Heidi13

At this port, the ships normally berth at Port Chalmers, which is about 8 miles from Dunedin. Here is a great tour from Back to Nature Tours – https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/ o Royal Peninsula Tour - https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/tour/royal-peninsula/

In heavy weather, the Viking ships perform at least as well as other non-Liner tonnage. With respect to stabilisers, since most cruise ships are built at Fincantieri, they all probably have the shipyard developed stabilisers, so are probably all the same. However, stabilisers are only effective at counteracting beam seas, which cause rolling. They have no impact on reducing pounding from head or following seas. The skills of the Bridge Team and the ship's speed may have more impact than any difference in stabilisers between ships. The shaking Jim refers to is totally normal for modern ships, as this is how the structure is designed to dissipate the pounding forces.

I assume you are most likely considering NCL, as the Alaska cruise line experts have already left the region, for good reason. I haven't lived in Alaska, but did complete 2 seasons working on the ships, with us leaving the region mid-September. Year round, I spent 30+ years working the waters just below SE Alaska, so no way I would pay money for that experience in October. To reach Alaska you must sail through the waters where I worked.

I'll suggest that the situation hasn't really improved, as they haven't dealt with the root cause, which is missiles and drones being launched at commercial shipping in international water. All they have done is provide a small multi-national group of warships for protection. Since a ship was recently attacked in Indian Waters, they have thousands of square miles of ocean to protect. It will take a significantly larger task force the provide a reasonable level of protection. Even during the height of the piracy issues in these waters, the naval task force reduced attacks, but didn't eliminate them.

Thanks - with 90% joining for the entire WC, it certainly makes it feel like a single WC. Our first WC on Princess only had 25% on for the entire cruise, so was a series of B2B's.

You have all the same pax for the entire WC. HAL doesn't require segments to fill the ship?

The Viking ships do fit at Ocean Terminal, but which dock they use is at the discretion of the Harbourmaster. You can check the berthing schedule for both Ocean Terminal & Kai Tak online. I much prefer Ocean Terminal, as it next to the Star Ferry Terminal for trips across to HK Island. It is also a short walk to the Kowloon waterfront, Nathan Road and a Metro Station.

Vancouver winter flights are always a potential risk, as although we rarely get snow, a couple of inches can cause gridlock on the streets and flight delays at YVR. Really easy to mitigate this risk - leave at least 1 day early and stay at the port pre-cruise. Our last World Cruise started in San Pedro in early January, so we flew down 2-days early, Weather is unpredictable and what was experienced last year, or even last week is not what you may experience. The Bahamas is also further North than most of the traditional Caribbean islands. One benefit of cruising this region in Dec/Jan is that TRS (Hurricane) season is over.

Since the Viking Daily is proof read, approved and printed the previous day, it may not include any last minute changes, which are often driven by the local authorities. The key metric isn't the departure time, it is the pax all-aboard time, which is posted on the sailing board in the vicinity of the gangway. This is the latest information and supersedes anything in the Viking Daily.

That's our outlook, especially on a World Cruise. We figure the itinerary is finalised when we walk down the gangway for the last time. Until that point, the itinerary is little more than a suggestion.

If they can't transit the Red Sea, the decision will need to be made well in advance. If they wait until April, if using Cape of Good Hope, it is an additional 5,000 miles, which is 11 - 12 days continuous steaming. Even if they stopped at ports for bunkers, the ships victuals would not be available, as they would be sitting in containers, at other ports. The decision can also be forced on shipping lines by the Underwriters, who can significantly increase insurance rates in a War Zone and even cancel the policy.

Thanks, I figured it wasn't one of the British Masters.

Wow, I'm shocked to read that a Princess ship didn't synch the cloxs to shore time. Certainly isn't the company I used to work for. Just out of interest, where is the Master from?

Great memory. The cruise ships can only transit Seymour within 1 hr of slack water. It is 100 n/mls from Vancouver, so they set speed for the first tide about 6 hrs after departure. Therefore, assuming a 17:00 departure, the earliest transit is about 23:00, Even close to the Solstice, unfortunately it is fairly dark, as you have already past Campbell River, so not much light, with the exception of the queue of cruise ships.

Sorry, the acronym "POSH" means Port Out Starboard Home, and it has nothing to do with heading West. It originates from the P&O and British India ships providing liner service between UK and India, before ships were air conditioned. When sailing through the Red Sea, which is predominantly North/South, the more affluent pax wanted a cabin on the Port side when outbound. Therefore, when steaming southerly course they received morning sun, with the cabins having hours to cool before retiring for the evening. The Stbd cabins had afternoon sun and did not cool by the time pax retired. On the homeward bound voyage they steamed N'ly courses through the Red Sea, so a Stbd cabin had morning sun and was cooler in the evening. When steaming East or West, before determining which side has more sun, you need to compare the ship's latitude to the sun's declination. When heading East, the sun will be on the Stbd side, provide the ship is further north than the sun. If the sun is further north than the ship, in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun will be on the port side. Steaming West, the sunny side is to Port, provided the ship is further north than the sun.

Neither of those options work for us. DW prefere midships on a lower deck, since they have the least movement. The aft lifts weren't that far from our cabin. With respect to Fwd cabins, spent too many years in cabins by the Bridge, so booking m'ships, I don't miss the noise and pounding.

Yes, I am aware Carnival hasn't ordered new tonnage, a fact I noted earlier in post #72. I, and probably many, do not read the post you quoted, since many of them are greyed out, so I have no idea as to the context of your reply. As is usual on CC, thread drift has ensured the discussion has not been only HAL or other Carnival brands. If only referencing Carnival brands, it will be helpful to specify that rather than "Any Line"

Looking forward to your reports, if you tried this in China or Russia. You can also never discount the human factor of experiencing a not so accommodating local official. Yes, they do exist, as I have experienced them in many ports.

Sorry, that is not correct. Since the resumption of operations since COVID, Viking Ocean has ordered 6 new hydrogen powered ocean ship, with an additional 4 options. MSC has also ordered the 5th & 6th Explora vessels, which are also hydrogen powered. The new Crystal is also negotiating for 4 new builds, but at this time, I am not aware that they have selected a yard and signed contracts. Could be others, as these are the 3 I recall reading lately.

Since the BC Coast Pilots won't take them through Seymour Narrows, due to poor handling characteristics, I'll suggest that is unlikely, since it is compulsory pilotage waters.

Friends of ours, who did not have flights through HAL had to arrange their own flights home from Freemantle.

Sadly, HAL didn't provide that level of offer to their WC pax at that time either.

The "Inside Passage" is more than the waters between Vancouver Island and the Canadian Mainland, the true inside passage extends from Olympia up to Skagway.

If the Red Sea is closed any changes will mean a significantly changed itinerary, as they have the Cape of Good Hope option, or returning back across the Pacific and going through Panama or rounding Cape Horn. Although the Terms & Condition permit said changes, from a customer service perspective, even if the cruise has already started, I expect pax would be provided the option to cancel, be returned home at cruise line expense and receive a refund of the unused days. This was the offer Viking provided pax on the COVID curtailed 2020 WC.

In similar circumstances, the Purser or I would meet with the complainant, advising we followed up on the information provided, identified the alleged offended and have taken appropriate action. As part of the meeting with the alleged offender, they would be advised to have no further contact with the complainant, so the complainant would be advised to contact a crew member immediately, if they encounter the alleged offender again. We took the time to respond effectively to the complainant and endeavoured to ensure they were satisfied with our response and felt safe. However, privacy laws prevented me from providing any details, as unfortunately perpetrators also have rights.