Harmony docked in Port Everglade this morning

[mo&fran]

Seems like there are always 2 tankers in port.

[goldfish65]

My guess is they want to be prepared. Like at home when a hurricane is near, you go ahead and fill up your car's gas tank, you don't wait till tomorrow. 

[twangster]

They may have had a contract commitment left over from Odyssey that had a better price point compared to PCN.  When bunkering in large quantities and topping off for storm preparation that could mean thousands of dollars.

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

That would be the same for the bunkers in Fort Lauderdale too wouldn't it? Scheduled for others?

Evidently not today

[ReneeFLL]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

That would be the same for the bunkers in Fort Lauderdale too wouldn't it? Scheduled for others?

There are plenty of oil/gas tanks in PE and it’s  trucked out all over. I’m sure they have some to spare.

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[cruisegirl1]

3 hours ago, orville99 said:

Neither am I. It just seems like a really poor way to spend what should have been a peaceful day at sea.

 The refueling didn’t change anything.  
 

We docked about 4am (I am  told-I was asleep )  and took off again around 9am. 
 

We are enjoying an incredibly peaceful day at sea as we move towards Port Canaveral.   
 

m

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, mo&fran said:

Seems like there are always 2 tankers in port.

Since there are no pipelines in Florida, there is a quite large Jones Act tanker trade between the US Gulf Coast and Florida.  FLL is a major terminal for gasoline and jet fuel.  I'm not sure who brings in residual fuel or diesel, or where.

44 minutes ago, twangster said:

They may have had a contract commitment left over from Odyssey that had a better price point compared to PCN.  When bunkering in large quantities and topping off for storm preparation that could mean thousands of dollars.

Generally, fuel contracts specify multiple delivery ports, and are not ship specific, but fleet specific.  A typical contract would specify all ports on the Atlantic Florida coast (and probably further up the coast as well), for the same contract price.  The big difference would be the barging charge, which could range to $10k or so, depending on where the supplier is bringing the fuel from.

10 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

There are plenty of oil/gas tanks in PE and it’s  trucked out all over. I’m sure they have some to spare.

 

That would be nice if the ship used gasoline.  As I said, most of the storage in FLL is gasoline or jet fuel.  Since we were on runs between the US Gulf and Florida, we bunkered in Texas or Louisiana, since any residual fuel has to be shipped into Florida, raising the cost.  Even diesel is not brought in to Florida (that's Marine diesel, not the #1 Diesel used for cars) in great amounts.

 

I've been trying to rack my brain for the name of bunkering services I've seen in Florida, but just coming up empty.

 

Four hours of bunkering is not a large amount.  That would be around 2000 tons, max, and would be likely 8-10 days fuel for Harmony, depending on the itinerary.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Evidently not today

 

The only ship (besides our fuel stop call) in port at Ft. Lauderdale was Celebrity.  Still quite a few ships doing their summer routes.  Lightly populated ports of call for us this last week.  

[twangster]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Since there are no pipelines in Florida, there is a quite large Jones Act tanker trade between the US Gulf Coast and Florida.  FLL is a major terminal for gasoline and jet fuel.  I'm not sure who brings in residual fuel or diesel, or where.

Generally, fuel contracts specify multiple delivery ports, and are not ship specific, but fleet specific.  A typical contract would specify all ports on the Atlantic Florida coast (and probably further up the coast as well), for the same contract price.  The big difference would be the barging charge, which could range to $10k or so, depending on where the supplier is bringing the fuel from.

That would be nice if the ship used gasoline.  As I said, most of the storage in FLL is gasoline or jet fuel.  Since we were on runs between the US Gulf and Florida, we bunkered in Texas or Louisiana, since any residual fuel has to be shipped into Florida, raising the cost.  Even diesel is not brought in to Florida (that's Marine diesel, not the #1 Diesel used for cars) in great amounts.

 

I've been trying to rack my brain for the name of bunkering services I've seen in Florida, but just coming up empty.

 

Four hours of bunkering is not a large amount.  That would be around 2000 tons, max, and would be likely 8-10 days fuel for Harmony, depending on the itinerary.

 

At what point would it make sense to pay the extra pilot and port charges to make an extra stop in Port Everglades vs. bunkering the next day in PCN?  Trying to understand the logic in their decision making.  

