Should P&O stop going to St Peter Port?

[grapau27]

23 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Most of my loyalty, has been on the Serpentine with 2 oars

 

Happy days

 

But no prizes!

The only rowing I have ever done is in the gym.

6 minutes ago, daiB said:

 

Noticeable that your facts have been ignored. Possibly because it did not conform to some people’s conspiracy theories.

 

The difficulties with this port have been known for years. Not a surprise that it was missed with the conditions you describe.

 

What people have failed to say is that the reason for going here is to do with being able to offer duty free as Guernsay is not classed as being in the EU.

Very good point.

We have been lucky to date 7 out of 8 success rate to get into St Peter Port.

[mercury7289]

Never rowed in my Life!

[daiB]

22 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Never rowed in my Life!

 

Saltwell Park lake, Sunday School trips in the late Fifties. If you got on early and there were few takers your 30 minutes could stretch to 2 hours. Happy Days.

[grapau27]

8 minutes ago, daiB said:

 

Saltwell Park lake, Sunday School trips in the late Fifties. If you got on early and there were few takers your 30 minutes could stretch to 2 hours. Happy Days.

Nice Gateshead lake.

All we need is P&O to stop  at Royal quays North Shields.

A favourite of mine Splendour of the seas now Marella Discovery home ported there last year.

[mercury7289]

Late 1850s must have been in birch canoes?

[CarlaMarie]

1 hour ago, daiB said:

 

Noticeable that your facts have been ignored. Possibly because it did not conform to some people’s conspiracy theories.

 

The difficulties with this port have been known for years. Not a surprise that it was missed with the conditions you describe.

 

What people have failed to say is that the reason for going here is to do with being able to offer duty free as Guernsay is not classed as being in the EU.

 

Thank you Dai.

 

Something else people don't realise is that just because a port is cancelled doesn't mean the cruise company don't pay any charges. 

 

I live near the port here and my Uncle operates the port pilot and tug boats. If cancellations of tugs, mooring, pilots, etc... are made late ( within a couple of hours before you are due to arrive) the harbour authority do impose charges.

 

 

[grapau27]

10 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

Thank you Dai.

 

Something else people don't realise is that just because a port is cancelled doesn't mean the cruise company don't pay any charges. 

 

I live near the port here and my Uncle operates the port pilot and tug boats. If cancellations of tugs, mooring, pilots, etc... are made late ( within a couple of hours before you are due to arrive) the harbour authority do impose charges.

 

 

Thanks for letting us know.

[Bazrat]

34 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thanks for letting us know.

At least we will know that if our trip is cancelled it’s not a money making exercise  on behalf of p&o.

[grapau27]

12 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

At least we will know that if our trip is cancelled it’s not a money making exercise  on behalf of p&o.

Our last 7 visits on P&O to Guernsey have been successfull so fingers crossed your visit will be too.

[sogne]

Outlook for the following 24 hours:

WIND

East 2 to 4, soon veering southeast, then backing east to northeast 3 to 5 by midnight.

SEA STATE

Slight, locally smooth, with a low swell.

WEATHER

Occasional haze, risk of mist near French coast around dawn risk of isolated thundery showers later.

VISIBILITY

Moderate to good, perhaps locally poor near French coast around dawn.

 

 

Met Office Inshore Waters forecast outlook  4 Monday  when Ventura will try again notice the suggested low swell

 

the wind has been in an easterly point now for some days so that swell may be more significant

[john watson]

15 hours ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

 

Something else people don't realise is that just because a port is cancelled doesn't mean the cruise company don't pay any charges. 

 

I live near the port here and my Uncle operates the port pilot and tug boats. If cancellations of tugs, mooring, pilots, etc... are made late ( within a couple of hours before you are due to arrive) the harbour authority do impose charges.

 

 

 

I was thinking something like this would be charged as a cost to a cruise line plus the excursions refunds.  It does not make sense to cancel the port if you could dock anchor successfully.

 

Regards John

[majortom10]

17 hours ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

Thank you Dai.

 

Something else people don't realise is that just because a port is cancelled doesn't mean the cruise company don't pay any charges. 

 

I live near the port here and my Uncle operates the port pilot and tug boats. If cancellations of tugs, mooring, pilots, etc... are made late ( within a couple of hours before you are due to arrive) the harbour authority do impose charges.

