Allure azipod issues

[Raxter54]

15 hours ago, Luminated67 said:

 

Thats great that Oasis is back up and running. Though what about the passengers who were redirected on to the Allure, are they going to be placed back on the Oasis now?

 

My original point was less about if they would cancel a cruise to sort out the issue it was more about putting the port changes into perspective compared to the affect this will have on the St Thomas businesses. RC are soldiering on and making the best alternative, it’s not like this is the first time this particular issue has raised its ugly head and back then they did exactly the same thing they are doing now.

 

I fully understand people are expecting everything to go according to plan and get upset when this doesn’t happen but in the grand scheme of life this is like a pothole on a very long road.

So, wouldn't taking the Allure out for a week to fix the azipod problem have less economic impact to St Thomas that several months worth of missed port calls?

[fsjosh]

9 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Where do you get those parts?  Rockauto.com?  Amazon? 

 

Harbor freight probably has a full azipod sitting on the shelf. 

 

43 minutes ago, Raxter54 said:

So, wouldn't taking the Allure out for a week to fix the azipod problem have less economic impact to St Thomas that several months worth of missed port calls?

 

It's at least 3 weeks minimum right now to fix it as theres not a functioning dry dock in North America that they can use to fix it, so it has to go to Europe. Also, Royal is not worried about St. Thomas' economy.

[Luminated67]

5 hours ago, Raxter54 said:

So, wouldn't taking the Allure out for a week to fix the azipod problem have less economic impact to St Thomas that several months worth of missed port calls?

 

Totally missing the point I was making. 

 

Some here are complaining about a port change and demanding compensation when the real loser in this is St Thomas.  

[PrincessBelle39]

I can deal with changes in the itineraries but we would be stuffed if our cruise was cancelled.  $12,000 worth of airfare, flights that cannot be changed.  $12,000 in cruise costs for which a future cruise credit is absolutely useless to us as we have no opportunity to get back to the United States within the next couple of years at which time my kids will be adults and have left school.  A week that we would have to fill in which without an immediate refund, we couldn't afford to fill.

[Luminated67]

1 hour ago, PrincessBelle39 said:

I can deal with changes in the itineraries but we would be stuffed if our cruise was cancelled.  $12,000 worth of airfare, flights that cannot be changed.  $12,000 in cruise costs for which a future cruise credit is absolutely useless to us as we have no opportunity to get back to the United States within the next couple of years at which time my kids will be adults and have left school.  A week that we would have to fill in which without an immediate refund, we couldn't afford to fill.

 

Agreed, demanding this fix ASAP so everything goes back to normal is very unfair to those that might lose their cruise. 

 

We are coming from the UK, our flights weren’t purchased through RC so when this issue came public knowledge I quickly did a search of possible alternative to our holiday in the Florida area. I am much happier with a port change than a cancelled cruise and the turmoil involved to sorting something different for my family. 

 

What RC are doing it the most logical thing IMO. 

Edited May 6, 2019 by Luminated67

[CRUISEFAN0001]

4 hours ago, PrincessBelle39 said:

I can deal with changes in the itineraries but we would be stuffed if our cruise was cancelled.  $12,000 worth of airfare, flights that cannot be changed.  $12,000 in cruise costs for which a future cruise credit is absolutely useless to us as we have no opportunity to get back to the United States within the next couple of years at which time my kids will be adults and have left school.  A week that we would have to fill in which without an immediate refund, we couldn't afford to fill.

Hmmmm...that's very unfortunate but avoidable with travel insurance.

[pmck]

Just got an email at 8:30 last night that our 05/26/19 cruise on the Allure has some itinerary changes.  We will be staying an extra hour in St. Maarten and losing 2 in San Juan, so they can make it to Labadee on time.  This is due to the "propulsion issues" and the fact that they will have to cruise slower. Not really that big of a deal for us.  Just glad that we are still sailing. Excited because we changed our flight (originally flying from NJ at 6:40 a.m. on the 26th) to Saturday afternoon now. Had to suck up some airport fees, but want the peace of mind instead.  Now looking to book a hotel in FLL for the night before we sail. 20 more days!! So excited now!!

 

Patti

[Luminated67]

5 hours ago, pmck said:

Just got an email at 8:30 last night that our 05/26/19 cruise on the Allure has some itinerary changes.  We will be staying an extra hour in St. Maarten and losing 2 in San Juan, so they can make it to Labadee on time.  This is due to the "propulsion issues" and the fact that they will have to cruise slower. Not really that big of a deal for us.  Just glad that we are still sailing. Excited because we changed our flight (originally flying from NJ at 6:40 a.m. on the 26th) to Saturday afternoon now. Had to suck up some airport fees, but want the peace of mind instead.  Now looking to book a hotel in FLL for the night before we sail. 20 more days!! So excited now!!

