Reduced port stays

[ak1004]

On our SS World Cup cruise, two ports were cancelled, including 3 night in Doha. The reason given? Qatar banned all cruise ships for the duration of the World Cup. The only problem? They announced the ban back in April 2022, and SS waited till October (6 weeks before the cruise) to cancel Doha. Some people called be bait and switch. But we don't know all the facts.

 

They also went to India and failed to notify us that India does not issue e-visa to Canadians. We almost had to cancel the whole cruise. Was it their fault? Some lines did cancel India, but SS didn't.

 

You can blame the cruise lines, or you can accept the fact that port changes are inevitable. You can blame the cruise lines for going into war zones, or you can accept responsibility that it was YOU who booked the cruise knowing all the facts, and it was YOU who failed to cancel before the final payment.

 

It's all about the attitude. As I mentioned, some people just like to blame everyone else. 

 

Oceania changed ports more than once. So did SS. We still continue sailing with both.

 

[sofietucker]

7 hours ago, vaitape said:

WTH? Is this the correct thread for the above posts regarding Myanmar? SORRY!

Yes, folks are discussing that here, as part of the thread's main topic of Oceania's recent pattern of reducing port times and its counterpart, cancelled ports. (My TA's phone is blowing up with her Oceania clients right now...) While I don't have a dog in this fight, I've been following it with interest as we are starting to plan some world cruises. Here's something current that I just found, from one of the main river-cruise companies, Pandaw 27,  that goes from Thailand throughout Myanmar/Burma (which is okay to still call it, yay!):

BURMA TRAVEL UPDATE

Due to the ongoing situation in Burma, we have made the difficult decision to cancel all scheduled Burma departures until further notice. It is with great sadness that we must announce that we are cancelling all future cruises in Myanmar (Burma). We believe the current deplorable situation will only deteriorate further and it may be some time before any kind of normality returns and it is safe to travel. We feel that it is unfair to have to keep rebooking passengers over and over and it would be better to cancel now, offer alternatives or refunds, and then relaunch Myanmar when advisories against travel are lifted.

In the meantime, we will be focussing our efforts in Burma on our Pandaw Clinics appeal which is providing medical assistance to those injured in the violence. More details about our humanitarian work and our appeal can be found at pandawclinics.com.

You can still register your interest for our expeditions below and we will contact you to discuss your arrangement once travel to Burma returns.

[vaitape]

Sofietucker, thank you for the information. 

[the more ports the better]

Sofie, thanks for pointing out the Myanmar/Burma issue.  A few months ago I was in White House Black Market looking for conservative clothing for the sailing.  A saleswoman told me she was from Burma.  She asked me to please pass the word that citizens of her country would appreciate if we referred to their country as Burma.

 

Back to the reduced/skipped port issue.  We all understand that it happens.  What we don’t understand is O’s refusal to inform passengers when they determine that changes will be made.

[diogenes65]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:28 AM, chengkp75 said:

That depends on how the shore power is generated.  If the power comes from an oil or coal powered power plant, then no.  If it comes from hydro or other "renewable" source, then yes, for carbon footprint.  Typically, there is no cost savings for shore power, and most times it is more expensive (the infrastructure at the port has to be paid off), and there is a cost to the cruise line for installing the shore power equipment on the ship.  The main reason for ports requiring shore power is to remove pollutants from the port area, not to change the carbon footprint.

I eliminated by carbon footprint when I stopped wearig carbon shoes.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Isn't the Marina scheduled to port at the Dockyard in Bermuda today?  It seemed to bypass the pier without stopping, 

[SophieM]

2 minutes ago, Barb Nahoumi said:

Isn't the Marina scheduled to port at the Dockyard in Bermuda today?  It seemed to bypass the pier without stopping, 

Gale force winds were forecasted, so the captain canceled the stop. We sail on, which is absolutely ok by us!

[pinotlover]

18 minutes ago, SophieM said:

Gale force winds were forecasted, so the captain canceled the stop. We sail on, which is absolutely ok by us!

It would be great if Barb reported back as to whether those gale force winds ever really materialized.

 

24 minutes ago, Barb Nahoumi said:

Isn't the Marina scheduled to port at the Dockyard in Bermuda today?  It seemed to bypass the pier without stopping, 

 

[Tyskie]

21 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

It would be great if Barb reported back as to whether those gale force winds ever really materialized.

 

 

 

We have had gale force winds in NE FL/GA coast yesterday and today (Easter)  I'm sure most of the East Coast was affected.

[njhorseman]

Norwegian Pearl made its scheduled port call in Bermuda today. Marina's call was canceled. 

