Bermuda issues?

[macewank]

Hey all!  Not sure if this belongs here or in the port of call section, but the question is specific to NCL so I figured I'd go here.

I've been watching the Bermuda Cruise Schedule page (here: http://www.marops.bm/Documents/Shipping_schedules/2023 Cruise Ship Schedule.pdf) and it looks like NCL has not actually docked there since mid-January (several ships have been scheduled but they were all cancelled).   Just curious, is there something going on with the port or is it just crummy luck?  I'm going out on the Prima next week from NYC to Bermuda and hoping we don't end up with a Cruise to Nowhere (not sure if we'd have enough time to divert to a different port or not)

Edited March 19, 2023 by macewank

[bluesea777]

Weather related, that’s all. Rough seas surrounding Bermuda that is surrounded with reefs, and high winds that make entry and docking difficult. 
 

‘WC ’ means Weather cancelled. 
 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by bluesea777

[bluesea777]

We do have fantastic weather usually in the winter time but not always on cruise ships days 🤷‍♀️  

 

Today it’s sunny, no winds and 70°F. 
 

 

[Charles4515]

12 minutes ago, macewank said:

Hey all!  Not sure if this belongs here or in the port of call section, but the question is specific to NCL so I figured I'd go here.

I've been watching the Bermuda Cruise Schedule page (here: http://www.marops.bm/Documents/Shipping_schedules/2023 Cruise Ship Schedule.pdf) and it looks like NCL has not actually docked there since mid-January (several ships have been scheduled but they were all cancelled).   Just curious, is there something going on with the port or is it just crummy luck?  I'm going out on the Prima next week from NYC to Bermuda and hoping we don't end up with a Cruise to Nowhere (not sure if we'd have enough time to divert to a different port or not)

The port has been cancelled because of high winds and stormy seas. The navigation channels are narrow and February and March are when that is most likely. It really is Bermuda's off season. I believe this is the first year NCL has scheduled off season sailings. I would never book Bermuda cruise until May because it is not beach weather until the end of May.

[macewank]

7 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The port has been cancelled because of high winds and stormy seas. The navigation channels are narrow and February and March are when that is most likely. It really is Bermuda's off season. I believe this is the first year NCL has scheduled off season sailings. I would never book Bermuda cruise until May because it is not beach weather until the end of May.

 

Yeah this was less of a "go to the beach" cruise and more of a "I don't want to be in Illinois for a week and might as well tick a couple travel boxes" :P.  New cruise ship and new country.  

Glad to hear nothing's going on with the port.  Bummer to hear about the weather though.  Looking at accuweather's future forecast it looks like it's gonna be pretty crummy next week (Wednesday night says 25mph winds and rain.. Thursday is warmer and not raining, but still gonna be pretty windy) so I guess we'll see what happens with my trip.  Has anyone ever run into this on a 5 day trip?  The itinerary is:

Depart NYC
Sea
Bermuda (overnight stay)
Sea
Arrive NYC

Guessing with the 2 day stay in Bermuda that there's a chance we could make it down to the Caribbean or something, but probably not?  Anything else around there that we could be diverted to? I haven't seen anything about other ports of call. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by macewank

[shof515]

they has a been a few nor'easter weather events here in NYC area in january/feburary with high winds

[Charles4515]

12 minutes ago, macewank said:

Glad to hear nothing's going on with the port.  Bummer to hear about the weather though.  Looking at accuweather's future forecast it looks like it's gonna be pretty crummy next week so I guess we'll see what happens with my trip.  Has anyone ever run into this on a 5 day trip?  The itinerary is:

Accuweather forecasts for Bermuda are usually wrong. Bermuda is an island and the weather can only be predicted a few days in advance unless a hurricane is headed that way. Ten day forecasts are no good.  Accuweather uses an algorithm.  Also it is usual for there to be a rain shower every day for 30 minutes or an hour.  So if it shows rain it can be sunny most of the day. We us the Bermuda weather service. http://www.weather.bm

Edited March 19, 2023 by Charles4515

[JessLCH]

Yikes, we're on the April 2 seven night sailing with 3 overnights in Bermuda scheduled. I was not aware Bermuda was regularly missed.