 

Patti

 

They changing the itinerary again?

 

We are doing back to back cruises starting the 12th May & 19th May, our stops were originally ST KITTS & NEVIS, ST. THOMAS (now SAN JUAN) & BAHAMAS first cruise then LABADEE, JAMAICA & COZUMEL on the second. 

 

When was ST. MAARTEN added and to the same cruise as LABADEE?

 

I’m confused.

[rockmom]

8 minutes ago, Luminated67 said:

 

They changing the itinerary again?

 

We are doing back to back cruises starting the 12th May & 19th May, our stops were originally ST KITTS & NEVIS, ST. THOMAS (now SAN JUAN) & BAHAMAS first cruise then LABADEE, JAMAICA & COZUMEL on the second. 

 

When was ST. MAARTEN added and to the same cruise as LABADEE?

 

I’m confused.

Each of these had different itineraries to begin with.  The week of the 19th and the 26th both had Labadee, but the other port stops were different from the start.  Only the sailing on the 19th is a Western itinerary, the others are Eastern. Since those have longer distances, hence the change for those.  For the Western on the 19th there has been one very minor change--arriving an hour and 15 minutes later, departing an hour later for the Falmouth stop. 

Edited May 6, 2019 by rockmom

[pmck]

7 minutes ago, Luminated67 said:

 

They changing the itinerary again?

 

We are doing back to back cruises starting the 12th May & 19th May, our stops were originally ST KITTS & NEVIS, ST. THOMAS (now SAN JUAN) & BAHAMAS first cruise then LABADEE, JAMAICA & COZUMEL on the second. 

 

When was ST. MAARTEN added and to the same cruise as LABADEE?

 

I’m confused.

Our cruise leaving FLL on 5/26/19 was always scheduled to go to St Maarten, then San Juan, then Labadee.

[PrincessBelle39]

10 hours ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

Hmmmm...that's very unfortunate but avoidable with travel insurance.

 

We have travel insurance but it won't fix things.  If it was to be cancelled and there is nothing else available equivalent to swap us to, travel insurance can't fix that.  If the travel insurance doesn't payout instantly, we're stuffed.  With the current exchange rate, we would be using most of our spending money to cover accommodation.  The years of planning and saving and that the kids won't be kids by the time we can get back can't be fixed by travel insurance.  

 

We don't care where we go, or how much the itinerary is changed.  We just want to cruise.  We will be keeping everything crossed.

[Luminated67]

20 minutes ago, rockmom said:

Each of these had different itineraries to begin with.  The week of the 19th and the 26th both had Labadee, but the other port stops were different from the start.  Only the sailing on the 19th is a Western itinerary, the others are Eastern. Since those have longer distances, hence the change for those.  For the Western on the 19th there has been one very minor change--arriving an hour and 15 minutes later, departing an hour later for the Falmouth stop. 

 

I honestly thought my 12th May Cruise was duplicated on the 26th, meaning western Caribbean one cruise and eastern the next and then back again to the western. Did not expect the itinerary to change.

[BermudaBound2014]

17 minutes ago, Luminated67 said:

When was ST. MAARTEN added and to the same cruise as LABADEE?

 

I’m confused.

 

The Allure runs a several different Routes for both Eastern and Western. And  to add variety (or to complicate) it depends on where she sails from. 

 

When in Fort Lauderdale:

Option A. Eastern Caribbean: St Martin, San Juan, and Labadee

Option B. Revised Eastern Caribbean: St Kitts, San Juan (in place of St Thomas), Perfect day 

Option C. Western Caribbean: Perfect Day, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Hondorus

Option D: "old' Eastern Caribbean (still being advertised, see below): St Kitts, St Thomas, Perfect Day. Note, this itinerary is also still being advertised as this years the holiday sailing as I pulled the pics below right from RCL website.

 

When sailing from Miami (which she does again):

Option A. St. Maartin, San Juan, Perfect Day

Option B: Miami Western in reverse: Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya, Perfect Day

 

There may be more, but those are what I see off the top. It seems like Option B from Fort Lauderdale is the one with the most changes because this itinerary replaced St Thomas with San juan. Hope that helps :)

 

 

 

 

[PrincessBelle39]

14 hours ago, Luminated67 said:

 

Agreed, demanding this fix ASAP so everything goes back to normal is very unfair to those that might lose their cruise. 

