Cruise Ship Locations - During the cruise ship ban of 2020/2021/2022

[arxcards]

Royal Princess isn't heading here till next year now. I lost interest in her when our November cruise was cancelled. Majestic has just left LA heading for Mexico.

 

Pacific Explorer is visible. The free access to ship tracking comes from a land based terrestrial network. Yes, she hasn't pinged one of those since passing Socotra a week ago. On the satellite, she is just NNW of the tip of Indonesia (Sabang), and will be in terrestrial range again in a day or so.

 

I had thought about paying for access to the satellite tracking, till I saw it costs $250 per month.

[sewgood]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Pacific Explorer is visible. The free access to ship tracking comes from a land based terrestrial network. Yes, she hasn't pinged one of those since passing Socotra a week ago. On the satellite, she is just NNW of the tip of Indonesia (Sabang), and will be in terrestrial range again in a day or so.

 

I had thought about paying for access to the satellite tracking, till I saw it costs $250 per month.

 

$250 a month, wow, I will just stick with the free access.

I would have to buy a whole fleet of row boats to make it worth it for me. 😁

Thanks for the update on the PE I will start to watch out for her in another day or two.

[MicCanberra]

Cheers for the update

[Balsam12]

Pacific Explorer currently just off Banda Aceh...

[arxcards]

Finally, a terrestrial ping

 

[Balsam12]

11 hours ago, arxcards said:

Finally, a terrestrial ping

 

 

Looks like she's going into Singapore today... I have no ide if docking at the Cruise Centre or not?

[woodscruise]

Any idea when Pacific Explorer is due in Sydney. I do know here first cruise is at the end of May.

[arxcards]

43 minutes ago, woodscruise said:

Any idea when Pacific Explorer is due in Sydney. I do know here first cruise is at the end of May.

Not before 17th April is all I can say for sure. I have heard a couple of days before 1st cruise, and also a week. Will know for sure when her AIS destination updates when departing Singapore.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Balsam12 said:

Looks like she's going into Singapore today... I have no ide if docking at the Cruise Centre or not?

Not at Cruise Centre. I think one of the Changi docks was showing when they left the Suez, as they are taking on crew and no passengers. I am not aware if they are getting any last minute work done as well.

[Balsam12]

9 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Not at Cruise Centre. I think one of the Changi docks was showing when they left the Suez, as they are taking on crew and no passengers. I am not aware if they are getting any last minute work done as well.

Makes sense... no point paying port fees for the Cruise Centre if you're not taking on passengers.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

Makes sense... no point paying port fees for the Cruise Centre if you're not taking on passengers.

It is starting to look like she won't dock. Fuel bunkers are at her side at East Johor boarding grounds, and there are some small passenger craft in attendance.

[CDaze71]

Watch this space, but I think the Pacific Explorer will arrive in Sydney 'some time' in April. Yes her first passenger cruise is the 31st of May, but rumor has it she will arrive between after the ban lifts (17th April) and before the end of the month. 

[Balsam12]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

It is starting to look like she won't dock. Fuel bunkers are at her side at East Johor boarding grounds, and there are some small passenger craft in attendance.

Yeah... saw that:

 

[Balsam12]

24 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

Watch this space, but I think the Pacific Explorer will arrive in Sydney 'some time' in April. Yes her first passenger cruise is the 31st of May, but rumor has it she will arrive between after the ban lifts (17th April) and before the end of the month. 

This fits in with what I have been saying all along.... the cruise lines will make sure that their ships coming to Australia are 100% covid free. Explorer will sail to Australia and anchor somewhere for 5 or so weeks, fully crewed, and have regular testing onboard. This way, when the first passengers board, they can be happy that the crew are covid free.

They simply couldn't risk it any other way.

[arxcards]

27 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

Watch this space, but I think the Pacific Explorer will arrive in Sydney 'some time' in April. Yes her first passenger cruise is the 31st of May, but rumor has it she will arrive between after the ban lifts (17th April) and before the end of the month. 

Makes sense, and not too expensive - most of their port charges in Sydney come from a per head passenger charge. 

