Where do they PARK all the ships

[Hlitner]

On 6/24/2020 at 11:46 AM, Aplmac said:

Here in Barbados we seem to routinely have 10 or so cruise ships

hanging around -

usually 5 or 6 anchored in the Bay (or in port taking supplies?)

and another 5 or so,  just offshore somewhere, biding time.

 

AIDAluna has been here SO LONG now, she is a permanent fixture.

- at least 2 months if not more!

Hmmm I guess if they painted that ship in a camouflage motif they would force it out of your waters :).

 

Hnak  

[Aplmac]

ALL 'our' Barbados-centered cruise ships went chasing off to the South
presumably to meet up with (minimal) tropical Storm Gonzalo.

It was Thursday evening when we saw them all leaving our waters

heading South very deliberately.

We knew it had to be weather-related, with Gonzalo heading our way generally

but by next day they were all clustered around Tobago (to the South of Barbados)

right in harm's way.

I just checked marinetraffic.com to see that they're still down there

in the vicinity of Trinidad. I can only assume that,

with no paying passengers on board, the guys went South
to get a bit of weather-fun... plunk in the path of the weather!

 

I guess they'll all be back in the next day or two

when sea conditions get back to boring Normal...

but for now there's not one in Barbados waters

(1045 hrs. Saturday morning)

[Aplmac]

On 6/25/2020 at 12:11 AM, EscapeFromConnecticut said:

Sadly, Alang is likely the destination for a few.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/cruise-industry-downsizing-begins-with-first-sale-of-a-ship-for-scrap

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cruise-ship-sold-scrap-list/

 

Yes, this is now Reality.

Two elderly Carnival ships are already at breakers yard

along with two elderly Royal Caribbeans, as well.

 

These two at Aliaga -in Turkey. Scrapped!

 

[jocap]

5 hours ago, Aplmac said:

 

Yes, this is now Reality.

Two elderly Carnival ships are already at breakers yard

along with two elderly Royal Caribbeans, as well.

 

These two at Aliaga -in Turkey. Scrapped!

 

Yes, I saw the video taken from the bridge, of the first of these ships grounding, and then the 2nd video  which was  taken from shore.

I found it quite moving, although this is the final destination for all ships- even little Marco Polo will go this way, possibly quite soon with poor CMV's troubles.

If I was as good as a 10 year old at IT, I'd be able to find the videos and share them...

[Aplmac]

A day or two later

Carnival Fantasy (1990) joined them at Aliaga in Turkey.

 

AIDAluna has returned to Barbados,

but the cluster of Royal Caribbean ships that were in our waters

are still gathered East of Trinidad, off the Orinoco Delta!!

 

[Capt_BJ]

if you have/know marinetraffic.com ... take a look between Key West and Havana ...

 

all the cruise ships that had been loitering/anchoring in the Freeport to Stirup Cay plus Miami and Canaveral  areas boogied that direction to avoid the storm and now they are heading back.

 

It is a cruise ship parade!!!!!

Edited August 2, 2020 by Capt_BJ

[Host Kat]

From yesterday...

 

 

 

Three days ago...

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Host Kat
Additional information

[slidergirl]

18 hours ago, Host Kat said:

From yesterday...

 

 

 

Three days ago...

 

 

 

Yep,  all the ships that had been hanging out around Port Canaveral made a beeline down South.  Kind of sad to not see any ships from the beach for a few days.

[fin]

For some time there has been a cluster of cruise ships from several different lines moored near the Bahamas.

At any one time there appeared to be 10-15, from Carnival, MSC, RCL that I remember.  As the storm approached, I looked and they were gone but I found them or a similar pod just north of the West end of Cuba.

My question is, did they all travel together?  Who gave the order?  Who told them when to return?

 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Host Kat
New thread moved from another forum & merged into an existing thread.

[ProgRockCruiser]

I suspect the cruise lines all made the same conclusions at about the same time.  With so many heavy ships moving all about the same time maybe some inter-line co-operation happened, but it might have just been like clusters of shoppers on Black Friday (ooh, Best Buy just put their 75" TVs onsale!  Scurry scurry scurry!).

[CruiserBruce]

Who gave the order? The Master of the ship is responsible for its safety. Perhaps the cruise lines were consulted,  but I would assume the ship's staff have the skills to predict the best course of action and execute it.

[njhorseman]

19 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Who gave the order? The Master of the ship is responsible for its safety. Perhaps the cruise lines were consulted,  but I would assume the ship's staff have the skills to predict the best course of action and execute it.

 All the ships' masters didn't suddenly make the same decision on their own without consulting with and obtaining recommendations from their corporate offices.. Every major cruise line has consulting meteorologists whose job it is to predict when and where the weather will be unfavorable for cruise ships and recommend where the ships should head to avoid that weather.  

 

Royal Caribbean learned that lesson the hard way when some bad decisions were made and a couple of their ships sailed right into the teeth of powerful storms. In 2017 they hired a meteorologist to prevent that from reoccurring :

 

https://crew-center.com/royal-caribbean-hires-first-chief-meteorologist-cruise-industry#:~:text=Casting%20a%20watchful%20eye%20on,line's%20fleet%20of%2024%20vessels

 

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/06/19/after-being-caught-off-guard-twice-last-year-royal-caribbean-hires-a-former-orlando-meteorologist.

