What happens if too rough to tender in Portofino?

[grannyshell]

We'll be on a Med. cruise on HAL Oosterdam this June and one of the ports is Portofino. I've read that it might be necessary for the ship to divert to Genoa if weather conditions prevent tendering. In that case, would the cruise line normally offer a shuttle to Portofino or would we be on our own to arrange transportation?

[edinburgher]

On 1/19/2024 at 7:21 PM, grannyshell said:

would the cruise line normally offer a shuttle to Portofino or would we be on our own to arrange transportation?

That would probably depend on your cruiseline.And it wouldn't be a short "shuttle". 

You could take a train to Santa Margherita (Ligure) and travel from there to Portofino by public bus, taxi, short 15/20 minute ferry, or on foot.

 

[Hlitner]

Our experience on HAL (and other cruise lines) is that things are not generally as "convenient" as you would expect.  With tendering, what will sometimes happen is the ship arrives at the anchorage and than determines if tender conditions are satisfactory.  If not, then the cruise line will need to move to a "Plan B" which could mean relocating to another port (which means a very late arrival) or possibly cancelling the port and simply having a sea day.  On HAL when we have had a missed port there might be a favorable adjustment in the itinerary such as an earlier arrival at the next scheduled port.

 

The reality is that ship Captains (and the cruise line's operations center) look for the best options based on the situation.  Simply moving to another port (such as Genoa) may not even be possible depending on the port schedule, availability of a pier, availability of pilots, etc.  On our spring cruise in Japan (Westerdam) the Captain actually cancelled one of our ports, two days in advance, based on an unfavorable weather forecast.  Many passengers were unhappy, although it later turned out that the Captain had it right (the weather turned out awful with very high winds).  

 

As folks that favor DIY travel, we simply adapt our own shore schedule/options to whatever happens.  For folks who book cruise line excursions, you must go with the flow.  For folks who arrange for private tours, it is wise to know the policy of your tour provider in the event of a late arrival, port cancellation, etc.  One unfortunate thing we have noticed on our cruises in the past 2 years has been an increase in cancelled shore excursions.  Why?  The cruise lines are at the mercy of contracted shore tour providers who sometimes cannot fulfill their contracts for various reasons.  "Stuff happens" and this is just part of cruising/travel.

 

Hank