2 1/2 Hour Power Failure on Liberty 3/22

[berryberry]

Okay, I was on this cruise. Missed Costa Mya. This was bad we really wanted to go there. $25 for missing it, okay i can deal with it. Still wasnt happy. 4 Days on Board ready to get off ship. Now if we missed a day stop why didnt we get to Costa Rica sooner? hmm, front desk said they have to book the time there. Costa Rica Harbor Master said we need the boats and had none in and we could have docked and spent the night there but that carnival didnt want to spend the extra money to dock for another day.

 

My thoughts exactly. Its not like Carnival doesn't know they often have problems docking at Costa Maya that they couldn't have better alternative plans other than another lame day at sea. I would have been happy to spend a 2nd day in Costa Rica for some beach time. Not doing so made absolutely no sense.

 

This was the first time on Carnival for us (previously been on 7 or 8 previous cruises on either HAL, Disney, NCL ) and while the ship was very nice and the food good, I was not impressed with the lack of activities during the day and the overall ineptness of getting us to where we were supposed to be on time or providing a good alternative

[mfs2k]

Its not like Carnival doesn't know they often have problems docking at Costa Maya that they couldn't have better alternative plans other than another lame day at sea. I would have been happy to spend a 2nd day in Costa Rica for some beach time. Not doing so made absolutely no sense.

I was not impressed with the lack of activities during the day and the overall ineptness of getting us to where we were supposed to be on time or providing a good alternative

Why do I feel like I need to defend Carnival sometimes????????

I was on the same ship and experienced the same thing, and have been on 8 Carnival cruises and I NEVER felt that anyone was inept on this sailing.....

I accept the fact that:

· the weather was bad in costa Maya and they couldnt dock.

· this was not the originally planned port and was already an alternate because Cozumel still suffers from hurricane damage.

· Costa Maya does not have seawall protection when the seas are rough

· I accept John Heald's responses at his Q&A that day that the Captain was trying to make alternative port arrangements but wasn't sure if it was possible,

· and I accept that a power failure, beyond anyone's control, caused us to be late to Panama.

· I also accept, that because we arrived late, it was impossible to arrange another slot 2 1/2 hours later, for boats to travel through the canal because the canal transverse slots are out of their control, and frankly, some tour boat keeping a bunch of cruise passengers occupied, is not a priority in the Panama Canal booking process. Did you see the 50 or so ships anchored outside of Colon waiting for their canal slot time to come?

I also give Carnival credit for :

· "mostly" communicating well to let us know what was going on

· Opening Panama tours, that were previously closed out, to accomodate those passengers that were booked on the canal tour

· Staying in Panama 2 hours later than scheduled so all the other tours could take place

· agreeing to wait until every passenger returns to the ship before leaving

· arriving back to FLL on time, despite power issues.

Its all about attitude! I had fun.

[mfs2k]

Threads don't just fade away on cruise critic....

They just die....................................

[JerseyGirl97]

Threads don't just fade away on cruise critic....

They just die....................................

 

You trying to keep this one alive?

Oh, and I think the half way point is Ohio. I had a boyfriend move to NY to go to the Culinary Institute in Poughkeepsie. We met in Ohio once because it was half way. I also went there to visit. Not sure if you live near Poughkeepsie. It is really beautiful there. :)

[berryberry]

Why do I feel like I need to defend Carnival sometimes????????

 

I don't know - why do you? Can't you see there is good and bad

 

I was on the same ship and experienced the same thing, and have been on 8 Carnival cruises and I NEVER felt that anyone was inept on this sailing.....

 

Glad you felt this way - hopefully you can understand why some others felt completely opposite

 

I accept the fact that:

· the weather was bad in costa Maya and they couldnt dock.

· this was not the originally planned port and was already an alternate because Cozumel still suffers from hurricane damage.

