chengkp75

Likely not. These are the same (though smaller) as the ones on RCI's Oasis class, and RCI has learned that these will likely not last the 5 years between dry docks that newer ships schedule. They have taken to making short dry docks to just maintain azipods in between the statutory dry dockings. Carnival has to learn its own lessons.

That would be because the black water from the toilet goes out the wall into the sanitary locker, via the flush mechanism, not down under the floor.

Yes

It allows the drain pipes to run under the bathroom floor. If that space wasn't there, you would have to penetrate the structural steel deck with a steel drain pipe (in order to maintain watertight and fire rated boundaries), rather than the thin metal piping now used (and you would have to penetrate the deck for the shower, the sink, the toilet, and the floor drain for every bathroom. With the raised floor, all the drains are piped together under the floor, and lead to one drain outlet). This also allows all of the plumbing to be installed in the "wet module" (bathroom) at the assembly plant when the cabin is prefabricated. The cabin module is slid into the ship, and they make one connection each for hot and cold water, drainage, electricity, and air supply and exhaust.

Not just fish and seafood, but all proteins brought on the ship are frozen. For seafood, even fish that is supposed to be "fresh" for raw consumption like sushi, has to be flash frozen to kill parasites and then defrosted. Fish parasites are roundworms, flatworms, and tape worms. None of which are "deadly", but can cause serious illness. The only exceptions are live, in-shell clams, mussels, and oysters, but these have a limited shelf life, so are not common.

No, what the legal issue was that the cruise lines were charging it to passengers who had fully paid for the cruise, before the surcharge was initiated. So, there can be no retroactive charge, but the fuel surcharge is legal, just as it is in the airline, rail, and trucking industries.

Wow, did you catch the wrong places. I saw dinners of two 1-1/8 lb lobsters for about that price. Most rolls were $25, or so. But, then again, I can make two rolls for about $15 from one bug. 😉

Different business model.

I never got the idea of "sunshining" the old ships. You can put lipstick on a pig, but an old pig just gets more and more expensive to keep. The structural and mechanical costs to operate a ship start to go parabolic with regards to time, starting at the 15 year stage (which is when they no longer allow the underwater inspections in lieu of drydocking every 2.5 years). At that age, there is far greater cost in dry docks, just for inspections (they start to do thousands of ultrasonic thickness tests to see whether the steel has corroded beyond acceptable limits), and then this leads to more and more structural steel renewal (not just the hull plating, but framing inside the hull and inside tanks. This starts to get real costly at times. The Conquest and Spirit class ships will reach their thirties in 2030, and that is where costs really take off, so I can't see them lasting "well into" the 2030's, but Carnival surprises me with keeping older tonnage operating.

I have serious doubts that the ship will actually be going into dry dock, and continuing to have passengers onboard, as a fall from the gangway 60' down to a concrete dock floor is far more serious than a fall of 10-15' into the harbor. The shipyard will not want that liability, as well as thousands of passengers being transported from the ship to the shipyard gate. Also, the time frame just doesn't fit. It takes 4-6 hours to pump the dock dry, and the same to fill it again. Doesn't leave much time for actual work (staging, rigging, removing blade, installing blade, etc). I am suspecting that they will be at a wet berth with more support than the last attempt.

The real reason that there is little to no taste difference between the rock lobster tails and the Maine lobster tails served on ships is that they are both frozen. Even when they serve a whole Maine lobster, it will generally be frozen. Ships don't have live tanks to keep lobsters alive until cooking.

As noted in the SCOTUS decision in Spector v NCL, foreign flag cruise ships do not have to fully comply with the ADA. Also, if there are accessible hot tubs available, then there can be some that are not accessible. It all comes down to whether it would have required a major change to the ship to meet the accessibility requirements, and also SOLAS trumps ADA (though that has nothing to do with hot tubs).

And, neither will a hotel renovation, in a situation where the older ships are going to start costing a lot more to maintain structurally and mechanically, and they are still bleeding money. I see downsizing the entire fleet to reduce capacity across the industry and raise demand, and hence prices.

This is from the CBP website. While cruise line agents may accept documentation without bridging documents, it is CBP that rules. As noted, without the bridging documents, you may be subject to a delay in processing through upon return to the US.

Ferry Watcher is a Carnival check-in agent in Seattle. One thing I will say, is that while the cruise line may accept documentation for embarkation, there could be a problem with CBP upon return to the US, as they are a lot more stringent.

