QM2 to miss Flaam

[sogne]

QM2 will not be visiting Flam on Saturday 18th because of environmental issues. Instead will be in Stavanger. Other ports not affected.

[57eric]

It's hard for me to imagine Flam having an environmental issue severe enough for Cunard to avoid docking there.  Or could the ship be experiencing a problem?

[ExArkie]

I know that a couple of years ago, Norway adopted regulations for zero emissions in the World Heritage fjords (those being Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord, the latter being connected to Aurlandsfjord where Flam is located). This was to be accomplished "as soon as technically feasible" or by 2026 at the latest.

 

Is this diversion related in some way to that regulation? 

[bluemarble]

All a bit mysterious at the moment as to the environmental issue involved. Cruise ships remain on the Flam Port Ship Arrivals 2022 schedule. Rotterdam is due in tomorrow and Deutschland will be calling on Saturday.

 

After spot checking the ships on the Flam port schedule with previously published schedules for Flam posted on other sites, the only significant difference I happened to see is QM2 no longer calling at Flam on Saturday. QM2 is still on the Flam port schedule for September 7th. Monster ships such as Anthem of the Seas and MSC Grandiosa remain on the schedule and multiple ships are still scheduled on some days.

Edited June 16, 2022 by bluemarble

[alc13]

Our recent cruise on Silversea originally listed Flam but it was replaced with something else (Olden, I think).  I assumed it was because of the environmental issue.

[TheOldBear]

2 hours ago, alc13 said:

Our recent cruise on Silversea originally listed Flam but it was replaced with something else (Olden, I think).  I assumed it was because of the environmental issue.

Could the port be having problems with their 'shore power' hookup ?? 

Ships without shore power would need to run their engines in port

[sogne]

11 hours ago, 57eric said:

It's hard for me to imagine Flam having an environmental issue severe enough for Cunard to avoid docking there.  Or could the ship be experiencing a problem?

Ship has no problem as far as I know all is virtually normal. Captain quoted  restrictions  on ships which do not reach Norwegian requirement ref environment. Further calls may also be affected the larger ships mentioned by others here may reach the standard needed or not.

[bluemarble]

Whatever the environmental standard is, apparently Holland America's MS Rotterdam meets it.

 

I was intending to show QM2 at Flam on Saturday (having received permission to post the webcam image from the site owner a couple days ago). Now I will have to make do with showing MS Rotterdam at Flam today instead.

 

Here is a capture from the Flam Webcam hosted by "Norway's best" found at "www.norwaysbest.com/information/webcam/flam-webcam/".

 

This image could almost qualify as a "Daily sunrise photo" image as well. It was captured at 7:10am local time this morning.

 

[ace2542]

Is this going to be a permanent thing mssing flam? We are due to go in September. And FWIW no cruise ship meets the emissions target. As a former energy broker I know they don't take my word for that. They use 2 GIG a day that is 2 MILLION KWH of electric per day if I understand the talk about ship operation on NCL bliss. QM2 won't be much different might use a bit less but not much

Edited June 17, 2022 by ace2542

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

Whatever the environmental standard is, apparently Holland America's MS Rotterdam meets it.

 

I was intending to show QM2 at Flam on Saturday (having received permission to post the webcam image from the site owner a couple days ago). Now I will have to make do with showing MS Rotterdam at Flam today instead.

 

Here is a capture from the Flam Webcam hosted by "Norway's best" found at "www.norwaysbest.com/information/webcam/flam-webcam/".

 

This image could almost qualify as a "Daily sunrise photo" image as well. It was captured at 7:10am local time this morning.

 

 

With a little embellishment to the funnel, you could almost claim the new QA was finished and out early. 😀

[JSR]

We were in Flam on June 15 on the Silversea Moon, we tenedered as MSC Virtuosa was at the dock. 

[sogne]

1 hour ago, JSR said:

We were in Flam on June 15 on the Silversea Moon, we tenedered as MSC Virtuosa was at the dock. 

The size or otherwise of a ship are irrelevant it the emissions that count and clearly QM2 does not meet the requirements. Have just excursion up Hjordfiord and the clear water and reflection of mountains and waterfalls shows perhaps  why QM2 is not allowed into Flaam.

