kentchris Posted April 24, 2017 #26 Share Posted April 24, 2017 This is possibly to stop the itineraries being too port intensive. If I was being cynical I would suggest that one reason is to ensure people stay on board, where they will pay for drinks and make the cruise line money. That's going to be marginal at best as the food costs will be higher if pax aren't buying lunch ashore, even allowing for all the pax who wouldn't have bothered to land anyway. Occam's Razor would suggest that P&O are catering for people who like sea days, after all they're a primary reason for taking an ocean cruise as opposed to any other sort of holiday. I'm thoroughly looking forward to three whole sea days down to Funchal on my Cunard cruise in December. I can't think of any better way to get to know and enjoy the ship and its facilities, build the anticipation of the first landfall, and simply relax on holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielundecided Posted April 24, 2017 #27 Share Posted April 24, 2017 That's going to be marginal at best as the food costs will be higher if pax aren't buying lunch ashore However, P&O will probably make quite a bit of money on drink sales, especially if it's nice weather. The food in the buffet is also going to be there regardless of whether people eat it (on a sea day), or not (on a port day). Dan Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonpjd Posted April 24, 2017 #28 Share Posted April 24, 2017 You are all missing the answer. Gibraltar has the cheapest bunkers in the Mediterranean. It is simple economics. All the ships fill up with fuel there. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrierjohn Posted April 24, 2017 #29 Share Posted April 24, 2017 You are all missing the answer. Gibraltar has the cheapest bunkers in the Mediterranean. It is simple economics. All the ships fill up with fuel there. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk I don't think we have ever re-fuelled in Gibraltar on any cruise ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanlyon Posted April 24, 2017 #30 Share Posted April 24, 2017 I have refuelled every time we have been in Gib. Sometimes you don't see the bunker at the opposite side of the ship, but the red flag will be flying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinyork Posted April 24, 2017 #31 Share Posted April 24, 2017 I don't think we have ever re-fuelled in Gibraltar on any cruise ship. Here's the fuel tanks next to the cruise dock which went up in flames whilst Independence of the Seas was docked. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonpjd Posted April 25, 2017 #32 Share Posted April 25, 2017 The bunker barge comes alongside and the Prom deck is normally closed for the couple of hours it takes. When I was the Navigation Officer at sea we always stopped for bunkers there. Then ashore I worked in the oil trading desk for a multi national trading company. Remember wages and oil take up to 85% of costs. Finding and using the cheapest oil is really important. And even more so now that cruise ships are required to use ULSD , ultra low sulphur diesel, which is a clean fuel and quite expensive. They used to use heavy, which is black and horrible - like the stuff that came out of Torres Canyon. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickey89 Posted April 27, 2017 #33 Share Posted April 27, 2017 You generally find American based cruise lines and those heavily used by Americans are more port intensive because Americans do not like sea days and prefer port intensive cruises. On our up and coming Princess cruise there are 9 ports of call in 14 days and their British Isles cruise that we have done had 9 ports in 12 days but they now do on occasional cruises an overnight in Dublin and drop a port so only 8 ports but still same amount of sea days. P&O still use the heavy fuel oil on all their ships when in the Caribbean, as the laws are more relaxed. Thats why Britannia rear end is plagued with soot fallout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom10 Posted April 27, 2017 #34 Share Posted April 27, 2017 P&O still use the heavy fuel oil on all their ships when in the Caribbean, as the laws are more relaxed. Thats why Britannia rear end is plagued with soot fallout. Britannia has problems with soot wherever it is in the world we had problems on our balcony on maiden cruise in the Med. Royal/Regal Princess also has the same problem which I think it is more to a design problem not sure it is down to using heavy oil fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonpjd Posted April 27, 2017 #35 Share Posted April 27, 2017 If the propellers are the pod type then they are electrically powered, so the fuel used is just to power the generators. If so it would be a diesel fuel. Which comes in lots of different types. But would probably be marine diesel or ULSD. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daiB Posted April 27, 2017 #36 Share Posted April 27, 2017 If the propellers are the pod type then they are electrically powered, so the fuel used is just to power the generators. If so it would be a diesel fuel. Which comes in lots of different types. But would probably be marine diesel or ULSD. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk No standard propellers only ship with pods in the fleet is Arcadia. Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrierjohn Posted April 27, 2017 #37 Share Posted April 27, 2017 If the propellers are the pod type then they are electrically powered, so the fuel used is just to power the generators. If so it would be a diesel fuel. Which comes in lots of different types. But would probably be marine diesel or ULSD. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Most modern cruise ships are powered by Wartsilla diesel engines whether they are propeller or azipod driven. So I imagine they all use similar fuels, subject to local or international pollution controls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillo Posted April 28, 2017 #38 Share Posted April 28, 2017 We enjoy sea days as much as we enjoy port days, one of the main reasons that are next cruise is Ventura N271 17 days with 8 sea days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brillo Posted April 28, 2017 #39 Share Posted April 28, 2017 I meant to say also that the ship has bunkered every time that we have stopped at Gibralter, always from a barge on the sea side of the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josy1953 Posted April 28, 2017 #40 Share Posted April 28, 2017 On Ventura in March the chief engineer gave very interesting talk during which he said that the reason for calling in Gibraltar was because the price of fuel was a lot lower there so they try to buy it there as often as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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