Many cruise ships with propellers/rudders manage many ports without tugs.

This is not correct. All six generators are connected to a common "bus" or switchboard, that supplies every electrical need on the ship, whether propulsion or hotel. The various sized generators allow for combining them on line in various configurations to allow for maximizing the load on the generators at various operating conditions. For instance, you could use the two smaller Wartsila engines if the ship is steaming at slow speed, or one large and one small for higher speeds, and finally all four Wartsila engines for full speed. The two CAT generators are "emergency" in that they can be used in a situation like the Carnival Triumph, where the engine rooms were disabled. They can also be used to augment power when one Wartsila engine is down for maintenance, though not fully, of course. A modern cruise ship with bow and stern thrusters, two shafted controllable pitch propellers, and two "high lift" rudders, with the proper training can be just as maneuverable as an azipod equipped ship, in a docking maneuver. As well, if an azipod goes down, you lose not only propulsion, but steering as well, while with propellers/rudders, losing one system does not take down the other. The major advantage of azipods over conventional propellers/rudders is initial capital cost.

Carpeting and upholstery is not really a "complete renovation", and is typically completed during every dry dock, at least on a partial basis.

Since the Infinity is over 15 years old, they can no longer take advantage of the underwater survey at the midperiod of the 5 year cycle. The regulation is that ships are required to be dry docked twice in 5 years, but ships less than 15 years old can replace the mid-period dry dock with the underwater survey. Nope. A non-statutory dry docking like the hull cleaning, does not push the statutory docking date back. So, 2025 is the next docking.

Even salt water pools are chlorinated on cruise ships. The only time a pool can be unchlorinated is if it is in "flow through" mode, where the sea water is continually pumped into the pool, and the overflow goes back to the sea. These "flow through" pools must be either closed, or drained, when the ship is within 12 miles of land, so most ships with salt water pools only go to "flow through" when there are 2-3 sea days in a row.

Do you mean Canadian Northwest? Some are round trip from Seattle, some are one way from Vancouver to Alaska, or from Alaska to Vancouver. If a one way trip either starts or ends in a foreign port, then the PVSA does not apply. This is very true, which is why I recommended kicking this up to the "compliance" office. Many folks will book two or three cruises back to back, and the call center agents allow it, and then months later the customer gets a call from the compliance department saying that whatever combination of cruises was booked is not allowed under PVSA. The most often that the PVSA comes up is in connection with Canada/Alaska cruises and back to backs. Even if the flight is booked by the individual, if it is canceled by the airline, that is a third party problem, out of the control of either the passenger or the cruise line, and CBP typically waives the fine in these cases.

This is incorrect. While Ensenada meets the foreign port requirement for a closed loop (LA to LA), it does not meet the "distant" foreign port requirement for a one way ("open jaw") cruise from Hawaii to LA. CBP does not care that you purchased an LA to LA cruise, just that you got on in Hawaii and got off in LA, making it a one way trip between US ports. This is correct, but the OP did not "miss" the flight, the flight was cancelled/delayed due to weather in Vancouver (I believe), so that is out of their control (act of God), and therefore not responsible.

To use your photo as an example, a "port hole" is a round window on a ship that opens. What you have on cruise ships are "port lights", or round windows that do not open. But, in lower decks, both round and rectangular fixed windows (and even port holes, if there were any) are fitted with "dead lights", which are typically bronze plates to cover the opening should the glass break.

First off, note that any fine for violating the PVSA is levied against the cruise line, not the passenger. It is only the ticket contract that allows Princess to pass the fine on to you. I am not aware of what the problem is at Vancouver, but assume it is weather related? If so, the cruise line will apply for a waiver of the fine, as the delay is out of their control, and out of the control of the passenger. While the guarantees given by typical phone center agents have no clue about the PVSA, should this happen again, you want to request to speak to the compliance department, as they are the ones who handle all of this. As long as Princess has arranged flights, etc, you are good to go, and even if in the unlikely event that you get fined, you can appeal the fine to CBP, and typically get it refunded. I have been on ships where the passenger died, and he and his wife were disembarked in violation of the PVSA, and the cruise line gave them the paperwork needed to appeal the fine. I don't believe it will come to that, the line will take care of it.

And that is from running into sand.