Any reason why the Carnival Dream didn't stay in St. Maarten today?

[Oasis1117]

So I was watching the Port St. Maarten webcam this morning, and I watched the Carnival Dream pull into port completely normal. I believe that St. Maarten was their scheduled stop for today, but after about a half hour the next thing I know the Carnival Dream is pulling out of port and leaving. I'm not exactly sure why they would do this if it was their scheduled port of call, but now they are pretty far off of St. Maarten. Any reason why?

[Mkehlb]

On the Dream now. Apparently there was too much swell where we were supposed to dock and the Captain and Port officials decided the t op-ed wouldn't hold the ship. So we are enjoying a lovely day on the Serenity deck instead. I actually prefer a sea day at the end of a cruise. Still way better than being at work!

[Mkehlb]

On the Dream now. Apparently there was too much swell where we were supposed to dock and the Captain and Port officials decided the t op-ed wouldn't hold the ship. So we are enjoying a lovely day on the Serenity deck instead. I actually prefer a sea day at the end of a cruise. Still way better than being at work!

[satbeachbill]

You know, that's all well and good. But take a look at the St Maarten webcam. There are 4 ships docked there NOW, even the O of the Seas, and a Costa ship is approaching to dock. I'd be OK with it if no one could dock, but that's not the case here. Sorry, I'd be an unhappy camper..........but yeah, still better than work.

Edited January 13, 2016 by satbeachbill

[satbeachbill]

Update: The Costa boat just docked. I hope the passengers on the Dream didn't see that! :mad:

[PAPERBKWRITER]

May have to do with the individual pier or ship size. They don't skip ports for no good reason.

[mmckm]

Update: The Costa boat just docked. I hope the passengers on the Dream didn't see that! :mad:

 

Different cruise ships have different limitations on winds they can handle, water depths, currents they can dock in. The dock they were going to use may have been in a different location to the others. conditions may have changed a couple hours later. They don't just say the heck with it today were not docking. Theres a lot more going on then just pulling a car into a parking space. If the swells were bad they could bottom out or be pushed and loose control. I can't believe people get mad and blame the captain or Carnival when a port is missed when they no nothing about what conditions the ship there on can dock in. Because some ships docked it doesn't mean every ship can. We have missed ports when other ships have gotten in. Lighten up your on vacation, I've been at the pursers desk and people are just so irate with the staff behind the desk its hard to believe.

[bigdog1958]

Update: The Costa boat just docked. I hope the passengers on the Dream didn't see that! :mad:

 

I don't think I want the carnival captain to take advise from the Costa line. The Costa Concordia was no roll model to follow.

[fitoldguyinspeedo]

Don't know anything about the subject but where is the link for the port webcams? Is this just at St. Maarten or are others listed and available too?

[satbeachbill]

You are not telling me anything I don't already know. It would just really irk me. Now where is that waiter with the DODs?

 

Port webcam is here:

http://www.portstmaartenwebcam.com/

[RuthlessBoss]

Different cruise ships have different limitations on winds they can handle, water depths, currents they can dock in. The dock they were going to use may have been in a different location to the others. conditions may have changed a couple hours later. They don't just say the heck with it today were not docking. Theres a lot more going on then just pulling a car into a parking space. If the swells were bad they could bottom out or be pushed and loose control. I can't believe people get mad and blame the captain or Carnival when a port is missed when they no nothing about what conditions the ship there on can dock in. Because some ships docked it doesn't mean every ship can. We have missed ports when other ships have gotten in. Lighten up your on vacation, I've been at the pursers desk and people are just so irate with the staff behind the desk its hard to believe.

 

It's most likely the Dream shape. I remember when she only sporatically got into Mahogany Bay because of winds hitting it broadside until they widened the channel there. Yet, Liberty got in with no problem.

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

Did they refund the port fee's? Since the ship was technically docked for 30 minutes would they still charge Carnival for docking there?

[OCruisers]

It's always been our thought that if the Captain did not think it was safe enough to dock/tender in any port, it was the right decision. :)

[Siesta Fiesta]

I'm on the Carnival Dream right now at sea. It's about 3:30pm EST and 4:30pm ship time. The staff near the exits where we were waiting to go ashore said they couldn't get the gangways out because of the swells being too much at the end of the pier where we were supposed to dock.

 

The ship ran the "sideways thrusters" an unusually long time compared to the other ports. I thought the cabin hallways on the 2nd floor seemed to be leaning/tilted a bit the whole time we were trying to dock. Later, on another deck, I heard someone else make a similar comment about the slight tilting.

 

There was an announcement that the ship would go out and make another go of it in about an hour, but we never made the 2nd attempt. The reason they gave was that the swells at the end of the pier were too great. Personally, I thought the waves looked very calm, but I'm not a nautical expert. While we were away from the port awaiting another attempt, I thought the other ships had a lot of exhaust coming out of their smokestacks so they may have needed to run their thrusters a while too, but that's mere speculation on my part.

 

Eventually the captain came on and said the swells were too great (where we were supposed to park) for a safe docking and our safety was first so we'd have a sea day instead.

 

Excursions booked through Carnival were refunded to our accounts and the dock fee was refunded as well. I think the dock fee was like 9 and change, USD. The crew quickly scrambled to come up with a lot of activities for the day and they did a commendable job at that IMO.

 

Unfortunately, the ventriloquist (Phil Hughes IIRC) that was scheduled for the ship's entertainment tonight seems to have been cancelled. Fortunately, they're putting on some kind of farewell show in its place. The ventriloquist was supposed to board yesterday for a show yesterday, but his plane got delayed so he was going to do a show tonight and the show that was originally scheduled for tonight was moved to last night.

