Oceania-missed ports

[atlantic cruiser]

Not sure how to pose this. In reading Oceania reviews and different threads there has been a fairly consistent mention of ports being changed, moved or cancelled for announced weather reasons, when to the passengers eye all seemed very calm. I understand and have experienced genuine circumstances when it was impossible to dock due to the weather but am wondering what the experience of regulars of Oceania have to comment. Could understand this with the smaller ships but Riviera and Marina are a good size. Thanks for any insight.

[hondorner]

... when to the passengers eye all seemed very calm...

I trust the Captain more than the "passenger's eye".

 

Case in point -- Marina's Maiden Voyage from Barcelona to Miami -- Chairman Frank Del Rio was aboard. Because of business commitments, he planned to be aboard only from Barcelona to Malaga. There were also entertainment cast costumes waiting at the dock in Malaga, along with seamstresses to fit them.

 

We were just offshore in what certainly appeared to be calm Mediterranean waters. However, the conditions in Malaga made it dangerous to enter the harbor and dock. I don't know what those conditions were, but I do know that if there had been any way that Marina could have made that landing, FDR would have insisted upon it.

 

We sailed on to Casablanca; FDR was able to disembark, and I believe the costumes either caught up with us there or the next port, Tenerife.

 

We had an earlier experience in the Gulf of Mexico, on a different cruise line, where the offshore waters appeared calm but the port authority refused to allow us to enter because of wind and water.

 

It's not always rough water but sometimes high wind that makes docking dangerous. The rough water often involves a tender port where the water appears somewhat calm from Deck 12 on the ship, but might be frightening from the aspect of a tender. I'm always amazed as I look out at the sea and see what appears to me to be 4' swells, only to hear the Captain announce 18' swells!

 

Take those reports of "calm water" with a grain of salt, and give thanks for the expert crew who has only your safety at heart.

Edited December 4, 2013 by hondorner

[JimandStan]

If you read a bit further, I think you will see that a huge proportion of the missed ports are those where tenders are used to transfer the passengers ashore.

So the size of the ship is only one part of the equation.

 

As to ports where the ship plans on docking, what most people don't realize is that the WIND can be just as much of a culprit as the water.

A passenger ship sits very high in the water, and all of that exposed surface can act as a sail and push it around like a toy.

A crash like the one below can take a ship out of service for months, so Captains are naturally über cautious.

 

The next time that you are upset about missing a port because of weather, ask yourself if "getting there" would be worth rolling the dice on losing the rest of your cruise.... :rolleyes:

Edited December 4, 2013 by JimandStan

[ronrick1943]

I agree with Jim & Stan, in all are cruises on "O" (5 now) we've only missed one port. No big deal to us.

Rick

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We recently missed the Azores on Riviera because of weather. Don't think it's a tender port. It was an attempt to get around bad weather--Madeira was substituted. I too trust the captain.

[orchestrapal]

On our ten Oceania cruises I believe we missed two ports and had one changed from tender to dock. The captain is king and we don't get excited about changes.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

We missed a small island near Sweden (really bad fog) and Amsterdam (major storm and high seas). Both were a good call, although we were disappointed with missing Amsterdam.

[Hawaiidan]

It matters not that much if a vessel is 30,000 GT or 80,000 GT its the amount of superstructure or wind catching ability. Container and cruise ships having the largest... For launches/tenders it is different

Factors include ( other than tide) the swell which can be up to 12 ft on top of the tide and influenced by storm and weather systems hundreds if not thousands of miles away.. Too prevailing wind which can greatly affect the tidal influence Then potential wind waves later in the day. Non of this can be predicted more than 12 to 24 hours out with accuracy.

Too an approaching storm or weather condition might make it necessary to make a run to safer waters in advance of a condition rather sit around to be in it...

All sorts of little things... like you might get in a harbor but at the end of a stay of 8 hours might not be able to get out.

And then there is insurance..... what are the limits of the companies operating policy.... Its going to be conservative.

 

Life if full of change... the more you can tolerate the more enjoyable it will be.

Remember, any day you can complain is a good day

[PaulMCO]

There can be many reasons for missing ports - from inclement weather to the incompetence of the Captain/crew.

 

Our last Caribbean we missed St. Bart dues to rough seas and we instead docked at St. Maarten.

 

In the Falklands the weather was great, but we missed the port because of incompetence and the ship lost an anchor. Because it was a tender port -- the ship needed to be stable so we spent the day at the harbor entrance with one anchor and rotating around it every 15 minutes

[TERRIER1]

When it comes to missing ports due to weather the Captain has only the safety of the passengers and crew in mind. We have only missed 2 ports due to weather in six cruises.

 

However, Oceania cancelled Hiva Oa after final payment "to due a lack of infrastructure". Hiva Oa is still on future itineraries and nothing has changed regarding the infrastructure.

[Floridiana]

I trust the captain to keep the ship and its passengers safe. I don't think any of them skip ports just to annoy us.

 

One of HAL's captain's has a blog which makes readers understand what goes on - currents, wind direction, shallow water when the swells are too high, narrow passages with tide running, dangerous conditions at the tender landing etc. Captain Albert is on an extended land leave right now, but when he comes back, look for his blog.

 

I have been to Hiva Oa twice on the freighter Aranui, and honestly, I don't know how a cruise ship ever fits into the narrow bay. The Aranui had hired a school bus to get us around: a truck with three wooden benches - lengthwise. The one in the middle without a back. Maybe the cruise lines expect the island to finally buy decent busses. The money usually comes from France and the European Union. The mayor and his council have to decide on which items they want to spend it.

