Oceania Riveria delays

[GICNJC]

Riveria announced yesterday moved Sorrento port to Naples due to 6 foot waves but expected to arrive on time. Several excursions cancelled. This morning we wake to find arrival is delay at least 3 hours due to technical issues.

[ToxM]

But you are alive and haven't been smashed against rocks and can have a lovely leisurely breakfast and savour your lovely holiday :) I'm sorry that your plans have been messed about a little. You can still enjoy the lovely cruise you are on and can make the most of the ship during this delay. Changes to ports and technical issues are always a hazard of cruises. At least you aren't on a Carnival ship ;)

[LHT28]

look at the bright side you are not at home where the temps are about 12C ;)

[TERRIER1]

Riveria announced yesterday moved Sorrento port to Naples due to 6 foot waves but expected to arrive on time. Several excursions cancelled. This morning we wake to find arrival is delay at least 3 hours due to technical issues.

 

Did other ships tender in Sorrento yesterday? If yes, then the technical issues in combo with waves probably precluded you from tendering. Sorrento is usually the port they use when the ship has problems tendering in Amalfi. Have the "technical" issues been rectified?

[Solas36]

We were disappointed not to drop anchor at Sorrento in October on Riviera. Went to Naples instead. Not my favourite port. There was nothing to alert us to this change except seeing it in Currents in our room as we retired to bed. It just said Naples where we expected Sorrento. I think the lack of notice and indeed lack of any explanation, never mind apology was what niggled most. It could have been mentioned at end of show for example. Or an announcement as we set sail from previous port.

 

We could see Sorrento from Naples and it had at least one cruise ship at anchor. I realise no port is guaranteed but felt it was not handled well on this occasion.

 

I wonder if it has happened on other occasions?

[YoHoHo]

We were disappointed not to drop anchor at Sorrento in October on Riviera. Went to Naples instead. Not my favourite port. There was nothing to alert us to this change except seeing it in Currents in our room as we retired to bed. It just said Naples where we expected Sorrento. I think the lack of notice and indeed lack of any explanation, never mind apology was what niggled most. It could have been mentioned at end of show for example. Or an announcement as we set sail from previous port.

 

We could see Sorrento from Naples and it had at least one cruise ship at anchor. I realise no port is guaranteed but felt it was not handled well on this occasion.

 

I wonder if it has happened on other occasions?

I have never had that experience.

 

I can understand pax being upset if the only notice of a port change was in Currents the might before. Little time to change excursions or arrangements. Seems to me this is unusual. On the few occasions when we had port changes in advance, not necessitated on the day of due to weather or security, we have had as good as can be expected notice. If this was printed in Currents the decision would have been made early in the evening at the latest, unless they were printed twice and the earlier distribution replaced later at night. We've had comments made at the end of a show so seems to me to your CD was missing on this one.

[niddwalker2]

What the captain has to bear in mind is the weather forecast in 12 hours time when passengers are due to return. Two years ago a cruise ship had to leave people behind due to a change in the weather conditions and had to try to find accommodation and then transport all those left behind to the next port of call which is not easy.

[workstocruise]

Be thankful you don't live in Texas right now!

[Mura]

We had a port of call in Sorrento on our first Marina cruise (2011) and everything went as scheduled. But at the time I saw many posts on CC that said that it is not uncommon for Sorrento to be changed to Naples depending on conditions ... and private guides know to check and see just where the pick-up of their customers may be.

 

I don't know what effect oLife has had on private tours in this respect but I would assume guides would STILL check to see where the ship is really docking. Or if it is tendering.

 

I see a deleterious effect on Roll Calls with our November 2017 and May 2018 cruises ... both cruises are very much undersold (I haven't checked since about a week ago about availability but I assume it hasn't changed that much since I did) and we only have a handful of members on the Roll Call since then.

