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Just off 1-16 eastern valor...ITINERARY CHANGE!

guttermandave

By guttermandave,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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guttermandave

guttermandave

Posted
Posted

when we got to the port...we were informed of the change...due to the problems in st. thomas 2 weeks before they are changing the itinerary to put nassau as the LAST day of the cruise....seemed to work out good...except we got to nassua at 1...didnt get to get off till almost 2 and had to be back on by 730....overall good cruise.. i will TRY to answer any questions.....

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EMTRa

EMTRa

Posted
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OK, have to ask..what problems with immigration?

We leave on the Destiny on Friday..this is one of our ports..have a daysail lined up so I just want to have a "head's up" to possible problems!

Thanks!

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Snowball

Snowball

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The problem was that since the ship visited its foreign ports first under it's original Eastern itinerary, then all passengers had to go through immigration prior to being allowed to re-enter US Territory in St. Thomas. They are now trying to visit St. Thomas first, so that passengers will not have to go through immigration until the ship returns to Miami to debark.

 

No worries for you with sailing on the Destiny, as it already visits St. Thomas first.

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WeatherGeek

WeatherGeek

Posted
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I just called Carnival and the lady I spoke with wasn't even aware of an itinerary change for last week's sailing. It would be nice to not have to go through the customs nightmare that I have heard so much about, but would like to know what day we'll be in Nassau because I was thinking about pre-booking an excursion with a private tour operator. We're on the 2/13 sailing so I suppose it's up in the air what our exact itinerary may be. :eek:

Of course...if we'd be in port from 1p-7:30p, I may just go to Senor Frogs....which I didn't want to do on a Monday morning because I didn't want to look trashed in my formal night pictures :D

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guttermandave

guttermandave

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the day in nassau was the last day..the itinerary went like this........embarkation,at sea, at sea, st. thomas 7:00-5:30, st maarten 7:00-4:00, at sea, nassau supposed to be 12:30-7:00 (but more like 1:30-7:30), disembark.......... no big complaints, but the cruise director is not that great...well..i thought he was just plain annoying. the valor is a nice ship...in nassau, we made the fascination and soveirgn of the seas look tiny!!

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Longtime Cruiser

Longtime Cruiser

Posted
Posted

I was on the Valor 1/2/05. We had not problems in St Thomas. All passengers were asked to pass through customs in one of the lounges, we were given labels to wear and told we needed them to board the ship. I found it not true. I was on MAC Lyricia last January, they did the same thing, pass through customs and really no lables and nothing was said or done.

 

 

As a passenger I was unaware of any problems in St Thomas getting off or on. I think we might have arrived an hour late, but I dont remember which port that was.

 

if you have any questions dont hesitate to ask.

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jsy

jsy

Posted
Posted
the day in nassau was the last day..the itinerary went like this........embarkation,at sea, at sea, st. thomas 7:00-5:30, st maarten 7:00-4:00, at sea, nassau supposed to be 12:30-7:00 (but more like 1:30-7:30), disembark.......... no big complaints, but the cruise director is not that great...well..i thought he was just plain annoying. the valor is a nice ship...in nassau, we made the fascination and soveirgn of the seas look tiny!!

Thanks for the heads-up guttermandave. We leave Feb. 27. So we will still be in St. Thomas on Wednesday, March 2? We have a tour booked for that day.

Correct?

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guttermandave

guttermandave

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JSY.....the officer told me that they will be doing 2 trial runs, ours 1-16 and the next eastern...and if all goes well it will be permanent...so anything is possible..dont count on our itinerary being permanent......we will just have to wait and see....if they do change it......i suspect carnival will wait another month or so before they officially announce anything.

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jsy

jsy

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JSY.....the officer told me that they will be doing 2 trial runs, ours 1-16 and the next eastern...and if all goes well it will be permanent...so anything is possible..dont count on our itinerary being permanent......we will just have to wait and see....if they do change it......i suspect carnival will wait another month or so before they officially announce anything.

 

So it might not interfere with our cruise. Yes, will just have to wait and see. Thank you.

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SoCalCruiseguy

SoCalCruiseguy

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I would suspect that the "seeing how it goes" part guttermandave referred to has more to do with seeing how things go with the actual ports and how the new times interact with other ships making port calls on the new days and times than it does with passenger concerns. The way the Eastern Itinerary has been deployed currently (previously) has been a mess at times due to the requirement to go through immigration prior to leaving the ship in St. Thomas. Apparently, for every one trip where immigration was "no big deal" there have been several bad trips and experiances which had the feelings of a lot of folks running pretty high. Especially when Carnival tries to let off people who bought their shore excursions via Carnival first, letting everyone else languish until whenever. If the change is permanent for Eastern Itinerary cruises, I can't see it as being anything other than a positive. I don't think in-port time will be a problem either. The length of time spent in port is largely a function of how long it takes to get to the next port and that does not seem to be an issue at this point.

 

George

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kfgarrow

kfgarrow

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Posted

I was on the 1/16 sailing with guttermandave and was slightly disappointed with the itinerary change since we were looking forward to the long day in St. Thomas. On the positive side, you don't have to go through immigration in St. Thomas, which can be a hassle (been there, done that on other cruises), but on the down side is less time in St. Thomas and an afternoon port call in Nassau. We were late arriving in Nassau and many people were unable to debark until 2:30. We didn't set sail until 8 but all the shops closed at 6 so a late departure was no real advantage. Plus, the late departure made many people miss the early dinner seating (5:45) and therefore we didn't say goodbye to our waiter. None of this is earth shattering, but many people make plans around the itinerary and it seems Carnival could plan better. It's not like St. Thomas immigration requirements or the logistics of moving 3,000 people are new to Carnival.

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