Navigator now confirmed in California

[BillB48]

1 hour ago, WeMissSeaView said:

Bridge of America is 201” clearance.  Navigator is 208” from waterline to the top of the funnels.  Bridge of Americas was built in 1959 when ships were not that tall.  Navigator can not use the canal.  However, Navigator will fit under the Golden Gate Bridge and can dock in San Francisco.

 

The 201' figure is for Mean High Water and the tides at Balboa can provide over 220' clearance at Mean Low Water.   It is physically possible for the Navigator to clear the Bridge,  the question has always been if the Canal will grant an exception to their present limit of 205'.  Researching this I found another potential problem with the overhang on deck 4 around the MDR that could possibly run afoul with the requirements at the new locks.  I wrote about it in some detail in another thread.

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by BillB48

[atanac]

18 minutes ago, BillB48 said:

 

It is physically possible for the Navigator to clear the Bridge,  the question has always been if the Canal will grant an exception to their present limit of 205'. 

 

 

After what just took place in the Suez I wouldn't expect much leeway on that happening.

[pcur]

Not trying to stir things up about a PC transit:  just hoping.

 

[twangster]

35 minutes ago, atanac said:

After what just took place in the Suez I wouldn't expect much leeway on that happening.

 

Panama Canal requires all ships to be escorted through the Culebra cut by tugs.  They had their own version of the Suez situation in the past.  If I recall correctly a ship lost power or steering and grounded in the canal.  It shut down the canal.  Since then ships are required to pay for a tug escort.

 

This tug was always very near us ready to spring into action should we have lost power or steering.

 

 

It will be interesting to see if the Suez adopts this protocol.

 

[Aquarius50]

We have a cruise booked on Navigator from Miami on August 27, 2021.  Now that Navigator is homeported in CA, what will happen to that cruise?

[ONECRUISER]

9 minutes ago, Aquarius50 said:

We have a cruise booked on Navigator from Miami on August 27, 2021.  Now that Navigator is homeported in CA, what will happen to that cruise?

Not sure they've said yet. Some they just cancel and on your own Booking new Cruise getting nothing. Others get some sort $$$ Benefit, partial rate freeze or FCC to transfer.

Edited April 9, 2021 by ONECRUISER

[rockmom]

1 hour ago, Aquarius50 said:

We have a cruise booked on Navigator from Miami on August 27, 2021.  Now that Navigator is homeported in CA, what will happen to that cruise?

She doesn't start out of California until November.  

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5961/

Edited April 9, 2021 by rockmom

[pcur]

Big Box is showing the Navi for 3-5 night cruises in November and early December out of Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami.  Prices, but no ports showing.  

 

Watching this unfold makes me want to eat popcorn..............................

[Coralc]

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. 

[PhoenixCruiser]

The anticipation is killing me! I want to see the dates / itineraries / prices!

[twangster]

I thought I read that CA has an exception that allows a vessel to port without shore power on a temporary basis if they could prove they were getting shore power capability retrofitted.

 

Could she sail to CA, operate for a few months and then dry dock to get the work done? 

[Ourusualbeach]

8 hours ago, pcur said:

Big Box is showing the Navi for 3-5 night cruises in November and early December out of Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami.  Prices, but no ports showing.  

 

Watching this unfold makes me want to eat popcorn..............................

Navigator had been sailing from Ft. Lauderdale.  It is Freedom that is sailing from Miami.  Looks like the Big Box site just hasn’t removed Navigators old itineraries. 

[geoff2802]

9 minutes ago, twangster said:

I thought I read that CA has an exception that allows a vessel to port without shore power on a temporary basis if they could prove they were getting shore power capability retrofitted.

 

Could she sail to CA, operate for a few months and then dry dock to get the work done? 

Perhaps that was the basis of Royal’s offer to LA ports to bring forward the deployment...  we’ll bring the ship early if you give us a temporary exemption from the shore power requirement.  

 

[BillB48]

35 minutes ago, twangster said:

I thought I read that CA has an exception that allows a vessel to port without shore power on a temporary basis if they could prove they were getting shore power capability retrofitted.

 

Could she sail to CA, operate for a few months and then dry dock to get the work done? 

 

When I looked at CARB sometime back there were exemptions provided for vessels to make port calls without the shore power requirement.  Cargo ships of the same fleet could make 20 or 25 calls each year and not have to connect to shore power.  On the other hand passenger vessels were limited to only 5 port calls a year for ships of the same line.

 

 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, BillB48 said:

 

When I looked at CARB sometime back there were exemptions provided for vessels to make port calls without the shore power requirement.  Cargo ships of the same fleet could make 20 or 25 calls each year and not have to connect to shore power.  On the other hand passenger vessels were limited to only 5 port calls a year for ships of the same line.

