How many engines does the Spirit run on?

[Gingee]

Just found out that the new diesel engine will not be running during our cruise so we will be a few hours late to our first destination. Does anyone know how many engines the Spirit does have? Gad, they have had long enough to get it installed. I wonder how many engines a big ship can run on. Like if they were down to one engine, what would happen?

[smeyer418]

most ships are diesel electrics. that is an engine turns a turbine and creates electricity and then an electric engine turns the propellers(its just like a long distance diesel electric train which does the same thing). Most ships have 4-5 engines which provides the electricity that runs the actual propellers. So if its down to one engine, it will still go very slowly but there won't be enough electricity for the rest of the ship.

[going2cruz]

Just found out that the new diesel engine will not be running during our cruise so we will be a few hours late to our first destination. Does anyone know how many engines the Spirit does have? Gad, they have had long enough to get it installed. I wonder how many engines a big ship can run on. Like if they were down to one engine, what would happen?

 

They ships run off electric motors........the engines produce to power to operate them.

[arielmurphy]

The Spirit has 4 engines. When I was on this summer , the engineer said that instead of being able to cruise at 25 knots/hour it takes them down to 22.5 (or close to that). Not really a big deal.

[nolaAlive]

I think we have averaged 21-22 knots. The big deal is that it cost port time in Costa Maya and might have been a smoother sail if they had more options.

 

Generators power the engines on most cruise ships.

[newmexicoNita]

Just found out that the new diesel engine will not be running during our cruise so we will be a few hours late to our first destination. Does anyone know how many engines the Spirit does have? Gad, they have had long enough to get it installed. I wonder how many engines a big ship can run on. Like if they were down to one engine, what would happen?

 

Believe me, that 2 hour delay reaching Costa Maya is no problem. Everything else ran great on our Spirit cruise a few weeks ago.

 

NIta

[nolaAlive]

Believe me, that 2 hour delay reaching Costa Maya is no problem. Everything else ran great on our Spirit cruise a few weeks ago.

 

NIta

 

It absolutely is a problem when you have plans.

[Stefan Batory]

Whatever happened to CC member Electric Ron?

He would have been posting diagrams of the engines along with all the tech info...Horsepower, etc...

[Gingee]

I would definitely like more information on engines and such on the Spirit. Maybe if I understood it more, it would help. Granted we are going either way but it is nicer to have more information.

[Druke I]

Usually, one engine is dedicated to the generator supplying "hotel power".

[Don Haynes]

Simply put, the Spirit is one of the fastest ships around. With the problems of one engine, which I believe is being sorted out with her recent drydock. Because of her speed, she does the longer distance cruises. When one of her engines are taken out for repairs or normal maintenance, for a period of time her speed is reduced some. Replacing her with a slower ship won't help much as far as reaching the ports of call in time.

 

In other words its not uncommon for a cruise ship to have difficulties with an engine, its not uncommon for a ship to take an engine out of service just to do normal maintenance. Its also not uncommon for a ship which has been recently repaired to go slower for a while testing and bringing her repaired engine up to speed.

 

When one engine is out the ship goes a bit slower, when two engines are down the ship loses a lot of speed, when three engines are down the ship is really slowed down. Several cruise ships will be down one engine, very few are down two engines. The ship will probably be taken out of service if and when a third engine is down.. unless the ship is doing a very short cruise such as the Bahammas only.

 

Don't make mountains out of mole hills. Losing one of four engines is not uncommon. These ships are built with so many engines to remain in service on purpose.

[nolaAlive]

One is designated as a spare for redundancy. There are reasons for this, but normal maintenance is not typically one of them.

 

If another generator were to fail, for example, a lot of people would probably miss their flights home after the cruise.

[Gingee]

I guess we think like a car engine. You lose it, you don't go anywhere. Well of course on a cruise ship it is a lot bigger than a car so you figure more engines are necessary to work.

[JeterND93]

When I went on the Spirit in late August it was running on 3 engines, versus it's normal 4. The fourth one wasn't working, which caused our average speed to go down, and resulted in a slight change in our itinerary. When it went in drydock in late October or early November the engine was fixed & is back to it's regular 4. Thank gosh for that, because on the cruise I was on, the engines failed in the middle of the night and we lost power and were drifting out at sea for about an hour(more in my review in my signature). Thank gosh that's fixed! :D Hope this helps.

[Gingee]

From what I heard, the new engine isn't working.

[JeterND93]

From what I heard, the new engine isn't working.

 

REALLY? Do you know why?

[Toyz711]

maybe we should rephase this...

the new engine is "working", they just aren't using it yet. at least not at full power. with a new engine, they like to break it in S L O W L Y.

[Gingee]

Oh I guess that rephrase sounds better. LOL

[scottyo72]

I would definitely like more information on engines and such on the Spirit. Maybe if I understood it more, it would help. Granted we are going either way but it is nicer to have more information.

