Port adventures cancelled

[it398]

Just back off the Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Dream and had an unusual experience, arriving into Skojlden to be told that all port adventures requiring guides or busses were cancelled (95% of shore excursions), a very strange situation. This was on top of a number of other excursions being cancelled last minute in other ports. Was not a good cruise for port adventures.

We were told by a port adventures manager that head office had got involved and will be reevaluating their vendors for future cruises.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[Flossbolna]

That sounds horrible!!

We were on the very first Norway cruise DCL did. and had issues with the one PA we booked through DCL. Part of it was that the coach had an accident at the port and the replacement came late and was not comfortable. That wasn’t DCL‘s fault obviously. But we also found the whole tour not be thought out well. Stops were not timed right, the guide was not good at all.

Not sure if it’s still the same vendor, but they didn’t impress me back then.

DCL was great though. We got in touch with them afterwards with our criticism and they were very interested and actually ended up refunding a large part of the price.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just back off the Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Dream and had an unusual experience, arriving into Skojlden to be told that all port adventures requiring guides or busses were cancelled (95% of shore excursions), a very strange situation. This was on top of a number of other excursions being cancelled last minute in other ports. Was not a good cruise for port adventures.

We were told by a port adventures manager that head office had got involved and will be reevaluating their vendors for future cruises.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Not on DCL, but on other lines. Excursions can be cancelled at any time, usually due to vendor issues (no longer in business, inadequate busses/equipment, bad weather, any number of other reasons). It's not the cruise line's fault. They try to use reliable vendors, but things happen.

 

[RedM94]

Just back off the Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Dream and had an unusual experience, arriving into Skojlden to be told that all port adventures requiring guides or busses were cancelled (95% of shore excursions), a very strange situation. This was on top of a number of other excursions being cancelled last minute in other ports. Was not a good cruise for port adventures.

We were told by a port adventures manager that head office had got involved and will be reevaluating their vendors for future cruises.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

We were on the same cruise and spoke with a very nice person at the camping cabins near the water falls in Skolden. She told us it was an intentional silent protest against cruise ships. In Stavanger there were sail boats with banners that read “Cruise Ships Kill.”

We were embarrassed to see how passengers took over Skolden, a town of 300. Mostly private property, people kicked over a fence to cross a pasture to hike to a water fall. The woman in the cafe was in tears and just closed down her shop.

Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing cruise, just felt bad for the locals in Skolden.

 

[it398]

We were on the same cruise and spoke with a very nice person at the camping cabins near the water falls in Skolden. She told us it was an intentional silent protest against cruise ships. In Stavanger there were sail boats with banners that read “Cruise Ships Kill.”

We were embarrassed to see how passengers took over Skolden, a town of 300. Mostly private property, people kicked over a fence to cross a pasture to hike to a water fall. The woman in the cafe was in tears and just closed down her shop.

Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing cruise, just felt bad for the locals in Skolden.

There’s no excuse for guests to behave like that and not respect the locals, but it’s also an odd situation in that by running the excursions guests would be spread over a much larger area and less likely to overwhelm the villages. Funny how the ports provide infrastructure to support large cruise ships too

 

[soniam]

There’s no excuse for guests to behave like that and not respect the locals, but it’s also an odd situation in that by running the excursions guests would be spread over a much larger area and less likely to overwhelm the villages. Funny how the ports provide infrastructure to support large cruise ships too

I don’t know who exactly decides to build the infrastructure. Sometimes it’s there for cargo ships, which are needed. Sometimes it could be governments above the local level or locals weren’t given the opportunity to vote. Also, if it’s older infrastructure, the cruise ships may have been smaller and less of them. With the ships getting bigger, the towns may not be able to support the sizes. Not sure how much control they have over the size of ships that dock. I do support the ports in having control over whether ships are allowed to dock, how many, and what size. Also, there’s new data every day about how the ships affect the local environment. Some damage has taken time to develop.

 

[Sakura1017]

Agree with PrincessShmoo, port excursions are based on if they can get vendors. I had a meeting one time with the port adventures supervisor and they try to vet vendors by going on the excursion and decide if they will use it. It's hard after the pandemic that certain tour operators don't come back. I know it sucks cuz when you go on a cruise and go to port you want to do things. I would be more curious for people on your cruise if they did a private excursion and if they were able to do anything in that port.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Weird that dcl would choose a cruise port so hostile to cruisers

 

[Flossbolna]

Weird that dcl would choose a cruise port so hostile to cruisers

I am getting the impression that DCL is having issues finding spots that can accommodate the larger Dream. They can’t rely on their previous berths for the Magic anymore.

 

[Karin1984]

I also wouldn't be surprised if there is a mismatch between Disney and vendors. On my Alaska cruise we had issues on 3 out of 4 excursions. Mainly due to communication issues, Disney selling an excursion on their website, and vendors were not informed about what is promised.

I can imagine that causes frustrated guests complaining to Disney, but maybe also to the vendors. Or Disney sent the complaints forward to the vendors.

That can also result in vendors putting a stop to it to sell via Disney.

Was it still possible to do the adventure, but book directly with the vendor?

