Ovation itinerary change

[barcrab]

We have recently booked a 2 week cruise on the Ovation rt Athens on October 10. Much to my chagrin, Seabourn has eliminated the 2 sea days on this trip and substituted 2 very small islands. Would this be due to not wanting to spend the money for gas?

[Chairsin]

I can’t remember the last Seabourn Cruise I was on where there was not at least one itinerary change. In some instances we are notified in advance (recent cruise they added an overnight in Chennai in place of an additional port in India) or they change it during a cruise (last summer they added Isle of Skye when we were unable to get to another scheduled port of call).  If the change is made during the cruise it is often due to weather - if in advance it is often chalked up to “operational reasons.” This could mean something such as the year they canceled our scheduled stop in Madagascar due to the outbreak of the pneumonic plague or it could be due to some other reason. Bottom line is we don’t always know why they have changed the schedule but I doubt if it is usually due to an issue of using more fuel. And in a sense you are lucky they added two ports of call because often when they cancel a port it is replaced with a sea day. If you enjoy sea days you can just stay and the ship and make it a sea day. 

[Two4Sea]

On an already laid out itinerary, replacing a sea day with a call means about 10 hours less time to cover the distance between the two original ports. That takes more speed and so more fuel. A pilot and docking fees get added too. Canceling an existing port has the opposite effect, fuel is saved.

 

Planning a 7 day itinerary with the week spent in 6 nearby ports rather than steaming to 4 distant ones is the case where more port time saves fuel.

 

Planning a 90 day world cruise with 60 days steaming and 30 days in ports and an alternate 120 day world cruise with 60 days steaming and 60 days in ports should result in roughly equal fuel costs.

 

Much as I love sea days most people, especially newcomers, fear nothing to do or paying money and not seeing anything for the day. The appreciation of the serenity comes later. So the lines respond and plan lots of calls. Seabourn could be trying out new ports here to see if they work. On repositioning trips I often see stops at hole in the wall places that I think are simply because the planner already has two sea days in a row and is fearful of inserting a third. Oddly enough some of these places have ended up being a very nice visit.

 

Bill