Escape 8/13 sailing itinerary change?

[2Cruise4Ever]

Rumor has it that the itinerary has changed for the Escape sailing 8/13 to 8/20.  Some travel sites (that a few of my fellow cruisers booked through) are announcing the change, but NCL hasn't said a word.  I did some research online, but haven't found anything.  The original schedule was:

Day At Sea

Puerto Plata, DR

St. Thomas

Tortola, BVI

Day at Sea

Great Stirrup Cay

 

Rumored schedule:

Great Stirrup Cay

Day at Sea

St. Thomas

Tortola, BVI

Puerto Plata, DR

Day At Sea

 

Anyone here heard anything?

[www3traveler]

23 minutes ago, 2Cruise4Ever said:

Rumor has it that the itinerary has changed for the Escape sailing 8/13 to 8/20.  Some travel sites (that a few of my fellow cruisers booked through) are announcing the change, but NCL hasn't said a word.  I did some research online, but haven't found anything.  The original schedule was:

Day At Sea

Puerto Plata, DR

St. Thomas

Tortola, BVI

Day at Sea

Great Stirrup Cay

 

Rumored schedule:

Great Stirrup Cay

Day at Sea

St. Thomas

Tortola, BVI

Puerto Plata, DR

Day At Sea

 

Anyone here heard anything?

This has been this way for several weeks now.  One week Puerto Plata is first, the next week last.  The current cruise has Puerto Plata last.-- nothing new.

[2Cruise4Ever]

1 minute ago, www3traveler said:

This has been this way for several weeks now.  One week Puerto Plata is first, the next week last.  The current cruise has Puerto Plata last.-- nothing new.

The people I know who had their itineraries changed didn't know about it until a few days before.  And, I know someone on the current sailing who said they changed it last minute.  Do you know how long they will keep the new schedule?  Not a big deal... I just need to move some things around if it does change.

[www3traveler]

13 minutes ago, 2Cruise4Ever said:

The people I know who had their itineraries changed didn't know about it until a few days before.  And, I know someone on the current sailing who said they changed it last minute.  Do you know how long they will keep the new schedule?  Not a big deal... I just need to move some things around if it does change.

Not for long because beginning on the 10th of September, The Escape will be sailing out of New York City for a series of New England cruises followed by a series of cruises to Bermuda before returning to Port Canaveral for the Winter Season according to NCL's website.

[2Cruise4Ever]

7 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Not for long because beginning on the 10th of September, The Escape will be sailing out of New York City for a series of New England cruises followed by a series of cruises to Bermuda before returning to Port Canaveral for the Winter Season according to NCL's website.

 

Oh, yeah, I knew about that... forgot.  Not a big deal, like I said.  I have been in touch with someone who is on the ship now and confirmed the change.  Looks like ours will be affected, too, if they stick to the schedule you mentioned.  I'll be prepared to make changed if needed.

[BlushPell]

11 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Not for long because beginning on the 10th of September, The Escape will be sailing out of New York City for a series of New England cruises followed by a series of cruises to Bermuda before returning to Port Canaveral for the Winter Season according to NCL's website.

Escape actually starts the New England sailings even earlier. I am on the September 03 sailing from NYC.

[wolft927]

I am all about GSC being first instead of last day of cruise 

[Monica887]

How do you get this information? I'm on the Escape a different week, but if someone booked a tour/resort/car rental etc in a port, they would need to know in advance!

[2Cruise4Ever]

4 minutes ago, Monica887 said:

How do you get this information? I'm on the Escape a different week, but if someone booked a tour/resort/car rental etc in a port, they would need to know in advance!

 

One of my friends who booked through BJ's noticed the itinerary change on her reservation online.  And, most definitely about advanced warning!  We sailed the Getaway in Feb and was supposed to go to Bermuda... they switched it to Nassau instead and didn't tell us until we were boarding.  Fortunately, the excursion I had planned had a full refund policy for cancelation and had enough time to call before we set sail.  

[RB9643]

15 minutes ago, Monica887 said:

How do you get this information? I'm on the Escape a different week, but if someone booked a tour/resort/car rental etc in a port, they would need to know in advance!

 

NCL couldn't care less about a privately booked excursion, and I'm torn in deciding whether they should.

 

 

[Monica887]

10 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

NCL couldn't care less about a privately booked excursion, and I'm torn in deciding whether they should.