[mo&fran]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Since there are no pipelines in Florida, there is a quite large Jones Act tanker trade between the US Gulf Coast and Florida.  FLL is a major terminal for gasoline and jet fuel.  I'm not sure who brings in residual fuel or diesel, or where.

Generally, fuel contracts specify multiple delivery ports, and are not ship specific, but fleet specific.  A typical contract would specify all ports on the Atlantic Florida coast (and probably further up the coast as well), for the same contract price.  The big difference would be the barging charge, which could range to $10k or so, depending on where the supplier is bringing the fuel from.

That would be nice if the ship used gasoline.  As I said, most of the storage in FLL is gasoline or jet fuel.  Since we were on runs between the US Gulf and Florida, we bunkered in Texas or Louisiana, since any residual fuel has to be shipped into Florida, raising the cost.  Even diesel is not brought in to Florida (that's Marine diesel, not the #1 Diesel used for cars) in great amounts.

 

I've been trying to rack my brain for the name of bunkering services I've seen in Florida, but just coming up empty.

 

Four hours of bunkering is not a large amount.  That would be around 2000 tons, max, and would be likely 8-10 days fuel for Harmony, depending on the itinerary.

I have never seen the barges being used in Port Everglades.  I have seen them in St Martin, and they were there for  most of the port call, certainly more than 4 hours.

I do see tanker trucks connected  in PEV, but I wonder if they are loading fuel. or unloading waste that cannot be discharged ay sea.

[chengkp75]

18 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

At what point would it make sense to pay the extra pilot and port charges to make an extra stop in Port Everglades vs. bunkering the next day in PCN?  Trying to understand the logic in their decision making.  

Without knowing the actual fees involved, I couldn't hazard a guess.  It may also be that they were going to be below the required (by company policy) minimum fuel quantity if trying for Canaveral.  This could have been for MGO, if they are burning this in the US ECA.  They may have been spending more time in the ECA, due to weather, than a normal itinerary.

10 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

I have never seen the barges being used in Port Everglades.  I have seen them in St Martin, and they were there for  most of the port call, certainly more than 4 hours.

I do see tanker trucks connected  in PEV, but I wonder if they are loading fuel. or unloading waste that cannot be discharged ay sea.

Yeah, I looked up some of the PEV services, and it looks like most docks have "over the dock" pipelines.  Again, don't know where the terminal is for that, and the port charges a fee for every ton of fuel pumped across their docks, and that may be less than a barging fee for Canaveral.

 

Tanker trucks would be removing waste oil for incineration or recycling.

Edited September 24, 2022 by chengkp75

[Jimbo]

5 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Evidently not today

 Yup, they had some not accounted for.

5 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

There are plenty of oil/gas tanks in PE and it’s  trucked out all over. I’m sure they have some to spare.

 

Different kind of fuel, but whatever they evidently had some spare.

3 hours ago, twangster said:

 

At what point would it make sense to pay the extra pilot and port charges to make an extra stop in Port Everglades vs. bunkering the next day in PCN?  Trying to understand the logic in their decision making.  

Don't try to understand what Royal is doing sometimes they aren't even sure what they are doing. Probably never know the real reason they did what they did. It's top secret. No one will ever know for sure.

[Oceansaway17]

11 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Maybe they have inside information the price of fuel is going up tomorrow and didn't want to miss out on a good price.

 

Kind of like when you are driving your car and drive by a station where the price is just so good you have to turn around and top off your tank.

oh thanks for the chuckle on this one.   

Still Harmony I think is moving to Ft Lauderdale when Wonder comes over.  Or is it Miami.  well it is moving soon anyways.

[island lady]

5 hours ago, twangster said:

 

At what point would it make sense to pay the extra pilot and port charges to make an extra stop in Port Everglades vs. bunkering the next day in PCN?  Trying to understand the logic in their decision making.  

 

I am still scratching my head...but I am sure there must have been some logical reason.  Though they are sure not making that fact known.  

 

Another interesting development.  Figured out we turned around  again this afternoon, and started heading back south.   Then the announcement and Coast Guard helicopter.  They had to try it two times, but were able to land on the bow of the ship to offload a medical emergency.  Interesting watching them do that, sorry for the poor soul that ended up with that.  

