Emerald Princess Still In Houston

[eclue]

There were many delays last year due to weather...mainly the fog. Just something to deal with when sailing from Houston......we rec'd compensation for losing one day of our cruise last year. I am sure that Princess will do the same for you. Pretty erratic weather for Houston at this time of year.....

Enjoy the remainder of your cruise.

[MarkSeattle]

I was not expecting to see the Emerald still at the pier at 830 this morning. It was nearly freezing so they're stuck in cold weather instead of out in the Gulf...

 

Anyone remember the deal with alcohol while still in Texas? I think they were very limited in what they could serve, had to be purchased from a tx distributor or something. I think they did open the shops up for one delayed cruise, but no casino.

[caribill]

Anyone remember the deal with alcohol while still in Texas? I think they were very limited in what they could serve, had to be purchased from a tx distributor or something.

 

Exactly. Texas law says that within Texas only alcohol purchased from a Texas distributor can be served.

 

Princess chooses to only purchase a limited number of brands for this under the theory they can save money by only needing to serve a limited selection for a few hours before sailing.

 

This means even wines at dinner are very limited while still in Texas waters.

 

It also means they do not open all of the bars since they do not all have these limited Texas based supplies.

[lrodsangel]

We are on the Emerald Princess sitting at the Port - still tied up. We were delayed boarding yesterday and were told it was due to EP being 2 hours late coming into port. We were scheduled to leave at 3:30pm and at 4pm the captain told us that we were still loading supplies and waiting on some passengers that were delayed in arriving. Time ticked by....We went down for dinner at 7pm and heard the engines crank - briefly. About 9 pm the Captain announced that there were 4 barges going through the channel and we had to wait for them to pass before we could leave. At 10pm the Captain announced that due to the windy weather - we were going to sit at the port and leave at 6am this morning. Still sitting here with no further updates (8:50am Monday). Thankful that we have a Vista suite so enjoying our room! Unfortunately - it is 39 degrees outside and we packed shorts and bathing suits! Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom will have to be our hot tub! Food is wonderful - making the best of it. Winds are suppose to be strong all day today so doubtful we are going to be able to leave today either. :-/

[RocketMan275]

As I remember, on of the Caribbean Princess cruises last year was also delayed for a considerable time (don't remember how long but hours at least) due to high winds. A cruise ship has a lot of 'sail area' so high winds and a narrow channel can be an issue.

 

BTW, I rather doubt POH will widen the channel. It would take 20 years just to get the environmental permits.

[CruisingJs]

We were on the cruise that brought the Emerald to Houston from Southampton. It took us a REALLY long time to dock in Houston as it was very windy. It seemed like the side thrusters were churning up water for a couple of hours trying to push us to the dock. Princess may have to rethink their use of the Houston port. After that there was a delay in offloading the luggage and we had to wait for that as well.

[luvseaside]

Exactly. Texas law says that within Texas only alcohol purchased from a Texas distributor can be served.

 

Princess chooses to only purchase a limited number of brands for this under the theory they can save money by only needing to serve a limited selection for a few hours before sailing.

 

This means even wines at dinner are very limited while still in Texas waters.

 

It also means they do not open all of the bars since they do not all have these limited Texas based supplies.

 

For any wine lovers sailing in the next few weeks, this is where Princess's allowance for wine is a good thing! ;) We sailed the CB last year from Bayport (in Feb) and knew about the possibility of fog issues. Sure enough, when we left muster drill, fog had enveloped the ship and my husband & I knew we weren't leaving that night. Luckily, we had brought on four bottles of wine (they didn't ding us for corkage, btw) and took a nice bottle of cabernet to the Crown Grill for dinner that night. So we were able to enjoy our extra night at port and not be too frustrated by the very limited wine choices available (which was pretty much just Mondavi wines if I recall correctly).

 

So just though I would offer that helpful hint. We went to Spec's the night before and stocked up for the trip.

[Loonbeam]

As I understand it, one issue is that even though the port area itself may be clear of fog/wind, the channel out may not be. So the issue slowing/stopping traffic may not be something the passengers can see.

