Oosterdam repair saga continues

[gwydiana]

I don't know why you feel that it would be 1/20 -

 

 

As I stated, I think it would be the last week of January...hence it would happen during our cruise :(

If you'll note, the other date given was April 20th...............

[Aloise]

There are a number of issues that concern me regarding the failure of a propulsion unit on the Oosterdam. I would appreciate the opinion of those more knowlwedgeable than me

 

We are booked for Jan 6- our second cruise ever, and our firts on HAL.

 

1. Before making the booking and having heard something of the mechancial troubles on the OOS, I asked my TA about them. She knew nothing and checked with the regional rep for HAL. He knew nothing either.

 

Really? is this plain ignorance, possibly incompetence or is HAL playing a more sinister game? There is still nothing on the official HAL website about this

 

2. On the basis of their assurances, I made the booking and also bought non-refundable ailine tickest to San Diego. If the ship is dry docked in early Jan, and my cruise cancelled, will HAL make good on the flight tickets?

 

3. Question for those who have just returned on the OOS. What are the effects of the pod outage on the ride. Did you notice anything? Also, I am planning to spend the shore day in PV with a buddy of mine who lives there. Has the standard itinnery been affected?

 

regards

[Dmgernant]

double post

[Dmgernant]

I got back yesterday and it was fixed on ZThursday. We cruised back to San Diego full speed. All is well on the O.

Denise

[gwydiana]

I got bak yesterday and it was fixed. We cruised back to San Diego full speed. All is well on the O.

Denise

 

Yaayyyy Denise!!! Thanks so much for the update! We were all wringing our hands and pouting! LOL

[lougee1043]

We are booked for Jan 6- our second cruise ever, and our firts on HAL.

 

2. On the basis of their assurances, I made the booking and also bought non-refundable ailine tickest to San Diego. If the ship is dry docked in early Jan, and my cruise cancelled, will HAL make good on the flight tickets?

 

i too am on the 1/6/07 cruise and i can only say lets not panic yet- please join us on the roll call board for this cruise

 

most pax buy non refundable air tix -- somehow i doubt that hal will make good on the tix if the cruise is cancelled and you havent bought the tix from them -----thats what cruise insurance is for---------you did buy cruise insurance

[AZjohn]

I got back yesterday and it was fixed on ZThursday. We cruised back to San Diego full speed. All is well on the O.

Denise

 

Funny that we were on the same ship and have different views. The azipod was only semi-fixed on Wednesday afternoon according to the captain’s announcement on the PA. Mr. Deering explained that the semi-fix would not help increase speed but only to help so no tugs boats were needed for docking (this is why they purchased a new 20 million dollar azipod). We never exceeded 19 knots on the way home and that is why we had to leave PV early. And also we watched from the aft of the ship the wake from the port azipod was not even close to the same as the starboard azipod.

Oh well, we all have our own opinions and experiences:cool: .

John

[Copper10-8]

I got back yesterday and it was fixed on ZThursday. We cruised back to San Diego full speed. All is well on the O.

Denise

 

Wish that was true but it's not correct! As of last night, engineers onboard Oosterdam have been able to make partial repairs to the ailing azipod. It is now producing about 25% power and a slightly better speed. Oosterdam does once again have two propeller wakes behind her. She also no longer requires tugs to get her into and out of her berths in port. They are hoping to arrive in Cabo a bit earlier and possibly depart Puerto Vallarta a bit later which will hopefully increase the times spent in both those ports.

 

 

1. Before making the booking and having heard something of the mechancial troubles on the OOS, I asked my TA about them. She knew nothing and checked with the regional rep for HAL. He knew nothing either.

 

Really? is this plain ignorance, possibly incompetence or is HAL playing a more sinister game? There is still nothing on the official HAL website about this

 

Neither. They have been working on and attempting to repair the ailing pod since it went down. The only change resulting from this has been a slight sense of vibration and an adjustment of the port times in Cabo (12-6:00 PM) and PV (8-7:00 PM). Passengers on Oosterdam are notified of this via a letter from her captain that they will find in their cabin(s).

 

2. On the basis of their assurances, I made the booking and also bought non-refundable ailine tickest to San Diego. If the ship is dry docked in early Jan, and my cruise cancelled, will HAL make good on the flight tickets?