· Costa Maya does not have seawall protection when the seas are rough

· I accept John Heald's responses at his Q&A that day that the Captain was trying to make alternative port arrangements but wasn't sure if it was possible,

 

Well you sure are a trusting person if you believe John Heald saying the Captain was working hard trying to make alternate arrangements. C'mon now - haven't you figured out by now John tells people what they want to hear - even if he deceives them. If you recall, as soon as the announcement was made around 8am on what was supposed to be Costa Maya day, John said "we are now headed to our next port in Costa Rica". There was no mention of looking into any alternate arrangements, etc. He only answered that at the Q&A when put on the spot and he told people what they wanted to hear

 

and I accept that a power failure, beyond anyone's control, caused us to be late to Panama.

· I also accept, that because we arrived late, it was impossible to arrange another slot 2 1/2 hours later, for boats to travel through the canal because the canal transverse slots are out of their control, and frankly, some tour boat keeping a bunch of cruise passengers occupied, is not a priority in the Panama Canal booking process. Did you see the 50 or so ships anchored outside of Colon waiting for their canal slot time to come?

 

I guess you accept a lot more than others do. You know what, I can understand a power failure beyond people's control - but what I do not accept is using it as an excuse to get in to Panama several hours late and cause several hundred people to miss what was to be the highlight of their trip - when in leaving Panama, the Captain covered the complete distance from Costa Rica to Panama in about 6 hours as he hauled ass to get back to FLL on time for the next cruise.

 

I also give Carnival credit for :

· "mostly" communicating well to let us know what was going on

 

Mostly? hmmm, is this like when John said their is nothing to worry about while all kinds of alarms are going off in the background? LOL :) Or maybe the way they communicated the cancellation and rebooking process for Panama excursions resulting in huge lines and disorganization? look, I agree that John made several announcements and I give him credit for that - but that doesn't mean everything he said is gospel or things coldn't have been done better - especially with the rebooking process. You should have been in the lobby then - it was a real zoo

 

· Opening Panama tours, that were previously closed out, to accomodate those passengers that were booked on the canal tour

 

Ummm - you better check again, many people could not re-book anything because while some spots were opened up on a few tours, these sold out quickly - leaving many folks to miss their planned excursion of a boat trip thru the canal with no alternative but a lovely visit to crime ridden Colon

 

· Staying in Panama 2 hours later than scheduled so all the other tours could take place

 

Well it was actually just 1 hour later they stayed - not two and by cutting short the port time, they had to reduce the length of some ships tours

 

· agreeing to wait until every passenger returns to the ship before leaving

 

Ahhh, that is their job if it is a ships tour

 

· arriving back to FLL on time, despite power issues.

 

Did you expect anything less - they had a whole new group of revenue producing passengers to load up. The one port that was never in question was getting back to FLL timely

 

Its all about attitude! I had fun.

 

No, to me its all about delivering what was promised when you can and when you can't doing the right thing to make up for it. Its great that you apparantly have the attitude that you will take whatever the cruise lines give you and accept it at face value. Fortunately, their are others who do not - because if everyone just accepted whatever happened - no matter what the circumstances, the cruise lines would have no incentive to improve and be customer friendly. I myself like to take a balanced approach, report the good and the bad so others can learn from it

[TradeALLday]

I was onboard as well. I was in the casino and it was a little freaky. People were screaming. I knew the second we lost power that my trip throught the panama canal the next morning was going to be screwed and I was right. I was very dissapointed as this was going to be the highlight of my trip. So did, I whine, complain, or cry? Nope, had the most fun I have ever had in my life! When the power was out, they were still able to serve drinks. There was a guy in the casino bar wearing his life jacket! I laughed so hard. Carnival didn't like this one bit and made him take it off. What a great time. I am looking for the next big cruise and will go with carnival I'm sure.

 

 

Wow! that is really really funny!

[GoinCruisin]

I guess you accept a lot more than others do.

