Why cant the captain make up lost time

[Submariner]

We were on the Sunshine last week leaving 2 hours late from New York. After two full sea days, El Capitano said we would be arriving in Puero Rico 2 hours later at 5pm instead of 3pm. Naturally this pissed off a lot of people with cancelled excursions etc.

I was always under the impression that the ship sails at 80% speed and can adjust speed to make up lost time.

Same thing happened on out St Thomas to Grand Turk leg where we left an hour late and arrived an hour late.

[ray98]

Big $$$$ in costs.

[drvmywifecrzy]

head winds

[BallFour4]

Many variables, some of which have been stated. Here's why.

 

It's a linear curve, and a steep one for fuel needed for speed. Ships are displacement hull design and they don't plane up on top of the water like a Boston Whaler. It takes horsepower, and lots of it to cruise along at speed. Any increase above the most efficient one would consume a significant amount more fuel.

 

Other variables include currents, wind speed and direction and the ships capability in general to maintain higher speeds over time.

This doesn't make it better for you, just an answer to your question.

 

.

[Kamloops50]

Another is Headquarters pinching pennies.

[Havingfun2010]

We were on the Sunshine last week leaving 2 hours late from New York. After two full sea days, El Capitano said we would be arriving in Puero Rico 2 hours later at 5pm instead of 3pm. Naturally this pissed off a lot of people with cancelled excursions etc.

I was always under the impression that the ship sails at 80% speed and can adjust speed to make up lost time.

Same thing happened on out St Thomas to Grand Turk leg where we left an hour late and arrived an hour late.

 

It's a Carnival Business Decision. With two complete sea days, plus another 1/2 day, the ship would have had to increase the speed only slightly, less than 1mph. But it will cost much more money in fuel burned. Now, a company that is known for cutbacks aren't going to spend money, just to make customers happy. So, they arrive late, and tell the customers too bad.

[Submariner]

Thanks for the info. Makes it more clearer now.

 

 

 

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[CdrescherRBL152]

Could buy it as simple saving money. If not for the number of times we have left port late. And arrived at the next on time.

 

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[Nic6318]

Hi there

 

So the rule of thumb is that sometimes they can make up lost time and sometimes they can't for some reason or another. On any specific cruise the only way you might find out why they weren't able to make up time is to ask the captain. He/she might be inclined to explain your situation.

 

Just a reminder, that there are no guarantees when cruising that you will arrive somewhere at a specific time, or that you will arrive somewhere at all. If you can't live with that, cruising might not be for you.

 

hope this helps

[bobandsherry]

Another is Headquarters pinching pennies.

For the passengers on that cruise it's a bit of a bummer for those who missed an excursion.

 

However as shareholder that's great with company keeping an eye on the bottom line.

 

As a passenger I like it too as it keeps my cruise price down.

 

Delays don't happen often, in 18 cruises we missed 1 port as it was a tender and waves were too choppy. Only been late a couple times, but was early AM so didn't really matter.

 

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[cccer]

Could also be issues at the port delaying the ship from docking on time.

[jimbo5544]

It's a Carnival Business Decision. With two complete sea days, plus another 1/2 day, the ship would have had to increase the speed only slightly, less than 1mph. But it will cost much more money in fuel burned. Now, a company that is known for cutbacks aren't going to spend money, just to make customers happy. So, they arrive late, and tell the customers too bad.

 

 

 

If only there were facts in this post....

 

 

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[coevan]

to the OP, it's not an airplane, they cruise at approximately 20kts, not MPH as someone stated. If they have following seas it might help but if you are beating into the seas or into the wind it drastically reduces speed and fuel consumption. The tour companies know you are 2 hours late and will not lose a days income, they will all reschedule their tours if time allows

[bUU]

Just a reminder, that there are no guarantees when cruising that you will arrive somewhere at a specific time, or that you will arrive somewhere at all. If you can't live with that, cruising might not be for you.

Precisely. I recall that on past cruises when I brought my GPS that I could plot the cruise ship effectively floating listlessly for hours overnight going from one port in the Caribbean to another. I suspect in cases like that there is no problem whatsoever in making up for a late departure. But there are certain segments of the voyage that are specifically timed based on the appropriate efficient use of the engines. On our upcoming cruise we are leaving Costa Maya arguably a bit early. However it is clear that they're doing that because it is a long trip from Costa Maya backup to Port Canaveral. It just makes sense when a portion of a cruise is supposed to take a certain amount of time that it will take that amount of time, and that if something causes it to begin late then that thing will cause it to end late.

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[jimbo5544]

Precisely. I recall that on past cruises when I brought my GPS that I could plot the cruise ship effectively floating listlessly for hours overnight going from one port in the Caribbean to another. I suspect in cases like that there is no problem whatsoever in making up for a late departure. But there are certain segments of the voyage that are specifically timed based on the appropriate efficient use of the engines. On our upcoming cruise we are leaving Costa Maya arguably a bit early. However it is clear that they're doing that because it is a long trip from Costa Maya backup to Port Canaveral. It just makes sense when a portion of a cruise is supposed to take a certain amount of time that it will take that amount of time, and that if something causes it to begin late then that thing will cause it to end late.

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

 

 

 

Very little human interaction on any of this....plus in the destination and desired arrival time and presto. If there are delays sometimes they can make up some time but increased speed uses tremendous amounts of energy.

