Tenders being cancelled due to weather, How often does it really happen?

[parkerlisa]

Hello All - we are booked onthe 6/3 CB and all but 1 stop on this cruise requires the use of tenders. Just wondering how often are port stops cancelled due to rough weather? This is only my 2nd cruise and am curious as to what others experience has been.

 

If seas are too rough to tender, what does the boat do? Does it anchor or does it try and get to calmer water? Also, any extra activities ever added like pool activities for unexpected days on the boat?

 

How many times has this happened to you?

 

Just wondering

 

Lisa

[gointostpete]

Let's see.... I've been on about 15 cruises, don't know how many ports were tendered, but I've only had one port cancelled because of rough seas (Santorini, bummer). In Costa Maya, we were able to dock, but watched another ship try to get in, couldn't, and finally sailed away. I don't remember any special activities on the extra sea day we got on the Mediterranean cruise, but we got to pass by an active volcano during the early evening hours rather than the middle of the night, so that provided some photo ops we wouldn't ordinarily have gotten I guess.

[cjh]

When the sea's decide become rough.

[BeachLover]

I think it happens move often in Grand Cayman. I've been there 4 times - 2 times we couldn't tender because of 10+ foot swells in the harbor made it too dangerous to board the tenders. We had another sea day and were credited $25 (each) on our account.

[Toto2Kansas]

We have had tender ports cancelled many times throughout our cruising years. We have been very lucky at Princess Cays as it has never been cancelled for us before, just pure luck I think.

 

We have also tendered in on one of the first boats and been stranded onshore for the entire day because the seas became rougher than they expected so we were stuck until they began tender service again.

 

There really isn't an option for the ship to pull into calmer waters on a tender port, or at least I have never seen this done. They have one place to tender into and that is it.

 

You just can not predict Mother Nature or what she will do to the condition of the ocean.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Is there a time of year where you're more likely to have seas rough enough to prevent tendering or is it just that it happens when it happens?

 

thanks!

Jayne

[Ula]

I have yet to have a tender port canceled I have had seas get rough while on a tour in port.

That was the most fun ride I ever had back to a ship. The QEII next to us stopped their tender service, we were on the last tender back to our ship for several hours. Have no idea what the people still ashore did for that time.

Getting back on the ship was interesting to quote my mom just throw me in the hatch. They had to time the swells and the hands really did a good job getting you in. We were all also soaking wet. It was fun.

Our last cruise on the Sapphire although Cabo was glass flat, they were training new crew members on how to get people on from the tender. I liked the help and it is best to start in calm seas.

I do not suffer motion sickness so I actually have fun when the seas are more rough.

[spongerob]

There's no way to predict whether or not a particular sailing will have problems tendering at any port. It's just something you have to be prepared for. Weather can affect docking, too.

[KreinKrunker]

Cruises-------------13(121 days at sea)

Canceled Tenders----0

 

Although I almost wish they had canceled them at Maui last year!

[Host Caroline]

Have had tendering cancelled at Cayman and private islands both in the winter/early spring season.. sometimes it's not even bad weather, just wind.. You have to be prepared for it... it's not worth the risk of injury and just one part of cruising that is variable..

Occasionally private island cancellations result in a stop in Nassau and we once tendered in from the other side of Cayman although that was years ago and haven't heard of anyone doing it since.

[Pam in CA]

Let's see... I've had Grand Cayman cancelled 2x, Princess Cays cancelled 1x, Rhodes cancelled 1x, etc.

 

It's not only current conditions but weather predictions that can result in the decision to cancel the port. That happened once on Grand Cayman and people were really bickering about not stopping even though the weather was party-cloudy but windy. What we found out was that the prediction was for high winds and waves during the afternoon. For Rhodes, a couple of ships had gotten into the harbor but had been stuck for 2 days because they couldn't get out. People still bitched that the captain wouldn't try it. Instead, we cruised around a little so we could see the coast and then headed to Ephesus, where we got an extra half-day of shopping in.

 

On our Island Princess cruise in March/April, we tendered into Maui and it was one of the few gorgeous, sunny, clear days we had. About 3:15PM, I got back to the port and decided to wander around for a little while before going back to the ship. Just after 3:45PM, just as I was about to board the tender, a wild storm came in. The tender cast off for the ship but it was an extremely bumpy ride under severe weather conditions, with waves 6' - 7' high. The tender was completely enclosed which meant that no air was coming in and people started getting sick, including one of the crew members. As we were about 2/3 to the ship, the tender stopped. We stayed there, bouncing in the waves, for almost an hour and a half: cold, wet and pretty uncomfortable. It turns out that the tender before us had tied up to the gangway but the rope broke. There were people on the top of the tender (when they boarded the tender, the sun was shining and they were getting some sun) and it was an extremely dangerous situation for them to get down into the safety of the tender. That tender backed off near us. The ship then pulled up anchor and turned around so that they could stabilize the ship and provide protection for the tenders from the wind. We were then the 2nd tender after the change. It was quite an adventure and people were very, very upset. Our tablemates had rented a car and heard a National Weather Service Severe Weather Alert warning so they knew to get back earlier and miss it. We heard that if the weather forecast had included any warning or possibility of severe weather, we would never have tendered into port. It was so gorgeous that I bet people would have been a lot more upset at having missed the port and not knowing the possible consequences.

