Itinerary change for QM2

[bluemarble]

There is a post on social media saying QM2 won't be calling at Villefranche tomorrow. Instead she will be heading to Alghero. I suppose that means no photo opportunities for @D&N this time around if that post is accurate.

[D&N]

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

There is a post on social media saying QM2 won't be calling at Villefranche tomorrow. Instead she will be heading to Alghero. I suppose that means no photo opportunities for @D&N this time around if that post is accurate.

Oh well, I won't be clambering up on the breakwater early tomorrow morning then.

I haven't found the topic yet but Marine Traffic are reporting Alghero as the destination.

Was any reason given?

[D&N]

I've not found any reference locally to cruise ship calls being cancelled.

There has been a rock fall near Chemin du Lido in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, which overlooks the Rade, and there are works in progress to secure the cliff.

Not sure if they think there could be such a major cliff collapse that could put shipping at risk or they think vibration or wake from large ships could affect the cliff while they are working on it.

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, D&N said:

Oh well, I won't be clambering up on the breakwater early tomorrow morning then.

I haven't found the topic yet but Marine Traffic are reporting Alghero as the destination.

Was any reason given?

 

No, there was no reason given. Just a quick one sentence post stating the itinerary change.

 

I notice the weather forecast calls for windy conditions tomorrow. Several sites mention winds in excess of 30 mph during the afternoon, so that might be a factor since Villefranche is a tender port. That's just speculation on my part though.

[D&N]

Provided Carmel is ok, we'll do our planned ramble to Fort Alban.

Local weather site shows wind at less than 20 mph with gusts up to 34 mph and hottest day of week. That's not particularly strong for here, and the Rade is well sheltered.

I think Enchantment OTS should have called there too. It's showing Nice as it's destination. It would need to tender there. Think the quays can only take about 45,000 tonnes.

It was at Cannes today. They would have been as well to swim to Nice.

I might have photos of a cliff face rather than ships!

[bluemarble]

Take this for what it's worth. I found one post on social media from someone on board who says they were told the itinerary change is because it was going to be too rough to tender.

[D&N]

If we get there tomorrow we can report on that.

Be interesting to see if Enchantment tenders off Nice. Although I think they use the local island ferry/sightseeing company rather than their own tenders. It's an odd situation because Celebrity seem to use their own. Edge left a few of hers in the Cannes Anchorage today! 🤣 But Enchantment didn't seem to have deployed any.

[sogne]

10 hours ago, D&N said:

If we get there tomorrow we can report on that.

Be interesting to see if Enchantment tenders off Nice. Although I think they use the local island ferry/sightseeing company rather than their own tenders. It's an odd situation because Celebrity seem to use their own. Edge left a few of hers in the Cannes Anchorage today! 🤣 But Enchantment didn't seem to have deployed any.

Enchantment of the Seas has AIS destination of Genoa. Edge tenders usually AIS glitch.

[D&N]

23 minutes ago, sogne said:

Enchantment of the Seas has AIS destination of Genoa. Edge tenders usually AIS glitch.

We know about the tenders. I'm regularly amused by them being left behind.

 

That's a recent change to Genoa, it was Nice at 11:00 local time only a few hours ago.

If it does turn up off Nice we should see it from Mont Boron later.

 

I have a theory that they use part of Trans Cote d'Azur/Riviera Lines fleet for tendering because you rarely see their tenders deployed in Cannes. Even if seas were a bit rough for tenders, the local boats are better designed for it and of course use local mariners.

If entry to the Rade (where waves of 0.6 metres are forecast) is restricted due the unstable cliff face, tenders might struggle from open sea.

 

I'll report after our day trip and picnic.

[sogne]

AIS indicates EOTS was off Cannes at 1830 2nd AUG  she then laid off for some time before heading for Genoa ETA 0745 4th.

[D&N]

But when she left Cannes at 1830 2nd August, Marine Traffic (using AIS) showed destination Nice ETA 1100 3rd. It remained as such until at least 0300 UTC today. I didn't take a screen shot of it because I didn't really expect anyone to challenge the fact.

She has indeed continued to sail a circular route about 50 miles off shore before heading for Genoa.

[D&N]

Around 10am this morning I took a pic of the bay between Cap d'Antibes and Nice Airport, where the waves looked to be well under 1 metre with a fresh wind. Ideal sailing weather. There were lots of 7'9" Optimist dinghies and 16' Hobie Cats, plus sail and paddle boards in the bay.

 

At about 1130 am, on our walk round the coastal path between Nice and Villefranche the wind had sprung up and it was a bit choppier.

 

 

 

[D&N]

Yesterday at Cannes EOTS seemed to be using Trans Cote d'Azur/Riviera Lines for tendering duties. It would have been interesting if EOTS had turned up at Nice today and I could have confirmed that first hand.

Trans Cote d'Azur/Riviera Lines fleet includes several ferry/sight seeing boats similar to Mediterranee XII pictured this morning at 1142 am returning from Villefranche to Nice.

It didn't seem troubled by the swell but I'm sure QM2's tenders would have been a different matter.

 

[D&N]

I see no ships. Rather disappointing, but maybe next time Queen Mary 2 visits Villefranche I might get her in this shot:

 

Mont Boron and Fort Alban were quite good. Some of the stairs on the way up might be a bit steep for some folk but for able bodied with suitable footwear the ramble would make a decent activity for a Villefranche port call. We descended towards Nice so can't comment on other routes back to Villefranche that might have been easier than the one we chose to ascend.

 

Fort Alban itself is locked up. You can walk around it and climb on some of the exterior bits as we did.

 

[D&N]

Back to the weather.

Our local council's information service sent this alert around 1 pm today, so even if the sea conditions had been ok this morning, there could have been problems this afternoon:

 

A phenomenon of strong swell and dangerous waves is expected today between 12:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.  The waves could reach 1m80 due to a South-West wind between 60 and 70 km/h.

Swimming is therefore strongly discouraged!

[deck chair]

Hello!  Currently on QM2.   Captain Hall explained change in plans was due to the high winds expected in Villefranche.  This morning he further commented that this was the best decision as the conditions in France were even worse than forecasted.  .  

 

Deck Chair

[D&N]

@deck chair Thanks for that update.

However I'm not sure Captain Hall was that well informed this morning.

You can see from the photos in posts #12, #13 & #14 that up until about 1230 pm conditions weren't really that bad. That's immaterial of course, as in the afternoon they would have had problems getting folk back on board. So they did make the right decision.