 

 

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[Essiesmom]

I think the ability to make up time without serious expense may depend on the ship. The newer the ship, the more efficient the engines may be. Despite her new name, Sunshine is one of the older ships in the line so probably has less efficient engines. there are two Fantasy class ships newer than she is. EM

[Submariner]

to the OP, it's not an airplane, they cruise at approximately 20kts, not MPH as someone stated. If they have following seas it might help but if you are beating into the seas or into the wind it drastically reduces speed and fuel consumption. The tour companies know you are 2 hours late and will not lose a days income, they will all reschedule their tours if time allows

 

Actually, the two hours late resulted in the majority of excursions being cancelled.

 

I just figured if they increased speed by 1 knot over the two days, we would get back some time at least...

 

Bottom line, I expected the cruiselines to allow wiggle room in their respective speeds. Like airplanes that can make up some time, I thought crusie ships don't operate at max speed all the time and can adjust accordingly.

[bUU]

I think the ability to make up time without serious expense may depend on the [age of] ship.

I wouldn't be so sure. I can definitely believe your insinuation that newer ships have different efficiency profiles than older ships, but it just makes plain sense to schedule the ship, young or old, such that the ship is to operate at peak efficiency, regardless. So if a newer ship's peak efficiency happens to be at a faster speed, then the ship will presumably aim to cruise at that speed, and its departure time from port to port [for example, from Costa Maya, on the way back to Port Canaveral, as I mentioned above], will probably be selected with that peak efficiency speed in mind. Therefore, if the leg of the voyage is one of those without any floating around aimlessly overnight, then it would be as unlikely for the ship to "make up time" after a late departure regardless of the ship's age.

 

Beyond that (and I really hope one of CC's resident ship engineering crew members chimes in to clarify this), newer probably doesn't mean "designed to operate at peak efficiency specifically when cruising faster". I know of numerous mechanical devices that have been optimized over time, but with an eye toward efficiency for efficiency's sake, rather than in the interest of squeezing out more performance from a metric such as speed. Boeing is designing and building new 777s. They intention is to optimize size and weight capacity while decreasing fuel consumption, not to increase speed.

[Nomad_Cruiser]

There's also potential comfort to the cruisers/passengers.

 

We were going "full" according to what we were told to make up time from bad weather. Seas were still kind of rough. Sitting in MDR for dinner at rear of the Conquest. Vibration from engines and seas was so bad that multiple passengers including my DW left and fought over bathrooms to throw up in due to motion sickness. My DW never gets sea sick and has been on boats all her life. But that extra vibration made it unbearable and even I was queasy.

 

I'd rather miss an excursion and two hours in a port than deal with multiple complaints due to the level of comfort that had been brought down due to going faster than scheduled.

[Hadiez]

Um the real reason they cant speed up is.... Remember the last time they tried this. They lit the last boiler and hit an iceberg.. So no speeding up.

[NJ CRUISE]

I always thought they built in a little extra time between ports. It seems on sea days the ship sails slower to keep it steady while everyone is out and about, then pick up the speed after dinner time. So if 2 sea days in a row, I would think normally the Captain can make up 2 hours. Pending weather, waves etc.

[Submariner]

Um the real reason they cant speed up is.... Remember the last time they tried this. They lit the last boiler and hit an iceberg.. So no speeding up.

 

lol The last time I checked there were no icebergs in the Caribbean ... but I get your point! ;p

[jimbo5544]

Um the real reason they cant speed up is.... Remember the last time they tried this. They lit the last boiler and hit an iceberg.. So no speeding up.

 

 

 

Lol, now that is funny

 

 

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[mikem15]

This is very conflicting. I don't know exactly why you came in late. But they can in-fact make up time. I was on the pride 2 years ago when we had to MediVac a passenger off. We left Baltimore got to mid South Carolina turned around toward North Carolina. Traveled north for about 2 hours and then sat there as the evacuation took place. Until we got back to where we turned around it was about 4 hours and 45 minutes of lost time. Yet still arrived at our first port only 1 hour and 30 minutes late. So somewhere we made up 3 hours and 15 minutes.

 

 

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[DebJ14]

Sometimes, they add more time in port to make up for any delays. In our case on our cruise to Key West and the Bahamas at the end of April, Galveston was experiencing 35mph winds, so the ship docked late. Therefore, our cruise departed late. Our route east took us right into those winds blowing at 35-40mph from the east.. To make the trip a bit more comfortable the Captain changed the route, which added to the late arrival in the first port. They advised us that instead of arriving at 10am, we would arrive around 2pm. However, they extended our time in port to make up for it. With Daylight saving time we had more than enough time to enjoy Key West and got to stay for the sunset, so it was a win-win. There was also a delay in arriving to our next port, but once again they lengthened the time in port by the amount of time we were late. Since the 3rd port was so close, we arrived and departed on time and made it back to Galveston on time, so the next cruise could run on schedule.

 

We were also on the Liberty when it was having propulsion problems on its last cruise before dry dock. We were originally scheduled to arrive in Galveston at 2pm, based on sailing at 13 knots. The technicians made a repair that allowed the ship to sail much faster. As a result, we arrived at 9am. People were given free phone calls and internet times so they could adjust pick ups, flights etc. The Captain explained to us that they needed every minute in dry dock and there were masses of equipment that had been delivered to Galveston while we were at sea. They sooner they got us off, loaded the stuff on the pier and got going, the more they would accomplish in dry dock. In that case, we were not happy about the increased speed. It is all relative!