SUMMIT 9/10/04 - CANCELED! More Propulsion Problems

[JohnQ]

I just got back from the summit last night. I an sorry for all of you who had their cruise cancelled, or postponed. As mad as we got during our cruise "problems", at least we got to go and had a good overall trip, including our own land portion for a week plus.

BUT, it was SO FRUSTRATING. We got a note in our cabin when we got on board that said there was a problem and that our Juneau porttime instead of scheduled 8am-10pm, would be 12 noon -12 midnite!! We were then told in daily newsletter that we would be in at 12:30 the day we were to get there. We actually docked at 2 and got off at 2:15pm. Our Capt Larry whalewatch was scheduled for 9:30, changed to 12:30 on the first day when we were told about the change. Actually, got to go at 4:30 in a rainstorm, due to hard work of Orca Enterprises.

 

Our Ketchikan port times were to be 8am-7pm, changed to 11-7. Misty Fjords floatplane trip with Southeast was reschedule to 12 by scrambling around. The newsletter on port day said we would dock later again at 11:30. We docked at 12:15 and got off by 12:35pm. Rushed to tour where they had to reschedule us again to 1:30 tour.

 

In Hubbard Glacier, our only glacier, we were to be there 2-6pm. They finally announced it would be 3:45 and would be at glacier itself by 5:00. At 5:00, no one was talking, Guest Relations knew nothing, the Naturalist knew nothing and I swear all the officers were hiding in their quarters. Never saw one until we finally got somewhere on time. We got to glacier about 6:30 or 7 and left about 8:30pm We missed our early dinner.

 

So all in all, we lost 6 hrs of useable time in Juneau, 4hrs plus lost in Ketchikan. Hubbard Glacier delayed 4 plus hours to compete with dinner times and shortened by an hour or two. So what went from a more expensive cruise with great long port times ended up being a mediocre port time cruise with lots of stressful rescheduling and missed dinners (three). The worst was that no one would tell us what the current schedule REALLY was so we could change our plans accordingly. OK, sorry for ranting, but I feel better already. Again I am sorry for all the cancelled plans for everyone. We did get a free drink offered one nite which we missed as compensation for the loss of 10 hours of port time!!

[g_bowden]

Reggie:

 

My understanding is that the problem is a bearing showing premature wear -- something not necessarily related to the azipods. (I don't think the pods on the Summit have ever been a problem.)

 

The Summit had to cancel an 11 day Circle the Carribean cruise and cut the next 10 day Carribean down to a 7 day visit the Bahamas in March and April of its first season (2002.) We boarded her for the first Panama canal crossing just after the shortened 7 day Bahamas trip (test run of the new and improved bearings) and most of the departing guest were not very happy about the shortened cruise and the less than adaquite compensation they were offered. The Summit was dry docked in Freeport for bearing replacements on the azipod drive system.

 

While the Summit was in the shipyard, a lot of the crew left (some went to the Connie> the new M-Class just coming out) and others were let out of their contracts to go home early; beacuse of this the crew that was on board when we sailed had a lot of new people who had never worked together or even been on an M-class ship before. We were told this by some of the crew that stayed with the Summit who had to arrange their own accomadations while the ship was in the shipyard. This had an adverse effect on service and food quality for the first week or so of the cruise. On the M-class ships, the kitchens are one or two decks below and the waiters must carry trays on esclators to get your food up to the dining room. Towards the end of the 14 day cruise, Service and food quality did improve. Before I get flamed, let me say that the food was never really bad, and the service was slow but for the first week, it was not as good as other cruise lines. (not what you would expect from Celebrity) By the end of the cruise, both service and food quality were much better.

[pammyveruda]

Since this was an emergency unscheduled drydock all of the crew will remain on board the ship. They will be doing light cleaning and maintenance, but will have a few days off in San Francisco.

 

So, at least you won't have to worry about new staff joining the ship.