Carnival refurbishment and renamed ships

[ginger123snaps]

Just curious...some of carnivals old ships are undergoing massive refurbishments.  Does anyone know when these ships undergo a big refurbishment do they upgrade the ship engines/mechanics (sorry don't know what the terminology would be)?  Basically I don't want to risk sailing a renamed/refurbished ship and being "stuck" like what happened to one of the carnival ships a few years ago (can't remember which one).  I believe they called it a "poop" cruise.  I know it was started by a fire but I remember reading there was more to it then just a fire.  

[Tapi]

I can’t answer your question concerning refurbishment, but I wouldn’t equate older with increased chances of having problems that could set the ship adrift like with the Triumph. Keep in mind that the Triumph wasn’t the only ship that was adrift at sea under similar conditions. Carnival Splendor endured a similar situation for days when the ship was only 2 years old, although it didn’t received as much publicity as the Triumph. Most recently, Viking had a brand new ship adrift as well. 
 

I understand your concern, but put things into perspective. The chances of something like this happening are VERY slim. You probably have a better chance of winning the lottery. Unfortunately when something like this DOES happen, the media milks these stories to the point that it disrupts rational thinking. 
 

 

Edited October 20, 2019 by Tapi

[jsglow]

They haven't gotten new engines.  That said, regulatory authorities don't allow 'unsafe' ships to go to sea.  You have a 100x greater chance to get killed in your car on the way to the airport.  I don't live my life that way.  Sail on.

[Joebucks]

Do yourself a favor and disregard all of the stuff you hear. Enjoy your cruise instead

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

First. No engine changes. Second. All ships can have problems. new and old. Nothing is exempt from that. Usually, new carpeting, bedding, painting the ship. Upgrades. Adding more state rooms. Changing interior spaces and new furniture. This totally depends if it is for a few weeks or months. If it is a few month. Major physical changes will be done. Gut the ship and re do it. Still not the engines. You CAN rest assure the engine room will be completely gone over and everything checked 100% Possible some items replace or refurbished.

[BlerkOne]

All of the Carnival ships have had some upgrades to mitigate the possibility of a repeat of some events. For example, an extra auxiliary generator that can keep hotel services running.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

We are booked on the Radiance. A gutted ship. All the cruises we do now we try to do a refurbish, gutted or new ship that we have not sail on before. Mardi Gras we are also booked on, beautiful looking ship. We sailed on the Celebrity EDGE and will never do it again or the sister ship they are building. Not our type of fun ship at all.

[ray98]

I think you are worrying about the wrong things.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

1 minute ago, ray98 said:

I think you are worrying about the wrong things.

Who is wrong?

[ray98]

1 hour ago, twodaywonder said:

Who is wrong?

 

The person worrying about taking a cruise because the engines are not new.

[Joebucks]

The Vista had engine problems in June and it is 3 years old. It can happen anytime. It's best not to consider a worst-case that the news was all over and instead how to plan an enjoyable experience for you and your family/friends.

[GayleR]

We sailed on the Triumph after the "poop cruise."  Got a balcony on deck 7 for the price of an inside on deck 1.  It was a great cruise.  Lots of empty cabins so the staff was incredibly friendly and nice.  Best service I have ever received.  

[ed01106]

To answer the OP’s direct question.  Sometimes when carnival does a remodel of the ship they rename the ship so they can pretend it is new and exciting rather than a remodel.  

[chengkp75]

The Triumph "poop" cruise was caused by a fire, not due to the age of the equipment, as the part that failed had been renewed 6 months prior.  As for there being "more to it than just a fire", what was "more to it" was poor design of the ship's systems from new building, and this applies to virtually every class of Carnival ship afloat, up to the Vista class.  As for the "additional generator", that idea has been abandoned, and the remedy was to reroute the electrical cabling from the forward engine room outside the after engine room.   And to be honest, there was not poop running down the walls.

