Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Southampton to Lisbon - are two sea days usual?

tom_uk

By tom_uk,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

Recommended Posts

tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
Posted

I've just been checking the itinerary of my cruise on Ventura this spring (N013) - 14 nights W Med. We leave on 22 May and the first port of call is Lisbon the 25th; there are therefore two sea days between leaving Southampton and arriving at Lisbon.

 

I don't know why but in the months between booking the cruise and now I'd come to think that that there was just one sea day at this stage of the cruise. What's the normal experience? - is it generally two sea days to Lisbon from Southampton? Does anyone know how far it is, in fact?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted

OK, let's call it 850 nautical miles (the sums are easier...). Let's also assume that a 'one sea day' passage is actually 36 hours; and a 'two sea day' passage is 60 hours. The two sea day passage requires an average speed of just over 14 knots, and the one sea day passage would be an average speed of just over 23 knots. Then you probably need to allow for the time for the slower passage down Southampton Water, and up the Tagus. So the actual max speed required during the passages will be a bit faster than the averages.

 

Slipper is right: only QM2 could realistically aim to do it in 36 hours. Although other ships have a top speed of about 24 knots, I'm not sure that the lines like to schedule a passage at that speed. And of course any delay - bad weather in the Bay, for example - would mean that the ship would be late arriving.

 

A 48-hour passage would be do-able, however - that would require an average speed of about just under 18 knots, or a max speed of around 20 knots, I imagine. That would allow an overnight in Lisbon, which I can't help thinking would be fun. It's a pity that P&O don't do that. We had an overnight call in Madeira on our Canary Islands cruise in 2008, and that was very enjoyable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ovccruiser

ovccruiser

Posted
Posted

Most cruise ship will travel at about 22kts or so flat out with a cruising speed of about 18 or so kts. 849 nautical miles at 18 kts is 48 hours. Now the ship will not normally arrive at 5:00pm so it cannot gain 9 hours to arrive in the morning so it will probably slow to around 14 kts to arrive 7:00am ish. To di it with one sea day, the ship will need to sail at over 22kts. Ships like QM2 would have no problem but as said normal cruise ships would be flat out at 22kts and probably not very comfy for the passengers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just to keep flogging a dead horse, I see that once or twice a year Aurora gets from Southampton to Malaga with two intervening sea days - that's quite a bit further than Lisbon, of course.

 

John, where did you find the information about sea distances? I'd be interested in finding out the lengths of some of the standard passages. Southampton to Malaga would be one, Gibralter to Southampton would be another, or indeed the passage that Aurora generally makes after the Malaga call: Malaga to Korcula.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
thranite

thranite

Posted
Posted
Just to keep flogging a dead horse, I see that once or twice a year Aurora gets from Southampton to Malaga with two intervening sea days - that's quite a bit further than Lisbon, of course.

 

John, where did you find the information about sea distances? I'd be interested in finding out the lengths of some of the standard passages. Southampton to Malaga would be one, Gibralter to Southampton would be another, or indeed the passage that Aurora generally makes after the Malaga call: Malaga to Korcula.

 

Aurora and Oriana are faster than the Grand Class barges and they really can't be considered in the same category in respect of hull design or propulsion as any of the others in the current fleet. Amongst the others, Arcadia copes better by virtue of her pre-P&O Cunard requirement.

 

You wil get passage details at www dot distances dot com.

 

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Aurora and Oriana are faster than the Grand Class barges and they really can't be considered in the same category in respect of hull design or propulsion as any of the others in the current fleet. Amongst the others, Arcadia copes better by virtue of her pre-P&O Cunard requirement.

 

You wil get passage details at www dot distances dot com.

 

:)

 

Thanks for the information re. the distances website. I see that Southampton to Malaga is 1200 nautical miles, and Malaga to Dubrovnik (they don't have an entry for Korkula) is just over 1300 nautical miles. Assuming 60 hours elapsed time, both of these passages would require an average speed of over 20 knots and a maximum speed higher than that.

 

On the subject of maximum speeds, I see that Aurora has a max of 25 knots, Oriana 24 knots and the Grand Princess class ships have 22.5 knots. Arcadia is a bit slower still - 21 knots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
thranite

thranite

Posted
Posted

 

On the subject of maximum speeds, I see that Aurora has a max of 25 knots, Oriana 24 knots and the Grand Princess class ships have 22.5 knots. Arcadia is a bit slower still - 21 knots.

 

Yes, but the hull design plays a major part in the practical ability to sail through heavy seas. Arcadia will take heavier seas than the Grand Class, and actually achieves higher speeds than 21kts.

 

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Yes, but the hull design plays a major part in the practical ability to sail through heavy seas. Arcadia will take heavier seas than the Grand Class, and actually achieves higher speeds than 21kts.

 

:)

 

With respect: how do you know this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I've done a bit more digging on max speeds, and it certainly seems that Aurora (and presumably Oriana too) are quite a bit faster than the other ships: I found something that describes Aurora as having a 'service speed' of 24 knots, and a 'trials speed' of 29 knots. But even these comparative greyhounds aren't scheduled to get to Lisbon in just one day.

 

Thanks for all the contributions: that was an interesting discussion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...