 

A LOT??? Sorry, but if this was a big deal to people, you'd see A LOT more people actually talking about it... you'd see it on the news, there would be hundreds of threads on it. When there is something that people consider major, it never stops with just one thread on this board... there will be thread after thread.... that hasn't been the case. I would venture to say that for most people, this simply wasn't that big of a deal. You and Pam seem to be the ones most affected, and the most upset... and I'm sorry that you guys missed your tour... but just based on the responses here, and the complete lack of the mention of this on other cruise forums, I'd say that you two were likely in the minority... Where the Sensation incident had over 50 threads, and over 50 people responding non stop about the issues, I guess I'm just not seeing that with this issue. Now, hopefully we won't see a slew of people going out and registering a new name to make this story suddenly come to light :p

[martdm]

but what I do not accept is using it as an excuse to get in to Panama several hours late and cause several hundred people to miss what was to be the highlight of their trip - when in leaving Panama, the Captain covered the complete distance from Costa Rica to Panama in about 6 hours as he hauled ass to get back to FLL on time for the next cruise.

 

I mentioned this in a response to auntie, but it was deleted along with all her posts because I quoted her in my response, so I'll say it again.

 

Has it occurred to you that although many systems were brought back on line that residual problems prevented the ship from going full speed into Panama? That it perhaps was not safe to go any faster than they were going? That going faster might cause a repeat of the technical problems? Isn't it possible there were further repairs in Panama that allowed the ship to regain full speed upon departure?

 

Surely you don't, as auntie seemed to, truly believe the captain purposely went slow just to hose up everyone's day do you???

[GoinCruisin]

Surely you don't, as auntie seemed to, truly believe the captain purposely went slow just to hose up everyone's day do you???

 

Oh come on... you know he said, in his finest Italian "hey everyone, watch this... this will REALLY tick them off!!!! Buah ha ha ha"... it's all fun and games for them dontchaknow!!! :p LOL!!

[DqALEX]

I think the extentsion cord that goes behind the ship, and gets plugged in in Miami got pulled out.

[mfs2k]

You trying to keep this one alive?

 

Oh, and I think the half way point is Ohio. I had a boyfriend move to NY to go to the Culinary Institute in Poughkeepsie. We met in Ohio once because it was half way. I also went there to visit. Not sure if you live near Poughkeepsie. It is really beautiful there. :)

 

I WAS trying to keep it alive... lol. I guess I just like to see my name in print. :)

 

I live about an hour from Poughkeepsie (nice spell check on that one jerseygirl!!!) I too, live in the Hudson Valley. We have a 24' powerboat which we often take up the Hudson River, past Poughkeepsie.... It is absolutely gorgeous around here, ESPECIALLY on the river.......

 

Ohio sounds good....... Want to meet at the Dunkin Donuts in Columbus? My treat....

 

As for berryberry's response to me........ As I said above..... It's all about attitude. I had a great trip and wish I was back on the ship.... Thank you Carnival!

[richfret]

I too was on the 3/18 Liberty cruise and experienced the power failure. It was an erie experience. Not only did the lights go out but the engines also. That is the scary part. When you think about it, if we had been on a plane we were crashing. Fortunately, on the sea, we just drifted.

 

I do believe that Carnival is quite concerned also. On the following cruise, the Liberty was held up for several hours while the Engineers reviewed the electrical system to ensure it would not happen again. From what I heard, this power failure was not a common experience and so the exact cause may be difficult to determine. Can you imagine the Liberty leaving the pier in Ft. Lauderdale, in between 3 or 4 other cruise ships, when all of a sudden, there is no stearing of the ship or reversing of engines? That could be a disaster. Fortunately, our experience happened in an open sea, in calm waters and good weather.

 

It is a strange feeling when some thing like this happens. As cruisers, we shut off the real world and eat, drink and make merry. All of a sudden, reality sets in and you realize you are vulnerable. Instead of thinking when the next event will take place, you review where the life preserves are .......... just in case. I guess that is just instinctive and part of the survival factor.

 

I think John (Cruise Director) did as good a job as can be expected. I want to be informed of the situation but with 3,000 passengers on board, you know some can not take pressure. As happened with the Princess fire, one cruiser had a heart attack. Telling all cruisers that all is well, except if the engines can not be started in the next 20 minutes we will hit the rocks, may be true but not the practical way to go. It is a delicate balance and I think he handled it well.

