chengkp75

Well, since most of the thread deals with the customer service aspects of the cancellations, there wasn't much about technical, but I did read it all, looking for nuggets, just didn't attach much importance to the "funnel" thing.

That would be more related to either an engine or boiler issue. An engine could have a problem with the fuel injection system, causing billows of black, sooty smoke, which if there was no wind, would land on deck. But, even with a possible engine failure, the ship should not require time out of service, nor a tug escort. Ship's diesel engines are routinely torn down completely for a 3-4 week overhaul roughly every 2-3 years, so the ship can normally sail its itinerary with one engine down for overhaul, especially as the QM2 could fire up a gas turbine to make up speed if needed. I don't think this is a "funnel" problem. Not even sure what the "funnel system" is. It is merely large pipes carrying the exhaust gas to the highest point to be let out to the atmosphere. Even a complete rotting through of the exhaust pipe, would not create large amounts of soot, it is the engine that would create this. Regardless of the weather, SOLAS requires, though some countries will grant exemptions, two separate systems of steering the ship when in "controlled waters" (under pilotage, in restricted waterways like entering port), where loss of steering could cause a grounding or collision. With only one pod capable of steering, it is required to have a tug for backup steering. In the US, the USCG requires a ship with only one steerable azipod working to have a tug escort from the berth all the way to the sea buoy.

Not sure what you wish me to comment on, there is very little information. If you are asking what I think the problem is ('cause I don't do customer service questions, not my engine room), if the mention of 22 knots on the way to Southampton, and a tug escort into harbor is correct, then I suspect they have had a failure of one of the two outboard azipods (not really azipods, Merlin propulsion pods). QM2 has four pods, so three could still give a top speed of 22 knots easily. Since the two inboard pods are "fixed" (they don't rotate to steer), loss of one steerable pod means the ship has no redundancy in steering (hence the tug escort in case the other steerable pod fails). This is a typical regulatory response to a ship that has azipods, and only has one steerable one. Redundancy in steering is required for entry into most ports, certainly NYC. Also, with steering only on one side of the ship, holding course at sea becomes more difficult for the one pod, and speed and fuel consumption would suffer. As to what has failed on the pod, given the wide variance of time frames mentioned above, I won't even start to speculate, but the Mermaid pods have had thrust bearing problems from their inception (huge lawsuit brought by Princess), and that requires a docking to repair.

What evidence do you have that maintenance has been deferred?

While you would not be breaking any laws bringing open food onboard, you would be violating the USPH/CDC VSP, which prohibits food onboard the ship that is not from a "verifiable" source, and even if you had the snacks in their original, but opened packaging, that food is no longer "verifiable". Again, it is the cruise line's "risk tolerance" in enforcing/not enforcing these regulations that will determine the outcome of your attempt. Whether or not you actually eat the snacks onboard, or save them for your return flight is irrelevant, as there is the possibility that you could eat them onboard.

Again, more likely the deck drain in those "sanitary lockers" is dry from not seeing any leakage in months. But, as you say, report a smell, and either the cabin stewards or the plumbers will pour a glass of water down the drain and fix the smell.

Probably applies to "Depends" as well.

Splash pools for kids in diapers are designed differently, and have different regulations than splash pools for kids who have been potty trained. As I said above, from P&O's own FAQ section, these special pools are only on three of their ships, as follows: Azura: children's pool (aft) and coral pool Britannia: Reef Adventure Zone and Lido pool Ventura: children's pool (aft) and Beachcomber pool Arcadia, Aurora, and Iona have no pools open to children in diapers, swim diapers, or pull-ups.

Elevators are actually part of the emergency power bus, and so they would be available in cases like this, where the emergency generator is providing limited power. The problem is, that the elevators shut down when the power goes out completely for a short period (it takes about 45 seconds for the emergency generator to start and come on line), and need to be reset individually. And, if someone with a mobility disability needed to get back to their cabin, the Captain could call out the Special Needs team, whose emergency duties are to care for those with disabilities during an emergency, and they would carry the person up or down the stairs, if the elevators were not reset.

This is not always true. That engine could be down for maintenance, or the speed required could require all engines, but it is generally true. However, when an engine fails, and drags the others down into a black out, it will take a few minutes for the idle engine to start and come online, and then the breakers for the various circuits need to be reclosed, and they will only restore power as available, until other engines can be put back on line. That gives a totally different feel than your first posts, and I agree that the ship had a total black out. I guess the Captain was trying to speak "passenger" by calling it "back-up" power. Ventilation would have been shut down as well.

If everything was operating other than the elevators, then the ship was not on "emergency power" (not sure of what "back-up power" is). Emergency power, by law, only powers those things necessary to evacuate the ship (limited lighting, steering, lifeboat davits, bridge electronics, bilge pumps).

No, its not "standard". Never heard of "rebooting" an electrical distribution system. However, the power supply for each fire zone (the space between the passageway fire doors are fed from two separate sources, with one feed active and one as backup. These are rotated in use, both are equal, so they may simply have been switching feeders for the various power panels.

According to P&O's FAQ, children who are not potty trained are only allowed in certain pools, none of which are on the Iona. https://www.pocruises.com/frequently-asked-questions Go to the "life onboard" tab and look for "are there swimming pools" question.

