Oops! Nassau forgets about arrival of giant cruise ship

Sarge6870 · March 1, 2013

One of the world's largest cruise ships was turned away from Nassau in the Bahamas last week after the port forgot to save it a berth, the Nassau Tribune reports. The Tribune says the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic was unable to dock as scheduled on Feb. 22 because all the berthing spots already were taken by other ships. The news outlet blames a mix-up with the port's berthing schedule. The Norwegian Epic visits Nassau every Friday during the winter on seven-night Eastern Caribbean sailings out of Miami.

The Tribune says port officials wouldn't discuss the matter, but local business owners were flabbergasted.

"This is one of the biggest cruise ships in the world. How can they just allow it to be turned away?" one business owner was quoted as saying. "How do you overbook a cruise ship anyway?"

A Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman confirms to USA TODAY that the Norwegian Epic was unable to call in Nassau on Feb. 22 due to what she called a "scheduling error" by the Nassau Port Authority.

Jan115 · March 2, 2013

Somebody goofed, big time!

Something very similar happened when we pulled into the port in Rosyth, Scotland (Edinburgh) last summer. The ship sat in the harbor for about an hour because a freighter was parked in our spot. Apparently, there was a mixup in the port schedule. Fortunately, they were able to move the freighter out of there and we were able to dock. If not, there would have been a lot of unhappy passengers, as this was the highlight of the cruise for some people who had tickets for the famous Edinburgh Tattoo.

WeCruiseToo · March 3, 2013

I feel bad for the folks who missed their port stop. I’m pretty sure tourism is the most important factor in Nassau’s economy – so this is a huge mistake!