Bermuda April 2025 major itinerary change

[MisterBill99]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

 

Nope we have docked at both with Celebrity and their ships are bigger than the Vista.

 

How many decades ago?

[MisterBill99]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I went one time with Oceania. Insignia can dock at St. George and Hamilton and we did both. Overnights at both. That is the best Bermuda itinerary. It appears Vista is too large for Hamilton and St. George and must dock at the Dockyard where the large ships have to dock. 

 

If they're going to have to tender, you'd think they could anchor off Hamilton and tender there. Of course, the island probably isn't set up to do that. Tendering to the dockyard is truly the worst of both worlds.

[jonthomas]

5 years ago was our last Celeb cruise. The small celeb ships are bigger than Vista.

We gave up on celeb at that time, sailing only on O.

 

Last year, missed one day in bermuda, citing weather concerns, not size of ship. went to the dock yards. Had an extra day in Charleston and loved it. Sure don't need to do Charleston again, though.

 

If chances are so poor that O can get into Hamilton or st George,  then just remove from the itineraries but don't have people booking it and then do the switcheroo after final pay. Just plain wrong.

[Charles4515]

50 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

If they're going to have to tender, you'd think they could anchor off Hamilton and tender there. Of course, the island probably isn't set up to do that. Tendering to the dockyard is truly the worst of both worlds.

That would depend on Vista’s draft. She may not be able to get close to Hamilton. Tendering is pretty rare. Usually none any year but there have been some years where there has been tendering once or twice. A couple of years ago Celebrity had to tender because the ship was rerouted off the original itinerary and the other berths were occupied. 

[Charles4515]

13 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

f chances are so poor that O can get into Hamilton or st George,  then just remove from the itineraries but don't have people booking it and then do the switcheroo after final pay. Just plain wrong.

They can get in with their smaller ships. Vista is just too big. They shouldn’t do the switcheroo but the cruise lines have always taken the position that the itinerary is not guaranteed.  They didn’t change the itinerary, they just docking to tendering. I think though that since the cruise in question is next April 19 the switch was before final payment. 

[CJANDH]

5 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

It appears Vista is too large for Hamilton and St. George and must dock at the Dockyard

It would be slightly better if they were docking. But they are anchoring and tendering.

[CJANDH]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 They didn’t change the itinerary, they just docking to tendering

They did more than that. They went from two nights to one night, with only a short day to explore Bermuda (sailing away at 3 PM).

[MisterBill99]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

They can get in with their smaller ships. Vista is just too big. They shouldn’t do the switcheroo but the cruise lines have always taken the position that the itinerary is not guaranteed.  They didn’t change the itinerary, they just docking to tendering. I think though that since the cruise in question is next April 19 the switch was before final payment. 

 

It's literally in your passenger agreement. Also, worth pointing out that the posted brochure picture doesn't make a distinction between dock and tender ports.

[MisterBill99]

1 minute ago, CJANDH said:

They did more than that. They went from two nights to one night, with only a short day to explore Bermuda (sailing away at 3 PM).

 

Yes, that is the issue, not the tendering. You don't really know for sure if the plan was to tender or dock originally (and if it said docked, it might have been a mistake given how many ships regularly dock there weekly during the season).

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

They did more than that. They went from two nights to one night, with only a short day to explore Bermuda (sailing away at 3 PM).

Yes the whole change was bad. Less time in Bermuda and tendering. 

[MisterBill99]

BTW, according to Kings Wharf Cruise Ship Schedule 2025 (cruisetimetables.com), they have Vista there April 22-24 (presumably this has not been updated), and they're the third ship the first two days (Celebrity and NCL are the other two on their regular schedule). So, I don't see how there ever could have been a plan to dock there those days, and not indicating that it was a tender port was likely an error on Oceania's part, not a change in plans.

Edited August 31 by MisterBill99

[CJANDH]

11 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

not indicating that it was a tender port was likely an error on Oceania's part, not a change in plans

Whatever. The Bermuda focus of the cruise has changed completely.

[Jim and Monika]

When we first went to Bermuda we had almost 4 days total including overnights at both Hamilton and St George. The second time we went, the times at each end were shortened to just over 3 days, but still overnight at both. We are sailing a third time next week and have a stop in Newport RI, overnight in Hamilton , and only at St George from 8 to 3, which is just over 2 1/2 days. I am expecting to leave before 3 because last time to port time were shortened after we got on board, and will most likely happen again. We booked it knowing this, an accepted it.

This is the same trip next year, but in July (Hot).

We enjoy going to Bermuda on Oceania, but with less time there, Simply More $, this might be our last as we don't do excursions and would rather have credit somewhere else, or just be able to pay Simply Less $.

[ORV]

I don’t think Celebrity has had a ship in the last 30 years that could go to Hamilton or St George.  The R ships of Oceania would be the only ones they have that can. 

Edited August 31 by ORV

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

I don’t think Celebrity has had a ship in the last 30 years that could go to Hamilton or St George.  The R ships of Oceania would be the only ones they have that can. 

Yes they did in the last 30 years. Celebrity Zenith was thev last Celebrity ship that did both Hamilton and St. George regularly every week in the season. It was 17 years ago in 2017 that she did her last Bermuda sailing. Celebrity Horizon did Bermuda from Philadelphia and left the fleet in 2005. 

 

Kind of off topic but it appears that Celebrity is pulling out of regular Bermuda sailings. They are not doing many next cruise season.

