Technical troubles with Summit

[RobertQM2]

Hello from Austria,

 

We'd like to sail on the Summit in December but I've heard of lots of technical troubles with trips cancelled. Can anybody of you fellow cruisers help me with informations about how the Millenium class ships behave now?

 

Thank you in advance for information

[takeavacation]

I just returned from the Summit in the Med. earlier this week and the ship was great. We didn't have any technical challenges that I know of - made every port on time.

 

The only problem we did have was clearing the ship both days in Venice. I believe that someone or a group of people were sick because on day 1 - all kids under 18 had to go for a health screening and everyone had to fill out a health form before the ship would be cleared. And, on day 2 when we were to be disembarking to head home - the clearing of the ship took extra long because every person had to go for a health screening before the ship would be cleared. The health screening involved taking your temperature quickly in your ear. So -- they never said why the Italian gov't was making us do this - but, the other ships in port didn't appear to have this issue, so I can only assume we had an outbreak of some sort on board.

[chessbriar]

Hello from Austria,

 

We'd like to sail on the Summit in December but I've heard of lots of technical troubles with trips cancelled. Can anybody of you fellow cruisers help me with informations about how the Millenium class ships behave now?

 

Thank you in advance for information

Tell us more about all these technical problems with trips cancelled.

 

I haven't heard about lots of technical troubles.

[hancock]

Periodically, the Millenium Class ships, with the exception of the Constellation, have had issues with the Mermaid Pods. The Summit had to go into drydock in late January-early February '09 for an issue. The Summit should be OK for your cruise.

[LifeOnTheHighSeas]

To give factual information - Constellation did indeed have the issue. However, it has been coming up on three years since they fixed the pod issue permanently. The Summit was drydocked for other reasons. All ships goes into dry dock for occasional mechinical problems. The pod issues are now history.:)

 

Here are the facts.

 

Millennium Inaugural date June 17, 2000

 

Pod failure dry dock January, 2001

Pod failure dry dock July 16, 2003

Pod failure dry dock December 10, 2006

Pod failure on New Years 2007 cruise and again in January. (Note: ship continued to sail at reduced speed until dry dock in mid April 2007).

 

Infinity Inaugural date March 3, 2001

 

Pod failure dry dock late 2001 (3 weeks)

Pod failure dry dock April 13, 2002

Pod failure dry dock January 29, 2003

Pod failure dry dock March 2004

Pod failure dry dock March 27, 2005

Pod failure Ports skipped and cruise shortened on two cruises

(July 9 and July 16, 2006) Electrical problem in pods.

Pod failure dry dock September 13, 2006

Pod failure November 19, 2006. (Note: this ship continued to sail with altered Itineraries and some missed ports until dry dock on May 20, 2007).

 

Summit Inaugural date October 1, 2001

 

Pod failure dry dock March 2002

Pod failure dry dock July 18, 2003

Pod failure dry dock September 2004

Pod failure dry dock June 3, 2005

Pod failure dry dock May 20, 2006

 

Constellation Inaugural date May 1, 2002

 

Pod failure dry dock May 1, 2002 (salt water leaked into pods at launch time).

[CruiseDad-NYC]

My family and I were on the 1/31/09 Summit cruise from San Juan that was shortened from 7 nights to 6 because "electrical problems" needed to be fixed and the ship was being taken out of service for repairs. The cruise immediately after ours was cancelled. So, I am grateful that I was not on that voyage, because my schedule and my children's school schedule probably would have meant we would not have gone away at all this winter on vacation if we had been on that cancelled voyage).

 

While we had a fantastic 6 nights, we had actually been trying to have a longer cruise experience (we had originally been booked on the 10 night Constellation in the middle of February, but airfares were crazy expensive because it was a school break. We rebooked for the 7 night Summit voyage and already felt a tinge of disappointment that we were going for a shorter time (i.e., 7 nights) than we had originally hoped. Having it moved down to 6, in that case, was a bit of a bummer). You know that depressing, sickening feeling you have on the last day of a cruise, when it is all over and everyone feels sad because you had such a great time and you don't want it to end? It feels way worse when your trip has been shortened).

 

That said, I loved the Summit and would gladly go on it or any of the Millenium class ships again (we had been on the Millenium last year and thought it as terrific). I will say, however, that this experience, when taken in tandem with having to deal with onshore customer service, left me open to taking a different cruise line (where I previously would have been happy just sticking with Celebrity). I looked into Princess and just booked a RCCL cruise (which I know owns Celebrity) on the Independence of the Seas for 8 nights. I certainly would like to come back to Celebrity at some point, but I don't know that I ever would have left if it in the first place if it hadn't been for this.

[Shirley and Les]

...The pod issues are now history.:)

 

Here are the facts...

The Millie was drydocked twice in 2009. The first was an unscheduled period in Sydney, Australia to repair a bad pod. The second one was just a month ago and it was a scheduled refurbishment drydock.

