Dream itinerary

[akel]

The Dream has apparently been skipping Sitka for quite some time. We (cruising in July) heard that they have only been there once out of ten trips - and I see that the prior cruises in other locales also skipped ports. Common sense says that it shouldn't take a year to fix an engine. Could it be - as is rumored - that they are saving on port costs by skipping places? (Table talk said Sitka costs 30K) Does anyone know?

I think the Dream was - as they say - a good value. The glaciers were unforgettable; the price was right. But we sure missed seeing Sitka.

[Shore Girl]

Well the Dream hasn't been sailing Alaska an entire year; only about 2 months. I'm not sure exactly when they dropped Sitka from the itinerary, but I did hear that the parts to fix the problem have to be shipped from Germany (or some other place over in Europe).

[hotspur]

Well the Dream hasn't been sailing Alaska an entire year; only about 2 months. I'm not sure exactly when they dropped Sitka from the itinerary, but I did hear that the parts to fix the problem have to be shipped from Germany (or some other place over in Europe).

The Dream made Sitka on the 5/19 cruise, and, I think, on the 5/30 trip as well. I seem to recall someone posting here that something happened to one of the engines on the last night of the 5/30 cruise, during the last leg from Prince Rupert to Seattle.

[akel]

I heard that the engines were out on some of last winter's cruises - not to Alaska, obviously.

Those parts must be on a sloooooow boat.

[Host CMLA]

I heard that the engines were out on some of last winter's cruises - not to Alaska, obviously.

Those parts must be on a sloooooow boat.

Or maybe the problem last year was fixed in drydock (it was) and the broken thing now is a new repair. I'd also like to know what reputable source started the rumor that the Dream was missing Sitka because of money. Please tell me how it makes sense to put it on the itinerary, stop there on a few cruises, then decide to take it off and have upset passengers, offer OBC and cancellation without penalty which are all money losses for NCL? That's the nasty thing about rumors...most of the time they're made up.

[hotspur]

Or maybe the problem last year was fixed in drydock (it was) and the broken thing now is a new repair. I'd also like to know what reputable source started the rumor that the Dream was missing Sitka because of money. Please tell me how it makes sense to put it on the itinerary, stop there on a few cruises, then decide to take it off and have upset passengers, offer OBC and cancellation without penalty which are all money losses for NCL? That's the nasty thing about rumors...most of the time they're made up.

Right. The Dream was cruising fine from May 19 through 30, with all engines working just fine.

 

I suppose it's possible it had the same breakdown that happened last summer, but I'd give better odds on winning the free cruise at bingo.

[MickyBridges]

I was on the Dream earlier this week and attended a talk by the Chief Engineer ... Stig Something. He said a piston/crankshaft (?) blew due to metal fatigue at the end of May which set off a chain reaction that ended up blowing a hole in the engine block. Sounded like the engine was well and truly knackered and there was no chance of it being fixed until they were in dry dock. Someone asked why they didn't carry a spare engine and he said it was impractical becuase they are the size of the main theatre !

 

You could tell looking out of the back into the water that one side (there's two engines on each side) was doing more than it's fair share of the work. I think he said as a result they are only travelling at 17 kph (?) instead of 22 hence the need to sacrifice stoppage time in order to get back on time.

[estebofarr]

We were on the Dream May 30 cruise and did visit Sitka. As for the engine stopping, we had an aft cabin on Promenade deck and did not hear anything change. We made excellent time in every port and had a wonderful cruise.

I took many pictures off the back and never noticed it being on one side or another but in the center.

[hotspur]

We were on the Dream May 30 cruise and did visit Sitka. As for the engine stopping, we had an aft cabin on Promenade deck and did not hear anything change. We made excellent time in every port and had a wonderful cruise.

I took many pictures off the back and never noticed it being on one side or another but in the center.

Sorry. I was off by one cruise. The problem apparently occurred on the June 9 cruise, as reported by Almagetty on a "Dream engine problems" thread.

By the way, I read in a previous post on a different thread that the Captain had reported that on June 19 the Dream suffered an engine malfunction. I can attest to the fact that during dinner on the last night of our cruise (Sunday, June 19)there was a loud rumbling sound and the ship came to a dead stop quite suddenly. The occurrence had the wait staff in the dining room (Four Seasons) going over to the windows to see what had happened. The diners at the next table were commenting as to how this could mean we were "dead in the water" and would be getting a partial refund on our cruise. I had to smile at that bit of wishful thinking on our last evening of a cruise that was very close to perfect. Anyway, the ship never lost power (electricity) in the passenger areas, but we most certainly were stopped for a while for no apparent reason.

 

Just my two cents worth . . .