Edited August 31 by Charles4515

[ORV]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

Yes they did in the last 30 years. Celebrity Zenith was thev last Celebrity ship that did both Hamilton and St. George regularly every week in the season. It was 17 years ago in 2017 that she did her last Bermuda sailing. Celebrity Horizon did Bermuda from Philadelphia and left the fleet in 2005. 

 

Kind of off topic but it appears that Celebrity is pulling out of regular Bermuda sailings. They are not doing many next cruise season.

I was wondering about that class of ship but didn’t know for sure. I’m assuming that was a typo and you meant 2007 as 2017 was seven years ago. I never sailed on that class Celebrity ship although I did cruise with them in 2010. 

[Charles4515]

24 minutes ago, ORV said:

I was wondering about that class of ship but didn’t know for sure. I’m assuming that was a typo and you meant 2007 as 2017 was seven years ago. I never sailed on that class Celebrity ship although I did cruise with them in 2010. 

Yes, I meant 2007. I did do Zenith that in that year and  previous years. I  was booked on Zenith again for 2008, Hamilton and St. George but they transferred to the ship. Instead they put us on Azamara Journey which was the first R ship I cruised on which did Hamilton and St. George. 

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Yes, I meant 2007. I did do Zenith that in that year and  previous years. I  was booked on Zenith again for 2008, Hamilton and St. George but they transferred to the ship. Instead they put us on Azamara Journey which was the first R ship I cruised on which did Hamilton and St. George. 

This isn't terribly important, but I was also a regular cruiser to Bermuda on the Zenith for a number of years. Zenith was sold by Celebrity in 2007 and I'm certain that 2007 was the year that our reservation was moved from the Zenith to Azamara Journey. Confirming that, I found some Cruise Critic reviews of Azamara Journey sailings from Cape Liberty to Bermuda dated in 2007.

 

At one time Celebrity had both Horizon and Zenith doing the NY to Bermuda run from Manhattan, with Horizon sailing on Saturday and Zenith on Sunday. 

 

In any event the poster who said they were on a Celebrity cruise perhaps as recently as five years ago that was scheduled to dock in St. George is mistaken.

Edited August 31 by njhorseman

[jonthomas]

Then perhaps it was with Viking...

But our last celebrity cruise was 5 years ago, but maybe a Carib and not bermuda.

 

We have never had any part of bermuda cancelled on any other line, except for O. Last year, itin said 3 days, we got one, the dock yards, an extra day in Charleston and an extra day at sea.

As I said, Charleston was wonderful and our first time, but would not need more days there again.

If the O ships that go to bermuda are too big, then they should not offer bermuda as an itinerary and then do a switch up.

Literally bait and switch as the original poster has experienced. 

[njhorseman]

5 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Then perhaps it was with Viking...

But our last celebrity cruise was 5 years ago, but maybe a Carib and not bermuda.

 

We have never had any part of bermuda cancelled on any other line, except for O. Last year, itin said 3 days, we got one, the dock yards, an extra day in Charleston and an extra day at sea.

As I said, Charleston was wonderful and our first time, but would not need more days there again.

If the O ships that go to bermuda are too big, then they should not offer bermuda as an itinerary and then do a switch up.

Literally bait and switch as the original poster has experienced. 

 

Yes, it could have been with Viking. Their ships are smaller than Oceania's Marina, Riviera and Vista in all key physical measurements: draft, beam, length and gross tonnage. Viking's ships are small enough to dock in Hamilton but not St. George's. Marina, Riviera and Vista are too big to dock in either Hamilton or St. George's.

 

In the summer 2021 when cruising resumed after the COVID 19 shutdown, Viking homeported a ship in Hamilton and the itinerary was essentially a slow circumnavigation of Bermuda plus a port call at the Royal Naval Dockyard. IIRC they anchored off St. George's once or twice and attempted tendering in, but that may not have been successful.

 

Oceania's "R" ships are capable of docking in both Hamilton and St. George's and for a few years Insignia has made roundtrips from NY to Hamilton and St. George's, although they have recently cut that back to only twice each summer with two trips from Boston on Nautica also sailing in 2024.

Edited September 1 by njhorseman

[ORV]

Don’t know if’s it been mentioned on this thread but the ship I’m on, Nautica, is going there on its next leg, from Boston. We go home but some onboard are continuing. 

[jonthomas]

So if O phases out its R class ships, it will no longer go to Bermuda. Or it will continue to include it in its itins only to cancel and substitute, as the original poster has experienced. 

 

What is shameful is that O still charged them a penalty for cancelling.

 

If Vista is too large, then cancelling the bermuda ports and blaming it on weather is surely fraudulent. Bottom line, Vista can't get into Hamilton or St George, O needs to remove these ports from its itineraries not dupe the consumer into thinking otherwise. 

[njhorseman]

29 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

So if O phases out its R class ships, it will no longer go to Bermuda. Or it will continue to include it in its itins only to cancel and substitute, as the original poster has experienced. 

 

What is shameful is that O still charged them a penalty for cancelling.

 

If Vista is too large, then cancelling the bermuda ports and blaming it on weather is surely fraudulent. Bottom line, Vista can't get into Hamilton or St George, O needs to remove these ports from its itineraries not dupe the consumer into thinking otherwise. 

The larger Oceania ships can still go to Bermuda and use the Royal Naval Dockyard .

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

Don’t know if’s it been mentioned on this thread but the ship I’m on, Nautica, is going there on its next leg, from Boston. We go home but some onboard are continuing. 

Yes, I mentioned Nautica in the last sentence of the post immediately preceding yours.

[jonthomas]

Yes, but NOT Hamilton or St George, so those ports should not be in the itins.