[island lady]

44 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

oh thanks for the chuckle on this one.   

Still Harmony I think is moving to Ft Lauderdale when Wonder comes over.  Or is it Miami.  well it is moving soon anyways.

 

Ft. Lauderdale.  I was teasing the crew that when we dodged into Ft. Lauderdale for fuel...it was a "practice run" to get ready for the new home port.  😉 

[BND]

I'm absolutely sure Royal did this for a reason that really isn't our concern.   Common sense says that fuel was available today at FLL and not tomorrow at PC.

[Husky1987]

55 minutes ago, BND said:

I'm absolutely sure Royal did this for a reason that really isn't our concern.   Common sense says that fuel was available today at FLL and not tomorrow at PC.

Beat me to it.  Reading all these "what in the world are they thinking" posts, the answer I kept coming up with was "who cares?".

[island lady]

15 hours ago, Husky1987 said:

Beat me to it.  Reading all these "what in the world are they thinking" posts, the answer I kept coming up with was "who cares?".

 

I did.  The noisy fuel barge starting at 4 am outside our balcony, and the smell of diesel was not pleasant.  

[twangster]

15 hours ago, Husky1987 said:

Beat me to it.  Reading all these "what in the world are they thinking" posts, the answer I kept coming up with was "who cares?".

 

If they are adding fuel only stops mid cruise it impacts the itinerary.  Maybe this was a one off from missing SXM or maybe it's start a something new.  If so that may make Royal's itineraries less appealing.  

[cruisegirl1]

13 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

If they are adding fuel only stops mid cruise it impacts the itinerary.  Maybe this was a one off from missing SXM or maybe it's start a something new.  If so that may make Royal's itineraries less appealing.
 

 

 

 

 

it did not impact the itinerary as we had a sea day. The refueling was over by nine or so so certainly did  not impact any Sea day itinerary/views etc. I know someone posted that some  industrial equipment was in their view  and said it ruined the day. 
 

The stop was announced  by the captain and posted on the Compass. 

They started in the wee hours of the morning and were done around 9. The initial stop was more than 24 hours prior to our anticipated return to Port Canaveral. Once we were refueled, we just did a slow crawl back from Fort Lauderdale area to port Canaveral and arrived on time.

 

It was a fuel  stop, mostly in the middle of the night, that had no impact on the itinerary or arrival time in Port Canaveral. I don’t understand all the conversation. . 

m

 

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by cruisegirl1

[ReneeFLL]

18 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

oh thanks for the chuckle on this one.   

Still Harmony I think is moving to Ft Lauderdale when Wonder comes over.  Or is it Miami.  well it is moving soon anyways.

Fort Lauderdale.

 

17 hours ago, BND said:

I'm absolutely sure Royal did this for a reason that really isn't our concern.   Common sense says that fuel was available today at FLL and not tomorrow at PC.

There are a lot of things that aren’t our concern, but it doesn’t stop us from being curious and there’s nothing wrong with that.

[island lady]

17 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Fort Lauderdale.

 

There are a lot of things that aren’t our concern, but it doesn’t stop us from being curious and there’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Exactly.  This website is called "Cruise Critic" for a reason.  😉 

[Oceansaway17]

On 9/24/2022 at 8:16 PM, island lady said:

 

Ft. Lauderdale.  I was teasing the crew that when we dodged into Ft. Lauderdale for fuel...it was a "practice run" to get ready for the new home port.  😉 

I am glad they have left Pt C as  I do not like sailing out of that port for distance from airport

[island lady]

10 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I am glad they have left Pt C as  I do not like sailing out of that port for distance from airport

 

LOL....no worries for me.  I live 20 miles away from PC.  😄  Obviously my favorite port.  😉 

 

Will sometimes drive to Ft. Lauderdale (3 hours), but really detest that drive.  The traffic and drivers on that highway are crazy nuts/dangerous!   

[BND]

On 9/25/2022 at 1:53 PM, ReneeFLL said:

Fort Lauderdale.

 

There are a lot of things that aren’t our concern, but it doesn’t stop us from being curious and there’s nothing wrong with that.

It doesn't change their reasons though.  Point is, some were losing their you know what over why when it really doesn't make any difference to anyone who isn't onboard.  Most discussions here, not all, but most have to do with things that affect future cruising.