 

If you want to see much more of all six Marquesas Islands, go with the Aranui. No formal nights, free table wine, free water, some wet tender landings ;-)

Edited December 4, 2013 by Floridiana

[Tansy Mews]

We just missed Ravenna, Italy on my RCCL cruise with my sisters. The weather didn't look that bad, especially for docking, but evidently it would have been dangerous the captain said the port was closed. So not just Oceania!

[RJB]

Not sure how to pose this. In reading Oceania reviews and different threads there has been a fairly consistent mention of ports being changed, moved or cancelled for announced weather reasons, when to the passengers eye all seemed very calm. I understand and have experienced genuine circumstances when it was impossible to dock due to the weather but am wondering what the experience of regulars of Oceania have to comment. Could understand this with the smaller ships but Riviera and Marina are a good size. Thanks for any insight.

Missed 2 ports on our May/June T/A New York to London due to bad weather. Not happy about that but better safe than sorry.

[CintiPam]

We missed ports on three of our four Oceania cruises, but all three were tender ports and the Captain deemed the waters too rough. I trust his word over those of anyone else!

 

The first was Delos/Mykonos in September 2008 due to winds (meltemi winds common that time of year in that area), and we got so close! But we sailed on to the island of Milos for the afternoon as a substitute, the first time Milos was visited by Oceania. We had a lovely time enjoying the quiet beaches there, and it also was an excuse for my return voyage the following June to Delos and Mykonos when the sea was like glass! The smart Captain made lemonade out of lemons in our opinion.

 

The second was Amalfi, which often is missed due to winds. If there is a problem anchoring/tendering there, we will go to Sorrento.

 

The third was on our June 2011 Baltic cruise on Marina, when we missed the island of Visby.

 

(Sorry, I had forgotten about Amalfi when I titled my posting.)

Edited December 5, 2013 by CintiPam

[Floridiana]

I missed one port with the Riviera, another one in Australia with Princess and two ports in a row in South America with HAL. Another passenger later came back to cruisecritic, asking for a cruiseline that is more daring - seriously. Actually, he asked for a cruisline that was less cautious. How about Costa?

[Palmetto Lady]

We missed several ports on a HAL cruise one year because the Captain wanted to outrun a storm, On another cruise, we missed a port because there were only two births and one was for the ferry. The port master give our intended birth to another ship, We would have had to tender in. The Captain explained that passengers would have had to climb a wet metal ladder to get on the dock. The told us that he would not risk our safety. That was a good enough reason for me.

The only time I was unhappy was when we were on an Alaska cruise and had to leave Sitka early. This was one of the ports we had wanted to visit. I would have liked an explanation. Someone said because of the tides, but tides are predictable. Why couldn't they have told us the reason?

[rubysue]

In September 2012, we missed two ports on our Continental Connoisseur cruise on Marina and were late to another. Only one of these was due to weather.

 

The port affected by weather was Zeebrugge, due to high seas affecting safe operation of the pilot boats. This cut short our time in this port by about four hours.

 

The first port that we skipped entirely was Oporto (Portugal), due to wildcat strikes at the dock area that could occur without notice. Marina might have been docked and then a strike would be called, leaving the ship stranded at the dock (or we couldn't dock in the first place).

 

Finally, Gibraltar was a last-minute substitution for Casablanca, due to widespread unrest across Northern Africa shortly after the 9/11 anniversary that included the attack in Benghazi, Libya.

 

The kvetching and second-guessing by many of the passengers because of these itinerary changes was unbelievable. People were surfing the Internet and proclaiming loudly that they didn't see any problems in Oporto and complaining to any crew member who would listen. Our private tour guide in Lisbon did indeed confirm that Oporto dock crews were doing wildcat strikes and hurting the cruise business. As I noted in my otherwise glowing review of this cruise, a surprisingly large number of passengers on that Marina cruise were among the worst I've ever had the displeasure of cruising with (this was also noted by another reviewer for the same cruise, by the way, if you look for those reviews). I'm not exactly "Miss Congeniality", either, I admit, but the general whining and complaining was unreal.

 

The Captain and his crew have the final say on matters of passenger safety and comfort. Idiots threatening to sue Oceania because they missed their tour to Brussels or didn't get to Oporto should know better and stop trying to be the nautical experts, just because they may be veteran cruisers.

 

On our Midnight Sun voyage this last July, the passengers were much more savvy and understanding of the conditions in this part of the world, although we did not miss any ports or have any serious conditions. However, a few still saw fit to whine loudly when the Captain did not risk the ship by plowing through ice-laden waters to get closer to the polar ice barrier. We did exceed our goal of getting above 80 degrees latitude, but some folks thought that Nautica could perform just like a Russian nuclear icebreaker.

 

I credit the Oceania crews with communicating these issues quite openly and appropriately. Even when it is not communicated, there are usually legitimate reasons for the changes.

[tanny18]

In late August of 2012 we sailed on the Marina. We were coming down from Scandinavia and were to tender in Lerwick and Invergordon. The Captain announced that there was a storm coming in from Iceland with 80 mph winds and we would have to forego these ports. I contacted our guides in these ports and told them we had to cancel. They informed me that they were expecting 60 mph winds and that it was quite windy a day before we were to dock. Needless to say, some of us were very disappointed, but much better safe than going into a storm. So we had 3 days at sea (one was already planned). Well, management decided that since we were so inconvenienced, it would open ALL THE BARS that evening with every drink GRATIS betwe en 6 and 8!!! There were some very happy people on board. Captains due what they have to do to keep their ship, their passengers and their crew out of harm's way. We were in the Eastern Med about 10 years ago,and we learned that the storm we heard about actually closed the port of Barcelona. Weather happens. But we are safe. Arlene