Sky Princess- Iceland Missed Ports

[Glide]

16 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

 

The naysayers, where did they go to maritime school and receive their captain's ranking?  The weather looked okay to me. Swells, winds, tides of the seas and working with port pilots. No captain is risking damaging a close to a billion dollars ship.

Think that the Captain may have chose the wrong time to announce that we had high winds when attempting to enter Akureyri, so had turned back out to sea when at the same time people were on their balconies and on deck and felt just a calm breeze & the Windy app was showing 8 knots. Then because of a medical emergency we sailed back to fjord and towards Akureyri and still the weather was calm, not even white tips on any waves.

Not saying that the Captain was wrong in any of his actions, but the circumstances of his announcements confused people and they have a right to question it after spending thousands in $$$

 

I always imagined that we'd lose some ports this far north...luck of the draw.

[david63]

21 minutes ago, Glide said:

Think that the Captain may have chose the wrong time to announce that we had high winds when attempting to enter Akureyri

If I recall correctly it was not the Captain's decision but that of the pilot who has a far greater knowledge of the port conditions than anyone onboard. Also what has to be taken into consideration is the conditions at the time of departure and whilst in port.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

If I recall correctly it was not the Captain's decision but that of the pilot who has a far greater knowledge of the port conditions than anyone onboard. Also what has to be taken into consideration is the conditions at the time of departure and whilst in port.

Agreed. He said it was after consultation with the pilot...which *really* means that the pilot recommended not to try.

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

When it's not quite the season for cruising yet, we would not book a cruise if you have your heart set on not missing any ports. Rebook in the latter part of the summer. 

 

The naysayers, where did they go to maritime school and receive their captain's ranking?  The weather looked okay to me. Swells, winds, tides of the seas and working with port pilots. No captain is risking damaging a close to a billion dollars ship.

Agree…or the lives of guests and crew.  
We would plan this for July/August, even then, not a given.

[PacnGoNow]

8 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Agreed. He said it was after consultation with the pilot...which *really* means that the pilot recommended not to try.

Because it would be too dangerous. They are the experts.  
 

It is disappointing, I totally understand. 

[Guest ldtr]

48 minutes ago, Glide said:

Think that the Captain may have chose the wrong time to announce that we had high winds when attempting to enter Akureyri, so had turned back out to sea when at the same time people were on their balconies and on deck and felt just a calm breeze & the Windy app was showing 8 knots. Then because of a medical emergency we sailed back to fjord and towards Akureyri and still the weather was calm, not even white tips on any waves.

Not saying that the Captain was wrong in any of his actions, but the circumstances of his announcements confused people and they have a right to question it after spending thousands in $$$

 

I always imagined that we'd lose some ports this far north...luck of the draw.

Keep in mind that there is a big difference between the ability to control the ship when it is moving forward under power,  and when it is moving slowly when docking and for that matter stopping to anchor.  A wind of 25 knots is the most that the side thrusters can handle add in any currents and major problems can occur.  These large cruise ships are for all practical purposes very big sails with the huge surface area on the sides.

 

Add any narrow port openings/channels , hills that might funnel the winds at or near the port and you get ports missed when things seem like they should be ok.

 

When going into a port they not only have to consider the current conditions, but also the expected conditions at the time the ship will be leaving.  Once spent an extra 6 hours in a port because the winds came up more than expected and the ship was pinned against the dock because the wind speed was higher than the side thrusters could handle and insufficient tugs were available.

 

Due to the size of the ships and the surface area Grand class ships can get in sometimes when Royal class ships cannot.  Though of course they also have their limitations as well.

Edited May 23, 2023 by ldtr

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

When it's not quite the season for cruising yet, we would not book a cruise if you have your heart set on not missing any ports. Rebook in the latter part of the summer. 

 

The naysayers, where did they go to maritime school and receive their captain's ranking?  The weather looked okay to me. Swells, winds, tides of the seas and working with port pilots. No captain is risking damaging a close to a billion dollars ship.

The worst weather we have ever encountered on a cruise ship, was on the north side of Iceland in early August.  So later in the summer is not necessarily a guarantee of good weather for some of those ports.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yep! We were told the winds were 50 knots.

[startedwithamouse]

1 minute ago, ldtr said:

The worst weather we have ever encountered on a cruise ship, was on the north side of Iceland in early August.  So later in the summer is not necessarily a guarantee of good weather for some of those ports.