 

The weather is real nice as i sit here and type this.

 

Cheers!

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

I'm on the Carnival Dream right now at sea. It's about 3:30pm EST and 4:30pm ship time. The staff near the exits where we were waiting to go ashore said they couldn't get the gangways out because of the swells being too much at the end of the pier where we were supposed to dock.

 

The ship ran the "sideways thrusters" an unusually long time compared to the other ports. I thought the cabin hallways on the 2nd floor seemed to be leaning/tilted a bit the whole time we were trying to dock. Later, on another deck, I heard someone else make a similar comment about the slight tilting.

 

There was an announcement that the ship would go out and make another go of it in about an hour, but we never made the 2nd attempt. The reason they gave was that the swells at the end of the pier were too great. Personally, I thought the waves looked very calm, but I'm not a nautical expert. While we were away from the port awaiting another attempt, I thought the other ships had a lot of exhaust coming out of their smokestacks so they may have needed to run their thrusters a while too, but that's mere speculation on my part.

 

Eventually the captain came on and said the swells were too great (where we were supposed to park) for a safe docking and our safety was first so we'd have a sea day instead.

 

Excursions booked through Carnival were refunded to our accounts and the dock fee was refunded as well. I think the dock fee was like 9 and change, USD. The crew quickly scrambled to come up with a lot of activities for the day and they did a commendable job at that IMO.

 

Unfortunately, the ventriloquist (Phil Hughes IIRC) that was scheduled for the ship's entertainment tonight seems to have been cancelled. Fortunately, they're putting on some kind of farewell show in its place. The ventriloquist was supposed to board yesterday for a show yesterday, but his plane got delayed so he was going to do a show tonight and the show that was originally scheduled for tonight was moved to last night.

 

The weather is real nice as i sit here and type this.

 

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the very detailed summary!

[Savlamara]

Sorry you guys missed port.

 

Dream is one of the boats I'm aching to go on!

[lilchief27]

I'm on the Carnival Dream right now at sea. It's about 3:30pm EST and 4:30pm ship time. The staff near the exits where we were waiting to go ashore said they couldn't get the gangways out because of the swells being too much at the end of the pier where we were supposed to dock.

 

The ship ran the "sideways thrusters" an unusually long time compared to the other ports. I thought the cabin hallways on the 2nd floor seemed to be leaning/tilted a bit the whole time we were trying to dock. Later, on another deck, I heard someone else make a similar comment about the slight tilting.

 

There was an announcement that the ship would go out and make another go of it in about an hour, but we never made the 2nd attempt. The reason they gave was that the swells at the end of the pier were too great. Personally, I thought the waves looked very calm, but I'm not a nautical expert. While we were away from the port awaiting another attempt, I thought the other ships had a lot of exhaust coming out of their smokestacks so they may have needed to run their thrusters a while too, but that's mere speculation on my part.

 

Eventually the captain came on and said the swells were too great (where we were supposed to park) for a safe docking and our safety was first so we'd have a sea day instead.

 

Excursions booked through Carnival were refunded to our accounts and the dock fee was refunded as well. I think the dock fee was like 9 and change, USD. The crew quickly scrambled to come up with a lot of activities for the day and they did a commendable job at that IMO.

 

Unfortunately, the ventriloquist (Phil Hughes IIRC) that was scheduled for the ship's entertainment tonight seems to have been cancelled. Fortunately, they're putting on some kind of farewell show in its place. The ventriloquist was supposed to board yesterday for a show yesterday, but his plane got delayed so he was going to do a show tonight and the show that was originally scheduled for tonight was moved to last night.

 

The weather is real nice as i sit here and type this.

 

Cheers!

 

Sorry you missed St. Maarten. It's a port I'd love to visit.

I enjoyed hearing about your "almost a port day now a sea day" It's been in the 30's here in TN and just being on a cruise ship whether it docked or not would be fabulous! Hope the rest of your trip turned out well. :)

[franknberry]

Update: The Costa boat just docked. I hope the passengers on the Dream didn't see that! :mad:

 

Carnival misses lots of ports. They want people on boat drinking, gambling etc.

[riclop]

I don't think I want the carnival captain to take advise from the Costa line. The Costa Concordia was no roll model to follow.

 

So very true.

[teddybear231]

Excursions booked through Carnival were refunded to our accounts and the dock fee was refunded as well. I think the dock fee was like 9 and change, USD.

 

I would be very upset if I missed St. Martin (or any port of call) and only got $9!!!

[LMaxwell]

I would be very upset if I missed St. Martin (or any port of call) and only got $9!!!

 

It wasn't a good will $9. It was a refund of the port charges. You get refunded the port charges any time you miss a port.

[dfwhgsfan]

The Captain is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't and is in a now win situation. If he docked and one person got injured on the gangway, the person sues Carnival, the media finds out and blows the whole thing out of proportion. Then if he doesn't dock, he has a ship of pissed off people. I personally prefer him to look out after the safety of his passengers and crew, then at least I know I live to sail another day!

I guess I've been lucky so far. 4 cruises and no missed ports.

[Mikew0805]

Carnival misses lots of ports. They want people on boat drinking, gambling etc.

 

Yeah okay. :rolleyes:

[Siesta Fiesta]

Fortunately, I had already been to the missed port on a previous cruise. I did miss a minor excursion that day. No worries. I enjoyed the waterslides that day instead.

[AngAndBoys]

I would be very upset if I missed St. Martin (or any port of call) and only got $9!!!

 

More or less upset than if the gangway collapsed with you on it and you broke your leg and got to see the port from inside an ambulance? :p