 

If HAL winds up changing the originally scheduled drydock period from April to any of the four departures in JAN 07, I'm sure those pax will be compensated. Can't tell you anything about non-refundable airline tix not purchased through HAL

 

3. Question for those who have just returned on the OOS. What are the effects of the pod outage on the ride. Did you notice anything? Also, I am planning to spend the shore day in PV with a buddy of mine who lives there. Has the standard itinnery been affected?

 

Other than a slight sense of vibration, there are no effects (see Bardgal's, AZJohn's and others' reports)

 

Monday Cabo San Lucas Noon 6:00pm

Tuesday Mazatlan 8:00am 6:00pm

Wednesday Puerto Vallarta 8:00am 7:00pm

[Aloise]

Thank you Copper 10-8.

 

You have answered my questions, andI will now go back to sleep .

 

Incidentally, I did not take travel cancellation insurance. Never have and have never paid the penalty. I suppose there is a first time for everything if they do dry-dock the ship in January. Too bad! I will lose the $800 for the air fare. The sun will again rise and life will go on. ( but never again with HAL)

[Copper10-8]

Thank you Copper 10-8.

 

You have answered my questions, andI will now go back to sleep .

 

Incidentally, I did not take travel cancellation insurance. Never have and have never paid the penalty. I suppose there is a first time for everything if they do dry-dock the ship in January. Too bad! I will lose the $800 for the air fare. The sun will again rise and life will go on. ( but never again with HAL)

 

Aloise, just another heads up. I've been in your position as far as having non-refundable airline tix. The airlines usually will, against a penalty, accomodate you by rescheduling your itinerary to a future date and/or change the itinerary altogether (on the same airline ofcourse;) - again with a penalty). Here's hoping that your 06 JAN 07 cruise will not be cancelled. I'll be on the one just before yours.

[San Diego Cruzer]

Has anyone heard any updates on the dry dock/repair timing?

Having your cruise cancelled is really more than just an inconvenience, cost, etc. For me it is a huge disappointment, as I love to plan and anticipate the cruise and to find out that it may not go as planned is very disappointing. I can live with a few shortened port times and a little more vibration than normal, but not having the opportunity to get on the ship and enjoy is really difficult to swallow.

[gwydiana]

Has anyone heard any updates on the dry dock/repair timing?

Having your cruise cancelled is really more than just an inconvenience, cost, etc. For me it is a huge disappointment, as I love to plan and anticipate the cruise and to find out that it may not go as planned is very disappointing. I can live with a few shortened port times and a little more vibration than normal, but not having the opportunity to get on the ship and enjoy is really difficult to swallow.

 

Considering that today is Sunday, I doubt any answers will be forthcoming until tomorrow.

[LoboJ]

Hey all...

 

It looks like the Oosterdam is pulling in to Cabo Bay today at 9:24 AM California time (10:24 AM in Cabo)... Some improvement! I'd still like to see the original 8:00 AM arrival (so I can get my snorkeling on earlier!), but this does seem like some improvement.

 

It will still probably be 11:00 by the time the tenders start, but I'm glad to see something positive. Hopefully with that port azipod partially fixed, we'll see port times that are CLOSER to the original plan for those of us cruising soon.

 

Cheers,

LoboJ

[San Diego Cruzer]

LoboJ - Thanks for the photo and update. Sounds encouraging that the partially repaired azipod is possibly increasing the port times.

If anyone is on board right now - I'd appreciate any update on what the stated port times are, are you still getting a letter in your cabin re the azipod? Any word from HAL re the drydock repair date?

Thanks!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

LoboJ, that is a great shot of the Oosterdam in Cabo. From what web site are you finding this web cam?

[QQRZZA]

Interesting that our TA's and the Seattle customer service people are apparently in the dark about the actual status of the big "O". Looks like HAL would like to nurse this thing along until spring and then reposition it to the northwest stopping in Victoria for repairs. That way they miss the first weekly sailing to Alaska, which is their least profitable run. By saying nothing, they are covering their bets. If the azipod gets worse sooner, they will have to pull it out in California and get the work done. That would minimize down time, which is the primary concern. The ship isn't going to Italy, or any other distant port for repairs. The repairs can be done in any major shipyard, but the ship has to be pulled to do the work. They did a similar thing with Amsterdam which had an inop stabilizer due to a collision with a whale in Alaska. Months later, at the end of the summer season, the ship went into Victoria for an out-of-cycle one week fix, again during the off season. NCL, Cunard, and Celebrity all had similar issues with their azipod engines. They were fixed in regional shipyards. Celebrity sued the manufactuer for profits lost on Summit. It looks like the truth may well be that HAL doesn't know the exact date, but they are hoping for Victoria in April, IF the sick azipod is able to hold on that long.

