Saga of Eclipse Barnacles continues

[lovetocruise1953]

47 minutes ago, kstetser said:

This is our first Cruise on Celebrity after 25 on DCL.   My TA said the service/food/quality would all be what we expect or higher than DCL.  So far, this is a GIANT FAIL.  We are going to Alaska at no small cost to experience Alaska, not sit on a boat.   This barnacle issue is not news to them, yet they waited until the summer season had PIF before making the announcement when the first cruise was setting sail (those folks royally got screwed).    This is bait and switch and very poor business practices.  They are completely aware what it takes to maintain a cruise ship - it was a business decision not to keep the ship's hull clean.   Does anyone know if this situation can be remedied without a dry dock?

It says further up  ............ 10 hours ago, BigAl94 said:Very strange as she received a full hull repaint and anti foul in March 2021 which should keep her free of marine growth for 4/5 years. 

 

MiniMark.........Most anti-foul processes anticipate a moving ship -- if the Eclipse has been sitting stationary for months, then the marine growth will overwhelm any anti-fouling paint / provisions applied.

 

We are going on 3rd July sailing but it is incorporated into a package with the Rocky Mountaineer and Calgary Stampede so very much doubt we can cancel the cruise bit......

[NutsAboutGolf]

33 minutes ago, Random00 said:

I hope someone at Celebrity is monitoring this forum. With such a significant decrease in port time Celebrity needs to do more than a $100 per cabin credit. 

 

Step up Celebrity!

They don’t, however employees on their own frequently check them and may report them to their leadership which unfortunately is rarely customer service issues.  We’ve seen coincidental policy changes after someone posts “The Retreat sucks because” and it gets hot

[GottaKnowWhen]

I did a b2b along the Alaskan southwest coast a few years ago, Seward to Vancouver and back to Seward. Going back for similar in 2023. We did it as a back to back because we knew that a few hours in these ports, even a full day, wouldn't have been enough time to see the sights and enjoy without being rushed. We did our trip to-from Seward, 14 days, because I didn't think that a 7-day roundtrip from Vancouver would give us enough time. And the weather. Southbound, we had rainy gloomy weather in Sitka. Northbound it was a beautiful day.

 

All of the above is to say that I totally understand the frustration felt by those looking at cut backs on the Eclipse sailings. My suggestion to Celebrity is to forget the Hubbard Glacier segment. If they don't take time north to the glacier, then back south to the ports, then there is time in the day to have decent time ashore in all of the ports because the transit time among them is fairly short.

 

But Celebrity forgot to ask for my advice...

 

Stan

[Peteymil]

6 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

I did a b2b along the Alaskan southwest coast a few years ago, Seward to Vancouver and back to Seward. Going back for similar in 2023. We did it as a back to back because we knew that a few hours in these ports, even a full day, wouldn't have been enough time to see the sights and enjoy without being rushed. We did our trip to-from Seward, 14 days, because I didn't think that a 7-day roundtrip from Vancouver would give us enough time. And the weather. Southbound, we had rainy gloomy weather in Sitka. Northbound it was a beautiful day.

 

All of the above is to say that I totally understand the frustration felt by those looking at cut backs on the Eclipse sailings. My suggestion to Celebrity is to forget the Hubbard Glacier segment. If they don't take time north to the glacier, then back south to the ports, then there is time in the day to have decent time ashore in all of the ports because the transit time among them is fairly short.

 

But Celebrity forgot to ask for my advice...

 

Stan

Such a good point, if they are only leaving 2 1/2 hours to go in and look at the glacier and come out, you know they aren't going to go very far and they might as well skip it And I add some Port time as you suggest.

[terrydtx]

Curious why of all the Celebrity fleet that sat at anchor for almost 2 years, only the Eclipse seems to have been infected with barnacles?  She is supposed to sail to the South Pacific and Australia in the fall, so when will Celebrity dry dock her and address the issues? 

[chengkp75]

8 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Curious why of all the Celebrity fleet that sat at anchor for almost 2 years, only the Eclipse seems to have been infected with barnacles?  She is supposed to sail to the South Pacific and Australia in the fall, so when will Celebrity dry dock her and address the issues? 

A lot depends on where the ship is sitting.  "Brackish" water (low salinity) from a river feeding the port or bay can change the ecosystem for marine growth.  And, as I've said on the other threads, a drydocking is not required, they can clean the hull in the water.  Just takes time and money.

[terrydtx]

13 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

A lot depends on where the ship is sitting.  "Brackish" water (low salinity) from a river feeding the port or bay can change the ecosystem for marine growth.  And, as I've said on the other threads, a drydocking is not required, they can clean the hull in the water.  Just takes time and money.

Can the cleaning of the hull be done in the cold waters of Alaska or Canada?  

[chengkp75]

8 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Can the cleaning of the hull be done in the cold waters of Alaska or Canada?  

Sure.  But I don't think Alaska allows this, but Canada does not seem to have specific regulations regarding underwater hull cleaning, and both California and Hawaii allow it in regulated areas.  The work needs to be done to "best industry standards", which includes a vacuum system that collects all the water and debris from the cleaning for filtering/treating before returning the water to the sea.