[lrodsangel]

Captain just gave us an update. The wind is our hold up. He has scheduled our departure for 10am but if the wind doesn't die down - that won't happen. He will wait for the wind to be more favorable for the safety of the ship and all aboard.

[RJ2002]

Captain just gave us an update. The wind is our hold up. He has scheduled our departure for 10am but if the wind doesn't die down - that won't happen. He will wait for the wind to be more favorable for the safety of the ship and all aboard.

 

Thanks for the update. I know this has to be frustrating for everyone on-board, but safety is the most important thing.

[Sea B's]

The priority on Safety doesn't excuse Princess's very poor decision to run a passenger ship the size of EP from Bayport. This weather and winds are not unusual. Perhaps the refunds they will have to give us don't outweigh their bargain with the port.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

Looks like they are going to give it a go. A tugboat just pulled up to help her out of port.

[RJ2002]

The priority on Safety doesn't excuse Princess's very poor decision to run a passenger ship the size of EP from Bayport. This weather and winds are not unusual. Perhaps the refunds they will have to give us don't outweigh their bargain with the port.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Sounds like you are on board. What are they saying about refunds?

[Zapped]

Looks like they are going to give it a go. A tugboat just pulled up to help her out of port.

But there are at least three lines near the bow that appear to be firmly tethering her to shore. My DW & I are on the turkey-day cruise this coming Sunday & I'm watching this drama play out...

[Topo Gigio]

Looks like you are going to miss Roatan or another port of call.

[Roses2]

[FONT="Arial Black"][SIZE="2"][COLOR="Black"]Princess was upset that 70% of those of us on the Emerald Trans-Atlantic cruise debarked in Ft. Lauderdale rather than sail on to Houston. Most of us read all about the Bayport problems last year and did not want to chance those conditions.

Apparently Houston spent a lot of money on Bayport and has contracts with the cruise lines to use it. Perhaps Houston and the cruise lines made a mistake attempting to home port big ships that far up the ship canal based on the known weather conditions and the heavy barge traffic.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[RJ2002]

She's finally moving!

[Zapped]

She's MOVING!

[RJ2002]

Looked to me that there was a tow line attached to the tug.

[martiniren]

Bon Voyage! Better late than never!:)

[funcrusier]

We are on the Emerald and still setting at dock. Tugs along side and Captin has indicated we are leaving shortly. Clear and sunny with wind. Captain said we would have 4 tugs assisting.

Embarkation was very disorganized. We are elite on Princess and nothing even remotely close to yesterday.

Communication has been very poor. Only one update between 8:00pm last night and10:00 this morning. No communication of where we are going.

Agree Princess can not control weather but they can control where they dock. Bayport is in a very poor location with only refineries and container ship docks around. Very hard to get to. Channel. To open water is narrow and affected by fog and wind. Makes you feel like Princess got a great deal to come to port.

Go news we are now moving!!!

[scott4020]

Pulling away from dock now.

[Madame B]

She's finally leaving now!

[SLCfirsttimer]

[quote name='funcrusier']We are on the Emerald and still setting at dock. Tugs along side and Captin has indicated we are leaving shortly. Clear and sunny with wind. Captain said we would have 4 tugs assisting.

Embarkation was very disorganized. We are elite on Princess and nothing even remotely close to yesterday.

Communication has been very poor. Only one update between 8:00pm last night and10:00 this morning. No communication of where we are going.

Agree Princess can not control weather but they can control where they dock. Bayport is in a very poor location with only refineries and container ship docks around. Very hard to get to. Channel. To open water is narrow and affected by fog and wind. Makes you feel like Princess got a great deal to come to port.

Go news we are now moving!!![/quote]

Any word on missed ports and if compensation for the delay is being given?

[PenguinLife]

I think this is mostly just bad luck, this time of year the houston / galveston bay area sees these kinds of winds gusting to around 40 mph for prolonged periods this time of year only when very strong cold fronts pass through, most years you are looking at this happening no more than 6-10 times, just as chance would have it this time around it happened 5 days apart timed with the last 2 departures. If you watch the national news you will see there has been much coverage of these freak early season storms, so we can't really blame too much of this on the more common fog conditions, which did cause a delay of about 2 hours yesterday.