Allure of the Seas leaving lifeboat 1 in Nassau

[chengkp75]

The rescue vessels onboard Oasis class ships actually have a capacity of 370 each. And there is significant "extra" or "over capacity" space to handle more passengers.

 

The loss of 1 rescue vessel is not significant enough to warrant reducing passenger numbers or changing muster locations. As previously noted muster locations are the areas where you gather, not where you board a rescue vessel.

 

That's not entirely accurate. The capacity of 370 includes the 16 crew assigned to each boat, so it can carry 354 passengers. (not going into whether RCI would reduce crew in the boats to make more room for passengers, as I'm not sure how many are required by regulation) 18 boats x 354 passengers is 6372 passengers. The Oasis class ships are designed for the published figure of 5400 passengers, which shows a significant "overcapacity" (18%), but 5400 is just the double occupancy capacity. The lifeboat capacity must meet the maximum number of passengers the ship can carry, which is 6296. Therefore, there is only 76 passenger "overcapacity" if the ship is sailing full. I know that they rarely, if ever, sail "completely full", so for a normal voyage there will be an overcapacity. But to say there is a designed overcapacity is just not correct.

 

Any overcapacity in lifesaving equipment is made by adding extra liferafts, but regulations prohibit liferafts from being the primary means of evacuation for passengers on large cruise vessels (I know, lots of ferries use only rafts, but they are classed differently, as they are not considered "ocean-going vessels").

 

So, if the ship is sailing with only the double occupancy number of passengers, they could sail with only 15.25 boats (not sure who gets the 1/4 boat!)

[Lukkie]

Given the late departure, does that delay your arrival at St Thomas? Since Allure is getting by on only 2 Azipods I don't think there is much ability to increase speed.

 

BTW if you don't have time to stop at Nassau to pick-up the life boat, don't worry I'll get it in 2 weeks. ;)

 

We just pulled into St Thomas where we where suppose to be at 1100. Due to the incident in Nassau and some very strong head winds we are 3 hours late.

 

Every stateroom is given a amount of OBC (2 of us in a L2 got $500, friends in a D1 got $250).

 

We will leave at our regular time today (630 pm).

 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[Lionesss]

Was the life boat descending or ascending when it happened?

(Need facts, man, more facts!!!)

 

My luck it would be on the way down.

Sea Ya

[ehfl]

The problem is not the loss of a lifeboat. The problem is that cables are not being inspected carefully. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but imagine a cable snapping when the boat was full in an actual emergency.

[gpw45]

Are you in some sort of contest where you are trying to use the most nautical terms possible in one post?;) We get it, you know your maritime terminology!:eek:

Always good to add to your knowledge base. You never know when you will need to know some obscure fact when you are playing Trivial Pursuit or make it on Jeopardy..

 

I'll take Nautical Terms for $1000, Alex.

 

Gordon

Edited December 12, 2013 by gpw45

[chengkp75]

The problem is not the loss of a lifeboat. The problem is that cables are not being inspected carefully. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but imagine a cable snapping when the boat was full in an actual emergency.

 

While I have questioned RCI's not carrying a spare wire, I won't really fault their maintenance just yet. Even with two ships having similar problems, I don't think you can chalk this up to faulty maintenance. Wire rope at sea is notorious for failing with no visible pre-indication. This is why IMO requires that the wires be renewed every 5 years, regardless of visible condition.

[Ocean Boy]

The problem is not the loss of a lifeboat. The problem is that cables are not being inspected carefully. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but imagine a cable snapping when the boat was full in an actual emergency.

 

And you know this how?

[jamon]

Glad to hear that no one was injured..on some ships the lifeboats hang inside the ship on the running/walking track...maybe Royal needs to do additional inspecting...If this had been on a Carnival ship, it would make front page headlines, but was buried on inside page of local paper.

[Ocean Boy]

Glad to hear that no one was injured..on some ships the lifeboats hang inside the ship on the running/walking track...maybe Royal needs to do additional inspecting...If this had been on a Carnival ship, it would make front page headlines, but was buried on inside page of local paper.

 

They are typically in cradles, not hanging.

[chengkp75]

Glad to hear that no one was injured..on some ships the lifeboats hang inside the ship on the running/walking track...maybe Royal needs to do additional inspecting...If this had been on a Carnival ship, it would make front page headlines, but was buried on inside page of local paper.

 

Even on those davits that retract inside the ship as you mention, there are additional straps that hold the boat into its cradle when stowed. And those davits, the arms are narrower than the boat is long, so while the arms slide down the tracks, the boat cannot fall onto the deck. The sheave/hook assembly that has the wire on it, and connects to the boat is held in position by a hook on the davit arm, so the boat cannot fall until the arm is over the side, and the hook has rotated away.