 

We are coming from the UK, our flights weren’t purchased through RC so when this issue came public knowledge I quickly did a search of possible alternative to our holiday in the Florida area. I am much happier with a port change than a cancelled cruise and the turmoil involved to sorting something different for my family. 

 

What RC are doing it the most logical thing IMO. 

I agree 100%.  Not all cruisers are domestic cruisers.  There are many that travel from overseas that can't just rebook for a later time.  It will take us 33 hours of travel time to get to Florida.  This is not something that can be arranged at the drop of a hat. We can't book our flights through RCI  so that was never an option.  I 

[coppermouse]

 

 

 

On 4/11/2019 at 11:38 AM, tropical83 said:

I wonder how many sailings have received emails about the itinerary changes.

I have not received anything for May 26. I'm worried they will have to cancel some upcoming sailings to fix the issue...

How long can the ship sail with defective azipods?

[rockmom]

8 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

The Allure runs a several different Routes for both Eastern and Western. And  to add variety (or to complicate) it depends on where she sails from. 

 

When in Fort Lauderdale:

Option A. Eastern Caribbean: St Martin, San Juan, and Labadee

Option B. Revised Eastern Caribbean: St Kitts, San Juan (in place of St Thomas), Perfect day 

Option C. Western Caribbean: Perfect Day, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Hondorus

Option 😧 "old' Eastern Caribbean (still being advertised, see below): St Kitts, St Thomas, Perfect Day. Note, this itinerary is also still being advertised as this years the holiday sailing as I pulled the pics below right from RCL website.

 

When sailing from Miami (which she does again):

Option A. St. Maartin, San Juan, Perfect Day

Option B: Miami Western in reverse: Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya, Perfect Day

 

There may be more, but those are what I see off the top. It seems like Option B from Fort Lauderdale is the one with the most changes because this itinerary replaced St Thomas with San juan. Hope that helps 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the other western from Fort Lauderdale:  Labadee, Falmouth, Cozumel.  😉  

[BermudaBound2014]

1 minute ago, rockmom said:

And the other western from Fort Lauderdale:  Labadee, Falmouth, Cozumel.  😉  

 

And it seems that each itinerary before November has different impact times. The Option A from Fort Lauderdale changes aren't terrible. We leave San Juan at 1 (not 3) and have an extra hour in Labadee. 

 

If the changes are going to be in play after October (and it seems they will be since Allure isn't headed to Spain until April 2020), I would HOPE Rcl fixes the rest of the cruise itineraries before final payment so people have a choice. This is Especially true for  the holiday cruise which is $$$$. Replacing a full day in St Thomas for a 1/2 day in San Juan on a holiday sailing ($$$$) is going to tick a lot of people off. 

 

 

[coppermouse]

On 4/10/2019 at 8:41 PM, cruiser123! said:

I saw a couple of posts on FB regarding the Allure adjusting it’s itinerarh because it needs to slow down.  The comments suggest an azipod issue.    How does this get fixed?   We cruise in July so I’m hoping it’s done way before that 

 

thoughts?

There are four of us sailing in July.  We have not received an email as of yet. Maybe it's too early. Hoping things get settled before then. 

[BermudaBound2014]

Just now, coppermouse said:

There are four of us sailing in July.  We have not received an email as of yet. Maybe it's too early. Hoping things get settled before then. 

The cruises from now until October have already been revised. Please check your online planner and report back. I think you will find that changes to your sailing have already been announced.

[coppermouse]

On 5/2/2019 at 2:48 PM, DShock said:

Got these for our Sept 1 and 8 cruises, nothing yet for our Sept 15th cruise but I expect the same.  No big deal to us.

Dear Guest,

We look forward to welcoming you onboard Allure of the Seas and have an important itinerary change to share with you for our September 1^st cruise. 

We’ll be reducing our speed because of a technical matter with one of the ship’s three propulsion pods. As a result, we’ve had to make a minor adjustment to our itinerary. This means, we’ll arrive in Falmouth, Jamaica a little later than we originally planned. We’ll now be there from 10:45 AM to 7:00 PM. We are sorry for this unexpected change. Please know, when making these changes, we do everything possible to maximize your time in each destination and we are confident your cruise will be amazing.

It’s important to us that we set expectations accordingly and that you start your vacation off right. Below, please find our new itinerary.

