Anthem 1/9 Sailing- Delayed

[cruiserking]

9 minutes ago, bajathree said:

It's usually a bad seal within the Azipod. They can operate for some time like this at a reduced speed. Fixing the issue requires a dry dock to replace the bad seal. 

When you say "some time" do you mean weeks or months? Just hoping our February cruise still happens. Maybe they can hold out till there next dry dock whenever that is. 

 

Jonathan

[Jimbo]

13 minutes ago, cruiserking said:

When you say "some time" do you mean weeks or months? Just hoping our February cruise still happens. Maybe they can hold out till there next dry dock whenever that is. 

 

Jonathan

Depends how bad it is and if they can baby it along until the next dry dock they will wait, if not then they have to take it in and repair it and cancel some sailings.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Jimbo

[PiperHolliday]

5 minutes ago, cruiserking said:

When you say "some time" do you mean weeks or months? Just hoping our February cruise still happens. Maybe they can hold out till there next dry dock whenever that is. 

 

Jonathan

 

Anthem isn't scheduled for another regular dry dock for a few years. 

 

In recent years, they've made changes to the azipods so that a lot of the repairs can be done by crawling into the pod from inside the ship. However, if it happens to be a seal, I believe that is one of the things that does require drydock. 

[cruiserking]

5 minutes ago, PiperHolliday said:

 

Anthem isn't scheduled for another regular dry dock for a few years. 

 

In recent years, they've made changes to the azipods so that a lot of the repairs can be done by crawling into the pod from inside the ship. However, if it happens to be a seal, I believe that is one of the things that does require drydock. 

Thanks for the reply Piper. Will just have to wait and hope that everything turns out smoothly. 

 

Jonathan

[PiperHolliday]

Just now, cruiserking said:

Thanks for the reply Piper. Will just have to wait and hope that everything turns out smoothly. 

 

Jonathan

 

I hope so. Our cruise tomorrow may be a slow one. 

[cruiserking]

13 minutes ago, PiperHolliday said:

 

I hope so. Our cruise tomorrow may be a slow one. 

At this point I don't care how slow the ship goes as long as it sails. 

 

Jonathan

[PiperHolliday]

I believe they have scheduled the fix for Feb 20th, as that sailing and the following sailing are marked as closed. That sailing and the following sailings were not closed when I looked yesterday via the agent portal. Even sailings that have been 'closed' for reduced capacity do not notate CLOSED beneath the date like Feb 20 and 27 do. The only other sailings that say this are on ships that aren't currently in service. 

 

Note: I could be wrong, I'm guessing. 

Edited January 9, 2022 by PiperHolliday

[cruiserking]

15 minutes ago, PiperHolliday said:

I believe they have scheduled the fix for Feb 20th, as that sailing and the following sailing are marked as closed. That sailing and the following sailings were not closed when I looked yesterday via the agent portal. Even sailings that have been 'closed' for reduced capacity do not notate CLOSED beneath the date like Feb 20 and 27 do. The only other sailings that say this are on ships that aren't currently in service. 

 

Note: I could be wrong, I'm guessing. 

No. Those are marked as closed because of keeping the capacity down due to Covid. Those cruises were closed from booking ten days ago. Similar to cruises that were closed in January. 

 

The February 20 cruise CLOSED last week when I checked it through the agent portal. 

 

Jonathan

Edited January 9, 2022 by cruiserking

[Jcol5786]

Just passing under the bridge at 7:57 am. Is visible on PTZ New York Harbor cam.

[matt1]

16 minutes ago, Jcol5786 said:

Just passing under the bridge at 7:57 am. Is visible on PTZ New York Harbor cam.

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by matt1

[Jcol5786]

Thanks Matt1. One of these days I'll have to learn how to post a screen shot.

[bajathree]

8 hours ago, cruiserking said:

When you say "some time" do you mean weeks or months? Just hoping our February cruise still happens. Maybe they can hold out till there next dry dock whenever that is. 

