Viking Sea cancels port of Antigua on Feb 24

[CCWineLover]

The Viking Sea was scheduled to dock at St. John's, Antigua, in the Caribbean today Feb. 24.   The winds were up to 40 knots this morning and the Captain let us all know they were going to see if the winds died down.  The Captain and Viking were both quite good in informing the passengers the status on-going and after multiple 360 degree turns outside the channel that is the harbor, the Captain let us all know the we would be skipping Antigua and sailing on to the next port, St. Martin.

I have to say, I was very impressed with the way Viking handled this situation.  The Captain was quite detailed in letting us know his options and what the issues were.  For example, even if he were able to make it into the channel and dock - he had to consider whether he would be able to turn around and leave in the afternoon - and with more cruise to go, that was a large factor.  Also a factor was the wind direction, which would have made it difficult, he said, to dock.  (One thinks about the recent Jupiter experience in high winds trying to dock into them in Greece recently).

All the passengers seemed to understand.  A great example of good information flow!  The cruise director and staff made a quick change in all the ship's activites and put out another Viking daily in just minutes.  Kudos!   So we'll dock in St. Martin at 5 PM and get to spend the night there and the next day.

Another reason to go with Viking - they are looking at safety first.

[jiminyC_fan]

Sorry you missed Antigua.  We loved it.  BUT, I love your attitude and I love the way Viking handled it for you.  Hoping the rest of your trip goes perfect.

[ABoatNerd]

OP, good information flow to guests is unusual for cruise lines.

 

You are blessed with an exceptional captain who obviously values his guests.

 

For missed ports, this is not the norm. Your captain deserves credit for his customer service attitude.

 

Well done Captain of Viking Sea - you make a mockery of many of your peers.

[Azulann]

An overnight at St. Maartin  sounds like a good alternative. 

BTW,   let us know how the hurricane recovery has gone after one year+.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Azulann

[CCWineLover]

17 hours ago, Azulann said:

An overnight at St. Maartin  sounds like a good alternative. 

BTW,   let us know how the hurricane recovery has gone after one year+.

 

Hi Azulan - yes we agree that the overnight in St. Maarten was fantastic, given the situation.  Certainly there were grumpy people (not many) who don't understand ships, sea, wind, and docking.  I had been a ship officer in the service and knew exactly what the Captain was facing and was very glad that he chose the "unpopular" decision to abandon Antigua and move on to nicer weather in San Martin.  These things happen and safety is the most important thing.

 

We just finished touring St. Maarten/St. Martin - took the tour all around the island - on a gorgeous sunny day in the 80's (sorry to the snow people!).  The island still has damage from the hurricane of Sept 2017 but not as much as I had anticipated.  They have built a new housing project for those whose homes were destroyed.  There are still many boats (20's, 30's ?) that are damaged.  On the lush side, the greenery has grown back quite well.  As expected the poorer areas have been the slowest to come back.

[philw1776]

The problem is that unlike tankers & freighters, cruise ships are tall and not dense or heavy.  They act like tall, fluffy sails in the wind.  Although overpowered for their size the force of strong winds broadside can overcome cruise ships even with a couple tugboats.
Silversea recently had a ship blown into a dock causing damage and on our Viking Med Odyssey cruise we could not leave Livorno (Rome port) for Naples because of high winds.  Missed Naples.

[Heidi13]

50 minutes ago, philw1776 said:

The problem is that unlike tankers & freighters, cruise ships are tall and not dense or heavy.  They act like tall, fluffy sails in the wind.  Although overpowered for their size the force of strong winds broadside can overcome cruise ships even with a couple tugboats.
Silversea recently had a ship blown into a dock causing damage and on our Viking Med Odyssey cruise we could not leave Livorno (Rome port) for Naples because of high winds.  Missed Naples.

So true.

 

Also compared to cargo ships, cruise ships have much shallower draughts, which extenuated the significant sail area. Not all tugs are equal, as in addition to having different horse-power/bollard pull, some have propulsion optimised for harbour docking, while others are better for towing.

 

Box boats with up to 8 tiers of containers, have a similar windage as cruise ships, but with double or triple the draught, they are less susceptible to beam winds.

[Cienfuegos]

The captain deserves credit for sharing why the decision was made. Not an arbitrary decision by any means.