Vista repairs

[nlktx49]

Does anyone have more details about the repairs to Vista's propulsion issue? Anyone have their cruise on Vista cancelled?

[Eli_6]

A friend just go off of Vista yesterday and she said that they had to skip Cayman and were still late getting back in to Galveston.  She said that despite the issues, they were turning around and going back out again.

[Rudyard]

They're waiting on parts. From what I've read, the technicians are already on board the ship and ready to do the repairs. As soon as the parts come in they'll most likely ship them to Galveston and do the repairs while underway on the next cruise. 

[talkorpi]

On the Vista right now. No word of anything yet. Today was our first sea day and it has been nothing but stormy weather. So far, our top speed has been about 17 knots. 
 

CD Kyndall is AMAZING. She made a joke saying “I know y’all are on (social media websites) and probably heard about last week… we don’t talk about that. We are gonna be fine this week!”

 

Hoping she is right! Will update here if I hear anything official. 

[luv2kroooz]

3 hours ago, talkorpi said:

On the Vista right now. No word of anything yet. Today was our first sea day and it has been nothing but stormy weather. So far, our top speed has been about 17 knots. 
 

CD Kyndall is AMAZING. She made a joke saying “I know y’all are on (social media websites) and probably heard about last week… we don’t talk about that. We are gonna be fine this week!”

 

Hoping she is right! Will update here if I hear anything official. 

If you are on the Roatan Belize Cozumel run, you should be fine. It is the Jamaica Cayman Cozumel run that is creating problems. We were on for two weeks in April. There were times when the ship made 21 knots and then there were times were it could only make 11 knots. Have fun!

[talkorpi]

41 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

If you are on the Roatan Belize Cozumel run, you should be fine. It is the Jamaica Cayman Cozumel run that is creating problems. We were on for two weeks in April. There were times when the ship made 21 knots and then there were times were it could only make 11 knots. Have fun!

Yep, we are Coz-Belize-Roatan. They reversed our itinerary the day before sailing so we are doing Roatan-Belize-Cozumel now. No worries - been to all these ports before and honestly we just booked because it was cheap and wanted to be on a ship again. 
 

We are in Roatan for nearly 12 hours (8AM-7:30PM) but only Cozumel until 3:00. Guess we have to have extra time to make it back to Galveston. 

 

I would’ve been pissed if I was on last week’s sailing, however - Grand Cayman is our favorite port we have ever been to (only have done Western Caribbean before), so missing it would be a HUGE bummer for us since we don’t love Cozumel or Jamaica. Hoping they can get the ship fixed soon!

[luv2kroooz]

3 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Yep, we are Coz-Belize-Roatan. They reversed our itinerary the day before sailing so we are doing Roatan-Belize-Cozumel now. No worries - been to all these ports before and honestly we just booked because it was cheap and wanted to be on a ship again. 
 

We are in Roatan for nearly 12 hours (8AM-7:30PM) but only Cozumel until 3:00. Guess we have to have extra time to make it back to Galveston. 

 

I would’ve been pissed if I was on last week’s sailing, however - Grand Cayman is our favorite port we have ever been to (only have done Western Caribbean before), so missing it would be a HUGE bummer for us since we don’t love Cozumel or Jamaica. Hoping they can get the ship fixed soon!

Yep, we left coz at 3pm too. The ship was a strong 20 knots the whole way up to Galveston and we were docked by 630am.  I don't fully understand the complexities of ship propulsion, but there are times when Vista can go full speed. We had been to all the ports previously too, so no biggie for us. But I can understand the disappointment for first timers. I realize unforeseen things happen which require port cancellations, but this really is not unforeseen. Carnival knows Vista is broken. I think Carnival could be more up front with passengers and provide some flexibility for those that don't want to go to Jamaica from 2 to 8 and then Cozumel from 7 to 3 in 7 days. On our sailings, Capt Rosario Arena didn't announce the itinerary change/delay until 4pm the day before scheduled arrival. Well, hopefully it all resolves itself sooner than later.

[icft]

9 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

I would’ve been pissed if I was on last week’s sailing, however - Grand Cayman is our favorite port we have ever been to (only have done Western Caribbean before), so missing it would be a HUGE bummer for us since we don’t love Cozumel or Jamaica. Hoping they can get the ship fixed soon!

What do you like in Grand Cayman? Looking for ideas for our next time there.