 

 

Tugs, even though most modern ships dont use them, and pilots will have to be paid but port fees /taxes that every passenger is charged for docking in ports isnt paid because on our last Princess cruise around the British Isles we didnt dock at Dublin and Kirkwall and we had port fees/taxes returned as we had paid them in our cruise fare and a letter explaining that because we didnt dock they didnt pay the fees so they were returned to us in our onboard account.

[arendale1]

On 4/19/2019 at 9:02 PM, mrsgoggins said:

 

I’ve already posted our last week’s experience on Ventura with Guernsey and I just wanted to comment on your last few sentences. I am pretty sure that my son and family’s first cruise on P&O will also be their last.  The Guernsey tender experience is just one reason.  We had already booked one for next April on Ventura or I might have thrown in the towel too.

Sorry just seen this.

Tbh the Guernsey non event was just the final straw for us. We weren’t bothered about missing the port (especially after reading the issues with getting there), but really needed to get off the ship after the previous sea day.

 

[majortom10]

Having been on Britannia's maiden cruise when we tendered in Monaco and on arrival the weather and sea were calm. By lunchtime the weather was very warm with no complaints but sea swell worsened  creating problems for tenders for those returning to the ship. This caused long queues in very warm sun and nothing to drink and very slow tendering. It was that bad tenders struggled to dock at the ship due to the swell and the problems caused meant the Captain Paul Brown came down to the tender area and managed the process. Every time a tender was secured before anyone moved he came onboard and told everyone to stay seated until commanded to move by the staff. The swell was horrendous even though very hot sunshine and later when everyone was back onboard the Captain announced that if he had known the sea was going to deteriorate that much he wouldnt have anchored and cancelled the port of call. He also said one member of staff was injured while helping people off the tenders and he thanked everyone for their patience and understanding. The moral of this is that the Captain has more knowledge than likely all of us about operating a ship and more knowledge to hand regarding weather and sea conditions. Safety comes first and will always be in a Captain's mind and surely an extra sea day is no problem compared to the risk of something going wrong or somebody getting injured. Being on the ship for an extra sea day is at least a place of safety and we should all agree with the Captain's decisions and not question them.

[Tommart]

I don't think anybody's questioning the captain's decision - just the published reference to a force 8 gale at the time, which historical weather reports show plainly didn't happen. 

 

Odd that.......

[Bazrat]

8 minutes ago, Tom Marton said:

I don't think anybody's questioning the captain's decision - just the published reference to a force 8 gale at the time, which historical weather reports show plainly didn't happen. 

 

Odd that.......

So your perpetrating the conspiracy theory than so you believe the captain was part of a cover up.

 

 

just saying

[Tommart]

9 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

So your perpetrating the conspiracy theory than so you believe the captain was part of a cover up.

 

 

just saying

Not at all, Bazrat my old chum, not at all. That's what back-office staff are for.

 

Cheers - Tom 🛳️

[Bazrat]

8 minutes ago, Tom Marton said:

Not at all, Bazrat my old chum, not at all. That's what back-office staff are for.

 

Cheers - Tom 🛳️

My experience of back office staff is to lose bookings explain your wrong even though your holding the letter they sent you,and explain to you there right even though the transport company never went to that resort, so I very much doubt they would be capable of such subterfuge.

[CarlaMarie]

41 minutes ago, Tom Marton said:

I don't think anybody's questioning the captain's decision - just the published reference to a force 8 gale at the time, which historical weather reports show plainly didn't happen. 

 

Odd that.......

 

What it actually reads is that 'on approach to the Anchorage we had winds from the East up to a force 8 with strong flood tides'.

 

The winds and sea state did vary considerably over time on that day, especially between the hours of 5 and 8am when the wind was at its greatest in the morning before it picked up again late afternoon. 

 

 

[Tommart]

8 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

What it actually reads is that 'on approach to the Anchorage we had winds from the East up to a force 8 with strong flood tides'.

 

The winds and sea state did vary considerably over time on that day, especially between the hours of 5 and 8am when the wind was at its greatest in the morning before it picked up again late afternoon. 

 

 

They did indeed - but nowhere approaching force 8 - that's very clear.

