Ever miss a port due to weather or other issues?

[Stefanosthecruiselover]

I'm curious to know what ones you have missed, why and how you/others felt about it.

[killtheump]

Grand Caymen after they were hit with a Hurricane. Felt bad for the people that lived there.

[Clarea]

We've missed Coco Cay a few times due to weather.

 

We missed Nassau because of some port scheduling snafu and went to Freeport instead. No big deal for us, but a huge deal for the wedding party on board who expected to do a destination wedding in Nassau.

 

We missed the Azores on a transatlantic due to bad weather, and went to Tenerife instead.

[heziggy]

we did in october 2014 due to a hurricane coming into the caribbean/bermuda area.

 

first we arrived 1 hr late to bermuda for fog and left an hour early. skipped st martin because of the hurricane hitting the area so went to puerto rico a day early was going to stay overnight in port but then got licked out by the coast guard because of the hurricane took our time at sea and arrived on time in labadee, left on time but due to engine propeller problems on the explorer we arrived a little over an hour late back at cape liberty

 

all in all we skirted the the outlyers of the hurricane the almost the whole time, captain did great and was refunded st martin port/tax fees.

[Big_G]

Coco Cay four out of five tries and Grand Cayman once all be cause of weather. Labadee once because of labor unrest. Coco Cay became a running joke with us until we go there the fifth try. We never got upset about any misses. On one miss early on in our cruising life, they opened all the bars for a few hours but you won't see that again.

[flashcat]

We missed Jamaica due to bad weather on one cruise and were held out in the gulf for 6 hours before we could get back to Galveston

[Paulette3028]

We have had it happen....I can't remember the specific port stop missed. I am sure Coco Cay was one of them, but we have also missed other ports over the years....as long as any excursions that have been paid for are re-imbursed (which they have been) my feeling is -- if it is unsafe to dock or the weather is so poor that it is unsafe to cruise there -- I am fine with missing it. If you have seen one island, you have seen 'many of them'. (LOL)

 

Itinerary changes are something I will never get upset over....you just can't help it.

[Desertbelle]

A few: Grand Caymen because of weather; LaHarve, France because of a dock worker strike; three Caribbean ports that I have forgotten which ones, because Princess Cruise Lines lied to us until after final payment and then told us that the ship's new engines wouldn't be able to go normal speeds until after the "break in" period, which included our cruise (they gave us $100 compensation for missing 3 ports and getting half days at the other 3 ports.)

 

Weather and strikes happen and though we were disappointed we made the best of it.....in fact, missing LaHarve allowed us to visit Cherbourgh, which was remarkable and one of our all time favorite ports.

 

Princess lying to us is a whole different story and we will forever refuse to give Princess any of our business, and I speak out against Princess whenever I get a chance. We made the best of that cruise, though 7 sea days on a 10 day, 6 port Caribbean cruise on a ship right out of dry dock and with many public areas (like the pool, the internet and some of the restaurants) closed, was a challenge. We drank A LOT. :D (BTW I contacted Princess, as did my TA, as soon as we heard there were engine problems and a scheduled dry dock just before our cruise to verify that the ship would be in good working order and the email I received said, and I quote, "The Dawn Princess will be in better than new condition and there will be no problems." Until 3 days after final payment when they contacted us with the bad news. Yes, folks, that is what really bad customer service looks like.)

Edited April 4, 2015 by Desertbelle

[dplusd]

We were stuck in fog at the port of Galveston for 2 1/2 days which caused us to miss ports. But that's just Galveston in the winter. We too have missed Coco Cay due to high winds, which is not uncommon there.

[Paulette3028]

A few: Grand Caymen because of weather; LaHarve, France because of a dock worker strike; three Caribbean ports that I have forgotten which ones, because Princess Cruise Lines lied to us until after final payment and then told us that the ship's new engines wouldn't be able to go normal speeds until after the "break in" period, which included our cruise (they gave us $100 compensation for missing 3 ports and getting half days at the other 3 ports.)

 

Weather and strikes happen and though we were disappointed we made the best of it.....in fact, missing LaHarve allowed us to visit Cherbourgh, which was remarkable and one of our all time favorite ports.

 

Princess lying to us is a whole different story and we will forever refuse to give Princess any of our business, and I speak out against Princess whenever we get a chance. We made the best of that cruise, though 7 sea days on a 10 day, 6 port Caribbean cruise on a ship right out of dry dock and with many public areas (like the pool, the internet and some of the restaurants) closed, was a challenge. We drank A LOT. :D

 

What you point out (see blue highlights above) some interesting things. My SIL sailed on a Princess ship and although it was not just out of drydock, they experienced some of the same issues with pools and restaurants closed. When we compared our sailing on Allure to her sailing on a Princess ship, she felt as if she was on a deserted island with little to do. I think they sailed on the Caribbean Princess.

