Star Azipod News and progress

[chengkp75]

Bottom Line - Best guess, and I know it can only be a guess at this point; will the ship make the March 9th cruise? I guess not if drydocking is required.

 

If drydocking is required, and there is currently no indication that it is, the ship could transit from Melbourne to Singapore on one pod in 11 days, which would allow for about 14 days of shipyard repairs. Again, I stress that the intervening cruises have not been cancelled, and that there is no indication what each of the failures entails, other than that one involves a "burned out coil", so there is no indication that drydocking is required, I believe that both failures may involve the power supply or control of the azipod motors, and can be repaired inside the ship.

[doublebzz]

I don't see why not. :)

 

Star's should be fine very shortly.

.

 

Latest news is from Norwegian is the 18th Cruise Ex Auckland will leave on time. Being on the other side of the planet people are travelling over the next few days to spend a few days in NZ before embarking.

Some queried the NCL UK office and were told there was no information that they should not travel.

 

I guess the on board engineering team have already stripped out a lot of the parts needing replacement in the hours it was under tow.

 

Their reluctance to repair unit one can be explained by them not wanting to tie the ship up for 3,4 or 5 days and completely ruin one of the planned legs. Of course the other day unit 2 failed meaning they now have no choice but to berth the ship for a few days and conduct the repairs.

 

These repairs will be routine for these guys. Old failed parts out new parts in.

 

Thanks for your optimistic views. It will reduce my intake of scotch to 1/2 liter a day.

[triptolemus]

It will reduce my intake of scotch to 1/2 liter a day.

 

Reduce?!? No reason to get crazy now!

[Musicalvix]

I am currently on board! And from what I have seen there have been no hard feelings towards any staff.

 

We are making the most of a bad situation - exporely Melbourne a bit more!

 

None of us in this cabin are interested in flying to Christchurch and exploring New Zealand at the current time! An offer which has been put forward to allow us to do this! We are getting a full refund and 50% FCC and currently planning the next!

 

I can't thank the staff and captain enough for the information we have been given! We were lucky with the weather and we were perfectly safe! It was not a scary experience - if anything it added to the holiday - after all how often can you say you have been stranded at sea?!?

[ECCruise]

Also on board. Happy cruisers everywhere.

Now, to update with what we know rather than speculation. They have told us that NO assessment would be done until we arrived pier side. The azipods were functioning as rudders so no work would/could be done while sailing. They were going to send techs (which we heard from several crew needed would be small--don't know if that is the case) to investigate the problem. Once that is complete they will update us on what the fix will be and time needed. A number of pax are leaving the ship today and continuing on land.

 

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[Pushka]

 

 

Great photo.

[B35]

Also on board. Happy cruisers everywhere.

Now, to update with what we know rather than speculation. They have told us that NO assessment would be done until we arrived pier side. The azipods were functioning as rudders so no work would/could be done while sailing. They were going to send techs (which we heard from several crew needed would be small--don't know if that is the case) to investigate the problem. Once that is complete they will update us on what the fix will be and time needed. A number of pax are leaving the ship today and continuing on land.

 

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So that means the time frames that NCL are giving, that is, it's going to be in Auckland in time are false and they don't actually know yet?! NCL are behaving disgracefully over this,they should be allowing people to cancel with full refunds, not allowing people to travel from all over the world to join the ship next week when they don't even know if it'll be there!

[karoo]

[YOUTUBE]O40_OlvS69M[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

All the footage I have seen is from the Jan 16th cruise which I was on. That was the cruise where the rioting, shouting, protesting, booing, bullying and harassing the captain, crew etc took place.

 

 

 

 

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[Loonbeam]

No, what it means is based on what they know RIGHT NOW, the ship will be repaired and make Auckland as noted..

 

When the repair crew gets on board they may find things are as expected, better or worse. THEN they will issue any updates as they should. Even the letter posted above and issued to cabins says pending further inspection.

 

No one should expect NCL to make final alterations until they have the correct information. No one should WANT them to.

 

 

 

So that means the time frames that NCL are giving, that is, it's going to be in Auckland in time are false and they don't actually know yet?! NCL are behaving disgracefully over this,they should be allowing people to cancel with full refunds, not allowing people to travel from all over the world to join the ship next week when they don't even know if it'll be there!

[aussie cruzer]

If the ship is fixed in time,the Star could resume it's original schedule from Sydney north and would save Ncl flying folks to and from Auckland and Brisbane.

 

 

Original schedule from Sydney onwards.

 

Wed Sydney, Australia 8:00 am 6:00 pm

Thu At Sea

Fri Brisbane, Australia 9:00 am 7:00 pm

Sat At Sea

Sun Airlie Beach, Australia 7:00 am 3:00 pm

Mon Cairns, Australia 8:00 am 6:00 pm

Tue At Sea

Wed At Sea

Thu Darwin, Australia 8:00 am 5:00 pm

Fri At Sea

Sat Komodo, Indonesia 8:00 am 4:00 pm

Sun Benoa (Bali), Indonesia 7:00 am 5:00 pm

Mon At Sea

Tue At Sea

Wed Port Klang, Malaysia 7:00 am 4:00 pm

Thu Singapore, Singapore 7:00 am

[karoo]

Just saw a news segment on TV. Some Texans were interviewed and were very positive about it all. They'd enjoyed break down parties, towing parties and a docking party. First cruise for them and they had no intention of getting off. The report also mentioned compensation etc. Some people were flying to NZ, others were happy to stay and enjoy their time in Melbourne. The reporter said the mechanical issues were being assessed at the moment, a time frame and plan for repairs and departure will be available later today or within 48 hours.

