Vision is having problems

[kenandlaura06]

I just received this email from my TA. It appears as tho only the 2-12-06 sailing will be affected.

 

Please be advised that the 7-Night Mexican Riviera itinerary (07MEX10) on the 2/12/06 Vision of the Seas has been revised due to a propulsion motor short circuit which is resulting in reduced sailing speeds. Departure time from Los Angeles has been revised from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The new itinerary will exclude an original port of call, Puerto Vallarta, creating an extra day At Sea. In addition, the ship will be in Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan on Day 4 and 5, rather than Day 3 and 4.

 

Per RCCL:

 

We will have food and beverages at the terminal for those guests who arrive at the originally scheduled time.

 

Compensation of $100 onboard credit for 1st and 2nd guests will be added to each stateroom ($150 per person for suites).

 

Anyone wanting to cancel will be offered a 100% FCC

 

Anyone who chooses to cancel and receive the 100% FCC, must do so by the close of business on 02/11/06.

 

 

Seems like very fair compensation.

[rcicruiser]

I have a friend who is on the Vision now, she had to change her return flight because they where getting in late on sunday. But it worked out good for her anyway because we are having a blizzard here in the Northeast and the airports are closed. She also mention something about leaving a port late because they where missing over 20 passengers.

[rcicruiser]

It is something they are going to fix while sailing. They will pick up what they need at the pier.

[Mary Louise]

Thank you RCI Cruiser, if you get any more updates, please keep posting them. I am sure future Vision passengers like myself would appreciate it. Where are you from? I live in MA and to is experiencing the blizzard.

 

ML

[wl2cruise]

Ijust drop off my in laws at the peir. Very easy not to much traffic either was very suprised:p I thought it was going to be terrible since she was to arrive at 11am and at 230 it seems that everybody from the previous cruise were all gone .

[Veyron]

Thanks, everyone for the news/updates. We are going on Vision March 12 - this will be our first cruise, and we are hoping all will be well by that time. Please keep the updates coming!

[kalishea]

I just got off the Vision Feb 5 sailing last night and I will try to clear up a couple things to the best of my knowledge. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

On Thursday morning as we arrived in Puerta Vallarta, one of the two propellers went out as we were pulling up to the dock. Because of this, Captain George was concerned that we would not make it back to San Pedro in a timely manor on Sunday because we would not be able to go as fast with one propeller. So we were instructed to be back on board at 5:00 rather than 9:30. Unfortunatly not everyone heard the annoucement and we had to wait for 9 people to be found. We were also instructed to change our flight times to after 4:00 on Sunday. We were provided free phones and interent the rest of the trip. We kept good speed and returned to San Pedro Sunday at approx. 10:00 am. We were to the airport by 1:00. As far as we understand the Feb 12 sailing is now changed because 1) our late arrival on Sunday and 2) the ship is not able to go as fast with one propeller and so they are not going to be able to go to Puerta Vallarta.

I realize that the Feb 12 people have already left, but maybe someone else was wondering.

Kalishea

[Travelgrrl]

Hope it's fixed for the 19th - I missed PV last time I was on this itinerary!

[Mary Louise]

I too hope it is fixed by the 19th. It sounds like RCCL is waiting for a part to come in, or why else would the passengers on this week's cruise miss PV? If anyone has an insight to this, please let us know.

 

Thank you

 

ML

[alexkrn46]

Kalishea,

when you get a chance could you give us a review of your cruise? I will be going in March. Thanks, Alex

[dadroy]

I just got off the Vision on the 12th. While pulling into Puerto Vallarta they had a short circuit on one of the propellers. They wanted to leave at 5pm instead of 10 pm as scheduled, but a group of people had gotten off before they knew how bad the damage was. The Captain (nice guy) announced every hour they were waiting a little longer for the missing people to return. The Captain then announced we were leaving them and RCL would take care of getting them home. This bothered me a bit since their Passports etc would be on the ship. How would they go through customs?

