Ulsteinvik

Here is the summer schedule of the ferries in Kiel. Price is 5€ per Person one way and MSC is always Saturdays there, so you have to watch the right side of the PDF "sonnabends, sonn- und feiertags"  https://www.sfk-kiel.de/resources/persistent/3382a92b068fcadee98de382c956b37bf2c0ab0a/F1_Sommer2024_Folder_DRUCK.pdf

There are also waiting a lot of taxis at the cruise terminal. For the way back from Laboe you could call "0431 680101" for a Taxi and they will come within 15-20 mins.  https://www.taxikiel.de/

A big TA had last year P&Os summer 2025 sailings on 20 March 2023.

So maybe the summer 2026 is not far away if they keep this rhythm. 

Any chance that anyone can upload the pdf here ?

Stockholm released the 2024 cruise list.

Brilliant Lady is booked there 5 times overnight between 12 May 2024 and 24 June 2024. https://www.portsofstockholm.com/vessel-calls/

Don't know if they are actual anymore but seems that they also planned to sail some Baltic cruises. Maybe 2025 then.

Seems that NCL is making changes, NCL Sun not bookable anymore for the Europe Cruises 2025. Her last cruise in the system ends now on 28 March 2025 in Singapore.

I looked at the port schedules of Amsterdam and Le Havre for 2025 and they show now the NCL Sky in Europe instead of Sun.

Swell on Saturday in the Bay of Biscay :
https://www.ventusky.com/?p=45.7;-7.2;4&l=wave&t=20231104/1800

There are 6 new calls that came this week in Bergens and Alesunds list for Valiant Lady on summer 2024. They start on early July until the end of August, mostly with 10-11 day intervals.

Wondering what is going on, maybe Brilliant will take over the cruises out of Miami and Valiant heads to Northern Europe?

There was an accident between 2 cargo ships. One of them sank and sailors are missing. The Iona was behind the accident and is now supporting the rescue efforts.

https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/Schiffskollision-auf-der-Nordsee-Mehrere-Vermisste-vor-Helgoland,nordsee550.html

The zero net emissions from 2026 in Norway have been adjusted. It is now also permitted to sail the two fjords Geiranger and Flam with bio LNG on a temporary basis for some years. Therefore, there are now 2026 port bookings in Geiranger from the LNG ships MSC Euribia, AIDAnova, Costa Smeralda, Iona and a Newbuild of TUI Cruises who can all use bio LNG.

Resilient Lady will do the cruises out of Portsmouth.

Itineraries:

23 Aug 2024: Portsmouth - Amsterdam - Amsterdam - At Sea - Portsmouth

27 Aug 2024: Portsmouth - At Sea - Zeebrugge - Portsmouth

30 Aug 2024: Portsmouth - Amsterdam - Amsterdam - At Sea - Portsmouth

03 Sep 2024: Portsmouth - Amsterdam - Amsterdam - Zeebrugge - At Sea - Portsmouth

08 Sep 2024: Portsmouth - At Sea - La Coruna - Bilbao - La Verdon - At Sea - Portsmouth

14 Sep 2024: Portsmouth - At Sea - Amsterdam - Amsterdam - Zeebrugge - Portsmouth

19 Sep 2024: Portsmouth - Amsterdam - Amsterdam - At Sea - Portsmouth

23 Sep 2024: Portsmouth - At Sea - La Coruna - Bilbao - La Verdon - At Sea - Portsmouth

I am watching the cruise lists of ports a long time. Brilliant Ladys calls in Amsterdam are almost one year old, that's why I think that they should not be actual anymore. But 2 months ago Resilient Lady appeared in Amsterdams cruise list from 27 August 2024 until 21 Sep 2024 in 5 day frequencies.

https://sea.cruiseportamsterdam.com/cruise-calendar/2024/

46 minutes ago, SoDakPirate said:

Yes. This was April 2017. It was our first Viking cruise. We were the first ship to cross the Kiel canal for the season. The local citizens were all lining the banks welcoming us!

Viking is lucky that they fit through the Kiel Canal with their fleet. That's why I can't understand why they kicked the Kiel Canal out of their itineraries since 2019.

13 hours ago, RobInMN said:

In my opinion, the main reason to do a Baltic cruise is Saint Petersburg. But as long as Putin is being an A***H***, that's off the table. RC doesn't have any Baltic cruises in '24 (UWC hits a some of the traditional stops). Are other cruise lines doing Baltic minus Russia in '25?

Baltic is still beautiful without St Petersburg. Stops like Stockholm, Tallinn, Helsinki, Riga, Copenhagen, Oslo are worth to see.

