Heidi13

This is one of many 3rd party website providing forecasts on land. The Atlantic is a huge ocean and experiences numerous weather systems concurrently. I'll suggest, when they mention "Atlantic" they are talking about the county in New Jersey and not the ocean. For pax, the best 3rd party weather site is windy.com.

The ship's HVAC reduces both moisture and heat from the air, so any moisture added by the kettle is being continuously removed. Extended boiling of the kettle will provide an increase in relative humidity, but it will be steadily reduced overnight. In an aircon environment, removing moisture with the heat is essential, as colder air can hold less moisture than warmer air. As the air temperature cools, if the moisture content remained constant, the relative humidity would increase. As it reaches 100% the excess moisture would be condensed, with the potential for mould, etc.

When talking to cruise line call centres, you may be chatting with somebody who has never been aboard a cruise ship, whereas on Cruise Critic many posters have cruised extensively. At the embarkation port, the 2 hr cut-off is normal, as the Master must submit the ship's final manifest prior to departure. Assuming an 06:00 to 07:00 arrival at the final port, disembarkation normally commences as soon as the ship clears. Depending on customs/immigration, it can take 2 to 5 hrs to completely disembark the ship. Since NCL has larger pax counts, I would guess at least 3 hrs. The Master determines the all aboard times at all ports of call. This information is usually published in the daily paper, with the definitive sailing time and all aboard time posted at the gangway. When docked alongside, this is normally 1/2 hr before departure. For tender ports, it can be 1 hr before departure. On some ships, this information is also posted in the lifts. Note - on occasion, you may see different all aboard times for crew and pax. You must be back aboard by the all-aboard time, but the actual time you return is based on your risk tolerance, remembering that if you are late, the Master doesn't wait. When alongside, some of the crew can be ashore and 50% of the survival craft(lifeboats & liferaft) are not available. Hence the reason for having at least 2 gangways. In the event of a shipboard emergency, if the Master decides to evacuate the ship, it will be to the shore. I can guarantee it should not take 2 hrs to evacuate all pax, with more time for the crew. Therefore, No, it should not take 2 hrs to get all pax ashore, and if it does, the Master needs to address the issue with more and/or higher capacity gangways.

Falmouth, at the entrance to the River Fal is a very challenging arrival and has docking times limited by the tides. The entrance channel is reasonably deep, but it is very narrow, shoaling on both sides. If the wind is blowing, it would not be prudent for the Master to enter the approaches. Once inside, you then alter to port, leaving the main channel. To approach the berth, the Master requires a specific height of tide to provide the required under keel clearance. Departure time is also limited by tidal height, as once the tide drop below a certain amount the ship is stuck. It has been many years since I have been into Falmouth, so can't remember the tidal restrictions, based on the ship's draught. If tidal conditions dictated an early departure, rather than docking for only a few hours, they can anchor in deeper water, within the bay, so pax can have the full experience in this amazing area, using tenders.

Seymour Narrows is interesting, both for the tidal currents and the history. It used to have a pinnacle almost centre channel, known as Ripple Rock. A Google search for Ripple Rock will provide the history of how they removed it with the largest non-nuclear explosion. Contrary to what many believe, the flood tide actually flows S'bd and the Ebb flows N'bd, as the 2 tides from Juan de Fuca & Queen Charlotte, meet just south of Campbell River. Most challenging transit is northbound bucking a huge flood at night. You can take the easy route bucking the flood all the way through, but with a 16 kt tide, we only made 4 - 6 kts. We held to the Stbd shore at Maude Island, which has a real nice back eddy close to shore. Since the tide came through the narrows as a well defined wall of water, we cranked on hard over helm to get the bow swinging into the tide before we hit it. If too late, we used opposite helm and took a round turn and another attempt. Best speed ever was a southbound transit running with a 16 kt flood. Speed made good was about about 35 kts. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any cruise ship making the scheduled transit in daylight and even BC Ferries don't carry pax on this route any more. Only possible option for a daylight transit would be Alaska State Ferries. Note - I don't follow the expedition ships, so some of them might have different schedules. The entire BC Coast has many examples of significant tides in narrow channels, coupled with big turns. A little North of Seymour is Helmecken Island at Kelsey Bay, which also has some interesting tides and rock outcrops that don't interact well with a steel hull. Going through Seymour at slack water means the tide is running at Helmecken. I've had a few interesting N'bd transits. More than happy sharing my knowledge and experiences, from many years on the coast, both in cruise ships and Ro/Pax.

