Iona no show for Geiranger

[davecttr]

8 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Have you checked the dates on the passports?. Not wishing to stress you, but how about insurance. You know you will enjoy every minute.🛳️

2025 for passport

Insurance company emailed me a couple of days ago reminding me to take all the paperwork

 

Oops, must remember all the device batteries

[zap99]

9 minutes ago, davecttr said:

2025 for passport

Insurance company emailed me a couple of days ago reminding me to take all the paperwork

 

Oops, must remember all the device batteries

That just about covers everything. You can relax now........USB charging cables. Top tip for Britannia and Iona. The shaver charging socket in the bathroom isn't. 

[BouncingWheel]

1 hour ago, SarahHben said:

Geiranger was the highlight of the cruise for us but we will hopefully book a boat trip to there from Hellesylt, which itself is still a nice long fjord sail-in. 

Not knowledgeable on the Fjords so want to ask. Are you now essentially paying for a trip along the Fjord that the ship would have done for free? I know there are missed port insurance etc.. but just trying to understand the differences between what should have happened and what you are now planning.

[SarahHben]

38 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

Not knowledgeable on the Fjords so want to ask. Are you now essentially paying for a trip along the Fjord that the ship would have done for free? I know there are missed port insurance etc.. but just trying to understand the differences between what should have happened and what you are now planning.

We will still be sailing through the same fjord but not going quite as far. We were always due to stop at Hellesylt to let passengers off who had excursions booked for there, then the ship was due to go a little further along to Geiranger. 

Now we will dock at Hellesylt for the day. However the email does say we will sail past the Seven sisters waterfalls so it looks like we will sail down the extra length of fjord before or after docking.

I am expecting there to be a charge for a boat trip to Geiranger from Hellesylt but I would rather that than not sailing the fjord at all.

Sad I know, but you did ask 🤣I have marked off a map that shows my guessed route into the fjord and then I've marked Hellesylt with an H and Geirnger with a G.

Edited May 18, 2022 by SarahHben

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

That just about covers everything. You can relax now........USB charging cables. Top tip for Britannia and Iona. The shaver charging socket in the bathroom isn't. 

My shaver featured on antiques roadshow last year 

[Amyracecar]

3 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Not sure insensitive is a term I would use ,its just that we have sold this cruise to our relations who have never cruised before and are travelling with us, (admittedly not on this date) , we have visited Norway before but thought we would try the new ship and have booked excursion's to fit in with the ports on the itinerary and to suit our relatives , If as you state Olden has at some stage been cancelled and then a possible problem at Geiranger it does leave us wondering what we have sold them. I'm sure they will enjoy the scenery but if ports start been cancelled there is a limit to how much "scenic cruising"" you would want . Will be watching closely but its the late timings of the changes that are concerning

 

No offense intended, I wasn't talking about people such as yourself. I appreciate people find it worrying when they have lots to plan, but it's the ones who stir up bad feeling talking about how livid everyone should be. Personally I'm just glad to be going. The people on the previous sailing missed Olden due to weather so didn't get to do a long fjord sail-by at all. They've had a much worse time of it than us (at the time of writing), that's why I think it's not the best idea to be moaning to the extreme when really we've had a much less impacting change and some people are still upset about their own trip. As long as the weather is reasonable then Olden should still be on future itineraries, they got there this week with no problems. 

 

This one isn't as big a change to me because there's a chance we'll still get into Geiranger by some means. Hellesylt is still in a beautiful location and while excursions might be cancelled they should still be putting on some alternatives, possibly to some of the same places. If you're not on this sailing then all you can really do is wait and see what happens with this & any other future dates, to see how Iona copes and where she goes. It's sadly a risk of cruising, not the first time it's happened to me and unlikely to be the last. 

 

[Britboys]

What I would find most annoying is the usual lack of clear information about the reason for the change. As ever, it is the cover-all "operational reasons", which means nothing to all the pax who were expecting to be spending the day in Geiranger.

[Amyracecar]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

What I would find most annoying is the usual lack of clear information about the reason for the change. As ever, it is the cover-all "operational reasons", which means nothing to all the pax who were expecting to be spending the day in Geiranger.

