Island Princess Propulsion problem

[MaryZ]

[quote name='flourpot']So far, so good! Yesterday, we climbed to 11,333 feet to see the summit of Jungfraujoch in Grindelwald, Switzerland. It was pretty darn amazing. Now we're in Lucerne and will be heading to Lake Como in 2 days and then to the ship in Venice.[/QUOTE]

That does sound amazing! We are hoping to travel to Switzerland in 2017. We have a 21 day cruise booked on the Epic and then plan on traveling around on land for a bit.

Safe travels and I hope the ship gets us to all the ports we should be seeing this trip! This will be my first time to Europe and because they sort of dropped the ball with the cruise air etc, I had to cancel plans that would have had us staying for a bit longer than just the cruise.
We've never sailed Princess before. So far, they aren't making the best impression....LOL
It might be first and last at this point.

[smellycruzer]

[quote name='Starry Eyes']Hi everybody.
For the person wondering about the itinerary: today July 5 our original itinerary would have been Kusadasi, but Captain scratched that port, instead sailing straight from Istanbul to Athens. It is now about 9 pm local time July 5 and we are due in Athens at 7:30 am July 6.

Speeds have been reduced, though it is hard to guess speed from deck lacking a decent GPS. ScanDisplay on TV seems inaccurate, showing us sailing along Kusadasi route rather than straight to Athens. I do not particularly trust the varying speeds displayed there today.

Basically total silence on board as to situation. Neither DH or I heard a peep from the Captain overhead today. On other lines, I have grown accustomed to hearing from the Captain daily, often at noon or so on sea days; I rather enjoy those short pleasant announcements. Given current circumstances, especially would have appreciated hearing today from Captain; pity we did not.

Repair plans have not been mentioned to us. If I ask, I am only told we will be in Athens on time tomorrow, as if one should have any further interest. I very much hope the poster saying it might be repaired while docked in Venice is correct; that would be great for upcoming cruisers.

Wendy[/QUOTE]

Any updates Wendy? Hope Princess makes this right for all aboard.

[Lanz]

[quote name='SILFOX'][quote name='Starry Eyes']Hi everybody.
For the person wondering about the itinerary: today July 5 our original itinerary would have been Kusadasi, but Captain scratched that port, instead sailing straight from Istanbul to Athens. It is now about 9 pm local time July 5 and we are due in Athens at 7:30 am July 6.

Speeds have been reduced, though it is hard to guess speed from deck lacking a decent GPS. ScanDisplay on TV seems inaccurate, showing us sailing along Kusadasi route rather than straight to Athens. I do not particularly trust the varying speeds displayed there today.

Basically total silence on board as to situation. Neither DH or I heard a peep from the Captain overhead today. On other lines, I have grown accustomed to hearing from the Captain daily, often at noon or so on sea days; I rather enjoy those short pleasant announcements. Given current circumstances, especially would have appreciated hearing today from Captain; pity we did not.

Repair plans have not been mentioned to us. If I ask, I am only told we will be in Athens on time tomorrow, as if one should have any further interest. I very much hope the poster saying it might be repaired while docked in Venice is correct; that would be great for upcoming cruisers.

Wendy[/quote

Hi Wendy, thanks sincerely for your on-board updates re the situation as it unfolds.
[B]If poss. kindly continue to enlighten us all.[/B]
As there apparently has been nil info. from Princess to anyone - (guessing it is too early yet, pending full examination & appraisals of the problem) your postings are the only avenue of news - much appreciated. Will continue to monitor this thread......
P.S. We are booked on the July 21 sailing Barc->Venice

Kind regards, take care, try to enjoy!
Geoff & Caz
PERTH, Western Australia[/QUOTE]

We are booked in C728 the very last cabin on the Caribe deck, does anyone know if the vibration issue affects this cabin. We are used to aft cabin vibrations but this sounds more serious and we still have time to move. Thanks so much.

[Starry Eyes]

Good morning from Piraeus/Athens.

We docked early today. I heard and felt the docking maneuvers/thrusters before 5 am. We are scheduled to sail at 5 pm.

The technical info provided by other posters has been interesting and informative. Fingers crossed that repairs can be made here, or failing that in Venice. If a repair can be made soon, hopefully there will be no impact on future cruises, explaining perhaps why no info has been provided to future cruisers. I hope so.

Happy tone safely docked in near amazing sites. Getting ready to tour now.

Wendy

[trinitytrees]

[quote name='Starry Eyes']Good morning from Piraeus/Athens.

We docked early today. I heard and felt the docking maneuvers/thrusters before 5 am. We are scheduled to sail at 5 pm.