[mahasamatman]

1 hour ago, GottaKnowWhen said:

My suggestion to Celebrity is to forget the Hubbard Glacier segment. If they don't take time north to the glacier, then back south to the ports, then there is time in the day to have decent time ashore in all of the ports because the transit time among them is fairly short.

 

The glacier is by far the most interesting part of the cruise. I'd rather they cancel one or more ports and spend more time with the glacier. (We're on the 29 May cruise.)

[TeachAloha]

For the May 15th cruises, how early did X let you know about the change? We are on the 05/22 sailing and I need to cancel or change my (self booked) excursions about a week out to get any type of refund 😞 Ironically, I researched and found out who the vendor was & booked directly to save $ and help the struggling tour companies make the most profit. Now I am kicking myself as if I booked through X I could get a full refund!

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by TeachAloha

[rotoal]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Curious why of all the Celebrity fleet that sat at anchor for almost 2 years, only the Eclipse seems to have been infected with barnacles?  She is supposed to sail to the South Pacific and Australia in the fall, so when will Celebrity dry dock her and address the issues? 

Does anyone know about Solstice?  Weren’t both Eclipse and Solstice off the coast of San Diego?  
 

I would assume that both ships are having the same problem.
 

 

[XLVIII]

9 minutes ago, rotoal said:

Does anyone know about Solstice?  Weren’t both Eclipse and Solstice off the coast of San Diego?  
 

I would assume that both ships are having the same problem.
 

 

One month ago off San Diego. Very interesting if only one ship was affected. 

[tpeacockiii]

2 minutes ago, XLVIII said:

One month ago off San Diego. Very interesting if only one ship was affected. 

It looks like the Solstice is beginning service tomorrow and Celebrity may have had time to solve the problem for the Solstice? Eclipse may be how they learned of the problem?

[5waldos]

Why wasn't someone thinking about this as a possibility? 

[Peteymil]

30 minutes ago, TeachAloha said:

For the May 15th cruises, how early did X let you know about the change? We are on the 05/22 sailing and I need to cancel or change my (self booked) excursions about a week out to get any type of refund 😞 Ironically, I researched and found out who the vendor was & booked directly to save $ and help the struggling tour companies make the most profit. Now I am kicking myself as if I booked through X I could get a full refund!

 

Late yesterday (May 4th for the May 15th cruise.)

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, XLVIII said:

One month ago off San Diego. Very interesting if only one ship was affected. 

Were they both there the entire time?  When did Solstice leave for Seattle?

59 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

Why wasn't someone thinking about this as a possibility? 

I'm sure they knew there would be some fouling, but as I've said, in many cases it is just a case of burning more fuel to get the same speed, and the itinerary doesn't suffer.  In this case, it seems that the fouling is too much.

[lovecruzin]

6 hours ago, kstetser said:

 This barnacle issue is not news to them, yet they waited until the summer season had PIF before making the announcement when the first cruise was setting sail (those folks royally got screwed).    This is bait and switch and very poor business practices.  They are completely aware what it takes to maintain a cruise ship - it was a business decision not to keep the ship's hull clean.   Does anyone know if this situation can be remedied without a dry dock?

I was on the first cruise back, we did not get royally screwed. It was a big disappointment for some who may never make it back to Hawaii. For us we loved the extra sea day with sun vs a rainy day in Hilo 😆 I think the itinerary change for Alaska is much worse.

[nw gardener]

Reading the May 22 roll call,  appears that cruise is canceled to put the Eclipse in dry dock to fix the problem. 

[rickip]

I think the May 22nd sailing has been cancelled so that they can deal with this (and save the rest of the season)...

 

[DevilinaBluDress]

12 minutes ago, rickip said:

I think the May 22nd sailing has been cancelled so that they can deal with this (and save the rest of the season)...

 

Yes, unlucky for some of us (like me) but better for most

[Searayace]

On the May 29th sailing and would not be happy if port time is decreased.  Sorry for the people on the May 22 that has been cancelled so that our trip is barnacle free.

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Searayace

[TeachAloha]

So safe to say I NEVER sailing Celebrity again if this is how they handle their own maintenance issues. the agents claiming the 05/22 sailing was not cancelled and then after reading the letter to them saying they can't apply the 25% discount offered and it needs to go to revenue and it can take "up to 14 days" to apply the discount when the sailing we want to change to is 14 days away.  I am now on 3+ hours on the phone disconnected twice and finally just asked them to cancel the whole thing. AND it's going to take up to 30 days for the refund to post to my card & will not see it in time to rebook anything for those datesd (I am not spending another penny until that $ is back in my hands). 

Edited May 6, 2022 by TeachAloha

[emmas gran]

Just catching up with boards after vacation!

 

The cynic in me says this is fuel cost related!

[upwarduk]

4 hours ago, TeachAloha said:

if this is how they handle their own maintenance issues.

Apparently bad weather delayed the cleaning of the barnacles prior to the Hawaiian cruise at the start of the season.

[Veinless]

Two years of bad weather is tragic.