The ship is structurally sound and an investigation has begun into what caused the engines to quit, a Holland America spokesperson said."

From Washington Times

I been told last year whene she was in Rotterdam and i was a/b this lady. That she handles very good in bat wetter.

I believe that every ship with a totall blackout would rock and roll in such a storm. Buth would not be a/b vessel whene this would happen.

quote:

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Rotterdam 6 is actually built with tumblehome.

Got a good gander at her in NYC when seeing
Sympatico and RuthPerk on a Bon Voyage

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Now, will someone address why the engines failed?

All of them, according to reports posted here. A great hull does not mean that such problems cannot happen.

Ever since QE2 "ran out of steam" off Bermuda and her passengers had to be rescued by Sea Venture, I thought that there was sufficient redundancy aboard modern designs so that "hotel power," lights, plumbing, that sort of thing could be maintained even if propulsion power had problems.

Note how further down one can see how rumours get passed on...

Here's what he had to say about the storm:

quote:

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This was a remarkable trip, in that the ship was rendered powerless and adrift for over three hours on September 24 by Gale force waves and wind, with several serious injuries to passengers and serious (non-structural) damage to the ship. The reason for the power failure is still undetermined but apparently involved the failure of either the lubricating oil filters or an engine control program. The ship behaved well during the emergency, which began at 6:10 PM ship's time, and despite being at the mercy of the elements did not appear to roll more than 25 degrees. Passengers were kept well-informed of progress (at least once every 30 minutes) by the Captain and the serious if cosmetic damage was largely repaired at sea during the next day. The exact nature of the engine problems was not diagnosed and therefore there was some tension during subesequent storms, particularly a full Gale which occcured the day before the "Rotterdam" docked in New York (September 30). The ship had to cancel two port calls, the first at Plymouth, UK (a Tender port) owing to high winds and swells and the second at St. Johns, Newfoundland owing to the damage caused by the storm on 24 September. This was a remarkable month for hurricanes and despite the careful attempts of the Captain to avoid them (including reversing our intended course to sail south around Ireland rather than North, then diverting some 500 miles toward the Azores) it was impossible to avoid the remnants of hurricanes Carl (24 September) and Jeanne (29 September). It should be noted that Holland-America Line will refund half of every passenger's fare so long as the passenger will sign a hold-harmless release. In general the cruise was enjoyable if occasionally overexciting, and no one should book a transatlantic cruise in September who is prone to seasickness.

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Reports of 20-meter waves (Halifax papers) or 40-degree rolls (Seattle papers) are very exaggerated. Cabins on Decks 1 and 2 were often under green or white water, but 20-meter waves would have washed me off my deck -- and I was outside most of the time. I was in a high verandah cabin on 6 Deck and at all times was able to get about my cabin from the verandah to the hallway (to open the cabin door for light). I couldn't possibly have done this if the ship had rolled more than 30 degrees. I have said, and repeat, the ship behaved very well, and I doubt she rolled more than 25 degrees -- remember that the first Queen Mary used to roll routinely up to 45 degrees at speed, before she was fitted with stabilizers.

Crew and passengers also behaved very well and the damage, while dramatic, was entirely cosmetic. Yes, the pianos should be secured to the decks (all the tables are). Even had the power not been restored it would have been very unpleasant but not life-threatening (unless, possibly, it had been decided to transfer passengers by boats in 35-foot seas).

Holland-America bent over backwards to make amends, by opening the bars the next night with free drinks (and Boy, did the passengers gulp it down!), by providing free excursions in Halifax, and most remarkably by refunding 50% of the cruise fare to passengers who signed a hold-harmless waiver.