Storms and High Seas affected this otherwise great cruise

I had the same experience cruising Rccl in Hawaii, we could not tender due the the weather and waves. People were upset due to golf, car rentals,etc. so, we skipped the island and cruised back to an island we had already been to. I did the New England' Maine, bar harbor, St. John and Quebec last October on the Queen mary2 it was terrific but cold.

Thanks for the text. I will be sailing in 13 days on the regal. 😎

So sorry to read that you had such terrible weather on your cruise.  Head down to the Caribbean next time and hopefully you will encounter smoother seas and sunnier weather.

So sorry to read that you had such terrible weather on your cruise.  Head down to the Caribbean next time and hopefully you will encounter smoother seas and sunnier weather.

Thank you for posting your review. I agree w/previous notes regarding missed ports. An important factor to consider when cruise planning is weather.  Hurricane season in the Atlantic needs to be on anyone's radar (NPI) when selecting a voyage.  Best of luck with future cruising.

 

Thank you for a balanced review rating and mentioning the good and the bad parts of the trip.   It looks like the only bad parts are things that were beyond the control of the cruise line.   I can understand being unhappy that you missed 2 of the ports.  Thank you for mentioning that the Captain was wise to not go into the ports,  it shows you understand what cursing is about. I'm glad you still enjoyed your trip despite the weather and missed ports.

Thanks for the review. 

Thank you for your review.

Although the above posters are correct that the Captain cannot control the weather, the fact that your vacation was affected justifies your rating. I am glad to see that the crew did the best they could under the circumstances, and that the Captain had the passenger's safety in mind.

And yes, on occasion, the ship will use it's larger lifeboats as tenders.

I agree with the previous two posters here, weather is always a consideration when one travels, when voyaging or otherwise. Inclement weather should not be a factor in a cruise rating or ship rating, unless the ship design is deficient and subjects voyagers to a rougher ride than would otherwise be the case under given conditions.  Missed ports are common, on an average three week cruise, for us, we usually expect to miss about two. Tendering is pretty common if one wants to visit out of the way ports in exotic locations or those not in the mainstream of ocean going freight transport. As you appear to recognize, a tender port is more dicey to navigate than a dock port, therefore aborted visits are more likely there. Cruise lines almost always bend over backward to find a birth at ports since it is much more economical for their overall operation if they can, it is not a case of them being too tight to pay the port fees. Some ports do not have the channel depth to accommodate large vessels while others simply cannot afford to build docks the size necessary to handle big ships. You were fortunate to get into St. John's, a goodly percentage of vessels have to bypass St Johns due to weather, usually wind, fog or both. This is due to the very narrow channel leading into that port. We were on the Regal just days before you were and did make it into St Johns as well.  It was the largest vessel to ever port there and they gave us quite a celebration because of that. A year ago we were on the Regal's sister, the Royal, and had to bypass St Johns due to 65 knot gusts at the port. During this voyage on the Regal, we found the North Atlantic all but a mill pond. Last year on the Royal we not only experienced 65 knot gusts for a couple of days but also over 20 foot seas. She handled them well, unless one looked outside there was almost no way of knowing we were in a "blow" except for the bow pounding on occasion.       

I really don't understand the 3 star rating. I'm pretty sure you knew the itinerary and it says on there which are tender ports. There is a chance that weather will determine which ports a ship will be able to go to. The cruise line (any cruise line) will put passengers safety ahead of going to a port. If the cruise line did say, oh well, don't want to disappoint the passengers, we will go in, that is a cruise line I do not want to pay money to!! There are times when ships can't go into a port that can handle ships, because of weather. Remember safety is first and foremost. Too bad you were not happy with the cruise. The Regal Princess is a beautiful ship and the staff was amazing. Would you complain if there was an emergency and a ship would miss a port? There are people on this site that complain about that, too.

So, if I understand correctly, you are attributing your 3 star rating on the weather? I'm sorry but it doesn't work that way. Since you have sailed in the past, I'm sure you understand that weather can play a major factor in sea conditions. Of all the cruises I have been on where tenders were used, they were never "Lifeboats". They are private boats hired by the cruise line to charter passengers back and forth to the ship. There are many ports that do not cater to docking and in most situations, it is due to shallow water at the port or for environmental concerns (Coral reefs). All of the ports on any cruise can be scene by viewing the itinerary for that cruise.  It will indicate if any of the ports are tender ports. Many of the private islands owned by cruise lines are tender ports. I'm sorry you were disappointed but remember, the weather and the sea dictate docking or anchoring. The cruise line has little to say about either.