What's with the new overnights?

[chamima]

So will local taxes be charged on purchases (drinks and items in stores) while in port?

[cle-guy]

[quote name='chamima']So will local taxes be charged on purchases (drinks and items in stores) while in port?[/QUOTE]

I doubt that policy would change. Now in caribbean, I don't think any taxes are collected while in port, so don't think they would add them special for overnights in those same ports. I have been charged sales tax while in port in FLL or Bayonne.

I assume that as with Bermuda last season, they have worked with the locals to allow casinos to remain open, be that as just an agreement, or maybe they had to pay for a license, or maybe certain ports don have any prohibition on gambling anyway.

I'd further assume, that since ships are "duty free" they wild remain so whenever they are open.

[6502programmer]

[quote name='ghstudio']It would if she actually said that. Please review the chat.......[/QUOTE]
Don't worry.. She did. I know because I was the one who asked the question. I'll believe it when I see it though. My question was more about restaurants and entertainment, not shopping and casino. I'm certain that every reasonable measure to keep the revenue areas operational will be undertaken. Services--Not so much.

[cle-guy]

[quote name='6502programmer']Don't worry.. She did. I know because I was the one who asked the question. I'll believe it when I see it though. My question was more about restaurants and entertainment, not shopping and casino. I'm certain that every reasonable measure to keep the revenue areas operational will be undertaken. Services--Not so much.[/QUOTE]

what "services" do you think overnights will affect?

[chamima]

[quote name='6502programmer']Don't worry.. She did. I know because I was the one who asked the question. I'll believe it when I see it though. My question was more about restaurants and entertainment, not shopping and casino. I'm certain that every reasonable measure to keep the revenue areas operational will be undertaken. Services--Not so much.[/QUOTE]

I understood your question to be about services also.

[6502programmer]

[quote name='cle-guy']what "services" do you think overnights will affect?[/QUOTE]
Dining rooms, specialty restaurants, shows, bands, activities--all the "fun stuff" on the ship that makes it more enjoyable than a mobile hotel. A lot of the normal stuff that happens at sea typically shuts down when the ship is in port. I know that in ports, some portion of the population will be off the ship during the evening, and that there will be some "adjustment" to the services of the ship during that time. My concern is that they'll be degraded by (hypothetically) 20% when the passenger load is only down by 10%.

Things like closing down the martini bar at 11p because all the big drinkers are off doing that on shore, or having fewer sections in a dining room open (potentially meaning more waiting), or only having one show instead of two. Those are the kinds of things I'm worried about getting axed.

[MisterBill99]

[quote name='6502programmer']Dining rooms, specialty restaurants, shows, bands, activities--all the "fun stuff" on the ship that makes it more enjoyable than a mobile hotel. A lot of the normal stuff that happens at sea typically shuts down when the ship is in port. I know that in ports, some portion of the population will be off the ship during the evening, and that there will be some "adjustment" to the services of the ship during that time. My concern is that they'll be degraded by (hypothetically) 20% when the passenger load is only down by 10%.

Things like closing down the martini bar at 11p because all the big drinkers are off doing that on shore, or having fewer sections in a dining room open (potentially meaning more waiting), or only having one show instead of two. Those are the kinds of things I'm worried about getting axed.[/quote]
Is this based on any sort of experience on other cruises where they've had overnights or is this just your theorizing of what might happen in a worst case scenario??? As for closing the bars early, you'd think that given that people will be getting back late, they'd want to have them open late to get them when they return.

They've got the employees on board. They're not going to save money by telling some of them not to come to work. Yes, some may be off the ship but I can't imagine them doing anything to stop people from spending money. Edited July 6, 2015 by MisterBill99

[RodPat]

[quote name='6502programmer']Dining rooms, specialty restaurants, shows, bands, activities--all the "fun stuff" on the ship that makes it more enjoyable than a mobile hotel. A lot of the normal stuff that happens at sea typically shuts down when the ship is in port. I know that in ports, some portion of the population will be off the ship during the evening, and that there will be some "adjustment" to the services of the ship during that time. My concern is that they'll be degraded by (hypothetically) 20% when the passenger load is only down by 10%.

Things like closing down the martini bar at 11p because all the big drinkers are off doing that on shore, or having fewer sections in a dining room open (potentially meaning more waiting), or only having one show instead of two. Those are the kinds of things I'm worried about getting axed.[/QUOTE]

I think you are worrying about nothing. When Celebrity sails to Bermuda they stay there for 3 nights and nothing shuts down at night. We just did a repo on Summit in April and stayed overnight in Bermuda. Went out for a really nice dinner but was back on the ship before 10 pm and then went to the Martini bar which was open as late as usual. If anything the dining room should work much better with no waiting as some people will not be there to eat their dinner but the servers still have to work.

Pat

[leeotampa]

Look at your shore excursions and you will see which day is a 3-day. We are on the Eclipse 4-3 14-day and we are doing overnight in Curacao.

[drafterdw]

[quote name='macaroni']There is an article out there that says celebrity is going to do overnight stops on Caribbean cruises 10 nights or over starting January 2016....anyone have info on which ones? We are scheduled for eclipse 14 day in February 2016.....[/QUOTE]
We sail on Feb 21st....Curacao is our over night.....not happy about it since it replaces Bonaire. Have been to Curacao several times, it's a nice island but have never been on Bonaire.....also, so far no evening excursions so not sure what we will do other than go back to the ship.

[mickey89]

We are on the same cruise 21st Feb. and have been to Bonaire many, many times. You won't be missing much, good snorkeling but that all, Curacao has much more to offer. An overnight in Bonaire would be a disaster, so count yourself lucky.