Edited March 19, 2023 by JessLCH

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, JessLCH said:

Yikes, we're on the April 2 seven night sailing with 3 overnights in Bermuda scheduled. I was not aware Bermuda was regularly missed.

It's not regularly missed. Normally there are few cruises scheduled to call on Bermuda between January and March but his year there were and unfortunately the weather patterns this year have been unusually windy. April is considered the beginning of the cruise season in Bermuda and with any luck the weather patterns will be returning to normal.

I've cruised to Bermuda in April and although it's not nearly warm enough to go to the beach I've found the daytime temperatures to be quite pleasant and actually quite conducive to sightseeing or if you're a golfer, playing  around or two.

Edited March 20, 2023 by njhorseman

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, JessLCH said:

Yikes, we're on the April 2 seven night sailing with 3 overnights in Bermuda scheduled. I was not aware Bermuda was regularly missed.

It is not "regularly missed". 

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, macewank said:

Guessing with the 2 day stay in Bermuda that there's a chance we could make it down to the Caribbean or something, but probably not?  Anything else around there that we could be diverted to? I haven't seen anything about other ports of call. 

If they cancel in advance, you would go north to Canada. Not really time to get to the Caribbean and back in 5 days. 

[yankablr]

23 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

If they cancel in advance, you would go north to Canada. Not really time to get to the Caribbean and back in 5 days. 

5 days is exactly enough for a half a day stop in the Caribbean 

[BirdTravels]

1 minute ago, yankablr said:

5 days is exactly enough for a half a day stop in the Caribbean 

Cruises are normally diverted north.

[yankablr]

9 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Cruises are normally diverted north.

Not during cold months. 

[Charles4515]

17 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Cruises are normally diverted north.

No. Often Bermuda cruises are diverted to the Bahamas. The problem though with any diversion if it is not an advance diversion because of a big storm, when the ship can’t navigate the channel because of high winds like with the recent bad luck it is not determined until they arrive at the channel. There may not be time to get to another port. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Charles4515

[mking8288]

When the GEM recently skipped / cancelled her 5 days NYC-Bermuda quickie round-trip due to marine forecast and weather (this January) - she sailed south for Bahamas & made an evening stop at Nassau, for technical reason to satisfy USG regulations, for several hours & then it was all abroad for the return to NY ... not really enough time to do anything in Nassau (shops & restaurants mostly closed ahead of/by ship's late arrival) - doubtful that it was worthwhile for go anywhere else there, i.e. Atlantis

 

Strong headwind and rough seas didn't help either - unusual winter storms & weather pattern for the Northeast this season ... didn't help.  

 

Prima has a 5 nighter coming up ... CC friends on her next week and early forecast for Bermuda isn't looking all that great, but.  Some of the Bahamas sailings have Norfolk, VA as a scheduled stop within the last 12 months and some of them met similar cancellations due to "unforeseen reasons" for your (in)convenience, of course.  

 

NCL, historically, AFAIW - over the last 20+ years, seldom put Bermuda on the fleet's winter schedule until post-Covid era in 2022-23 season.  I cannot think of any "recent" diversion north to Canada during the winter months.  At least one T/A last December, might be 2 T/A westbound with scheduled stop at Bermuda also cancelled & skipped, sailed way south across the Atlantic into warmer ocean bordering the Caribbeans.  

[Charles4515]

19 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

Prima has a 5 nighter coming up ... CC friends on her next week and early forecast for Bermuda isn't looking all that great, but.  Some of the Bahamas sailings have Norfolk, VA as a scheduled stop within the last 12 months and some of them met similar cancellations due to "unforeseen reasons" for your (in)convenience, of course. 

