New propulsion problem on Millennium

[deise17311]

Thanks Host Andy!!!!

[BEAV]

Not really:rolleyes: They arrived at noon our time which is 3pm EST - The staff could have left anytime this am to get there.

 

I had the same thought. If they're coming from Florida, they gain 4 hours working in their favor flying westbound!

[CPT Trips]

An all coach 737 holds about 143 passengers. Twenty planes would be far more than they need unless they were also taking off most of the crew.

 

If the USCG did, in fact, say no pax, then a lot of the crew is unneeded and the Coasties would probably say no cruise for them.

[Mondaymorn]

YIKES!

Me and my bf are leaving on this ship on the 30th! Please do keep us posted.

I agree, I hope this gets fixed soon.

[deise17311]

Well at this point we are leaving in the AM and have heard nothing...I will assume that if cruise is canceled we will of course receive our money back plus the same compensation as the others the past 2 weeks...an additional 100% FCC...they will have an additional 10 days before the next sailing to work on engine...if it were not for CC, we would know none of this...I would rather have 1/2 a cruise or the ship in port deal then arrive and have cruise canceled and have to return home ...booking hotels and such on the ground is a real pain...

[Budget Queen]

24 hours till flight...surely they must know something...come on Celebrity...we must know to make

Cancelations etc...we leave in 24 hours...half our party is there ready with no info...celebrity is starting to fall down on the job!!!!! Flight, trains, excursions booked

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I would think, your cruise is not going to go on time, IF it goes at all. The ship would have to leave right now, if it were to make it to Seward.

 

You may want to look at what will work the best in your case.

[Cindy]

Well at this point we are leaving in the AM and have heard nothing...I will assume that if cruise is canceled we will of course receive our money back plus the same compensation as the others the past 2 weeks...an additional 100% FCC...they will have an additional 10 days before the next sailing to work on engine...if it were not for CC, we would know none of this...I would rather have 1/2 a cruise or the ship in port deal then arrive and have cruise canceled and have to return home ...booking hotels and such on the ground is a real pain...

 

I think that's really your only option, unless you hear from Celebrity between this evening and your departure in the morning. You can't stay home, because you run the risk of the ship being repaired and available for your cruise.

[c-legs]

I wouldn't be surprised if their plan is to move some of Millie's Alaska and Pacific Coastal passengers over to Century.....

If CENTURY was a ''spare ship'', that concept would make some sense...but She is pretty solidly booked on her own 7 day return Vancouver sailings right thru the end of the season, and her own coastal sailing does not show much room available. So, ==X== really can't ''swap''

her for Millie, unless they want to start cancelling/refunding/compensating/etc/etcetc....for ~~ 1975 Century guests/sailings until reposionning in So.California....

C

[deise17311]

I think that's really your only option, unless you hear from Celebrity between this evening and your departure in the morning. You can't stay home, because you run the risk of the ship being repaired and available for your cruise.

 

So upsetting and frustrating...

[BEAV]

If CENTURY was a ''spare ship'', that concept would make some sense...but She is pretty solidly booked on her own 7 day return Vancouver sailings right thru the end of the season, and her own coastal sailing does not show much room available. So, ==X== really can't ''swap''

her for Millie, unless they want to start cancelling/refunding/compensating/etc/etcetc....for ~~ 1975 Century guests/sailings until reposionning in So.California....

C

 

I agree with you. I didn't mean to infer space on Century is wide open to handle all the overflow from Millie. More like sealing off any available staterooms on Century as protection and to stop any new "walk up" bookings.

[c-legs]

As an Australian, and there is a large Australian group on all the Alaska cruises I can only explain how disturbing this is. Many have spend thousands of dollars and weeks off work, etc to do an Alaska cruise. The 2 most recent events are unfortunate and I agree Celebrity handled the episode in Seward fairly well.

