chengkp75

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they are creating $1.5 billion in new debt, to retire $1.2 billion in old debt. While this will represent a considerable reduction in interest payments, I don't see how the "high cruise fares" enters into this. Yes, they said that they will use "cash on hand" (i.e. money from cruise fares) to retire the old debt, they will be repaying this operating cash with the new debt.

As far as I know, all the cruise lines will allow a dispersal of cremains at sea.

If the OP was hoping that he could be buried at sea during the cruise when he passed, the answer would be no. According to Bahamian law, where many cruise ships are registered, the death must be reported to a coroner, who may initiate an inquest to determine cause of death, or circumstances surrounding the death, and then issue a certificate of death, so this could take time.

And, traditionally, the "last stitch" was sown through the septum of the deceased's nose so the possible pain of this stitch would determine whether the person was truly deceased or not.

This. The liability of relatives later suing for not being able to "visit the remains" of their loved one is why no one does this anymore.

There are two types of dry docks: floating and graving. Floating dry docks are really "ships" in their own right, and will sink down until the keel blocks (that will support the ship that enters the dock) are deeper than the keel of the incoming ship, the ship will move into the dock, and then the ballast in the dock's tanks are pumped out to raise the dock until it actually lifts the ship out of the water. A graving dock is a hole dug in the ground, and when flooded, the "door" is taken away, the ship is moved into position over the keel blocks, the door is put back into place, and the dock pumped out so the ship sinks down onto the blocks. Cruise ship hotel refurbishment of the "front of house", or hotel side, is a corollary to the statutory underwater inspections and maintenance, and really doesn't require a "dry docking", just a visit to a shipyard with sufficient capabilities, and could be completed just alongside a dock. SOLAS is the international convention that 95% of seafaring nations have adopted, that sets the requirements for ship construction, equipment, and operation, like the requirement to inspect the underwater parts of the ship "twice in 5 years". Lloyd's Registry is one of a number of classification societies that certifies that the ship actually meets the SOLAS requirements on behalf of the flag state, so the requirements are identical, though the class society rules go far beyond SOLAS to include the other international conventions like MARPOL (pollution), SCTW (training and certification), MLC (labor laws), and ISM (safety management). Without a valid "certificate of class" from the classification society, the ship is not allowed to sail. As I said, the legal requirement is to dry dock the ship "twice in 5 years". For ships less than 15 years old, the mid-period dry docking (at 2.5 years) can be replaced by an underwater survey by divers with cameras, so newer ships only dock every 5 years, but older ships have to do it every 2.5 years.

It's not Italy, but the EU that has cabotage laws similar to the PVSA in the US. However, since the members of the EU are sovereign nations and not states like the US, it gets a bit more complicated, and "downlining" could be disallowed in certain circumstances, but generally it is okay. The OP's situation should not be a problem.

According to Lloyd's Register, the next statutory dry docking is in 2025, since she had one in 2020. They will do an underwater survey this year, while in service to meet the hull inspection requirement, so I wouldn't expect a dry docking until 2025.

Nor do any of them allow pets to be transported.

This is called "interporting", and is not "segments of longer cruises", but overlapping cruises that go to the same ports, but start and end at different times. As to the OP's questions, entertainment is just scheduled on a set rotation, based on the longest cruise (like your 11 day). Those on the shorter cruises see what is available on the days they are onboard, and miss the other entertainment. Same thing with menus, set rotation based on the longest cruise, and the others get what is available on the days they are onboard. Most interporting consists of two 7 day cruises, one that say starts on Sunday, and one that starts on Tuesday. One cruise is Sunday to Sunday, the other Tuesday to Tuesday, so in that case both cruises see all the entertainment, and get all the menus, just in different order. As stated, this is common in Europe, where the EU's cabotage laws allow this. There will be muster "orientation" (I won't honor it by calling it a "drill" anymore) for each group that embarks on a different day, so that may impact your service onboard during that time as crew are taken away for that and as noted for luggage, and turning cabins.

Call Cunard again, and ask to speak to the "Compliance Department", who deal with compliance with local laws and regulations (they sort out the PVSA issues), to get an answer to why this would not be allowed. Escalate to supervisors. I don't know of any legal reason to deny this, especially as it is sold as a one way cruise as well.

If the ship is going to have successive sea days, where the ship is outside of 12 miles from shore, they will generally go to "flow through" for a salt water pool. Here they continually pump sea water into the pool, and the overflow goes out the perimeter gutter and back to sea. Only a rudimentary filter on the sea water. If the ship is within 12 miles of shore, it must be on "recirculation" mode, just like a home pool (from the pool, through the filter, back to the pool). There is a make-up water tank that has sea water in it, but again, only a rudimentary pool filter for the incoming sea water. The requirements for changing pool water is every 30 days, but most lines do it once a week. They will drain it, scrub it down, and refill. Jellyfish larvae would not survive the chlorination. Yes, even salt water pools, when in recirculation mode, must be chlorinated.

