Cruise Talk: What the...who's driving this thing?

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Topic: What the...who's driving this thing?

dmwnc1
Cruise Director
Member # 3785

posted 10-14-2009 12:59 AM

Mercury, doing the slow boat to China route from Vancouver to Nainamo to Victoria burning doughnuts in the ocean.

Posts: 5650 | From: Clarksburg WV | Registered: Apr 2003 | IP: Logged

dmwnc1
Cruise Director
Member # 3785

posted 10-14-2009 01:04 AM

Close up:

Posts: 5650 | From: Clarksburg WV | Registered: Apr 2003 | IP: Logged

jeffrossatsea
First Class Passenger
Member # 2962

posted 10-14-2009 01:26 AM

it's only a couple of hours to cross from vancouver to nanaimo...so i guess she had 6 hour's to burn...jeff

Posts: 1118 | From: vancouver | Registered: Apr 2002 | IP: Logged

jeffrossatsea
First Class Passenger
Member # 2962

posted 10-14-2009 01:32 AM

it's only a couple of hours to cross from vancouver to nanaimo...so i guess she had 6 hour's to burn...jeff

Posts: 1118 | From: vancouver | Registered: Apr 2002 | IP: Logged

Cam J
First Class Passenger
Member # 24617

posted 10-14-2009 01:58 AM

Looks fun doing doughnuts and stuff in the water! LOL.

But instead of wasting all that fuel why not sit in the water?

Cam J

Posts: 503 | From: Belvedere, CA | Registered: Jun 2009 | IP: Logged

bcscot
First Class Passenger
Member # 22351

posted 10-14-2009 02:11 AM

I saw her anchored off Nanaimo, as I left on the ferry 9 days ago. I think she was in Victoria today for, I presume, the last visit of the season.

We cruised to Alaska on her last year & she was the least favourite of all the ships that we have sailed on.

Graham.

Posts: 266 | From: BC, Canada | Registered: Mar 2009 | IP: Logged

DEIx15x8
First Class Passenger
Member # 14958

posted 10-14-2009 07:57 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Cam J:
Looks fun doing doughnuts and stuff in the water! LOL. But instead of wasting all that fuel why not sit in the water?
Cam J

It's probably related to guest comfort. According to the close up picture she is only going about 9 knots which is below normal sailing speed (most travel around 15+). It is still high enough though to get the bow to cut the waves. If she stops she will ride over every wave rather than cutting them which would make even small waves feel rocky to the passengers.

[ 10-14-2009: Message edited by: DEIx15x8 ]

Posts: 521 | From: Kutztown, PA | Registered: Apr 2008 | IP: Logged

origo
First Class Passenger
Member # 1852

posted 10-14-2009 06:01 PM

You need to do minimum 6 knots to be allowed to discharge grey / black water etc.

Posts: 40 | From: Stockholm, Sweden | Registered: Mar 2001 | IP: Logged

Grant
First Class Passenger
Member # 1000

posted 10-14-2009 06:10 PM

This caused them to keep a pilot on board as well, actually 2 of them. Why did they just go and anchor and thus be able to release the pilots.
This fall Celebrity has done this sort of thing several times, while Holland American, Princess and Norwegian have sailed direct from Vancouver to either Nanaimo or Victoria and tied up or anchored, thus reducing pilotage costs.
I guess each cruise line has a preference! One potential reason is that while sailing the shops and casino can be opened, even in Canadian waters, but once anchored or tied up they must close up shop. Perhaps the revenue stream is behind the choice of options.

Posts: 834 | From: Victoria, BC, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

jetwet1
First Class Passenger
Member # 6361

posted 10-14-2009 07:47 PM

If you look at tracks between Long Beach and Catalina island you will see cruise ships doing this all the time, the simple fact is it's a couple of hour cruise between the two ports, but the ships leave around 5pm and don't "arrive" until 8am the following morning.

Posts: 608 | From: Las VEgas | Registered: Mar 2006 | IP: Logged

dmwnc1
Cruise Director
Member # 3785

posted 10-14-2009 08:13 PM

Funny you mentioned that, here is one I did on the Millennium last week. I had a friend on there and was watching her transit from Avalon to the Port of Los Angeles:

Posts: 5650 | From: Clarksburg WV | Registered: Apr 2003 | IP: Logged

dmwnc1
Cruise Director
Member # 3785

posted 10-14-2009 08:22 PM

In addition, and oddly enough, most all the ones I saw that day were straight line transits albeit way out of the way south before heading back north. One departure from San Diego went way down past Ensenada before heading back towards Catalina.

[ 10-14-2009: Message edited by: dmwnc1 ]

Posts: 5650 | From: Clarksburg WV | Registered: Apr 2003 | IP: Logged

jetwet1
First Class Passenger
Member # 6361

posted 10-15-2009 03:07 AM

Did they sit outside Ensenada for a couple of hours ?

Posts: 608 | From: Las VEgas | Registered: Mar 2006 | IP: Logged

dmwnc1
Cruise Director
Member # 3785

posted 10-15-2009 02:10 PM

Not that I could tell. The track looked roughly SSW down to a latitude line parallel with Ensenada then almost straight up towards Catalina.

Posts: 5650 | From: Clarksburg WV | Registered: Apr 2003 | IP: Logged

jetwet1
First Class Passenger
Member # 6361

posted 10-15-2009 04:42 PM

Interesting, on the 4 day cruises we have done out of Long Beach the ship has pretty much done a race track pattern all night.

The reason for me thinking of a quick stop at Ensenada is to do the foreign port thing, that's what we did in May on the Sapphire Princess.

Posts: 608 | From: Las VEgas | Registered: Mar 2006 | IP: Logged

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