Wierd deporting/ arrival times..?

Question

i am going on a 9 day cruise on Royal Carribean's Explorer of the Seas....I was looking at our itinerary and the arrival and departure times, and they were wierd...does anyone know why we leave and arrive at these wierd times? Ususally, we would arrive at 7 and depart at 5...why is this so different?? here's the itinerary:

DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART

Fri Mar 28 Bayonne, NJ 5:00pm

Sat Mar 29 At Sea

Sun Mar 30 At Sea

Mon Mar 31 Labadee, Haiti 8:00am 4:00pm

Tue Apr 1 Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic 11:00am 6:00pm

Wed Apr 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 9:00am 6:00pm

Thu Apr 3 San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00am 2:00pm

Fri Apr 4 At Sea

Sat Apr 5 At Sea

Sun Apr 6 Bayonne, NJ 8:00am

Answer 1

idk

Answer 2

Looks normal to me.

Answer 3

This is standard for most cruises.  They get you to the island for the day so you can do some things but ultimately they want you back on the ship for the night so you can spend money on the SHIP'S booze and in the SHIP'S casino.  Also, I think that some of the islands in the Caribbean aren't the safest at night so they want to get you out of there.  Even in Bermuda they told us not to stray too far from the main street at night.  I am doing the same cruise in May and am looking forward to it (and its identical itinerary very much).  

I think the main reason is that the cruise line wants to be in international waters as much as possible so they can make money off of you instead of having you spend it ALL on the islands.  

Finally, I wouldnt be surprised if they are legally only allowed to spend X amount of time on the islands.  I bet the ports have limits on how long they want the ships there flooding the town with tourists.  We don't really know what goes on inside the bridge so maybe they need to be out to see to do certain things also

Answer 4

Your cruise visits four ports and spends four days at sea.

Labadee - 8:00am to 4:00pm.  Fairly typical.

Casa de Campo - 11:00am to 6:00pm  You arrive late because the ship cannot make it any earlier.  You leave late because 1)  you arrived late and 2)  your next port is close enough that the ship can still make it at a reasonable time.

St. Thomas - 9:00am to 6:00pm.  Fairly typical.

San Juan - 7:00am to 2:00pm.  Because of the short distance between St. Thomas and San Juan you arrive early.  You leave early because the ship needs the extra time to make it all the way back to Bayonne.

Note that you spend between seven and nine hours in each port.  This is also fairly typical.

Your departure and arrival times to Bayonne are fairly typical.

Answer 5

Actually these are not weird times at all.  You normally are in each port you stop at for only 1 day - and that is normally between 5-8 hours.  You'll have plenty of time to do a shore excursion, or go shopping, or just walking around.  Enjoy your time in each port - this is a normal cruise itinerary.

Answer 6

The time available to spend in a port is dictated in part by the overall schedule for the ship, how far it has to travel between ports, and the speed of the ship.  Most ships these days do about 21 to 23 knots.  That equates to about 25 miles per hour at top speed.

In the case of your cruise you are going a very long distance to from NY city to even get to the Caribbean.  I think like you, these times in port are relatively short.  I have been to Labadee for the all day beach party and if the ship is leaving at 4:00 Pm that means you will need to start back to the ship just after about 3:00 PM.  That is a short beach day.

The Time in St Thomas looks about OK, but the Puerto Rico stop seems short, its enough time to tour the city and spend a little time on a beach, but you will be pressed to make it to the Rain Forest.   When I was there a few years ago we did a tour  to the rain forest and the fort but that was because we cruised out of there and our flight departed after 4:00 PM, so we had all day for tours.

But, some cruisers, like me may enjoy this type itinerary because they have been to the "islands" before and are more interested in the rest on ship of all of the "at sea" days.  So while you may not like the times some are looking at this as a great cruise.

Answer 7

whats wierd about it,  it is just like other cruises.  i ve been on 4 Royal carribean cruises and thats just how it is.

the mediterrain RC cruise was alittle wierd as the times are different than the caribbean.  

But theirs nothing wierd about that list.