Missed ports in Baltics

[Jonza]

And now we have the first missed port of the season. Royal Caribean's Legend of the Seas was scheduled to depart St. Petersburg yesterday (May 13th) at 11pm. However Legend did not depart until 7am today. According to the AIS data the ship is skipping Helsinki and heading directly to Stockholm to make up for the delay. No news yet on why the ship was delayed.

[LondonTowner]

I think you just have to accept that in the Baltic the weather is just as unreliable as here in the UK. As we say, we often have 4 seasons in one day. We did a Baltic cruise in mid September last year and had fabulous weather. In Tallin it was hot, around 28C.

 

We had taken far too many clothes as we had packed for all weather.

 

I like the fact that we have unpredictable weather, makes life a bit more interesting. I lived for 13 years in the Canary Islands where the temperature is more or less the same all year round. I found it very boring as I missed the seasons.

[roothy123]

Didn't miss any last year, but heard that Bornholm, Denmark (Ronne is port) gets missed once in a while.

[Wendy-Europe]

I did the Hurtigruten years ago during October.

 

During our cruise we had a storm - so our ship was not allowed to leave the port - while another Hurtigrutenship was not allowed to enter the port. I am sure, there are regulations, which one stays and which one has to go to the next port.

 

We stayed overnight - the port to port guests got cabins (in Norway people use Hurtigruten like a bus from one port to the next).

 

Nobody was really surprised or upset - it is something people expect during winter time.

[hal2008]

Has anyone on this board has any info on why Helsinki was skipped this week by RCL in perfect weather?

 

3 hours and counting to find that info from RCL.

[Ravenscroft]

Has anyone on this board has any info on why Helsinki was skipped this week by RCL in perfect weather?

 

3 hours and counting to find that info from RCL.

 

I refer you to post #33 on this thread.

No reason for the delay from SPB but that appears to be why Helsinki was skipped.

[hal2008]

I refer you to post #33 on this thread.

No reason for the delay from SPB but that appears to be why Helsinki was skipped.

 

 

Wow. This board comes through every time. DNK how I missed that post.

(BTW, still on hold with RCL - wish they would post such items on their web page)

 

Glad to know that it was not weather related issue.

[Travelanni]

Has anyone on this board has any info on why Helsinki was skipped this week by RCL in perfect weather?

 

3 hours and counting to find that info from RCL.

 

 

Just got back from the LOS cruise 1 hour ago.

The reason we were given for being held in SPB was high winds in the very narrow channel. It is extremely narrow, ships cannot pass in the channel so there is a certain time frame for ships in and another for ships out. There was a VERY strong cross-wind at the time we were due to sail and the Captain felt it was too dangerous. Whether he was right or not it was his call. It was still very windy when we did leave and remained so most of the way to Stockholm.

We had to leave one passenger behind in Tallin after waiting over 30 mins for him. He had taken the wrong bus. Tallin is the worst port to miss the ship as you cannot rejoin in SPB and, in the event, as we missed Helsinki he was unable to rejoin until Stockholm.

Anni

Edited May 17, 2014 by Travelanni

[Desdichado62]

It happened today for Celebrity Silhouette which is supposed to have visited Stockholm today. She is still circling nearby Söderarm lighthouse do to strong

winds that have made the Swedish maritime administration's pilot to decide that they need to wait until the winds calm down before they can attempt to sail into Stockholm.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Desdichado62

[4supermom]

Just got back from Silhouette last night. We were supposed to dock in Stockholm at 9:00 on June 18 and overnight there. Due to gale force winds, we didn't start transiting the archipelago until 14:00 finally docking in Stockholm shortly after 19:00. We watched some of the transit from our balcony (it was still cool and rainy) and the channel is extremely narrow. Much too dangerous for a large ship in strong winds.

[tully07]

We did not tender in Nynasham in May. They have built a new dock so that tendering is not required.

[ASiuta]

Just got back from Silhouette last night. We were supposed to dock in Stockholm at 9:00 on June 18 and overnight there. Due to gale force winds, we didn't start transiting the archipelago until 14:00 finally docking in Stockholm shortly after 19:00. We watched some of the transit from our balcony (it was still cool and rainy) and the channel is extremely narrow. Much too dangerous for a large ship in strong winds.