[nabby]

I certainly can't blame HAL for trying everything possible before they make the (very expensive) decision to cancel 1 or more cruises. I'm a boat owner myself, so I know that things often go wrong and you have to be creative when dealing with it. I wonder if they might be able to rebuild the port azipod once they get it pulled off (that would certainly save them money over buying an entirely new unit). I'm glad to see that someone else posted about them being able to drydock in CA - I couldn't imagine why they would have to bring the ship all the way to Vancouver when there are surely plenty of shipyards in CA.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but we are also being practical and are making up some "Plan B" just in case. We already have our airline tickets purchased, so if we do get cancelled our plan B for now is to go to an all-inclusive in Baja, and take another cruise at a later time. I just hope that HAL doesn't wait until just before the cruise to let us know if it has been cancelled - awfully hard to make travel plans like that on the fly.

 

"Hopefully" Oosterdam Jan 27

[San Diego Cruzer]

It is my understanding from reading another thread that HAL has already ordered a new azipod which will be deliver the first of the year. The question is now when will HAL be putting the new one on. Perhaps they want to wait and see and hopefully put it off until April. This would IMO mean less notice to whichever cruise(s) may be cancelled.

 

Re the drydock issue - I don't think it is that easy to secure available dry dock space. I can't remember why, but somewhere I read why they have to take the ship to Victoria for dry dock.

[lougee1043]

Interesting that our TA's and the Seattle customer service people are apparently in the dark about the actual status of the big "O". quote]

 

you will love this --- had to talk to hal cust svce about another issue and then i asked about the odam and the azipod problem -the rep didnt know anything about it but she put me on hold to check--- when she came back on the line she said that was a problem about 2 months ago and that all is well now ---when i mentioned that pax getting off the ship were still talking about the problem she said " i shouldnt believe the rumors"

 

so all you rumormongers out there you better stop it lol

[kelhair]

Just off the 11/25 sailing . . .

 

Then the rumormongers should stop sending letters to each passenger in their cabins re. the shortened port times and the $25 obc;)

 

The break down in communication between the ship and guest services (Seattle) is so hard to comprehend.

 

The shortened time is port was an inconvenience at worst. We were completely aft and the vibration was more pronounced than "normal", but the ship was beautiful, the staff unbeatable and it was an absolutely wonderful week.

 

Kelly

[RuthC]

The break down in communication between the ship and guest services (Seattle) is so hard to comprehend.

I'm having no trouble whatsoever accepting that as the normal course of business.

I spent my career working in a government bureaucracy and that was the way of my world. Many's the time I learned of a change in a procedure from listening to the 6:00 news (film at 11). Even by late the next morning there would be no formal announcement to staff.

It was routine for a client to call asking about a letter (mass-mailing) they had received. SOP: please read me the letter, because whatever the content was, this was the first I'd heard of it.

Based on my experience I would be surprised if the good people answering phones in Seattle did know anything about the Oosterdam's problem/solution.

[Copper10-8]

Interesting that our TA's and the Seattle customer service people are apparently in the dark about the actual status of the big "O". quote]

 

you will love this --- had to talk to hal cust svce about another issue and then i asked about the odam and the azipod problem -the rep didnt know anything about it but she put me on hold to check--- when she came back on the line she said that was a problem about 2 months ago and that all is well now ---when i mentioned that pax getting off the ship were still talking about the problem she said " i shouldnt believe the rumors"

 

so all you rumormongers out there you better stop it lol

 

Agree with all of you who bring this bad communication topic up ! Doesn't make any sense to give Oosterdam's incoming pax a letter that explains the problem and concequences, yet Seattle either has no idea about this and/or the agents are being instructed to say that the problem is fixed when everybody who comes off or goes on Oosterdam every Saturday knows it's not.