Milorganite dries out the microbes that digest the waste into fertilizer. Ships' advanced waste water treatment plants, because they do not have the same time factor as municipal systems (no big holding ponds) to process the waste, retain the microbes in the system, for use over and over. So, the waste sludge generated by the ship's system has virtually no organic value, as I said, it is predominately undigested wood (paper) fibers. The microbes do not have sufficient time to digest the tough wood fibers. Any microbes that are retained in the effluent water, are killed using UV sterilizers before the water is pumped to sea.

Surge protectors protect electronics on land from two main sources of voltage spikes: lightning and failed transformers on the poles. Neither of which happen on a ship. The ship's grounding system allows lightning to strike the ship and pass harmlessly through the hull to the ocean, without interacting with the ship's electrical system in any way. I've been on ships struck by lightning several times, and none of the electronics have been damaged, without any surge protection at all. None of the ship's electronics are surge protected. The second type is a failed transformer, which reduces the 12,000 volts running through the main power line to the 220 volts used by your house. When one of these transformers fails, you can get a 12,000 volt spike to your electronics, which a surge protector prevents. On a ship, the 10,000 volts generated, is stepped down to 220/110 volts for the cabins in three steps: 10,000 to 480 volts, then 480 to 220 volts, and finally 220 to 110 volts. Most surge protectors don't "activate" until the voltage spikes above 600 volts, so at least two of the transformers would have to fail at the same time to provide a high enough voltage spike to damage electronics. Now, speaking of the ship's grounding system, this is different than land based systems, and the semi-conductors in the surge protector are not designed to see the types of voltages that they may see on a ship. This can cause a perfectly working surge protector, due to an electrical issue somewhere else on the ship, to fail and catch fire. Surge protectors are not needed on ships, and the simple consumer ones used on land are dangerous.

If a device has surge protection, it should have, on the fine print engraved on the device, a "VPN" or voltage protection number, which is the voltage at which the surge protector activates, typically about 600v for consumer devices. Surge protection does not protect your devices from everything, just high voltages. So, it won't protect against "over current", you need separate protection for that (though "over current", "short-circuit", and "overload" all refer to the same protection, high current).

Never said, nor do I believe in this statement. However, the prime transmission vector for noro on cruise ships, regardless of what percentage of people get noro on a cruise ship, is the buffet line. Ask the CDC, they have a question answering service.

However, the link you provided states the unit is surge protected, and should not be used on a ship, whether it is ever confiscated or not.

Love to know the qualifications of the writer of this one article you seem to take as gospel. How do you pump a solid? And, why would their treating sewage cause smells at various locations and various times? And, why not at other times and places? The sewage treatment plant operates continuously. As I've stated, sewage treatment plants on ships that I have worked with, do not cause odors in the engine room, let alone other places around the ship. However, as I have stated, a dry drain trap will cause odors to back up from the tanks, just like when you open a summer home and the sink traps are all dry. They do more than "try" to process such waste, they do better than most municipal waste plants. And, again, what would be the justification for paying for disposal of waste ashore, when they can dispose of it themselves for free, completely legally. But, I'll let you continue with your idea of how a ship handles sewage, it's not what folks are interested in for this thread, nor what causes the odors they are asking about.

What crew was this? Your cabin steward? I've found that most of the hotel staff I've worked with, have absolutely no idea what goes on in the technical departments. I would bet that those barges are receiving oily waste and sludge, which due to retention in tanks as an oil/water mixture can get pretty rank when pumped. Discharging oily waste and sludge (bilge water and fuel processing waste) is pretty common, while discharging sewage sludge ashore (at a cost), when it can be discharged at sea for free, is almost unheard of, unless the treatment plant has failed, and then the ship doesn't have enough tankage to hold all the waste water for an entire cruise.

And that is supposed to prove that sewage is retained and pumped to barges in port? What part of that quote says that? It says exactly what I said, all sewage is treated onboard, and then goes overboard.

Yes, Lloyds Register shows Caribbean Princess' last dry dock as March/April 2022.

Sure sounds like you're saying they can't pump waste at sea to me. The word "having" in regards to retaining waste water implies that they cannot pump it at sea, for another example of your statements.

I don't believe that photo is from a scrapyard, as the Valdez stopped sailing under that name in the 1990's. Besides that looks like a dry dock (likely the NASSCO San Diego shipyard, where the repairs from the grounding were completed). The Valdez, under her last name of "Oriental Nicety", was grounded in Alang, India, in August 2012.

Cruise ships are far more proactive with preventative maintenance than most other ships I've been on. While most ships will test and maintain the circuit breakers for the diesel generators every dry dock, cruise ships go further down the hierarchy and test major feeder breakers (which is what I believe failed here) in places like the fire zone panels every dry dock, using the manufacturer's own technicians to test and replace/repair them as required. Things like circuit breakers are not "wear items" like the car parts you mention, when was the last time you replaced the circuit breakers in your house as part of preventative maintenance. Even if you have one breaker that has failed (and when was the last time that happened?), would you replace all the breakers just because one failed? Things like the number of "cycles" (how many times the breaker has been switched on or off, or how many times it has tripped) is more critical to determining failure criteria, rather than mere age. All ships follow the manufacturer's recommended maintenance and service instructions for all equipment, as monitored by the class societies. If it was not a breaker failure, the next most common failure like this is a loosened bolt connection between the breaker and the "bus bars" that carry the electricity within a switchboard or feeder panel. These connections are checked annually using infrared cameras to detect a "hot connection" where a loosened connection causes a high resistance path for current, creating heat. But, due to vibration and flexing of the ship, these things can start to loosen at any time, but are normally caught before a problem by the thermal imaging inspections.