Where do all the ships go for 30 days

[TennisCaptain]

Since the majority of all ships are on the seas or in port somewhere, now that so many cruise lines are suspending cruises for so long, where will they put all those ships.

I can not imagine the number for all these lines.  then do the ships sit empty or have minimal crew to maintain??  will they all have a major cleaning ?  will any go to dry docks..

If anyone gets the scoop, would be interesting to know

 

[Blizzard54]

13 minutes ago, TennisCaptain said:

Since the majority of all ships are on the seas or in port somewhere, now that so many cruise lines are suspending cruises for so long, where will they put all those ships.

I can not imagine the number for all these lines.  then do the ships sit empty or have minimal crew to maintain??  will they all have a major cleaning ?  will any go to dry docks..

If anyone gets the scoop, would be interesting to know

 

They will have to keep at least some crew onboard.  With some worldwide travel restrictions in place they will need to decide if it is worth sending crew home to bring them back in 30 days.  They can do some extra maintenance and cleaning.  They will probable just park them wherever the can find space.   After 9-11 there were several ships parked in Vancouver for a period of time.  To time to schedule and do any drydock work.

[Cruising89143]

Some will more than likely stay in Miami.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22604-portmiami-to-waive-berth-fees.html

[TennisCaptain]

thanks for your replies...  with 20+ ships in RCL fleet alone, they will have a large number to put up at all the ports.   good to see Miami is waiving the berth fees, most likely many others will offer to do the same.  

I looked at the ship cruise mapper site tonight and there are so many clustered down south..  will look tomorrow night expect  to see the ocean almost empty..  

[ONECRUISER]

3 hours ago, TennisCaptain said:

thanks for your replies...  with 20+ ships in RCL fleet alone, they will have a large number to put up at all the ports.   good to see Miami is waiving the berth fees, most likely many others will offer to do the same.  

I looked at the ship cruise mapper site tonight and there are so many clustered down south..  will look tomorrow night expect  to see the ocean almost empty..  

They are all scattered, will be week before all are back. Some just headed out.  

[Plum Happy]

PTZtv has a spreadsheet in FLL showing that the ships that are home ported there are going out of port to a Sea Buoy then return every other day and dock.  I just watched Adventure of the Seas pull out with some of the crew dancing, looking at their cell phone.

 

 

 

[Plum Happy]

Captain Johnny Faevelen stated that Harmony Of The Seas will be cruising to nowhere for 30 days.  They will not homeport in Port Everglades when it returns.

[taglovestocruise]

16 hours ago, Blizzard54 said:

They will have to keep at least some crew onboard.  With some worldwide travel restrictions in place they will need to decide if it is worth sending crew home to bring them back in 30 days.  They can do some extra maintenance and cleaning.  They will probable just park them wherever the can find space.   After 9-11 there were several ships parked in Vancouver for a period of time.  To time to schedule and do any drydock work.

Radiance of the Seas and Explorer have just cancelled their upcoming dry dock. Allure went into a 58 day $125 million dry dock today, Royal just announced the Allure Amped dry dock will be cut short by 30 days and only propulsion and maintenance issues will be performed.  We are on a B2B on Allure in Oct/Nov. in the Med, some crew members report Allure will cancel Mediterranean sailings and head back home empty. 

[rhuntington3]

16 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Radiance of the Seas and Explorer have just cancelled their upcoming dry dock. Allure went into a 58 day $125 million dry dock today, Royal just announced the Allure Amped dry dock will be cut short by 30 days and only propulsion and maintenance issues will be performed.  We are on a B2B on Allure in Oct/Nov. in the Med, some crew members report Allure will cancel Mediterranean sailings and head back home empty. 

Ugh, I’m on that B2B on Allure as well.

[Blizzard54]

16 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Radiance of the Seas and Explorer have just cancelled their upcoming dry dock. Allure went into a 58 day $125 million dry dock today, Royal just announced the Allure Amped dry dock will be cut short by 30 days and only propulsion and maintenance issues will be performed.  We are on a B2B on Allure in Oct/Nov. in the Med, some crew members report Allure will cancel Mediterranean sailings and head back home empty. 

Where did you hear about the Radiance?  I thought is was just a routine marine drydock, nothing big.  I am booked to take it to Singapore for the drydock.

[Capt_BJ]

it is a valid question and one I've been pondering as well, with the added insite of being a former ship captain ... some thoughts ...

