Pacific Sun - Humour Me!

[Shiprobbo]

Ok, there has been a lot of comment about the amount of time that Pacific Sun breaks down or misses ports because of mechanical problems. Given that she seems to spend so much time out of service or disrupting peoples holidays, I presume that someone has the data to be able to provide me with the following for the last 2-years:

1. Number of ports missed due to mechanical problems (where the whole cruise was not cancelled.
   
2. Number of cruises cancelled and dates of these cancellations over the last 2-years.
   

I know there were issues arounf 12-months ago when at least one cruise was cancelled when the ship returned from the west, however would be interested in any factual information regarding the above.

 

Thanks.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Have a play around with this site.

It has some of them , but there are probably more that have not been reported.

Interesting to note that she is not the only one who breaks down.

 

EVENTS AT SEA

"All the Things that Can Go Wrong On A Cruise"

2011

 

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html

 

 

EVENTS AT SEA by P&O Australia

 

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Events_by_P&O_Australia.html

[Shiprobbo]

Thanks David,

 

From this data it appears that since the Pacific Sun entered service in December 2004, there have been the following incidents:

• 03/08/2008 - Engine/Propulsion problems - The ship was on its way to Noumea (from Brisbane) when it was forced to drop anchor in a shipping channel near Moreton Island due to engine problems. The ship remained anchored overnight (while repair crew tried to fix the problem) and resumed its voyage the following morning (after being stationery for more than 15 hours).
  
• 10/11/2009 - Cruise Cancelled - The company announced today that the ship's ‘Week Fantastique’ round cruise from Brisbane next Saturday has been canacelled. The ship has been delayed at the Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard on the Brisbane River where she has been undergoing routine maintenance. A replacement part for the propulsion system has to be custom-made and fitted before the ship is able to leave drydock.
  
• 13/03/2010 - Port Call Cancelled - The ship's scheduled for arrival in Suva and Denarau has been cancelled. ATS Pacific's destination management company manager Sally Cooper said the trip had been cancelled because of mechanical problems on the ship.
  
• 21/04/2010 - Cruises Cancelled - The ship, has had to stay at Wynyard Wharf after a fault was found in one of its two engines. Work to repair the engine has been going on since then and it will be up to 10 more days before it can leave. Several cruises have had to be cancelled.
  
• 02/11/2010 - Departure delayed - A fault in the propulsion system of P&O cruise liner Pacific Sun caused the vessel to be 10 hours late in its Melbourne Cup voyage from Sydney to Melbourne yesterday.
  

While there are a couple of specific cruises that were cancelled, the disruptions have actually not been that great, probably no more (or less) than other ships around the world, some newer and some older. Most issues are propulsion related and I think this likely due to the heavy workout that the ships have on passage from Australia out to the islands, this can be done in some quite adverse weather and there is little downtime for maintenance on the go.

 

In years gone by ships would often spend days in port between sailings and thus maintenance could be performed easily, today it is hours and thus it is hard to take an engine off line for maintenance without major disruption. I visited the engine room of the ill-fated Achille Lauro some years ago, she actually had two seperate engine rooms, each with four engines. The four engines allowed one engine in each engine room to be fully stripped down for maintenance at any one time and still have 6 engines on line overall. Sadly the change in engine designe does not allow this as readily these days.

 

While Pacific Sun does seem to have an ongoing propulsion issue, it is not as endemic as with the newer Mermaid Pod technology.

[The Fox]

Thanks David,

 

 

From this data it appears that since the Pacific Sun entered service in December 2004, there have been the following incidents:

• 03/08/2008 - Engine/Propulsion problems - The ship was on its way to Noumea (from Brisbane) when it was forced to drop anchor in a shipping channel near Moreton Island due to engine problems. The ship remained anchored overnight (while repair crew tried to fix the problem) and resumed its voyage the following morning (after being stationery for more than 15 hours).
  
• 10/11/2009 - Cruise Cancelled - The company announced today that the ship's ‘Week Fantastique’ round cruise from Brisbane next Saturday has been canacelled. The ship has been delayed at the Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard on the Brisbane River where she has been undergoing routine maintenance. A replacement part for the propulsion system has to be custom-made and fitted before the ship is able to leave drydock.
  
• 13/03/2010 - Port Call Cancelled - The ship's scheduled for arrival in Suva and Denarau has been cancelled. ATS Pacific's destination management company manager Sally Cooper said the trip had been cancelled because of mechanical problems on the ship.
  
• 21/04/2010 - Cruises Cancelled - The ship, has had to stay at Wynyard Wharf after a fault was found in one of its two engines. Work to repair the engine has been going on since then and it will be up to 10 more days before it can leave. Several cruises have had to be cancelled.
  
• 02/11/2010 - Departure delayed - A fault in the propulsion system of P&O cruise liner Pacific Sun caused the vessel to be 10 hours late in its Melbourne Cup voyage from Sydney to Melbourne yesterday.
  

While there are a couple of specific cruises that were cancelled, the disruptions have actually not been that great, probably no more (or less) than other ships around the world, some newer and some older. Most issues are propulsion related and I think this likely due to the heavy workout that the ships have on passage from Australia out to the islands, this can be done in some quite adverse weather and there is little downtime for maintenance on the go.

 

In years gone by ships would often spend days in port between sailings and thus maintenance could be performed easily, today it is hours and thus it is hard to take an engine off line for maintenance without major disruption. I visited the engine room of the ill-fated Achille Lauro some years ago, she actually had two seperate engine rooms, each with four engines. The four engines allowed one engine in each engine room to be fully stripped down for maintenance at any one time and still have 6 engines on line overall. Sadly the change in engine designe does not allow this as readily these days.

 

While Pacific Sun does seem to have an ongoing propulsion issue, it is not as endemic as with the newer Mermaid Pod technology.

 

As with anything mechcanical....the older it gets without proper maintenance the more likely it will suffer repeated failure.....its not just restricted to ships.

 

Col:)

[steve1970]

In March 2009 there was a problem with the engine, we were 4 hours late into Auckland.

The next cruise we missed a port due to the breakdown.

The cruise after ours still went on (school holidays) and the next cruise was cancelled - there was about 10 days in Auckland while it was fixed.