Discovery - engine troubles causing itinerary changes

[Goldryder]

Well something interesting has come out of the surcharge question.

 

The November 16th repositioning to South America & Antarctica.....guests from the UK, Australia & New Zealand who are booked on that cruise or parts thereof have no surcharges added. Guests from the US and Canada have $15 per head/per day to a maximum of 28 days as a surcharge.

 

Discovery left her last port of call, Warnemunde, 75 minutes ahead of schedule and arrived at Harwich this morning 35 minutes behind schedule.

 

David Yellow, MD has an auto-reply on his email stating that he will not be in the office til September 2nd.

 

Now considering he stated in the Telegraph Online that all 4 engines would be running by last Friday and when you also consider that she arrived late this morning in Harwich it really does point to a 3 engine operation. The fact that Discovery's AIS system was deactivated meant that no-one could monitor her speed during her North Sea crossing...the Kiel Canal transit was transmitting but that has a speed limit anyway, so pointless in tracking her for a speed check.

 

Hide and seek maybe but AIS is a legal requirement under International Maritime Organisation rules, so the fact that Discovery had her system deactivated every time she sailed in open sea, tends to prick the suspicious natures. Add into the mix the vanishing act of David Yellow for a week right when he will be asked some uncomfortable questions as to whther or not the ship is fixed and again you can see why there is more than a little interest in the ship's position and speed at any given time. The ship's AIS does not lie. Which is probably why it has been deactivated outside of port berthing and canal transits.

 

At the end of the day Discovery is about to embark on a trip down to Antarctica in November. The place where an ice class ship was lost last season. Discovery is not ice class and she needs all 4 engines running to get herself and her guests/crew out of danger if the need arises.

 

She is still on 3 engines and has been since March of this year. David Yellow even admitted that in the 6 months since the breakdown, there have been just 3 attempts to fix her.....now forgive me for being dumb here but if a ship has a damaged engine, surely it should be sorted as soon as possible, not played about with as and when they feel like it?

 

We will be monitoring her speed again during the last Baltic cruise of her season and no doubt it will be a game of hide and seek. What you have to ask yourself is what the hell are they trying to hide?

[Geordieboy]

well I am no expert Ally, but having been down to Antartica on the Discovery, a lot of the time she cruised on only two engines due to the speed restrictions with the ice, in the evenings the speed is reduced to 6 knots when the ice captain is on the bridge with the ships navigators,

 

As for the reasonming behind our friends across the pond paying a surcharge this is a strange one, however I remember reading an article on seatrade that VOD offered fUS customers free flights for some cruises so this may be a way of getting that back, I don't know but am just thinking free flights don't come without a reason.

 

However I find it difficult to believe that a ship would turn this AIS off in one of the worlds busiest shipping areas when it is used for other vessels to identify when crossing shipping lanes etc.

I'll check if it's on when I do a bridge tour!

[Goldryder]

We are monitoring 4 different AIS sources and she gets so far out from ports...usually just after dropping a pilot...and she vanishes off all AIS tracking sites....including the one operated by Lloyds-List.

 

Yesterday she left Harwich at 3pm local time instead of 4.30pm local time. We were able to track her using Haven AIS til around 30 minutes after dropping her pilot. She was making 14.7 knots, which as been her average over the last cruises, and then she vanished off the screen. When our other sources were checked, she did not appear on any AIS ship listings or on their screens.

 

Make of that what you will, but the fact is that she is deactivating her AIS once she has dropped her pilot and only activating just prior to when the next pilot is aboard, so to all intents and purposes she is legal when the pilots are on the ship and shortly thereafter when they leave.

 

We are now of the thinking that she hasn't lost a crank bearing but an entire crankshaft and that it has mangled the engine thus making it beyond economical repair. The ship is 36 years old and if she needs a new engine, that is not only extremely expensive but also its a fair amount of downtime...plus the engines are matched, so chances are its a case of one out-all out.

 

This does not excuse the complete lack of announcement on the company website from March regarding the engine problem so that people due to sail on her are not effectively duped into thinking that she is in full working order, when we know she isn't.

 

Guests of VoD should not be obtaining the information about the mechanical trouble and the surcharge discrepancies via discussion boards and other cruise related sites, not should they be getting it via the media. VoD have acted in a secretive manner and now that the MD has gone on holiday when he would have known that the Telegraph Online would be contacting him for a follow-up from last week's article is disgraceful.

