How Common is it to Miss Ports Because of Weather on a British Isle Cruise?

[pappy1022]

I would expect that tender ports are most vulnerable to cancellation for weather related rough seas but are there specific ports that are more susceptible to cancellation? I’ve read where St Peter Port is especially vulnerable to rough seas and it’s a tender port. Our tender ports are Edinburg (New Haven), Ullapool, Waterford and St Peter Port as well as Invergordon, Kirkwall, Killybegs, Belfast, Glasgow, and Liverpool where we are docked. I ask because although we are taking mostly Regent excursions, we are looking at options for private tours for a couple ports and want to make sure we completely understand those cancellation policies. I would assume that Regent will wait until the last minute to cancel a port. True?

[cotto22]

We had a tender port skipped last year in the British Isles (sorry, my mind just went blank as to which one!) due to wind and waves. We were all waiting down on Deck 4 for quite a while before it was announced that it was a No Go. A few years ago, we skipped Cork, not because of bad weather there, but because the Captain wanted to try to get ahead of bad weather on a northerly TA to Canada. We had a lot of notice for that one. The private excursion we had for that port refunded our money without question. They are used to cancellations!

[annapolitan369]

We missed Edinburgh on an around the British Isles cruise and had to spend an extra day in Newcastle.  Despite some nasty weather, all the other ports were fine.

[Gilly]

4 minutes ago, annapolitan369 said:

We missed Edinburgh on an around the British Isles cruise and had to spend an extra day in Newcastle.  Despite some nasty weather, all the other ports were fine.

 

And just to even it up, we missed Newcastle and spent an extra day in Edinburgh! 😉

[pappy1022]

I would hate to miss Edinburgh. What month did you cruise? 

 

[jeb_bud]

There are also non-weather reasons to miss ports. We missed Rome because the ship had to divert in the middle of the night to evacuate a sick passenger. 

[annapolitan369]

The cruise we missed Edinburgh was in May

 

[annapolitan369]

My wife corrected me, our trip around the British Isles was in August.

[TheProfessionalTraveller]

19 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

I would expect that tender ports are most vulnerable to cancellation for weather related rough seas but are there specific ports that are more susceptible to cancellation? I’ve read where St Peter Port is especially vulnerable to rough seas and it’s a tender port. Our tender ports are Edinburg (New Haven), Ullapool, Waterford and St Peter Port as well as Invergordon, Kirkwall, Killybegs, Belfast, Glasgow, and Liverpool where we are docked. I ask because although we are taking mostly Regent excursions, we are looking at options for private tours for a couple ports and want to make sure we completely understand those cancellation policies. I would assume that Regent will wait until the last minute to cancel a port. True?

 

Well the good news is that Invergordon isn't a tender port. Sometimes we do have cruise ships miss their port call at Invergordon but that's generally because the weather has been bad elsewhere and they have to make up time to get to Edinburgh. Ullapool can be tricky for cruise ships to get into in any sort of rougher weather so that does get cancelled sometimes. Orkney (Kirkwall) does get cancelled a bit because of poorer weather as we sometimes end up with cruise ships calling in at Invergordon when they miss these two ports. 

 

As to the policy of cancelling a cruise port I think it just depends on the situation and the schedule really. Most ships won't want to cancel a port call at all and will try and offer another port if possible but that isn't always possible, especially if it's at the height of the cruising season.

[papaflamingo]

Missing a port is always hit or miss (pun intended).  You simply don't know until it happens.  Most 3rd party excursion companies understand this and will allow a full, or at least a partial, refund if the ship misses the port for any reason. We did 40 nights from Montreal to Southhampton and missed ports in Greenland and one in Iceland but made every port in the UK.  

If you want to book a third party excursion then look for ones that have a full refund or at least only keep a small deposit and go ahead and book them. I wouldn't let the fear of cancellation of a port drive any decision.  You really just never know with a cruise.

[Donaldm]

On two different cruises we could not make it in to Kirkwall because of bad weather, so we have never made it there.

Edited March 5, 2023 by Donaldm

[Canuker]

West side of the island, generally the further north you are the more likely you are to encounter wx that will give the skipper pause for thought. Scottish weather on the west coast is notoriously variable.

There is always the possibility that an alternate, sheltered, port may be substituted.

I remember a cruise from the east side of Iceland to Reykjavik on the west side. The captain decided to take the longer, north coast instead of the planned southerly route, as we would be in the lee of a storm off southern Iceland.

We were fine. And the scenery was stunning, by the way. But another (Saga?) cruise ship, just behind us, decided to stick to the southerly route. We docked at Reykjavik and when the Saga passengers finally got there and found out what we had done, they became even more upset than they had been while on their ship! Not a happy band.

By the way, the plus for me is that it became the only time I have ever been north of the Arctic Circle.

Sorry to wander off topic.

[texasatty]

We missed a couple of ports in the Western Islands of Scotland a few years ago due to weather. The Isle of Skye is one I recall specifically

Edited April 17, 2023 by texasatty