[cruisegirl1]

We've missed ports in the Bahamas and Caribbean many times, because of sea and tendering conditions. It is no big deal for us as we cruise the Bahamas and Caribbean often but I know many less request or first time cruisers get very upset ( and understandably so) when a port is missed. Many have just one opportunity to go to "fill in the blank" and may never have another opportunity to cruise again.

 

M

[jsoenning]

Coco Cay due to high winds on the Freedom. Our travel mates wondered why since they skipped the port early in the morning, why we didn't arrive at the next port early. I thought that was a good question.

[tidygirl]

We missed a port in the Caribbean I'm not sure which one, but someone was sick on the ship so the port authority wouldn't let us come in, an extra day at sea which isn't something we enjoy!

[wassup4565]

Could not anchor in Mykonos because of high winds (scheduled to tender). Yes, people were disappointed, but the captain arranged for us to dock 12 hours earlier than scheduled in Kusadasi. We had the opportunity to enjoy a night in that port, and had a great time exploring the Turkish market. Can't cry over spilled milk....

[ehfl]

We were excited to miss Coco Cay, which meant an overnight in Nassau. We had wanted to try Graycliff, but did not really have an opportunity on the regular Majesty cruises. As soon as we found out we would be overnighting in Nassau, we called ahead and made reservations. We toured the wine cellar under the house (3rd largest collection in the world, and has the oldest bottle of wine in the world) after dinner, then explored the gardens and pools. It was a great evening that we would otherwise have missed. Missing a port just means more opportunity for something else, so find whatever that is and take advantage of it!

Edited April 4, 2015 by ehfl

[BillB48]

Missed Coco Cay and Grand Cayman, no huge disappointment... you are still on a cruise. The weather was not that severe where it was bad weather at sea, just not ideal for tendering. The "missed" port that we have experienced that presented some challenges was due to Hurricane Katrina and Port Everglades (FLL) was closed and we were diverted to Tampa. The challenge was car parked in the port parking garage in PE and we were in Tampa!!

[sjb317]

We were unable to dock in Helsinki, Finland due to high winds. The Captain announced it was not safe to do so, and gave everyone 2 hours of free drinks in select bars that day.

 

We also missed a stop in Tenerife on another cruise due to a bad storm in the Mediterranean as we were forced to stay at the port in Toulon. Instead of Tenerife, we had extra time in Barcelona which was a lot of fun.

 

And we've missed Coco Cay twice!:D

 

Sherri:)

[kernow]

We missed Athens because of a general strike, we went to Mykonos instead, there was a note in the cabin on embarkation day. We were quite pleased as we'd done Athens before but never been to Mykonos. Many were disappointed as Athens was one of the reasons they had chosen the cruise.

 

Not on RCL, but we missed Agadir due to high winds and too dangerous to dock, we'd never been and had an excursion booked so were a bit disappointed but they refunded the money straight away. We headed on to Lanzarote, our next stop and got to dock early for an overnight on New Years Eve which was great.

 

 

Julie

[GUT2407]

I have missed ports or had order of ports changed on exactly 1/2 of all my cruises. In each case weather was the culprit.

[rummenroman]

I guess I'm in the minority (the only one at this point in the thread) and haven't missed a port yet. Been to a few to the typical "trouble spots" and :knocks on wood: have yet to miss one. Will tempt fate with Coco Cay in November.

[KellyL]

We missed a day cruising Cape Horn due to a medical emergency. They said they had no option other than docking at Ushuaia early as they couldn't do a helicopter evacuation and there was no other suitable port to pull in to for the removal of the passenger. We were let off the ship to explore for the evening but a huge disappointment to miss Cape Horn. No compensation of any kind which was pretty poor!

 

 

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[Pumbaamd]

We were on a 3 day MN from PC a few years and never docked anywhere until we got back to PC. It was hurricane season and we kept dodging the worse parts of the storms. We were even a bit late arriving back at PC. The staff kicked up the activities and entertainment to a higher gear and we were never bored.

Also missed the Azores because of a north Atlantic storm and, as Bob did, went to the Canary Islands.

And as everyone has had, the usual Coco Cay cancellations.

Rick and Deirdra

[tallnthensome]

Missed Visby Sweden a few years back to due rough seas. They were just too much for the tenders. Still got our Stockholm port which was most important.

[MommaBear55]

During Hurricane Sandy we sat at the dock in Boston for two days before we could leave, so list out on both St. Lucia and Barbados. We got only our port fees refunded.

[DutchCruiseFan]

On my Splendour of the Seas cruise we missed Kefalonia because of storm it was unsafe to tender and we had a sea day one day early because we sailed to Split as replacement.