[1985rz1]

43 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Norwegian Pearl made its scheduled port call in Bermuda today. Marina's call was canceled. 

Could ship size be a factor?

[SophieM]

13 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

Could ship size be a factor?

If you look at the Pearl’s itinerary, it looks to me to be a simple Bermuda to New York and back. Quite a bit different than ours. I’m not going to second guess the captain. 

[1985rz1]

12 minutes ago, SophieM said:

I’m not going to second guess the captain. 

I wouldn't either.  Just curious if ship size factors into docking/tendering when the seas are high.  I would thjnk so.  

Edited April 9, 2023 by 1985rz1

[SophieM]

12 minutes ago, SophieM said:

If you look at the Pearl’s itinerary, it looks to me to be a simple Bermuda to New York and back. Quite a bit different than ours. I’m not going to second guess the captain. 

7 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

I wouldn't either.  Just curious if ship size factors into docking/tendering when the seas are high.  I would guess so.

Good question, and I sure didn’t mean to be snarky. And correction—the Pearl’s itinerary is 7 day, round trip Boston. 

[njhorseman]

59 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

Could ship size be a factor?

Pearl isn't one of NCL's really big ships so I doubt it was a factor.  In fact a big ship could be more problematic in high winds, depending on wind direction, because the high profile of the ship can cause it to act like a giant sail, and because the beam and draft of the larger ship means less margin for error if the ship were blown off course in the relatively shallow and narrow channel the ships use to enter Bermuda.

I agree with @SophieM's thought that the decision was itinerary driven. Marina was scheduled for a short port call on a transatlantic itinerary while Pearl is scheduled for 3 days in Bermuda on a roundtrip from Boston. It probably wasn't worth fighting the wind for just a couple of hours in port while the call in  Bermuda is the whole reason for the Pearl's itinerary.

[SophieM]

49 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

I wouldn't either.  Just curious if ship size factors into docking/tendering when the seas are high.  I would thjnk so.  

 

2 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Pearl isn't one of NCL's really big ships so I doubt it was a factor.  In fact a big ship could be more problematic in high winds, depending on wind direction, because the high profile of the ship can cause it to act like a giant sail, and because the beam and draft of the larger ship means less margin for error if the ship were blown off course in the relatively shallow and narrow channel the ships use to enter Bermuda.

I agree with @SophieM's thought that the decision was itinerary driven. Marina was scheduled for a short port call on a transatlantic itinerary while Pearl is scheduled for 3 days in Bermuda on a roundtrip from Boston. It probably wasn't worth fighting the wind for just a couple of hours in port while the call in  Bermuda is the whole reason for the Pearl's itinerary.

3 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Pearl isn't one of NCL's really big ships so I doubt it was a factor.  In fact a big ship could be more problematic in high winds, depending on wind direction, because the high profile of the ship can cause it to act like a giant sail, and because the beam and draft of the larger ship means less margin for error if the ship were blown off course in the relatively shallow and narrow channel the ships use to enter Bermuda.

I agree with @SophieM's thought that the decision was itinerary driven. Marina was scheduled for a short port call on a transatlantic itinerary while Pearl is scheduled for 3 days in Bermuda on a roundtrip from Boston. It probably wasn't worth fighting the wind for just a couple of hours in port while the call in  Bermuda is the whole reason for the Pearl's itinerary.

You said it much better than I, Horseman. Thanks! By the way, I once owned the rear ends of a couple of race horses. That’s about all they were worth, too. 🙂

[pinotlover]

Checked the Hamilton forecast. Rainy but no gale force winds or anything near it. 20kph. Actually rather calm there now. < 2 mph. Marina saved docking fees and the cruisers had another sea day. We experienced much the same with that Captain in SA. 
 

Maybe the weather in FL is different than in Bermuda. 🙄

[SophieM]

13 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Checked the Hamilton forecast. Rainy but no gale force winds or anything near it. 20kph. Actually rather calm there now. < 2 mph. Marina saved docking fees and the cruisers had another sea day. We experienced much the same with that Captain in SA. 
 

Maybe the weather in FL is different than in Bermuda. 🙄

I think weather is a fickle mistress. The day & night before we were to leave home for our cruise on the Marina, all the local weather people were forecasting grapefruit size hail and a strong chance of tornadoes and high winds. Fortunately for us, it went further south and caused devastation and loss of life in southeast Missouri. I continue to believe the captain made the best decision with the information he had at the time. 

