Panorama Nov-Dec 2023 sailings cancelled!

[shof515]

it appears that it was tooo much to work to remove and reinstall the whale tail funnel so now the ship has to go another ship yard

[NW Pacific]

Ship still in Astoria, Saturday the 18th,  830am

[TiredTrucker]

13 hours ago, AZ-EmptyNesters said:

I'm seriously starting to feel nauseous about our Christmas cruise that is scheduled to leave Long Beach on the 23rd.  

 

I also appreciate the updates as dishearting as they may be.

 

Fingers crossed for your sailing.  My good friend's family is scheduled on that cruise and they are stressed as well.

[jsglow]

A careful read of John Heald's comments on Saturday indicating 'that is what is going to happen in the next 24-48 hours' directly refers the funnel removal presumably to take place in Astoria where she is still moored, not a relocation of the ship as could be inferred above. That said, vesselfinder does have a course plotted up to the Victoria shipyard for a scheduled arrival on Tuesday. The nice thing is Victoria is only a day's sail. Not like she has to go to Singapore if Plan B is necessary.

 

@Ferry_Watcher, get in your gosh darn car and go do some proper reporting. We want pics and vids! 

[LaRue1975]

She is on the move, should be in Victoria by 6 PM on Tuesday. Hopefully they fix her up there with her whale tail intact. That never seemed like a viable option to me anyway. 🤷‍♀️

[OddJob]

It is my understanding that the whale tail will be removed in BC and she'll head back down to the Columbia River and go to dry dock in Portland (now being able to fit under the fixed bridges) for the azipod to be repaired.

[ProgRockCruiser]

7 minutes ago, OddJob said:

It is my understanding that the whale tail will be removed in BC and she'll head back down to the Columbia River and go to dry dock in Portland (now being able to fit under the fixed bridges) for the azipod to be repaired.

That's not the impression I have.  I thought it was the case that Carnival decided taking off the whale tail (at Astoria) was going to take too long, so they shifted the dry dock to Victoria (possibly at a higher cost) where the whale tail can remain fitted, in order to cancel as few sailings as possible.

 

15 hours ago, LaRue1975 said:

She is on the move, should be in Victoria by 6 PM on Tuesday. Hopefully they fix her up there with her whale tail intact. That never seemed like a viable option to me anyway. 🤷‍♀️

She's passing the point (Neah Bay) entering the Strait and will be approaching Victoria soon enough - looks like she'll be there by 6PM Pacific Time today.

[LaRue1975]

I thought they now planned to do the repair in Victoria too but the Ship Report from the Portland area just posted that they are going to take off the tail in Victoria and she will return to Portland for dry dock and repair. Who knows at this point, I just hope they get it fixed in time for the holiday cruises. 🤞🤞🤞

[jsglow]

Wow. So they lost more than a week's time to figure that out. I sure hope things work out for the folks cruising at Christmas. It will be VERY interesting to know how long it will take to disassemble the whale tail because I have to believe it will take that long, or even longer, to get it reassembled. My gut tells me they know how long the azipod repair will take as this isn't the first time that operation has been performed on a Vista class ship. As always, sooner rather than later with cancellation decisions is always best. They better not be smoking any 'hopium' in the boardroom. At least listen to your engineers and make decisions appropriately.

 

Poor John. Always the guy who has to go on TV with bad news and then feel the wrath.

[chengkp75]

16 minutes ago, jsglow said:

Wow. So they lost more than a week's time to figure that out. I sure hope things work out for the folks cruising at Christmas. It will be VERY interesting to know how long it will take to disassemble the whale tail because I have to believe it will take that long, or even longer, to get it reassembled. My gut tells me they know how long the azipod repair will take as this isn't the first time that operation has been performed on a Vista class ship. As always, sooner rather than later with cancellation decisions is always best. They better not be smoking any 'hopium' in the boardroom. At least listen to your engineers and make decisions appropriately.

 

Poor John. Always the guy who has to go on TV with bad news and then feel the wrath.

Not really sure what's going on here.  It isn't just a simple thing to take the funnel off the ship.  The length of the exhaust pipe up from the engine to the funnel top creates a desired "back pressure" in the exhaust flow, so shortening it would be detrimental to engine operation to get back to Portland.  And, the upper part of the exhaust has a "spark arrester" in it, designed to stop lots of burning soot particles from going out the funnel, so removing this would create a safety issue.  So, I think they will need to dismantle some of the internals in the funnel to temporarily refit things like the spark arresters to a couple of exhausts, lower down the exhaust pipe, so those couple of engines can be used to get to Portland.  Then, after Portland, they would need to go back to Victoria to reinstall everything.  They may have started the dismantling during the stay in Astoria.

