Boston, Maine & Canada cruise

[rmorita]

For anyone who has taken the 12 night cruise: How is it that Boston to Portland has a sea day before getting to Portland, yet the 10 day cruise can go from Portland to Boston overnight? The 10 day cruise starts from Boston to Bar Harbor overnight, yet Bar Harbor is further away than Portland?  

[davekathy]

3 minutes ago, rmorita said:

For anyone who has taken the 12 night cruise: How is it that Boston to Portland has a sea day before getting to Portland, yet the 10 day cruise can go from Portland to Boston overnight? The 10 day cruise starts from Boston to Bar Harbor overnight, yet Bar Harbor is further away than Portland?  

The Captain is taking the scenic  route. 

[gold1953]

not about distance. It is about filling all the days and possible that the port is busy and cannot take the ship . These are small cruise ports

 

 

[kwokpot]

5 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

not about distance. It is about filling all the days and possible that the port is busy and cannot take the ship . These are small cruise ports

 

 

There are many Caribbean cruises that if you're paying attention the ship is going in circles just to waste time for a scheduled seaday, and not necessarily because it's needed to get to the next port destination.

[keesar]

It gives an opportunity for the shops and casino to be open.

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, rmorita said:

For anyone who has taken the 12 night cruise: How is it that Boston to Portland has a sea day before getting to Portland, yet the 10 day cruise can go from Portland to Boston overnight? The 10 day cruise starts from Boston to Bar Harbor overnight, yet Bar Harbor is further away than Portland?  

you will enjoy it either way

[Guppy99]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

There are many Caribbean cruises that if you're paying attention the ship is going in circles just to waste time for a scheduled seaday, and not necessarily because it's needed to get to the next port destination.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, the ship is anchored for hours. In the Caribbean, when that happens, you can often see other ships also anchored in the vicinity.

Edited February 27, 2022 by Guppy99

[TeeRick]

Funny.  You can drive a car from Boston to Portland in 2 hours.

[Ipeeinthepools]

15 hours ago, Guppy99 said:

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, the ship is anchored for hours. In the Caribbean, when that happens, you can often see other ships also anchored in the vicinity.

 

I've never been on a ship in the Caribbean that's anchored away from port.  Sometimes they slow down to almost a stop or sail in circles as others have indicated.  The only times I've been on a ship that's anchored is when they are tendering passengers to shore.

[keesar]

2 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I've never been on a ship in the Caribbean that's anchored away from port.  Sometimes they slow down to almost a stop or sail in circles as others have indicated.  The only times I've been on a ship that's anchored is when they are tendering passengers to shore.

 

You are correct.  In the Caribbean, ships with slow down to near a crawl but they don't drop anchor.  Ships do drop anchor when tendering as in the Cayman Islands and Newport.

[Guppy99]

21 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I've never been on a ship in the Caribbean that's anchored away from port.  Sometimes they slow down to almost a stop or sail in circles as others have indicated.  The only times I've been on a ship that's anchored is when they are tendering passengers to shore.

I've woken up in the middle of the night and we are literally at a stand still. Even checking out the balcony you can see we are not moving at all. And there are other ships doing the same. like we are parked in a circle. Perhaps I shouldn't have said "anchored" because that I can'te be sure of. Maybe just floating.  For sure we were actually going anywhere.

[TeeRick]

6 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

I've woken up in the middle of the night and we are literally at a stand still. Even checking out the balcony you can see we are not moving at all. And there are other ships doing the same. like we are parked in a circle. Perhaps I shouldn't have said "anchored" because that I can'te be sure of. Maybe just floating.  For sure we were actually going anywhere.

I have also been in this situation for sure.  Kind of like treading water.  Maybe just enough movement to keep the ship stable but without burning a lot of fuel. 

[Jim_Iain]

We were in a tender port and the Captain said due to some type of restrictions we were not anchored and he was using the GPS and thrusters to keep the ship in location.    He assured all that it was safe but we might feel some vibrations in parts of the ship.

 

On our California Coastal cruise last year our last port was Ensenada and we had a day at sea prior to the cruise ending in San Diego  ( a whopping 90 miles).   We initially left at 16 knots due to rough seas but later I could see on my GPS we were just drifting at about 1 knot.   The Cruse mapper next day showed we were pretty much just sitting out there for the full day near Solstice and Eclips  just outside San Diego.    Wonderful last day at sea and our 2nd Chic night.

[Ferry_Watcher]

I checked-in a a woman who had never been on a cruise.  She got very agitated when I mentioned the muster drill (back when it was an in-person activity just before the ship left the pier).  She was worried about why it was needed, and what could go wrong on a ship at sea.   She was equally distressed when she asked if the ship anchored overnight, and I told her that no, the ship sails during the night.  I remember feeling bad for her husband who just silently stood.  No doubt it was a very long seven days for him.  I hope she did okay!

[DirtyDawg]

There is an old phrase; "I'd like to get you on a slow boat to China" which was a well-known phrase among poker players, referring to a person who lost steadily and lost a lot of money. Cruise lines are firm believers in this - they can't make money if they get you to Portland in a hurry.  

 

Hopefully Royal's new ship, which coming in a few years, will solve this issue for cruisers in a hurry. I hear it will be called Concorde of the Seas. ✈️😊

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by DirtyDawg