Actually, almost all cruise lines continue to sail the Baltics except Royal Caribbean.

Sky Princess last Baltic cruise this month was fully booked. NCL Dawn both Baltic cruises on August 2023 are fully booked. MSCs Baltic on MSC Fantasia are fully booked. Carnival Pride was fully booked last week.

The bookings in the Baltic collapsed in 2022 after the war began, but this recovered very quickly this summer because nobody is scared anymore. Therefore, we can expect that there will be more Baltic cruises in the future and I hope RCI will sail at least 2-3 cruises in that area. 

So far, only some cruise lines have published the 2025 timetable but there are still Baltics in:

NCL 6 Baltic cruises

P&O Cruises 5 Baltic cruises

Regent Seven Seas 7 Baltic cruises

Azamara 2 Baltic cruises

Princess 3 Baltic cruises

Viking 10 Baltic cruises

Cruisemapper is not an official port site where official port announcements can be viewed. Cruisemapper copies all trips from the homepages of the cruise line. Therefore, you should look for the right port sources. But here also no good news for the Brilliant Lady TA. Unfortunately, the Brilliant Lady has actually disappeared from the Funchal 2024 official list.. -> https://www.apram.pt/site/index.php/en/ports/wharf-reservations?page=6

She will go back to Kiel.

She is still near Kiel and moves very slowly..

She sails now 1 knot, lost already 3 hours

According to the AIS, she has now turned completely and is heading towards Kiel again. Any medical emergency?

1 hour ago, Saab4444 said:

Is she really that slow? 18 knots maximum speed makes her one of the slowest cruise ships. Most can travel an average of more than 20 with no issue if needed and have a maximum speed of around 24.

She reached around 21 knots during her trials. But it is difficult to sail that long distance over 20 knots 

because the wind and the current have to be always optimal for it. And over such a long distance you have sometimes days where you have headwinds or countercurrents. So I would consider 15-18 knots on average for this distance is realistic for the Explora I.

If she will sail 15 knots, she'll need 11 days from Monfalcone to Copenhagen without a stop. 

6 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

According to Norway, on January 1, 2026 no ships that are not "zero emissions" will be allowed to cruise some of the popular fjords including Geiranger and Flam. At this moment, not a single large cruise ship would be qualified....

 

 

They changed the rule, bio LNG is allowed in the 2 fjords on a transitional basis. The MSC Euribia can already bunker Bio LNG and other shipping companies are also preparing their LNG ships to operate on Bio LNG. 

9 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

So lets play a speculation game.  If we assume that the Kiel story is true, and going to happen, why?  The ship is scheduled to begin a voyage on Aug 21, from Hamburg.  Repositioning the ship from Italy to Kiel would put it much closer to Hamburg.  If we again speculate that all or some of the insulated panels will be replaced, this work is "dry work" that can be done by workmen at any location (even at sea).  So, carrying this pure speculation to its conclusion, do you think that Explora will cancel the cruises from Aug1 21 and than pick up their published schedule from Hamburg?

 

I will again emphasize that this post is pure speculation (based on nothing but the Kiel news) that is the only sense I can make out of the Kiel theory.

My theory is as follows: As of now, Explora I is expected to be delivered on July 24th. Therefore, a sail to Copenhagen by August 1st seems nearly impossible, which likely means the cruise from August 1st to 15th, starting and ending in Copenhagen, will be cancelled. However, she could possibly start her 6-day tour from Copenhagen to Hamburg beginning on August 15th. Since Explora has had to cancel its christening ceremony and still wants to properly showcase the ship to press representatives, travel agencies, etc., there may be a christening voyage or introductory trip before the new maiden voyage on August 15, 2023 from Copenhagen. This could, for example, go from Copenhagen to Kiel and back. That's my idea.

A crewmember who works at Explora I said on a Facebook group that the Kiel call is correct and Explora will communicate it in few days. 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/safety-security/explora-i-delayed-due-fire-safety-concerns-updated

That is also interesting. They say the delivery should be on 24 July 2023 in Monfalcone. If you deliver this ship on this date, you need to sail constantly 21.8 knots to reach Copenhagen on 01st August 2023 without a bunker stop. For me this is very unrealistic with this ship..

56 minutes ago, ljsanantonio said:

The Reykjavick port has the Explora I in port on August 7, 8, and 9.

and for September 9 and 10. https://www.dokk.is/embed/calendar/5?l=en&w=csyear=2016#2016-9-27

 

But not sure that really means anything in light of the Kiel/Hamburg info

We have to wait some days I think because the Kiel call was booked today. So I expect next week more informations about this.