[lj77346]

As we had 9 weeks between Oceania cruises, we decided we needed a cruise in between so we took a cruises out of Galveston on the Ruby Princess.  The cruise was supposed to go to Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.  This cruise showed that Oceania isn't the only line that cancels ports as the captain decided that it would be unsafe to call at Roatan (high winds) and Costa Maya (high swells) so for awhile it seemed like we would have a 7 day cruise to nowhere.  Incidentally, on the days when we missed ports, it was nice and sunny and the sailing seemed smooth, so you have to believe that the captain made his decision based on safety.  On both occasions, the decision to skip the port was made (announced) at about the time we were supposed to arrive and you could see that we were near the port and the harbor pilot was onboard.  We did make it to Cozumel and arrived the evening before we were scheduled to arrive and stayed there over night.

 

As compensation for the missed ports, Princess refunded the port charges for Roatan and Costa Maya, about $17 per person per port and because of the missed ports we got a "goodwill" refundable onboard credit of $75 per person (I don't know if you got more if you were in a more expensive room).  This was different than Oceania's policy of you missed a port, tough luck.  So while passengers were disappointed about the missed ports, at least Princess made a gesture to compensate a bit because the cruise did not go as planned.

[Barb Nahoumi]

23 hours ago, Tyskie said:

 

We have had gale force winds in NE FL/GA coast yesterday and today (Easter)  I'm sure most of the East Coast was affected.

I was watching the ship arrivals at home on my computer, so I had no idea how the winds were yesterday.  I'm sure that the captains made the right decisions for safety.

[Wasasalad]

[Wasasalad]

Just now, Wasasalad said:

How accurate are the port charts for ships in port? Regatta according to this arrived at 12pm. Oceania has us arriving at 9am. Originally 8am. 

[sofietucker]

22 hours ago, lj77346 said:

(snip)

 

As compensation for the missed ports, Princess refunded the port charges for Roatan and Costa Maya, about $17 per person per port and because of the missed ports we got a "goodwill" refundable onboard credit of $75 per person (I don't know if you got more if you were in a more expensive room).  This was different than Oceania's policy of you missed a port, tough luck.  So while passengers were disappointed about the missed ports, at least Princess made a gesture to compensate a bit because the cruise did not go as planned.

Allianz Global insurance also reimburses for missed ports, $100pp per port. I don't believe stateroom category is a factor.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

On 4/11/2023 at 10:02 AM, sofietucker said:

Allianz Global insurance also reimburses for missed ports, $100pp per port. I don't believe stateroom category is a factor.

I'm (finally) a little curious about Allianz, as there are many people who recommend them on Facebook cruise pages.  But I'm also curious - are their prices more or less comparable to other similar companies that do NOT reimburse for missed ports?  I know the cost of insurance depends on the cost of the overall trip, a person's age, etc.  But have you ever compared a cruise you've taken to any other policies?  I've compared Allianz (forget which plan) once to what I usually purchase on other companies, and Allianze wouldn't save me anything.  In the past I can't remember missing more than one port in any cruise other than our problematic Australia/New Zealand one, where wild fires and winds wreaked havoc.  So I'm kind of wondering if Allianz just keeps getting recommended over and over again because of the publicity it gets on Facebook and Cruise Critic, or if there's a solid reason I should consider using them. (I typically browse plans on Trip Insurance Store or Insure My Trip or Squaremouth.  I don't always purchase insurance from the same company.)

[susiesan]

37 minutes ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I'm (finally) a little curious about Allianz, as there are many people who recommend them on Facebook cruise pages.  But I'm also curious - are their prices more or less comparable to other similar companies that do NOT reimburse for missed ports?  I know the cost of insurance depends on the cost of the overall trip, a person's age, etc.  But have you ever compared a cruise you've taken to any other policies?  I've compared Allianz (forget which plan) once to what I usually purchase on other companies, and Allianze wouldn't save me anything.  In the past I can't remember missing more than one port in any cruise other than our problematic Australia/New Zealand one, where wild fires and winds wreaked havoc.  So I'm kind of wondering if Allianz just keeps getting recommended over and over again because of the publicity it gets on Facebook and Cruise Critic, or if there's a solid reason I should consider using them. (I typically browse plans on Trip Insurance Store or Insure My Trip or Squaremouth.  I don't always purchase insurance from the same company.)

I'm getting ready to buy an annual policy, comparing Allianz AllTrips Premier and Geo Blue Trekker Choice. Within the year of my policy will be 2 safaris in Africa and one cruise on Oceania. Based on our ages, the geo Blue annual is $460.00 for 2, the Allianz is $485. Both have the same med evacuation coverage of $500K, the main reason I am buying it for. Geo Blue has much more medical expense coverage than Allianz. I do not see anything in the Allianz policy that reimburses for a missed port. I will wait to buy the insurance a few days before I leave for Botswana on May 11 so I get the most time insured from an annual policy.