 

All the medium speed diesels that cruise ships use for power are completely overhauled (torn down with every single piece taken out and inspected and reconditioned or renewed as recommended by the engine manufacturer) every 12,000 running hours, which is about every 2 years.  Most of Carnival's ships have 6 diesels, so three are reconditioned every year.

Edited October 20, 2019 by chengkp75

[CallistaSkye]

You can look up Dry Dock dates and generally there is a description of what will be done. I would guess that they take the chance to update equipment that needs it and restructure things a bit. I wouldn't really worry too much. 

 

[DryCreek]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

The Triumph "poop" cruise was caused by a fire, not due to the age of the equipment, as the part that failed had been renewed 6 months prior.  As for there being "more to it than just a fire", what was "more to it" was poor design of the ship's systems from new building, and this applies to virtually every class of Carnival ship afloat, up to the Vista class.  As for the "additional generator", that idea has been abandoned, and the remedy was to reroute the electrical cabling from the forward engine room outside the after engine room.   And to be honest, there was not poop running down the walls.

 

All the medium speed diesels that cruise ships use for power are completely overhauled (torn down with every single piece taken out and inspected and reconditioned or renewed as recommended by the engine manufacturer) every 12,000 running hours, which is about every 2 years.  Most of Carnival's ships have 6 diesels, so three are reconditioned every year.

One of my coworkers was on board for the "Triumphant Poopie Cruise".

He brought back pictures.  There were areas where sewage had backed up and spilled across the floor.  He showed me pictures where feces and feminine hygiene products had washed under the door and into their OV stateroom.  He showed me photos of the wilted greens and stale bread they endured until less perishable items were air dropped.

It was quite impressive, in a bad sort of way.  The loss of the ability to shower was what really affected him, his wife, and their two young children.  Now, imagine being adrift in the warm Gulf waters with no real way to shower - along with a couple of thousand other sweaty passengers.

This guy was an Iraqi vet.  He said that he never endured conditions like this before.

And, we both are in the operations department at a very large electric generating station. It is not hard to recognize poor engineering when all power is routed through one switching station.  A fire, no matter how minor, can easily disrupt any power distribution scheme.  There should be separate bussing with independent switchgear.  Just like the ships I served aboard in the U.S. Navy.  It's not a new concept.  The issue has only happened to ships built by Fincantieri.  Maybe the non-redundant design is cheaper to build?

Another issue seems to be with the AziPod propulsion system (NA to Triumph).  I have heard anecdotal issues with water intrusion to the pods where the motors are housed.

I wouldn't diminish the experience of others who had been through the bad days on the Splendor or the Triumph, but I wouldn't let the possibility of that kind of issue keep me at home either.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, DryCreek said:

There were areas where sewage had backed up and spilled across the floor.  He showed me pictures where feces and feminine hygiene products had washed under the door and into their OV stateroom.

The only way that vacuum toilets can back up with a total loss of power is if people continue to do their business in an already full toilet.  Unlike a land toilet, there is a valve between the bowl and the piping, so without any vacuum to operate the valve, there can be no back up from other toilets.  Most of what folks saw as sewage was due to the extreme humidity within the ship dripping on the dust and dirt on the cabin and public space overhead panels, and then running down the walls.

1 hour ago, DryCreek said:

Another issue seems to be with the AziPod propulsion system (NA to Triumph).  I have heard anecdotal issues with water intrusion to the pods where the motors are housed

While thrust bearing problems are a known phenomenon for azipods, I have never heard of a water intrusion, as the shaft seals have an oil cavity that is under higher pressure than the sea water, so this oil will leak out and prevent water from entering the pod.

[Joe817]

Boy howdy! This stuff is interesting! Learning a lot here. Thanks!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

18 hours ago, ed01106 said:

To answer the OP’s direct question.  Sometimes when carnival does a remodel of the ship they rename the ship so they can pretend it is new and exciting rather than a remodel.  

Pretend? Really! I don't think so!