 

 

I just think that a heads up when they know is warranted. I wouldn't try to make them pay for my lost deposit or something - that's part of the risk when booking an outside activity. But with enough notice I can cancel it change what I need to. And I plan my trip to my liking - balancing types of excursions or even where I make my dinner reservation depending on my plan for the rest of the day. 

[hallux]

1 hour ago, www3traveler said:

Not for long because beginning on the 10th of September, The Escape will be sailing out of New York City for a series of New England cruises followed by a series of cruises to Bermuda before returning to Port Canaveral for the Winter Season according to NCL's website.

 

1 hour ago, BlushPell said:

Escape actually starts the New England sailings even earlier. I am on the September 03 sailing from NYC.

 Neighbors of my parents are sailing the Escape in August on a Bermuda trip - Aug. 22 is the first New York departure...

[BirdTravels]

55 minutes ago, Monica887 said:

How do you get this information? I'm on the Escape a different week, but if someone booked a tour/resort/car rental etc in a port, they would need to know in advance!

If your itinerary changes, the cruise line will notify you. They will not make notifications until things are finalized. Unlike driving in your car and deciding that you're going to go to the next Motel-6 down the road, scheduling ports and changing contracts with tour providers takes time. And it is often done to deconflict resources in busy ports. And yes, private arrangements are done at the risk of the people making them. I am not sure that anyone is booking a hotel for a 6 hour port call and not sure about a car rental at those ports,,, but a private tour is a possibility. 

[kitkat343]

 

6 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

NCL couldn't care less about a privately booked excursion, and I'm torn in deciding whether they should.

 

 

I take my three children on private excursions with just our family because when we can control the itinerary the tours are more likely to work out well.   When my oldest was 3, we took him to St. Petersburg and had a private tour for just our family.  We were able to spend extra time at things that fascinated him (such as the fountains of Peterhof and I took him for dessert at the Hermitage cafe when he'd seen enough art after an hour (we started the tour with the Renaissance art I wanted to see and my husband looked at the Impressionists while I gave my son dessert).  

 

For travelers with disabilities, the smaller vehicles used by the private tours parked closer to the museums than the large buses, plus the large tour groups had to wait for entrance (we got in line behind them at Catherine's palace and our tour guide laughed at us and told us only large tour groups had to wait for crowd control to prevent a bottleneck but smaller groups were admitted immediately).

 

As it happened, my son really loved St. Petersburg, but if he'd hated it we would have directed our driver to take us back to the ship, would have put him in the kids club and then would have resumed our tour without him.  The only people impacted by the risk we took in bringing a 3 year old on a Baltic cruise would have been us.  If we were on a ship tour and our kid melted down, everyone's once in a lifetime trip could have been ruined because we wouldn't have been able to bring him back to the ship (all people without visas were not allowed to travel in St, Petersburg without a tour guide escort.  There was a forum post in the Baltics about someone who got sick and couldn't return because they needed to stay with the tour).

 

Even if you personally prefer ship tours, I'm sure you would be happier if families utilized other forms of transportation.  Because a toddler plus waiting for a large tour bus to load is not always a great combination.

Edited July 20, 2023 by kitkat343

[RB9643]

1 hour ago, kitkat343 said:

Even if you personally prefer ship tours, I'm sure you would be happier if families utilized other forms of transportation.  Because a toddler plus waiting for a large tour bus to load is not always a great combination.

 

 

I certainly won't argue that private tours help your family, and many others, and are much cheaper. I think that's great. We've gone our own way quite often.

 

But that has nothing to do with my point that NCL couldn't care less how a change by them affects our private excursions. And I'm not sure they should care. They have no skin in the game. It's our bed and we sleep in it.

 

 

[disneylover89]

15 hours ago, wolft927 said:

I am all about GSC being first instead of last day of cruise 

They changed the hours though.  Instead of 10am-6pm the new hours with the change are 6am-2:30pm.  

[2Cruise4Ever]

15 hours ago, hallux said:

 

 Neighbors of my parents are sailing the Escape in August on a Bermuda trip - Aug. 22 is the first New York departure...

 

Yep, the ship is re-positioning to NYC right after our cruise ends.

[2Cruise4Ever]

48 minutes ago, disneylover89 said:

They changed the hours though.  Instead of 10am-6pm the new hours with the change are 6am-2:30pm.  

 

For ours it's listed as 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  The new rumored schedule shows 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  I don't like the shortened time, either... but will still make the best of it.