 

As stated above, we missed one full day in Stockholm on this cruise. Free shuttle buses were provided by Celebrity as soon as we docked for passengers to go ashore in the evening. Many passengers did. We did not as we were staying in Stockholm. I always suggest to others to arrive in the departure port a day or more early and do the same at a disembarkation port, just "in case" the last port has issues. This was also crucial on this past trip for us, as all of our luggage was "lost" until just hours prior to embarkation in Amsterdam and we arrived three days early!

Edited June 23, 2016 by ASiuta

[basil1]

I was on the Silhouette 07/01/16 sailing. We were supposed to have two days in St. Petersburg. Due to high winds they had closed the port. No ships could leave and none come come in so we missed our first day. Fortunately we were able to get in on the second day.

[GradUT]

I was on the Silhouette 07/01/16 sailing. We were supposed to have two days in St. Petersburg. Due to high winds they had closed the port. No ships could leave and none come come in so we missed our first day. Fortunately we were able to get in on the second day.

 

That's really too bad. St. Petersburg is one port where I'd hate not to have 2 full days.

 

How did your tour company handle it? Did you just miss out on whatever was scheduled for Day 1?

[Desdichado62]

HAL Zuiderdam was 3 hours late into Stockholm this morning due to fog. It waited at the entrance point to the archipelago.

[Desdichado62]

Thompson Celebration cancelled it's planned visit to Stockholm today due to "unfavourable wind conditions".

[Pushka]

It is a worry when Stockholm is our embarkation port.

[collijoha]

That's really too bad. St. Petersburg is one port where I'd hate not to have 2 full days.

 

How did your tour company handle it? Did you just miss out on whatever was scheduled for Day 1?

 

I simply worry about these kind of situations..So what is the answer?

[kitkat343]

It is a worry when Stockholm is our embarkation port.

The NCL Getaway recently had this problem with Germany, and they needed to skip Tallinn so they could spend the next day in Germany when they couldn't dock on their scheduled day due to wind. The problem was they needed to leave Germany early to sail to the next port, and so people only got to spend 7:30-1:30 in Germany, which wasn't enough time to get to Berlin or to the Schwerin Castle and they also missed Tallinn.

 

So I think they'd find a way to reschedule an embarkation port, but it could cause other problems in the cruise - or you could dock in Nynashamn, which could be a bit difficult with luggage.

[Pet Nit Noy]

I simply worry about these kind of situations..So what is the answer?

 

Unfortunately, the nature of cruising includes some degree of risk about missed ports. Cruising has a huge number of strengths, but guarantees about arriving at every destination is not one of them. Most people who book a cruise decide the convenience of unpacking once and having their "hotel" move them effortlessly from place to place is a sufficient benefit that they're willing to risk occasional disappointment from missed ports. Other than choosing a land vacation where you alone become responsible for getting yourself from place to place through a variety of methods, there is no "answer."

[Pushka]

Missed ports are expected. The issue is when they are embarkation ports.

 

 

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[Heartgrove]

We were on a 12-day Baltic sea cruise last month with HAL when the Getaway had the misfortune of skipping ports. The only delay we had was entering the Stockholm Archipelago. Harbor Control would not let us begin until the morning fog had thinned. We arrived at 10:00 instead of 08:00. The plus was being able to see it's beauty entering and leaving.

 

The Second Officer had the bridge departing Stockholm and spun the Zuiderdam "on a dime" 180 degrees with only 10 meters clearance at either end! In my opinion a lot depends on the size of the ship ,among other factors, and with the amount of superstructure exposed to the crosswind. The larger the ship the more chance of having difficulty maneuvering.

 

Also, I could not believe the luck we had with weather over the whole twelve days! It was smooth /calm seas and no precipitation at all. The water was like glass at times! When we sail we expect rough seas and rain. Any day that isn't that is a plus.

[Kansas Gal]

We just returned from a Baltic cruise and we missed Tallinn. It was because we couldn't get out of the Rostock industrial port where we docked because of high winds. They have us an extra day at Rostock but because it was Sunday there was very little transportation into the town.