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Royal Caribbean Announces Allure of the Seas Will Undergo Repairs in February 2014


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I would try the spanking new NCL Getaway out if Miami. After doing Oasis & Allure we tried the Breakaway and loved it! By no means does it compare to the wow! factor of the big girls, but we had a blast and never wished that the ship was bigger. JMO:o

 

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Edited by hondarr9
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Hi guys, unlucky enough to have booked our honeymoon cruise on the feb 23rd sailing :(

 

no word from RC by email or otherwise.

 

Any suggestions as to what we need to / should do about this?

 

Already have a a fair amount of it paid of, and have flights booked and paid for into FL around the cruise times!

 

disappointed! (maybe its a sign! :D )

 

Don't wait -- now is the time to call your agent or Royal and at least put another cruise or cruises on hold for a day or two so you can have choices. Word is just getting out about this and the longer you wait to at least hold something the harder it will be. With the number of people that were displaced the available cabins on other lines are going to be sucked up quickly.

 

I agree with Bobbye - don't wait for them to call you. Call Crown & Anchor and, if the agent doesn't know what you're talking about, ask to speak with somebody at the redeployment desk. They will have a list of cruises that qualify as replacement cruises and will tell you what compensation they are willing to offer.

 

They will be busy - some members of our Rhapsody 2015 cruise Roll Call have receive cancellation notices. RCI offered three alternatives or OBC to book any other cruise, or so I'm told. I haven't seen anything yet.

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I'm booked on a March 2014 eastern itinerary. Judging from this posting, I'm I correct in thinking that only the February 23 cruise is cancelled?

 

 

That's the plan, but you sometimes plans don't work out ;). But with all the money involved, I'll bet they are thinking this through thoroughly.

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So I'm assuming the article does have one incorrect piece of info, and that is the port time for St. Thomas. By all accounts I have read, Allure has been arriving around 1 hour later to St. Thomas, but still leaving at the originally scheduled time. That is, arriving around 11am rather than the original 10 am (which the article has correct), but the departure time from St. Thomas is still, by all accounts, at 7pm ship time. No idea where this 5pm stuff is coming from. And I'm a little surprised that (I think) I'm the first to point this out. :cool:

Edited by joeski27
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@castlebride we didn't get an email either but have been on the phone with them.We were offered the same rate on the Allure for the 2,9, or 16th or switch to the oasis for 1,8, 22 at the same rate. Plus 200 obc and up to $150 pp for flight change. I wouldn't wait if I were you.

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Wonder if any other parts of the ship will be remolded or updated in any way???? :confused:

 

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No. They are only going to repair the Azipod/propulsion issue. Allure will still go to Europe in 2015 for her extended dry dock maintenace period.

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The vultures are circling.

 

My thoughts precisely,,,,although my immediate ones were more '' unquotable'' after I received the same missive as an agent.

While it's obvious all travel professionals are shopping around to find suitable replacement options for their clients in such circumstances, including sailings on competitors lines, it's the first time I've witnessed a competing line go this direct ,in the open.

I suggest this might be against ''the unwritten code '' among all lines part of CLIA , specially the larger ones ,all operating in the same market areas,similar fleet and, frankly, and interest common enough to warrant the above-mentionned '' unwritten code ''.

 

The word ''piracy'' came to mind for a fleeting moment.

 

again; my opinion only

Cheers

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I'm sure they have a plan to care for it, but I am also curious how. It does amaze me sometimes the engineering marvels these ship builders and yards can achieve. Maybe they should do a documentary of it :D

 

Oh yes, I have no doubt they've been sorting out plans and ideas for quite some time- I just find it all very fascinating. I'd love to visit Grand Bahama Shipyard!

 

 

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My thoughts precisely,,,,although my immediate ones were more '' unquotable'' after I received the same missive as an agent.

While it's obvious all travel professionals are shopping around to find suitable replacement options for their clients in such circumstances, including sailings on competitors lines, it's the first time I've witnessed a competing line go this direct ,in the open.