[LifeOnTheHighSeas]

The Millie was drydocked twice in 2009. The first was an unscheduled period in Sydney, Australia to repair a bad pod. The second one was just a month ago and it was a scheduled refurbishment drydock.

 

And again, none of these were for pod issues. Please state your accurate source that Millie had a pod issue a month ago. It's not true.

 

ALL ships have mechanical drydocks...didn't I just say that?

:confused:

[RobertQM2]

To give factual information - ..........

 

Hello fromo Austria! It seems that you are very well informed about the pod systems. Where is your source. As a technican I'm very interested what really was the reason for so many failures and especially what was done to fix it. On another board a pod failure of Summit was mentioned in January 09 but maybe this is another mistake.

 

Thank you for your reply

[smoothy]

And again, none of these were for pod issues. Please state your accurate source that Millie had a pod issue a month ago. It's not true.

 

ALL ships have mechanical drydocks...didn't I just say that?

:confused:

 

The dry dock last month was a scheduled refurb session in Victoria, BC. Millie was in an unscheduled dry dock in March in Sydney for "a mechanical problem involving its starboard propulsion system"

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/11/30459/technical-problems-halt-celebrity-millennium-cruise.html

 

No indication if this is related to the long-time bearing issue or if it was something else.

[smoothy]

Hello fromo Austria! It seems that you are very well informed about the pod systems. Where is your source. As a technican I'm very interested what really was the reason for so many failures and especially what was done to fix it. On another board a pod failure of Summit was mentioned in January 09 but maybe this is another mistake.

 

Thank you for your reply

 

Here is some background on the pod issues that plagued the M class ships for several years: http://www.ebearing.com/news2004/092101.htm

 

There are 2 links at that article for even further info. Supposedly the bearing issue is fixed, but given the nature of the pods they cannot be accessed for most problems without drydocking.

[dkjretired]

The dry dock last month was a scheduled refurb session in Victoria, BC. Millie was in an unscheduled dry dock in March in Sydney for "a mechanical problem involving its starboard propulsion system"

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/11/30459/technical-problems-halt-celebrity-millennium-cruise.html

 

No indication if this is related to the long-time bearing issue or if it was something else.

 

That is Celebrity speak for a pod issue, they don't usually mention it anymore.

 

Below is the link to last months drydock. Nothing to do with the pods...

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/aboutceleb/pressDetails.do;jsessionid=0000FUuAAu9CB5Hh0B6JSTF8Gf8:12h3rnd1c?pagename=press_room_details&event_date=2009-05-13&event_type=press_release&sequence_code=A

 

The other point to make that someone mentioned is that the Pod issue is NOT permanently fixed. All the M class ships went in for new generator systems and some feel that fixed the pod problem. They are totally different things.

[Shirley and Les]

And again, none of these were for pod issues. Please state your accurate source that Millie had a pod issue a month ago. It's not true.

 

ALL ships have mechanical drydocks...didn't I just say that?

:confused:

You misread my post. I said the first 2009 Millie drydock was unscheduled to repair a pod issue. The most recent drydock was for normal maintenance.

 

Here is the background information about the ongoing pod problem.

 

The following is a news article that was published here on Cruise Critic.

Propulsion Issues Halt Celebrity Millennium Sailing

Celebrity Cruises officials yesterday announced that a March 15 sailing aboard Celebrity Millennium has been canceled.

In a letter to travel agents, Celebrity cited a "mechanical issue involving 9(Millennium's) starboard propulsion system" as the reason for halting the 14-night voyage from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. The ship will be dry-docked until necessary repairs can be completed.

Officials have not yet released specifics, but Millennium and sister ship Celebrity Infinity previously experienced bearing-related pod problems with their propulsion systems, prompting Celebrity to file a $300 million lawsuit against Rolls Royce and Alstom Power Conversion, which supplied them.

Those who had plans to sail the canceled itinerary will receive full refunds and up to $250 per person for airline changes for passengers who did not book flights through Celebrity. They will also receive free credit for any Celebrity cruise (on or before March 30, 2010) of equal value (excluding holiday andCelebrity Xpeditionsailings).

--by Ashley Kosciolek, Copy Editor

 

In addition, I read the following on March 9, 2009 on Cruise News Daily

Bearing Problem Cancels Celebrity Millennium Sailing

* Deja Vu All Over Again

Mar 9 - Celebrity Cruises has canceled the March 15 sailing of Celebrity Millennium - and you've probably heard this before - due to problems with a thrust bearing in the starboard Mermaid propulsion pod.

 

And finally, here is the Cruise Critic thread that talks about the unscheduled Millie drydock in March of this year.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...roblems&page=2

 

From all of the above, I guess I have to agree with the old adage about 'if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.' it is a DUCK!

 

...As a technican I'm very interested what really was the reason for so many failures and especially what was done to fix it. On another board a pod failure of Summit was mentioned in January 09 but maybe this is another mistake....

 

The following thread provides a lot of background information about the mechanical issues on the M class ships. In particular, Post #136 gives some technical information on whey the Celebrity M class ships have more pod problems that other ships.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...t=pod+problems