Damage to the Quest? Bonnie?

Here in New Zealand, there has been a newspaper article that the Quest suffered hull damage after the ship came into contact with Wheki Rock in the Marlborough Sounds near Picton. I quote from the article "Maritime New Zealand said divers from the Wellington Maritime Unit had found paint on the side of the rock and the investigation also found damage to the hull of the ship .The pilot who was guiding the ship has been suspended, pending further information about the incident" I Sincerely hope this is a minor scrape and no future cruise will be impacted.

Cruise ship Azamara Quest 'hit rocks in Marlborough': http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/76648856/cruise-ship-azamara-quest-hit-rocks-in-marlborough.html

Cruise ship Azamara Quest sails close to rocks in Marlborough: http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/76317744/maritime-new-zealand-makes-enquiries-after-luxury-cruise-ship-azamara-quest-sails-close-to-rocks-in-marlborough.html

I doubt you are going to get much information here, certainly not from Bonnie. Royal Caribbean have said very little about it and I'm sure more will come out as investigations continue. The article said this could be 18 months. Thank goodness it wasn't serious.

Phil

I accidentally posted about this in the roll call area. Could a moderator move that to here?

Hi

I remember as a teenager seeing the masts of the Russian cruise ship Mikhail Lemontov

sticking out the harbour after striking a rock in this area.

It is rather treacherous at times with strong currents ,winds and nasty rocks .If they got away with a scrap it was a blessing.

This was posted on the Quest Roll Call thread, then the poster realized he was in the wrong place:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2311825

That article was written January 28th. If it was very serious, we would have heard something from someone on board.

Pam, thank you for bringing that over. I don't have a lot of forum quoting skills.

I was thinking this through this morning and trying to figure out why this still is bothering me so much. We have been in the past Windstar cruisers and when the Quest lurched, my mind went immediately to what happened to the Star Pride in Panama recently. More exactly, what happened to the passengers -who were left in the dark about what happened, disembarked for a beach event, and then were never allowed to return to their ship.

I do fault Azamara for taking so long to inform the passengers as to what had happened. We should have been told before we sailed away from Picton. I feel the passengers handled the situation admirably - there was no panic, no shouting, just a determination to keep going on with their vacations. At least we were in an area with many boats available and time in port for decisions to be made.

We were on this voyage too and were just about to leave Windows Cafe when the ship make a sharp turn resulting in crashing crockery. At no time did we feel that we were in a dangerous situation. To me it made breakfast a little more exciting!

Captain Carl announced the following day at 11am that the ship had had an incident the previous day when entering Picton. The channel we were entering port through is renowned for cross tides and the pilot over compensated for the cross tide he was expecting. The cross tide did not occur and the ships' crew had to make a swift decision by taking control of the vessel from the pilot. This resulted in minor scrape marks on the hull and a little damage to the port propellor. The ship was not compromised in any way and AZ was not at fault.

Others later mentioned the excess noise when the ship continued its journey but down on Deck 4 where our stateroom was my wife and I didn't notice any difference.

We berthed in Auckland on 31 January on schedule and the ship is currently on it's return cruise to Sydney. So the Picton experience does not seem to have affected the sailing schedule. Picton is a port of call on the current cruise.

David

Sounds like a bit of paint will fix the problem during the April dry dock.

Any updates on the damage? Does a bent propeller need replacing?

I was onboard. I was at the pool, the ship listed, there was coffee cup that fell from the table and all the plastic glass at the pool bar felt. After the incident and til the last day of thet cruise in Auckland there was a lot of vibrations when the ship was at moderate or high speed. My stateroom was on deck 8. For me the vibrations was more uncomfortable than big swells. But that's me. When in bed it was like being in those old massage beds. We went aft and you can clearly see that one od the propeller was not working as good as the other (by the wake (i don,t know if it is the good word in english as english is not my language) i hope they repair this shortly as it was not confortable to shake all the time when the ships is sailing.

I will post a new article thwt i found, and they found Azamara Quest on the rock we hit.

I completely agree about the vibrations. They were awful and made it very difficult to fall asleep. I find it interesting that you thought the wake of the ship looked different.

We will be on Quest for the 3/1 cruise departing Bali. So, I emailed a friend who is currently on Quest to inquire about its status. 4 days ago, he replied after talking with a senior officer on Quest. Repairs were undertaken, and everything is OK. The ship is perfectly safe. Complete repairs will be done during drydock in Singapore.

In an email received early today, we were told "so far so good"!

We're leaving in 2 weeks, and are looking forward to an excellent cruise on Quest!!

Happy to read that they made some repairs, because those damn vibrations were really gatting on my nerves.

We will be on Quest for the 3/1 cruise departing Bali. So, I emailed a friend who is currently on Quest to inquire about its status. 4 days ago, he replied after talking with a senior officer on Quest. Repairs were undertaken, and everything is OK. The ship is perfectly safe. Complete repairs will be done during drydock in Singapore.

 

In an email received early today, we were told "so far so good"!

 

We're leaving in 2 weeks, and are looking forward to an excellent cruise on Quest!!

Ditto:)

What deck is your friend on? I'd be curious to hear whether or not the vibrations are cured towards the stern on deck 8. It can be perfectly safe while still being uncomfortable. I hope that has been resolved.

What deck is your friend on? I'd be curious to hear whether or not the vibrations are cured towards the stern on deck 8. It can be perfectly safe while still being uncomfortable. I hope that has been resolved.

Deck 8.

We were on the cruise when the problem occurred, Deck 7, aft and could feel the vibrations.:)

Deck 8.

Hello to both of you, we are on the same cruise leaving Bali and I have a question, could you ask your friends who are already on the ship if the Discovery proposes the new menu or they still have the old one. THanks! See you soon, Lyse:confused:

Update:

Per a May 4 2018 article, as a result of our adventure, cruise ships are now banned from taking that route into Picton. https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/955407/cruise-ship-ban-royal-caribbean-crash-marlborough-sounds.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/83658964/investigation-reveals-more-safety-requirements-needed-for-cruise-ships-entering-tory-channel-in-marlborough-sounds gives more information about the investigation and pilot training.

I am good with that outcome. I would rather be safe.

Thanks for the link. I truly hate the Daily Express for its continual sensationalist vocab. Crash? What rubbish. Same with their weather forecasts foretelling doom. At least they got the basic news out there though.

Phil

The good old Daily Express. The writing has the hallmarks of a 17 year old media studies intern left in charge of online content for the day while the hacks are at the pub.

Note the stellar grammar and careful placement of "BANNED" across the graphic to reinforce the drama.