Clay, It tough making an educated guess for Saigon, due to the number of variable. The actual berth availability is always an issue. If originally scheduled for one of the outer commercial berths, the tides shouldn't be an issue. However, if assigned a berth further up river, tides could be an issue. Based on other ship movements, pilot availability, tug availability, etc could also be issues.

Forget the cruise, as a pre-requisite is clear skies. They aren't too visible below the usual cloud cover we experience at that time of year. In 35 yrs working these waters, with tens of thousands of hours on the Bridge at night, I have seen them a couple of times, and they weren't great. To see the NL, fly up to Alaska.

HWS 31st Aug is about 00:51, so I expect the ship will approach Maude Island around Midnight. If you depart on time and don't have an inbound tanker, upon clearing Vancouver, best guess for the set speed is 13 - 14 kts.

When considering Seymour Narrows, you need to look at the specific tides for Seymour, not Campbell River. You also don't look at heights, you review the flow, which can be as much as 16 kts. I have gone through Seymour at any tide, but the BC Coast Pilots standard for cruise ships is +/- 1 hr from LWS/HWS. At least that was the standard when I retired. I would be very surprised, with ships increasing in size, that the standard has been relaxed.

Really tough question to answer without knowing the specific date and tides at Seymour Narrows. Cruise ships only transit Seymour +/- 1 hr of LWS or HWS. Therefore, the Master sets a speed on clearing Vancouver for Seymour Narrows. Best guess, for a 16:00 departure. Assuming you depart on time, allow about 1 hr to clear Pt Atkinson, at end of English Bay. You would have 3 hrs to sunset, so at 15 kts, the ship will travel 45 n.mls. It is 100 mls to Seymour, so expect to get about 1/2 way by sunset. In the morning, at 04:00, when I started work, we were usually about Robson Bight to entering Blackfish Sound. Therefore, by 06:25 I would expect to be well into Queen Charlotte Strait. Even at the end of June, at the Solstice, I don't recall going through Seymour before sunset.

A saline nasal spray will be more effective, as the ship's HVAC will be working to remove any moisture produced by your humidifier. The humidifier also only works in the cabin, whereas a saline nasal spray works anywhere.

Jim, Perhaps the latest incident in the region will prompt Viking to finally act. A UK owned, Belize registered cargo ship was attacked by missiles last night, it is taking on water and has been abandoned by the crew. The clowns in L/A do monitor CC, so hopefully they pass pax concerns to the head office. Since Viking's main customer base is the USA, I suspect a ship full of Americans would also be a prime target. Long past time for Viking to make a decision and provide pax with options.