 

I see you are from New Braunfels, one of my favorite parts of the country. When I was a kid I did summer camps at camp TECABOCA near Mountain Home and fell in love with that area. Still visit my cousin in La Vernia to get a taste now and then.

 

[talkorpi]

3 hours ago, icft said:

What do you like in Grand Cayman? Looking for ideas for our next time there.

 

I see you are from New Braunfels, one of my favorite parts of the country. When I was a kid I did summer camps at camp TECABOCA near Mountain Home and fell in love with that area. Still visit my cousin in La Vernia to get a taste now and then.

 

I’ve only been to Grand Cayman once, and it was quite a few years ago. However, it  felt much different than other western Caribbean ports. Our experience felt less touristy and more authentic - didn’t have anyone hassling to sell you things, fewer in-your-face tourist traps, etc. 

 

If I recall correctly, we did some sort of island tour excursion which included stops at a sea turtle rescue (very cool), Hell, Seven Mile Beach, a rum distillery, and drove around the island giving some history. We also walked around the downtown George Town area and are some authentic local food at a food stall - turtle soup and conch fritters. It was awesome! We really want to make it back at some point. I’m sorry I don’t have more details or suggestions (it was just one call over five years ago after all), but we all look back on that call fondly and agree that Grand Cayman is our favorite port in the Western Caribbean. 
 

Also love New Braunfels - we have lived here for generations and remember when it was just another small dot on the map… not anymore! LOL

Edited May 23, 2022 by talkorpi

[icft]

4 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

If I recall correctly, we did some sort of island tour excursion which included stops at a sea turtle rescue (very cool), Hell, Seven Mile Beach, a rum distillery, and drove around the island giving some history...

 

Off topic, but a fun story:

 

Our first trip to Grand Cayman was back in 2001 when my oldest son was still in high school and was a big LSU football fan who wore an LSU baseball cap. We took a tour that included Hell. As we were getting back on the bus a guy wearing an Alabama hat saw my son's LSU hat and said, "Could you put your cap on backwards and walk under that sign" I'd love to get a picture of LSU going to Hell." My son smiled, got back off the bus, put his cap on backwards (so LSU showed) and walked through the gate with "HELL" over it. The whole bus loved it.

[clech]

4 hours ago, icft said:

What do you like in Grand Cayman? Looking for ideas for our next time there.

 

I see you are from New Braunfels, one of my favorite parts of the country. When I was a kid I did summer camps at camp TECABOCA near Mountain Home and fell in love with that area. Still visit my cousin in La Vernia to get a taste now and then.

 

We loved Stingray City!  That was awesome but I may need to do a land based vacation there sometime to see everything there is to do there, or quit my job and cruise there every week lol.

[firefly333]

13 hours ago, talkorpi said:

On the Vista right now. No word of anything yet. Today was our first sea day and it has been nothing but stormy weather. So far, our top speed has been about 17 knots. 
 

I'm on little grandeur coming back into Galveston and we been rocking since the  night before cozumel. They ran the thrusters when we were docked I'm thinking so we didnt hit the dock while in port. Heat seems on now. Just back in Galveston. Waiting to eat and get off. 

 

We sure tipped back n forth last few days. Freaked out some newbies. 

[Guest BasicSailor]

18 hours ago, nlktx49 said:

Does anyone have more details about the repairs to Vista's propulsion issue? Anyone have their cruise on Vista cancelled?

Surprised that I haven't read anything yet.

[Guest BasicSailor]

53 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'm on little grandeur coming back into Galveston and we been rocking since the  night before cozumel. They ran the thrusters when we were docked I'm thinking so we didnt hit the dock while in port. Heat seems on now. Just back in Galveston. Waiting to eat and get off. 

 

We sure tipped back n forth last few days. Freaked out some newbies. 

Any white bags taped around ?🙃

[kwbrad]

Right now Vista is not showing for booking between now and July 9th.  Official word is they are fully booked but I looked a couple of days ago and there were cabins.  I am thinking they are just covering their bases in case they have to do more than just fix as they go.  I have one booked July 16th so I am keeping my fingers crossed we get to go. 

[sailorfool57]

I’m booked July 9th-16th. Hope it’s not delayed!  My granddaughter was on Vista in ‘19 when they were having same trouble.  The cruise was delayed a day, then they lost power for a couple of hours.  We were leaving to fly to Costa Rica that day and the family she was cruising with brought her straight to DFW from Galveston in the nick of time to make the flight. Thank Heaven she didn’t need different clothes and we could just wash her dirty ones when we got to Jaco!