 

[Geomom]

We were on this cruise as well. We had booked DCL excursions for all 4 ports and thankfully only our Skjolden one was affected. I felt so bad about Skjolden though...3800 passengers plus crew overwhelmed the town of 300. Definitely would have been better to have the excursions to disperse the passengers. There were definitely passengers going where they shouldn't. We did our best to stay on trails and sidewalks.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I also wouldn't be surprised if there is a mismatch between Disney and vendors. On my Alaska cruise we had issues on 3 out of 4 excursions. Mainly due to communication issues, Disney selling an excursion on their website, and vendors were not informed about what is promised.

I can imagine that causes frustrated guests complaining to Disney, but maybe also to the vendors. Or Disney sent the complaints forward to the vendors.

That can also result in vendors putting a stop to it to sell via Disney.

Was it still possible to do the adventure, but book directly with the vendor?

We do this. We’ve done 2total booked through cruise lines. Disappointed with both and hate the whole assembling and waiting around. You just have to be comfortable with getting yourself back to the ship on time. Depends on your personality type.

 

[MonaMN]

I am getting the impression that DCL is having issues finding spots that can accommodate the larger Dream. They can’t rely on their previous berths for the Magic anymore.

I wonder if they were locked into the port schedule before they switched ships? Either way, that port is not on the list for next summer's similar cruise that we're booked on.

 

[Flossbolna]

I wonder if they were locked into the port schedule before they switched ships? Either way, that port is not on the list for next summer's similar cruise that we're booked on.

They should have known about the switch for a long time because of the Wish coming.

But I have read before (like in the old times when they started coming to Europe) that DCL tends to be late in making port decisions. I wonder if Covid had something to do with it? People left DCL who had the experience, short staffed at DCL and at the ports. DCL also is small fish, so not as important as the big lines for the ports.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I definitely think it is important for cruise lines to respect local wishes and if ports are not excited about visitors, cruise lines should go elsewhere. There are ports that that want visitors. It does sound like the Dream in Europe has been— I don’t want to say a fail, but problematic. It seems like cruisers preferred the smaller ships for Europe too.

 

[Geomom]

I definitely think it is important for cruise lines to respect local wishes and if ports are not excited about visitors, cruise lines should go elsewhere. There are ports that that want visitors. It does sound like the Dream in Europe has been— I don’t want to say a fail, but problematic. It seems like cruisers preferred the smaller ships for Europe too.

It was such a shock after Rotterdam where people lined the water for miles waving at us and trying to get a glimpse of the ship, even after sunset.

For Skjolden ...I don't know who thought it was a good idea to port in a town of 300...but the scenery really was incredible sailing in and out of the longest Norwegian Fjord... would have been nice enough to just traverse the Fjord vs overwhelming the town. But maybe DCL was counting on getting supplies there or the cost of skipping the port last minute would have cost extra?

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

It was such a shock after Rotterdam where people lined the water for miles waving at us and trying to get a glimpse of the ship, even after sunset.

For Skjolden ...I don't know who thought it was a good idea to port in a town of 300...but the scenery really was incredible sailing in and out of the longest Norwegian Fjord... would have been nice enough to just traverse the Fjord vs overwhelming the town. But maybe DCL was counting on getting supplies there or the cost of skipping the port last minute would have cost extra?

That’s a great image in Rotterdam!

 

[DisneyConvert]

I definitely think it is important for cruise lines to respect local wishes and if ports are not excited about visitors, cruise lines should go elsewhere. There are ports that that want visitors. It does sound like the Dream in Europe has been— I don’t want to say a fail, but problematic. It seems like cruisers preferred the smaller ships for Europe too.

We sure did. 3 European cruises via the Magic were among the best vacations of my life. Tough to imagine the Dream in Stavenger, or Madeira.

 

[mlayton14]

We sure did. 3 European cruises via the Magic were among the best vacations of my life. Tough to imagine the Dream in Stavenger, or Madeira.

I was also on the Dream for the fjords cruise last week , luckily we booked the llama farm privately in Skjolden and was a wonderful day. Nordfjordeid Briksdal excursion went off without a hitch. Stavangar has no trouble handling large ships , even though Disney docked in nearby industrial port with shuttle service. A larger Aida ship was docked downtown. I guess we really got lucky with our choices because I did hear a lot of people had excursions cancelled esp in Skjolden. It’s an easy port just to walk off for a hike to the nearby waterfall

 

[DisneyConvert]

Bermuda is a microcosm if one understands a bit of history.
Originally, small ships can (and some still do), dock downtown Hamilton. By the 1960' (I am guessing), St George's was the first alternative for larger (1,000+ passenger) ships.

For 15+ years, Bermuda has now had "The Dockyards" - originally one, now two berths. And the whole peninsula is basically a big mall. Shopping, dining, drinking, ersatz beaches, museum, mini-golf, sound familiar? Perhaps a Diamonds International!? St Maarten has a similar district by the Port as well.

2/3rds of passengers never leave the area as most "excursions" are within a short walk. Local workers get bussed in early in the morning to take care of the trade.

Excursions to other parts of the island-country are done in a managed, low-impact manner. Busses to a pre-reserved beach that locals know is for the cruise passengers. Ferries by schedule only to Hamilton, etc. Scooters and Taxi's are limited, expensive and due to the geography, not particularly convenient to most of the island.

One can visit elsewhere, but it takes work, and so is reduced a lot. Bermudians probably like it that way.

The Harbor still collects fees on every passenger, even if they have successfully managed to keep the vast majority from overrunning their villages and "rail trail."