Anyone Currently on Explorer?

[papaflamingo]

11 hours ago, Trunkabella said:

....we’re not happy about missing Napier and don’t feel that another shipboard credit compensates for the miss.

What would make you happy about missing a port if not a very generous $250 OBC?  We missed ports on both our cruises for weather and didn't expect, demand, nor receive anything for it.  The contract we all sign states that Regent can cancel or change the itinerary with no compensation due.  $250 per port seems very generous to me. 

[mrlevin]

Looks like Explorer is meandering just off the coast near Tauranga waiting for daylight cleaning.  No idea how long it will take but I wonder if Wellington is now in danger of late arrival.  Wellington was probably one of my favorite stops in New Zealand.

Edited January 14, 2023 by mrlevin

[flossie009]

There is a description of the likely cleaning process in post #19 of a thread about Cunard's Queen Elizabeth, also caught out by the NZ protocols:

 

[irishwitchy]

On the ship,  cleaning got started four hours late.  I was watching the dive boat, too dangerous for the divers to start on time.  Enjoying the trip, but it appearing another port will be missed.  Let’s see what happens next. 
 

We only had dinner once in Compass Rose - it was loud, chaotic and not luxury at all.  Food was very good.  Staff seems very green, overall.  I didn’t feel this way in July on Splendor, but the ship was less full.  

[GOARMY]

flossie009:

 

Second time today (first was Amazon River Cruise Thread) referring to your comments.  

 

Thank you for providing link to that Cunard site.  Took time necessary to review Postings.  Most-dispositive are those offered by Chengkp75.  Brings science, experience, and perspective to this situation.  Detailed explanations, with visuals.  Links to other relevant sites.   

 

No further editorial comment will be made.   

 

Suggest others review same.  

 

GOARMY!

 

 

 

 

[Trunkabella]

I agree that $250 is generous.  But we didn’t fly halfway around the world to sit on a ship when we should be seeing New Zealand.  Cruise ships miss ports all of the time for a variety of reasons - most out of their control and I would not seek compensation in those instances.  The question is whether Regent is providing the proper oversight for the cleaning.  I haven’t heard of any other line that needed three cleanings to get it right.  Are there others?

[mrlevin]

Its now 5pm on Sunday in New Zealand and they are apparently still working on Explorer's hull.  If they left now and went full speed to Wellington it would still be 3 or 4pm Monday before they arrived.  Given they are scheduled to depart at 8pm, when will Regent just bite the bullet and cancel Wellington?  Only reason I could see still going there is if there are crew or passengers or provisions to pick up; even then, its a lot of work to tie up a ship for just a four hour visit.

[SkystheLimit]

2 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Its now 5pm on Sunday in New Zealand and they are apparently still working on Explorer's hull.  If they left now and went full speed to Wellington it would still be 3 or 4pm Monday before they arrived.  Given they are scheduled to depart at 8pm, when will Regent just bite the bullet and cancel Wellington?  Only reason I could see still going there is if there are crew or passengers or provisions to pick up; even then, its a lot of work to tie up a ship for just a four hour visit.

Unbelievable that this situation is still going on for so many ships in or trying to enter NZ.  Either the government officials/inspectors are impossible to please or the government recommended diving contractors are incompetent. So, it appears to be a governments issue one way or the other. Very sad that so many are inconvenienced and that many tour operators in NZ are suffering losses that they can not afford.  

Edited January 15, 2023 by SkystheLimit

[rkaratsu]

No Wellington. Was told we will be docking instead in Gisborne 😪.  (Apparently, this is closest port to where we currently are).

 

TBH, I'm not holding my breath for Gisborne to happen but we'll see how things evolve.  At this point, I'd say the entire remaining NZ itinerary is up in the air.  

Edited January 15, 2023 by rkaratsu

[flossie009]

MarineTraffic shows Explorer heading for Gisborne; scheduled to arrive 06:00 on Jan 16.

The rest of Explorer’s NZ itinerary will have to be revised. Very frustrating & disappointing for guests; a nightmare for staff trying to deal with the changes.

Just hope the latest hull cleaning attempts were more successful and pass inspection.

 

I am sure NCLH, and the rest of the cruise industry, will be reevaluating the risks & costs of trying to operate in this region in the future.