Are you saying that not knowing why plugs are polarized should prohibit people from brining a hair dryer, while those who do know why are okay to bring theirs? FlyerTalker was noting the lack of polarization on the outlet in the bathroom because, in the US, only low wattage devices are allowed to have non-polarized plugs. Again, as for why the bathroom plug is low wattage (and I still don't understand your logic, since if someone's dryer would be dangerous onboard, then it would be just as dangerous plugged into the regular outlet in the cabin, but maybe I'm missing something), this is a cheap and quick way to protect people from electrical shock in a wet environment (over the sink, where electricity and water are in close proximity), without using a GFCI, as is required in your home.

From NCL's Guest Conduct Policy: "Curling irons and hair dryers are allowed and may require a converter." From RCI's FAQ: "(Items that generate heat or produce an open flame. This includes heating pads, clothing irons, hotplates, candles, incense, and any other item that may create a fire hazard. NOTE: The only exception to this policy is curling irons and hair straighteners." From HAL's prohibited item list: " Personal grooming devices such as hair dryers, flat irons, curling irons, shavers, and other electrical devices, such as fans (no larger than 12" in diameter), power strips, multi plug box outlets/adaptors, and extension cords (without surge protectors) are allowed when used with proper caution. However, if such devices are determined to pose a hazard, they will be removed and returned on debarkation morning" Shall I go on?

Well, not quite. Land based "neutral" wires carry current as well as the hot wire. It is just that it carries current at ground potential (voltage). When a surge protector "goes off", meaning it is dumping high voltage, it does not do so to "neutral", but to "ground", so whether the "neutral" wire is at ground voltage (land based), or at 60 volts (ship based), has no bearing. The problems with surge protectors on ships is more complicated than that, but essentially due to the fact that neither wire is connected to ground (like the neutral wire is on land), and there are multiple voltage levels present on the ship. If a surge protector being used on a ship were to experience a high voltage, it would work normally to dump the voltage, just like it would on land. Except that the sources of high voltage that cause problems on land, are not present on ships, and therefore the surge protection is not needed. A perfectly working surge protector, on a ship, even without a voltage spike to trigger it, can fail due to a ground fault in another location, far away from the cabin with the surge protector.

This would be required only if the original maintenance in dry dock was to blame. Does your mechanic ask two other guys to check his work on your car? And, anyway, my response was to your post suggesting that they skip the inspection altogether after this repair, since they inspected it during dry dock.

So, you think that during an "extended" dry dock period, they didn't take the time to do it right, but during a rushed emergency repair they will, and that "the time to do it right" is only a couple of days, not the weeks they had. Guess they sat around playing cards during dry dock.

That is not why they "don't want you to bring your own", because you could just as easily plug the ship supplied hair dryer into this outlet and blow the fuse. Hair care appliances have always been the exceptions to the ban on "heat producing" items, and nearly every line allows them, certainly curling irons and straighteners, even if they provide a dryer.

The outlet in the bathroom is limited to 0.02-0.04 watts. It is designed solely for things like razors and electric toothbrushes. Your curling iron draws in the neighborhood of 200 watts, or about 5000 times what the fuse inside the outlet is rated for.

Of course work was done (inspection, maintenance) on the azipods. That is why the ship is in dry dock, not the hotel repairs. Even a "not extended" dry dock requires this. And, again, just like when your car goes in for manufacturer's recommended maintenance, they don't replace the entire engine every time, so there is no certainty that anything done or not done in dry dock led to this failure.

And, again, I say that "azipod" is not one part. No one out here will know what failed this time, and whether anything was done to this item or system in dry dock. As the azimuthing system is internal to the ship, it would not normally fall within a dry dock plan, and would be on the ship's planned maintenance schedule, being maintained continually, according to the manufacturer's maintenance schedule. What is typically done for azipods during a dry docking is to replace the sub-assembly that includes the propeller, shaft, seals, bearings, that bolts to the motor in the pod. These come as rebuilt units from the manufacturer. Maritime industry has very little in the way of warranties, but typically something like this, if it was the unit that was renewed that failed, there would be a one year warranty on it.

Obviously, they have the main failure identified, but there could always be another problem hidden because the identified problem does not allow the system to use the next failed component. Not saying that will happen, but it could.

Doesn't work that way. Any repair needs to be tested. And, who knows if the failure happened to parts that were installed in the dry dock. Everyone seems to think that "propulsion" or "azipod" is a single entity or part that can be plugged in. Just like your car, it has thousands of parts, any one of which can fail at any time.

Quite a bit of difference between welding a temporary steel plate over a hole in the hull, and getting particular parts to repair a complex system. Not all parts are stocked by the manufacturer, if they are not considered to be "wear parts" or "high usage", and are manufactured to order. Especially with today's supply chain issues, many things take quite a while to get. And, yes, after repairs are completed, there will need to be a "dock trial" of running the pod and steering it for a couple of hours before the ship is cleared. Yes, they will do whatever they can to expedite this process, but a lot of it is out of their hands.

There are different design, structural, and safety requirements between a lifeboat and a "small passenger vessel", which is what a tender is. So, if the lifeboat is not designed to meet both the lifeboat and "small passenger vessel" requirements of SOLAS, it cannot be used for tendering. Ship's boats that are classified as "lifeboat/tender" are completely different looking than the "lifeboats".