 

The problem is that in this type of problem, you are dealing with the elderly, children, educated people and non educated people, some who cannot speak English, sick and well people and on and on. Each of us reacts differently and the Captain has to take all of that into account in handling the crisis (or maybe no crisis at all). I don't want his job!

[berryberry]

A LOT??? Sorry, but if this was a big deal to people, you'd see A LOT more people actually talking about it... you'd see it on the news, there would be hundreds of threads on it. When there is something that people consider major, it never stops with just one thread on this board... there will be thread after thread.... that hasn't been the case. I would venture to say that for most people, this simply wasn't that big of a deal. You and Pam seem to be the ones most affected, and the most upset... and I'm sorry that you guys missed your tour... but just based on the responses here, and the complete lack of the mention of this on other cruise forums, I'd say that you two were likely in the minority... Where the Sensation incident had over 50 threads, and over 50 people responding non stop about the issues, I guess I'm just not seeing that with this issue. Now, hopefully we won't see a slew of people going out and registering a new name to make this story suddenly come to light :p

 

Ahhh - if you read my whole post to mfs2k carefully instead of jumping to conclusions to criticize me, you would see I was referring to more than just the power outage. mfs2k painted a very rosy picture in that he/she accepted a lot . I personally believe in pointing out the good and the bad - and if you read my review, I think you would find it very balanced. I don't quite understand why folks like you get your knickers in a knot when someone posts something critical about a cruise line. They are not all perfect you know

[berryberry]

I mentioned this in a response to auntie, but it was deleted along with all her posts because I quoted her in my response, so I'll say it again.

 

Has it occurred to you that although many systems were brought back on line that residual problems prevented the ship from going full speed into Panama? That it perhaps was not safe to go any faster than they were going? That going faster might cause a repeat of the technical problems? Isn't it possible there were further repairs in Panama that allowed the ship to regain full speed upon departure?

 

Surely you don't, as auntie seemed to, truly believe the captain purposely went slow just to hose up everyone's day do you???

 

martdm - no, I never saw Auntie's posts and certainly don't believe the captain purposely tried to hose up everyone's day. And you could be correct, he was being cautious by not going faster - although of course, that would contradict greatly with the explanations John gave the passengers numerous times that it was a simple computer glitch and there was never a problem with the engines, etc.

 

I always believe honesty is the best policy - and if they had come out and said , we will arrive late because we want to be cautious - I could accept that. But they did no such thing. John actually blamed the late arrival on it being a busy port day with all the ships waiting to get into the canal

[martdm]

John actually blamed the late arrival on it being a busy port day with all the ships waiting to get into the canal

 

Ah, I see, thanks for the clarification. But even so, how would a backup at the canal amount to an inexcusable transgression (as you characterized it in your other post) on the part of Carnival. Seems to me that would be as much out of their control as a mechanical function that couldn't be addressed until in port.

[Timmys_mom]

Whew! I made it to the end. I have no comment except:

 

1. A power outage would not have bothered me

2. Liv's post about poop was LMAO funny!

3. At least they were in the warm Caribbean instead of the cold North Atlantic.

4. No compensation is necessary.

5. Too much information can sometimes be a bad thing.

6. Could someone please give me the address of the Dunkin Donuts in Columbus. I want a piece of the make up nookie.

[L2J]

6. Could someone please give me the address of the Dunkin Donuts in Columbus. I want a piece of the make up nookie.

 

:eek: ...:eek: ...:eek: ...:eek: ...:eek:

[Wennfred]

By 11, power was gradually seen coming back to certain areas. Lights, a/c, ventilation, etc... By 12:15 or so, we were underway at half speed.

 

The engineering crew should be commended for a job well done, to get these lines up and running thats pretty fast. On Naval ships since we dont have civilian passagers to worry about, we have patch cables to reroute power in an instant.

 

I wonder if they ran out of Duct tape :confused:

[JerseyGirl97]

I WAS trying to keep it alive... lol. I guess I just like to see my name in print. :)

 

I live about an hour from Poughkeepsie (nice spell check on that one jerseygirl!!!) I too, live in the Hudson Valley. We have a 24' powerboat which we often take up the Hudson River, past Poughkeepsie.... It is absolutely gorgeous around here, ESPECIALLY on the river.......