[ace2542]

2 hours ago, sogne said:

The size or otherwise of a ship are irrelevant it the emissions that count and clearly QM2 does not meet the requirements. Have just excursion up Hjordfiord and the clear water and reflection of mountains and waterfalls shows perhaps  why QM2 is not allowed into Flaam.

No cruise ship meets the requirements though? They all have super high emissions with their power generation from Diesel or LGP/LNG using 2 GIG a day. 730 GIG a year. Enough to power the city of Southampton many times over.

Edited June 17, 2022 by ace2542

[BouncingWheel]

7 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

No cruise ship meets the requirements though? They all have super high emissions with their power generation from Diesel or LGP/LNG using 2 GIG a day. 730 GIG a year. Enough to power the city of Southampton many times over.

Obviously some have better than others and Flaam have drawn the line somewhere and QM2 is unfortunately the wrong side of that line. Whether we think the line is fair or correct is irrelevant as it is their port and their rules. 

Would be nice to know before arriving/departing/paying balance/booking etc... but who knows when Cunard were informed of this rule.

[ace2542]

4 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

Obviously some have better than others and Flaam have drawn the line somewhere and QM2 is unfortunately the wrong side of that line. Whether we think the line is fair or correct is irrelevant as it is their port and their rules. 

Would be nice to know before arriving/departing/paying balance/booking etc... but who knows when Cunard were informed of this rule.

How did they determine this? Do an MOT on it and test the emissions like they do on a car?. So far as I am aware  they can't do that without a dry dock but I might be wrong about that.

 

They should close all the fijords to all cruise ships if that is how they feel.

[sogne]

18 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

Obviously some have better than others and Flaam have drawn the line somewhere and QM2 is unfortunately the wrong side of that line. Whether we think the line is fair or correct is irrelevant as it is their port and their rules. 

Would be nice to know before arriving/departing/paying balance/booking etc... but who knows when Cunard were informed of this rule.

Captain said 24 hours ago Thursday

[sogne]

1 hour ago, ace2542 said:

How did they determine this? Do an MOT on it and test the emissions like they do on a car?. So far as I am aware  they can't do that without a dry dock but I might be wrong about that.

 

They should close all the fijords to all cruise ships if that is how they feel.

Only UNESCO Heritage ports Flam & Geiranger are affected.

[Host Hattie]

Hope the change isn't too disappointing for those onboard, I would have thought those ports would have been the cruise highlights

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

Hope the change isn't too disappointing for those onboard, I would have thought those ports would have been the cruise highlights

 

Only Flam was on the current QM2 cruise itinerary. Geiranger is the other port affected because of its UNESCO status but QM2 hasn't called there in quite a few years (not since 2014 according to my records). Iconic shots of QM2 at the Seven Sisters waterfall in Geirangerfjord (such as this jigsaw puzzle image I posted once before) might be a thing of the past.

 

[LadyL1]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

Only Flam was on the current QM2 cruise itinerary. Geiranger is the other port affected because of its UNESCO status but QM2 hasn't called there in quite a few years (not since 2014 according to my records). Iconic shots of QM2 at the Seven Sisters waterfall in Geirangerfjord (such as this jigsaw puzzle image I posted once before) might be a thing of the past.

 

Yes, I have that in the cupboard!😉

[sogne]

12 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

Hope the change isn't too disappointing for those onboard, I would have thought those ports would have been the cruise highlights

Had an excellent excursion from Alesund looking forward to Sky Lift at Loen using obc from Flam excursion

[Host Hattie]

Sounds good, thank you for the update

[sogne]

29 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Sounds good, thank you for the update

Sunny i Stavanger rain in Flam according 3 Nowegian Met Office 4cast 4 2day

[LadyL1]

Found this on “Ferry & Shipping News”

Norway has taken the audacious decision to ban all polluting ships from the UNESCO World Heritage fjords. The resolution will impact the cruise and ferry industry heavily, way beyond these fjords.

https://ferryshippingnews.com/norways-bold-environmental-decisions-catalyst-for-change/
The link is above if you are interested.

 

[bluemarble]

7 hours ago, sogne said:

Sunny i Stavanger rain in Flam according 3 Nowegian Met Office 4cast 4 2day

 

Here's the rainy view this afternoon as seen on the Flam Webcam hosted by the "Norway's best" website. The ship in this view instead of QM2 is MS Deutschland. Weatherwise it looks like you've managed to turn lemons into lemonade with the port change today from Flam to Stavanger.