Star Azipod News and progress

[lovenewexperiences1]

Flying 11000 miles in less than 3 weeks and still no idea where we will be going, whether we will make our return flights from Singapore or what compensation will be for not getting the holiday we booked. No chance of flight refunds as we booked seperate. As everyone has said, crap communication from NCL as well as a blatant disregard for customers by keeping this crippled blind dog sailing...

If all I was concerned about was the boat, eating and drinking, and not destinations, I could have gone to the Caribbean which is a lot closer...

 

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I agree. Information would be nice.

 

 

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[MicCanberra]

You can guarantee you will be offered 100 % credit from Auckland to Singapore

 

Have a look at the great deal Ovation of the season has out of Brisbane to Singapore Feb 22 ....works great with your Singapore connections.

 

Bail out if you can.

 

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I would jump ship if the timings suit.

[RiotAct]

Can't imagine protests now after being given a 100 % credit.

 

This wouldn't of happened without the protests & media attention.

 

 

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Key word in there is CREDIT.

[aussie cruzer]

I would jump ship if the timings suit.

$1300 Aussie is a sweet deal on Ovation.

 

Flights from Auckland to Brisbane around $230 one way.

 

A little bit more reliable I would think.

 

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[MicCanberra]

$1300 Aussie is a sweet deal on Ovation.

 

Flights from Auckland to Brisbane around $230 one way.

 

A little bit more reliable I would think.

 

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Nicer ship as well.:D

[kiwicruisers51]

Flying 11000 miles in less than 3 weeks and still no idea where we will be going, whether we will make our return flights from Singapore or what compensation will be for not getting the holiday we booked. No chance of flight refunds as we booked seperate. As everyone has said, crap communication from NCL as well as a blatant disregard for customers by keeping this crippled blind dog sailing...

If all I was concerned about was the boat, eating and drinking, and not destinations, I could have gone to the Caribbean which is a lot closer...

 

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Totally agree.

 

We have received an email from our TA (11am 31Jan NZ time) that NCL are finalising the itinerary for 18 and 24 Feb cruises and will advise passengers in the coming days. We are doing 3 legs Auckland to Venice. I hate to think how many amazing ports we are going to miss. :mad::mad::mad:

[Portybelly]

Nicer ship as well.:D

Lol..does look nice. Problem is the itinerary is even more sparse than the Star's! I would guess that's roughly what we'll end up with...(Brisbane, Darwin, Malaysia, Singapore) May as well take the future credit. Hope it can be applied to already booked sailings...

 

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[he11cat]

Thanks again for your updates. So glad you are enjoying the cruise.

 

Have the protests in the atrium continued? We board on Feb. 6 and do not want to deal with that at all. I suspect the protest leader is also scheduled to be on our sailing. I hope the Captain can get corporate NCL to give him what he wants so he disembarks in Sydney.

 

Don't worry about the protests - it's not as bad as it looks - we didn't hear a thing. We were circulated a napkin with the date and time of the first protest, didn't attend, and just stayed in the bar on Deck 14. The video footage looks worse than it is. Don't worry - it's not chaos onboard - it's very safe.

[insidecabin]

Flying 11000 miles in less than 3 weeks and still no idea where we will be going, whether we will make our return flights from Singapore or what compensation will be for not getting the holiday we booked. No chance of flight refunds as we booked seperate. As everyone has said, crap communication from NCL as well as a blatant disregard for customers by keeping this crippled blind dog sailing...

If all I was concerned about was the boat, eating and drinking, and not destinations, I could have gone to the Caribbean which is a lot closer...

 

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UK booking read up on the package holiday regulations and if they do make a major change on your cruise full refund including compensation for the flights.

 

A cruise only booking is covered by the regulations.

[casofilia]

Totally agree.

 

We have received an email from our TA (11am 31Jan NZ time) that NCL are finalising the itinerary for 18 and 24 Feb cruises and will advise passengers in the coming days. We are doing 3 legs Auckland to Venice. I hate to think how many amazing ports we are going to miss. :mad::mad::mad:

 

Please post what you get when you get it. Will be very interested to see what you will be missing out on. Don't blame you for the :mad::mad::mad:

 

Mike

[aussie cruzer]

Ncl are really putting there foot in it now,they calling the CC article about Feb 18 cruise compensation as "fake news".....I'm sure Louise at CC won't be to happy about that.

 

They say you shouldn't believe things on the Internet.

 

 

 

 

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[MicCanberra]

Stand by for incoming from Louise.:cool:

[aussie cruzer]

Stand by for incoming from Louise.:cool:

I must admit a little birdie did tell her.😀

 

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[Son of a son of a ...]

I read you Lima-Charlie. Ready to copy, over.

[kiwicruisers51]

Please post what you get when you get it. Will be very interested to see what you will be missing out on. Don't blame you for the :mad::mad::mad:

 

Mike

 

Will do Mike :)

[Kiriseth]

Everybody do not get excited we were told exactly the same story from the Chief Engineer in early January.

 

Also the Chief Engineer said and I quote

 

"I didn't know of any previous problems with regards Azipods"

 

So he didn't know about the 2015 problem and he didn't know about the problem in Copenhagen in May.

 

Have a look at your ships log mate

 

Maybe they need a new Chief Engineer

 

 

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[Level six]

Everybody do not get excited we were told exactly the same story from the Chief Engineer in early January.

 

Also the Chief Engineer said and I quote

 

"I didn't know of any previous problems with regards Azipods"

 

So he didn't know about the 2015 problem and he didn't know about the problem in Copenhagen in May.