Day	Port of Call	Arrive	Depart
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida		4:30 PM
Mon	Cruising
Tue	Labadee, Haiti	7:00 AM	4:00 PM
Wed	Falmouth, Jamaica	9:30 AM 10:45 AM	6:00 PM 7:00 PM
Thu	Cruising
Fri	Cozumel, Mexico	8:00 AM	7:00 PM
Sat	Cruising
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	6:15 AM

We are eager to welcome you onboard and can’t wait for you to discover the Eastern Caribbean. We hope you savor each and every moment while you admire the crystal clear, turquoise waters of our private destination, Labadee, climb the invigorating Dunn's River Falls in Falmouth, and explore Chichen Itza and its surrounding pyramids in Cozumel. We are sure you’ll have a great time whatever you choose to do!

Any affected Royal Caribbean International shore excursions booked for Falmouth, will be rescheduled for you. In the next 3 business days, our Shore Excursions team will send you an email with your updated excursion details. Then, feel free to browse through our Cruise Planner for additional excursions that may interest you.

We look forward to having you onboard Allure of the Seas soon!

Sincerely,

 

Dear Guest,

We look forward to welcoming you onboard Allure of the Seas for our September 8^th cruise and have an important itinerary change to share with you.

We’ll be reducing our speed because of a technical matter with one of the ship’s three propulsion pods. As a result, we’ve had to make an adjustment to our itinerary. To make sure we arrive in Labadee, Haiti on time, we’ll regrettably depart San Juan, Puerto Rico a little early. The good news is we’ll be able to spend an extra hour in Philipsburg, St. Maarten. We are sorry for this unexpected change. Please know, when making these changes, we do everything possible to maximize your time at each destination and we are confident your cruise will be amazing.

It’s important to us that we set expectations accordingly and that you start your vacation off right. Below, please find our new itinerary.

Day	Port of Call	Arrive	Depart
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida		4:30 PM
Mon	Cruising
Tue	Cruising
Wed	Philipsburg, St. Maarten	8:00 AM	5:00 PM 6:00 PM
Thu	San Juan, Puerto Rico	7:00 AM	3:00 PM 1:00 PM
Fri	Labadee, Haiti	10:00 AM	6:00 PM
Sat	Cruising
Sun	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	6:15 AM

We are eager to welcome you onboard and can’t wait for you to discover the Eastern Caribbean. We hope you’ll savor each and every moment while you explore the Puerto Rican countryside on 4x4s, kick back on a sandy beach in Philipsburg, and admire the crystal clear, turquoise waters on our private destination, Labadee!

Any affected Royal Caribbean International shore excursions booked for San Juan, will be rescheduled for you. In the next 3 business days, our Shore Excursions team will send you an email with your updated excursion details. Then, feel free to browse through our Cruise Planner for additional excursions that may interest you.

We look forward to having you onboard Allure of the Seas soon!

Sincerely,

We sail in July and did not receive any emails from Royal.

[hallux]

51 minutes ago, coppermouse said:

How long can the ship sail with defective azipods?

I'm sure that depends on the manner of the failure.  I noted earlier that I wonder if they're simply reducing speed to reduce wear on the units so they can extend the maintenance interval until the dry dock in Freeport can once again be used to service them.  Until the extent of the damage to the dock is known, and what impact the loss of the dock will have on the schedule is known, they can't schedule ships requiring that dock to come in for service/repairs.  RCI might be trying to extend the service interval in an effort to avoid 2 TA's and the week down for repairs to get the ship to and from Spain before she's there for planned itineraries.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

1 hour ago, PrincessBelle39 said:

 

We have travel insurance but it won't fix things.  If it was to be cancelled and there is nothing else available equivalent to swap us to, travel insurance can't fix that.  If the travel insurance doesn't payout instantly, we're stuffed.  With the current exchange rate, we would be using most of our spending money to cover accommodation.  The years of planning and saving and that the kids won't be kids by the time we can get back can't be fixed by travel insurance.  

 

We don't care where we go, or how much the itinerary is changed.  We just want to cruise.  We will be keeping everything crossed.

Hoping things work out for you...but...you should contact the travel insurance carrier...as if you have written confirmation things will impact your flights...most policies will address that change quickly.

[springfire]

2 hours ago, coppermouse said:

We sail in July and did not receive any emails from Royal.

If you have a travel agent, they should send the email to you.

[LMaxwell]

On 5/6/2019 at 3:01 AM, PrincessBelle39 said:

.  A week that we would have to fill in which without an immediate refund, we couldn't afford to fill.

 

If you get a refund processed back to your credit card does it really matter if it is immediate or takes a week or 2?  You incur charges on the same card that aren't due immediately.  

[pmck]

13 hours ago, coppermouse said:

There are four of us sailing in July.  We have not received an email as of yet. Maybe it's too early. Hoping things get settled before then. 

yeah, we are sailing in 18 days and just got the email this past weekend, so you won't hear for a while. There are lots of cruises before yours that they have to deal with first.