Ulsteinvik

My theory is as follows: As of now, Explora I is expected to be delivered on July 24th. Therefore, a sail to Copenhagen by August 1st seems nearly impossible, which likely means the cruise from August 1st to 15th, starting and ending in Copenhagen, will be cancelled. However, she could possibly start her 6-day tour from Copenhagen to Hamburg beginning on August 15th. Since Explora has had to cancel its christening ceremony and still wants to properly showcase the ship to press representatives, travel agencies, etc., there may be a christening voyage or introductory trip before the new maiden voyage on August 15, 2023 from Copenhagen. This could, for example, go from Copenhagen to Kiel and back. That's my idea.

A crewmember who works at Explora I said on a Facebook group that the Kiel call is correct and Explora will communicate it in few days.

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/safety-security/explora-i-delayed-due-fire-safety-concerns-updated That is also interesting. They say the delivery should be on 24 July 2023 in Monfalcone. If you deliver this ship on this date, you need to sail constantly 21.8 knots to reach Copenhagen on 01st August 2023 without a bunker stop. For me this is very unrealistic with this ship..

We have to wait some days I think because the Kiel call was booked today. So I expect next week more informations about this.

Portofkiel updated today its 2023 cruise list. Now Explora I is booked there for an overnight on 13 August 2023.

Did anyone also notice the two route changes from the NCL Dawn for July 2024? The Dawn was scheduled to do a Western Europe tour from Southampton to Lisbon from 06 July 2024 - 15 July 2024(here the Roll Call https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2906628-dawn-9-night-europe-from-london-to-lisbon-july-6-2024/) and a Western Europe tour back from Lisbon to Southampton from 15 July 2024 - 25 July 2024. She sails now instead a Western Europe/ Scandinavia Tour from Southampton to Copenhagen and then back from Copenhagen to Southampton. Her route is almost the same new route as the NCL Star October 2024 tour. What is the reason here? For me it looks more like bad booking numbers instead of the reasons that NCL is telling us..

Could be a reason yes. Maybe they will focus more on the Baltics with Fantasia?

Fantasia had several port bookings in Bergen and some other Norwegian ports for 2024 but they removed all calls there 5-6 weeks ago. The weird thing is, that the Fantasia is well booked this year, almost all Northern Europe cruises of her are sold out. That's why I don't understand why they should remove the second ship from Kiel. But let's wait and see..

I never saw MSC cancelling Norway cruises.

Most cruise lines are doing that. HAL, Carnival has also "Hamburg (Kiel)" and several cruise lines also "Berlin (Warnemunde)" so it has nothing to do with NCL. And in a Baltic cruise you can't put Hamburg in the itinerary because it is based in the North Sea and big ships like the Dawn can't pass the Kiel Canal. It has nothing to do with a cheaper docking place in Kiel (by the way, Kiel is not really cheap for cruise ships).

I live in Kiel and I know the official port sites in Kiel, Hamburg, Warnemunde.. Your link is not the official one for Hamburg. This one is -> https://www.cruisegate-hamburg.de/schiffsankuenfte/

In the past it was always the same. Cruises removed from the system and some days/weeks later NCL announced the cancellations. So here I expect the same..

On 14 July she will get the same berth in Kiel.

It is one of the biggest regattas in the world. Be aware that the city in Kiel could be full with visitors, the event always has around 3 million visitors every year. Mostly visitors are coming from the afternoon, so in the morning it should be not crowded. It looks like that: https://admiral-scheer.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/hotel_admiral_scheer_laboe_kieler-woche.jpg https://www.schausteller.de/media/cache/large/media/pag/2017-06/8255-1-kiwo-hoern-010-jpg.jpg?v205

I see you will be in Kiel during the famous event "Kieler Woche -> Kiel week". A lot of ships and people will be there in the port.

In Kiel you could also go to Lubeck, similar distance like Kiel-Hamburg and Lubeck is more compact.

Yep I saw your maneuver yesterday in Kiel because I live there. It was a very uncommon but interesting maneuver, I thought that Aurora will skip Kiel but thanks to the experienced captain he did not, so I could make great photos 🙂

https://www.puertocadiz.com/escalas-cruceros/?tipo=anual&ano=2024

That would make more sense. it shows also the length of Icon and it says 364,96 m. Utopia should have around 362 but let's wait and see, maybe you are right and just a placeholder.

Maybe the delivery could be delayed, Cadiz (Spain) updated their official cruise schedule for 2024 and it shows now Icon of the Seas on 23 June 2024 8.00-18.00 from La Rochelle to Port Canaveral.

I also trust only the official port sites. The user who started that topic said he sails in the Baltic on August with the Dawn but no Baltic port shows other cruise dates than NCLs schedule in this case.

Did you read my comment on #10? tell me what your sources are, they are never the officials.. Copenhagen = cmport.com Warnemunde = rostock-port.de Gdynia = port.gdynia.pl Klaipeda= portofklaipeda.lt visby= cmport.com Helsinki= portofhelsinki.fi Kiel= Portofkiel.com

I live in the Baltic and I know all official port sites of the Baltic ports. Are you sure you checked the official port sites and not unofficial cruise pages with the old itineraries when St.Petersburg was in? I don't know in which of the 2 Baltic cruises you're booked in on August but I've checked the official port sites for both baltic trips and the NCL Dawn is registered everywhere as it says in NCL's schedule. Last year there were many changes in the Baltic where you could see the changes in the official Baltic ports before NCL officially announced them. But this year there are no changes so far.

The pilot strike in Hamburg was pushed back by 12 hours. The strike will start tomorrow at 6 a.m, so that will no longer affect the Virtuosa.

Is there any information whether tomorrow's pilot strike will affect the departure of the Virtuosa in Hamburg? Tomorrow from 6 p.m. the pilots will be on strike until Tuesday. There are rumors that Virtuosa could get stuck in port. https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/hamburg/Warnstreik-im-Hafen-beendet-doch-der-naechste-kommt,warnstreik2298.html