The technical info provided by other posters has been interesting and informative. Fingers crossed that repairs can be made here, or failing that in Venice. If a repair can be made soon, hopefully there will be no impact on future cruises, explaining perhaps why no info has been provided to future cruisers. I hope so.

Happy tone safely docked in near amazing sites. Getting ready to tour now.

Wendy[/QUOTE]
Thank you so much for taking the time to post, we fly out tomorrow to Venice to pick up ship Thursday so watching your post for updates.

I really hope you enjoy/ed Athens, lots of reports on TV from there today so expect it to be busy.

Thanks again

[Starry Eyes]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post, we fly out tomorrow to Venice to pick up ship Thursday so watching your post for updates.

 

I really hope you enjoy/ed Athens, lots of reports on TV from there today so expect it to be busy.

 

Thanks again

We promise to take good care of the ship in the few days before you board. Safe travels.

We are on a hoho bus in Athens using the bus wifi. No demonstrations or unrest so far. Multiple journalists standing around, though. Maybe between tourists and journalists the economy might benefit a bit.

[trinitytrees]

We promise to take good care of the ship in the few days before you board. Safe travels.

We are on a hoho bus in Athens using the bus wifi. No demonstrations or unrest so far. Multiple journalists standing around, though. Maybe between tourists and journalists the economy might benefit a bit.

 

Aw bless you such kind words, and typing whilst touring on sightseeing bus you are a star, enjoy the rest of your cruise and you to safe and a

very pleasant journeying.

[Corfe Mixture]

No demonstrations or unrest so far.

 

And unlikely to be any for at least 48 hours. When you cut through all the rhetoric, the current situation is that the Greek people were asked a question which basically said

a) do you want to your Government to pay its debts?

b) do you want your Government to insist on the same lender giving us an additional loan on improved terms than they have so far offered us?

 

The result of last night's referendum was, in effect, No to a) and Yes to b)

 

Right now the 61% who voted that way are living in the belief that by democratically voting that way they have given their Government the tools to do exactly that, without seeming to understand that their 'democratic' vote may not empower their Government to dictate terms to the lender.

 

It will be another 36 hours before it becomes apparent whether or not their Government is able to dictate terms to the lender.

 

Until then 61% of the Greek population are not going to do anything to disturb the idea that they have found Utopia, other than celebrate.

[wowzz]

The turnout was only 60%, so the 61% who vote No actually account for only 35% or so of the Greek population - hardly a mandate!

[Corfe Mixture]

The turnout was only 60%, so the 61% who vote No actually account for only 35% or so of the Greek population - hardly a mandate!

 

I was simply explaining to Starry Eyes why there is no risk of unrest during her visit.

 

I was NOT trying to start a political debate, though 61.3% of a 62.5% turnout = 38.3% of the eligible electorate is about a big a mandate you can get without making voting compulsory.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Corfe Mixture

[Cindy]

Sorry to the OP and all who are affected. Hopefully this will not require a major fix that would impact multiple cruises.

 

Our final payment is due next week, July 8th. Princess just reported no knowledge of changes to that itinerary. Hope we can get clarification before July 8th.

 

That's a tough one. I know, as Pam said, that ports are never guaranteed. However, if I'm going to incur the time and expense of a long-haul flight to Europe for a Med cruise, I want to know we're going to be able to make the majority of our ports. I actually think you may know more by what gets posted in the next couple days. If the Island makes the remainder of the itinerary on schedule, the problem may not have much of an impact on upcoming cruises.

 

In the two days you have left before final payment, I would (or I would have my TA) look at options on other ships that would work with my existing air arrangements. There may not be anything, but I would feel better knowing I had at least looked at the options.

 

I was supposed to be on a Millennium Pacific Coastal in 2013, but it got cancelled three weeks out to go into dry dock for an azipod repair. I had about 12 hours advance notice of the cancellation, thanks to Cruise Critic. I was able to salvage my vacation by switching lines and itineraries. I only had an airfare change fee, which Celebrity reimbursed me for as part of the compensation for the cancellation.

[chengkp75]

Hi Loonbeam. Coming from a marine engineering background with the RN, replacing a shaft bearing is a relatively straightforward piece of work. the shaft would either have been locked to stop it rotating but with the adverse affect of putting greater strain on the other rotating shaft or allowing it to rotate freely under the influence of the water over the propeller as the ship is being pushed through the water by the other shaft.