 

Swan Hellenic put out announcements when their engine gave trouble, the parent company All Leisure put out announcements when they took a massive profit dive. The only company not saying anything in the group is VoD. That shows a complete contempt for its guests and a total lack of committment to the business. If they are winding the company down, they are going about it the wrong way. And its only a matter of time before the authorities start asking why the AIS is being deactivated.....

 

Its bad business all round.

[Goldryder]

Well Discovery is obviously not going well on her current cruise.

 

We have been tracking her progress all day and she made an unscheduled transit of the Kiel Canal instead of going the long way round to her first port of call in Korsor. We were able to catch images of her progress on the webcams along the canal and she should be reaching Kiel in a few hours time.

 

Before she entered the canal she was registering 11 knots in open sea close to Nordesey which is even slower than she was last week.

 

The tracking of her progress will continue either via AIS or webcam.

[jo-b]

I have spoken to VoD today and they told me there were still problems but that there was nowhere to go for any factual information and if it affected our cruise we would be informed.

 

This is obviously not what has happened to date.

[Jade13]

We just got back off the Discovery yesterday, having done the Fjords, Faroes, Fire and Ice itinerary (May 31st to June 11th). The Fjords and Faroes never materialized because of the slow speed of the ship (obviously still hasn't been fixed). We got a letter two days prior to our departure for the cruise (which was too late to cancel since we were coming from Canada). Needless to say, most of the passengers on board were VERY unhappy with the situation. I'm sure there will be a lot of complaints. On our 12 days cruise, which was supposed to be 6 ports (48 hours in port total), ended up being 4 ports with 30 hours in port. We were given $200. per person on board credit to make up for the change which all of us felt was an insult! On a positive note, the food, service and lectures on board were better than we expected. Now if they could just get this engine fixed.......

I remember you were going to do this cruise and I love the itinerary. Exactly what 2 ports were dropped? You were never in Norway? Most cruise lines do not give anything for dropped ports.

[Mel]

Flam in Norway was completely dropped from the itinerary before we even left Canada for England to pick up the cruise because of the slow speed of the ship, (no we never got to Norway - we got to the Shetland Islands and three ports in Iceland) and they changed the itinerary to accommodate the speed which made us also miss getting to Torshavn in the Faroes because there was another ship in port which had previously booked the berth for that day. We did like everything else about the ship though, and have booked to go on her to the Antarctic at the end of December. Hopefully the engine will get repaired soon, or we have decided not to take the chance of changed itineraries again and will cancel before our final payment is due.

[Goldryder]

Jane Archer has done a blog entry for Travel Weekly regarding Discovery...

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/blogs/cruise-lines/2008/08/has-discovery-been-fixed.html#comments

 

Scroll up to start from beginning.

 

It is very stinging and reflects the general mood of anger and disbelief that is being shown by the VoD management.

 

I have also commented on the article. The AIS problem is a legal issue and if the system is not working for any reason, the ship can and will be impounded....and should that be the case, Discovery will have to undergo a fine tooth comb type of inspection. He engines being one part of that inspection.

 

By not having the ship in full working order and telling the media 3 times that a part is being made to order within the space of 10 days is doing the firm absolutely no favours...David Yellowis, by making the statements he has thusfar, losing any credibility he had.

 

This has been badly handled from day one and someone needs to be held accountable.

[Goldryder]

Paul Sawtell from BBC Sussex would like to hear from you if you have been on a cruise or who about to cruise with VoD.

 

He needs to hear how/when you were told of the engine trouble with the ship. He also wants to see any letters you received from VoD regarding the engine problem causing itinerary changes. He would also like to hear your thoughts about how VoD has treated you too.....both pre and post cruise when you have enquired about the itinerary changes...did they tell you about the engine or did you have to mention it first before they admitted there was a problem???

 

Please send your experiences to....

 

paul.sawtell@bbc.co.uk

 

Or if you would prefer to write...

 

Paul Sawtell

Broadcast Journalist

BBC Southern Counties Radio

Broadcasting House,

40-42 Queen's Rd,

Brighton,

BN1 3XB

England

 

Please mark the envelope or subject line on email - 'DISCOVERY'

 

Would you also make sure that you give Paul your contact information too as he may wish to chat to you about your experiences.

 

Paul spoke to me yesterday afternoon, he wants to build up as much information as he can from those who have been affected or could be affected by the engine problems aboard Discovery.

