Iona delays - Sat 15th July!

[johnnylikely]

There have been some rumblings (given the southampton port schedule) that Iona is looking as though she will be in port until Sunday (leaving a day late).

 

If anyone has an updates or confirmations that would be great to hear!

 

Fingers crossed- weather sounds choppy! x

[molecrochip]

We are due some really bad weather this weekend between Saturday lunchtime and Sunday lunchtime.

 

I understand that Iona is due in doc as planned for 0630 on Saturday but will not leave until Sunday morning - time as yet to be announced. Passengers will disembark and embark on Saturday as planned but the ship will remain docked at Ocean terminal.

[molecrochip]

The weather is coming from the Channel Islands and heading towards the north sea. So MSC and Ventura should be will be fine departing at some point Saturday evening.

 

Luckily for the port, this is one of the quietest weekends of the summer with Arvia and Britannia both absent and generally only 3 ships in on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

[johnnylikely]

9 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

We are due some really bad weather this weekend between Saturday lunchtime and Sunday lunchtime.

 

I understand that Iona is due in doc as planned for 0630 on Saturday but will not leave until Sunday morning - time as yet to be announced. Passengers will disembark and embark on Saturday as planned but the ship will remain docked at Ocean terminal.

Wow, thx. Do they typically let you get on and off in Southampton?

[molecrochip]

The simple answer is yes, however usually its heavily advised against on embarkation day. If the weather is as suspected, they may say no for health & safety reasons.

[molecrochip]

Current estimate is Ventura departing at 23:00 Saturday and Iona at 01:00 Sunday

[johnnylikely]

21 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Current estimate is Ventura departing at 23:00 Saturday and Iona at 01:00 Sunday

Thanks! If this goes like this- is Stavanger still likely?

[P&O SUE]

24 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Current estimate is Ventura departing at 23:00 Saturday and Iona at 01:00 Sunday

At least the passengers can eat and explore the ship. And, hopefully, not have a bumpy night!

[molecrochip]

I would imagine that all aboard will remain at usual times - that way if wind drops earlier, an earlier departure is possible.

 

As for Stavanger, depends on what time you finally leave. Maybe arrive a couple of hours late. I wouldn’t cross it off yet.

[SarahJayne]

Hi all! 
 

We’re currently on the way down to Southampton for our first cruise to board Iona for the Fjords cruises and have been trying to keep up with the weather warnings and how it might affect the timings. Have seen Iona’s

departure time is at 1am tomorrow morning. Anyone that might have experience with this, is this likely to have an impact on any of the ports in Norway for the week? 
Any advice on this would be very much appreciated! 
 

Many thanks!

[molecrochip]

See my comments above.

[Camberley]

2 hours ago, SarahJayne said:

Hi all! 
 

We’re currently on the way down to Southampton for our first cruise to board Iona for the Fjords cruises and have been trying to keep up with the weather warnings and how it might affect the timings. Have seen Iona’s

departure time is at 1am tomorrow morning. Anyone that might have experience with this, is this likely to have an impact on any of the ports in Norway for the week? 
Any advice on this would be very much appreciated! 
 

Many thanks!

Fingers crossed all your ports go ahead. Even if it doesn’t (and Iona is a “quirky” ship with its unpredictable destinations!) there will be so much to enjoy and get a great holiday, On 2 of our past 3 Iona cruises to Norway they dropped ports but we did get one complete cruise ie) as scheduled. 

 

But I know it is easier said that done, but if there are changes etc, try to think positively through any disappointment and make the most out of it all.

[Selbourne]

The schedules these days allow for the ships to plod along to save fuel, so they have quite a bit of slack that they can take up if needs be.
 

We were on Britannia once in the Med heading back to Gibraltar and there were two medical emergencies on board. We made a hell of a long diversion to Almeria (a commercial port) where they had to move a grain carrier to enable us to berth. We were in the port a good hour whilst the passengers and families were assessed by Spanish medical teams before being offloaded and then there was a complicated manoeuvre out and a long drag back to regain our course. All in all it must have cost us at least 5 hours. I wondered if Gibraltar might have been cancelled but the Captain put his foot down and we arrived just 30 minutes late. He said that the Chief Engineer would have some explaining to do with the accountants at Carnival House due to the extra fuel he had used 😂 There was far less slack years ago when the ships used to cruise 5-10 knots faster as a matter of course!

