Heidi13

Napier is a tough port for cruise ships, due to the exposed and narrow entrance. I've never docked on a cruise ship, only ever made it in once on a cargo ship.

Not sure why you are checking the 3rd party website cruisemapper, and contemplating they are more accurate than your Viking documentation, as they are often incorrect. To determine the port, the definitive sources are the port's website or the cruise line. The Port of London website shows Viking Saturn at Greenwich on 30/04/24. Enjoy the days ashore, as it has some great pubs and attractions, a short walk from the tenders dock. Affirmative, Viking use both London Cruise Terminal (Tilbury) and Greenwich

Since weather can change daily, and previous crossings, even at the same time of year may not be consistent with what you experience, you may want to check the forecasts. For detailed info, you can check synopsis and forecasts from UK, Canada or USA. A simple pictorial view can also be achieved using Windy.com

Viking has 4 options for their World Cruise, with the L/A to London being the shortest at 121 days. With the port/sea day ratio and the number of overnights and double overnights in port, you can't sail around the entire World in 4-months. For those wanting a true circumnavigation of the globe, the 180-day option is from Florida to New York.

To provide some perspective. When working cruise ships, I completed 2 consecutive Alaska seasons and we only got into Dawes Glacier once. In over 30 cruises, I have never failed to see at least 1 glacier, in Glacier Bay National Park. Does Glacier Bay have the best glaciers, while it is subjective, I'll suggest other glaciers are more impressive. However, if you can't get to the glacier, due to ice, it doesn't really matter how impressive the glacier is, as you won't see it. As an additional benefit in Glacier Bay, the Park Rangers provide commentary.

Even the balcony in 4000, which is right forward had glass topped with a teak taff rail. So I expect all balconies have glass.

Time to teach the young whipper snappers about seniority and which stool is yours.😁

I spent 40 yrs on ship's Bridges and never once had Steiner binoculars, or any other binocular at that price point supplied by the company.

Jim - Carnival today published revised itineraries around Africa for all affected cruises, including each brand's World Cruise. Bad show if Viking are going to keep you guessing.

When alongside you are now sharing the available bandwidth of the visible sats with the port residents. Since it is unlikely you have more sats visible, in port than a few miles offshore, the speed will drop. At sea, if in an area with good coverage, you are only sharing with the pax, crew and ship's business.

That would be an unusual situation where the Master would be responding based on his/her experience. When power is lost, minimal emergency lighting is initially provided by batteries, until the emergency generator starts and is brought online, usually about 30 secs. However, in that situation, those would be the longest 30 secs in the Master's life. Losing propulsion power prevents the Master from keeping the head to wind, to minimise rolling. Upon losing power, the ship will steadily settle beam to the seas, with the potential for significant rolling. I'll suggest the Master's initial response was excellent, having pax remain in cabins, if there, or to sit on the deck wherever located. With the potential for violent rolling in 30' seas, any movement around the ship could result in injuries.

The Master is certainly In Command of the vessel and in charge, but these days he/she is hardly "The Law". In accordance with the ISM Code, the Master must follow the Company's Safety Management System (SMS), which on a cruise ship or Ro/Pax, will most likely include guidelines for heavy weather. The ISM Code Section 5.1 requires the Company to clearly define and document the Master's responsibility in implementing the safety and environmental protection policies of the SMS. Section 5.2 then requires the Company to include a clear definition of the Master's authority in the SMS. Section 5.2 also states the Master has overriding authority and responsibility to ensure safety and pollution prevention. Therefore, in normal operations, the Master must follow the Company's SMS. Only in exceptional circumstances, specifically for the safety of the vessel and prevention of pollution, may the Master use professional judgement, including making decision contrary to the SMS. In the situation posted by the OP, I expect the SMS includes a policy on dealing with heavy weather, so the Master must follow that policy. It would require additional issues, such as mechanical defects, with heavy weather for the Master to use the overriding authority of Section 5.2. Since the introduction of the ISM Code, about 25 yrs ago, the Company SMS is now the law onboard a vessel. The SMS will normally include boilerplate text, requiring the Master to comply with all International, National, local laws, etc.

As a Master, I cannot envision ordering the pax and crew to their cabins due to rough seas, regardless of how bad the seas. On modern cruise ships, many pax cabins are on the highest decks and extreme ends of the ship, where the ship's movement is the worst. Any pax suffering from motion of the ocean, should lounge on a lower deck, midships and in the centre of the ship. Being confined to an upper deck cabin, either fwd or aft, is the worst option for that type of pax. In the event of pax being injured in the cabin, especially those on higher decks, or being sick and dehydrated, the Master could have liability. I can see closing and securing the outer decks and making all the usual safety announcements, but ordering pax the their cabins - No.

Affirmative, cruise lines make reservations in advance for both full and partial transits, paying a significant registration fee. They also pay an additional fee to guarantee a daylight transit. With the reduction in transits, due to low water levels, the Canal's revenue is reduced. I can't see them further reducing their revenue by refusing any of the already reserved cruise ships. Most cargo ships do not reserve in advance, due to the nature of the trade. They arrive at the Canal, register and then wait in the queue. The Canal also conducts auctions of transit slots, with a company recently paying almost $4 million to skip the queue.

On my older ships the fire main was pressurised with salt water and on newer ships it was filled with fresh water. Except for topping up pressure, if the fire pumps cut in, it switched over to sea water. Therefore, when we were testing fire hoses or using them for wash down, we contacted the Engineers to isolate the sea water.