 

However -

 

1. These problems are not new. Celebrity Cruises filed a $300 million lawsuit against the firms that made the equipment. The suit charged that Rolls Royce and Alstom Power Conversion sold their Mermaid propulsion units as the best in the industry, but that they were actually at an experimental stage of development and susceptible to multiple failures. Since Celebrity began using the Mermaid pods in 2000, its ships have suffered repeated breakdowns, forcing the cancellation of a large number of cruises. Seals and bearings on the pods have repeatedly failed. The first ship to use the pods, the Millennium, has experienced over 30 failures since 2000. One of the Mermaid pod makers, Alstom, was in financial distress and the French government in 2003 put up $8 billion to bail out the company

 

2. Celebrity settled the claim yet the problems continue. The ship had a dry dock in 2012 but little was done from an engineering point of view. It was mainly to create more revenue on board.

 

 

 

.

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your views;very valid points.

 

However, there is the danger that folks can get their focus blurred a bit about the '' pods'' issue.

You are referring to problems affecting the Mermaid Azipod ''hardware'' that has indeed been a frustrating and costly source of disruption for both the lines affected and their guests. The main culprits were ,as you state, premature wearing of the forward radial trust bearing, also some premature seals defect. Those issues have finally been solved approx 5 years ago. They had gradually given rise to the expression '' pods issues''.

They now function quite well with hardly any disruption reported by any of the users lines.

The azipods structure units are OK

 

The current issue affects the motor which powers the azipod; a totally different animal....and one easily understands how quickly one can deduct that ''there's those damn pods again''...and thus have the focus on the current issue slightly blurred away.

 

Sort of like a lawn mower with a new blades/tiller system....initially, those ''damn blades'' keep experiencing defect with their seals, blades design,etc.....

one has to shut the mower down, raise it off the ground, have the blades components looked at, fixed, etc......NOW, all that works well...but the

motor in the lawn mower broke twice in the past couple of weeks.....

nothing to do with the blades....

 

What has to be highly frustrating for Celebrity is :the current failure, mystifying and baffling as it is, is the same motor that went karplunk

Aug 8th on the way to Seward ....A total engine change over seems to be the only way out here to get the azipod functionnal again...and that means ''drydock''......

 

My opinion only.

[Cindy]

I agree with you. I didn't mean to infer space on Century is wide open to handle all the overflow from Millie. More like sealing off any available staterooms on Century as protection and to stop any new "walk up" bookings.

 

I can easily see them trying to hold spots from new bookings until they know if they might want to make some "move-over" offers in case of cancelled sailings. In the "things that make me go hmm department" RCI also has several suddenly not available cruises. Coincidence?

[BEAV]

I can easily see them trying to hold spots from new bookings until they know if they might want to make some "move-over" offers in case of cancelled sailings. In the "things that make me go hmm department" RCI also has several suddenly not available cruises. Coincidence?

 

No coincidence IMO. When our Infinity cruise was cancelled for mechanical reasons we were rebooked onto a RCI ship.

[jc719]

I'm curious what the effect of PVSA is in this situation. Normally, Celebrity would be assessed a fine of $300 for each passenger leaving in Ketchikan, the ship having not visited a distant foreign port since leaving Seward. Does Celebrity get a pass if their ship breaks? I see exceptions for PERSONAL emergencies (like an illness or family death), but nothing addressing a decision by Celebrity to end early. Even returning to Seward (without visiting a foreign port) would seem to run afoul of PVSA. And the ship isn't exactly inoperable in its current state. Seems like a potential fine of ~$600k for Celebrity.

 

Last week's Vancouver-Seward wouldn't have had this problem since it originated in Canada.

 

Do any of the PVSA experts have an opinion?

[denali1]

Here is the article describing the ships cancellation, from the

Anchorage Daily New, about an hour ago.

 

http://www.adn.com/2013/08/20/3033737/cruise-ship-remains-in-alaska.html

[watson524]

For those that were wondering about the constant honey dipper trucks... I stopped and asked. It's because we aren't out of coastal waters so we can't discharge gray water and they only have 28 hour holding. Once it's full, it's basically a constant pump. These aren't big trucks folks so a LOT of trips involved on constant cycle for all the wash water going down.

