Solstice had to return to Melbourne last night

[RDC1]

Solstice has just missed another port of call, Airlie Beach, because of a cyclone. I wonder will we get people complaining about that now. The captain is travelling to Cairns in a different way to escape the weather if possible.

 

We were supposed to be on this cruise, but my wife broke her wrist 3 weeks ago and she did not get approval to travel in time to make the cruise. We would have had a great barrier reef excursion scheduled from Airlie Beach. Some good friends of ours are on that cruise. I would guess if the weather is causing problems the great barrier reef excursions from Cairns will be impacted.

[Beanb41]

A cruise ship missing a port would be the last thing local officials are concerned about currently. With the Cyclone approaching and the Commonwealth games starting today I think they have more important things on their plate. The Captain of The Solstice will also have to do some soul searching as well if he is likely to run into the cyclone within the confined waters inside the GBR

[Iluv10is]

We were on the Jan 22 Solstice and missed Dunedin and the fiords.

Disappointed but Still had a great cruise. Didn’t expect compensation.

First time we ever had cancellations. Had been lucky.

 

We were on the same cruise. I was extremely disappointed that we missed these two stops. My highlight was to have been the fjords. While I totally understand why the Captain (who was wonderful) made the decision he made, I personally will not recommend taking a trip that has a fairly high chance of not making this part of the cruise. Too far to travel....better to take a land trip to see this part of New Zealand. But, it was still a very nice cruise.

[Iluv10is]

Hi merriem.

 

Totally understand your frustration. We were on the solstice about 6 weeks ago when a cyclone was tracking towards fjord land. The captain raced back to Sydney early in an attempt to outrun the cyclone which he did. Although we completely missed Dunedin and all of fjordland we considered he made the right call due to the safety of the passengers.

We also were very disappointed missing the South Island being our first cruise to nz however have moved on, we booked a similar cruise for 2019 hoping that we will see what we missed. Know how you feel but try to get over it,:)

 

We were on the same cruise. If we ever have the chance to return to NZ, it will not be on a cruise. It will be a land trip. The fjords were something we really wanted to see and flying from NY we want it to be a little more than a maybe. But, we did have a nice time on the cruise.

[Beanb41]

Apart from visiting Milford on a land trip and then taking an additional boat trip out into Milford Sound it is not possible to recreate the transit of Fiordland from the land. The numbers of cancellations of cruise ships transiting the Sounds is few and far between. Concern from Environmentalists are that there are too many cruise ships transiting the Sounds. Whilst I agree it is a long way to come the odds of missing the Sounds are still low

[Holly2]

We had a post cruise in GBR which made up for disappointment.

[tiqittaq]

Suzi66 : Which other port did Solstice missed for the current sailing ? Thank you

 

 

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[Juko1972]

DId anyone ever find out just what was wrong with the patient? I was on the cruise in question and ask from a professional interest, being a qualified nurse myself....

[mahdnc]

Suzi66 : Which other port did Solstice missed for the current sailing ? Thank you

 

 

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Airlie Beach was skipped on Solstice's current sailing which is a 12 night Great Barrier Reef itinerary. There was a nearby cyclone causing very high winds and rough seas on the day that she was scheduled to anchor there. Many of the outfitters in that area were cancelling all their activities anyway.

 

Fortunately the rest of the ports were not skipped including the prime GBR stops at Cairns and Port Douglas. Solstice finished her last stop at Brisbane and is currently on her way back to Sydney to conclude the GBR cruise.

 

We took this 12 night GBR cruise this past January. While on board, I booked a 12 night Sydney-New Zealand-Sydney cruise which is scheduled to visit the three Sounds on Dec 31 2019. It would be very disappointing if we were to skip it because of unforeseen events, but those things can happen. We learned that lesson in 2005 when Horizon was forced to skip Grand Cayman (the one port we really wanted to visit) because she had to delay her sail away in Tampa by one day due to a late afternoon fog!

Edited April 10, 2018 by mahdnc

[teigenes]

Quote( While on board, I booked a 12 night Sydney-New Zealand-Sydney cruise which is scheduled to visit the three Sounds on Dec 31 2019. It would be very disappointing if we were to skip it because of unforeseen events, but those things can happen.)

 

We are also booked on this Xmas cruise and this will be the 4th time traveling thru the Fiords, of the three cruises only one of these was in fine weather, heavy fog and rain was the order of the day in the other two. You can then understand why they have really strict rules about who and how many ships can be passing thru the Sounds at one time. It is after all a very heavy rain fall area of NZ and also being a small country, completly surrounded by water the weather can play a huge part in why some places are missed. While I do understand the huge disapontment, one does need to read the fine print of the Terms and Conditions. Several years ago we missed Fiji on a cruise in the Pacfic due a cyclone so I have " been there" as the saying goes.

[TeeRick]

DId anyone ever find out just what was wrong with the patient? I was on the cruise in question and ask from a professional interest, being a qualified nurse myself....

 

No additional info on the patient but I would not think there would be any for personal privacy reasons.

[finchy1950]

DId anyone ever find out just what was wrong with the patient? I was on the cruise in question and ask from a professional interest, being a qualified nurse myself....

 

We were on the same cruise, the news we heard was a fellow cruiser went on an excursion whilst in Melbourne and injured her leg. When she came back to the ship she didn't mention it the crew - it wasn't until later that night that her leg "blew up" and she had to see the ship's doctor who then made the call that she needed extra care, hence the ship turned around.

 

If it was reported to the crew when re-boarding she probably would have either seen the ship's doctor then or had to stay in Melbourne.

 

I agree it was a great disappointment missing Milford Sound and the fiords especially because we had booked the Queenstown excursion. Because of this disappointment we have booked to do the Sydney - Auckland cruise on Solstice which goes via Milford sound in October 2019

[lisiamc]

You lost 12 hours. If you went through the Sounds you would then be going through them at night. What would you be seeing, absolutely nothing. The sensible decision is to go on to Dunedin where you will port possibly a bit earlier, be able to get off earlier (which will be good because last time I went on the Solstice it took hours to get off as we weren't on a ship's tour) and have a nice day. It is sad that you don't see the Fiords but you won't see them anyway in the dark, and if the captain delayed it by a day he would be missing another stop which he can't do.

It is the ONLY decision that can be made.

 

I think this is an important point. If they delayed entering the sounds until daylight, you would be losing a whole day somewhere instead of 12 hours. So that might take off or materially change a couple of port days. Can you imagine how many passengers that would upset? “Cheapskate Celebrity cancelled two of the ports I booked this cruise specifically to see! They just did that because they make more revenue on sea days!” There was just no way to make everyone happy in this situation, so they took what they thought was the best choice.

[RDC1]

I think this is an important point. If they delayed entering the sounds until daylight, you would be losing a whole day somewhere instead of 12 hours. So that might take off or materially change a couple of port days. Can you imagine how many passengers that would upset? “Cheapskate Celebrity cancelled two of the ports I booked this cruise specifically to see! They just did that because they make more revenue on sea days!” There was just no way to make everyone happy in this situation, so they took what they thought was the best choice.

Cruise ship entry into the sounds are tightly controlled. They are scheduled 6 months before the start of the cruise season. If you miss your scheduled entry time, you miss it. You cannot enter later. Any change requires the approval of the regulatory authorities and not available on short notice.