 

He would like copies of any letters that you may have received (DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS AS YOU MAY NEED THOSE IF YOU CHOOSE TO TAKE THINGS FURTHER VIA ABTA OR THROUGH LEGAL PROCEEDINGS).

 

So if you have been affected by this engine problem and your cruise was spoilt in any way by the problems, then please contact Paul.

 

If you have paid high surcharges or the surcharge was too high and it forced you to cancel the cruise, Paul would like to hear from you too.

 

Thanks everyone, hopefully Paul will have alot to read through. Do not worry if you do not get an immediate reply, Paul will need to read through everything first.

[rotterdam17601]

Has the engine been repaired?

 

Has the AIS system been activated?

 

Has David Yellow returned?

[jo-b]

Don't know if it has been repaired but it seems to be doing 18knots according to this other board and they are following her on AIS.

 

David Yellow was due back from his hols on 2nd September; wonder if he's been on a cruise?? :)

[Goldryder]

Discovery is still running on 3 engines. Her speed yesterday was heavily influenced by the easterly currents in the Straits of Gibraltar.

 

She is in Almeria today and was due in Marseille tomorrow, with an overnight in Nice on the 11th/12th.

 

This has now changed.

 

Tomorrow seems to be at sea, 11th in Marseille (according to port arrivals) and then Villefranche on the 12th.

 

Her twin sister, Pacific, was due on a cruise out of Valencia yesterday. It was cancelled due to 'engine trouble'. She is now in Barcelona for repairs. Pacific would have been in Villefranche on Friday 12th but is not now expected to return to service til September 15th.

 

Seems amazing that two twin sisters can have exactly the same problem and be operating in the same areas of the Med. Almost tempting to think that VoD and Quail (who own/operate Pacific) are going to do a quick swapover and that the engine trouble on Pacific is just a diversion.

[Goldryder]

Another excellent article in today's Telegraph online from Jane Archer...

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/2776851/Cruises-When-things-go-wrong-at-sea.html

 

I certainly do not trust David Yellow, he comes across as he still doesn't really care about ruining holidays. Even now if you phone the company up, they don't mention the engine unless you mention it first. Unacceptable.

[jo-b]

I have just phoned VoD as we are due to leave on 20th September and I was concerned that if we were to make private arrangements for ports then we could be out of pocket if changes were made.

 

I asked if the engine had been fixed and if not what the plans were and what effect it would have on our cruise.

 

The agent I spoke to went off line and said he had spoken to their MD and

 

The engine has not yet been fixed

 

There were no safety issues running on 3 engines

 

For our cruise (the Venice/Adriatic/Aegean & Black Sea to 13th October) there would be no disruption to scheduled itinerary.

 

The repairs would be ongoing during our cruise.

[Goldryder]

Dont bank on the itinerary.

 

Discovery has messed up a couple of times in the last few days.

 

Instead of Nice on 11/12 Sept - Marseille on 11 & Villevranche on 12 Sept.

Instead of Santa Margherita on 13 she went to Genoa.

She has managed Livorno and Civitavecchia...BUT..

 

She is having trouble getting over 10 knots tween ports and when in port seems to be having manouvering problems too now.

[rotterdam17601]

Could someone please tell me the websites that are being used to track the Discovery?

 

I've tried http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack but the Discovery (call letters: PBAD) is not included in their listing.

 

Thanks for your help!

[jo-b]

I have only got information from another forum which you can't post a link to on here.

 

If you type in "Voyages of Discovery severe engine problems " into Google you should find it

[Paulchili]

I am just wondering what is the latest news on Discovery engine troubles?

Thanks.

[Mel]

From the 'other' website that has been following this engine problem on the Discovery, it seems that the engine is now fixed. Look at this article that was in the UK publication 'Travel Weekly', under the heading 'Discovery is fixed": http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/blogs/cruise-lines/

 

Keeping our fingers crossed that this is the end of their problems as we are planning on going to the Antarctic with them this December.

[Seemeilen]

That is good news. A bit of googling and on August 26 2008 -travel weekly, it was not fixed. August 20 - telegraph (UK major newspaper) "Going to be fixed"....

 

Anyhow good luck in Antarctica if you decide to go, we are also thinking to go there this year (line not decided - and not booked).

[jo-b]

We are just back and the engine is fixed. :)

[Jade13]

Does anyone know what is going on with Minerva since it is owned/or leased by the same company (Voyages of Discovery) and I recently saw canceled a cruise to go into dry dock because of problems. Is there a way to track what is going on with this ship?