Oosterdam.....propeller problem....delayed in San Diego

[Kelownabccan]

Any thoughts on this.....they say it can be fixed in a day......missing a whole port, a day at sea, and shortened other port times....what a bummer......wonder what will happen if takes longer to fix....?????.....will just have to spend another day in San Diego.....but a heck of a lot warmer than up here in Canada....lol......

 

Dear Valued Guest:

 

We look forward to welcoming you on board Oosterdam for your upcoming cruise

 

While we are in port in San Diego before your cruise we will be performing maintenance on one of the ship’s Azipod propellers. While this in no way affects the safety of the ship or our guests and crew, which is our highest priority, we must complete these repairs before the ship can depart for your voyage. To allow time for this work, some adjustments to our upcoming itinerary have been necessary.

 

We will now remain in port overnight on Saturday, December 7 and depart San Diego on Sunday, December 8, at 6:00 PM. As a result of our late departure from San Diego we will no longer be able to call to Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, on Wednesday, December 11, and will reverse the port order of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico and Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

 

Our revised itinerary is now as follows:

 

Date	Port	Arrival	Departure
Saturday, December 7	San Diego, California, U.S.		Overnight
Sunday, December 8	San Diego, California, U.S.		6:00 PM
Monday, December 9	At Sea
Tuesday, December 10	Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico	10:00 AM	6:00 PM
Wednesday, December 11	Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico	Noon	9:00 PM
Thursday, December 12	At Sea
Friday, December 13	At Sea
Saturday, December 14	San Diego, California, U.S.	7:00 AM

 

We sincerely apologize for these changes and realize that the cancellation of a port of call, regardless of the reason, is disappointing. We sympathize with our guests whenever an itinerary revision is required and we are unable to take you to all of the destinations you expect to visit.

As a gesture of concern for your experience and gratitude for your understanding, each guest will receive $100.00 USD as a refundable onboard credit applied to your shipboard account. The onboard credit cannot be redeemed for cash or used in the Casino, but may be used toward all purchases in the bars, boutiques, and photo gallery, as well as spa treatments and shore excursions. Each guest will also receive the refundable portion of the taxes, fees and port expenses associated with Mazatlán.

 

For those guests with Holland America Line tours booked for Mazatlán, your shipboard folio will be credited automatically with your refund. We are working with our tour operators to reschedule Holland America Line tours for Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, and if your tour is rescheduled or cancelled you will be advised on board.

 

Guests will be free to come and go from the ship while we are in San Diego. A complimentary shuttle will be available from the port to the Gaslamp Quarter/Downtown on Saturday evening and during the day on Sunday. We will also have San Diego shore excursions available for Sunday, which you can learn about and book once you are on board.

 

We regret any disappointment these changes may cause, and look forward to our voyage together. Thank you for choosing Holland America Line.

Kind regards,

Holland America Line

[Sir PMP]

They say maintenance, so this should be it, too bad you're missing Mazatlan, but that's not the end of the world and I feel that the crew will make you extra happy..

[canadianbear]

I still think the issue started before the cruise we are on now.  They probably had to order a part or something so doing an actual fix this time in San Diego.   It’s nice and warm here in Mazatlán today-sorry you’re going to miss it.  Let’s hope the weather improves for San Diego!

 

see you on board 

[jimdee3636]

My wife and I are on the same cruise. Assuming that the maintenance work is truly necessary, I can't fault HAL for wanting to get it done ASAP, and I think their $100 pp OBC compensation (plus a refund of the Mazatlan docking fees) is fair. My only wish is that, if they had to cancel a port, they would have cancelled Cabo instead. I'm so sick of that place, and I hate tenders! So we'll stay on the ship when we're anchored there and enjoy drinking up some of our OBC!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry to hear that the Oosterdam is having Azipod problems.  Hopefully they will get her all fixed up.  Nice that you are getting some shipboard credit.

 

 

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, Kelownabccan said:

each guest will receive $100.00 USD as a refundable onboard credit applied to your shipboard account. The onboard credit cannot be redeemed for cash

 

Sorry your cruise is having a problem.

I don't follow the wording of the letter.  It mentions a refundable credit and then says it cannot be redeemed for cash!

I know that other charges can eat up the credit, it is just the wording seems wrong!

[cat shepard]

17 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

 

Sorry your cruise is having a problem.

I don't follow the wording of the letter.  It mentions a refundable credit and then says it cannot be redeemed for cash!

I know that other charges can eat up the credit, it is just the wording seems wrong!

I had the same problem with the wording.
 