Fire regulations require a fire main system and hydrants, so that 2 jets of water can be applied at any point on the ship. The hoses, which can be up to 60', must be attached to different hydrants. Any sprinkler system or hi-fog system is in addition to the required hoses and extinguishers.

First thing to check is your computer's USB ports. Do you have any of the faster USB 3 or USB 4 ports. If you have at least 1 USB 3 or 4, use that port rather than a USB 2 port. You can also check the rating of the USB cable, as older cables have slower transfer rates.

Seattle is about 100 miles further from Alaska than Vancouver, and the Seattle ships also have to stop at a Canadian port. They have 2 options for making up the time - Increasing speed significantly increases fuel costs, so the cruise lines reduce the time in port.

That would be an incorrect guess, as we did make it back aboard for the return leg, again thanks to the idiosyncrasies of the local authorities in further delaying the ship's departure. The ex Viking Sun, which now operates in the China cabotage trades, is flagged in China and crewed by Chinese nationals. Hardly a technical difference, as this is common practice in many maritime countries. You are insinuating the Chinese Govt will treat its domestic cruise market different from the foreign-going ships, which for me is a concern that they could have 2 different standards. Regardless, having a machine gun pointed at you upon opening a hotel room door leaves an everlasting negative impression, especially when you were brought up in a country where even the police aren't armed. Another consideration. If China is so welcoming and such a safe place to visit, why are none of the other ships based in Asia, visiting Chinese ports. They call at Hong Kong & Taiwan, but no ports in China. Chinese ports re-opened in March 2023, so they had lots of time to modify the itineraries of the just released 2026 itineraries. You may be happy making additional contributions to China, but based on our experience, I'll give it a miss.

The lights from cruise ship outer decks is actually detrimental to navigation safety. Any light, especially those fwd or below the Bridge, reduce the Bridge Team's night vision. The lights aft impair the visibility astern. All the deck lights may make a cruise ship more visible to other ships, but it negatively impacts the visibility of the masthead lights, side lights and stern light (navigation lights). Knowing another ship is there is only part of the collision and close quarters avoidance measures, you need to see the navigation lights to know the aspect, which is critical in determining if you are the stand-on vessel, or the give way vessel. So no, cruise ships being lit up at night does not enhance navigation safety. The outer deck lights can also be considered a contravention of the Collision Regulation, as no other lights should impair the visibility of the navigation lights.

If port hours are list as 07:00 - 16:00, the later time is departure, so everyone must be aboard a reasonable time prior. The all aboard time is at the discretion of the ship's Master. In most ports, it is normally 30 mins when alongside and often 1 hr when tendering. The definitive information is posted on the sailing board, which should be located in the vicinity of the gangway. This will include any later changes to what is published in the daily paper. Note - on some ships/ports you may see 2 all-aboard times, 1 for the crew and another for pax. When different, the crew time is often 1 hr before departure.

Depending on the location of the fire, or other emergency and the response party staging areas, the main stairways may not be accessible. Therefore, we often used the crew stairways during drills to move pax to the Assembly Stations. This is another downside to the current dumbed down Muster Drills, as the crews have lost a valuable training exercise in managing the herd via alternate routes.

Affirmative, fraternising with a pax today is one of the few things that will have you down the gangway at the next port, with bags following behind. When we sailed with our son, who was a Deck Officer, he could join us in the lounges, but could not enter the dance floor with his mum. How times have changed, as in my day, the dance floor was our office. Back in the 70's and 80's, many of the officers married pax, myself included. When we sailed with him, he could invite us for lunch/dinner in the Officer's Mess, provided the ship wasn't code red due to Noro, at which time the entire Bridge & Engineering watchkeepers went into lockdown. Since I knew a number of his Captains, we often had a standing invitation to the Bridge.

Sorry, can't help much with this one, as I don't know much about the Carnival fleet, or even where they homeport. Assuming it is new tonnage, as I don't recall reading of the conversion of existing ships, I would expect the system would be designed to be capable of loading the required bunkers within a normal turnaround. Since Carnival ships tend to sail shorter itineraries, they are in homeport frequently, so I would expect the cruise line has also ensured the local infrastructure is capable of supplying the required bunkers in the available time. My last ship, which was converted to LNG about 10-years ago, has not had any bunkering issues or delays.

The "Inside Passage" runs from Olympia to Skagway along the WA, BC and Alaska coastline. Most of it is sheltered waters, but a few sections are open to the Pacific: - top end of Vancouver Island, until inside at Calvert Island - Seaforth Channel, until inside at Swindle Island - Dixon Entrance, which is the Canada/US Border Unfortunately, sailing from Vancouver these days, most ships only transit Johnston Strait, which is the narrow channel between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. Once clear of Vancouver Island, they head up Hecate Strait, which is open waters. Most pax now believe Johnston Strait is the Inside Passage, as that is what the cruise lines are promoting. When I worked Alaska Cruise seasons, we sailed the entire Inside Passage from Vancouver to Skagway, which has amazing scenery. Sadly, the only way to see these waters these days is to take a BC and Alaska State Ferry. Ships based in Seattle sail West of Vancouver Island, up the Pacific Ocean, so see even less of the Inside Passage. However, northbound cruises from Vancouver, while they transit Johnston Strait, very few pax actually see the scenery, as it is dark. Even in late June, it is dark before Campbell River and not daylight until entering Queen Charlotte Sound.