 

You asked for it! :)

 

Superstar Leo [now Norwegian Spirit] is the first diesel-electric cruise ship to have duplex reactors to limit voltage distortion in the electrical network caused by propulsion drive. Power is provided by four MAN B&W 14V48/60 engines, each developing 14,700kW at 514rev/min and driving ABB synchronous generators. For propulsion, two ABB reversible synchronous electric motors, each developing 20,000kW at 123/rev/min, are installed. Each transmit their power via shaft lines to a five-bladed fixed-pitch skew propeller. Electrical installation is designed so that in the event of any single failure of the power generation the ship's propulsion, auxiliary systems and hotel services remain operational.

 

For manoeuvrability, the ship is equipped with two bow thrusters, one stern thruster and two spade rudders. During sea trials, she completed a full turn within four lengths of the ship while sailing at full speed.

To ensure maximum passenger comfort, she features retractable fin stabilisers manufactured by Fincantieri’s Riva Trigoso-based Mechanical Business Unit. According to the shipbuilder, these are said to be capable of reducing the rolling motion by 85 per cent at a speed of 18 knots.

 

http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/leo/

[raudacruise]

There is a big difference between "engines" and "propellors". Many think they are the same but the are not. Engines are power generators. Some diesal, some now natural gas. They used to be coal, think about your local electric company.

 

They generate electricity that is then applied to where ever its needed. As mentioned above, "hotel" electricity is to keep the lights on, the stoves running, and the water plant working. On most ships this is about 1/4 of the power (or less) than generated by the engines.

 

Propellors makes the ship go. They use the electric feed. But they are not invincable. The azipods on some ships (most notably on Celebrity's M class) have broken down in the past so the ship is only running on one prop. No matter how much electricity you generate you can't fix that. We've also been on one cruise where the prop was damaged coming out of Miami when it hit some debris. Again, nothing could be done.

 

Ships do travel slower on one propellor vs. two (some have four maybe - like the ocean liners). And it does effect the iteneriary. But not that bad. We actually like our sea time.

 

There are also stabilizers to help with the back and forth swaying (think of them as big fins on the side of the ship). Speaking of the stablizers, if they took care of 85% of the side to side I certainly would not like to go on a cruise without them. On Spirit when we finally hit the gulf from the river out of NOLA we had a lot of swaying. Not unexpected (ladder that apparently was leaning against the bedroom wall unexpected, making bump in the night a sleepless one).

 

There currently is no technology to take care of "porpoising", the up/down that occurs when the ship moves directly over waves. This is handled by the ship staff quartering the waves. Unless they have to get back to port, in which case wear your barf bag or protective gear for those not suffering from seasickness.

 

There are also the side impellers (or whatever they are called) for doing parallel parking ;).

 

So what happens if you get down to one engine/power plant. More than likely the hotel services (hot water/food) are going to be shut off so the ship can get you off. And frankly, I've only read once where this actually happened (and can't provide details).

[Gingee]

Thanks for the descriptions and links (I think you have to be a mechanic to understand it all thought-LOL).

[curcurt]

maybe we should rephase this...

the new engine is "working", they just aren't using it yet. at least not at full power. with a new engine, they like to break it in S L O W L Y.

 

This is a very true statement Cathi. If they did replace the old engine with a new one or even rebuilt the old one, it would still need to be run with at a much lower load or capacity. Just as your new vehicle should be driven at lower speeds and loads (towing) for a set number of miles. I am sure this engine cost NCL somewhere in the six figure range.

 

Also every time they use the retractable fin stabilizers, this will cause drag on the ship, resulting in slower speeds. There also may be some restrictions on how fast they can go with the fin stabilizers out.

[Toyz711]

This is a very true statement Cathi. If they did replace the old engine with a new one or even rebuilt the old one, it would still need to be run with at a much lower load or capacity. Just as your new vehicle should be driven at lower speeds and loads (towing) for a set number of miles. I am sure this engine cost NCL somewhere in the six figure range.

 

Also every time they use the retractable fin stabilizers, this will cause drag on the ship, resulting in slower speeds. There also may be some restrictions on how fast they can go with the fin stabilizers out.

 

 

ok, but it sounds like you know more about what you are talking about then i do :D! (i am learning so much) i just keep trying to keep the explanation to simple english.

i am sure you are right about the costs, for that money you don't want to have to go back for a re-do.

i am interested to know how many other ships are running lame? i know the spirit is not the only one but i forgot some of the others that i have read about.

[raudacruise]

There were a lot of problems with Celebrity M class ships with regard to the propeller part (called azipods). The dang things were constantly failing and because they are actually outside the ship could only be fixed during a dry dock. Law suites and finger pointing entailed but I think thats all old news now. Haven't heard anything about that for a while.

 

Again, engine = power generator. Engine generates electricity, does not drive props directly (for those of you on some Navy vessels you can disagree). Electricity is used for motors that turn the props and also used to keep the lights on and the ice cold (hotel power).

[nolaAlive]

Without all generators at full capacity, there is insufficient power generated to run the ship at full speed.

 

The ship has traveled thousands of miles and has many, many hours on it since the engine was replaced. It is as broken in as it is going to be, if they are using it at all.

 

Stabilizers, when deployed, might take a knot or so off the top end.

 

The ship needs all generators to meet the performance criteria it was designed for. Anything less and the ship is crippled. It may still be fast relative to others, but it is not performing at optimal levels.

 

Azipods are different creatures with their own set of problems.

 

The thrusters are a non-issue.