Defining the worst weather is a challenging task, due the number of variables, which can also include a person's rank/rating/position on the ship. Many will automatically think of the strongest winds, or the reported steepest seas, but how many would consider extended periods of dense fog. Probably not passengers or ratings, but for the Master, spending days in fog, with your continuous presence on the Bridge being required, isn't fun. Throw in docking multiple times per day and the days just got worse. Yes, we have radar, but based on the technology, radar works best on clear days and is degraded by water vapour suspended in the air. Some radar systems handle this better than others, which can also be a challenge, as with calm seas the better systems pick up anything floating in the water. Since you can't see what is providing a return, you have to track and initially consider it a target. Sea state is what most will consider, but again you have many variables. Wind waves are created by the current wind and the wave height corresponds to the wind speed, the distance the wind blows over the water and the water depth. Therefore, high wind speed in itself doesn't guarantee high waves. In addition to wind waves, you also need to consider swell(s), which are the resultant wave from distance winds, which can be 1,000 + miles away. You can also experience multiple swells and wind waves, creating confused seas. In addition to wave height, you also have to consider the wave period, which is the time between them. Even in similar sea states, different ships can handle the seas differently, depending on whether they are stiff or tender, which impacts the rolling characteristics. A tender ship, with a lower Metacentric Height (GM) rolls easily, reaches further over and returns upright slowly. In general, it has a longer, but gentle roll. A stiff ship, with a higher GM does not roll as far, but snaps back quickly. Most cruise ship have a GM tending towards a tender ship. However, this can be impacted by the quantity of bunkers and fresh water, and the state of the pools. Cargo ships GM varies based on the weight of the distributed cargo. Weight low increases the GM making a stiff ship, while weight higher makes for a tender ship. With respect to my worst weather in 40 yrs at sea, I have numerous examples, but cannot stipulate that 1 was clearly the worst. - Cargo ship: loaded a significant quantity of steel plate in the lower hold, at initial loading port, but had minimal additional cargo in that port to load higher, to manage the GM. We sailed with a huge GM and in moderate seas and about 25 kts of wind, in the North Sea, we had my most uncomfortable sailing. A really stiff ship, even in moderate seas, can be extremely uncomfortable. - Reefer: crossing the indian Ocean, experienced a significant swell left over from a recent Tropical Revolving Storm (Typhoon), but had minimal wind waves. With no stabalisers and the swell on the beam, we rolled 45 degrees for a number of days, maintaining 20+ kts. Slept with the mattress on the deck, with 1 edge propped up on lifejackets and had no hot food for a couple of days. - Tanker: North Pacific Ocean, experienced a severe storm, so "Hove-to" for 3-days. We got pushed back 30 miles during those 3-days - Pax vessel: Gulf of Tehuantepec, experienced significant wind and swell. Significant damage to structural steel on the focsle, including complete destruction of the officer's speed boat - Pax vessel: arrival San Francisco, experienced significant waves with a short period. Broke 3 of the fwd lower lounge windows. - Pax vessel: fog, spent 3 continuous days in dense fog, working extra hours on the Bridge peering into a radar. As a deck officer, we at least got more breaks than the Master/DC, one of whom were on the Bridge continuously - Ro/Pax: fog, spent about 1 week working in continuous dense fog, as a Master, docking 4 x daily. Couldn't see the berth when docked, either bow in or stern in. The reduced speed added many hours to the working day. - Ro/Pax: docking in 60 kt winds, with additional tidal action off the berth, when the vessel had sufficient power to handle about 33 kts. I have never sailed the Great Lakes, but they do have sufficient combination of wind speed and fetch to provide almost similar sea state conditions, as can be experienced mid-ocean.

No cruise line can legally detain you from disembarking, but in some ports the consequences can be considerable. The situation you described bears little resemblance to the OP's request, as your cruise was most likely within the Schengen Zone/EU zone, so possibly no passport or customs formalities required upon disembarkation. Emergency medical evacuations, are handled differently than requests to disembark early, due to residence. However, with emergency medical disembarkation, if Cabotage Laws are involved, the cruise line can still be fined and pass those cost onto the pax. When a vessel docks, the Master provides the information on the manifest, as known to the ship, to the local authorities. If the ship advises pax will be spending the night aboard (overnight calls) or departing the port with the ship, any changes may invoke penalties in some ports. In addition, the ship requires notification so they can prepare the final pax statement.

The amount of power required for charging pax devices is minimal compared to the ship's equipment. Each circuit is also protected by a breaker. Even on ship's built in the 1950's, I haven't experienced issues with blowing breakers due to devices being plugged-in.