As I mentioned above ten day forecasts for Bermuda are notoriously wrong. Of course it could be bad weather but it really can’t be predicted until a few days in advance. If for some reason the pattern of high winds is repeated I think they will head to the Bahamas for a technical stop like the GEM. I think is a little early in the year for Canada. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Charles4515

[Uniqeni]

We are also scheduled 3/31 on the Pearl for a 7 night, 3 days in Bermuda. Hopefully it doesn't get diverted. I really love the Island. I'm not a beach person so the colder temps don't get me down. I've been eyeing the forecast as well. I'm glad it's not likely to be accurate yet. The rain every day would be a bummer

[styles27]

1 hour ago, Uniqeni said:

We are also scheduled 3/31 on the Pearl for a 7 night, 3 days in Bermuda. Hopefully it doesn't get diverted. I really love the Island. I'm not a beach person so the colder temps don't get me down. I've been eyeing the forecast as well. I'm glad it's not likely to be accurate yet. The rain every day would be a bummer

We’re on Pearl to Bermuda the week after you. 
We did this cruise last year on 04/15 and the weather was gorgeous…mid 70’s to 80 degrees every day. 
All weather apps and the ship’s daily program all predicted temps in the 60’s. 
We were very happy they were wrong as we went to the beach and in the water 2 of our 3 days there. 
 

Hoping for similar weather this year. 
FWIW April is our favorite time of the year to visit Bermuda. We’ve done it many times and had great weather. 

[styles27]

15 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Accuweather forecasts for Bermuda are usually wrong. Bermuda is an island and the weather can only be predicted a few days in advance unless a hurricane is headed that way. Ten day forecasts are no good.  Accuweather uses an algorithm.  Also it is usual for there to be a rain shower every day for 30 minutes or an hour.  So if it shows rain it can be sunny most of the day. We us the Bermuda weather service. http://www.weather.bm

The link you provided shows “not secure” any idea why?

[Charles4515]

2 minutes ago, styles27 said:

The link you provided shows “not secure” any idea why?

Because they are not using https. That would matter if you were sending or receiving sensitive data. Banking or credit card info or logging in. I guess for a weather site they don’t think they need to bother with encryption.

[Turtles06]

Keep in mind that it’s not always the weather in Bermuda that may cause the port to be missed. We were on the Gem scheduled to depart NY on January 25 for a Panama Canal cruise, with Bermuda our first scheduled port, Because of very bad weather south of NY Harbor, our departure was delayed until the next day, and Bermuda was skipped. 

[njhorseman]

17 minutes ago, styles27 said:

The link you provided shows “not secure” any idea why?

 Many websites aren't secure All that means is that you shouldn't enter sensitive information like passwords, credit card numbers, etc. There's nothing sensitive you have to enter on the site. In fact you don't enter anything, you just view it. It doesn't mean that the site is infected with malware. My antivirus software says it's a safe site.

Edited March 20, 2023 by njhorseman

[styles27]

Just now, Charles4515 said:

Because they are not using https. That would matter if you were sending or receiving sensitive data. Banking or credit card info or logging in. I guess for a weather site they don’t think they need to bother with encryption.

That makes sense. I quickly closed it and cleared my cache just in case. I get nervous when I see that lol

[MKESail]

52 minutes ago, styles27 said:

We’re on Pearl to Bermuda the week after you. 
We did this cruise last year on 04/15 and the weather was gorgeous…mid 70’s to 80 degrees every day. 
All weather apps and the ship’s daily program all predicted temps in the 60’s. 
We were very happy they were wrong as we went to the beach and in the water 2 of our 3 days there. 
 

Hoping for similar weather this year. 
FWIW April is our favorite time of the year to visit Bermuda. We’ve done it many times and had great weather. 

… and I am on Pearl yet another week later 👍  We were to Bermuda same time in mid April 4 years ago - it was perfect we went to the beach and the forecast kept saying rain but it never rained.