[LeftcoastBC]

To the folks onboard. My sympathies . Shades of Acapulco 2003 and the Infinity flashed before my eyes.

 

Communication is the biggest problem that you will no find. Those teams from "Where ever" will try their best but in all likely hood will find themselves also at a loss in beautiful Alaska and struggle getting the correct info to you. At least you will not have to leave the ship before your flights are almost ready and the airport is "Just over there."

Settle in and go with the flow..... in several yrs. it will all be a part of the stories you tell over and over. A great tale to tell. Been there. Done that.

 

To those on the next cruise. Make the best decision that you can to protect your travel dollars and holiday allotments. Be prepared to work with Celebrity after this is all over if you have to cancel before getting the "Formal" notification. They don't like this anymore than you do. They will try there best given half a chance in my experience.

 

Good Luck everyone.

[BEAV]

I'm curious what the effect of PVSA is in this situation. Normally, Celebrity would be assessed a fine of $300 for each passenger leaving in Ketchikan, the ship having not visited a distant foreign port since leaving Seward. Does Celebrity get a pass if their ship breaks? I see exceptions for PERSONAL emergencies (like an illness or family death), but nothing addressing a decision by Celebrity to end early. Even returning to Seward (without visiting a foreign port) would seem to run afoul of PVSA. And the ship isn't exactly inoperable in its current state. Seems like a potential fine of ~$600k for Celebrity.

 

Last week's Vancouver-Seward wouldn't have had this problem since it originated in Canada.

 

Do any of the PVSA experts have an opinion?

 

The distant foreign port requirement only applies to cruises beginning and ending at two different U.S. ports. And the current sailing began in Vancouver, not Seward, so a Seward-Ketchikan "violation" doesn't apply here.

[Cindy]

I'm curious what the effect of PVSA is in this situation. Normally, Celebrity would be assessed a fine of $300 for each passenger leaving in Ketchikan, the ship having not visited a distant foreign port since leaving Seward. Does Celebrity get a pass if their ship breaks? I see exceptions for PERSONAL emergencies (like an illness or family death), but nothing addressing a decision by Celebrity to end early. Even returning to Seward (without visiting a foreign port) would seem to run afoul of PVSA. And the ship isn't exactly inoperable in its current state. Seems like a potential fine of ~$600k for Celebrity.

 

Last week's Vancouver-Seward wouldn't have had this problem since it originated in Canada.

 

Do any of the PVSA experts have an opinion?

 

It's just the opposite...this week originated in Vancouver and last week they boarded in Seward. Hence, no PVSA complications.:) I would certainly hope the government would relax the rule in this case if there had been a violation, but you never know!

[cruisestitch]

Regarding PVSA

 

This weeks cruise originated Vancouver and now ends in Ketchikan... No distant foreign port needed, no PVSA problem

 

Last week originated Seward, passengers disembarked Vancouver, also no problem.

 

PVSA refers to trips originating in US and transporting passengers to another US port. Neither last week nor this week did this.

[ghstudio]

Passengers will get home at no additional cost! Right...but the only reason they spent the money to fly to Vancouver was to take this cruise. I think celebrity needs to pay for their needless flight to Vancouver....and by the way I think they need to do the same for the folks that fly in for the next cruise if it doesn't sail. Great that they get a free cruise but they will still have to fly again. I don't think celebrity's compensation is all that great...but maybe that's just me.

[LeftcoastBC]

Cancel

[BaumD]

Wonder what they are doing with people scheduled for a Celebrity post cruise in to the interior of Alaska. If they fly them to Anchorage, where will they stay until Friday until their post cruise trip leaves.?

[Despegue]

Cabotage rules like PVSA are only valid for SCHEDULED sailings and are void in case of diversions, which is the case here.

[watson524]

Yep that's what we're hearing. Fly us to anchorage, put us up over nite and then start the land part there