How frequent are missed Ports of Call?

[CanobieFan]

over 17 cruises I've only missed one port due to weather, high winds kept us from tendering at RC Coco Cay before the pier.

But I've missed Roatán due to a medical emergency where the ship ended up in Cozumel to remove the passenger. I had San Juan replaced with Nassau (boooo) because of "fuel costs"......and I had a Saint Petersburg overnight replaced with Poland and Lithuania because of the Russia/Ukraine conflict 

Edited April 18 by CanobieFan

[clo]

1 hour ago, CanobieFan said:

and I had a Saint Petersburg overnight replaced with Poland and Lithuania because of the Russia/Ukraine conflict 

We had that also and canceled completely. Saint Petersburg was going to be it. In the past I understand that you can go by land but it's quite tedious.

[Nebr.cruiser]

On 5/5/2015 at 8:24 AM, Nebr.cruiser said:

We've had around 30 cruises to the Caribbean, the Med, Mexican Riviera, Hawaii, Panama Canal, Transatlantics and South America and have never missed a port--lucky I guess.

 

I'm sure we will sometime.

Updating to 2024 and over 50 cruises, we still haven't had a missed port, knock on wood!

[puppycanducruise]

I've only been on 8 cruises, and the only port I've missed was St Peter Port, Guernsey Island.  It's a tender port and the sea was too rough, oh well, maybe another time.

[Honolulu Blue]

On 4/17/2024 at 8:55 PM, wcook said:

For pretty much any flight in the world, I can look up stats on how often the flight is delayed or cancelled. It’s a shame we don’t have that for ships and ports. Only antidotal reports. 

 

I agree with this.  I assume this data is kept internally by the cruise lines.  I'm not sure how to monetize this, but I'm surprised no one has tried.  It would be interesting data to see.

 

8 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

Updating to 2024 and over 50 cruises, we still haven't had a missed port, knock on wood!

 

I'm at exactly 30 cruises and have missed only one port, Nassau.

[George C]

Might have missed one or two in almost 80 cruises over 50 years .

[leaveitallbehind]

Two that I recall in 50+ cruises, but both were able to be replaced by alternates.  CocoCay early 1990's pre-pier replaced with Freeport, Grand Bahama (would have preferred a day at sea, LOL) and St. Thomas replaced with a second day overnight at St. Martin on a post covid restart cruise.

Edited April 19 by leaveitallbehind

[cruisemom42]

I missed three ports just on my most recent cruise (Panama Canal on Oceania).

 

😡

[Mary229]

I like 30 day+ cruises so yes there is the occasional missed port especially in the North Atlantic and far southern South America where weather fluctuates wildly. Besides those when cruises started up after the lockdown there were still ports unexpectedly turning away cruise ships. 

 

Besides weather and lockdowns I have missed ports because of medical evacuations once on Oceania and once on Holland America.

[clo]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I missed three ports just on my most recent cruise (Panama Canal on Oceania).

 

😡

I know destinations are important to you (as I). Were any of these noteworthy?

[clo]

16 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Besides weather and lockdowns

You used lockdowns twice. 'Scuse my ignorance, I have not idea what that is.

[Mary229]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

You used lockdowns twice. 'Scuse my ignorance, I have not idea what that is.

The time between 2020 and 2022 when people were not allowed to travel freely 

[clo]

Just now, Mary229 said:

The time between 2020 and 2022 when people were not allowed to travel freely 

Oh, silly me. Sheesh. Thanks.

[navybankerteacher]

10 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:Two that I recall in 50+ cruises, but both were able to be replaced by alternates.  CocoCay early 1990's pre-pier replaced with Freeport, Grand Bahama (would have preferred a day at sea, LOL) and St. Thomas replaced with a second day overnight at St. Martin on a post covid restart cruise.

I’d see an overnight at St. Maarten in lieu of a call at St. Thomas as a great deal.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

I’d see an overnight at St. Maarten in lieu of a call at St. Thomas as a great deal.