Edited July 15, 2023 by Selbourne

[Britboys]

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

The schedules these days allow for the ships to plod along to save fuel, so they have quite a bit of slack that they can take up if needs be.
 

We were on Britannia once in the Med heading back to Gibraltar and there were two medical emergencies on board. We made a hell of a long diversion to Almeria (a commercial port) where they had to move a grain carrier to enable us to berth. We were in the port a good hour whilst the passengers and families were assessed by Spanish medical teams before being offloaded and then there was a complicated manoeuvre out and a long drag back to regain our course. All in all it must have cost us at least 5 hours. I wondered if Gibraltar might have been cancelled but the Captain put his foot down and we arrived just 30 minutes late. He said that the Chief Engineer would have some explaining to do with the accountants at Carnival House due to the extra fuel he had used 😂 There was far less slack years ago when the ships used to cruise 5-10 knots faster as a matter of course!

On Aurora last summer we had a day at sea between Cartagena and Cagliari. We came across a small boat laden with migrants that had sailed out of Algeria. After some time they were all brought aboard and we then had to wait for the Algerian Coastguard to come out to us to take them back to land. I think we were at a standstill for around 8 hours but still made Cagliari within an hour of the scheduled arrival.

[Fionboard]

16 hours ago, Britboys said:

On Aurora last summer we had a day at sea between Cartagena and Cagliari. We came across a small boat laden with migrants that had sailed out of Algeria. After some time they were all brought aboard and we then had to wait for the Algerian Coastguard to come out to us to take them back to land. I think we were at a standstill for around 8 hours but still made Cagliari within an hour of the scheduled arrival.

Aurora is a fast little ship! 

[kermchem]

Weather out there seems to be rough. Marine traffic shows Iona appears to be heading for the well known Norwegian town of Margate. 

[Angel57]

1 minute ago, kermchem said:

Weather out there seems to be rough. Marine traffic shows Iona appears to be heading for the well known Norwegian town of Margate. 

Let’s hope there’s not a medical emergency on board.

[SarahJayne]

Iona currently heading to area of Margate in order for local pilot from last nights departure to be picked up as the conditions were too rough for them to be so last night. 
Still on track to be in Stavanger by tomorrow morning around 8.30am however timings will be updated later this afternoon! 

[newbie cruissy]

7 minutes ago, kermchem said:

Weather out there seems to be rough. Marine traffic shows Iona appears to be heading for the well known Norwegian town of Margate. 

Just noticed that, medical emergency perhaps?

[newbie cruissy]

Ventura looks to have spent some time hiding in Torbay overnight

[molecrochip]

1 hour ago, newbie cruissy said:

Ventura looks to have spent some time hiding in Torbay overnight

Neither could offload pilot at the nab tower so Ventura went to Torbay and Iona went to Margate. These are the designated back-ups in each direction.

[molecrochip]

Iona currently bouncing along at 22.1kn. Currently looking like a couple of hours late into Stavanger.

18 hours ago, Selbourne said:

The schedules these days allow for the ships to plod along to save fuel, so they have quite a bit of slack that they can take up if needs be.

Not so much on the Iona - her Norway itineraries are quite tight.

[molecrochip]

To follow up on that... standard service speeds/max:

 

Oriana 24 kn / 27kn 

Ventura 23 kn / 27kn

Britannia 22 kn / 24kn

Iona 17kn / 22kn

 

Ships can only operate at max speed for a limited time. It relies on all engines in use at maximum power. This greatly increases the risk of failure. Normally a ship like Iona will only operate with 3 out of 4 engines in use.

[Chrisdriving]

8 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Aurora is a fast little ship! 

Not as fast as Oriana was, on her first Northern lights cruise we left Soton on Sunday at 5am due to repairs on a prop seal ongoing and previous cruise cut short so she could limp home for repairs.

 

we were alongside in Stavanger by 8am on Monday morning, Capt Camby was bragging on all day Sunday about how hard he was pushing her, we were 25 knots plus all the time and passing everything going up the North sea.

When we were in Alta, they had to fly divers up to check the props as there was a slick at the stern but it was a false alarm.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Chrisdriving

[Son of Anarchy]

Currently thundering along at 20.4 kts.  ETA for Stavanger shown as 11:00 though.