Brilliance - Fog - Redeploy elsewhere?

It's really unfortunate what happened with the fog and missed cruise this past week... what a mess. Imagine the loss of revenue, let alone the full cruise refund, obc, insurance claims, etc etc etc. Interestingly enough I posted a thread about fog in Tampa last year as I was looking hard at Brilliance during Dec/Jan and decided against it.

 

How can this week's scenario in Tampa be better than permanently pulling a ship out of "reliable" NOLA... or better yet California? Let alone the many sale prices on Brilliance (and Vision for that matter) on sailings from Tampa compared to the almost sold-out and very-high priced coastals Jewel is sailing this year?

 

So I say let's bring Brilliance down from Boston in 2016 and send her to fogless and cruiser-hungry California! Let's see a Brilliance Panama Canal sailing to LA (or San Diego), then maybe a 7/3/4 rotation from Dec to Mar, sending Brilliance back through the Canal to FLL and ultimately Boston in April so she can do her regular TA to Harwich.

 

Thoughts?

7 day = Catalina Isl/sea day/Cabo/PV/sea day/sea day

3 day = Catalina Isl/Ensenada

4 day = Catalina Isl/Ensenada/sea day

It's really unfortunate what happened with the fog and missed cruise this past week... what a mess. Imagine the loss of revenue, let alone the full cruise refund, obc, insurance claims, etc etc etc. Interestingly enough I posted a thread about fog in Tampa last year as I was looking hard at Brilliance during Dec/Jan and decided against it.

 

How can this week's scenario in Tampa be better than permanently pulling a ship out of "reliable" NOLA... or better yet California? Let alone the many sale prices on Brilliance (and Vision for that matter) on sailings from Tampa compared to the almost sold-out and very-high priced coastals Jewel is sailing this year?

 

So I say let's bring Brilliance down from Boston in 2016 and send her to fogless and cruiser-hungry California! Let's see a Brilliance Panama Canal sailing to LA (or San Diego), then maybe a 7/3/4 rotation from Dec to Mar, sending Brilliance back through the Canal to FLL and ultimately Boston in April so she can do her regular TA to Harwich.

 

Thoughts?

7 day = Catalina Isl/sea day/Cabo/PV/sea day/sea day

3 day = Catalina Isl/Ensenada

4 day = Catalina Isl/Ensenada/sea day

 

Speaking of pulling out of NOLA, I am one sad person. We will be sailing on the next to the last cruise out of NOLA in April (or third our of NOLA). We love NOLA as a port and are hoping RCI will bring another ship in. Otherwise, the closes ports to us are Tampa and Galveston--both fog-prone, or moving from RCI to Carnival or NLC if we want to continue sailing out of NOLA. :(

With 6-8 Arrivals/Departures coming and going during the week across the lines, how many times has this happened? Is Fog really a problem?

 

We sail on the Brilliance in April out of Tampa.

With 6-8 Arrivals/Departures coming and going during the week across the lines, how many times has this happened? Is Fog really a problem?

 

We sail on the Brilliance in April out of Tampa.

 

Here's my original thread from Nov

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2130387

See the last post... fog can be issue from Nov to Feb. These locals who responded totally nailed it. I can't fathom a business of RCI's size and dollars being very happy with these risks of fog, and ultimately the millions of dollars out of pocket they've incurred this past week (or is 10's of millions?), let alone press. I for one asked the question and ultimately lost interest in Tampa once I did research... I wonder how many more will do so now. Just not worth it with PC, PE and Miami so close by.

It's really unfortunate what happened with the fog and missed cruise this past week... what a mess. Imagine the loss of revenue, let alone the full cruise refund, obc, insurance claims, etc etc etc. Interestingly enough I posted a thread about fog in Tampa last year as I was looking hard at Brilliance during Dec/Jan and decided against it.

 

How can this week's scenario in Tampa be better than permanently pulling a ship out of "reliable" NOLA... or better yet California? Let alone the many sale prices on Brilliance (and Vision for that matter) on sailings from Tampa compared to the almost sold-out and very-high priced coastals Jewel is sailing this year?

 

So I say let's bring Brilliance down from Boston in 2016 and send her to fogless and cruiser-hungry California! Let's see a Brilliance Panama Canal sailing to LA (or San Diego), then maybe a 7/3/4 rotation from Dec to Mar, sending Brilliance back through the Canal to FLL and ultimately Boston in April so she can do her regular TA to Harwich.

 

Thoughts?

7 day = Catalina Isl/sea day/Cabo/PV/sea day/sea day

3 day = Catalina Isl/Ensenada

4 day = Catalina Isl/Ensenada/sea day

 

Can she even fit through the Canal?

Can she even fit through the Canal?