 

The officers, as skilled as they are, are not professional meteorologists.

Edited August 4, 2020 by njhorseman

[Elaine5715]

1 hour ago, fin said:

For some time there has been a cluster of cruise ships from several different lines moored near the Bahamas.

At any one time there appeared to be 10-15, from Carnival, MSC, RCL that I remember.  As the storm approached, I looked and they were gone but I found them or a similar pod just north of the West end of Cuba.

My question is, did they all travel together?  Who gave the order?  Who told them when to return?

I read on one thread about there are certain locations ?anchorage?  where ships can park at sea so they do group together

[Hlitner]

I do not think this was a situation where the ships went to another anchorage.   The safest place for a ship in a hurricane is far away :).  They moved to the Southwest to put some distance between the ships and the storm and are now moving back.   In the case of a few ships that were actually docked at Port Everglades, they were ordered to leave by the harbor master and Coast Guard  and also moved far from land and the storm.  Since this is hurricane season and there are many cruise ships in the waters between Florida and the Bahamas we would expect the ships to be moving a few more times to dodge various storms.

 

Hank

[Host Kat]

3 hours ago, fin said:

For some time there has been a cluster of cruise ships from several different lines moored near the Bahamas.

At any one time there appeared to be 10-15, from Carnival, MSC, RCL that I remember.  As the storm approached, I looked and they were gone but I found them or a similar pod just north of the West end of Cuba.

My question is, did they all travel together?  Who gave the order?  Who told them when to return?

 

@fin

 

Howdy!! 

 

Your new thread titled Question about mass movement has been moved to the Ask a Cruise Question forum by another Host. I have now merged your thread into an existing thread titled Where do they PARK all the ships. This is where there is a discussion regarding the anchorage and movement of cruise ships, among other things, since 3/15/20.

 

Happy sails... someday,

 

Host Kat 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Host Kat
Typo due to fat fingers & skinny laptop keys!

[chengkp75]

While the Captain has overriding authority with regard to ship safety, he must operate within the constraints of the ISM code, which has procedures for decision-making in heavy weather, and most of which have requirements for consulting with the corporate office and with any contracted weather advisory services. 

There are places to anchor, and places you can't anchor, mainly because of water depth and shelter, but these are not "at sea".

[donaldsc]

Many of the ships are parked permanently at a ship breakers yard   See where the Monarch is right now - https://www.maritime-executive.com/index.php/article/video-famed-monarch-cruise-ship-beached-for-scrapping.

 

DON

[Heidi13]

Haven't been tracking any TRS activity, but the dangerous quadrant is considered to the front and to the right of the track in the Northern Hemisphere.

 

While the Masters are trained in Meteorology, these days, as the Chief mentioned they also receive routing suggestions from weather advisory providers. With an approaching TRS, it is prudent for the Masters to weigh anchor and move to safer waters. As the Chief indicated, the Master must comply with the company's policies, but he/she does have the over-riding authority to take any action deemed necessary for the safety of the ship that is required, in their professional judgement, including contravention of the company procedures.

 

When at sea, the Master can only "Hove to" the vessel in heavy weather, which is putting the head to wind and maintaining minimum steerage speed. The vessel can only anchor in relatively shallow water, requiring 4 to 6 times the depth of water in anchor chain. In poor holding ground, deeper water, high winds and high tidal flow, a prudent Master will increase the scope of chain even more.

[Aplmac]

Here in Barbados

we still have a slew of cruise ships hanging around.

Mostly Royal Caribbean ships, this last month or so.

 

They all continue to come and go as suits their needs

with three or four in port, and another three or four Out There.

 

Most interesting thing lately

is that when Trop.Storm Gonzalo was hugging the 10-North line

they all shot down there and could be seen hanging out

off the Orinoco Delta for a few days..just South of the weather's passage.

When they'd had their fun, they all came back up to Barbados!

[evandbob]

From a Celebrity email I just received:

 

we have designated Celebrity Edge as our “Mother Ship”. With Captain Kate at the helm, Edge comes into Miami every two weeks to pick up fresh foods, relief crew members, and other essentials and delivers them to the four Celebrity ships in the Bahamas area.

 

Simple explanation on basic movements for a sample of their fleet.

[Aplmac]

5 hours ago, evandbob said:

From a Celebrity email I just received:

 

We have designated Celebrity Edge as our “Mother Ship”.

With Captain Kate at the helm, Edge comes into Miami every two weeks

to pick up fresh foods, relief crew members, and other essentials

- and delivers them to the four Celebrity ships in the Bahamas area!

 

Simple explanation on basic movements for a sample of their fleet.

 

One assumes that's ^ the sort of practical operation going on

all over the world at the moment, between clusters of ships

of the same livery or ownership!

[chipmaster]

Now this must be one popular destination, any guesses 😉

 

 

[d9704011]

Manila Bay

[rkacruiser]

Another vote for Manila Bay.  But, is that still the situation on this date and at this time?

[chipmaster]

You are cruise aficionados!