Ever miss a port due to weather or other issues?

[Summerknight]

We missed Nassau once. We were fine with it, but some people were quite unhappy. BTW, we were playing "dodge the hurricane." Captain offered free screwdrivers and free bloody Mary's for a few hours. That was many years ago on the Sovereign.

[livylotte]

Gutted. We missed Mykonos. RCI told it was too rough to port in Mykonos so we sailed onto our next port which was Kusadasi/Ephesus where we docked overnight. Not sure we bought that explanation though ... as someone who lived in the Isle of Man and sailed in force 10 gales in the Irish Sea often - this was nothing! Manx ferries rarely had a problem docking so I'm not sure why RCI did??

 

We learnt later that RCI missing Mykonos happened quite a lot. We were dissapointed to miss this port and I think in hindsight we shoud have researched more. I would not book RCI if Mykonos was the port I really wanted to see ... far too risky :(

[Lovemylabs]

Yes, back in 2011 we were on the Oasis of the Seas - Eastern Caribbean cruise. Our first stop was in Nassau. Upon returning to the ship we had a notice in our stateroom that we were being diverted to the Western Itinerary because of a tropical storm that was building. I know there is always that chance of weather during the summer months but we were completely bummed! We had sailed western before and just are not big fans. We thought that they may offer us some sort of special or credit for a new cruise. Anyways....... other than that the ship was amazing!

[molly361]

A few years ago on the MN 3 day cruise we missed BOTH Nassau and Coco Cay due to a storm. We just went around in circles for 3 days.

 

Still had a lot of fun:)

[simplelife]

On our Sovereign cruise we missed Coco Cay due to weather. They compensated by extending activities, drink specials, etc on the ship, Since it was a cruise with the extended family, we enjoyed the extra sea day. On our Westerdam cruise we were late docking at St. Thomas due to high winds, and many of the excursions were cancelled. We had booked the catamaran beach and snorkel through the ship and they refunded our money. On a couple of other cruises we were late docking at ports due to weather (Key West, Grand Turk) but finally made it. in all, pretty good luck.

[lattelady]

We were on an Amazon River and Lesser Antilles cruise when Operation Desert Storm broke out in January, 1991. We should have missed our port at Trinidad/Tobago due to political unrest. We felt threatened by locals shouting "Death to Bush" to us and later that day two people were killed. We understood that no other ships docked there for a while.

[Cruzin-K]

Back in 2004, we missed Grenada because it had suffered serious damage due to Hurricane Ivan. :( We had a sea day instead.

 

I didn't mind missing it because it was a very port intensive southern Caribbean cruise and the extra sea day to relax was nice. Happily, I got to visit Grenada on two future cruises and enjoyed my time there a lot - great snorkeling and really beautiful beaches. :)

[Cindy]

I've missed Grand Cayman "several" (I lost count) times and Costa Maya twice.

[Tankminder]

Of course, sometimes the opposite happens. In 2005 we were on Grandeur and the captain hit the pier in Costa Maya while docking - tore a 20 foot hole in the ship. we ended up there for an additional 3 days while they flew in equipment and material to fix it. RCL picked up the tab for nearly everything including hotel back in New Orleands - handled it amazingly well.

[kimiow]

We missed Cozumel once and had a sea day because of the swine flu. The night before we were to dock there, the CDC recommended no travel to Mexico. We had a nice day at the pool.

[cb at sea]

we've never missed a port, but we HAVE had the order rearranged. The cruise contract (which you agree to when you book!) states they can change, replace, reorder or cancel any port at any time for any reason.

[pdbcruisers]

We missed Labadee on our last cruise due to a medical emergency. Turns out a crew members wife was sailing and did not disclose that she was pregnant. Went into labor and we went to Nassau instead.

[bluemarlin1]

Thanksgiving 2013, Freedom of the Seas. We had some rough seas and had to completely bypass Grand Cayman because it was too dangerous to tender in. Missed Stingray City. We were able to go ashore in Cozumel but the water was too rough for the watersports we signed up for. RCI gave us a full refund and I was happy with that. Situation obviously wasn't something under their control, so as long as I was reimbursed, I was a little disappointed but fine with it. Next time!

[scubadiverswife]

So sounds like cococay is missed out quite a lot, is there a particular time of the year it is more common? We are due to visit there shortly and my sis in law and her hubby are hopefully renewing there vows on the beach fingers and toes crossed :-)

[Paulette3028]

Thanksgiving 2013, Freedom of the Seas. We had some rough seas and had to completely bypass Grand Cayman because it was too dangerous to tender in. Missed Stingray City. We were able to go ashore in Cozumel but the water was too rough for the watersports we signed up for. RCI gave us a full refund and I was happy with that. Situation obviously wasn't something under their control, so as long as I was reimbursed, I was a little disappointed but fine with it. Next time!

 

Ah yes.....there is always a NEXT time!

 

So sounds like cococay is missed out quite a lot, is there a particular time of the year it is more common? We are due to visit there shortly and my sis in law and her hubby are hopefully renewing there vows on the beach fingers and toes crossed :-)

 

Late summer into fall is probably the worst time of year for rough waters (it is hurricane season in the Atlantic there), so a cruise to the area shortly gives you a reasonable likelihood of having wonderfully calm seas and the ability to reach all the ports on your itinerary.

