Norwegian Escape's 7-Day Eastern Caribbean Embarkation Time Change

[stevejco]

Forwarded from my TA.

 

Looks like NCL is giving guests more time to get to the port of Miami on embarkation day.

 

IMPORTANT: ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

 

In an effort to allow more guests the opportunity to sail Norwegian Escape's 7-Day Eastern Caribbean itineraries from Miami, we have changed her scheduled Miami departure time from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This change will allow guests later flight options for arriving in Miami and will apply to all 7-Day Eastern Caribbean sailings from May 7 - December 31, 2016. Guests continue to be invited to board the ship at their regularly scheduled times and begin enjoying all the exciting amenities Norwegian Escape has to offer.

 

Guests booked on the affected sailings need to be aware of this change and as a courtesy we are sending them a notification today, but we encourage you to communicate this information to your clients as well.

Edited March 1, 2016 by stevejco

[beerman2]

Thanks for the update, as the original thread about this has been dormant. I have even brought it to the attention of a TA on our sailing and she hadn't heard of it yet.

 

And that is what ticks people off about NCL , why don't THEY just come out with an official announcement and stop all the speculation.

[stevejco]

Thanks for the update, as the original thread about this has been dormant. I have even brought it to the attention of a TA on our sailing and she hadn't heard of it yet.

 

And that is what ticks people off about NCL , why don't THEY just come out with an official announcement and stop all the speculation.

 

My apologies. I would have added to the original thread, but missed it.

[BirdTravels]

In an effort to allow more guests the opportunity to sail Norwegian Escape's 7-Day Eastern Caribbean itineraries from Miami, we have changed her scheduled Miami departure time from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This change will allow guests later flight options for arriving in Miami and will apply to all 7-Day Eastern Caribbean sailings from May 7 - December 31, 2016. Guests continue to be invited to board the ship at their regularly scheduled times and begin enjoying all the exciting amenities Norwegian Escape has to offer.

 

Interesting. We are sailing in mid-May, booked direct with NCL, and have not been notified yet. Our MyNCL reservation still shows the 4:00 pm departure. And Reservations says that they have not been informed of this change.

 

That being said, we were on the Epic last October where there were several schedule changes and it took several days (weeks) for all of the reservations to be updated and emails to be sent to customers. People shouldn't be "ticked off" that they don't get instantaneous notifications, sit back and let the process work. We fully understand and appreciate the time it takes time to change 10's of thousands of reservations and get notifications out to each of the affected parties.

 

On a side note, NCL says that their goal is to cancel out all of the MDQ and For The Record reservations by tomorrow and allow people to rebook.

Edited March 1, 2016 by BirdTravels

[HowardK]

I doubt this has anything to do for the guests benefit. Why all of the sudden do they care if the guests get there on time vs. other ships? They must have been outbid for the leaving time.

 

OP- I appreciate you posting this in the seperate thread as it has NCL's wordage.

[beerman2]

Interesting. We are sailing in mid-May, booked direct with NCL, and have not been notified yet. Our MyNCL reservation still shows the 4:00 pm departure. And Reservations says that they have not been informed of this change.

 

That being said, we were on the Epic last October where there were several schedule changes and it took several days (weeks) for all of the reservations to be updated and emails to be sent to customers. People shouldn't be "ticked off" that they don't get instantaneous notifications, sit back and let the process work. We fully understand and appreciate the time it takes time to change 10's of thousands of reservations and get notifications out to each of the affected parties.

 

On a side note, NCL says that their goal is to cancel out all of the MDQ and For The Record reservations by tomorrow and allow people to rebook.

 

What I'm saying is once the rumors / speculation starts why not just put something on their web pertaining to it. We will see tommorrow as its time to make another payment, which I do by calling. I will be asking the NCL rep and that's a 50/50 chance them knowing.

[beerman2]

My apologies. I would have added to the original thread, but missed it.

 

No apologies needed!

 

Quoting myself " Thanks for the update , as the original thread about this is dormant! LOL

[acharris1]

Anyone know if the handful of Escape 8-day sailings are affected? I know it says 7-day sailings, but not sure why it wouldn't apply to the 8-day sailings. Hope it doesn't, though!

[Crusin33]

Just checked the Ncl site and my September 03 sailing on escape now says departure 7 pm. I haven't received anything from Ncl. I would like to know if we can board at the regular time. Hotel checkout is 11 and if they delay boarding it is really not enough time to do anything.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[beerman2]

Just checked the Ncl site and my September 03 sailing on escape now says departure 7 pm. I haven't received anything from Ncl. I would like to know if we can board at the regular time. Hotel checkout is 11 and if they delay boarding it is really not enough time to do anything.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Yes the letter sent out states boarding will begin at normal time.

[BirdTravels]

Just checked the Ncl site and my September 03 sailing on escape now says departure 7 pm. I haven't received anything from Ncl. I would like to know if we can board at the regular time.

 

Yes, checkin is normal time. Boarding will start around 11:30 am. You can enjoy the full facilities of the ship.

 

,,,,, but does anyone know when they would do the muster with a 7:00 pm departure? Normally it's 30 minutes prior to departure which would put it in the middle of dinner,,,

[Demonyte]

but does anyone know when they would do the muster with a 7:00 pm departure? Normally it's 30 minutes prior to departure which would put it in the middle of dinner,,,

 

 

Don't know about NCL but on our recent Celebrity cruise out of San Juan the muster drill time was at 7pm (if I remember correctly, anyway we had later than normal dinner reservation because of that, usually we had Select reservation around 7pm) and it meant that the MDRs opened normally but people eating early had to be done with their dinner before the drill (it was pretty much in between the traditional seatings, I think).

[HowardK]

Has anyone heard what NCL's real reason for doing this is? Did they get outbid for the 4pm time? I think everyone hear knows they could care less if their guests reach the ship on time.

[BirdTravels]

Our letter received today was a lot less specific than ones posted earlier this week

 

 

Dear Valued Guests & Travel Partners,

 

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Escape's 7-day Eastern Caribbean sailings departing from Miami from May 7, 2016 through July 16, 2016 and from September 3, 2016 through December 31, 2016. Guest booked on these sailings need to be aware of this change and travel professionals are asked to forward this information to their clients.

 

We have made a change to the ship's itinerary and she will now depart from Miami at 7:00 p.m. instead of the previously communicated time of 4:00 p.m. We invite you to board the ship at your regularly scheduled time and begin enjoying all the exciting amenities Norwegian Escape has to offer.

 

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions, please contact us at 800-327-7030 (Monday through Friday from 8am to midnight ET and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 9pm ET). We look forward to welcoming you on board Norwegian Escape.

 

Sincerely,

Vivian Ewart

 

Vice President, Passenger Services

 

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by BirdTravels

[LrgPizza]

This thread title is misleading. There is NOT a change in embarkation time. The letter we received stated we can still arrive and board at our usual time. The change is in the departure time, not embarkation time.