 

Another thing that concerned me was they kept calling the missing passengers by name to see if they were on board. I would think the sea pass thing at the gangway could tell them if they were on board.

 

We finally left at 8pm (all passengers onboard). We made good time 18 knots most of the time and got into San Pedro about 10:30. As posted above, the ship was leaving again without being fixed. I would think they would fix it before they left, but hopefully it will not be too long before it is completly fixed. By the way, no compensation for leaving the last port early, no big deal to me, but I am sure it ruined dinner in town for many people. Evening in Puerto Vallarta is better than daytime.

[Patin730]

I sent Randi's Happy Horses an email over the weekend (while being snowed in) to confirm our reservation. I rec'd a reply from Randi this morning saying the Vision is going to be delayed on the 2/19 sailing as well and we are scheduled to be in Mazatlan on 2/23 rather than 2/22. I wonder if we are skipping Puerto Vallarta as well.

 

-Pat

[KristinK023]

I just got off the vision when it experienced its problems. Apparently, there was a short circuit in one of the motors that runs one of the 2 rear propellors.. So we had to leave puerto vallarta at 5 this past thurs..as opposed to the scheduled 10pm... We didnt end up leaving til after 7pm cause the captain wanted to wait for passengers who still didnt get back to the ship. We were supposed to get to Long Beach at 3pm... but we made good time coming back, so ended up getting back 4 hours later than originally scheduled. We got there 11am. We got 100 refund credit for changing our flights. Mine only cost 95 pp to re-book but I heard some people who it cost near 500 to re-book their air. They also gave us 2 hotels that we could stay in and get refunded for, as well as taxi costs to and from the airport/hotel. It;s kinda a good thing that this happened, as our flight back to the east coast was cancelled sunday because of the snow. so we got a hotel room for free, instead of sleeping inthe airport. The captain said the next itinerary(this week's cruise) would be the only one affected. Instead of going to Puerto Vallarta, they're going to spend a night or 2 in Mazatlan, and fix the propellor there.

[Lightsluvr]

There is no problem with "the propellors".

 

Vision's propulsion system is not unlike a diesel railroad locomotive. It uses diesel engines to turn a generator which generates electricity to operate 2-4 large electric motors which are directly attached to the propellor shafts. (Azipods work the same way, except the electric motor is actually inside the "pod" rather than inside the hull.)

 

According to a reputable cruiseline source I read, there was a short circuit in one of the motors, parts had been ordered and delivered within days, and repairs could be made "on the fly" without the need for drydock or significant interference with the ship's future itineraries.

Hopefully the Vision will be back to normal very soon.

 

LL

[GRBadger]

Talked to RCI reps this morning. They are still saying no change for the 19th.

[Cinebrat]

We are sailing on Feb. 26th. I just went online to look into excursions and Puerto Vallarta isn't even a choice anymore and Cabo and Mazatlan have been pushed back a day. This leads me to believe that they hope they can fix the problem quickly but they are preparing for the worse.

[madforcruising]

to answer your question yes they can change the propeller in port. They just removed the propeller from the QM2 after her accident in port, so they could get it repaired and sent on to put it back together in another port.

 

 

I´m really curious where you have this information from. Is this anywhere stated?

 

I highly doubt that the Azipods can be changed while the ship is in the water and these things are so huge you would have big problems to send them anywhere.

 

BTW just now the news are around that some cruises on the QM2 are cancelled as she is still travelling without one of the Pods and the broken Pod will be removed in May when she will be in an unscheduled dry dock at Bloom & Voss in Hamburg. In November she will have to be back there to get the fourth Pod repaired back.

 

So I think you are wrong with your message.

[Patin730]

Looks like Royal Caribbean has updated their website. I checked my reservation for 2/19 during lunch and they added a sea day in the beginning, moved Cabo and Mazatlan back a day and eliminated PV. Bummer. It would be nice if we got the $100 pp onboard credit. Add that to my cancelled Shore Excursion in PV and that should by a lot of drinks on those at sea days.

