Diamond Princess diverted to Wellington

[Beanb41]

Yes ...they are forecasting winds up to cyclone strength for tomorrow. They will be hitting the lower South Island and moving up as far as Wellington, so best to stay where they are.

 

 

 

150km/hr winds in the South Island tomorrow but only a gentle zephyr of 120km/hr here in the Capital

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

I heard the same from another passenger on the ship. What's your brother's name? Would be like to be mentioned in our article? :)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=6567

[set_sail]

I heard the same from another passenger on the ship. What's your brother's name? Would be like to be mentioned in our article? :)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=6567

 

Your news item re Diamond has incorrect information

 

Update: (October 3, 2015 - 4:30 p.m. AEST) -- After cancelling its call at Bay of Islands, Diamond Princess will stay a second night in Wellington and skip its scheduled visit to Akaroa due to "severe weather" in the South Island, according to a passenger onboard the ship. We will provide further confirmation from Princess Cruises when available.

 

Diamond Princess has missed it's first two ports of call Fiordland and Dunedin (not Bay of Islands) and arrived in Wellington today. Passengers have been informed that they now will miss Akaroa and will stay overnight in Wellington.

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

Thanks for the correction! Was there ever a stop at Bay of Islands?

[set_sail]

Thanks for the correction! Was there ever a stop at Bay of Islands?

 

Itinerary going South to North. Bay of Islands scheduled as last port of call.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Thanks for the correction! Was there ever a stop at Bay of Islands?

 

 

original itinerary..

Tue 29/09/15 Sydney / Australia 18:30

Wed 30/09/15 At Sea

Thu 01/10/15 At Sea

Fri 02/10/15 Fjordland National Park (Scenic Cruising) / New Zealand 07:00 17:00

Sat 03/10/15 Port Chalmers / New Zealand 08:00 18:00

Sun 04/10/15 Akaroa / New Zealand 08:00 18:00

Mon 05/10/15 Picton / New Zealand 08:00 17:00

Tue 06/10/15 At Sea

Wed 07/10/15 Tauranga / New Zealand 10:00 21:30

Thu 08/10/15 Auckland / New Zealand 08:00 19:00

Fri 09/10/15 Bay of Islands / New Zealand 07:00 17:00

Sat 10/10/15 At Sea

Sun 11/10/15 At Sea

Mon 12/10/15 Sydney / Australia 07:00

 

Itinerary may be subject to change at any time.

[RecliningPanda]

I am on board too. Confirming we missed Milford sound and Dunedin. We were diverted to Wellington via cook strait and spent the day here. At around 7pm ish. We were told akaroa was canceled due to weather. And we spent the night in Wellington.

 

We are set to leave for Picton tonight but I have my doubts and so so many of the crew as we would have to go west to Picton then back east past Wellington again to get to next port right through the weather.

But so far we have not heard anything yet so who knows

 

Yesterday was stunning but today looking a bit bad. Definitely colder today

[CruiseCriticAUeditor]

Thanks Kiwi. I looked it up yesterday and also the web cam. RecliningPanda, it would be great if you could tell us if you make it to Picton. Good luck!

 

I've asked Princess AU for info but it's a long weekend in NSW so might not hear til Tuesday....

Edited October 3, 2015 by CruiseCriticAUeditor

[RecliningPanda]

I hope so but the nz weather service has lots of weather warnings for most of South Island and now Wellington for strong winds later today

 

http://www.metservice.com/warnings/severe-weather-warnings

 

Supposed to last until Monday morning which is when we supposed to be in Picton.

I really hope we get there I have not been there yet

[GUT2407]

South island has some nasty weather predicted.

 

I Judy hope everyone is safe.

[wombat13]

Does anyone know if Princess compensate for missed ports or is it just bad luck. I have family on the Diamond 😕

[GUT2407]

Does anyone know if Princess compensate for missed ports or is it just bad luck. I have family on the Diamond 😕

 

 

They may get some Port Fees refunded.

 

It's made cleaqr in all documentation that itinerary is subject to change

[wombat13]

Thanks. I know Princess does not have to and safety comes first but just wondered if they have done so in the past. We have just got off P&O Oceana in Venice 23Sept and we missed 2 ports Rome and Dubrovnik shame but again safety comes first.

[RecliningPanda]

Does anyone know if Princess compensate for missed ports or is it just bad luck. I have family on the Diamond 😕

 

All that usually happens is any booked excursions are refunded. You might and I mean might get some port fees refunded but I have not had that happen yet.