[LHARTWICK]

13 hours ago, sailorfool57 said:

 then they lost power for a couple of hours.  

This is what concerns me, but I've been told "that can't happen"......... Really???  Remember the Triumph a few years ago??  We have two bookings - one for October and one for December.  Hope they get these issues resolved soon.

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, LHARTWICK said:

This is what concerns me, but I've been told "that can't happen"......... Really???  Remember the Triumph a few years ago??  We have two bookings - one for October and one for December.  Hope they get these issues resolved soon.

 

It's not supposed to happen since the Triumph, they installed backup generators on all the ships after that.

[sailorfool57]

Maybe she was on Triumph!  Same destinations and the 1st or 2nd week in July!  Several things have happened since July 1019 and I’m older!  But, it was the same problem.  

[LHARTWICK]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

It's not supposed to happen since the Triumph, they installed backup generators on all the ships after that.

"not supposed to happen" being the key phrase - LOL!  Fingers crossed this gets fixed sooner rather than later. 🤞

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

It's not supposed to happen since the Triumph, they installed backup generators on all the ships after that.

I don't believe the temporary generators in containers on deck are there anymore, and I also don't believe they actually installed "back-up generators", since this would require a whole lot of space carved out from ships that are already full.  From what I read, they decided that the most cost effective measure was to reroute the power cables from the forward engine room outside the aft engine room, to prevent a repeat of the Splendor and Triumph situations.  This has been done on all ships.

 

And, if you thought that the "back-up generators" were going to provide anything but mere survival power, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

 

But, the problems with the Vista are that they have one generator down for service, which can not cause a power outage like the fires on Splendor and Triumph, but which merely affects top speed.

Edited May 24, 2022 by chengkp75

[ew101]

Thank you as always Chengkp75.  I looked for and did not see the temporary container generators on the Valor and Paradise recently.    This new solution of moving the power cables sounds much better, as it could provide more backup power (i.e. the cold rooms and cooking- avoiding the food airlift) and the possibly the ship could move with one engine room offline?   Can the smaller installed hotel-power generators provide any propulsion power at all if the big ones are broken or under repair?    I do wish they had been more forthcoming on the exact problem here.  John Heald got his job (and has done it well) proving the best practice that you should disclose the truth to your social media fans and they will stick with you.  Otherwise we are very good out here at making up random stuff.  

Edited May 26, 2022 by ew101

[chengkp75]

59 minutes ago, ew101 said:

Can the smaller installed hotel-power generators provide any propulsion power at all if the big ones are broken or under repair?

Not sure what generators you are talking about.  There are no "hotel power" and "propulsion power" generators, there are simply generators.  All 5 generators supply power to a common "bus" or distribution center (think the land power grid), and the power is taken from there for whatever is needed, whether hotel or propulsion, or engineering (the support systems for the generators).  The reason there are large and small generators is so the power capacity can be fine tuned to the power demand, trying to keep the load on the number of generators that are online as high as possible.

 

This article shows a power diagram for cruise ships, the hotel load would be connected at the "440 load" area (with step downs to 220v and 110v):

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marineinsight.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F08%2Fbusbar.png&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marineinsight.com%2Ftech%2Fcruise-ships-powered%2F&tbnid=Mc4dHIehWxLxYM&vet=12ahUKEwj-n4Pnkf33AhX0E1kFHS9pD6kQMygEegUIARDDAQ..i&docid=BWdPn2egshyeRM&w=800&h=450&q=marine power distribution system cruise ship&ved=2ahUKEwj-n4Pnkf33AhX0E1kFHS9pD6kQMygEegUIARDDAQ

[quattrohead]

I guess Vista has one genset down but can run full speed on the others until one of those needs regular maintenance, then they have to reduce speed to keep the lights on !!!!

[ew101]

Thank you Chengkp75.  This answers a million questions.  So the shipboard big loads (engines, AC chillers, bow thrusters) need the high voltage generators (big or small or all the same size) online.  The backup diesel only has 440V AC output so can only supply a few "hotel" loads- outlets, maybe toilets, hall lights etc.   The goal to me would be if a ship had an engine room fire, and the other engine room was OK you could "limp" home with lights, food/water, toilets and maybe 5 knots.  And I am remembering now- a lightly loaded diesel generator can "wet stack" - which is not good for it.  So the number of generators running should match the load.  Brilliant.  You are such an asset to us.  

Edited May 26, 2022 by ew101