters) from the start of the Plaza Wilhelmina and the Sea Promenade officially known as Kaya J. N. E. Craane.