[Alter Ego]

I'm 50/50 into CoCo Cay - which isn't saying much as I've only tried twice!

 

My first Mediterranean cruise included two stops in Morocco. In fact, that was a huge factor in choosing that cruise over other choices. Two days before we left, received an email that we would not stop there as the passengers on the cruise before felt threatened and Celebrity didn't believe it was safe. Instead we did two additional stops in Spain - Gibralter, which I know is technically not Spain and we ended up really liking, and another port whose name I can't remember where one would typically go to the Alahambra (sp), but we couldn't as there wasn't the required time to get the passes for the ship's excursion. This was a long time ago and I didn't know about cruisecritic (if it even was in existence then!), to see if there was an alternate way of getting there and we just took a city tour instead that was nice but not very exciting. Just really bummed to miss the ports that sold the itinerary to us!

Edited April 5, 2015 by Alter Ego

[Rocket3D]

Yes,

 

Falmouth/Navigator:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ija46cjr9v086qr/SwellFalmouth.gif?dl=0

 

But...snapped two photos from balcony of

double rainbow. Created panorama in Photoshop

...look close, bright one and second dimmer one just above.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z3becrq7agc0xoe/DoubleRainbowInFalmouthJamaica.pdf?dl=0

Edited April 5, 2015 by rocketsurgery

[SonicShip]

I have been very lucky to only have missed two ports. I guess it depends on where and the time of year that you sail.

 

We missed Mykonos in Oct 2007 while on the Splendour of the Seas Greek Island cruise.

 

This year in Feb on the Independence of the Seas we missed the Grand Caymen due to high seas. I was glad I had the premium package to enjoy the extra sea day.

 

Last summer I was worried that we would miss Saint Petersburg (over night port) on our Baltic cruise due to the sanctions on Russia, but luckily that did not happen.

[momphoto]

We missed St. Kitts on our last cruise with Princess...high winds, and the captain tried. They tried to get into nearby ports but all were full so we made haste to our next stop and arrived at St. Thomas in the evening. Was lovely to get off the ship at night and see it all lite up! We have never had issues with Princess luckily! Missed Grand Caymen on a Royal cruise...again high winds so tenders could not go. Luckily and keeping fingers crossed my upcoming cruise has a stop in St. Kitts so hope to make it this time having never been!! While there is disappointment that we missed a port, I totally understand the safety issue...it is what it is.

[American Bear]

We missed Nassau once. We were fine with it, but some people were quite unhappy. BTW, we were playing "dodge the hurricane." Captain offered free screwdrivers and free bloody Mary's for a few hours. That was many years ago on the Sovereign.

 

You were lucky, on the Majesty where we missed Coco Cay, and went to Nassau because of heavy rain, guess what happened?

It was raining heavy there too, and the ship did nothing extra!:mad:

Lesson learned, never book a cruise on a small ship if there's any chance it will be bad weather.:)

[DRS/NC]

Never missed a port until my 31st cruise -- Emerald Princess TA (Copenhagen to NYC) in Sept. 2013. We missed 3: Belfast, Iceland & Greenland due to a storm & high seas. Capt. arranged 2 additional stops for us: Cork & St. John, NB. Even so, the 6 straight sea days angered some folks (not me); we still had the same 8 sea days, just re-ordered.

 

Last month on the Star Princess (RT from San Francisco), we missed docking in Kauai because of very high winds. The next day, there was very limited tendering in Maui due to the winds too.

 

By chance, it was the same captain on both trips.

[FlyerTalker]

Have missed several ports. Twice at Stanley in the Falklands, once at Jeju Island in Korea, once at St John's Newfoundland, once at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. The St John's miss was due to ice in the Atlantic...not near St. John's, but out in the open ocean. The course was having to be rerouted far more southerly, so no way could we both stop in Newfoundland AND make our arrival in Reykjavik.

 

Five misses on over 60 cruises....not bad odds, IMO.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have missed HMC, Grand Turk, Grand Cayman, and that is just for starters.

Nothing you can do about it. When the weather is bad, the captain thinks of his passengers first to keep them safe.

[paul929207]

We missed Nicaragua twice, and the Falkland Islands once due to weather. Both are tender ports.

 

We missed Port Victoria, Seychelles Islands due to pirate activity in that area. There were 6 pirate attacks on ships in the two weeks before we were due there. In one attack a British couple were taking captive and held for over a year.

[FawnRiver]

We missed Grand Cayman due to weather and on the same cruise, almost missed Cozumel. I say almost because the high winds didn't stop the Ruby from docking there, but it did cause the habour master to close the port to small ships, so no snorkelling or sailing tours could go out.

 

That was okay though, Princess refunded the shore excursion cost and we spent the day sitting on the beach at Paco's backyard, eating, drinking and watching the world go by :cool:.

 

We almost missed Rome once, the winds were so high it took 3 tug boats and 2 extra hours to dock. Our tour was cut short as a result, but really can't complain - Princess discounted the tour cost as compensation.