 

Ohio sounds good....... Want to meet at the Dunkin Donuts in Columbus? My treat....

 

As for berryberry's response to me........ As I said above..... It's all about attitude. I had a great trip and wish I was back on the ship.... Thank you Carnival!

 

I didn't have to spell check Poughkeepsie. A few years after me and the boytoy split I decided I wanted to look him up so I looked up the spelling then. And to think, all I did was call and hang up. I am such a chicken!!!!:rolleyes: It is one of those words once you know you know because it is so silly.

It is really nice there. So many nice little antique shops. We did a tour of that mansion there - can't for the life of me remember who it belonged to though. We went walking along the river in the woods. Then, maybe you can help me with this one, we went to some park. It was in some mountains with these huge rock formations overlooking a big canyon type thing. I can never remember the name of it. I would call and ask the ex-boytoy but I would probably just hang up on him anyway! :rolleyes:

Dunkin Donuts! Hey big spender!!! But now you got Timmy's Mom to feed too so this might get expensive for you! Hopefully she wont bring Timmys Dad!!! :eek:

[flynrph]

Was the above mentioned Boytoy, the one from the Holiday Inn Express?:p

[mfs2k]

John actually blamed the late arrival on it being a busy port day with all the ships waiting to get into the canal

 

That is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE!

 

I dont mind criticism, but lies are not called for..... John NEVER said any such thing..........For anyone who has ever been to Colon... The Port, If you can call it that, is ONE Dock for ONE ship, and it is on the OTHER SIDE of Colon from the entrance to the Canal. The fact that there were (and always are) ships waiting to go through the canal, had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the reason we were late docking... It had to do with the fact that the ship stopped moving for 2 1/2 hours and then was running on 50% propulsion power for several more hours, travelling at 10 knots...

 

If you read other posts, and if you watched the in cabin video that discussed the ship's systems (which was much more interesting AFTER experiencing the power failure), you would have learned, as I did, that the Power source for The Liberty (There are 2-20mw units (generators?) which were sold to Carnival by Alstom, provides electricity to the ship, AS WELL AS propulsion.

 

Bringing these power sources back on line slowly so as not to overload them again, is why we were travelling slower to Panama. If the captain decided to turn it all on at full power ("Take it to Warp Speed, Scotty"), we might have lost power again. This isn't rocket science....

[mfs2k]

Whew! I made it to the end. I have no comment except:

6. Could someone please give me the address of the Dunkin Donuts in Columbus. I want a piece of the make up nookie.

 

No problem..... Just Leave Timmy and Timmys Dad at home, ok?

[mfs2k]

It is really nice there. So many nice little antique shops. We did a tour of that mansion there - can't for the life of me remember who it belonged to though. We went walking along the river in the woods. Then, maybe you can help me with this one, we went to some park. It was in some mountains with these huge rock formations overlooking a big canyon type thing. I can never remember the name of it. I would call and ask the ex-boytoy but I would probably just hang up on him anyway! :rolleyes:

 

Dunkin Donuts! Hey big spender!!! But now you got Timmy's Mom to feed too so this might get expensive for you! Hopefully she wont bring Timmys Dad!!! :eek:

 

I don't know the park you were in, but there are lots of them in the area.... When you come to NY, I'll show you some of the others.

 

As for Timmy's Dad..... gmta.... (see above post, responded to before I read yours)...

 

Dunkin Donuts was just going to be a meeting place........ From there, who knows.... Bet there's a Ponderosa Steak House not too far.....

[L2J]

Dunkin Donuts was just going to be a meeting place........ From there, who knows.... Bet there's a Ponderosa Steak House not too far.....

 

Are you related to George Costanza? :p

[JerseyGirl97]

Was the above mentioned Boytoy, the one from the Holiday Inn Express?:p

 

Oh boy - I think I might have said too much!!! It actually wasn't him. It was another boytoy. Gosh, don't I just sound like the girl next door now! ;)