30 ft Seas and Pearl Leaves Vancouver! HAL remains at dock.

[Maclet]

I came to the site looking for information about why the Hollland America ships did not sail, and the Pearl did. I was on the Pearl from Vancouver to L.A. Sept 29-Oct 4th. I can't decide if the captain was reckless or very confident in the ability of his ship and crew! However, we were all fine, meals were well attended even through-out the first rocky night and day. Yes the pools were drained, people were warned not to go outside during the worst of the weather, and there was disappointment about missing Astoria. But I didn't see or hear of any damage to the ship or passengers and crew, and by Tuesday morning, we were back to a regular, sunny, enjoyable cruise. They filled up the pools and hot tubs. We had barbeques on the open decks, and the casino was hopping! As a possible good will offering to all on board, the captain gave us a one hour "happy hour" of complementary booze on the Thursday night before arriving in Los Angeles. I've been on rough sailings before, this experience was unique but not too bad. Norwegian did a good job.

[MR NW GUY]

I came to the site looking for information about why the Hollland America ships did not sail, and the Pearl did. I was on the Pearl from Vancouver to L.A. Sept 29-Oct 4th. I can't decide if the captain was reckless or very confident in the ability of his ship and crew! However, we were all fine, meals were well attended even through-out the first rocky night and day. Yes the pools were drained, people were warned not to go outside during the worst of the weather, and there was disappointment about missing Astoria. But I didn't see or hear of any damage to the ship or passengers and crew, and by Tuesday morning, we were back to a regular, sunny, enjoyable cruise. They filled up the pools and hot tubs. We had barbeques on the open decks, and the casino was hopping! As a possible good will offering to all on board, the captain gave us a one hour "happy hour" of complementary booze on the Thursday night before arriving in Los Angeles. I've been on rough sailings before, this experience was unique but not too bad. Norwegian did a good job.

Thanks for the update...

 

Most importantly is that EVERYONE was safe.

 

I am only guessing here, but this is what I think influenced the decision to leave.

 

1) Too windy to dock in Victoria

2) Dock in Canada potentially could not hold the Pearl in High winds.

3) No space in Seattle or too costly?? I think the Downtown terminal was empty.

 

I also noted that the pearl moved slowly while in the straights perhaps to allow the storm to pass. This was a good call as the storm appeared to arrive a little early and maybe a little further north than expected.

 

If the casino was open and people could enjoy the Pearl, it appears NCL might have made the most cost effective and least passenger disrupted choice.

 

Way to go NCL! :)

[bonvoyagie]

We were in Astoria last weekend - camping :). The winds were out of the Northwest and would have been a tail wind for the Pearl. I know that on the beaches we had larger than normal tides that when coupled with the storm surge made the beaches dangerous. We were expecting a HAL ship on Sun and the Pearl on Mon - but both bypassed Astoria. It could be that the HAL ships were staying put based on the reports of the first captain.

 

Also HAL ships do not seem to be able to move as fast as the NCL jewel class ships - several knots faster.

 

There was also a gap between the storm fronts Sunday night that would have allowed a ship to travel in this notch between storms.

 

These storms did not move as predicted - the stalled then joined and sped up again.

[Freeway1]

The seas were a little rough but we did not think there was a problem. The ship did list to port for a long period of time after leaving SF which made walking about a little hard. The ship's Captain attended the CC M&G and seemed like a person who was able and capable to handle the weather that we experienced. My wife uses a wheel chair which was not a problem and we did not see anyone that looked uncomfortable or sea sick. The food outlets all seemed to be very busy. The free happy was a nice touch.

[panbear]

I was on this cruise to LA and it was rough that was for sure!!!!

 

However at no time did I feel that we were in danger. By Tuesday night I was a bit tired of it but just decided to go with it and enjoy what I could. Didn't feel there was anything else to do!!

 

On the up side watching the storm behind us at two in the morning was a sight to behold!!! Lightening in the upper clouds, rough seas, it was amazing. Glad it did the cruise and since I missed Astoria, I just have another reason to do it again! ;)

 

Nicole

[lamchops]

It'll be interesting to see if Sapphire Princess leaves Ogden Point later ( her next call is Seattle....).

Cheers

 

 

I just got off the Sapphire yesterday and it was rough all the way to Astoria. We stayed in Victoria till just after midnight and headed out to Seattle when the winds died down. The cruise down to Astoria was "a rocking and a rolling" front to back and side to side. We missed Astoria as it was a "tender port" for the Sapphire but the Celebrity Century managed to dock for the day. The weather started to get better in the afternoon of the day we missed Astoria.