Seems like a simple thing to get some updated info out to the call takers in Seattle. "Yes, Oosterdam had a mechanical problem with one of her azipods. Engineers have been working on it, recently got it running at about 25%, and are continuing to work on it. Due to the inconvenience of having less hours to spend in port in Cabo and PV, every passenger will get a credit of $25 pp." You would think that doing this would make things run a lot smoother in the PR Dept. :cool: Then again, maybe I don't see the big picture

[constructiondude]

I'm to the point where I'm sick to death of this whole matter and doing my best to force it out of my mind. As far as I'm concerned I'm cruising in less than 5 weeks and that's that.

 

I'm now questioning the "sources" on the ship itself. How do they know what Seattle will do? An engineer says a part will be ready by Jan 1st and naturally concludes that the repair will be done in January. Why not February? If you look at the number of bookings, February is wide open while the January sailings are either sold out or close to it. The less bookings means fewer po'd customers. I think Seattle will look at this entire matter from a business standpoint even if it seems less than logical to everyone else.

 

I read a while back that any public company that admits to a serious problem with their product (in HAL's case the product are their ships) risks a drop in stock value along with scrutiny from shareholders. "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor....." many press releases often begin; the company might go belly up a month later but rest assured there was no truth to the rumor prior to that.

 

If my cruise is cancelled I will possibly reschedule to a future cruise on the O contingent on a good incentive from HAL or I will book a land-based vacation; nothing else I can do. I almost wish I didn't know about it at all....only a handful of cruisers log onto these message boards....there are many right now thinking of nothing but what a great time they are going to have...ignorance is bliss!

[Tinknock50]

 

Agree with all of you who bring this bad communication topic up ! Doesn't make any sense to give Oosterdam's incoming pax a letter that explains the problem and concequences, yet Seattle either has no idea about this and/or the agents are being instructed to say that the problem is fixed when everybody who comes off or goes on Oosterdam every Saturday knows it's not.

 

Seems like a simple thing to get some updated info out to the call takers in Seattle. "Yes, Oosterdam had a mechanical problem with one of her azipods. Engineers have been working on it, recently got it running at about 25%, and are continuing to work on it. Due to the inconvenience of having less hours to spend in port in Cabo and PV, every passenger will get a credit of $25 pp." You would think that doing this would make things run a lot smoother in the PR Dept. :cool: Then again, maybe I don't see the big picture

 

Yeah.....what he said!:)

 

It would be simple to have that message on their computer so whenever they call up "Oosterdam", there it will be.

 

They way it is now, every one who subsequently sails will see the notice and know they have been fed a line by Seattle. Not exactly a good impression to give a customer.

 

I have said it before and I will say it again.....what a great opportunity to get a leg up on the other cruiselines ( who have equally bad main office setups) and improve the main office service. What a great impression that would make to a new customer.

[QQRZZA]

It is my understanding from reading another thread that HAL has already ordered a new azipod which will be deliver the first of the year. The question is now when will HAL be putting the new one on. Perhaps they want to wait and see and hopefully put it off until April. This would IMO mean less notice to whichever cruise(s) may be cancelled.

 

Re the drydock issue - I don't think it is that easy to secure available dry dock space. I can't remember why, but somewhere I read why they have to take the ship to Victoria for dry dock.

 

The Carnival Corporation, which owns HAL, has substantial clout with shipyards all over the world. It is unlikely that they will send "O" for a 2 week R/T transit (plus repair time) to Victoria to get a pod fixed or replaced. They often use Victoria (about 40 miles from here) for repairs before or after the Alaska cruise season. The yard there is competent, relatively inexpensive, and often available. The technicians, equipment and any parts or equipment that they may not have can be brought in. In the event of a azipod failure in the next few months, I'll bet "O" goes into a southern California repair yard fast, has the new azipod delivered and installed. If the azipod is not there, it will be brought in by rail, truck, or AN 124. Carnival did exactally the same thing with Queen Mary. With major shipyards doing overhauls in Long Beach, LA, etc., look for a local fix if necessary. For a price, priorities at the shipyard can be shuffled.

 

Let's hope the ailing pod lasts until spring. I'm on the "O" in January. The cruise is marked as "sold-out", which may mean sold-out or we're not taking any more reservations 'till we figure this out.