[jagoffee]

For what it is worth at this time the exact same cruises in 2017 and 2018 have kept the overnights and now include Bonaire.

[macaroni]

[quote name='mickey89']We are on the same cruise 21st Feb. and have been to Bonaire many, many times. You won't be missing much, good snorkeling but that all, Curacao has much more to offer. An overnight in Bonaire would be a disaster, so count yourself lucky.[/QUOTE]

I wanted to go to Bonaire for the snorkeling so I am missing a lot...to each his own.

[davekathy]

[quote name='macaroni']I wanted to go to Bonaire for the snorkeling so I am missing a lot...to each his own.[/QUOTE]

We are sailings on the Eclipse 3 April 2016 and Bonaire was a port of call when I booked the Cruise. It has been dropped and we are doing an overnight in Curacao. We've been to Curacao many times and really like it but we've never to Bonaire and we were really looking forward to it. Maybe another time. I agree with you about wanting to stop at Bonaire and I don't care what others opinion of Bonaire is. Especially when I hear/read won't be missing much. We'll make that decision for ourselves! Edited December 31, 2015 by davekathy

[faze41]

So confused. Our itinerary is now showing no overnite in Cartegena, but now an overnite in Cozumel? X website also shows this new, new overnite. Anyone got a clue. Impossible to get a definitive answer from X.

[sptrout]

[quote name='faze41']So confused. Our itinerary is now showing no overnite in Cartegena, but now an overnite in Cozumel? X website also shows this new, new overnite. Anyone got a clue. Impossible to get a definitive answer from X.[/QUOTE]

Which cruise are you on? Our 1/11/16 cruise still shows an overnight in Cartegena.

[faze41]

We are on the Equinox November 28, 2016.

[sptrout]

[quote name='faze41']We are on the Equinox November 28, 2016.[/QUOTE]

You are correct. My search came up with the same results. Maybe they now realize that staying overnight at Cartegena was not a great idea. Personally, I prefer no overnite stays, but Cozumel has much more to offer than Cartegena since Cozumel is big for resort based vacations, therefore more things to do at night.

[Hlitner]

When we want to overnight in the Caribbean we simply spend 1 - 2 weeks on the island of our choice (usually Aruba or St Maarten). An overnight on Curacao makes no sense to me unless the cruise line wants to promote a famous house of prostitution (yes, it does exist) on that island. By doing an overnight and eliminating a port a cruise line saves fuel cost. Personally, we would just enjoy an evening on the ship (just like a night at sea).

[SAC69]

[quote name='WEGL81']Am I the only one that thinks this is a terrible idea? My March 2016 Equinox 10 day southern Caribbean dropped Dominica in favor of an overnight in St Maarten. Dominica is one of the reasons I booked that cruise. I've been to St Maarten 3 times and can't fathom what I'm going to do sitting there for another day (other than sit on the ship, I guess). Plus, their reasoning is that they got such great feedback from the overnights on European cruises, Well, duh, who wouldn't want to stay an extra day in a European port? They've had hundreds of years to build up cultural and archeological history that you just can't see in an 8 hour stop. Plus, stopping at one port in Europe for more than a day gives you access to points in Europe farther than the port, so you can plan a long excursion to a place not normally accessible during a normal port stop. On a Caribbean island, none of those apply. You're still on an island and they are geared towards beach activities and short excursions. So what, now I'm going to tour twice around St Maarten and hang out for 4 hours on the same beach I would've spent an hour and a half on before? And now I should spend 3 hours in Diamonds International instead of 5 minutes? Ok, that last one was a joke. You get my point, though. European cities have much more to do at night than Caribbean islands. Think about what this does to each area as well in terms of having to upgrade the infrastructure to account for hundreds or thousands of tourists now wandering around at night when normally the ports close down after the ships leave. And is anyone really going to want to be walking around a Caribbean island at 1 AM? Heck, I hardly feel safe walking around some of them in the middle of the day. I hope I read more about the positive side of this change, but right now I am not a happy cruiser.[/QUOTE]

My first thought was that this is a new way to increase profits. Stretch a 7 night cruise to 10 nights with no additional ports but extra time in the original ports. No extra fuel consumed with more cabins sold per night, more drinks served, etc.:rolleyes:

[I&J Cruisers]

I agree. I see no reason to overnight in a Caribbean port. One of the reasons I cruise the Caribbean is to enjoy an island without paying exhorbitant prices for a good dinner. I'll stay on the ship. If they keep dumbing down the food it may be time to rethink our vacation choices.

[Jade13]

[quote name='sptrout']You are correct. My search came up with the same results. Maybe they now realize that staying overnight at Cartegena was not a great idea. Personally, I prefer no overnite stays, but Cozumel has much more to offer than Cartegena since Cozumel is big for resort based vacations, therefore more things to do at night.[/QUOTE]


We booked a 2017 Caribbean cruise and one of the draws is two days in Cartagena. I hope the overnight is not being dropped. It is about the only place on the itinerary where we have not been. Have always wanted to go to Columbia.

[SharonK]

[quote name='drafterdw']We sail on Feb 21st....Curacao is our over night.....not happy about it since it replaces Bonaire. Have been to Curacao several times, it's a nice island but have never been on Bonaire.....also, so far no evening excursions so not sure what we will do other than go back to the ship.[/QUOTE]

Just a clarification.... The Feb 21 sailing on Eclipse was never schedules to go to Bonaire. The overnight in Curacua replaced Grenada.