dawburg

Sun 15th March – At Sea

 

After leaving Rabaul the ship headed towards the island of New Hanover and then the Saint Matthias Group before altering course to 22degree True in order to pas behind a tropical cyclone that was in our path. We continued on this course until around 2230 last evening when a course change to 220 degrees was made, which points us directly towards Yokohama. Our original routing was to takes us close past Guam, but we are currently nearly 500 miles east of the island, plodding along at 22 knots. Earlier we passed Bikini atoll and the Kwajalein Group some 1000 miles to our East.

 

Fortunately the seas have not been too bad, confused and bouncy with the odd sleeping policeman, but this morning we are back into sunshine and although not flat calm, a lot better. There is still some movement and we moved out of the Doldrums overnight with 1737 miles to run. The latest weather information shows an outside temp of 28C, with 77% humidity, Pressure of 29.8 rising and a wind speed of 22.3 knots (25 mph) so around Force 6, and waves of 2.5 metres.

 

However during the Captains noon update we were informed that a major change to our itinerary was to be implemented.

 

Here is a partial transcript of the captain’s noon announcement :-

 

‘Good Morning, ladies and gentlemen, this the Captain Inge Thorhauge speaking from the bridge. I am sorry to interrupt your morning and also to intrude into your staterooms wit this announcement but what I have to say is of the utmost importance concerning our call at Yokohama on Wednesday.

 

For those that have been following the weather, you will be aware that we are currently affected by tropical Storm Bavi. I have altered the course of Queen Elizabeth based on best advice from our Weather Routeing Information Service, taking us further to the east to avoid the worst excesses of the storm and to make your journey more comfortable. However this is not the problem that has the greatest impact on our itinerary. We are programmed to berth at the Yokohama Passenger Terminal which would involve us going under the bridge at the Port of Yokohama. For a ship of the proportions of Queen Elizabeth the Port Authorities in Yokohama have placed certain restrictions concerning weather conditions which must be met before undertaking such a manoeuvre, primarily wind speed and tidal variations.

 

Currently the predicted weather forecast puts the conditions for our arrival outside the safe operating envelope, forcing us to look for an alternative Berth in the port which is sadly not available. Obviously we have a responsibility to the 550 guests disembarking and the 750 Embarking guests, so I have taken the decision in consultation with our office in Southampton and Carnival’s Office in Tokyo to divert to Kobe.

This is not a decision I come to easily but I am sure you will understand we need to have time to make logistical arrangements for an operation of this complexity and having to cancel the call on arrival morning is simply not an option.

 

Having investigated several alernatives the most meaningful would be to Berth in Kobe at 1130am on the 18th and stay overnight departing in the evening of the 19th. Unfortunately these timings will impact on Nagasaki which will also have to be cancelled. However, arrival in Pusan on the 21st march will remain as programmed.’

 

The remainder of the announcement concerned the refunds of tour costs and rebooking arrangements along with more detail for those disembarking, and their ongoing travel plans. It is unfortunate that the many passengers who regarded the ports of Japan as one of the main reasons for taking this cruise, have been affected, but we cannot pre-book the weather, and we have been aware of the worsening weather over the Pacific in the last few days.

 

 

Last evening we were given our next World Cruise present, which is a pretty Wedgewood teacup with World Voyage 2015 emblazoned on it. This afternoon is the World Club wine tasting, which may take our minds off the disappointment of not visiting Tokyo and Nagasaki ?

 

John

Sooo glad you posted this, we are so grateful! As soon as we read it we contacted Cunard to confirm the change, and they knew nothing about it! We fly out tomorrow 10:30 am from Toronto, no internet access after that, and we would have arrived at the Yokohama pier totally freaked out. We immediately booked a hotel in Kobe, but we held off arranging a flight to Kobe until we had confirmation from Cunard, of course now you can't get through on the line at all....

Last year we docked in Busan at the terminal you see in the right of this picture. The large building on the left is the maritime museum. There is not much else in the port region. I did not take an excursion because I was just getting over an illness. I did take the shuttle into the city and walked around. From what I understand there is at least one market and some historic sights within walking distance of the shuttle drop off point. Be sure to get your own maps (I just looked and could not find any map from Cunard for Busan) and figure out where you want to go. There was a place to exchange money on the quay as well as a couple of souvenir stands that accepted US$.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

Hello Petra & Don.

I have done the tour to Ho Chi Minh with Cunard and it was great.

Last year I was on QE for the world cruise and we took a Cunard tour in Busan as this was one port of call we had never been before. It was one of the best tours we have a had. We had a wonderful time. I recommend it ;)

Too much to write about here so read what I did on the link below. Have a great cruise.

https://www.cruise.co.uk/forum/109-cruise-news/40652-maggiemou-s-adventures-china-your-hand.html?highlight=maggiemou%27s+adventures

Thanks so much this was very helpful!

Well, one week to go and we can finally concentrate on the fine details.....

We'd like to ask for some input from anyone on board if you don't mind.....

We tend to be independent travelers willing to walk 5-7k to take in a town, so we approach shore excursions from that perspective. That said, we are going to go with the ship excursion to Ho Chi Minh because we are always worried about getting stuck too far from the ship on an independent trip and not getting back on board in time. However, that leaves us with 2 decisions re: Busan and Nha Trang. We've pre-booked, but willing to explore other options...Has anyone been there before? Any adventurous types on board who like to explore on their own? Any thoughts would be appreciated,

Thanks,

Petra & Don

CC meets are usually the first sea day at the start of the sector.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the heads up! Look forward to meeting everyone.

Petra & Don

Thanks for replying.:) Sorry for the delay in my response, we're scrambling to get everything done here before coming to join the ship, and the days are ticking by pretty quickly.

I do hope we have a chance to meet fellow CCer's before Hong Kong, as that will be halfway through our trip!:confused: We'll be arriving one day prior to boarding in Yokohama, so we'll have a chance to do a little exploring before we get settled in on board.

Anywhere else CCer's connect other than the laundrette?:)

Petra & Don

I hope you don't mind us barging in, but you look like you have it all together:)

We've just opened this thread as we will be joining the QE in Japan on March 18, and we were looking for fellow CCer's aboard. Will there be a meeting in one of the lounges around that date for those of us joining you there?

Thanks so much for your input,

Petra & Don