 

 

[saz25]

We were on the previous Explorer cruise from Sydney to Auckland. We only visited Melbourne from the original itinerary. All due to bio foul issues.

 

The result is that Regent refunded all cruise portion of our fare. Thus we had something like 12 sea days instead of any NZ ports.

 

I suspect the current passengers will receive a similar refund if this continues as it seems.

 

[Pcardad]

8 minutes ago, saz25 said:

We were on the previous Explorer cruise from Sydney to Auckland. We only visited Melbourne from the original itinerary. All due to bio foul issues.

 

The result is that Regent refunded all cruise portion of our fare. Thus we had something like 12 sea days instead of any NZ ports.

 

I suspect the current passengers will receive a similar refund if this continues as it seems.

 

Regent should sue the pants off the government sanctioned cleaning services...the first screw up is on Regent, the rest are on the cleaning company. When  government approves a company to clean hulls in accordance with government standards and regulations there is an implication that said company will do the job in accordance with government standards and regulations.

[slidebite]

I understand Regent is in a predicament here with the cleaners and it's now a no-win scenario and making the best of a bad situation, but I agree with some of the others that $250 OBC, even if generous, would be totally wasted on people like my wife and I. The major reason we pay the significant premium to cruise Regent in the first place is that I don't have any other real expenses once onboard.

 

I guess we could buy something in a shop or get a massage, but at that point it's spending money for the sake of spending money... so yeah it's a not great situation.

 

I hope the rest of the cruise turns around for the people onboard.

Edited January 15, 2023 by slidebite

[jeb_bud]

1 hour ago, slidebite said:

I understand Regent is in a predicament here with the cleaners and it's now a no-win scenario and making the best of a bad situation, but I agree with some of the others that $250 OBC, even if generous, would be totally wasted on people like my wife and I. The major reason we pay the significant premium to cruise Regent in the first place is that I don't have any other real expenses once onboard.

 

I guess we could buy something in a shop or get a massage, but at that point it's spending money for the sake of spending money... so yeah it's a not great situation.

 

I hope the rest of the cruise turns around for the people onboard.

I wonder if they would let you use the OBC as a future cruise credit?

[Bigdogwon]

Just a thought, do you think that people who have made a deposit or who are thinking of a New Zealand/Aus. cruise next are having second thoughts?  I know that we are...

[makai 7]

We canceled a 2024 NZ to Bali before all this latest debacle unfolded.  They had already changed the itinerary to remove Cairns because the old port closed and I suspect there were no berths available at the new cruise port.  Something just didn’t feel right about the cruise.  Now I am relieved that we won’t have to deal with a changed or canceled cruise.

[European_CruiseGirl]

9 minutes ago, Bigdogwon said:

Just a thought, do you think that people who have made a deposit or who are thinking of a New Zealand/Aus. cruise next are having second thoughts?  I know that we are...

 

We are booked on a cruise that goes to NZ/Aus in 2025. I keep on hoping that by 2025 this problem has already been solved. If the situation remains as it is now still around late 2023/early 2024 we will most likely change to another RSSC cruise/cancel our RSSC cruise completely and change to Silversea or Seabourn on a different route. 

[Stickman1990]

3 minutes ago, makai 7 said:

They had already changed the itinerary to remove Cairns because the old port closed and I suspect there were no berths available at the new cruise port. 

Are you sure you mean Cairns? There hasn’t been any changes to the port facilities there. I believe you mean Brisbane where one of the cruise terminals has been closed by the authorities - and getting access to the other terminal which is already heavily booked has proven difficult. That’s hardly Regents fault

[makai 7]

2 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Are you sure you mean Cairns? There hasn’t been any changes to the port facilities there. I believe you mean Brisbane where one of the cruise terminals has been closed by the authorities - and getting access to the other terminal which is already heavily booked has proven difficult. That’s hardly Regents fault

Yes, sorry, you are right- Brisbane.  And I did say that they were probably not able to get a berth at the other terminal.  I did not blame Regent.  I simply said that I had a bad feeling about the cruise and chose to cancel it.  There are other places I want to go.

