Will RCI follow?

[Biker19]

"

Guests boarding Cunard’s Queen Victoria for the ship’s current cruise had no idea they’d be embarking on more of a maritime adventure than they bargained for.

In what would be one of the most exciting turns of events for any fan of cruise ships and engineering, today Queen Victoria entered an unexpected two-day dry dock in Cadiz, Spain — with guests still on board.

 

The ship has been dealing with issues with one of its Azipod blades which, according to many guests over the course of several months, has been causing disrupting vibrations towards the aft.

 

Currently, Queen Victoria is on a 15-night Christmas and New Year’s Canary Islands cruise that departed on December 23rd from Southampton, England.

 

In a letter to guests on embarkation day, the ship’s captain Tomás Connery said “Queen Victoria will be going into a dry dock in Cadiz during your voyage. This means that unfortunately we will be cancelling the scheduled call in Lisbon on 4th January, and instead you will be in port over two nights to explore the ancient Andalusian city of Cadiz. We shall be arriving there with time to go ashore during the evening of Monday 2nd January and departing on the morning of Wednesday 4th January.

Whilst in dry dock, our service and activities will largely continue as normal… There will also be complimentary regular shuttle buses to and from the yard to the city centre.”

 

Instead of shortening the cruise and disembarking passengers prior to dry dock, they’ll be staying on board throughout the whole process where shipyard workers will be replacing the faulty blade.

 

In another letter, the captain gave more details, explaining how guests would get ashore to explore Cadiz while the ship is at the shipyard. “All guests will be required to use the shuttle bus service between the ship and the port gate, no walking through dry dock area is permitted,” the letter said. “Guests must stay within the defined foot path between the ship and the shuttle bus pickup.”

 

At 9 am on Wednesday, January 4th, all guests are required to be back on board Queen Victoria. Shortly after, the gangway will be removed and the dock flooding process will begin. The ship is scheduled to sail out of the dry dock between noon and 2 pm, and is set to arrive back in Southampton on time on January 7th.

 

The letter concluded, “We thank you for your understanding as we carry out this essential piece of maintenance, and hope that you thoroughly enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity for most guests to admire Queen Victoria out of the water.”

 

Cruise Ship Enters Two-Day Dry Dock With Guests On Board (cruiseradio.net)

 

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[nelblu]

Very interesting to see the flooding process while on board. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by nelblu

[DirtyDawg]

I'm fairly sure RCI won't be be making the beautiful dry dock at Cadiz a regular port visit. 

 

Of course they maybe able to string a zip line between a few of the cranes and charge $15 a pop. 😁

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by DirtyDawg

[DirtyDawg]

6 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Very interesting to see the flooding process while on board. 

I would be interesting, but then what do we call a Royal ship while it's all dry, on land? 

 

Motel 6? 🤔

 

😁

 

[soremekun]

While on Anthem recently, there were very noticeable vibrations in the aft.  I wonder if this points to an issue.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

What an experience and photo op. 

Haha if it was royal they would charge for the busses and off half price wifi at double the orginal cost....🤣

[Ocean Boy]

35 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

What an experience and photo op. 

Haha if it was royal they would charge for the busses and off half price wifi at double the orginal cost....🤣

In order to enhance your cruise experience.

[Tin can]

1 hour ago, DirtyDawg said:

I'm fairly sure RCI won't be be making the beautiful dry dock at Cadiz a regular port visit. 

 

Of course they maybe able to string a zip line between a few of the cranes and charge $15 a pop. 😁

 

 

Apparently Cadiz is where Explorer is going for her dry dock in February, without passengers though I assume 😀.

[smokeybandit]

A dry dock shore excursion?  I'm game

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Maybe they could have an excursion where you can go under a cruise ship and clean the bottom. Or like a non wet keel hauling...only 50 USD per persson.....🤣

[not-enough-cruising]

17 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

A dry dock shore excursion?  I'm game

I am always game for a new experience 

[time4u2go]

Are we expected to tip the drydock workers? 😁

[FamilyCruiserUK]

23 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Are we expected to tip the drydock workers? 😁

Yes tip everyone and then tell everyone your tipping everyone. 😜

[Starry Eyes]

What would RCI charge for the “behind the scenes tour with exclusive dry dock experience, hard hat required”

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Maybe they could have an excursion where you can go under a cruise ship and clean the bottom. Or like a non wet keel hauling...only 50 USD per persson.....🤣

There's a cruise ship stuck off Australia that no one will let dock due to the marine life growing on the hull.  So there is a need for it!

[ticketsunlimited]

57 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

What would RCI charge for the “behind the scenes tour with exclusive dry dock experience, hard hat required”

I would imagine you would always be required to wear your hard hat in aqua theatre area while in dry dock due to an occasional crane falling in the area.

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, ticketsunlimited said:

I would imagine you would always be required to wear your hard hat in aqua theatre area while in dry dock due to an occasional crane falling in the area.

I think falling crane is just a bonus feature for Pinnacles

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

I think falling crane is just a bonus feature for Pinnacles

Hmm, Pin only crane watches could explain some Pins can tell “tall” tales with  such aplomb😀

[monorail81]

We were on Freedom in 2014 and they had to take a prop off. They did it over in Nassau. We thought it was fun to watch, from what we could see. Most of the rest of the passengers weren’t amused. They brought in divers and we just sat for hours at the end of the dock watching the glow from under the ship one night. I bet it would have been faster and easier had they pulled into a dry dock…

[chengkp75]

17 minutes ago, monorail81 said:

They brought in divers and we just sat for hours at the end of the dock watching the glow from under the ship one night. I bet it would have been faster and easier had they pulled into a dry dock…

Considering that it takes about 8 hours to empty the dock, before any work can start, and 8 hours to refill the dock, that bet would be bad.  Removing prop blades from azipods by divers is a pretty straightforward and common job.  The only reason the QV had to dock was that when they tried it with divers a couple weeks ago, they did not have strong enough lifting gear to remove the blade from the hub after the bolts were removed, and so the job was aborted.  Also, was a dry dock available at the time they repaired Freedom?

[AZCactusCruiser]

I was on that Freedom cruise in 2014. I was one of the unamused. Lol

[Lady Hudson]

Very interesting.  I spent an extra 2 days in Port Canaveral on Grandeur a few years back.  Trip was extended 2 days and the next trip (I was on a back to back) was shortened by two days.

 

Ships are machines and machines break down or need maintenance on a regular basis.  It’s disheartening when unexpected maintenance needs to occur but it’s a part of sailing life.  On my voyage on Grandeur I was just glad that we could stay on the ship instead of having to fly home.  Katherine 

[monorail81]

10 hours ago, AZCactusCruiser said:

I was on that Freedom cruise in 2014. I was one of the unamused. Lol

Sorry!!! Lol!  Getting stuck in Nassau that long wasn’t much fun. And I wish we had gone to the East instead of Cozumel. 

[Big_G]

On 1/3/2023 at 7:42 AM, DirtyDawg said:

I'm fairly sure RCI won't be be making the beautiful dry dock at Cadiz a regular port visit. 

 

Of course they maybe able to string a zip line between a few of the cranes and charge $15 a pop. 😁

 

 

$15? You're really low balling it a lot.

[Morecruisesplz]

On 1/3/2023 at 8:53 AM, Tin can said:

 

Apparently Cadiz is where Explorer is going for her dry dock in February, without passengers though I assume 😀.

On her now for B3B. Jan 21 is last cruise before dry dock. We told loyalty ambassador that we would book that cruise also IF we could go to drydock. She asked if we had experience cutting and tearing out carpet.