these photos St Petersburg 2016 from QE illustrate clearly the difference made by berth position and wind direction
wind was 45knots west more or less straight on QE beam note the slight list of the HA ship
spray was felt on deck QV deck 10
the Viking and MSC ships got away with tug assistance perhaps with wind about 5 degrees on port bow
it took 2 tugs to move the bunker barge away from QE
we left the next morning in a flat calm and were a day late to Kiel which was a disembarkation and embarking port.
comments at dinner and elsewhere that evening illustrated how easy it is to be critical without responsibility
the many amateur captains on board were full of fanciful theories about the QE captain ability and otherwise
as three ships the Viking and both QV and QM2 were delayed the wind was most likely the cause of the delay