Still sounds like a better option.

 

Agree, can't control the future or weather or both!

[capriccio]

Passengers need to realize that captains (or cruise lines for that matter) do not make a go/no go decision about a port in a vacuum.  The port authority and port pilots also have a say in the matter. 

 

We missed two ports on our Round Australia cruise last month.  They (Busselton and Geraldton) are small tender ports and our captain explained that the port authority notified him of high waves combined with a high surge and high tide in Geraldton.  In Busselton the ship had unloaded the first tenders to take crew and equipment to shore when the captain announced that he was cancelling the port stop for safety reasons. Leaving Busselton, our captain made the decision to sail directly to Fremantle/Perth and arrive 12 hours early after getting notice from the port authority that they could handle an unplanned overnight.  Passengers and crew were allowed to disembark and go into town for the evening if they wished.  Luckily we had planned to DIY in Geraldton but we had to cancel a private excursion for our group of 6 in Busselton.  I never, ever reserve private excursions that do not guarantee a full refund if the ship cannot dock.  We received our refund within 2 days.

 

On another cruise a decade ago, our ship was within sight of the dock in Charleston S.C. on a beautiful sunny morning.  The captain made an announcement that we were not docking but heading back out to sea because of a rapidly approaching tropical storm that had changed course.  In this case both the cruise line and the port authority did not want the ship docked; it is better to ride out the storm at sea.  It was an incredible storm and we hit the outer edge in less than 2 hours.  During those 2 hours some passengers had been complaining the entire time.  They quickly quieted down.

[Glide]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

If I recall correctly it was not the Captain's decision but that of the pilot who has a far greater knowledge of the port conditions than anyone onboard. Also what has to be taken into consideration is the conditions at the time of departure and whilst in port.

Yep,  and also the chances of getting away from Iceland to get to the UK by Saturday. 

[mmiicc]

Guest Services confirmed that the Future Cruise Credit can be applied towards the future cruise fare itself.

Edited May 23, 2023 by mmiicc

[deltaqueenie]

 

 

Has anyone actually received FCC in this manner? This is the letter we received. It states a Future Cruise Credit of 20% of “paid cruise fare”..

 

My invoice from my travel agent reads:

CRUISE FARE $1,696 (20% of this is $340) 

NCF $700 (if this is added then my FCC is $480)

GOVERNMENT TAXES $350 (if this is added then my FCC is $550)

 

And I’m sure Princess is not going to reimburse me for airfare ($1,800) insurance or anything else…
It is a “goodwill gesture” and while I appreciate this effort, IMO $340 is not nearly enough for what we missed. Not to mention we had 8 Sea Days (originally had only 6) on a VERY crowded ship…

As far as weather conditions..really who knows? I chose the May dates because Iceland has less rain in May..Even though we have 25 cruises with Princess, this cruise has made me rethink ANY cruise itinerary…

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by deltaqueenie

[mmiicc]

I will be making a travel insurance claim for non-Princess excursions in Iceland. The ship gave us two letters, but neither letter documents that the ship never made it to Akureyri. How to document that fact? Guest Services is of no help. Thanks.

[deltaqueenie]

To my fellow Cruise Critic members,

A big thanks to all of you who have expressed sympathy, I appreciate it 💕 and I hope this will not happen to any of you who plan to cruise Iceland…

[Wblotner]

4 hours ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

How are cruisers onboard feeling about this offer?

 

it sounds reasonable to me but I’m not experiencing it directly so that’s very easy for me to say

 

i just hope the FCC has a long expiration date so those that can’t sail frequently don’t loose out

 

I hope the rest of the journey goes smoothly

You missed half of the planned ports - they should give 50% FCC. Curious if other ships that were supposed to port were able to.

[Glide]

7 minutes ago, Wblotner said:

You missed half of the planned ports - they should give 50% FCC. Curious if other ships that were supposed to port were able to.

No we missed 2 out of 7 ports.

Just tough luck.

[deltaqueenie]

Just now, Wblotner said:

You missed half of the planned ports - they should give 50% FCC. Curious if other ships that were supposed to port were able to.

We actually missed 3 out of 4 of the original Iceland itinerary planned ports. Isafjordur was the ONLY original itinerary port we visited.. and even Isafjordur was cancelled on the date we should have been there (May 21) and was changed at the last minute to another date (May 22). 
 

