Key Aspects:
- The day before embarkation, guests on Norwegian Escape‘s October 11, 2025 repositioning cruise have been informed of dramatic itinerary changes.
- The ship will now visit two fewer ports of call and the time on shore has been slashed by 40% because the ship needs to sail at a slower speed.
- Despite brewing storm systems, poor weather is not a factor in these changes, but may have additional impacts on the sailing.
A repositioning cruise, when a ship changes homeports, can be a great cruise opportunity, often a longer sailing and visiting more ports of call.
Guests boarding Norwegian Escape on Saturday, October 11, for the ship’s move from New York to New Orleans were hoping for exactly that type of experience for the 14-night sailing.
While the cruise will still be two weeks long, guests have now been notified that much of the itinerary has changed. The ship will still be moving from the Big Apple to the Big Easy, but along the way, every port visit except one has now been changed.
“Due to a required adjustment that slightly reduces our sailing speed (don’t worry, everything’s smooth and safe onboard!), we’ll be swapping our calls to San Juan, Puerto Rico and George Town, Cayman Islands for an extra beautiful day at sea and a stop at the beach-lover’s paradise of Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic,” the email notification said.
To be clear, this means that three ports are now dropped from the itinerary, with just one alternative port added instead. Furthermore, the times in other ports have also been adjusted.
Norwegian Escape’s new itinerary is as follows:
- Saturday, October 11 – Depart New York City
- Sunday, October 12 – At sea
- Monday, October 13 – At sea
- Tuesday, October 14 – At sea (previously Puerto Plata)
- Wednesday, October 15 – Puerto Plata (previously San Juan)
- Thursday, October 16 – St Thomas (time changed with nearly two hours less)
- Friday, October 17 – At sea
- Saturday, October 18 – Willemstad, Curacao
- Sunday, October 19 – Oranjestad, Aruba (time changed with two hours less)
- Monday, October 20 – Cabo Rojo (previously at sea)
- Tuesday, October 21 – Falmouth, Jamaica (time changed with two hours less)
- Wednesday, October 22 – At sea (previously Grand Cayman)
- Thursday, October 23 – Cozumel, Mexico (time changed with one hour more)
- Friday, October 24 – At sea
- Saturday, October 25 – Arrive New Orleans
In total, the ship will now visit six ports of call, instead of the eight ports on the original itinerary. What is interesting is that the email goes on with a seemingly outrageous claim.
“We have modified the timing of many port visits to provide you with as much time in each port as possible,” it reads.
That language would seem to indicate more time in fewer ports, but the revised itinerary shows just the opposite.
When added together, guests will get to enjoy just 45.75 hours in all the ports combined, instead of the originally planned 76 hours. This is a loss of 40% of the planned port time.
Nevertheless, the ship is safe and her onboard operations are not impacted, though Norwegian Cruise Line has not offered any explanation for why the slower sailing speed is necessary.
Is Bad Weather a Factor?
Some guests are speculating that poor weather along the east coast of the US may be a factor in changing the ship’s itinerary.
The brewing nor’easter has already impacted Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas with an earlier embarkation and Tropical Storm Jerry is forcing Liberty of the Seas to Canada rather than Bermuda.
Neither system, however, should have a strong impact on Norwegian Escape. The ship is leaving before the worst of the nor’easter weather will begin, and according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Tropical Storm Jerry will be well out of the way by the time Norwegian Escape gets anywhere close to her easternmost destinations.
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Of course, poor weather can impact any cruise itinerary at any time, anywhere in the world. With a 2-week sailing, it is possible that Norwegian Escape may have further adjustments for regional conditions as needed.
Guests will be informed of such changes as soon as possible, but safety will always be the foremost priority no matter where the ship sails or which ports she visits.
