FannyLiz

SoA still in Falmouth with a shore excursion to Pendennis Castle, Truro and local gardens arranged. Their last port will be Lisbon but no Canaries and friend does not yet know what they are doing between Falmouth and Lisbon.

Good to hear from the horse’s mouth Glad. Safe journey and hope you are not too affected by it. I think there are an awful lot of people who will be glad to see you safely berthed in Portsmouth, whatever day you get there.

Not very Placido however.

Quite ! I’m intrigued to know why A Coruna port closed. I thought that during a potentially life threatening storm any port that a ship could shelter in had to take them ? As Windsurfboy says earlier, the port entrance is fairly sheltered so I would have thought they could get in if necessary.

Brittany Ferries answer is usually the announcement that everyone must stay in their cabin and if anyone is injured after disobeying this order then BF will not be held responsible. However, I guess Saga have to be a little nicer.

Nasty ! I wonder if they could take shelter in Santander, not very far along the coast and plenty of berths. I hope they have all that lovely art work stuck down firmly. Fingers crossed for the passengers and crew. I dounbt there will be many eating tonight. We’ve often found on the ferries that you are asked to stay in your cabin so you can’t actually get out to eat even if you felt like it.

I don’t think I will start my packing for Tuesday this afternoon as planned ! If Discovery shelters in A Coruna until Monday she is going to be hard pressed to get back to Portsmouth by Tuesday, early morning. Do any of you seasoned cruisers know what will happen ? Will our travel arrangements just be shifted on to Wednesday or will we have to travel as planned and stay in a hotel in Portsmouth area ready for as fast as possible a departure when Discovery is ready ?

6.45 PM ? That is a whole day later than they expected. And why Brest I wonder ?

They have been told they will not sail before Saturday morning at the earliest as another storm is due. The French newspapers are reporting the approach of storm Domingo. i’ve been watching Discovery who is en route to 1/ 2 Spanish ports whose identifier I don’t know. Fingers crossed all is OK. ( ES FUE> ES LCG )

I don’t think the passengers have been told yet. I have just asked.

Just had a phone call from friend on the S of A. They are now scheduled to leave Falmouth on Saturday morning. She doesn’t sound too upset as they are enjoying every minute so far with free-flowing champagne and excellent food.

Thank you. Much more up to date than either MarineTraffic or VesselFinder. I hope she is not getting battered around too much but clearly she kept on sailing. I think she should be back in Portsmouth on Tuesday.

Does anyone know where Spirit of Discovery is ? My ( free versions) of the marine traffic apps show her some time ago en route from the Canary islands to A Coruna. Not much shelter along that coast. Has anyone a more up to date app ?

Good. They were told 5 pm this evening earlier on but looking at Windy that looked very stormy as well. Glad they have delayed it a little. My friend on board seems to be having a great time eating, drinking and being merry. All the perks of a cruise without the nausea. I am sure they could spare you a hot mealWindsurfboy. 76 miles due north of Portsmouth and it is flat calm and a bit drizzly here. I

They are being looked after very well on board and expect to leave Falmouth at 5 pm this evening. They have not been told what impact the stopover will have on the rest of the itinerary.

Quite ! I notice the Spirit of Discovery left Gran Canaria an hour or so ago en route to A Corúna. She’s going to have an exciting trip back to UK where I am due to join her on Tuesday next. I was beginning to worry that she would not be back for then but would rather she was late than sailing in unsafe conditions. My worst, out of some grim sailings, was a Brittany Ferries trip when we were in the Western Approaches with what was reported as 90 mph winds at the Needles. We were all confined to our cabins and told not to move at all. For the first few hours I was petrified we were going to sink but after a bit wished it would happen quickly as I felt so awful. The dining room was a complete wreck next morning.

I notice that S of A has made it into the Daily Mail ( online app edition) this evening: A huge 60,000 tonne cruise ship en route from Portsmouth to Madeira was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Falmouth in Cornwall today to seek shelter from the incoming destruction. The Spirit of Adventure, which is the equivalent of 22 London buses long, had been due to make the trip as part of its ‘Sunshine in the Canaries’ cruise. It was built in 2020, promises comfort and private balconies as standard.

Any port in a storm…. Wise decision by the powers-that- be.

I don’t know if I am mis-interpreting this but both the VesselFinder and Marine Traffic apps are showing Sof A making for Falmouth, due to arrive at 7.30 am tomorrow. I have a friend on board who did not mention this stop when she texted from the ship at lunchtime and I am fairly sure the first scheduled port is Lisbon. I assume they are going to sit out the storm there ? The Windy app shows horrible conditions in the Bay of Biscay on Thursday.

Thank you for that analysis. I hope there’s no trouble booking the speciality restaurants. I had hoped to be quite spontaneous about it. I don’t really want to map out my evening meals before I even start the holiday. Looking at Windy for the 7th I think my evening meal might be taken in my cabin….

Take more soda water with it.

You either live a long way away or you are going to be there before the current cruisers get off !

SO excited ! What time are you being picked up Banjo ? I’m 11.45am to 12.15pm ( 76 miles from Portsmouth )

Don’t you dare ! Please make sure he gets her back on time. I have a close neighbour who is off to the Canaries on her next Tuesday. Enjoy the rest of the trip and thank you again for your blog. I swear I’ve put on several pounds just looking at the photos of the food.

Apologies Windsurfboy; I was being a bit flippant and shouldn’t have been. I’ve been watching the various cruise news channels on Youtube and you are right, it is worrying. I think I shall wait and see what Saga do on the day. Not long now ! At the moment I’m more concerned about Atlantic weather forecasts and have packed more Stugeron.