However, a savvy CCer explained it can be refunded as a credit to your credit card, but not to you as cash. This of course passes the problem on to your credit card - if you have no charges to absorb the credit, and also eliminates the need for HAL to worry about having enough cash on hand.

[jhubba]

I am going to be on this cruise.  The OBC will be nice, but I will really miss not going to Mazatlan.  I haven't really been excited about the Cabo stop since you have to tender and I wish they would have cancelled that one instead.

[RevNeal]

I'm reminded of my birthday cruise in 2007 when they cut a 10 day cruise to 7 days and cut out two ports so that they could do an extensive cleaning of the old Ryndam after a massive Norovirus outbreak.  It was a disappointing event, and there were severe communication problems leading up to the cruise (many of us were not informed of the cancellation until we arrived in San Diego).  No one could board the ship, of course, so arrangements were made for those of us who didn't cancel the cruise to stay at a Marriot Hotel in Orange County -- near Disneyland.  It wasn't a bad alternative: they provided transport there and back, took care of most of the expenses at the hotel (2 meals a day), and provided us with an option to go to Disneyland for a day.  Still ... it wasn't the same as being aboard ship and at sea.

 

Upsets to itineraries like this are annoying and disappointing, but they sometimes have to happen.  The best thing to do is just roll with it and try to enjoy life.

[freestyling]

The OBC of $100 credit to your on board account can assist on the HSC

[CruisingAndDiving]

Had a similar experience 10 years ago with RCCL.

 

The ship damaged one of the three props when it hit a reef just before returning to New York.  So during our Muster Drill, the Captain said divers couldn't see the prop well enough in the muddy waters to properly repair it there and they would just sail a bit slower and make the repairs in St Thomas.  That meant missing our port of San Juan (no big deal to me).  If I remember right we ended up getting $200 in OBC and a refund of the San Juan port charges.

 

 

[Crew News]

An azipod problem occured on the Eurodam April 2019 on the way back from Mexico as the ship went through some fishing lines causing us to spend the night onboard in San Diego while divers made the repairs.  After repairs are made, not only the US Coast Guard but also Lloyds of London (insurance carrier) had to inspect the repairs.  We finally departed around 1:00 PM the following day but missed our itinerary stop in Victoria, BC before docking in Vancouver.

[elcydcruiser]

8 hours ago, jimdee3636 said:

My wife and I are on the same cruise. Assuming that the maintenance work is truly necessary, I can't fault HAL for wanting to get it done ASAP, and I think their $100 pp OBC compensation (plus a refund of the Mazatlan docking fees) is fair. My only wish is that, if they had to cancel a port, they would have cancelled Cabo instead. I'm so sick of that place, and I hate tenders! So we'll stay on the ship when we're anchored there and enjoy drinking up some of our OBC!

That's exactly what my sister & I plan to do, too.

[DAllenTCY]

On Sunday the Carnival Miracle will be in the Port of San Diego (7 am until 4:30 pm) as well as the Oosterdam.

 

Plan on a very busy pier between 8 and 10 am (disembarkation).......and again from 1 until 3 pm (long security lines).

 

Weather......20% possible rain showers.

 

David

 

 

[slabeaume]

11 hours ago, canadianbear said:

I still think the issue started before the cruise we are on now.  They probably had to order a part or something so doing an actual fix this time in San Diego.   It’s nice and warm here in Mazatlán today-sorry you’re going to miss it.  Let’s hope the weather improves for San Diego!

 

see you on board 

canadianbear---did you break the ship?

 

[canadianbear]

1 hour ago, slabeaume said:

canadianbear---did you break the ship?

 

I’m on vacation and staying out of trouble 😁😁

[cat shepard]

9 hours ago, slabeaume said:

canadianbear---did you break the ship?

 

It might have been me - though I did it unintentionally. I was on the last cruise before the problem was noticed. 

[miabbw]

On that cruise too wish it was Cabo too never been to Mazatlan only reason we booked this cruise,

[rj42]

21 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

On Sunday the Carnival Miracle will be in the Port of San Diego (7 am until 4:30 pm) as well as the Oosterdam.

 

Plan on a very busy pier between 8 and 10 am (disembarkation).......and again from 1 until 3 pm (long security lines).

 

Weather......20% possible rain showers.

 

David

 

 

To complicate matters, there will be a Christmas boat parade starting at 5 on Sunday and scheduled to pass by the cruise port area around 6, when the Oosterdam is scheduled to depart. That also means tons of people going to the port areas to watch the parade also. On the bright side, there's also a big Christmas lights festival in Balboa Park on Saturday night, with entertainment, food/drink, lights, and shopping, and it's only a 2-mile Uber ride from the pier, so I plan to head up there after dinner (it goes until 11 pm).