 

 

 

I did find this:

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/21964-california-to-propose-shorepower-rule-changes.html

• Current regulations require ships visiting the major Californian ports five or more times to plug in while at berth. Under the soon-to-be proposed new rules, ships previously visiting four or fewer times would remain exempt from the regulations until 2023, said Karen Caesar, the board's information officer.

But it's from 2019 so somewhat dated.

 

If this proposed rule did become a reality in some form it might allow Navigator to visit prior to receiving shore power capability.    

[cruzsnooze]

Getting back on topic, when will the cruises out of San Pedro be published to book? If I recall the announcements it was supposed to have happened already.

[Ourusualbeach]

22 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Getting back on topic, when will the cruises out of San Pedro be published to book? If I recall the announcements it was supposed to have happened already.

The week of April 12

[wl2cruise]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

 

I did find this:

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/21964-california-to-propose-shorepower-rule-changes.html

• Current regulations require ships visiting the major Californian ports five or more times to plug in while at berth. Under the soon-to-be proposed new rules, ships previously visiting four or fewer times would remain exempt from the regulations until 2023, said Karen Caesar, the board's information officer.

But it's from 2019 so somewhat dated.

 

If this proposed rule did become a reality in some form it might allow Navigator to visit prior to receiving shore power capability.    

 

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/berth-faqs

[twangster]

9 minutes ago, wl2cruise said:

 

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/berth-faqs

 

Yes but reading the actual CARB regulation yields other options above the general FAQs.

 

I suspect Royal worked with the board to optimize a new plan and discovered an incentive or motivation to have some 2021 visits which led to the new deployment plan.

 

Once into 2022 they'll use the five visit per year rule to optimize the 2022 calendar and visit a shipyard on the west coast to get it done.

 

Until we see the details it's all speculation.

[pcur]

6 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Navigator had been sailing from Ft. Lauderdale.  It is Freedom that is sailing from Miami.  Looks like the Big Box site just hasn’t removed Navigators old itineraries. 

RCCL's web site in my browser shows 3 itineraries for the Navi, all sailing from Miami for 30 different dates.  Big Box is showing the itineraries I mentioned above for the month of November 2021 from Ft. Lauderdale.

Edited April 10, 2021 by pcur

[Ourusualbeach]

24 minutes ago, pcur said:

RCCL's web site in my browser shows 3 itineraries for the Navi, all sailing from Miami for 30 different dates.  Big Box is showing the itineraries I mentioned above for the month of November 2021 from Ft. Lauderdale.

The RCCL site is right.  The Navigator is sailing from Miami until October.  Then she was moving to FLL but now she is headed to LA.  The big box store just hasn’t removed her itineraries yet. 

[mpdp]

I am sure the Nv. will have to plug in as it did when we overnighted in SF.  California is hard to deal with sometimes I just hope that this time RC stays on the West Coast awhile.  I am hoping that they change up their ports and do San Diego from time to time.  San Diego is very beautiful and the San Diego Zoo is fantastic, plus you can walk to the Midway, Sea Port Village and downtown.   So looking forward to different ports on RC. 🙂

[jonbgd]

7 minutes ago, mpdp said:

I am sure the Nv. will have to plug in as it did when we overnighted in SF.  California is hard to deal with sometimes I just hope that this time RC stays on the West Coast awhile.  I am hoping that they change up their ports and do San Diego from time to time.  San Diego is very beautiful and the San Diego Zoo is fantastic, plus you can walk to the Midway, Sea Port Village and downtown.   So looking forward to different ports on RC. 🙂

I love my homeport of SF but i know unless there is some kind of miracle RCCL will never have a cruise ship based here.

 If RCCL had a ship based out of SAN i would do more cruises from west coast. it is so perfectly located and easy to get to from airport 

La is my least favorite port on all of the west coast. If that is my only chloice Oh well im stuck with it and just happy that RCCL has a cruise ship based on the west coast outside of Alaska season

[pcur]

1 hour ago, jonbgd said:

I love my homeport of SF but i know unless there is some kind of miracle RCCL will never have a cruise ship based here.

 If RCCL had a ship based out of SAN i would do more cruises from west coast. it is so perfectly located and easy to get to from airport 

La is my least favorite port on all of the west coast. If that is my only chloice Oh well im stuck with it and just happy that RCCL has a cruise ship based on the west coast outside of Alaska season

I used to think this about LA, too, until we flew in and out of Long Beach last time.  Changed the whole dynamic of pre and post.

 

We also loved San Diego.  At the time we lived in Bakersfield, and took Amtrak to Los Angeles, had their lounge and transfer service, and on to SD, with the Amtrak station literally across the street (OK, 1.5 blocks across) from the port.  

[Ashland]

I'm excited it will be San Pedro where Navigator will dock. It's where our RCI addiction started in the early 1990's. Only about an hour drive for us.