 

 

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[B35]

No, what it means is based on what they know RIGHT NOW, the ship will be repaired and make Auckland as noted..

 

When the repair crew gets on board they may find things are as expected, better or worse. THEN they will issue any updates as they should. Even the letter posted above and issued to cabins says pending further inspection.

 

No one should expect NCL to make final alterations until they have the correct information. No one should WANT them to.

From other threads, there are people flying to Auckland from London today and all next week and I'm sure all over the world. The "expect" it will make Auckland but still have to make further inspections? Surely as a courtesy for people travelling such vast distances and as nearly every cruise before this one has been affected they should allow full cancellations or a 100% FCC if that's what people want?

Granted they're under no obligation to but it would be good customer service.

[aussie cruzer]

From other threads, there are people flying to Auckland from London today and all next week and I'm sure all over the world. The "expect" it will make Auckland but still have to make further inspections? Surely as a courtesy for people travelling such vast distances and as nearly every cruise before this one has been affected they should allow full cancellations or a 100% FCC if that's what people want?

Granted they're under no obligation to but it would be good customer service.

 

They were offered 100 % cruise credit last week.

[B35]

They were offered 100 % cruise credit last week.

For the next cruise?

[aussie cruzer]

For the next cruise?

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=7495&cache=disable

[B35]

http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=7495&cache=disable

Ahhhh ok, that seems fair then.

[Circusboy354]

I've said it several times, but NCL should have emptied the ship in Singapore on December 11th. Given everyone money to fly home or try to patch together a vacation that included the ports that we missed (Bangkok, HCMC, Ko Samui) and fixed the ***** ship! Why have they lied over and over to all these passengers? I was one of the "lucky" ones who got 100% refund and 50% FCC, but it still was not what I paid for and I definitely will not use my 50% FCC, I have no confidence in this company anymore. NCL has no concern for the well being or the safety of their passengers or crew. No excuse...............No excuse or amount of money can makeup for this.

 

 

I disagree, I'm glad the ship wasn't 'emptied', we enjoyed our cruise even though it wasn't what was planned.

 

As the part had to be manufactured for the first azipod issue cancelling one or even two cruises would not have helped. I do think though that NCL should have given passengers the option to cancel for a refund on any of the effected cruises. I think the 100% refund and 50% credit was overly generous for us who stayed onboard and caused issues on the following cruises that were offered less.

 

The Star is far from being my favourite ship (nothing to do with the pod issues) but she has an amazing crew and we had a fantastic cruise.

 

 

 

 

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[joluvscruzin]

So that means the time frames that NCL are giving, that is, it's going to be in Auckland in time are false and they don't actually know yet?! NCL are behaving disgracefully over this,they should be allowing people to cancel with full refunds, not allowing people to travel from all over the world to join the ship next week when they don't even know if it'll be there!

 

We are booked on the Feb 18 cruise and were offered 100% refund on Feb 3 if we chose to cancel, which we didn't. We're heading to Aukland on the 14th and will have a great time whatever the outcome!

[casofilia]

We are booked on the Feb 18 cruise and were offered 100% refund on Feb 3 if we chose to cancel, which we didn't. We're heading to Aukland on the 14th and will have a great time whatever the outcome!

 

But the ship isn't going to Aukland!!

[karoo]

Do we know that it isn't going to Auckland yet?

[casofilia]

Do we know that it isn't going to Auckland yet?

 

We are booked on the Feb 18 cruise and were offered 100% refund on Feb 3 if we chose to cancel, which we didn't. We're heading to Aukland on the 14th and will have a great time whatever the outcome!

 

I purposely quoted joluvscruzin as the ship isn't, nor ever has been, going to AUKLAND.

Edited February 11, 2017 by casofilia
Remove some possibly objectionable size

[teamflames]

Oh my

 

 

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[MicCanberra]

I purposely quoted joluvscruzin as the ship isn't, nor ever has been, going to AUKLAND.

 

Typos can happen, I remember when Sydeney won the Olympics.:p

[casofilia]

Typos can happen, I remember when Sydeney won the Olympics.:p

 

I agree that typos can happen but putting Aukland has it underlined in red that says "no such word" so I check and it prompts Auckland. How difficult is that?

[B35]

We are booked on the Feb 18 cruise and were offered 100% refund on Feb 3 if we chose to cancel, which we didn't. We're heading to Aukland on the 14th and will have a great time whatever the outcome!

That's fair, I didn't realise they'd offered refunds. I guess it's on everyone's own heads if they travel to Auckland or not then.