Rhapsody hits reef in South Pacific. Damage reported.

[Kokomo91165]

This is from a news article:

 

According to a number of sources currently sailing onboard Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas, the ship was delayed for roughly 12 hours after sustaining damage from an inadvertent reef collision earlier in the current sailing.

 

Reports from the Rhapsody of the Seas claim that the ship recently was caught in a very violent storm, which caused the ship to come in contact with a nearby reef between Champagne Bay, Espiritu Santo and Luganville, Vanuatu. Rhapsody of the Seas reportedly did not lose power and was able to proceed to Luganville for repairs under her own power. The reef reportedly damaged the ship enough to force the Rhapsody of the Seas to remain in Luganville for roughly 12 hours on Friday while repairs were made. Due to this extended time in port, the ship was forced to skip a scheduled call at Mystery Island, Vanuatu on Saturday. Instead, the ship will proceed to her next port of call, Lifou, New Caledonia.

[SPacificbound]

Going from Sydney to Mystery Island, Vanuatu was extremely rough when we were on Rhapsody earlier this year. The captain announced that the seas were too high to be able to safely make that stop. The first two ports were missed.

 

It was actually a good experience for us on a first cruise. We found out that bonine and ginger pills really did work. :)

[Familygoboston]

That's too bad, and luckily it wasn't worse and no one was hurt. I've heard that part of FP is treacherous, and all of requires such careful navagation because of the abundant reefs and I've read reports of people making those SP crossings having to miss multiple stops or detour far out of the way to avoid wild weather. I hope the folks on board are patient and making the best of it!

[Icerecon]

Royal Caribbean Australia & NZ

Rhapsody of the Seas docked in in Luganville, Vanuatu on Friday morning where we conducted some minor maintenance. The repair work took longer than expected to complete and the ship therefore remained docked in port overnight. The delay unfortunately resulted in the cancellation of the scheduled call to Mystery Island on Saturday. The ship left Luganville at 7am on Saturday morning and will make her scheduled call in Lifou, Loyalty Islands on Sunday. We are disappointed with this news however safety is our first priority for which there can be no compromise. Guests were notified of the delay and the ship's services are all operating as normal.

[UNV-IT!!!]

Wonder exactly what needed to be repaired

[Keith1010]

Thanks for sharing this.

 

Keith

[The_Big_M]

Wonder exactly what needed to be repaired

 

Likely hull damage.

[Paulxyz2004]

Wonder exactly what needed to be repaired

 

I bet there was some damage to the funnel after hitting the reef:rolleyes:

[drarill]

Thanks for sharing this information.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[Lionesss]

Wow,

Thanks for sharing.

Sea Ya

[bigeck]

I bet there was some damage to the funnel after hitting the reef:rolleyes:

 

Now Now, maybe Santa coming down the chimney

[UNV-IT!!!]

Likely hull damage.

 

Curious if there may have been prop or blade damage along with rudder issues.

[goodycruising]

Curious if there may have been prop or blade damage along with rudder issues.

 

I am interested too. I understand Rhapsody had prop repairs a couple of years back? Not much info around about this mishap, I couldn't find anything on the Australia forum?

 

Easy to joke about damage if you are not limited to three ships from RCI from local ports, as the cost of travelling to other ports around the world is out of our budget and timeframe ability.

 

We had been considering another trip on Rhapsody, but the continual shudder we experienced 3 years ago in our cabin is not something I want to risk again.

[Goodysj]

It's very interesting that the news has gone very quite on this, normally CC would be on top of the story or someone on the ship would of commented by now.

Will be very interested to find out what the damage is.

[aussielozzie18]

I have been waiting for this to pop up on cruise critic.....nothing mentioned at all on our Aust & NZ forum. However, It was reported by a lady on board this cruise that they hadn't experienced any rough seas or bad weather prior to the collision with the reef.

 

We are sailing on the Rhapsody for the first time next week - hope all is fixed by then!

[goodycruising]

I am sure you will love Rhapsody, and hopefully there will be nothing you will notice. Please do come back and let us know if you hear anything on board?

[aussielozzie18]

The Rhapsody is due back in Sydney on Thursday so no doubt we hear more as passengers disembark. After the "problem", they cruised to Lifou,had beautiful weather and then cruised on to Noumea.

 

She is due to leave for Tasmania on Thursday eve, so if that doesn;t go ahead, then we know there definitely is an ongoing problem.

[Icerecon]

The Rhapsody is due back in Sydney on Thursday so no doubt we hear more as passengers disembark. After the "problem", they cruised to Lifou,had beautiful weather and then cruised on to Noumea.

 

She is due to leave for Tasmania on Thursday eve, so if that doesn;t go ahead, then we know there definitely is an ongoing problem.

 

This was a reply to a question about future cruises on Rhapsody yesterday

"Royal Caribbean Australia & NZ Hi xxxxxxx, all future cruises are operating as scheduled!"

[Dori Saltzman]

We checked in with Royal Caribbean and was told that Rhapsody never hit a reef at any point in its sailing.

[Nemo2013]

Just off the Rhapsody of the Seas this morning in Sydney.

 

There was an overnight delay in Luganville and hence we missed Mystery Island. This was disappointing and the Captain was cagey about the reasons at the time but there was no storm that I noticed so I don't understand that part of the report below about us hitting a reef during a violent storm.

 

Yesterday, in the Captain's debrief meeting with the passengers, he was asked directly about the delay and he said that it was due to unexpected corrosion in the hull that needed fixing from both inside and out. Certainly, I saw scuba tanks stacked by the ship at Luganville.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Nemo2013
clarification

[bilyclub]

The plot thickens....

[aussielozzie18]

Hi Nemo

Interesting........ I can understand your disappointment in getting Luganville instead of Mystery Island. I hope you had a good cruise despite this. We are on board the Rhapsody next week.

Edited December 12, 2013 by aussielozzie18

[Oztrippers]

Just arrived home after taking part in this cruise......WOW, if we travelled thru' violent storms then I'd go anywhere, anytime on this ship. There was some minimal movement on one part of our journey but certainly as passengers aboard (& 1st time cruisers) we never experienced any evidence of having been in a storm....let alone a "violent" one. Rumours abounded in regard to our delay in Luganville....people didn't get back to the ship in time to sail, we hit a reef etc etc, however although disappointed to miss Mystery Island, we had a fantastic trip & are not concerned with the reason the maintainence was required. It all sounds rather dramatic but in the end the only affect it had on us as passengers was our missed port of call for which RCI gave additional on-board credit to each stateroom. We could not fault the service, our stateroom, the food or the entertainment.....10/10 RCI. We would love to hop back on board when she berths in Hobart in a few days! Happy little vegemites here! ;-)

[aussielozzie18]

Great to hear. We are boarding the Rhapsody on Thursday for Christmas (our first cruise). Your comments are music to my ears and makes me even more excited than we already are.