 

As I've said, wire ropes at sea tend to fail from the inside out, with no early indication of failure. This is why they are required to be renewed every 5 years, regardless of condition.

 

I won't disagree that Carnival would probably have received more notice than what RCI is getting, but if RCI's aggregate of problems reaches what Carnival's has been for the last couple of years, then they will be in the spotlight. Just the nature of journalism. And by the way, I repeatedly posted on Carnival's forum to clear up misstatements by the press regarding Carnival's problems.

[Aquahound]

Normally I'd agree. But clearly Oasis and Allure were built with a very significant over accommodation. After all, Oasis sailed for the better part of it's entire first year without the #1 lifeboats on either side, after they were damaged in the transatlantic. I believe they had to re-engineer the mount to be protected in weather.

 

During the time those 2 life boats were OOC, Oasis sailed under capacity.

 

The problem is not the loss of a lifeboat. The problem is that cables are not being inspected carefully. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but imagine a cable snapping when the boat was full in an actual emergency.

 

I live directly on the ocean and we all have davits to lift our boats out of the water. We are constantly inspecting them and maintaining the machinerary and wiring. Yet, it is still somehwat common for the wires to snap. It happens and short of replacing the entire spool of wire rope every year, there's really no way to completely prevent it. Salt water is not our friend.

[SandyAtSea]

Are you in some sort of contest where you are trying to use the most nautical terms possible in one post?;) We get it, you know your maritime terminology!:eek:

 

Unnecessary.

 

Love the fact that people with actual knowledge and experience in the maritime industry contribute to this board and help educate the rest of us who otherwise would only have speculations and hearsay.

[FLACRUISER99]

On our recent Panama Canal cruise on the Legend of the Seas, the same thing happened to one lifeboat. The mechanism to lower/lift it broke in Cabo San Lucas (our last stop before San Diego). Originally, the plan was announced to offload a certain number of crew to get the passenger count to the required level. Then it was decided that, with the "over capacity" of lifeboats, it was not necessary and we proceeded to San Diego at a slightly faster than expected speed to make up for the delay caused while working out a plan.

 

Our lifeboat (#6) was the one left behind to be picked up on the return trip and we were not contacted in any way about being changed to a "new" number muster station and our Sea Pass cards were not altered.

 

We arrived back in San Diego on schedule and assume that the plan to pick the lifeboat up in Cabo on the return trip through the Canal went on without a hitch.

I can add to this, yes the lifeboat was picked up in Cabo. The pully was recovered by divers, inspected then attached to the cable. then weight tests were done with huge yellow bags filled with water. Also before we could sail from Cabo without the missing life boat the Mexican port authority, the US Coast Guard, the Bahamian government, RCI UK & RCI Miami, and the ship certifying authority (Can't remember the name) had to sign off on it.

[chengkp75]

I can add to this, yes the lifeboat was picked up in Cabo. The pully was recovered by divers, inspected then attached to the cable. then weight tests were done with huge yellow bags filled with water. Also before we could sail from Cabo without the missing life boat the Mexican port authority, the US Coast Guard, the Bahamian government, RCI UK & RCI Miami, and the ship certifying authority (Can't remember the name) had to sign off on it.

 

The weight bags are filled to equal 125% of the weight of the boat and full complement of people, so they are testing to overcapacity. This is also done every drydocking, which is why all the boats are normally taken off before the ship enters drydock, and follow along like ducklings.

 

Very good on the details. That would be port state control for departure port (Mexico), port state control for arrival port (USCG), flag state (Bahamas), owners (RCI) and DNV (Det Norske Veritas) the classification society.

[The Big Booper]

Late Saturday afternoon, Cap'n Johnny got on the horn and said that Allure would be stopping at Nassau at around 4:30 AM Sunday to retreive her wayward child, Lifeboat #1. Even Radio doesn't get up THAT early so we missed it.

 

Johhny also rode his Harley in the promenade during the Saturday parade. VRROOOOM

[franl24fan]

We were on the turn around cruise from San Diego and this is what happened in San Diego (confirmed by my personal discussion with 4 affected passengers). The ship could not sail with the full complement of passengers & crew without the missing lifeboat, so RCL in its infinite wisdom, pulled about a 100 passengers out of line in the San Diego terminal and took them to a closed off area (not sure how they determined who, they were all levels of C&A and seemed to be from various muster stations). At first these folks thought they were getting some kind of special boarding privilege, but were then told their cruise was being cancelled, they would be reimbursed etc. Well, you can imagine the reaction. After about a half hour of chaos, (their luggage had already been taken by the porters) RCL decided instead to leave 100 crew members behind, obviously many of them from food service since the dining room service was horrendous until the crew came back onboard in Cabo (and for a few more days until they were back in sync). This was the start of several "interesting" events on the Legend C&A member cruise :-).