When discussing these types of issues, may I suggest you need to consider the correlation between risk and fire hazards, and how ships incorporate structural fire protection and fixed/portable extinguishing systems. Is an electric kettle perfectly safe, no it is not, but neither is any electrical appliance, many of which are readily accepted on cruise ships. Only a couple of months ago, I read of a ship's Bridge destroyed by fire, which was started by unattended re-charging of lithium-ion portable radio batteries. Those are clearly a fire hazard, but I'll suggest most, if not all pax, have at least 1 re-chargeable lithium ion battery. Other acceptable devices, such as mobility scooters and CPAP's, etc. may have similar batteries, but are accepted on board. Other accepted electrical appliances, such as curling irons, hair dryers, etc are also potential fire hazards. Since multiple common appliances are potential fire hazards, you must consider risk and mitigate accordingly. In accordance with construction regulations, this is completed during the design phase, with structural fire protection and fixed/portable extinguishing systems being installed, based on the combustion load and fire risk. Therefore, an electric kettle is no more danger, especially modern kettles with auto shut-off, than coffee makers or other electrical appliances. In addition to the construction regulations, the P&I Clubs and insurance syndicates consider risk. On UK based ships, where the majority of the pax require a kettle in the cabin, the risk is higher than not having a kettle, so premiums will be higher. Ships based in the US market, where very limited kettles are supplied, have a lower risk, so I expect pay lower premiums.

In addition to Rob's post, you also need to identify if you would be contravening any cabotage laws, as penalties are passed on to the pax.

June 2022, so long after 9/11.

At sea level, water boils at 100C, but as you gain altitude, due to lower atmospheric pressure, water boils at a lower temperature. The 220/240 voltage provide more watts, so it heats the water faster, but at the same altitude it will boil at the same temperature.

That was my understanding, but I am proof that it depends on the airport. Smaller airports may be less rigorous, as I didn't even ask to escort her, they invited me.

Since you will embark in Tokyo, you have no Cabotage issues with early disembarkation. As others suggested, contact Cunard and advise of your desire to disembark early. They can make the necessary changes to the ship's manifest. Once onboard, I would also advise the Purser's Office of your intent to disembark in Victoria. I assume this will be the ship's first Canadian port of call, so shouldn't be an issue having Border Services available.

It may depend on the airport, as recently as 2022, I was provided a pass to clear security and escort my wife to the gate, waiting with her until she boarded the aircraft. Although it was a domestic flight, it was an international airport.

Jim - I hear that even the new Crystal have finally published their decision to bypass the Red Sea. Still nothing from Viking?????

Depending on the itinerary, many ships can use it inbound/outbound Juneau. It isn't open ocean, but it also isn't exactly a narrow, or confined channel, based on my recollection. When northbound, we also sailed through these waters mostly at night. Negative on going slower, we sailed at whatever speed was required to reach the next port. When whales were spotted, we announced the sighting, but didn't slow down. Whether you have naturalists onboard depends on the cruise line.

Tough Question to answer, without knowing more of your interests. However, one point to consider since you are travelling with a 75 yrs old. After, I assume, flights into Vancouver, do you want another pre-cruise travel day. You can fly harbour to harbour in an hour, but the ferry is at least 4 hrs each way. Gardens - while Victoria has the renowned Butchart Gardens, both Vancouver and Victoria have a number of gardens to visit. Some of them are: - Victoria: Government House, Abkhazi Gardens - Vancouver: Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, Vandusen Gardens Architecture - personally since both cities date from about the same era, I don't find significant differences. Both cities were only founded about 140 years ago, so whether you consider that as being old depends on your experiences. Vancouver has good public transport and is a very walkable city. For a public market you can visit Granville Island, which is best accessed by the small ferries plying the waters of False Creek. Vancouver has many other attractions and in North Vancouver you have Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain. Downtown Vancouver hotels, especially during cruise season are extremely expensive. The cheapest option is the YMCA Hotel, which is close to Stadium Skytrain Station. Cheaper hotels are available out in Richmond. @martincath tagging our resident Vancouver expert, who can expand on the options.