 

Most cruise terminals in the US are shared by multiple ships and often multiple cruise lines so there isn't a simple option of just 'park at home'

 

Most ports charge by the hour for pier space .... a non earning cruise ship don't want to pay this fee .... some ports have offered to waive this fee already but there is still issue about 'port services' like water for example. Example: ship IN PORT can't make water like they do at sea so would need to buy from land.(purity of source issues for safety)

 

'Extra parking' at most ports means cargo piers and those piers are typically fully employed for cargo work meaning they don't want a cruise ship filling the space long term.

 

'nesting' ships ... tying one ship alongside another ... 'double parking' (or more) as often done with river cruise boats in EU, often doesn't work for a cruise ship berth simply because there isn't enuf 'width' to the waterway ..

 

when cargo ships go 'inactive' between loads they typically anchor ... major ports have designated anchorages. But the crew size is small so issues of supply/waste management etc are minor.  Cruise ships will have more issues as there is significant crew still aboard. <going to the sea buoy at Port Everglades sounds like anchoring to me . . . .>

 

I'm watching to see where they go .... it is not like grounding an airplane where you take everyone off and park it at some forgotten corner of the airport.

Edited March 14, 2020 by Capt_BJ

[chengkp75]

17 hours ago, TennisCaptain said:

Since the majority of all ships are on the seas or in port somewhere, now that so many cruise lines are suspending cruises for so long, where will they put all those ships.

I can not imagine the number for all these lines.  then do the ships sit empty or have minimal crew to maintain??  will they all have a major cleaning ?  will any go to dry docks..

If anyone gets the scoop, would be interesting to know

 

While you may think the cruise fleets are large, there are just over 300 large ocean going cruise ships in the world, and 50,000 cargo ships, so the entire cruise fleet, worldwide, amounts to about 0.5% of the world's shipping.  There is plenty of space at underused commercial docks (they don't have to have a passenger terminal, because there ain't no passengers) and anchorages.

45 minutes ago, Plum Happy said:

Captain Johnny Faevelen stated that Harmony Of The Seas will be cruising to nowhere for 30 days.  They will not homeport in Port Everglades when it returns.

I would doubt that this is the case.  Sailing around, even slowly will burn more fuel than sitting at anchor or docked somewhere.  Fuel is the single largest expense the ships have, so sitting at anchor with reduced hotel load (less people means less AC, main galleys and laundries not working, etc) will reduce fuel consumption by about 60-70%.

[chengkp75]

8 minutes ago, Capt_BJ said:

it is a valid question and one I've been pondering as well, with the added insite of being a former ship captain ... some thoughts ...

 

Most cruise terminals in the US are shared by multiple ships and often multiple cruise lines so there isn't a simple option of just 'park at home'

 

Most ports charge by the hour for pier space .... a non earning cruise ship don't want to pay this fee .... some ports have offered to waive this fee already but there is still issue about 'port services' like water for example. Example: ship IN PORT can't make water like they do at sea so would need to buy from land.(purity of source issues for safety)

 

'Extra parking' at most ports means cargo piers and those piers are typically fully employed for cargo work meaning they don't want a cruise ship filling the space long term.

 

'nesting' ships ... tying one ship alongside another ... 'double parking' (or more) as often done with river cruise boats in EU, often doesn't work for a cruise ship berth simply because there isn't enuf 'width' to the waterway ..

 

when cargo ships go 'inactive' between loads they typically anchor ... major ports have designated anchorages. But the crew size is small so issues of supply/waste management etc are minor.  Cruise ships will have more issues as there is significant crew still aboard. <going to the sea buoy at Port Everglades sounds like anchoring to me . . . .>

 

I'm watching to see where they go .... it is not like grounding an airplane where you take everyone off and park it at some forgotten corner of the airport.

While I think there are plenty of under utilized dockage available, I think that anchoring will be the main answer.  As for supply and waste, it just means a bonanza for the work boat companies.  Water, food, and stores can be brought out by boat, or the ship can dock occasionally to take on stores (I believe the port closures are for masses of passengers, not a ship merely loading stores), and the garbage is taken off by the same boat.  Waste water is treated onboard just like normal.  They can even go out every two weeks or so and steam around for a day and produce water if needed. 

 

As for dock fees, without cruise ships calling, the cruise ship docks aren't generating any revenue, so it would be in their best interest to offer attractive rates for long term docking to keep some revenue coming in.

Edited March 14, 2020 by chengkp75

[Capt_BJ]

I think we agree that anchoring will be 'first choice'

 

'work boats' in the major cruise ports of Florida would be somewhat non-existent. They may be common in New York or San Fran which routinely sees long term anchoring of commercial vessels, but not so off Miami, Everglades or Canaveral ... which is home to a significant number of the vessels in question. Perhaps the tugs would pick up this job . . .