I suggest this might be against ''the unwritten code '' among all lines part of CLIA , specially the larger ones ,all operating in the same market areas,similar fleet and, frankly, and interest common enough to warrant the above-mentionned '' unwritten code ''.

 

The word ''piracy'' came to mind for a fleeting moment.

 

again; my opinion only

Cheers

 

Exactly my thoughts! I used to work in the tour-operator business and this is a big no-no! That would be reason enough never to book a NCL cruise!

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To the honeymooners (or anyone else from teh cancelled sailing):

 

I agree with those who say to be proactive and call RCI--do not wait for them to call you. We were on a DCL sailing that got chartered out and cancelled a few years ago. I saw online that those of us from out DIS thread who called ASAP had substantially more options and were able to walk away with much better solutions than those who waited until the line contacted them (which took up to 2 weeks even with a much smaller ship).

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I think you have four options at this point:

 

1. Take the refund and do something else. Cancel the trip, sail with another line or take a land vacation. I think this is the least desirable option. There are not likely going to be as good of prices for the quality on other lines at this point and you lose any other compensation from RCI, and/or miss out on a vacation.

 

2. Switch to the Oasis sailing that leaves the day before. Is the wedding on Friday so that you COULD do this is you pay to change flights? If so, find out the change fee and call RCI ASAP. Ask them to cover the change fee 100% plus put you on Oasis in an equal or better cabin at thr price you have paid and ask for a good will OBC (the $200 someone else mentions above seems fair to me).

 

3. Switch to the another sailing on the same dates (someone mentioned Independence, I believe). In that case, I would ask for the OBC, and to be upgraded to a higher category cabin to make up for sailing on a less desirable ship.

 

4. If you can work out taking time off at a later date, delay the honeymoon by a week or so and go later on Allure. Again, ask for 100% of flight change fees, the OBC and an equal or better room at the same price.

 

 

The longer you wait to call, the fewer rooms will be left on whichever choice you prefer, so call now! Be nice, be patient and don't hang up until you have a full plan in place.

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No. They are only going to repair the Azipod/propulsion issue. Allure will still go to Europe in 2015 for her extended dry dock maintenace period.

 

I haven't seen any mention one way or the other about this. How do you KNOW they won't adjust the drydock schedule? Seems to me if they are taking her out of service for an entire week, they might consider doing some other work as well, and then bump the European drydock back a few years. I'm just speculating though, as to the best of my knowledge, RCI hasn't said anything. Do you have some source that makes you certain of this, or are you just making the assumption based on what you've previously heard?

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I'm also intrigued how they're going to undertake the repairs given Grand Bahama didn't have the ability to dry dock the class (unless they've acquired another dock somehow) - I'm assuming they'll need to dismantle the azipod to sort out the bearings issue

 

 

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Some if the newer azipod models have bearings that can be replaced from inside the pod while it's normally harbored. Allure must have those.

 

 

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I haven't seen any mention one way or the other about this. How do you KNOW they won't adjust the drydock schedule? Seems to me if they are taking her out of service for an entire week, they might consider doing some other work as well, and then bump the European drydock back a few years. I'm just speculating though, as to the best of my knowledge, RCI hasn't said anything. Do you have some source that makes you certain of this, or are you just making the assumption based on what you've previously heard?

 

Nope just using common sense. The ship is only going to be out for one week. Not much time there for much other major work. The 5 year maintenance dry dock will be a multiple week project. That project had been scheduled far in advance for procurement of needed equipment.

 

 

 

 

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I feel if they were going to give out an incentive they would of said it with this press release, they did make it a point to say passengers will get 100% refund only.

 

The cruise is a bit over three months out so I doubt any incentives will be given.

 

Well, the 100% refund goes without saying as the cruise is not even in the final payment period yet. You might be right about other incentives though. We will see.