 

Jonathan

Months

 

[mac_tlc]

She is getting there.

 

[death_star]

When this happened on Allure it was a long time before they got it fixed. They rearranged our itinerary back then and we got CocoCay and had to drop Roatan due to the slower speed. 

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, matt1 said:

 

 

Was eating breakfast in American Icon at that time.  Got a few pictures through the salt sprayed window.

[cruiserking]

1 hour ago, bajathree said:

Months

 

Thanks Bahathree.

 

That would be great but, it looks like the February 20 & 27 cruise will be dry dock casualties.

 

Jonathan 

Edited January 9, 2022 by cruiserking

[grapau27]

9 hours ago, PiperHolliday said:

I believe they have scheduled the fix for Feb 20th, as that sailing and the following sailing are marked as closed. That sailing and the following sailings were not closed when I looked yesterday via the agent portal. Even sailings that have been 'closed' for reduced capacity do not notate CLOSED beneath the date like Feb 20 and 27 do. The only other sailings that say this are on ships that aren't currently in service. 

 

Note: I could be wrong, I'm guessing. 

Anthem has sailings from Southampton England this year so hopefully the azipod will be fixed before the Transatlantic crossing.

Graham.

[PiperHolliday]

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

Anthem has sailings from Southampton England this year so hopefully the azipod will be fixed before the Transatlantic crossing.

Graham.

 

Someone on another social media site that was onboard the last sailing said the issue is now fixed but I do not know their source/how they know. They did not provide details. If we are told anything about it once onboard, I'll be sure to share that on the live thread. 

[bajathree]

9 minutes ago, cruiserking said:

Thanks Bahathree.

 

That would be great but, it looks like the February 20 & 27 cruise will be dry dock casualties.

 

Jonathan 

If the issue just occurred I don't think they would have scheduled a dry dock that quick unless it was a critical situation. Chances are they would schedule it just prior to the transatlantic.

[cruiserking]

11 minutes ago, bajathree said:

If the issue just occurred I don't think they would have scheduled a dry dock that quick unless it was a critical situation. Chances are they would schedule it just prior to the transatlantic.

You are quickly becoming my favorite Cruise Critic. 

 

Jonathan 

 

[HicksRA]

I believe there are sensors inside the azipod that can detect water in the lube. They can continue at reduced speeds until a certain amount of water is detected and they then change to fresh lube. This is how they keep going until they can get in to dry dock to replace the seal(s). 
 

 

[terri1020]

We are at the port now no one has been allowed to enter the terminal. The line goes around the entire terminal building. We're hoping there isn't an issue with sailing. 

[PiperHolliday]

11 minutes ago, terri1020 said:

We are at the port now no one has been allowed to enter the terminal. The line goes around the entire terminal building. We're hoping there isn't an issue with sailing. 

 

It's just because people showed up when they felt like it, even though RCCL told us not to arrive until one hour past our assigned check in times. I talked to people at the front that have been here since 10am. 😑

[chengkp75]

The most common problem with an azipod is not the shaft seal, but the thrust bearing.  Anthem has the XO azipod, so thrust bearings can be renewed in the water, but not while the ship is moving.  Shaft seal failures are identical between azipods and shafted propellers.  The seal system is designed so that there is a compressed air space between the oil and sea water.  There is a complex arrangement of air pressure and sealing oil pressure in regards to the sea water pressure caused by draft, but the uptake is that neither sea water enters the bearings, nor does oil leak to the sea, unless there is multiple failures of the seal rings.  However, there is a "leakage" tank that is monitored to know if either the oil seal or the water seal is leaking, and they will slow the prop down to minimize the leakage.  Shaft seals need to be done out of the water, but if the seals are damaged, they will typically take the blades off the damaged pod so they can lock the shaft and not windmill the idle pod, with continuing wear on the seal.

[PiperHolliday]

The captain made an announcement that they've done some repairs on the azipod but it still needs work. We will be slow going to St Maarten but he said they will complete the fix while we are in port there and then we will be sailing again like normal.