When you’re at sea, anytime an annoumcent comes over t he general system, bad news is certain to follow.
After reading yesterday’s daily program I was excited to hear the captain talk about our upcoming stops in Greenland. 15 minutes before walking to the theater a ship-wide announcement is made, inviting everyone to come to the theater and hear the captain talk. Captains talk all the time during cruises, never have I heard an announcement about it.
Upon arriving in the theater it’s clear why the message was made ship-wide.
Two weeks before the sailing MSC emailed everyone, informing them of a “new permitting problem” resulting in needing to cancel one of biggest draws to this sailing. From the looks of the slide, things are going to get worse.
For the next half hour the captain describes how this year ice is thicker than it has been in some decade and our trip can’t continue per the modified schedule emailed earlier. We also learn the permit excuse in the email was a lie. They didn’t want to write that ice was too thick in the original port, that it was a known realistic possibility when they put the trip for sale a year ago.
Satellite photos are shown to everyone, describing how thick and how the ice is moving, blocking out the enjoyment of Prince Christian Sound. This spot was to rival the Inside Passage of Alaska.
All the little white dots are ice. Our ship can’t go into water which has more than 10% ice.
In the end, captain has replaced our second port with a two-day stop in a location which has as it’s ONLY excursion, a walking trip to the church. He closes the speech out with a disclaimer additional modifications might be necessary and he’ll let us know if things change again.
Lesson learned – this region only loses its ice in August. Booking a trip here before then it a crap shoot you’ll visit your port. Below is the actual presentation. Wish I could have captured all the Germans booing and the loud moans at hearing the alteration. No one blames the crew aboard but everyone is frustrated corporate put on sale an itinerary they knew had a high rate of not being successful.