There`s A Storm Brewing

Until I went on the New Year mini cruise on P&O Ventura, a couple of  years ago, I didn`t really ever think about how often cruise ships miss ports of call, change itineraries or sailings are even cancelled at short notice. Recently there seems to be more and more cases where travel plans are suddenly disrupted, the weather is obviously an important factor but not the only one.

On my cruise we were due to sail into Amsterdam for New Year`s Eve, but the wind was strong and Ventura is actually a bit big to sail up the canals to the city if there is any bad weather at all, as she only just fits in! So why send a ship like her there when  P&O must know that the weather in December in the North Sea is likely to be bad?

So guess what, Ventura was due to sail into the Panama Canal in January 2020. Last week the notification came round that, basically, she is too big to do that and customers who have already booked are being offered an excursion instead. Hardly the Panama Cruise they were expecting. Would have thought someone should have checked that before putting the itinerary together!

Severe storms in the Mediterranean over the last few days have seen disruption to several cruises. Regent Voyage was due to start her next cruise in Monte Carlo today, instead she is berthed in Marseilles awaiting her passengers to arrive on hastily re-booked flights and coaches.

On the other side of the coin the exceptionally hit summer we have had in 2018 has lead to many of Europe`s rivers having too little water for the river cruise boats to sail. This has lead to some cruises on the Danube being cancelled the day before embarkation.

You may have read that, last week, Royal Caribbean`s Navigator of the Seas started to take on water during her last sailing. Passengers were understandably panicking as the ship diverted to Vigo, Spain, for emergency repairs. The swimming pool on the ship was also closed due to rough weather while sailing through the Atlantic Ocean.

Strangely enough her next cruise, which starts today, has had a massive itinerary change, Instead of heading over to Canada, Boston and New York she will sail the short distance to Le Havre, then Zeebrugge before heading to Miami via the Canary Islands. Passengers were notified over the weekend and the reason given was severe storms in the Atlantic would mean she could not complete the original programme. I wonder !