Every now and then your cruise itinerary will change mid cruise. It does happen and there are 2 main reasons as to why, Weather or medical emergency.
What can you do about it, well not a lot! These kind of things happen and they are totally out of your and anyone else’s control, including the cruise line company.
Captains don’t take these changes lightly and there is always a lot of communication with shore side head office as to the options.
Let’s look at each of these scenarios in a bit more depth
Weather
You can’t rely on the weather to always be nice. Cruise itineraries are scheduled years in advance by cruise lines. That’s how far in advance they must book a berth.
Every now and then the weather will not be corporate and plans have to be changed.
Sometimes announcements are made for changes/cancellations and outside its sunny, hot and not a cloud in the sky. Everyone around the pool is wondering why it’s beautiful out here. Remember sometimes, what’s coming is not what you see now.
Cruise lines spend a lot of money to have up to date information on weather. They see what we cannot and sometimes the weather system that’s sending the bad weather is hundreds of miles away. If this is the case, it’s going to take a day or two to make it to the ship’s area.
When storms arrive in the ship location, it’s too late to run. The last place you want to be is on a cruise ship in the middle of a storm.
A change in itinerary is for the best passenger experience possible. Making the cruise as comfortable as possible is very important, not to mention safe. There is no need to put a ship under strain in a storm if it can be avoided.
Some of the options to cruise lines are
Traveling off course
A lot of the time ships with travel in a different direction to the itinerary. Doing this they can out run/ skirt around the outside of the worst of the weather. If at sea, they are always going to have bad weather but the plan will be to get away from the worst. Making a heading of SW (south west) instead of South could mean the difference of 6ft waves instead of 15ft.
Overnight in Port
Overnight in port is another option, if the berth can be secured. Due to the fact that most cruise ship do not stay overnight in a berth they are normally free, but if there are other ships in the area its first to book it. Some ports won’t even charge, being how much money will be spent in town that night. Yes, the crew all loves an overnight in port.
Leave Port earlier or later
Holding off on going for 2 or 3 hours, or even leaving 2 or 3 hours early can make a bit difference. These options are used quite often, especially with fast moving storms. If the ship can hold off and let the worst of the bad weather pass, this can make a huge difference. Once the worst weather has passed it will only get better. Of course, this can only be done if the berth is available to stay a few more hours. Some berths have the next ship docking hours after the leaving time and remember it can take the ship one or two hours to dock, so you must be well clear by that time.
Slow in Ships Speed
When ships do get caught in storms they will be forced to slow down in speed. There is no other way round this. Going too fast will put too much strain on the ship and be very uncomfortable for passengers. Itineraries are all based on speed from one port to another. If you it takes 1 day to get to the next port at 15knots, but now you are in bad weather and you can only do 5 knots, well you are not going to make it.
Tender ports
One of the biggest reasons to miss a port is bad weather and Tender ports. It happens all the time and trust me if we are tending it must be a good port. Sometimes it’s the wind and sometimes it’s the swell. I have seen a tender go from 3tf below the ships dock to 3ft above in seconds. How do you load passengers safely when it’s like that, the answer is you can’t! Some days it’s fine to tender in the morning and then in the afternoon the weather turns, it’s then challenging, you have 1500 passengers to get back from shore. The Bridge will position the ship at an angle to protect the tender dock, but sometimes it so bad they just can protect it enough. It’s the chance you take on any tender ports.
Medical Emergencies
Medical Emergencies is the other main reason itineraries change. Life always comes first no matter who it is passenger or crew. It’s the sole decision of the senior doctor if the ship needs to divert to port to send a patient to hospital.
Off course and it cannot be any old port or hospital. The medical facility’s ashore must be of a better standard than what is on the ship. In some country’s that’s hard to find. Some ports we have dropped off at, are just to get to the nearest airport and be flown out by air ambulance.
Some itineraries are worse than others. Panama Canal has always been known as a “bucket list” thing to do. As you know bucket lists are done before you die and for most, it’s close to the end when they finally get to it. Due to this the average age of passengers on these cruises does tend to be a lot older. This makes the odds of a medical emergency far greater.
If there is a death on board, they are held in the ship mortuary (yes they have one) until the next port of call where they are off loaded.
Suicide and/or Man over Board
Both of these will result in at least a 4/5+ hour delay. It may not have been someone from your ship; the rule is that every ship in the area must join the search. The ship will take at least 30 minutes to turn then it has to get back to the area, before the search even starts. It will have to launch a fast rescue boat (or boats) to join the search. If found, and this happens very rarely, needs to be brought back to ship. Rescue boats have to be winched back on board and tied down…..all this takes time
Helicopter off load
Some situations call for a faster rescue. If the ship is in a position close enough coast guard will send a helicopter to winch off the patient and transport them straight to the closest hospital. This will normally not hold the ship up to much. They will be forced to slow down and may have to change course due to wind. It is not as simple as the helicopter turns up and we winch them up, first the medic from the helicopter comes down to the ship to look at the situation, then the patient, doctor (or nurse) and medic are winched back up one by one, this can take up to an hour. Most ship can make up the time by an increase in speed to the next port.
Insurance
To just add to medical issues, travel insurance (see my blog on Travel Insurance). The medical department on any ship will be the most expensive department onboard. Just walking in the door is about cost hundreds. Without insurance your cheap cruise could become your biggest debt.
Overnight stays in the medical center are not cheap. Be prepared for a big bill, if a patient is in a medical center so must a member of the medical team, if ICU it’s at least one nurse and one doctor, always.
Now clearly most must get it because I see on every new cruise. Passengers walk on board during embarkation day, check cabin and then head straight to the medical center. Why you book a cruise to just spend it all at the medical center has got me, but happens every week.
Conclusion
Cruise Itineraries can change and it’s mainly due to weather or medical disembarkation. Of course there could be other factors, break down, Norovirus, crash, but these are very rare.
Just be ready that port you wanted to see so much could be missed. Most cruise lines have policies in place for missing a port, like entertainment ready to go. Shore tours can be refunded with 1 click of a button. See my article on cruise tours made safe and easy, I would doubt you get any deposit back from tours made of the ship.
Weather issues could be anything from a force 4 hurricane, which you will need to get around, to 10 knots too much wind in a tender port and creating a 2ft step on to the tender.
Most medical emergencies normally don’t put you off course too much, but a man over board will set you back many hours.
Remember whatever happens the ship is doing all it can to make your vacation a happy one, always thank the crew they all work hard and do their best to make you happy.
ENJOY THE JOURNEY