Allure and Harmony doing nautical high five?

[AlmondFarmer]

At the end of October 2023, Harmony departs port Canaveral and heads for Galveston for the first time. Allure departs Galveston and heads to port Canaveral to begin short cruises. Neither of these repositioning sailings were for sale so I’m assuming they will be without passengers to freshen up ships. (When Allure first went to Galveston last fall she got El Loco Fresh en route)

I’m wondering what occurs when ships pass each other. This should be close as both ships are likely to take most direct route. Is there a maritime tradition equivalent to a high 5 on land? 

[smokeybandit]

38 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

 

I’m wondering what occurs when ships pass each other. This should be close as both ships are likely to take most direct route. Is there a maritime tradition equivalent to a high 5 on land? 

[twangster]

8 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Neither of these repositioning sailings were for sale so I’m assuming they will be without passengers to freshen up ships. (When Allure first went to Galveston last fall she got El Loco Fresh en route)

They can't have passengers or else it would violate the PVSA (foreign flagged passenger vessels can't transport passengers between two different US ports) unless they stopped in South America or the ABC islands enroute.  

Same as when Oasis class move between Florida and Bayonne for the summer - no pax on board.  

As far as maritime tradition...  get there as fast as you can to start earning revenue again.   

They lose millions per day when void of guests so it's all about getting there ASAP.  Deviating to high five another ship could create the necessity to do some explaining.  

Royal ships maintain a minimum distance from other ships at cruising speed including company ships.  It would be unusual for a bridge crew to purposely break the company minimums policy at cruising speed even to wave to or signal another company ship.  I've heard captains of passing ships have a conversation on VHF radio but that isn't tradition.

Their only mission is to make the pilot station for the next port on time.  Any deviation other than maintaining safe distances from weather and other ships would be unusual.  

[OCSC Mike]

31 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

At the end of October 2023, Harmony departs port Canaveral

Harmony is not at PC and will be in the middle of a 7N cruise from Miami during Allure's empty relocation from Galveston to PC.

[AlmondFarmer]

21 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Harmony is not at PC and will be in the middle of a 7N cruise from Miami during Allure's empty relocation from Galveston to PC.

I mixed my dates up.

You are correct. Allure leaves Texas for Florida before Harmony leaves Florida (Miami not Canaveral) for Texas.
 

So much for the horn honk. 

Hopefully both ships get freshened up on their non passenger sailings. 

[OCSC Mike]

42 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Hopefully both ships get freshened up on their non passenger sailings. 

I'm on the first Allure sailing from PC so I hope so too.

That's the only reason I knew you mixed something up. I wasn't trying to be rude and point out a simple mistake for the heck of it.

My wife and I were actually wondering since it's coming from Galveston with no passengers and will be sitting there waiting for us at PC with no one disembarking how the logistics worked as far as cleaning the cabins and when they would be ready. It doesn't actually matter b/c this is the one time we aren't able to board early like we normally do but it crossed our minds. I'm sure they do a bunch of maintenance and freshening up in between revenue sailings but the cabins could be cleaned at any time.

[AlmondFarmer]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

That's the only reason I knew you mixed something up. I wasn't trying to be rude and point out a simple mistake for the heck of it.

I allowed my imagination of Captains having a drag race or some other shenanigans while passing without passengers, to overtake my analysis of dates. 
 

All good and I’m glad to now be less full of mistakes. 

[DDaley]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

My wife and I were actually wondering since it's coming from Galveston with no passengers and will be sitting there waiting for us at PC with no one disembarking how the logistics worked as far as cleaning the cabins and when they would be ready

I sailed Oasis from Miami on it’s first sailing after leaving Bayonne in 2021 and we were allowed in the cabins as soon as we boarded at 11am! 

[OCSC Mike]

21 minutes ago, DDaley said:

I sailed Oasis from Miami on it’s first sailing after leaving Bayonne in 2021 and we were allowed in the cabins as soon as we boarded at 11am! 

That makes sense and is also ironic because, as I mentioned earlier, we can't actually board first thing like we normally do b/c we squeezed this cruise in last minute and have to leave for the port later than usual. Oh well.

[ScottD]

These "deadhead" cruises between ports- I always assumed, yes some work gets done, but it's also a little break for the crew. Our bartender in Playmakers said he couldn't wait until the re-position to Miami because it's quiet for a few days then the cruises are much different than from NJ.. said the NJ ones seems to be not as hectic, less crowded and not as busy overall because the start and end tend to be cooler weather. Whereas the Miami cruises are go go go from embark to disembark, which he claims he loves. 

[OCSC Mike]

6 minutes ago, ScottD said:

These "deadhead" cruises between ports- I always assumed, yes some work gets done, but it's also a little break for the crew. Our bartender in Playmakers said he couldn't wait until the re-position to Miami because it's quiet for a few days then the cruises are much different than from NJ.. said the NJ ones seems to be not as hectic, less crowded and not as busy overall because the start and end tend to be cooler weather. Whereas the Miami cruises are go go go from embark to disembark, which he claims he loves. 

I'm sure it depends on what the crew member actually does. I always find it interesting to hear about stuff like that from their perspective.

A bartender preferring to be busy makes sense. I'm sure it likely both increases tips and makes the time go by faster. On those 2 rare occasions I had a GS, the bartenders on the suite sun deck looked bored to death because it was so quiet and empty up there.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

These "deadhead" cruises between ports- I always assumed, yes some work gets done, but it's also a little break for the crew. Our bartender in Playmakers said he couldn't wait until the re-position to Miami because it's quiet for a few days then the cruises are much different than from NJ.. said the NJ ones seems to be not as hectic, less crowded and not as busy overall because the start and end tend to be cooler weather. Whereas the Miami cruises are go go go from embark to disembark, which he claims he loves. 

Probably depends on the position and where a particular crew member is in their contract.  

If someone is near the end of their contract they may like a break.  If someone has just started their latest contract they probably don't need a break in work and/or pay.  

A significant portion of total compensation for some positions comes from daily service charges and gratuity.  No guests, no daily service charges, no gratuity for servers, etc.  

For a person on the bridge or deck department it's just another day doing the same work as the day before.  No change because guests are not on board.  

Some may enjoy it, some may hate it, some may not be impacted.