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I agree with Bobbye - don't wait for them to call you. Call Crown & Anchor and, if the agent doesn't know what you're talking about, ask to speak with somebody at the redeployment desk. They will have a list of cruises that qualify as replacement cruises and will tell you what compensation they are willing to offer.

 

They will be busy - some members of our Rhapsody 2015 cruise Roll Call have receive cancellation notices. RCI offered three alternatives or OBC to book any other cruise, or so I'm told. I haven't seen anything yet.

 

You may not have any option but to wait. We are booked for Feb 23 sailing. I just spoke to RCI after waiting on hold for 15 mins. The rep said there is an "inventory hold" on the ship for future reservations, and as far as he can tell "the ship is still scheduled to sail on February 23rd". Still sounds suspicious. He advised that we wait, and if there is a change, RCI will be in touch.

 

Further info: We are booked on USAir for the flight down. They will not waive the fee for a change because of a cancelled cruise. Booked on Delta for the flight back, and they will. I'll fly Delta from now on because of that and the attitude I got from both.

 

Finally, if you have the trip insurance, you cannot claim any loss on the trip cancellation policy until there is one. If you are driving, no big deal, but as we are flying, we have no option but to wait unless we want to take the risk and flush the air fare if there is no change in the departure.

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You may not have any option but to wait. We are booked for Feb 23 sailing. I just spoke to RCI after waiting on hold for 15 mins. The rep said there is an "inventory hold" on the ship for future reservations, and as far as he can tell "the ship is still scheduled to sail on February 23rd". Still sounds suspicious. He advised that we wait, and if there is a change, RCI will be in touch.

 

I guess they don't send their press releases to their own staff, then. Here it is. This PDF version has a final paragraph that's not on the web version and so wasn't quoted here earlier - it tells passengers to contact RCCL or their travel agent, although that's probably a generic statement.

 

http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/download-press-release/1050/

Edited by Cotswold Eagle
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Pappy64 change asap before others take up the cabins/sailings that you want. There may also be a price change now to a lower rate that you may able to get. It is official that your sailing won't happen because the Allure will be getting fixed. That rep didn't know the right info or is lazy to make the changes, I would change now.

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I'm also intrigued how they're going to undertake the repairs given Grand Bahama didn't have the ability to dry dock the class (unless they've acquired another dock somehow) - I'm assuming they'll need to dismantle the azipod to sort out the bearings issue

 

There isn't a drydock long enough there for Allure. The longest drydock there is 310m long which is far too short for Allure. However, Voyager class and Freedom class have both done drydock there and they both exceed that length. But... they are floating dry docks so maybe they can handle the length as long as the beam fits, which it does. :confused:

 

http://grandbahamashipyard.com/facilities/drydocks/

Some if the newer azipod models have bearings that can be replaced from inside the pod while it's normally harbored. Allure must have those.

 

If the azipod could be serviced from inside of the pod I'm not sure that they would go to Freeport to do it. :confused:

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There isn't a drydock long enough there for Allure. The longest drydock there is 310m long which is far too short for Allure. However, Voyager class and Freedom class have both done drydock there and they both exceed that length. But... they are floating dry docks so maybe they can handle the length as long as the beam fits, which it does. :confused:

 

http://grandbahamashipyard.com/facilities/drydocks/

 

 

If the azipod could be serviced from inside of the pod I'm not sure that they would go to Freeport to do it. :confused:

It has to go somewhere, it certainly can't sit for a week at its normal pier. RCI owns a big part of the Grand Bahama shipyard, has equipment, etc. available and it is only 100 miles or so from Port Everglades. What better place?

 

 

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I'm also intrigued how they're going to undertake the repairs given Grand Bahama didn't have the ability to dry dock the class (unless they've acquired another dock somehow) - I'm assuming they'll need to dismantle the azipod to sort out the bearings issue

 

 

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The XO Azipods can have their bearings and seals replaced from inside the pod. While they are designed to be replaced every 5 years during regular drydocking, they can be replaced in an emergency while afloat. It's one of their major selling points.

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