Yes

 

She did 11-day R/T Ft. Lauderdale, sailing half way through the canal; we were on it December, 2006.

With 6-8 Arrivals/Departures coming and going during the week across the lines, how many times has this happened? Is Fog really a problem?

 

We sail on the Brilliance in April out of Tampa.

 

Yes, in Tampa it can be.

Here's my original thread from Nov

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2130387

See the last post... fog can be issue from Nov to Feb. These locals who responded totally nailed it. I can't fathom a business of RCI's size and dollars being very happy with these risks of fog, and ultimately the millions of dollars out of pocket they've incurred this past week (or is 10's of millions?), let alone press. I for one asked the question and ultimately lost interest in Tampa once I did research... I wonder how many more will do so now. Just not worth it with PC, PE and Miami so close by.

 

Interesting.

DH and I are doing her Repo Cruise in October when she moves from Boston back to Tampa. Hope they don't relocate her ending spot because I need to change my train reservations to get back to upstate NY. I wonder how many times in a season of sailing in and out of Tampa, does this happen? I bet they get through more times than not. At least, that is what I am hoping.

With 6-8 Arrivals/Departures coming and going during the week across the lines, how many times has this happened? Is Fog really a problem?

 

We sail on the Brilliance in April out of Tampa.

Not that much and I live in St Pete right across the bridge

Fog is also a problem in Galveston and Houston. Nevertheless, more ships and bigger ships are sailing from those ports. That might indicate there is much, much more to the decision of where to place a ship than fog. Almost all travel operators are sometimes forced to cancel due to weather conditions; the public seems to understand....they cannot control the weather. In terms of potential financial losses, those are already likely factored in (essentially self insured) or insurable should they so elect.

 

Understandable that the OP might wish a ship to be placed in a different port rather than Tampa, but one canceled cruise due to fog won't likely cause a ship to move.

Understandable that the OP might wish a ship to be placed in a different port rather than Tampa, but one canceled cruise due to fog won't likely cause a ship to move.

 

Yep, excellent points all around... btw I don't have a vested interest to want to move Brilliance to a diff port, just offering maybe a different angle. I have to fly a long way to get to any sunny port of call in winter months, and was actually looking forward to visiting another different starting point (Tampa) and ship I have never been on (BoS) but I just will not ever put myself in the position of the possible delay/cancellation that just occurred... ever. My wallet will be the determining vote on this.

Yep, excellent points all around... btw I don't have a vested interest to want to move Brilliance to a diff port, just offering maybe a different angle. I have to fly a long way to get to any sunny port of call in winter months, and was actually looking forward to visiting another different starting point (Tampa) and ship I have never been on (BoS) but I just will not ever put myself in the position of the possible delay/cancellation that just occurred... ever. My wallet will be the determining vote on this.

 

So to never put yourself in the possible delay/cancellation position, I guess you need to avoid cruising also from May 15th - Nov 30th (hurricane season) and then the fog season as already mentioned. Not to mention the winter seasons as the snow storms from up north tend to ripple down into the south and cause flight cancellations:eek::confused:

Edited February 28, 2015 by CruisesOnMyMind

Yep, excellent points all around... btw I don't have a vested interest to want to move Brilliance to a diff port, just offering maybe a different angle. I have to fly a long way to get to any sunny port of call in winter months, and was actually looking forward to visiting another different starting point (Tampa) and ship I have never been on (BoS) but I just will not ever put myself in the position of the possible delay/cancellation that just occurred... ever. My wallet will be the determining vote on this.

Oh my, if you really are never going to risk possible delay or cancellation, you will never travel anywhere! My embarkation was delayed for a day once. the embarkation day was not Foggy Tampa or Foggy Galveston or Foggy Houston, but it was a sunny day in Baltimore. the ship was delayed due to an unfortunate encounter with a fishing net the prior day! Nobody could have anticipated that event, but we rolled with it. Fishing lines are not the biggest risk for delay, nor is fog; I suspect airlines and all their issues are probably are more likely to delay your travels.

 

I also have a long flight to ports (summer and winter). I have not taken BOS from Tampa, but not because of fog, but rather because she is doing shorter cruises. having flown so far, I want more time on the ship, so I look for longer, hopefully more interesting itineraries. If BOS had been doing longer itineraries, embarkation would still have been delayed and the itinerary altered, but the cruise almost certainly would not have been canceled. Instead she was doing a short itinerary (and perhpas with port restrictions or other issues), and the short cruise was just cancelled. sad for those whose vacation was impacted, though there are far worse places to spend a few days than Tampa.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Starry Eyes

Not that much and I live in St Pete right across the bridge

 

Good to know.

Have to keep that in mind.