 

The azipod repair should only take about 7-8 days, only about 4-5 days to actually repair the azipod, the rest to get the ship on the blocks and off again.

[jsglow]

Thanks as always @chengkp75. You're always a wealth of knowledge. All I know is that they have to be pulling their hair out in Miami.

 

I do have a question for you if you don't mind. Is it possible that Carnival wanted to continue to operate the ship with revised itineraries and the regulators gave them a flat out 'NOT with paying passengers you won't'.

[chengkp75]

9 minutes ago, jsglow said:

Thanks as always @chengkp75. You're always a wealth of knowledge. All I know is that they have to be pulling their hair out in Miami.

 

I do have a question for you if you don't mind. Is it possible that Carnival wanted to continue to operate the ship with revised itineraries and the regulators gave them a flat out 'NOT with paying passengers you won't'.

Only if both azipods were compromised in some way.  There have been many instances of ships operating with only one azipod, even Carnival ships, for months at a time.  Generally, the ports will require a tug escort from the sea buoy (where they pick up the pilot) on the way in, until the sea buoy on the way out again, since with only one pod operating, there is no redundancy in steering.  Most ships in the world only have one engine coupled directly to one propeller, so this is not an issue, but those ships have rudders, with two steering motors (providing the steering redundancy), and the steering and propulsion functions are separate, unlike an azipod which is both steering and propulsion.

[AZ-EmptyNesters]

22 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

The azipod repair should only take about 7-8 days, only about 4-5 days to actually repair the azipod, the rest to get the ship on the blocks and off again.

This is good news for me actually, as they have 32 days to get it back to Long Beach for my cruise.  If repairs take 8 or even 10 days, that gives them 20+ days of travel time, days off & other possible delays to get back to LB.

 

I'm still nervous but encouraged with the updates and timeframes provided here.  I find my self looking here 5 times a day and watching her on the ship tracker sites multiple times a day.

 

I truly appreciate the expertise and information provided here.  You all are the best!

[jsglow]

It's all good AZ. Best of luck to you. If you've not been on her before, Panorama is a very nice ship.

[chengkp75]

13 minutes ago, AZ-EmptyNesters said:

This is good news for me actually, as they have 32 days to get it back to Long Beach for my cruise.  If repairs take 8 or even 10 days, that gives them 20+ days of travel time, days off & other possible delays to get back to LB.

 

I'm still nervous but encouraged with the updates and timeframes provided here.  I find my self looking here 5 times a day and watching her on the ship tracker sites multiple times a day.

 

I truly appreciate the expertise and information provided here.  You all are the best!

The total repair would be whatever time is needed in Victoria, at least a week, then transit back to Portland, 7-8 days for dry dock, then transit back to Victoria, another week to repair the funnel, then transit back to LA/LB.

[AZ-EmptyNesters]

31 minutes ago, jsglow said:

It's all good AZ. Best of luck to you. If you've not been on her before, Panorama is a very nice ship.

 

Thank you for the well wishes.  This will only be our 2nd cruise with Carnival and 1st on Panorama.

 

Its a big deal for us as we are going all out on this one for Christmas. Got a bunch of extras; Cloud 9 Balcony, special meals, drink packages, excursions, etc.

 

I just can't emphasize enough how excited we are....  feel like a 5 year old at Christmas time.

[nwcruiselover]

2 hours ago, AZ-EmptyNesters said:

 

Thank you for the well wishes.  This will only be our 2nd cruise with Carnival and 1st on Panorama.

 

Its a big deal for us as we are going all out on this one for Christmas. Got a bunch of extras; Cloud 9 Balcony, special meals, drink packages, excursions, etc.

 

I just can't emphasize enough how excited we are....  feel like a 5 year old at Christmas time.

I hope the timing works out for you!

[RaiderFaninNM]

On 11/9/2023 at 4:02 PM, tonit964 said:

Totally understand having to do this but what a huge disappointment for the upcoming cruisers. Especially the ones this Saturday.

I was on her last month, a great cruise with no issues. 

Tell me, had my family 8 od us on the 11th and luckily nobody left for LA at the time of the announcement. 

Is it me or does Heald sound a bit smug...🤔

 

We just placed the monies to our March Venezia Journeys Cruise and that is paid for, now just need to decide what to use the 100% FCC on.

 

This has discouraged me enough to try NCL in August and am so looking forward to that one....

Have tried the Mexican Riviera 2 times and nope, have yet to step in any of those ports....