 

It sucks but it's part of the deal with nz cruising. Milford sound get skipped if someone sneezes too hard. Last cruise we missed out on Tauranga and bay of islands due to yassi

 

Pretty much you agree to the fact stuff can change

[wombat13]

Hi RecliningPanda, how is it on board now not to rough .....seasickness? I hope not for everyone s sake. Has Captain moved you into calmer waters?

[RecliningPanda]

Hi RecliningPanda, how is it on board now not to rough .....seasickness? I hope not for everyone s sake. Has Captain moved you into calmer waters?

 

Actually it's been pretty calm, It seemsthey have steered away from the storms. At Times you could see them in th distance but it's been ok. It's actually funny where we are now so calm its hard to believe there is bad weather but if you ask the locals it read a paper you can see how rough it is. So I think they made the right choice.

I don't want a repeat of yassi. I was in the sun and a rogue wave went over the lido deck 14. Thankfully I was siting down at the buffet but even crew were sent flying. Few broken limbs etc. so I am totally fine with them being cautious

[Beanb41]

If they leave for Picton tonight as scheduled they will be exposed to weather for only about an hour if the ship goes directly across the strait into the sounds. Once in Tory Channel the ship is very sheltered. It would have to be pretty rough for a ship this size not to cross the ditch. The smaller ferries go out in some pretty lumpy seas.

[sun-set]

Does anyone know if Princess compensate for missed ports or is it just bad luck. I have family on the Diamond

 

Yes we got 93 cents for missing Noumea and Lifou on the Dawn Princess, June 2009, I believe the compensation was just for Noumea.

It had to be used on a future cruise by a certain date so some people missed out, but we booked a cruise on the Sun Princess in time.:):):)

[set_sail]

Actually it's been pretty calm, It seemsthey have steered away from the storms. At Times you could see them in th distance but it's been ok. It's actually funny where we are now so calm its hard to believe there is bad weather but if you ask the locals it read a paper you can see how rough it is. So I think they made the right choice.

I don't want a repeat of yassi. I was in the sun and a rogue wave went over the lido deck 14. Thankfully I was siting down at the buffet but even crew were sent flying. Few broken limbs etc. so I am totally fine with them being cautious

 

Thanks Reclining Panda for updates from onboard. We have family on Diamond so following these posts with interest.

[wombat13]

Actually it's been pretty calm, It seemsthey have steered away from the storms. At Times you could see them in th distance but it's been ok. It's actually funny where we are now so calm its hard to believe there is bad weather but if you ask the locals it read a paper you can see how rough it is. So I think they made the right choice.

I don't want a repeat of yassi. I was in the sun and a rogue wave went over the lido deck 14. Thankfully I was siting down at the buffet but even crew were sent flying. Few broken limbs etc. so I am totally fine with them being cautious

 

Yes thanks for the update I thought or hoped that would be the case. That yassi sounds bad glad you escaped.

[wombat13]

Yes we got 93 cents for missing Noumea and Lifou on the Dawn Princess, June 2009, I believe the compensation was just for Noumea.

It had to be used on a future cruise by a certain date so some people missed out, but we booked a cruise on the Sun Princess in time.:):):)

 

Lucky you I am sure it made all the difference... Lol

[OzKiwiJJ]

All that usually happens is any booked excursions are refunded. You might and I mean might get some port fees refunded but I have not had that happen yet.

 

 

We had port fees refunded at Christmas on Sun when the Dravuni port stop was cancelled due to high winds. The refund was applied to our onboard account.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

They might end up for a third night in Wellington. 160 km are hitting Banks Peninsula and Akaroa and they are moving up to hit Wellington and the Wairarapa tonight. Should be all clear tomorrow.

very strange as hardly a breath of wind here in Auckland.

 

This is the time of year when the ships should be cruising Queensland,

not dicing with the wild equinoctial gales blowing up from the Southern Ocean.:mad:

 

 

Perhaps the cruise could be renamed ...My Weekend in Wellington.

 

Edited October 4, 2015 by Kiwi Kruzer

[OzKiwiJJ]

 

Perhaps the cruise could be renamed ...My Weekend in Wellington.

 

 

At least that's better than My Weekend in Waikikamukau :D

[Kiwi Kruzer]

There might be 2 cruise ships in Wellington tomorrow if Diamond stays another night..

Radiance of the Seas makes landfall tomorrow after its Trans Pacific and is booked in for 2 days.

The Port of Wellington , Centreport , will be declaring a massive dividend

if all of this keeps up.:D:D

Go Wellington.:)

What a shame the new David Jones is not ready yet.;)