Cancelled ports

[exiledowl]

We are taking our first world cruise in December, lasting nearly 5 months. It's only a relatively small ship (850pax) and many of the ports of call will be tender ports.

Having done a lot of research on "What's in port " we've found that in quite a few cases cruise ships fail to call at a port, usually due to the sea being too rough to tender.

Has anyone experienced this regularly on a world cruise?

For instance, one of the places on our schedule is Easter Island and we'd be really disappointed to miss it.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, exiledowl said:

We are taking our first world cruise in December, lasting nearly 5 months. It's only a relatively small ship (850pax) and many of the ports of call will be tender ports.

Having done a lot of research on "What's in port " we've found that in quite a few cases cruise ships fail to call at a port, usually due to the sea being too rough to tender.

Has anyone experienced this regularly on a world cruise?

For instance, one of the places on our schedule is Easter Island and we'd be really disappointed to miss it.

 

By nature of World Cruises visiting more ports and in the furthest reaches of the World, yes, they have a higher probability of missing ports.

 

On all our World Cruises we have missed at least a couple of ports.

 

Easter Island is unfortunately one that is often missed due to swells and wind waves. We were lucky on our first World Cruise in that we got ashore in Easter Island. It was the first time in 5-years. Wishing you are as lucky and manage to get ashore. 

[exiledowl]

Thanks for your good wishes Heidi13.

The reason I've posted this is to try and judge what kind of % we might miss.

We cruised to Greenland and Iceland last August and had the misfortune to miss 2 out of a grand total of only 12!

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, exiledowl said:

Thanks for your good wishes Heidi13.

The reason I've posted this is to try and judge what kind of % we might miss.

We cruised to Greenland and Iceland last August and had the misfortune to miss 2 out of a grand total of only 12!

 

When cruising to these types of regions, unfortunately you need to be aware for the potential for missing ports. When cruising to Greenland and Iceland it is critical to research the ship's ice classification, as ships cannot legally sail in ice that exceeds their classification.

 

In 2025, we have booked a 133-day Pole to Pole that has multiple stops in Greenland & Iceland. The ship is not ice classed, so I have already set my expectations that we may not get into any of these ports. If we do, it is a bonus.

 

As to providing a percentage of what ports will be missed, unfortunately it isn't possible to provide an informed opinion, due to the number of variables. In addition to the weather variable, the design of the ship, her classification and the itinerary are also key considerations. Some ports, such as Napier in New Zealand are a tough arrival for cruise ships, due to the narrow entrance and frequent winds.

 

Whereas, in Sydney Aus, I have docked multiple times, in winds well in excess of those that prevented us docking in Napier. 

[sandiego1]

On the 2023 HAL WC, we missed the following ports:

Tolanaro, Madagascar- due to Cyclone Freddy

East London,South Africa- I don’t recall the reason as we were on a safari overland and missed the port anyway 

Dakar, Senegal- political unrest (we docked for the entire day but weren’t allowed off the ship)

Brest, France - weather 

La Havre, France - strikes , but Dover, England was substituted

[exiledowl]

I know my original question had a bit of a "how long is a piece of string "look about it but I'm glad for your information Heidi13. The cruise companies themselves always bury the stuff about missing ports somewhere in the small print.

Thanks too sandiego 1, Dakar, East London and Tolognaro are 3 of our destinations out of a possible 66!

We were thinking of booking a private tour to the latter, we'll think again now.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We flew into Easter Island and stayed for 3 days because   often missed due to swells and wind waves

[sandiego1]

17 hours ago, exiledowl said:

I know my original question had a bit of a "how long is a piece of string "look about it but I'm glad for your information Heidi13. The cruise companies themselves always bury the stuff about missing ports somewhere in the small print.

Thanks too sandiego 1, Dakar, East London and Tolognaro are 3 of our destinations out of a possible 66!

We were thinking of booking a private tour to the latter, we'll think again now.

If you do go to Tolanaro, I recommend Dodi’s Lemur Tours:

https://www.dodislemurtours.com/

 

[exiledowl]

That was the one we had planned!

[ekka49]

We have been fortunate to have been on three world cruises. 

On each cruise we have missed at least two ports. 

Due to political unrest or weather.

Easter Island would be the most missed port in the world due to weather?

We have managed it once in three attempts.

That once was quite hair raising, due to the winds and large swell.

[exiledowl]

8 hours ago, ekka49 said:

We have been fortunate to have been on three world cruises. 

On each cruise we have missed at least two ports. 

Due to political unrest or weather.

Easter Island would be the most missed port in the world due to weather?

We have managed it once in three attempts.

That once was quite hair raising, due to the winds and large swell.

Thanks ekka49. There seems to be a trend developing here - don't build up your hopes of visiting Easter Island despite a photo of the moai taking pride of place in the cruise company's glossy catalogue.

[Aquadesiac]

On our 2022 Viking WC, the entire first half of the itinerary was changed due to Covid and restrictions from Australia and most of Asia. Instead, we sailed south around South American, then across to noodle around in the Med. Then we went through the Suez canal to join our original schedule in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

 

It was the most surprising, brilliant adventure we've ever been on even though it bore little resemblance to the cruise we signed up for. 

[Jim Avery]

10 hours ago, exiledowl said:

Thanks ekka49. There seems to be a trend developing here - don't build up your hopes of visiting Easter Island despite a photo of the moai taking pride of place in the cruise company's glossy catalogue.

And every picture in the Alaska brochure is sunny. Hahahaha.😎🥃

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

And every picture in the Alaska brochure is sunny. Hahahaha.😎🥃

 

Haha!!! We didn't see too many of those sunny days when we worked in Alaska.

 

I recall one of the days after we departed Sitka, we were a rockin' n rollin' in 70+ kt winds. After the 4-8, I headed for breakfast and the pax MDR was virtually empty. Not too many pax wanted to eat.😁

[Jim Avery]

I remember using the old standby of a wet cloth under my plate to keep it from sliding down the table. Plate stayed put but it didn’t stop the peas from rolling right off the plate. Yep, good times.😳🍺

[BVILady]

On 6/29/2023 at 1:04 AM, sandiego1 said:

On the 2023 HAL WC, we missed the following ports:

Tolanaro, Madagascar- due to Cyclone Freddy

 

 

We had made it to Madagasar, we were ahead of Freddy. Madagaskar just broke my heart. The people there are so friendly with a genuine smile but so poor. We were really concerned for them after we left and heard that Cyclone Freddy was hitting it. The population is working as a human quarry, they are breaking down rocks with a pick-ax to make smaller stones and gravel. I had never thought that possible but that is how it must have been everywhere in the old days. Reminded me of Haiti, also very poor population and always hit by Natural disasters.