I actually agree.  We have been to both many times and in (very) earlier years St. Thomas held more charm and interest than now (although for various reasons there are fond memories of being there).  But as crowded, in particular with cruise ships, as St. Maarten has become, the overnight there was somewhat special for having not experienced that on a ship before.  And the opportunity to relax without concern for a short departure time was nice.  Plus, IMO, there is more overall interest in things to see and do there.  Also, in part because of the unplanned spontaneity of the resulting overnight, it was enjoyable just for that.

Edited April 20 by leaveitallbehind

[Hlitner]

Am on the Oceania Vista where we have missed 3 ports sine embarking on March 27.  Bermuda, Horta, and Menorca.  But it does seem that Oceania cancels/changes ports more frequently then most other lines.

[ontheweb]

40 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Am on the Oceania Vista where we have missed 3 ports sine embarking on March 27.  Bermuda, Horta, and Menorca.  But it does seem that Oceania cancels/changes ports more frequently then most other lines.

Oceana cruise line is owned by NCL. If you go to the NCL boards you will read that Norwegian misses more ports than any other line. On our NCL cruise this past summer we missed 2 ports, Zeebrugges (for Brugge) and Isafjordur which was missed on every single cruise this past summer by the NCL Prima.

[John Bull]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

Oceana cruise line is owned by NCL. If you go to the NCL boards you will read that Norwegian misses more ports than any other line. On our NCL cruise this past summer we missed 2 ports, Zeebrugges (for Brugge) and Isafjordur which was missed on every single cruise this past summer by the NCL Prima.

 

 

Altho they don't have the same reputation generally as NCL, Marella missed San Blas (tender port in Panama) and Limon (Costa Rica) on one of our cruises. We later learned that season-long the ship had never visited either port 🙄.

 

Over the years we've had our fair share of missed ports, mainly due to weather or sea-state, but most of our missed ports have been in the Caribbean.

C'est la vie

 

JB 🙂

[Shep_Proudfoot]

In my experience across 14 cruises, there is about a ten percent chance a port will be dropped or replaced after booking but prior to sailing, or else missed unexpectedly once underway, usually due to weather. Tender ports increase the odds, but having a pier is no guarantee of not missing a port due to weather. 

 

One tip, always confirm the itinerary is still current on the line’s website when booking with a third party, as third parties may not be diligent in staying updated as things change. For example there is an Explora cruise I was considering until I realized St Barts was dropped, but some sites still have that port listed.

[barcelonauta]

1 hour ago, Shep_Proudfoot said:

In my experience across 14 cruises, there is about a ten percent chance a port will be dropped or replaced after booking but prior to sailing, or else missed unexpectedly once underway, usually due to weather. Tender ports increase the odds, but having a pier is no guarantee of not missing a port due to weather. 

 

One tip, always confirm the itinerary is still current on the line’s website when booking with a third party, as third parties may not be diligent in staying updated as things change. For example there is an Explora cruise I was considering until I realized St Barts was dropped, but some sites still have that port listed.

In our case Puerto Arenas ( Chile) stated in the final ncl printed itinerart as a dock port. They changed it into a dock port and at the end we missed it.If P.Atenas is a port likely to be missed , what is the point in changing it into a tender one? So in our cruise Stanley and Punta Arenas were likely tobe missed. So are other ports in other itineraries.... And it would be useful to know which ones before booking. For instance, Norwegian Spirit has an amazing Asian Christmas Itinerary but.. is really NCL intending to really honor all of them ? 

[Shep_Proudfoot]

3 hours ago, barcelonauta said:

In our case Puerto Arenas ( Chile) stated in the final ncl printed itinerart as a dock port. They changed it into a dock port and at the end we missed it.If P.Atenas is a port likely to be missed , what is the point in changing it into a tender one? So in our cruise Stanley and Punta Arenas were likely tobe missed. So are other ports in other itineraries.... And it would be useful to know which ones before booking. For instance, Norwegian Spirit has an amazing Asian Christmas Itinerary but.. is really NCL intending to really honor all of them ? 

Agreed, some ports are way more prone to being missed than others. It would be awesome to have a central & public data repository (by line X port) of missed ports. Personally NCL is about the last line I’d trust to do all in their power to get into a port after my Hawaii experience with them.