[arxcards]

3 minutes ago, Balsam12 said:

This fits in with what I have been saying all along.... the cruise lines will make sure that their ships coming to Australia are 100% covid free. Explorer will sail to Australia and anchor somewhere for 5 or so weeks, fully crewed, and have regular testing onboard. This way, when the first passengers board, they can be happy that the crew are covid free.

They simply couldn't risk it any other way.

This works for Explorer and Coral who are both arriving without passengers. It will be interesting to see how things go in October when the seasonal ships all arrive from distant ports with passengers aboard.

 

100% covid free aboard is only a true goal if we were 100% covid free on land. As with the US restarts, the ship looks clean for the first couple of cruises, but doesn't take long for someone who has caught it in transit, tested negative prior to boarding, and there is transmission to the crew. It then comes down to isolation, management, increased testing.

 

From what I have seen recently, NSW health is not requiring anything near a long quarantine period for vaccinated crew. They just need a negative RAT on arrival.

[Balsam12]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

This works for Explorer and Coral who are both arriving without passengers. It will be interesting to see how things go in October when the seasonal ships all arrive from distant ports with passengers aboard.

 

100% covid free aboard is only a true goal if we were 100% covid free on land. As with the US restarts, the ship looks clean for the first couple of cruises, but doesn't take long for someone who has caught it in transit, tested negative prior to boarding, and there is transmission to the crew. It then comes down to isolation, management, increased testing.

 

From what I have seen recently, NSW health is not requiring anything near a long quarantine period for vaccinated crew. They just need a negative RAT on arrival.

Definitely... once there have been a couple of sailings from Australia, all the precautions will be out the window. For the first one/s however, what I posted is still relevant.

[arxcards]

11 hours ago, Balsam12 said:

Definitely... once there have been a couple of sailings from Australia, all the precautions will be out the window. For the first one/s however, what I posted is still relevant.

They could have quarantined on the run though. All crew have their own cabins, test for boarding, test after 3 days, test before arrival in Australia - all clean.

 

Not all crew have boarded yet though, with some still to board in Sydney. So yes, they will be running through that scenario to screen the remaining crew in Sydney.

 

Any of the existing crew can now disembark the ship in Sydney after providing a negative test, following similar protocols as air crew.

 

Anyway, AIS has updated - showing destination SYDNEY, on 17th April. Based on GMT, so it is looking like her arrival will be immediately after the ban has expired.

[CDaze71]

The current position of PACIFIC EXPLORER is at South East Asia (coordinates 1.321 N / 104.06723 E) reported 4 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to the port of Sydney, Australia, and expected to arrive there on Apr 17, 19:45.

[Aus Traveller]

25 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

The current position of PACIFIC EXPLORER is at South East Asia (coordinates 1.321 N / 104.06723 E) reported 4 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to the port of Sydney, Australia, and expected to arrive there on Apr 17, 19:45.

Exciting. We are getting closer to cruising re-starting. 👍🥰

[Balsam12]

43 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

The current position of PACIFIC EXPLORER is at South East Asia (coordinates 1.321 N / 104.06723 E) reported 4 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to the port of Sydney, Australia, and expected to arrive there on Apr 17, 19:45.

It was showing as "Under Way", however the speed was still 0.0kn.

It has now changed back to "At Anchor".

[CDaze71]

It has changed. The current position of PACIFIC EXPLORER is at South East Asia (coordinates 1.32107 N / 104.06733 E) reported 3 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to AU BOO PILOT STN, and expected to arrive there on Apr 12, 20:00.
What is the AU BOO PILOT STN?

[arxcards]

25 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

It has changed. The current position of PACIFIC EXPLORER is at South East Asia (coordinates 1.32107 N / 104.06733 E) reported 3 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to AU BOO PILOT STN, and expected to arrive there on Apr 12, 20:00.
What is the AU BOO PILOT STN?

Not sure of the exact location being listed. It will be where they pick up their reef pilot for Torres Strait and Barrier Reef

[Balsam12]

42 minutes ago, CDaze71 said:

It has changed. The current position of PACIFIC EXPLORER is at South East Asia (coordinates 1.32107 N / 104.06733 E) reported 3 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to AU BOO PILOT STN, and expected to arrive there on Apr 12, 20:00.
What is the AU BOO PILOT STN?

Where are you seeing that she is under way?

 

[Balsam12]

AU BOO Pilot Station will probably be Booby Island...