[ToddinVA]

Late Saturday afternoon, Cap'n Johnny got on the horn and said that Allure would be stopping at Nassau at around 4:30 AM Sunday to retreive her wayward child, Lifeboat #1. Even Radio doesn't get up THAT early so we missed it.

 

Johhny also rode his Harley in the promenade during the Saturday parade. VRROOOOM

 

I just got off the same cruise and Capt. Johnny confirmed the lifeboat was towed back to Port Everglades and arrived on, I think, Thursday. It was going to be hoisted back onto the Allure today. The cabling issue was fixed during the week.

[SRQfireman]

Late Saturday afternoon, Cap'n Johnny got on the horn and said that Allure would be stopping at Nassau at around 4:30 AM Sunday to retreive her wayward child, Lifeboat #1. Even Radio doesn't get up THAT early so we missed it.

 

Johhny also rode his Harley in the promenade during the Saturday parade. VRROOOOM

ya right...He rode his gas combustion engine in the enclosed promenade :rolleyes:

And how did they dissipate the CO that was given off ???

[ToddinVA]

ya right...He rode his gas combustion engine in the enclosed promenade :rolleyes:

And how did they dissipate the CO that was given off ???

 

He did and he often runs it around the ship, even in the bridge and up and down in the elevators. He passed me in Central Park last night. :)

[cruiserdudebobby8]

He did and he often runs it around the ship, even in the bridge and up and down in the elevators. He passed me in Central Park last night. :)

 

Im hoping to sail with him August 10, 2014

[The Big Booper]

I just got off the same cruise and Capt. Johnny confirmed the lifeboat was towed back to Port Everglades and arrived on, I think, Thursday. It was going to be hoisted back onto the Allure today. The cabling issue was fixed during the week.

 

That makes more sense. We all thought that the announcement over the PA said that the lifeboat would be hoisted up in Nassau Sunday morning. It was noisy so obviously we couldn't hear it all.

 

We were waiting for the Saturday parade right outside Sorrentos when Captain Johnny slowly burbled by on the bike. We have four cameras with 900+ pictures of the trip so will have to download them to a computer and find that picture and then set up an account on Flickr. I'm still in mourning for Webshots.

[MrDVC]

ya right...He rode his gas combustion engine in the enclosed promenade :rolleyes:

And how did they dissipate the CO that was given off ???

 

Exactly! He does ride an electric motorcycle around the ship - it does make engine sounds, so people assume it's a Harley, which he does have onboard the ship and takes off the ship sometimes in port.

[Ocean Boy]

ya right...He rode his gas combustion engine in the enclosed promenade :rolleyes:

And how did they dissipate the CO that was given off ???

 

He does have a mini bike that he rides on the ship. I've seen it myself when he was on Mariner. I can't remember exactly what it looked like. I think it was electric. He is a bit of a show off.

[FLACRUISER99]

We were on the turn around cruise from San Diego and this is what happened in San Diego (confirmed by my personal discussion with 4 affected passengers). The ship could not sail with the full complement of passengers & crew without the missing lifeboat, so RCL in its infinite wisdom, pulled about a 100 passengers out of line in the San Diego terminal and took them to a closed off area (not sure how they determined who, they were all levels of C&A and seemed to be from various muster stations). At first these folks thought they were getting some kind of special boarding privilege, but were then told their cruise was being cancelled, they would be reimbursed etc. Well, you can imagine the reaction. After about a half hour of chaos, (their luggage had already been taken by the porters) RCL decided instead to leave 100 crew members behind, obviously many of them from food service since the dining room service was horrendous until the crew came back onboard in Cabo (and for a few more days until they were back in sync). This was the start of several "interesting" events on the Legend C&A member cruise :-).

I got slightly different information, was told 120 folks from RCI's Miami marketing department were the ones not boarded in San Diego and flown to Cabo. Edited December 16, 2013 by FLACRUISER99

[chengkp75]

I got slightly different information, was told 120 folks from RCI's Miami marketing department were the ones not boarded in San Diego and flown to Cabo.

 

That makes a whole lot more sense to me, as they are not allowed to embark more "passengers" than they have boat capacity for, and these would not be paying passengers.