[Bazrat]

16 minutes ago, Tom Marton said:

They did indeed - but nowhere approaching force 8 - that's very clear.

Ok Tom force 7.9 is that any better 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Tom Marton said:

They did indeed - but nowhere approaching force 8 - that's very clear.

I imagine that the wind force would have been taken from the ships equipment , and may well have been different from the local land based wind readings. If so you are actually calling the Captain a liar.

[pete14]

1 hour ago, Tom Marton said:

They did indeed - but nowhere approaching force 8 - that's very clear.

To reiterate majortom’s recollection of the Britannia maiden in Monaco, the wind was not strong but the swell made tendering people back to the ship very difficult. This was after the Captain turned the ship 90 degrees to provide safer and calmer conditions and stopped others going ashore after lunchtime. The tender I returned to the ship on left the landing stage and then was turned back because it wasn’t safe to continue. We tried again about half an hour later, reached the ship but had to abort the ‘docking’ with the ship because of the sea conditions before finally ‘docking’ after circling around and approaching again. The crew were brilliant and the Captain set a great example of leadership. Regardless of the strength of the wind, if this is what faced passengers in Guernsey, the pilot and Captain made a responsible decision to abort the anchoring and tendering procedure. Sea conditions are obviously affected by more factors than just strong winds as others have already pointed out.

 

I have never been to Guernsey but it does seem as though maybe it should be dropped from itineraries to avoid disappointment and possible dangerous tendering.

[Son of Anarchy]

Can't comment on Guernsey being cancelled on the cruise at issue as I wasn't there.  On the occasions that we have experienced where tendering has been affected, I thought P & O made a good effort given the events.

 

Guernsey: didn't get in on one occasion of two visits.  On the abandoned one, the pilot was picked up, and we waited at the anchorage before it was announced that it was assessed that the swell was currently close to the safety limit, and forecast to increase. Fair enough.

 

Cette (not too sure of spelling):  Anchored on time, but swell was over the safety limit. Beautiful sunny weather! Capt Robert Camby decided to wait as the forecast was that the swell would reduce over the course of the day.  Ent staff put on some extra things to do.  About middayish (not too sure, was a few years ago) tendering started.  Had a lovely MDR lunch and was on shore by about 14:00.  Saw some jousting on the canal, and sampled the local wines, back on board safely on one of the last tenders.

 

Stornaway: First visit, all went smoothly, no issues at all.  Second visit, tendering started on time.  We didn't want to go ashore till mid/late morning, but it was announced probably 10:30ish that they were suspending tendering from the ship due to winds and swell.  Lunchtimeish it was announced that tendering was being cancelled due to further deterioration of the weather conditions.  Tenders would only to continue to operate to bring back those already ashore.  We stayed at the anchorage for the duration.  Conditions on the ship (Oriana) felt great, but we watched the tenders struggling through big swells.  OH was glad we were not aboard one! We spoke with people who had got ashore and they the return trip was very lumpy.

 

 

[FrankyPlum]

Hi there.

 

I was on Ventura N907 last week and was disappointed that we couldn't get into Guernsey. On the face of it, the sea looked a little choppy but there were no whitecaps. The photos that I took from the ship show a relatively calm sea. However, when I went down to Prom deck and looked properly I noted that there was quite a swell with a relatively long wave period - it's the swell which would have made the tender journeys a vomit comet and probably dangerous to get on and off the tender. So, although disappointed I agree that it would have been dangerous for the majority of passengers to have gone into Guernsey last Thursday. Last Thursday was also near the top of a big spring tide, so there would have been fast moving tides all day to deal with.

 

There were two things that surprised me though:

1. I looked at the wind/waves forecasts on the Tuesday and they indicated waves/swell. I messaged my husband at the time and said that I didn't think we would get into Guernsey on the Thursday. It came as no surprise on the Thursday morning to me, but I was surprised that an alternative destination hadn't been arranged. 

2. The log. Force 8 on the Beaufort scale states "Moderately high waves of greater length; edges of crests break into spindrift; foam is blown in well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind". I've spent quite a lot of time at sea on smaller fishing boats and I know what a force 6 looks like!

 

I note that Britannia is due into Guernsey this Friday. The weather reports on xcweather are currently predicting Force 7, gusting Force 8, so I wonder if they will get an alternative port?