However, as I mentioned earlier, we did go to all THREE ports in Norway….but there were National Holidays that occurred at TWO of those ports- nothing was opened..

[deltaqueenie]

2 minutes ago, Glide said:

No we missed 2 out of 7 ports.

Just tough luck.

We actually missed three originally scheduled ports: Reykjavik, Aukureyri, and Grandarfjordur..

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, deltaqueenie said:

 

 

Has anyone actually received FCC in this manner? This is the letter we received. It states a Future Cruise Credit of 20% of “paid cruise fare”..

 

My invoice from my travel agent reads:

CRUISE FARE $1,696 (20% of this is $340) 

NCF $700 (if this is added then my FCC is $480)

GOVERNMENT TAXES $350 (if this is added then my FCC is $550)

 

And I’m sure Princess is not going to reimburse me for airfare ($1,800) insurance or anything else…
It is a “goodwill gesture” and while I appreciate this effort, IMO $340 is not nearly enough for what we missed. Not to mention we had 8 Sea Days (originally had only 6) on a VERY crowded ship…

As far as weather conditions..really who knows? I chose the May dates because Iceland has less rain in May..Even though we have 25 cruises with Princess, this cruise has made me rethink ANY cruise itinerary…

 

Usually when they say cruise fare it is only the cruise fare portion and not the taxes and the NCF (non-commissionable fees).

 

While cruises like this are relatively low probability, weather related cancellations do happen along with other reasons ports are missed.  This one was a bit unique in the number of ports, but certainly, other cruises have run into similar situations.  As an example, a few years ago some major storms impacted several fall transatlantic cruises on multiple cruise lines resulting in most of the ports getting canceled and very wide deviations.

 

Cruises may miss ports, just as airline flights might get canceled.

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

37 minutes ago, Wblotner said:

You missed half of the planned ports - they should give 50% FCC. Curious if other ships that were supposed to port were able to.

Maybe if the problem was due to a mechanical breakdown or some other reason within control of the cruise line.  Weather, not so much.  

[Glide]

1 hour ago, deltaqueenie said:

We actually missed three originally scheduled ports: Reykjavik, Aukureyri, and Grandarfjordur..

@deltaqueenie I apologise. You are quite right, we added one unscheduled port too.

 

Oh well. One more cocktail...

[portiemom]

3 hours ago, deltaqueenie said:

 

 

Has anyone actually received FCC in this manner? This is the letter we received. It states a Future Cruise Credit of 20% of “paid cruise fare”..

 

My invoice from my travel agent reads:

CRUISE FARE $1,696 (20% of this is $340) 

NCF $700 (if this is added then my FCC is $480)

GOVERNMENT TAXES $350 (if this is added then my FCC is $550)

 

And I’m sure Princess is not going to reimburse me for airfare ($1,800) insurance or anything else…
It is a “goodwill gesture” and while I appreciate this effort, IMO $340 is not nearly enough for what we missed. Not to mention we had 8 Sea Days (originally had only 6) on a VERY crowded ship…

As far as weather conditions..really who knows? I chose the May dates because Iceland has less rain in May..Even though we have 25 cruises with Princess, this cruise has made me rethink ANY cruise itinerary…

 

Yes, we had this type of offer on our last cruise on board Crown Princess (March 2023). We missed 2 of the 4 Hawaii ports due to weather and received FCC of 15% of our cruise fare. Only cruise fare counts, so based on what you stated, $340 would be the correct amount.

[portiemom]

2 hours ago, deltaqueenie said:

We actually missed 3 out of 4 of the original Iceland itinerary planned ports. Isafjordur was the ONLY original itinerary port we visited.. and even Isafjordur was cancelled on the date we should have been there (May 21) and was changed at the last minute to another date (May 22). 
 

However, as I mentioned earlier, we did go to all THREE ports in Norway….but there were National Holidays that occurred at TWO of those ports- nothing was opened..

Very sorry that you missed so many ports. We hope to get to Iceland eventually, and this thread is showing me just how difficult that may be, as it seems weather concerns are common on this itinerary! But I'm not sure what the National Holidays in Norway has to do with it. Weren't they already scheduled when you booked the cruise?

[kiwimum]

We received similar compensation for our Antarctica cruise in December.  20% of cruise fare, port fees and taxes went back to our shipboard account.  Very happy with the compensation.