 

-Pat

[mikiehorn]

Hi Folks - we were on the Vision (2/5) cruise that experienced the problem and had a powerpoint presentation by Captain George (IMHO) the best capt in the RCCL fleet. The repair will take 3 days - once the part(s) are secured - details follow:

 

Specifically - the Vision is a diesel - electric ship with conventional prop shafts driven by (diesel generated electricity) electric propulsion engines that drive the shafts and screws.

 

One of the electric engines fried a huge main power cable before entering PV. The early birds left the ship in PV before the full extent of the problem was realized - ie a slower speed back to LA (cruising on one prop...). We got word all passengers were to return to the ship before 5PM - but the earlybirds were scattered all over PV and the "dragnet" didn't get everyone back before we sailed after 8PM (local time). We duly waited for 19 passengers - all hands sailed...

 

We made as much as 17-18 knots headway even with one screw (usually we did 21 knots with both screws) but when the winds and currents came up we dipped to as little as 13 knots... We arrived in LA at 1030AM -not the expected arrival time of 0700...

 

There was/is no safety issue - other than slower top speed. We got free internet (usually .50 min) to make other reservations. Many folks did overnights in LA - tab picked up by RCCL (at RCCL designated hotels) - and up to $100 ticket change fees (each) picked up for those who made later flights.

 

(We had already booked a 5:30 PM on SW Air up to San Jose, CA (as part of our own original plan) and weren't bothered by the late arrival).

 

Many people were inconvenienced. Overall - the crew did a masterful job of organizing - informing and accommodating those who were impacted. I'm sure there were exceptions to this - as everyone had different circumstances.

 

As I said before Capt George is a standup guy. He brought Visiion from last to first in the fleet and is literally beloved by every crew member - this is not said lightly. He will be missed when he is forced by the line to change ships.

 

Hope this helps. I'm sure the RCCL site is posting updates. Overall the cruise was better than expected. Food, service and overall ship activites were better than our last Visiion trip to Alaska...

 

Mike & Karen

Crown and Anchor Platinum

[merrysunshine320]

My friends and I are scheduled to take a cruise on March 12 on this ship. Do you think it will be fixed by then??

[audome78]

Looks like RCI changed the itinerary on their website for the 02-26-06 sailing, too- skipping PV and adding a sea day- LA, At sea, at sea, Cabo, Mazatlan, at sea, at sea, LA.

 

I hope they get it fixed in time for our 3-5 cruise!

[Lightsluvr]

Thanks for the detailed report - confirms what I posted earlier which was based on a web report.

 

I am particularly happy about your comments on the staff and crew. We are going to do the Alaskan Fjord cruise on the Vision in June 2006. Really looking forward to it now...

 

LL

[GRBadger]

I wonder if changing the website is part of the "underpromise overdeliver" strategy of customer service. If we all think PV is gone, then it is added again - we go into our cruises happy and excited. If we think PV is there, and they cancel at the last minute - we start our cruises with disappointment.

 

A Cruiser on the 2/19 roll call site is reporting that they talked to RCI customer service late this afternoon and were told that the 2/19 will include PV. I talked to RCI late this afternoon and was told that the itinerary had changed to exclude PV.

 

If they are repairing in Mazatlan, they havent started yet. They are likely holding out until they know definitively that the ship will be repaired.

[Ocean Boy]

As I said before Capt George is a standup guy. He brought Visiion from last to first in the fleet and is literally beloved by every crew member - this is not said lightly.

When was Vision considered to be "last in the fleet" and by whom is it now considered to be "first"?

[Travelgrrl]

RCI's website still says the old itinerary for the 19th, and the customer service rep first said that they "didn't know this far in advance" of any port changes and then later checked with her Manager and said that the old itinerary still stands.

 

Bet it doesn't. And I didn't make it to PV the last time I was on this route! Boo hoo!