When the ship has a day at sea do they just move slower or circle around?

Question

I was looking at my cruise and saw that the ship can get from ft lauderdale to san juan in basically a day yet they have a day in between the short trip from st marteen to haiti.. Does the cruise ship just "float" around to waste time or does it "take the long way"? How do they plan on wasting all that time?

Answer 1

The ship will travel slowly to get to the next stop, very few ships overnight in a port because of the port charges.

Days at sea are revenue generators for cruise lines, the casino is open all day, and all the cruisers are buying drinks at a hefty markup plus the 15% gratuity. The beauty salon is also booked solid and the shops onboard are packed full.

Days at sea make extra money for the cruise line.

Answer 2

They go out further to sea and just cruise around until its time to go to your next port.

Answer 3

my ship did that also 2 years ago they just go out to see and make a big u turn so they can open the casinos

Answer 4

My experience was they ran slower.

Answer 5

A day at sea is not 'Wasted Time' .  A day at sea is like being in a all inclusive resort only your floating.  There is tons of activities on board the ship.  You can attempt to do all of them or just relax and do nothing.  We like the days at sea and actually look for cruises that have more days at sea than they do ports of call.

Most of the time the distance between ports requires a day a sea.

Answer 6

It depends how far they have to go.

When I was working on a ship, on some sea days, we'd go balls to the wall to get to the next port in time.  Other days we'd slow it up a bit.

Our shortest distance between 2 ports was about 9 miles.  Between Cozumel and Playa del Carmen.  Don't ask why they did that.  But, we had about 13 hours to go 9 miles...and we went around in circles, we'd almost get to Playa then we'd turn back and go back towards Cozumel...we'd zig-zag, and travel at about 1 knot.  Normally you can make that trip in about 30 minutes or so, and we had 13 hours.

Answer 7

Honestly, it depends on where you're headed.  I was on a week-long cruise with 4 ports of call.  Sometimes you have a day at sea because it takes a couple days to get to your next stop.  In these cases you may find yourself hauling butt to get to the next stop.  Sometimes you have a day at sea because the ship can only port at the next stop the day AFTER tomorrow and not tomorrow.  In those cases you'll just drift around lazily or, in some cases, drop anchor altogether, although that's never been the case with cruises I've been a part of..

Answer 8

they either drop the anchor to stay stationary or move in slow circles.

Answer 9

gdgv to be

Answer 10

Sounds like poor planning on the part of the cruise line.  Days should not be spent at sea unless there is a long distance to travel.  In your case, having a day at sea between St Marteen and Haiti is ridiculous and is a rip off of passengers.  What cruise line is this?

Answer 11

It moves slower , with the prices of furl i doubt anyone takes the long way anymore

Answer 12

Some itineraries require the ship to travel fast to it's next port, usually the Eastern or Southern Caribbean routes.  But they usually slow it down during the day, and get the led out at night.

Answer 13

Most ships will use deminished engine power to save gas.