[DryCreek]

22 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

The only way that vacuum toilets can back up with a total loss of power is if people continue to do their business in an already full toilet.  Unlike a land toilet, there is a valve between the bowl and the piping, so without any vacuum to operate the valve, there can be no back up from other toilets.  Most of what folks saw as sewage was due to the extreme humidity within the ship dripping on the dust and dirt on the cabin and public space overhead panels, and then running down the walls.

While thrust bearing problems are a known phenomenon for azipods, I have never heard of a water intrusion, as the shaft seals have an oil cavity that is under higher pressure than the sea water, so this oil will leak out and prevent water from entering the pod.

That is exactly what was happening.  While the "lucky ones" with a balcony could use their ice bucket as a chamber pot, and dispose of the waste in the same Victorian manner, those in the inside cabins just kept filling their dead toilets up.  A couple of good rolls and the mess wash sloshing over the rim.  There was also some sort of a vent pipe on deck that would occasionally spew.  My buddy never could figure out what was causing that, but he soon learned to avoid that area.

 

The leakage I was hearing about wasn't along the propulsion shaft to the prop - it was along where the AziPod mounted to the hull and sometimes water intrusion would creep along that seal and cause grounds on the motor.  It was anecdotal information, and I don't know if it was ever confirmed - so I would chalk it up to hearsay for now.

[thesmiths]

On 10/20/2019 at 1:00 PM, Joebucks said:

Do yourself a favor and disregard all of the stuff you hear. Enjoy your cruise instead

Yes, this!!!!!

 

We went on the Sunrise ( Truimph) in September for an 8 Day!

We had a great cruise.

Had I believed any of the BS I had read and there was  alot of it prior to our sailing I would have switched ships...

 

Go have BIG FUN!

 

Everyone wants to go and look for something to complain about... insanity.

On my gosh, The Butter doesn't  have the little swirl mark on the top like it used to have in 1943.........

I am switching lines...

 

Everyone should go and find something to bring back in a positive way....like we do, great memories.

 

 

 

[chengkp75]

11 hours ago, DryCreek said:

That is exactly what was happening.  While the "lucky ones" with a balcony could use their ice bucket as a chamber pot, and dispose of the waste in the same Victorian manner, those in the inside cabins just kept filling their dead toilets up.  A couple of good rolls and the mess wash sloshing over the rim.  There was also some sort of a vent pipe on deck that would occasionally spew.  My buddy never could figure out what was causing that, but he soon learned to avoid that area.

That would cause sewage on the deck, and I don't dispute that this happened, but when folks claim it was dripping from the ceiling and running down the walls, that is not sewage.

11 hours ago, DryCreek said:

The leakage I was hearing about wasn't along the propulsion shaft to the prop - it was along where the AziPod mounted to the hull and sometimes water intrusion would creep along that seal and cause grounds on the motor.  It was anecdotal information, and I don't know if it was ever confirmed - so I would chalk it up to hearsay for now.

I'd discount this as well, as I don't see how a leak at the azimuth seal would cause a problem with the motor.  The azimuth seal that seals the rotating pod to the ship, is in the compartment inside the ship where the azimuthing equipment is, and this is completely separate from the entry down into the pod where the motor is.  Even if there was leakage into the pod, it would have to be severe, and the bilge alarm would have to have failed, for it to cause a ground in the motor.

[jimbo5544]

On 10/20/2019 at 10:20 PM, Joe817 said:

Boy howdy! This stuff is interesting! Learning a lot here. Thanks!

And some of it is actually on topic.  What happened on the Triumph years ago...is not.

[jimbo5544]

11 hours ago, thesmiths said:

Yes, this!!!!!

 

We went on the Sunrise ( Truimph) in September for an 8 Day!

We had a great cruise.

Had I believed any of the BS I had read and there was  alot of it prior to our sailing I would have switched ships...

 

Go have BIG FUN!

 

Everyone wants to go and look for something to complain about... insanity.

On my gosh, The Butter doesn't  have the little swirl mark on the top like it used to have in 1943.........

I am switching lines...

 

Everyone should go and find something to bring back in a positive way....like we do, great memories.

 

 

 

Sometimes the bashers get really creative.