[Stevesan]

It's not only current conditions but weather predictions that can result in the decision to cancel the port. That happened once on Grand Cayman and people were really bickering about not stopping even though the weather was party-cloudy but windy. What we found out was that the prediction was for high winds and waves during the afternoon.

 

We had exactly that situation occur at Grand Cayman March 2005. The Captain of our ship, Grand Princess, took a pass. Unfortunately a few other ships didn't. The weather came up with thousands of pax stranded at Georgetown. Others were caught in wild tender rides when the weather freshened.

 

We on GP decided we had a very smart Captain!:p

[Douglase]

Last October, seas began extremely rough when we were tendering back to the ship from port.

The captain would not give clearance for the tender to go near the ship. We were tossed to and fro for about 30 minutes at sea (which seemed like hours.) Everyone was scared to death.....even the tender navigator appeared nervous. Never so glad to get back abroad the ship.

[AndyPanda]

22 cruises

NO ports cancelled

[T&J]

22 cruises ....several South America, Marquesas Islands and South Pacific ports cancelled!...it can happen to anyone at anytime...weather is unpredictable.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[Andee]

We tendered into the old city of Dubrovnik. Imagine our surprise (and disrtress) when we walked back to the tender dock in the afternoon, and could no longer see our ship. And there was no tender boat. And we weren't late.

 

The seas had gotten rough, so the ship had moved to a dock in the new part of Dubrovnik, a 15 minute bus ride away. The ship's representative hadn't done a very good job of making themselves obvious at the tender dock so we could find out what had happened.

[pmcrusta]

Had Huatulco, Mexico in Oct. canceled, we sailed into port dropped anchor even and as we were eating room service breakfast. Looked out and we were back out to sea. It didn't take long. We were chased by a hurricane the most of the cruise before getting to the Panama Canal. So far that's it.

[Times Prince]

Out of all our cruises we have had a port cancelled twice. The first was on HAL, where Nassau was cancelled due to gale force winds. The second was Cozumel, because the seas were rough enough that the ship could not safely dock. it was our misfortune to have delayed our souvenier shopping until Cozumel, our last port in the cruise.

 

Inclement weather can happen anytime - that's part of the experience, so it is best to go with the flow, and not worry about lost ports. They are a good excuse to try again.:rolleyes: Each time we take the same cruise, some experience is new and different.

[Seal]

I think the only port we have passed up was Costa Maya about 3-4 weeks ago--I'm really not sure if that was a tendered port--all except for one port was tendered

 

Nancy

 

The CD did plan more of a sea day for the ship at the last minute--put out a patter and life went on--

 

:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

On our last cruise, high waves in Kona made the captain decide to skip the island -- it would be dangerous to tender there. So the ship was turned and we set off to Ensenada. A revised Patters with sea day activities was quickly printed and distributed. We ended spending the day in Ensenada (it is scheduled as just a service stop in the evening). For many on the cruise, it was a disappointment because many of us have cruised to Ensenada in the past (if you live in Southern California, you probably have done the Baja cruise).

 

Four months later, we still haven't had the port fee refunded.

[wrp96]

I think the only port we have passed up was Costa Maya about 3-4 weeks ago--I'm really not sure if that was a tendered port--all except for one port was tendered

 

Nancy

 

The CD did plan more of a sea day for the ship at the last minute--put out a patter and life went on--

 

:)

 

Costa Maya is a docked port but can be very hard to dock at in high winds or rough seas. Last year the Grandeur of the Seas ended up with a huge gash in her side trying to dock at Costa Maya when I wind gust came up and pushed her into the pier.

[cruisebore]

We have been unable to tender in St Maarten ( now has a pier)

Tobago, Princess Cays, Cayman Islands and Mayreau.

On average we miss around 20% of our scheduled tender stops.

 

Regards

 

Ray

[dancer 2]

Hawaii - couldn't get into Hilo, wanted to see the volcanos but unfortunately the waves were not cooperating, sailed around the north side during the day so didn't even get to see the lava flow into the sea. Oh well - it gave us extra time in Kona.

Princess Kays - again the weather - high waves, but all in all we had fun on the ship and is just one of the prices to pay for cruising, not much of a problem considering all the ports this didn't happen to.

[Druke I]

We were down in South America, 3-9/22-06, on Regal Princess, Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, and did make all our ports, but did have to substitute one Chilean Glacier for another due to winds.

 

Couple of cruises before us, several ports including Falkland Islands missed due to high winds and tidal conditions.

 

Not at all unusual - and better than being stranded like some HAL customers were a couple of years back, when the tenders could not get back into Port Stanley to pick them up, forcing them to spend the night on the island.

 

Travel can be an adventure (roll with the punches - don't sweat that which you can't control).

[Pam in CA]

Michael... you're right -- it's better to miss the port than be stranded. Several years ago, a cruise ship (not Princess) had to strand hundreds of passengers on their private island overnight. There was almost no protection from the elements nor did they have anything with them to make their stay more comfortable.