 

I agree. So many rumours going around, and nobody really knows for sure but some are treating it as fact. If they just said what the problem was people might be annoyed, but at least they'd be annoyed about the right thing! 

[Pippa04]

Why do you have to be grateful that you're being forced into doing something different to what you spent a lot of money on?

[AuroraCruiser08]

22 hours ago, Hollers said:

Just received a message from P and O to say Iona is no longer calling at Geiranger for operational reason. No great problem as nearby Hellesylt will be given a full day with excursions from there.

Wondered if anyone knew what the 'operational reasons' are. Ship too big to berth?

I think you maybe right, to the extent there isn't a berth there as far as I remember. Looking at other cruiselines HAL in particular they say that a tender is reaquired. Having been on Iona she has no dedicated tenders just lifeboats, not an issue but maybe that's why. Will be interesting to see if all her Geiranger calls get pulled.

[BouncingWheel]

4 hours ago, SarahHben said:

We will still be sailing through the same fjord but not going quite as far. We were always due to stop at Hellesylt to let passengers off who had excursions booked for there, then the ship was due to go a little further along to Geiranger. 

Now we will dock at Hellesylt for the day. However the email does say we will sail past the Seven sisters waterfalls so it looks like we will sail down the extra length of fjord before or after docking.

I am expecting there to be a charge for a boat trip to Geiranger from Hellesylt but I would rather that than not sailing the fjord at all.

Sad I know, but you did ask 🤣I have marked off a map that shows my guessed route into the fjord and then I've marked Hellesylt with an H and Geirnger with a G.

Thanks. Very organized. I like your style!

[davecttr]

48 minutes ago, AuroraCruiser08 said:

I think you maybe right, to the extent there isn't a berth there as far as I remember. Looking at other cruiselines HAL in particular they say that a tender is reaquired. Having been on Iona she has no dedicated tenders just lifeboats, not an issue but maybe that's why. Will be interesting to see if all her Geiranger calls get pulled.

Geiranger now has the SeaWalk, an extendable jetty that concertinas out to where the ship is anchored

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Geiranger now has the SeaWalk, an extendable jetty that concertinas out to where the ship is anchored

But it only ever takes one ship at a time.

[Amyracecar]

 

44 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But it only ever takes one ship at a time.

Iona is the only ship due in on our date. 

[Fionboard]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

But it only ever takes one ship at a time.

And weather is a feature!.

[gsmt47471015]

6 hours ago, Amyracecar said:

 

No offense intended, I wasn't talking about people such as yourself. I appreciate people find it worrying when they have lots to plan, but it's the ones who stir up bad feeling talking about how livid everyone should be. Personally I'm just glad to be going. The people on the previous sailing missed Olden due to weather so didn't get to do a long fjord sail-by at all. They've had a much worse time of it than us (at the time of writing), that's why I think it's not the best idea to be moaning to the extreme when really we've had a much less impacting change and some people are still upset about their own trip. As long as the weather is reasonable then Olden should still be on future itineraries, they got there this week with no problems. 

 

This one isn't as big a change to me because there's a chance we'll still get into Geiranger by some means. Hellesylt is still in a beautiful location and while excursions might be cancelled they should still be putting on some alternatives, possibly to some of the same places. If you're not on this sailing then all you can really do is wait and see what happens with this & any other future dates, to see how Iona copes and where she goes. It's sadly a risk of cruising, not the first time it's happened to me and unlikely to be the last. 

 

We know that bad weather is beyond anybody's control and accept that and have suffered because of it on a number of cruises, we will wait and see how it pans out in July for our cruise, on a personal level we will accept what comes ,but my main concern is for our newbie cruising relatives who are looking forward to the various destinations

[Spike11]

54 minutes ago, Amyracecar said:

 

Iona is the only ship due in on our date. 

There’s actually two. Iona and World Explorer ( which is an expedition type ship with 200 passengers). If you look at the port website, you can see Iona crossed out! https://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/cruise-calls/. Some other sites such as crew centre are not uptodate unfortunately. Interestingly world explorer is also down as being in port when Iona docks  for the next cruise on 1st June - wonder what will happen as Hellesylt is already taken!