[grmmybtty]

Naples was a last minute substitution for Sorrento on our last Med cruise on the Riviera Oct/Nov 2015. It had been raining in the last few ports, seas were rough and we were unable to tender in Sorrento. Our ship docked in Naples 2-3 hours later. The concierge contacted our guide so that we could cancel our Amalfi tour since we would have had to rush it, plus Amalfi wouldn't have been much fun in pouring rain. We had a nice lunch and great gelato in Naples instead.

 

 

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[ronrick1943]

As much as I would be upset about it, I'd first go with the call and be safe. You'll have more cruises, and I'm sure if "O" could have made it they would have---changes cost them money also. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.....

[floridatravelersforlife]

Perhaps the OP did not hear the noon time announcements or other announcements? Was it on the TV? The paper is the last source of info for us

[LHT28]

plus often times people do not listen to the announcements they are too busy talking loudly so others can hear them over the announcement

Same thing at muster drill

[Hambagahle]

If there is wind and high seas the ship cannot get the anchor to "grab" and tendering is dangerous. We had the same thing happen to us off St Tropez some years ago on Regent. The captain tried 3 times to get the anchor to hold and it wouldn't. So he informed us that he would "put the pedal to the metal" and get us to Villefranche in a couple of hours. We anchored in the bay there (protected from the Mistral or whatever was blowing) and spent a happy afternoon wandering about.

 

When travelling you have to roll with the punches. And safety is the most important thing at sea.

[Solas36]

Not sure if some of these comments are meant for me!

 

I did mention that I realise no port is guaranteed! And I understand the reasons that things need to change.

 

My question was rather about whether this has happened on other occasions. If so, I was then going to ask how it was communicated to passengers. We were on a port intensive cruise so few passengers would have been on board to hear announcements during the previous day. We certainly were not. So how is it usually communicated to passengers before discovering it in Currents?

[jsjs]

[quote name=Solas36;53973554

My question was rather about whether this has happened on other occasions. If so' date=' I was then going to ask how it was communicated to passengers. We were on a port intensive cruise so few passengers would have been on board to hear announcements during the previous day. We certainly were not. So how is it usually communicated to passengers before discovering it in Currents?[/quote]

 

I have certainly been on cruises where there have been port changes made due to weather and sea conditions. I will be sailing on the Riviera in November this year. Two years ago, I was in the Mediterranean in November and we had some terrible weather -- needed tugs to keep the ship against the dock in Civitavecchia. On that cruise line on port days, the Captain made his navigational update shortly after the all aboard. [but of course, you could turn that off in your stateroom.] The daily program was generally in print by that time -- cannot remember if there was further printed notification or not.

 

A rare but more difficult situation is when they have to suspend tendering because the sea conditions have worsened unexpectedly. In that situation, I would expect an announcement on board and that passengers returning to the tender dock on shore would be informed in person of the arrangements.

[Solas36]

I have certainly been on cruises where there have been port changes made due to weather and sea conditions. I will be sailing on the Riviera in November this year. Two years ago, I was in the Mediterranean in November and we had some terrible weather -- needed tugs to keep the ship against the dock in Civitavecchia. On that cruise line on port days, the Captain made his navigational update shortly after the all aboard. [but of course, you could turn that off in your stateroom.] The daily program was generally in print by that time -- cannot remember if there was further printed notification or not.

 

Thank you for this information. I suppose it's possible we missed an announcement but I am the sort of person who likes to listen to the captain's updates so am surprised if we did! I like to know all the details!

[Mura]

Is it possible that it had to be a last minute decision on the captain's part? That could explain why you didn't hear an announcement since you say you do like to listen to them. But if you were off the ship at noon, then you probably would have missed the announcement.

 

We have occasionally missed ports. That comes with cruising. But I can't remember an instance in all of our cruises where we had a port substituted. I have gathered that this can happen fairly often between Naples/Sorrento just from what I have read here in the past. At least guides know to check with the port to see where clients are going to be when the ship arrives.

 

Sometimes a change like that can be serendipity ... Obviously NOT serendipity if you were really looking forward to seeing that missed port.

 

Mura