 

Once alongside, you go ashore and enjoy yourself in the meantime a small team will lock the shaft putting in place a number of safety systems to prevent the shaft from rotating. The shaft is supported on something called a "Plummer bearing", I would expect Princess to have 3 or 4 per shaft. The bearing, I would expect to be of a "white metal, shell" type lubricated by oil. The bearing is curved and sits around the shaft in two semi-circular halves inside a "split housing".

 

To remove the bearing, the shaft would initially be supported to prevent sagging when the bearing is eventually removed. The housing would be unbolted and one half lifted away exposing the two halves of the bearing and because of their curvature construction, they can be easily slid out of the housing, helped by the oil it will be coated in. New ones would be slid in, oil flushed to prevent foreign object damage, housings refitted and pressure tested to check for oil leaks.

 

In the meantime the ship functions as though it was a normal day alongside? You return from shore, have a good nights sleep and the next day you toddle off to sea while the shaft vibration is monitored.

 

As for what caused the problem, well, 1. The new superstructure causing undesigned forces to act on the shaft, 2. A failed oil filter causing foreign objects to get in between the shaft and bearing, 3. Something may have hit the shaft underwater and "dislodged" the shaft.

 

Mr Madscienceteacher has just written that and hope it helps!

 

Mandy

 

Just clarify, the stern seal is not a bearing, it's a seal at the point where the shaft exits the ships hull to prevent water entering the ship. It may surprise some but this too can be replaced without the ship having to go into dry dock. An inflatable bag is taken down and placed around the shaft by divers. The bag is inflated and air displaces the water. The seal can then be replaced from inside the ship.

 

It costs $ thousands to put a ship in dock.

 

Good info here, but let me clarify a little more. Line shaft bearings (inside the ship) tend to only have the bottom half of the bearing, since there is almost no condition where the weight of the shaft and propeller doesn't force the shaft down into the bearing. These half bearings can be rolled out as explained above. If this is the problem, and if they have a spare bearing, this could be a 24 hour repair.

 

However, the bearing failure is a symptom, not a cause. As stated above, these are the most likely causes, most especially if the ship is experiencing different stresses after the conversion. This would require alignment testing of the bearings, which can be done without removing the shaft, but would require reseating the bearing housing, and this could take a few days.

 

If the stern tube bearing is failed, this would require a drydocking to replace.

 

While stern tube seals as you describe can be repaired inside the ship, I believe this is for a sea water lubricated seal. Today's cruise ships use oil lubricated stern tubes, so there is a seal at each end of the stern tube. The inner seal can be repaired from inside the ship, but the outer seal cannot, and this is why there are redundant seals out there at the propeller.

 

It could also be a bearing in the propulsion motor itself. This could be repaired inside the ship as well.

 

As you say, with nearly any kind of bearing failure, the affected shaft will need to be locked (it is a fixed pitch propeller), to keep it from "windmilling", and this will add even more drag and slow the ship than if the propulsion motor was just not working, and the prop was allowed to windmill.

 

Forgot to add that vibration can be caused by a bent propeller blade. Depending on where the damage is, and the extent, and the timing of the next drydocking, they can crop out the bent part, and then crop out a similar piece from the opposite blade to balance things. This can be done by divers.

Edited July 6, 2015 by chengkp75

[vjblk]

Thanks Starryeyes for posting this information. Can you let us know how you liked the HOHO bus in Athens? I am assuming you caught it by the cruise terminal. Just wondering how it was and was it difficult to catch it back to the ship. Hope you enjoyed your day in Athens and thanks again for keeping us updated on the propulsion situation. My sister and I are on the September 19 sailing and so looking forward to this cruise.

[Tedferg]

Sorry to the OP and all who are affected. Hopefully this will not require a major fix that would impact multiple cruises.

 

 

 

That's a tough one. I know, as Pam said, that ports are never guaranteed. However, if I'm going to incur the time and expense of a long-haul flight to Europe for a Med cruise, I want to know we're going to be able to make the majority of our ports. I actually think you may know more by what gets posted in the next couple days. If the Island makes the remainder of the itinerary on schedule, the problem may not have much of an impact on upcoming cruises.

 

In the two days you have left before final payment, I would (or I would have my TA) look at options on other ships that would work with my existing air arrangements. There may not be anything, but I would feel better knowing I had at least looked at the options.

 

I was supposed to be on a Millennium Pacific Coastal in 2013, but it got cancelled three weeks out to go into dry dock for an azipod repair. I had about 12 hours advance notice of the cancellation, thanks to Cruise Critic. I was able to salvage my vacation by switching lines and itineraries. I only had an airfare change fee, which Celebrity reimbursed me for as part of the compensation for the cancellation.