[tonit964]

29 minutes ago, RaiderFaninNM said:

Tell me, had my family 8 od us on the 11th and luckily nobody left for LA at the time of the announcement. 

Is it me or does Heald sound a bit smug...🤔

 

We just placed the monies to our March Venezia Journeys Cruise and that is paid for, now just need to decide what to use the 100% FCC on.

 

This has discouraged me enough to try NCL in August and am so looking forward to that one....

Have tried the Mexican Riviera 2 times and nope, have yet to step in any of those ports....

I’m sorry your cruise was cancelled, so disappointing for sure. 
I don’t follow Heald at all so I can’t comment on that. 
 

I hope you have a great time on your future cruises and you make it to the Mexican Riviera, it’s a great itinerary.

[TiredTrucker]

1 hour ago, RaiderFaninNM said:

Is it me or does Heald sound a bit smug...

It's not just you.  That guy is about 25% useful info and 75% drama.  😂  I suppose that's his job though.

[ProgRockCruiser]

8 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

She's passing the point (Neah Bay) entering the Strait and will be approaching Victoria soon enough - looks like she'll be there by 6PM Pacific Time today.

And she's now docked at Victoria.  (10pm ET, 7pm PT).  Not sure when she got there.

[RaiderFaninNM]

2 hours ago, tonit964 said:

I’m sorry your cruise was cancelled, so disappointing for sure. 
I don’t follow Heald at all so I can’t comment on that. 
 

I hope you have a great time on your future cruises and you make it to the Mexican Riviera, it’s a great itinerary.

Thank you, the Mexican Riviera is on our future but more then likely a different cruise line, 2 times with Carnival is enough for us.

[Kelownabccan]

 

Too-tall cruise ship docks in Victoria to have its funnel removed

Funnel removed from ship

Carla Wilson, Times Colonist - Nov 22, 2023 / 5:12 pm | Story: 458784

Photo: Darren Stone, Times Colonist.

The cruise ship Carnival Panorama sits docked at Ogden Point in Victoria on Wednesday.

Cruise ships don’t usually dock at Ogden Point in late November, but the Carnival Panorama isn’t in Victoria this week on a late-fall trip to Alaska.

The vessel had been experiencing propulsion problems that forced cancellations of several sailings, and arrangements had been made for the 1,055-foot-long ship to go to a shipyard in Portland, Oregon, for repairs.

The problem was that it was too tall to fit under a bridge on the approach.

According to the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, Western Stevedoring, which manages Ogden Point, stepped forward last week with a suggestion to resolve the problem — bring the 2019-built vessel to Victoria Shipyard, where workers will take off the funnel to lower the ship’s overall height.

Maintenance work at Ogden Point has been put off until January to accommodate the ship, Stella Garcia, spokesperson for the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, said Wednesday.

After the funnel work is complete, the vessel, which arrived at Ogden Point about 6 p.m. on Monday, will return to Portland for its propulsion-system repairs.

When that’s finished, it will return to Victoria to have the funnel re-installed, Garcia said.

[Kelownabccan]

Well....do not like that part that says work in the port put off until January....sounds bad....

[LaRue1975]

1 hour ago, Kelownabccan said:

 

Too-tall cruise ship docks in Victoria to have its funnel removed

Funnel removed from ship

Carla Wilson, Times Colonist - Nov 22, 2023 / 5:12 pm | Story: 458784

Photo: Darren Stone, Times Colonist.

The cruise ship Carnival Panorama sits docked at Ogden Point in Victoria on Wednesday.

Cruise ships don’t usually dock at Ogden Point in late November, but the Carnival Panorama isn’t in Victoria this week on a late-fall trip to Alaska.

The vessel had been experiencing propulsion problems that forced cancellations of several sailings, and arrangements had been made for the 1,055-foot-long ship to go to a shipyard in Portland, Oregon, for repairs.

The problem was that it was too tall to fit under a bridge on the approach.

According to the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, Western Stevedoring, which manages Ogden Point, stepped forward last week with a suggestion to resolve the problem — bring the 2019-built vessel to Victoria Shipyard, where workers will take off the funnel to lower the ship’s overall height.

Maintenance work at Ogden Point has been put off until January to accommodate the ship, Stella Garcia, spokesperson for the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, said Wednesday.

After the funnel work is complete, the vessel, which arrived at Ogden Point about 6 p.m. on Monday, will return to Portland for its propulsion-system repairs.

When that’s finished, it will return to Victoria to have the funnel re-installed, Garcia said.

Thank you for the update! Sounds like the plan is in motion, hopefully it will be complete in time for the holiday cruises. This makes me optimistic for my New Years cruise. 😎🛳️😎