Navigator - Barbados to Miami 2023 - 11pm departures

[Mystictraveler]

Currently booked on an 11 night, Feb 23 cruise from Bridgetown to Miami. The cruise calls on eight islands and has two sea days at the end. Six of the first seven days do not depart the port of call until 11 p.m. and arrive at the next port at 8 a.m. Personally, part of the enjoyment of being on a cruise is actually "cruising". Have others experienced this many late departures and did it detract from the overall "cruise" experience?

[FengShui@Sea]

1 hour ago, Mystictraveler said:

Currently booked on an 11 night, Feb 23 cruise from Bridgetown to Miami. The cruise calls on eight islands and has two sea days at the end. Six of the first seven days do not depart the port of call until 11 p.m. and arrive at the next port at 8 a.m. Personally, part of the enjoyment of being on a cruise is actually "cruising". Have others experienced this many late departures and did it detract from the overall "cruise" experience?

Yes.  Not like cruising at all, more like a floating hotel.  You couldn’t pay me to do that itinerary.  Others will disagree, but I think you are asking for an honest answer.

[papaflamingo]

We love Sea Days, but if it's all late departures you can take advantage of the ports.  Have a leisurely dinner in a local restaurant, go to a fun local bar, etc.  If you don't want to do that, then just do on the ship what you'd do if it was underway.  The only difference is you'll see the port lights rather than dark ocean, but ship facilities will all be open.   For me, not a big deal at all.

[nfcu]

4 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

We love Sea Days, but if it's all late departures you can take advantage of the ports.  Have a leisurely dinner in a local restaurant, go to a fun local bar, etc.  If you don't want to do that, then just do on the ship what you'd do if it was underway.  The only difference is you'll see the port lights rather than dark ocean, but ship facilities will all be open.   For me, not a big deal at all.

Many times the casino and shops are not open until the ship leaves port.  These late departures benefit the ship's deck officers and engineering crew who do not have to stand watches in port more than the guests.

[irishwitchy]

I love the late departures and overnights.  Travel to me is seeing the ports and checking out the local place for dinner and a drink.   A couple of sea days (hopefully not in a row) I can tolerate, but they aren't my favorite, unless the weather is perfect and I can go read a book by the pool. 

[flossie009]

21 hours ago, Mystictraveler said:

Six of the first seven days do not depart the port of call until 11 p.m.

You may get to enjoy an extravagant BBQ, music and dance on the pool deck on one of the late departure evenings 🙂. Not to be missed if arranged.

[papaflamingo]

6 hours ago, nfcu said:

Many times the casino and shops are not open until the ship leaves port.  These late departures benefit the ship's deck officers and engineering crew who do not have to stand watches in port more than the guests.

Good point.  Since I don't use the Casino and rarely go into the shops, I didn't consider that.  I imagine late departures also benefit the cruise line with fuel savings. 

[Mystictraveler]

3 hours ago, flossie009 said:

You may get to enjoy an extravagant BBQ, music and dance on the pool deck on one of the late departure evenings 🙂. Not to be missed if arranged.

I thought about that as well and sent an email to RSSC inquiring about that possibilty as well as any other reasoning, such as those mentioned on this thread, I could be missing. It does seem odd they would go so many days with such late openings of casino and shops.

[RachelG]

I love the late departures 

[flossie009]

8 hours ago, Mystictraveler said:

I thought about that as well and sent an email to RSSC inquiring about that possibilty as well as any other reasoning, such as those mentioned on this thread, I could be missing.

A clue to whether you might enjoy a deck party is if the speciality restaurant is marked as unavailable on one of the nights.

It is not surprising that you have so many late departures as it is a very short cruising distance from one port to the next in that part of the Caribbean.

 

 

[Kwaj girl]

Enjoy Sette Mare out on the aft deck -  lovely experience while in port.