Thread: Have you ever missed a “once in a life time” port?

Stephen, it sounds like my wife is doing scheduling for Cunard.......

We missed Fanning Island because of a Typhoon. Sucked because that was an Island my mom wanted to go to. Of course, that was before NCL quit going there.

I have only really missed one port, St. Johns Nova Scotia but it was more than made up for. We were supposed to leave St. Johns Newfoundland around 6 PM but the fog had rolled in and the captain decided to wait until the next morning to depart. So, we spent the night in port. The city opened up its doors for us and everyone went bar hopping till the early hours of the morning.

We missed most of that having decided to go to bed but we heard stories about it for days. What we did get to see was one of the most remarkable departures that I have ever experienced. We left just as the sun was coming up and the city was waking up. As we left, the lights on the hillsides were coming on and people were seen walking up the many terraces. A magical moment. The port is in a very tight inlet, we could almost touch the hills from the sides of the ship as we left. we would not have seen that if we had left the previous night.

Due to the late departure the captain decided that we could not make St John so we diverted to Halifax instead. We had a grand day in Halifax. It was early fall but the sun was shining, the temperatures were warm, and we got to see another great city that we would have missed if we had gone to or original port. Since we did not have a tour planned we just winged it and went on the HOHO bus around the city for a quick tour. We also saw the port area where they have set up a very nice presentation of the Canadian equivalent of Ellis Island. It was being remodeled when we were there but it was very nice since both my wife and I are fascinated by history.

The shopping area was like a farmers market with stalls and little shops all over the place. We spent a few hours exploring it and getting a few mementos. It was a great day and although I missed the bay of Fundy, it was an exceptional replacement stop.

We have missed a couple ports and time in one port. On our second cruise it was only a 4 nighter from LA to Vancouver with a stop in San Francisco from 6 pm to 11 pm. It was on the Curnard Princess. On the first sea day they announced that one of the 4 engines was down and we would be running late. We were to pick up more passengers in SF so we did need to stop there even though we would not be able to go ashore. What they did was open up the bars for free drinks during the time we would have been in port. We did dock about 11pm but were not there long. We were also late docking in Vancouver and they opened up the bars that morning as we did not dock until about noon.

We have missed Grand Caymon 3 times, each because sea conditions were not good for tendering.

The other port we missed was just a couple years ago on a southbound coastal. The port of Astoria was closed because of strong winds. It really would not have mattered if it was open because we were running into headwinds that had us so far behind schedule that we did not get to the mouth of the Columbia River until it was time for us to have departed the port. With 60 knot headwinds we were only moving at about 6 knots.

Weather sometimes just doesn't cooperate.

Did you hear about the possibility of an actual doc being built in Grand Cayman?

Originally Posted by nealberk

Weather sometimes just doesn't cooperate.

Did you hear about the pissibiluty of an actual doc being built in Grand Cayman?

That would be nice.

I hope they build it in such a way that the first hurricane does not take it out.

We've only missed one port, Key West due to TS Nicole a couple of years ago. We ended up docked in Nassau for 36 hours.
A couple of months later, we packed a bag and just drive down there on the A1-A. Nope, I don't regret missing it.

A dock in GC would be nice! My aunt was just there and they had to be tendered in. It would be nice to have one

We also had to change our itinerary because of Tropical Storm Hermine in 2010 when we went on EPIC. It was supposed to go as follows:
Costa Maya
Cozumel
Roatan

Instead:
Roatan
Costa Maya
Cozumel

At least i think that was how it went lol

But GC is so pretty with all the ships in the bay. Docks for all those ships would be ugly.

Originally Posted by nealberk

But GC is so pretty with all the ships in the bay. Docks for all those ships would be ugly.

Never been. Parents have though...