[Amyracecar]

59 minutes ago, Spike11 said:

There’s actually two. Iona and World Explorer ( which is an expedition type ship with 200 passengers). If you look at the port website, you can see Iona crossed out! https://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/cruise-calls/. Some other sites such as crew centre are not uptodate unfortunately. Interestingly world explorer is also down as being in port when Iona docks  for the next cruise on 1st June - wonder what will happen as Hellesylt is already taken!

 

This is actually quite interesting, thank you. The other sites I've seen haven't listed World Explorer, I wonder if they consider it too small or something. 

 

It does seem to suggest that Iona was/is booked for the sea walk when in port though, something that others have suggested isn't the case. (They were suggesting P&O had never booked/paid for it, was too big for it, all sorts of random reasons.) 

I doubt we'll ever know for sure, but it's something else to back up/refute any future rumours! 😁

[Britboys]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

But it only ever takes one ship at a time.

Indeed - but smaller ships can tender...

[molecrochip]

Hearing it could be a problem with sea walk or one of the moorings. There are a number of other ships crossed through that have cancelled calls.

[davecttr]

3 hours ago, Spike11 said:

There’s actually two. Iona and World Explorer ( which is an expedition type ship with 200 passengers). If you look at the port website, you can see Iona crossed out! https://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/cruise-calls/. Some other sites such as crew centre are not uptodate unfortunately. Interestingly world explorer is also down as being in port when Iona docks  for the next cruise on 1st June - wonder what will happen as Hellesylt is already taken!

That site has lots of information and shows that World Explorer is using anchorage 3S so they are tendering. Iona was scheduled to use 4B/SW which is the mooring point for the SeaWalk. It might be that for some reason Iona gets to Geiranger after World Explorer which would mean she is blocking access to the sea walk moorings? They also may have difficulties early season because of the temperature differential between the snow covered mountains and the Fjord, resulting in strong gusts.

 

Simple Eh!

 

edit - I will have a wander ashore at Hellesylt to take a piccie of the waterfall

Edited May 18, 2022 by davecttr

[Spike11]

9 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Hearing it could be a problem with sea walk or one of the moorings. There are a number of other ships crossed through that have cancelled calls.

Worked OK for Anthem of the Seas yesterday! Think she is longer and wider than Iona? Unless there is something peculiar about Ionas design - though that might stop her docking in future.

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Spike11

[Spike11]

8 hours ago, davecttr said:

That site has lots of information and shows that World Explorer is using anchorage 3S so they are tendering. Iona was scheduled to use 4B/SW which is the mooring point for the SeaWalk. It might be that for some reason Iona gets to Geiranger after World Explorer which would mean she is blocking access to the sea walk moorings? They also may have difficulties early season because of the temperature differential between the snow covered mountains and the Fjord, resulting in strong gusts.

 

Simple Eh!

 

edit - I will have a wander ashore at Hellesylt to take a piccie of the waterfall

Mmmm…. World Explorer was due to arrive after Iona and leave before. Also Anthem of the Seas used the sea walk yesterday with no problems ( and is a pretty similar size). I don’t really have a problem with the change - I just wish P&O would treat us with respect and tell us why they had to make the change! It just feels as though they are hiding something!

[Britboys]

4 hours ago, Spike11 said:

Mmmm…. World Explorer was due to arrive after Iona and leave before. Also Anthem of the Seas used the sea walk yesterday with no problems ( and is a pretty similar size). I don’t really have a problem with the change - I just wish P&O would treat us with respect and tell us why they had to make the change! It just feels as though they are hiding something!

It will be interesting to see whether MSC Grandiosa uses the Seawalk on Tuesday as she seems to be a very similar size with a similar draught...

[jaydee6969]

8 minutes ago, Britboys said:

It will be interesting to see whether MSC Grandiosa uses the Seawalk on Tuesday as she seems to be a very similar size with a similar draught...

 

Virtuosa used it this week with no problem, same size as Grandiosa.