 

Have a look at your ships log mate

 

Maybe they need a new Chief Engineer

 

 

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Agree! We were on the DEC 11th sailing( the "first" problem) and at the meet the officers meeting, any question that was asked of the chief engineer were answered very defensively! After the meeting we asked him if this had ever happened....NOOOOOO, never! Even tho we had looked it up on line and saw it had happened 2 times before. When we told him that, he made a bee line for the door and never answered. NCL's head is in the sand. That is where all the frustration lies. Why not just come clean, refund cruises and other expenses and fix the darn ship??? It really just makes for horrible PR and like me, even with my 50% off, probably will never sail on NCL because of the way they handled this problem.

[Kiriseth]

Totally agree, what is now happening is the hole is getting even bigger and costing even more.

 

I notice the that NCL have even stopped refunds, and only giving vouchers!!!!!

 

Have you received your refund because I am still waiting for mine

 

 

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[B35]

Totally agree, what is now happening is the hole is getting even bigger and costing even more.

 

I notice the that NCL have even stopped refunds, and only giving vouchers!!!!!

 

Have you received your refund because I am still waiting for mine

 

 

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They need to bite the bullet and cancel cruises until they can get the ship repaired. Also, how safe is it limping about oceans on half power unable to maneuver properly around storms or large waves?

Edited February 1, 2017 by B35

[chengkp75]

They need to bite the bullet and cancel cruises until they can get the ship repaired. Also, how safe is it limping about oceans on half power unable to maneuver properly around storms or large waves?

 

Why is it unable to "maneuver properly around storms or large waves"? Cruise ships account for less than 1% of the world's shipping. Most of those ships that are far larger than the Star have less power than the one azipod on the Star produces. 98% of the world's ships have only one propeller. As for "limping", the 15-16 knots that Star is currently making on one azipod is faster than 95% of the world's ships go.

 

If it was not considered to be safe, then the classification societies and the local maritime agencies would not allow the ship to sail.

 

Regarding the comments about the Chief Engineer, I wasn't there, and I cannot vouch for his command of English, but I warrant that what he meant to say was that this particular failure (the one back in December) had never happened before, which is why the part was not quickly available even from the azipod manufacturer.

[herdingdogmom]

Chengkp75,

 

Comments about the new azipod problem on the Star from those on the current cruise are: "on the back stage tour, we were told it is an easier fix than the last problem, but they are waiting on parts" and "the Captain said a coil burned out and needs to be replaced"

 

Does that give you any idea about how long it might take to get the parts and if the repair can be done while the ship is sailing or needs to be done in port?

 

We are on the Feb. 6 sailing and have an overnight in Melbourne. Wondering if it is possible the azipod could be repaired in Melbourne.

Edited February 1, 2017 by herdingdogmom

[chengkp75]

Chengkp75,

 

Comments about the new azipod problem on the Star from those on the current cruise are: "on the back stage tour, we were told it is an easier fix than the last problem, but they are waiting on parts" and "the Captain said a coil burned out and needs to be replaced"

 

Does that give you any idea about how long it might take to get the parts and if the repair can be done while the ship is sailing or needs to be done in port?

 

We are on the Feb. 6 sailing and have an overnight in Melbourne. Wondering if it is possible the azipod could be repaired in Melbourne.

 

Well, still not too clear. A "coil" could be anything from the size of a child's fist to something the size of a room. Unless it is one of the motor's stator windings, down in the pod, or a major transformer winding (which would most likely require a hole cut in the hull), it would be repairable while in service (and this is sort of what I get from the comments). Again, if the repair needs to be done in the pod itself (like the last repair), then it would need to be done in port. If it is outside the pod, it would be up in the ship, and repairable underway. As for lead time, without knowing what exactly is involved, I couldn't say, but this type of failure is more common, so spares may be available from the manufacturer's stock.

 

I noticed the overnight in Melbourne, and didn't understand why the port call in Burnie was cancelled for this, unless it is to schedule some dockside repairs.

[Level six]

Kiriseth, We did receive our refund about 2 weeks later. You still haven't? It was credited to our CC.

 

As for the safety, I do agree that it is a problem, what if the 2nd azipod had gone out when the first one was out, I mean, only 3 days or so difference. If that is not a hazard..............what is? No working azipod at sea?

 

The Engineer had a good command of english. He is from Greece and had been with NCL or other cruise lines for over 30 years ( not sure about the number, but along time). So, he clearly understood the question and had no problem answering it.

 

When asked if there had been ANY problems with azipods on this ship before, he said, no not ANY problems. We didn't ask if this problem had happened before, we said, "were there any problems".

 

Like I said before, NCL should come clean, give refunds for all travel expenses and fix the ship.

[chengkp75]

As for the safety, I do agree that it is a problem, what if the 2nd azipod had gone out when the first one was out, I mean, only 3 days or so difference. If that is not a hazard..............what is? No working azipod at sea?

 

 

Well, I guess that maritime safety professionals, and insurance underwriters (the classification societies) would disagree with you regarding a safety issue. Besides, while having no propulsion is undoubtedly an extreme inconvenience for your vacation, it is not a safety issue. Many ships have survived many storms without propulsion in the past. Besides, since this pod failure appears to be different from the previous one, it would appear to me that the ship could have taken the part needed for this second repair from the first failed pod to make the repair.

[Son of a son of a ...]

Up sh*t creek without a paddle is not the same as being at sea with no azipods.