[Lonedaddy]

Amazing how many people still haven’t received their luggage as Auckland airport is a mess.  The NZ government doesn’t seem to be on top of their game.  If I say what I really think my post will get pulled and it really is information people need to know before they invest $$$ in a cruise or trip here.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Lonedaddy

[Lonedaddy]

Gisborne is a nice little town but all there is to do is walk the shops as the offered no tours.  At least the folks with missing luggage can finally resupply.

[Lonedaddy]

3 hours ago, European_CruiseGirl said:

 

We are booked on a cruise that goes to NZ/Aus in 2025. I keep on hoping that by 2025 this problem has already been solved. If the situation remains as it is now still around late 2023/early 2024 we will most likely change to another RSSC cruise/cancel our RSSC cruise completely and change to Silversea or Seabourn on a different route. 

NZ needs to decide if they want cruise ships or not and then provide rules that work.  If a company is certified to clean the ship then it is upon them to meet the standards.  I really can’t blame regent for this mess they are at the mercy of bureaucrats that do not see the real damage they are causing .  How about the tour guides that are already just recovering from Covid and the the NZ govt dumps on them again.  

[chengkp75]

On 1/12/2023 at 3:54 PM, Lonedaddy said:

I still would like to know why these approved cleaning companies are falling short or is it overzealous NZ inspectors.  The fact explorer (and a host of other ships) were in Auckland port presumably means that the fungus is already in NZ waters. Not sure what the end game is as far as NZ or what game they are playing.  

If you read the NZ regulations, the only "government approved" cleaning services are those that a vessel uses within 24 hours of entering NZ waters, and only in NZ waters.  I understand the Explorer was cleaned in Australia waters, so the cleaning contractor is not "approved" by the NZ government.

On 1/12/2023 at 7:44 PM, Pcardad said:

Hulls are cleaned regularly as a dirty hull hurts fuel consumption and that is a HUGE expense. NZ's rules are off the chart in terms of normal but cruise lines comply. Regent paid to have a company that was APPROVED BY NZ clean the hull and the company failed. 

Typically, hulls are not cleaned regularly, except in dry dock.  NZ rules are a mandatory version of the IMO guidelines regarding hull fouling, and if a cruise line maintains records of following the guidelines set by IMO, then cleaning is not required.  As noted, the IMO has already accepted hull fouling guidelines, worldwide, and I would expect way more countries to adopt these as regulations in the coming years, and within a decade they will be mandatory worldwide.  See my comment above about the "approved" company.

On 1/12/2023 at 7:10 PM, Sunprince said:

I am no marine expert….and I hate to state the glaringly obvious here. What is Regent’s protocol for regularly cleaning the hulls of its ships?

The same as every other ship, cruise or otherwise, in the world, you clean the hull at dry dock, or when a local regulation requires it.

On 1/12/2023 at 3:54 PM, Lonedaddy said:

I still would like to know why these approved cleaning companies are falling short or is it overzealous NZ inspectors.

Again, the cleaning company was not "approved".

 

In addition to my comments that have been linked here from the Cunard forum, if growth is particularly "hard" (heavy mollusk encrustation), the brush carts used will not work, as they will simply crawl over the encrustation.  Then it falls to hand scraping by the divers, which is extremely difficult, physically exhausting, and very time consuming for the divers.

 

Other ships have been turned away from NZ than cruise ships, it is just that cruise ships get the publicity.

 

Hull cleaning is not limited to a 30 day time limit, as someone posted.  The inspection/cleaning needs to be done within 30 days prior to entering NZ waters, and then if the ship maintains records of how they are meeting the IMO biofouling guidelines (or the NZ regulations, which are the same), they do not need to have another inspection or cleaning.

Edited January 15, 2023 by chengkp75

[chengkp75]

2 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

NZ needs to decide if they want cruise ships or not and then provide rules that work.  If a company is certified to clean the ship then it is upon them to meet the standards.

Read the regulations completely, and you will find that they do work, and are not that odious for vessels, if properly implemented.  And, once again, the cleaning company, in Australia, was not "authorized" by the NZ government, and was not required to be so.

[Pcardad]

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Read the regulations completely, and you will find that they do work, and are not that odious for vessels, if properly implemented.  And, once again, the cleaning company, in Australia, was not "authorized" by the NZ government, and was not required to be so.

Are you certain that this company was not on the approved list or are you saying that this company did not have to be on the approved list....