 

But I DUNNO .... I'm watching ..... wondering how many might choose to anchor outside my front door . . .

[Roger88]

17 hours ago, TennisCaptain said:

Since the majority of all ships are on the seas or in port somewhere, now that so many cruise lines are suspending cruises for so long, where will they put all those ships.

I can not imagine the number for all these lines.  then do the ships sit empty or have minimal crew to maintain??  will they all have a major cleaning ?  will any go to dry docks..

If anyone gets the scoop, would be interesting to know

 

Its a very good question. I also always wondered myself where is this massive parking lot for all those gigantic ships. I mean, I know that some ports can hold up to 5-7 cruisers of the Titanic size but there are like only a few of those.. and its mostly UK and the US. I heard they keep them somewhere near the shore of the Caribbean and Hawaii. In Australia, near New Zealand they also got like a waiting point or smth. I think you can google all this information. Give it try  

[F27TW]

I read just now on Marc Walker (Bing Bong) cruise director's FB page that Harmony is apparently just going out to sea for 30 days!    No more details than that, but I'm curious about all this myself.   Do they just sit still?  I can't imagine them wasting fuel sailing aound ... 

[Ocean Boy]

It is not unusual to see freighters anchored just off Port Everglades when returning from cruises. Why would these liners not just anchor just of shore like the freighters do?

[Ocean Boy]

18 hours ago, Blizzard54 said:

They will have to keep at least some crew onboard.  With some worldwide travel restrictions in place they will need to decide if it is worth sending crew home to bring them back in 30 days.  They can do some extra maintenance and cleaning.  They will probable just park them wherever the can find space.   After 9-11 there were several ships parked in Vancouver for a period of time.  To time to schedule and do any drydock work.

Since the crew comes from around the world I wonder if the cruise lines would want them returning to possible hot spots of infection and then bringing those infections back aboard the ships upon the crews return.

[chengkp75]

48 minutes ago, Capt_BJ said:

I think we agree that anchoring will be 'first choice'

 

'work boats' in the major cruise ports of Florida would be somewhat non-existent. They may be common in New York or San Fran which routinely sees long term anchoring of commercial vessels, but not so off Miami, Everglades or Canaveral ... which is home to a significant number of the vessels in question. Perhaps the tugs would pick up this job . . .

 

But I DUNNO .... I'm watching ..... wondering how many might choose to anchor outside my front door . . .

When I say "work boat", I am speaking generically.  Companies like TowBoatUS in Miami have the tug Sonny, and a 40' barge for stores.  We use launches all the time for water, stores, and crew when terminals don't allow these deliveries over the dock, in Everglades and Canaveral.

[chengkp75]

4 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

It is not unusual to see freighters anchored just off Port Everglades when returning from cruises. Why would these liners not just anchor just of shore like the freighters do?

I believe Radiance has "PEV anchorage" listed as its destination.  This is most likely.

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

Since the crew comes from around the world I wonder if the cruise lines would want them returning to possible hot spots of infection and then bringing those infections back aboard the ships upon the crews return.

The cost of flying crew home and then back in 30 or 60 days would offset any payroll savings, even if flight restrictions allowed the travel in the first place.

[sandebeach]

Royal and Holland America have been slowly cruising off of Ft. Lauderdale Beach this afternoon. 

[Host Jacquelyn]

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

Radiance of the Seas and Explorer have just cancelled their upcoming dry dock. Allure went into a 58 day $125 million dry dock today, Royal just announced the Allure Amped dry dock will be cut short by 30 days and only propulsion and maintenance issues will be performed.  We are on a B2B on Allure in Oct/Nov. in the Med, some crew members report Allure will cancel Mediterranean sailings and head back home empty. 

 

Where did you read that Allure Med cruises will be cancelled?

[Blizzard54]

23 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Since the crew comes from around the world I wonder if the cruise lines would want them returning to possible hot spots of infection and then bringing those infections back aboard the ships upon the crews return.

I agree.  I assume they will make some modifications in their contract lengths depending on where they are from.  

[chengkp75]

1 minute ago, Blizzard54 said:

I agree.  I assume they will make some modifications in their contract lengths depending on where they are from.  

It's been a while since I looked at a cruise ship set of "articles" (crew contract), and much has changed in the last few years, but I believe that based on the MLC 2006 convention, that if the ship owner lays up the ship, the crew gets paid for the duration of their contract anyway.

[Blizzard54]

4 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

It's been a while since I looked at a cruise ship set of "articles" (crew contract), and much has changed in the last few years, but I believe that based on the MLC 2006 convention, that if the ship owner lays up the ship, the crew gets paid for the duration of their contract anyway.

That seems reasonable.