 

Thanks for the advice, I will contact TA. There is a HAL Med cruise that is somewhat similar but flight and all tours would have to be changed. I do feel there is time before Oct 1st to sort this out

[Tedferg]

Posted on July 9 Roll Call, waiting to hear back from our TA.

 

"Just heard from our Travel Agent, she had heard of a problem with the ship and just now followed up with Princess, she was told the Island princess is on a normal schedule and the shaft problem has been corrected. Hopefully she is right so good news."

[Starry Eyes]

Hello again.

 

I'm feeling optimistic that the problem may be solved. Island Princess left Athens at about 5 pm as planned on our revised schedule. We seem to be sailing at a normal speed, and seem to be on pace to make the Venice as schedule. If so, hopefully no other cruises will be impacted by this problem. I'll update if any delays seem to develop.

 

Lovely day in Athens. I was never particularly worried about demonstrations or unrest, though admittedly such can happen suddenly nearly anywhere. I doubt any of us want this to turn into an unpleasant political discussion; I certainly don't.

 

The HOHO question: We were docked at terminal B. Near the terminal, three companies had HOHO buses ready to board. Having used City Sightseeing in other locales, we selected them (the red bus); this time they disappointed me. I will not use them again. WiFi did not work on first ride. On second ride, the bus was 20 minutes late vs posted schedule; that cut directly into our touring time. Again on second ride wifi again did not work. Sadly, the audio was also bad; there was no commentary on half the bus (port side). No seats available on side with working audio. Third and fourth rides were better buses. If I were to do it again, I'd try yellow (greyline) or blue (cheaper, I think).

 

FYI...to conserve wifi minutes, I'm skimming the thread, logging out, then composing offline. That might cause me to forget some questions and such. if I neglect to respond to anybody's post, I mean no offense; please kindly just repeat any missed inquiry and I'll try to catch it next time.

 

Wendy

[Colo Cruiser]

Hello again.

 

I'm feeling optimistic that the problem may be solved. Island Princess left Athens at about 5 pm as planned on our revised schedule. We seem to be sailing at a normal speed, and seem to be on pace to make the Venice as schedule. If so, hopefully no other cruises will be impacted by this problem. I'll update if any delays seem to develop.

 

Lovely day in Athens. I was never particularly worried about demonstrations or unrest, though admittedly such can happen suddenly nearly anywhere. I doubt any of us want this to turn into an unpleasant political discussion; I certainly don't.

 

The HOHO question: We were docked at terminal B. Near the terminal, three companies had HOHO buses ready to board. Having used City Sightseeing in other locales, we selected them (the red bus); this time they disappointed me. I will not use them again. WiFi did not work on first ride. On second ride, the bus was 20 minutes late vs posted schedule; that cut directly into our touring time. Again on second ride wifi again did not work. Sadly, the audio was also bad; there was no commentary on half the bus (port side). No seats available on side with working audio. Third and fourth rides were better buses. If I were to do it again, I'd try yellow (greyline) or blue (cheaper, I think).

 

FYI...to conserve wifi minutes, I'm skimming the thread, logging out, then composing offline. That might cause me to forget some questions and such. if I neglect to respond to anybody's post, I mean no offense; please kindly just repeat any missed inquiry and I'll try to catch it next time.

 

Wendy

 

 

Glad you had a good day in Athens. Keeping fingers crossed about any issues.

Thanks for taking the time from your cruise to post the updates. :)

[trinitytrees]

Wendy, so glad to hear you enjoyed Athens but sorry disappointed with hoho bus, I will bear in mind when we get there. The news of problem on ship appearing to be repaired is fantastic news, I hope that your journey and cruise are fabulous and you enjoy.

 

So grateful to you for the live updates. Bon voyage

 

We fly out very early in morning :):)

[MaryZ]

Happy to hear your time in Athens was fairly good! I will try to remember about the hoho blue bus.

[Putterdude]

Happy to hear the bearing has been taken care of. Bearings do fail for a variety of reasons but most can be repaired within 24 hours without drydocking and this was obviously the case with the Island.

[Tedferg]

Yes, our TA said Princess confirmed problem has been fixed.

[Colo Cruiser]

Happy to hear the bearing has been taken care of. Bearings do fail for a variety of reasons but most can be repaired within 24 hours without drydocking and this was obviously the case with the Island.

 

Where did you receive the bearing fix details? Or that it was even a bearing?

[Starry Eyes]

We are still cranking along at 20+ knots😀

[Colo Cruiser]

We are still cranking along at 20+ knots

 

 

Good to hear! Enjoy the rest of the cruise. :)

[diane.in.ny]

we are still cranking along at 20+ knots

 

:d:d:d