Iona Alicante

[awmartin]

Does anyone know why Iona never docked in Alicante this morning.(10/3/2023).

[Fionboard]

Operational reasons!

[carlanthony24]

Wind was the issue, seems like they will overnight in Barcelona instead

[dallas16]

1 hour ago, awmartin said:

Does anyone know why Iona never docked in Alicante this morning.(10/3/2023).

Winds were much higher than expected and beyond the safe docking level for any cruise ship 

[Fionboard]

Heard Aurora missed Azores for Vigo. Bad weather everywhere it seems.

[wowzz]

The bigger the ship, the bigger the problem when  the  wind is against you. 

[sogne]

Force 8/9 west winds on beam to harbour approach

[Happy afloat]

15 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Operational reasons!

Lack of prawns?

[jeanlyon]

On 3/10/2023 at 11:04 PM, wowzz said:

The bigger the ship, the bigger the problem when  the  wind is against you. 

Yes, seems a lot of the big ones miss ports.  Only have ever missed one on Aurora.

[daiB]

4 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes, seems a lot of the big ones miss ports.  Only have ever missed one on Aurora.

Don’t agree we have missed ports on Aurora, Oriana and Arcadia it is just a fact of cruising. On our last Aurora we missed 2 ports cos of the wind. So the problem is not just big ships. 

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, daiB said:

Don’t agree we have missed ports on Aurora, Oriana and Arcadia it is just a fact of cruising. On our last Aurora we missed 2 ports cos of the wind. So the problem is not just big ships. 

We have missed Amsterdam twice due to wind on Arcadia, plus 2 ports on one cruise on Aurora, Lisbon and San Sebastián de La Gomera both due to windy conditions 

[jh1809]

I imagine the bigger the ship the more likely wind is to be a problem, simply because the bigger the ship the more sea-room it will need in which to manoeuvre and so the smaller the margin for error.

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, daiB said:

Don’t agree we have missed ports on Aurora, Oriana and Arcadia it is just a fact of cruising. On our last Aurora we missed 2 ports cos of the wind. So the problem is not just big ships. 

We missed Tobago on Arcadia back in 2006, and were nearly blown out of Civitavechia harbour while on Aurora in 2019.

[wowzz]

Apropos of nothing, last year on Regal Princess, the captain spent two hours or so attempting to berth  in Santorini. 

It was intriguing to watch - every time the wind dropped , the thrusters were engaged, and eventually we were able to dock. 

Regal is a large ship, but I cannot see Iona or Arriva being able to dock in similar circumstances.

[Gettingwarmer]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Apropos of nothing, last year on Regal Princess, the captain spent two hours or so attempting to berth  in Santorini. 

It was intriguing to watch - every time the wind dropped , the thrusters were engaged, and eventually we were able to dock. 

Regal is a large ship, but I cannot see Iona or Arriva being able to dock in similar circumstances.

Are you sure you mean Santorini. No cruise ship docks there.  It is all tender. Do you mean Mykonos. 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Gettingwarmer

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Are you sure you mean Santorini. No cruise ship docks there.  It is all tender. Do you mean Mykonos. 

 

Whoops - yes of course. Got my Greek islands mixed up.

Thanks for putting me right. 

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

Apropos of nothing, last year on Regal Princess, the captain spent two hours or so attempting to berth  in Santorini. 

It was intriguing to watch - every time the wind dropped , the thrusters were engaged, and eventually we were able to dock. 

Regal is a large ship, but I cannot see Iona or Arriva being able to dock in similar circumstances.

Iona and Arvia do have the advantage of Azipods, which make them far more manoeverable. Independance of the seas is bigger than Azura/Ventura, but her Captain made docking in high winds look very easy. I am hoping that as P&O bridge officers become more experienced on the 2 new ships that the benefits of azipods will become more apparent, lers hope Iona has a much smoother summer in the Fjords than she did last year.

[crompton21]

11 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Iona and Arvia do have the advantage of Azipods, which make them far more manoeverable. Independance of the seas is bigger than Azura/Ventura, but her Captain made docking in high winds look very easy. I am hoping that as P&O bridge officers become more experienced on the 2 new ships that the benefits of azipods will become more apparent, lers hope Iona has a much smoother summer in the Fjords than she did last year.

 

I'd like to think that any Captain of a ship knew how to control it to the maximum of it's abilities before they took control.  It seems a strange idea to set off with 7000 people with the vague hope that you will get the hang of it as you go along.

Edited March 13, 2023 by crompton21

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

 

I'd like to think that any Captain of a ship knew how to control it to the maximum of it's abilities before they took control.  It seems a strange idea to set off with 7000 people with the vague hope that you will get the hang of it as you go along.

I know very little about operating a ship, but like driving a car although the principles are the same, each car has it's own handling characteristics. The different handling of a rear wheel versus front wheel drive is something that takes time and experience to be able to fully control. So I am assuming that Royal Caribbean bridge teams with over 25 years experience with azipods, will have gained more confidence in their capabilities than P&O with only 2 years, even though they will all be proficient in ships handling.

[zap99]

52 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

 

I'd like to think that any Captain of a ship knew how to control it to the maximum of it's abilities before they took control.  It seems a strange idea to set off with 7000 people with the vague hope that you will get the hang of it as you go along.

Welcome aboard captain. Thanks No1. How's this all work then?. Not too sure sir, we can pick it up as we go along .🤣

[solentsam]

I think Arcadia has the azipod system as well

[wowzz]

I seem to remember a tv documentary showing captains and other officers practising on a nautical Sim, in the same way that air crew would do on an aircraft Sim.

Edited March 13, 2023 by wowzz

[crompton21]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I know very little about operating a ship, but like driving a car although the principles are the same, each car has it's own handling characteristics. The different handling of a rear wheel versus front wheel drive is something that takes time and experience to be able to fully control. So I am assuming that Royal Caribbean bridge teams with over 25 years experience with azipods, will have gained more confidence in their capabilities than P&O with only 2 years, even though they will all be proficient in ships handling.

 

Arcadia (2005) has Azipod propulsion, as do QE and QV, so hopefully a number of Captains have actually had a little time to practice.

[dallas16]

Whilst the ship has azipods and captains will know how to work them. Winds like those of around 55mph in Alicante the other day with a narrow harbour entrance are beyond the safe limits to even think about trying to use them and if they had docked in Alicante they would have missed Barcelona due to weather, whilst it's disappointing to miss a port, I trust that the captain has made the correct decision. We have docked once on a South America cruise in winds of around 30 knots , the captain said that he would have one go at docking and if they couldn't get alongside they would cancel the port. Anything higher than this and the port will be cancelled. Last year Norway had what locals described as the worst summer ever and many ships had to cancel ports including both large ships like Iona and smaller ships like Seabourn . There have been issues previously with wind in Monaco and in Rome where ropes have become unattached or in Monaco where passengers had to sleep in a sports hall because tendering became too dangerous 

[Red Ray]

On 3/10/2023 at 11:04 PM, wowzz said:

The bigger the ship, the bigger the problem when  the  wind is against you. 

I've found the same with Brussels Sprouts