Ports and Bows
Sightseeing at night in port enriches voyage
A frequent question I’m asked is: Why don’t cruise lines schedule more overnights?
Actually, the answer is simple. Money.
Cruise lines make a lot of money on board from dutyfree shops and casinos. When ships are in port, both are closed.
A good example of the resulting problem is evident in a story from Bermuda in 2012. The Royal Gazette reported that cruise calls were down significantly. Derrick Burgess, at that time the Bermudan government’s transport minister, said that during meetings with cruise lines they raised the subject of missing on-board revenue. With ships in Bermuda for three or four days on most cruises from North American ports, that’s significant lost revenue. The government wasted no time and by 2013 ship casinos were allowed to remain open from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Overnights won’t work on typical Caribbean seven-day cruises. Many Caribbean cruisers are still newbies and want to visit as many ports as possible.
Longer cruises are a different story.
Azamara Club Cruises is a two-ship line that was one of the first to embrace overnights for the majority of cruises. President Larry Pimentel wanted to make his cruises unique and it worked, and his line started collecting awards.
Most river cruise lines include at least one overnight on their longer cruises. The river cruise between Moscow and St. Petersburg is probably consistently the king of overnights. As an example, the all-inclusive line Scenic Cruises provides four overnights in St. Petersburg and four in Moscow on a 15-day itinerary.
That’s one of the most prolific examples of overnights, but there are more:
Uniworld River Cruises’ seven-night Bordeaux Vineyards cruise features two nights in Bordeaux, docking in the heart of the city, a port made for walking.
In April 2016, Royal Caribbean’s Sydney-to-Singapore trip has an overnight in the home of the Singapore Sling — the legendary Raffles hotel.
Celebrity’s Millennium cruises from Tokyo to Shanghai in September and offers an overnight in both Tokyo and Kyoto, then two more (three full days) in Tianjin, the port for Beijing. Since the port and the Chinese capital are two hours or more away on the road, your best bet is the Bullet train, frequently rocketing along at 250 kilometres an hour and paring the time to 30 minutes.
The St. Lawrence River scenery is most colourful in late September and October. Princess Cruises takes advantage with 10-day, oneway cruises between New York and Quebec City with more ports and an overnight in Quebec City.
From Athens to Mumbai, Azamara has a November cruise with overnights in Luxor and Mumbai, plus a late-night departure from Rhodes.
Finally, an 11-day cruise with Oceania from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, two great cities, includes an overnight at both ends. A must-see in Buenos Aires is the Recoleta area, which morphs into a street fair on weekends.
In the past few years, I’ve been lucky to experience about 20 overnights or latenight departures. I think it’s one of the most enjoyable parts of cruising. Sure, you can stay on the ship but you get a whole new perspective of a port when you take advantage of the city afterhours.