✈️ Travel Impact

Norwegian Cruise Line Ship to Spend First Night of Cruise Docked in Miami

Norwegian Getaway, on its 4-night Bahamas sailing set to begin August 24, 2026, will remain docked overnight in PortMiami instead of departing at the originally scheduled 4 p.m. The delay allows the ship to assist with commissioning PortMiami's new shore power system, which lets ships connect to the local electrical grid to reduce emissions. The ship will now depart at 3 a.m. on August 25, a day already scheduled as a sea day, so the itinerary's port calls — Nassau on August 26 and Great Stirrup Cay on August 27 — remain unchanged. Embarkation will proceed at normal check-in times, but only one gangway at Terminal B will be available instead of the usual two. Guests who board will not be permitted to disembark that evening and must remain onboard overnight.
💡 What This Means For You

If you're booked on Norwegian Getaway's August 24, 2026 sailing from PortMiami, arrive at your assigned check-in time as usual, but expect only one gangway open at Terminal B. Once you board, you won't be able to leave the ship that evening — you'll stay onboard overnight before the 3 a.m. departure on August 25. Your port calls at Nassau (August 26) and Great Stirrup Cay (August 27) remain unchanged.

📝 Mark's Take

This is a scheduling footnote dressed up as sustainability news, and the numbers back that read: PortMiami is testing shore power capability at five berths, following Carnival Conquest's first Miami plug-in back in June 2024, so NCL is playing catch-up here rather than leading. The 3 a.m. departure lands on a day that was already a sea day, which is why Nassau's August 26 arrival and Great Stirrup Cay's August 27 stop survive untouched — smart scheduling on NCL's part, or just luck of the itinerary. The real friction is the single working gangway at Terminal B for up to 3,903 guests, which could mean longer lines at boarding even if NCL says check-in times hold. My read: this costs NCL nothing operationally and buys some sustainability-story goodwill. If I were sailing that day, I'd pad my embarkation window and not plan any last dinner off the ship.

Still Afloat curates and summarizes cruise industry developments, travel disruptions, weather impacts and destination intelligence while crediting and linking directly to original publishers.

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