Cruise Talk: Diamond Princess woes

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Author

Topic: Diamond Princess woes

Grant
First Class Passenger
Member # 1000

posted 07-23-2005 12:22 AM

I live in Victoria, a port of call for all the Alaska ships sailing out of Seattle. The Oosterdam, Saphire Princess, Norwegian Star and Amsterdam all arrive as regular as clockwork. Other regular visitors include Regal Princess and Crystal Harmony.
However, every week now for 7 weeks, Diamond Princess either arrives HOURS late or comes into the harbour and anchors off shore. All passengers aboard miss out on tours and sometimes only get very short visits ashore.
Shore side we are told she still suffers SEVERE vibration from a bent shaft owing to a docking mishap last season, and can only sail at 16 knots. Others say she has damaged stern thrusters, and with any wind at all, she can't risk docking, although a massive docking tug in brought all the way from Vancouve just for her arrival. ( No other ship uses tugs at all).
So, does anyone have any inside knowledge as to what is the matter with the ship? Clearly she is ill, as every other vessel manages to dock and on time. Are passengers compensated for the missing of a port, through ship problems rather than weather issues? Are passengers notified of serious issues with the vessel prior to sailing?
Seems very odd indead. I have been here since the days of Arcadia, Monteray/Mariposa, the Royal Viking trio, Spirit of London, previous versions of: Volendam,Veendamm, Monarch Sun and Star, Rotterdam, Statemdam, Noordam, Niuew Amstedam, Fairsea, Sundancer, Veracruz and Universe and is was very rare indeed when any of them arrived even a few hours late. Something is up, wrong and being hidden!!
Just curious.

Posts: 834 | From: Victoria, BC, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

phil_a
First Class Passenger
Member # 3679

posted 07-23-2005 12:49 AM

interesting point you make Grant - considering its been occuring now for at least 7 weeks, you wonder why Princess doesnt do something about it sooner!

Does anyone know if it effects any other port of calls for the Diamond?

Posts: 850 | From: W. Australia | Registered: Feb 2003 | IP: Logged

Ocean Liners
First Class Passenger
Member # 4013

posted 07-23-2005 01:05 AM

I always thought that Victoria is a technical calls(for 5 hours from 7pm till 11:59pm) for cabotage as like Ensenada.

[ 07-23-2005: Message edited by: Ocean Liners ]

Posts: 4502 | From: Japan | Registered: Jul 2003 | IP: Logged

mec1
First Class Passenger
Member # 4287

posted 07-23-2005 04:22 AM

Ocean Liners - Not if the ship starts and finishes in Vancouver!!!!

Posts: 1675 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2003 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 07-23-2005 04:41 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Ocean Liners:
I always thought that Victoria is a technical calls(for 5 hours from 7pm till 11:59pm) for cabotage as like Ensenada.

The published itinerary for 'Diamond Princess' DOES say 7.00 to 11.59am.

God know why 11.59 and not 12.00am? Are Princess that accurate?

[ 07-23-2005: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

Ocean Liners
First Class Passenger
Member # 4013

posted 07-23-2005 05:04 AM

[ 07-23-2005: Message edited by: Ocean Liners ]

Posts: 4502 | From: Japan | Registered: Jul 2003 | IP: Logged

Ocean Liners
First Class Passenger
Member # 4013

posted 07-23-2005 05:30 AM

quote:
Originally posted by mec1:
Ocean Liners - Not if the ship starts and finishes in Vancouver!!!!

Don't you know the Itinerary?

Diamond Princess sails out of Seattle now.

Posts: 4502 | From: Japan | Registered: Jul 2003 | IP: Logged

bmajor
First Class Passenger
Member # 1754

posted 07-23-2005 05:40 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Grant:

Shore side we are told she still suffers SEVERE vibration from a bent shaft owing to a docking mishap last season, and can only sail at 16 knots. Others say she has damaged stern thrusters, and with any wind at all, she can't risk docking, although a massive docking tug in brought all the way from Vancouve just for her arrival. ( No other ship uses tugs at all).

Seems very odd indeed.

Hi Grant,
Yes very odd.
If she can only do 16 knots ,how will she get on crossing the Pacific for her Aust/NZ season?

Posts: 1371 | From: Orewa.New Zealand. | Registered: Jan 2001 | IP: Logged

Ocean Liners
First Class Passenger
Member # 4013

posted 07-23-2005 05:52 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
The published itinerary for 'Diamond Princess' DOES say 7.00 to 11.59am.
God know why 11.59 and not 12.00am? Are Princess that accurate?
[ 07-23-2005: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

From Princess website

quote:

1 Seattle 4:00 PM
2 At Sea

3 Juneau 12:30 PM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 5:00 AM 8:45 PM

5 Tracy Arm, Alaska (Scenic Cruising) 11:00 AM 3:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 6:00 AM 12:30 PM

7 Victoria 7:00 PM 11:59 PM

8 Seattle 7:00 AM

[ 07-23-2005: Message edited by: Ocean Liners ]

Posts: 4502 | From: Japan | Registered: Jul 2003 | IP: Logged

phil_a
First Class Passenger
Member # 3679

posted 07-23-2005 06:27 AM

bmajor - im pretty sure there is a dry-docking scheduled for later this year... possibly after the alaska season and before the world/aus/nz cruises.

Posts: 850 | From: W. Australia | Registered: Feb 2003 | IP: Logged

pungpui
First Class Passenger
Member # 1218

posted 07-23-2005 08:14 AM

You mean its been how many months and she still hasnt been fixed?? That was ages ago! How can they let her continue to cruise??

Its almost like letting an aircraft fly with an engine broken, for extended periods!!! ok...well maybe not that servere but still...

Cruising a scheduled itinerary at 16 knots is pretty bad, she will continually be missing ports and angering passengers on each and every cruise.

Posts: 419 | From: Sydney, NSW, Australia | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

Pascal
First Class Passenger
Member # 5510

posted 07-23-2005 01:30 PM

Wasn't it already Diamond Princess who had propulsion troubles last winter during a cruise from Australia to Singapore ?

Posts: 1371 | From: Aix en Provence | Registered: Mar 2005 | IP: Logged

Globaliser
First Class Passenger
Member # 4153

posted 07-23-2005 04:31 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Pascal:
Wasn't it already Diamond Princess who had propulsion troubles last winter during a cruise from Australia to Singapore ?

No, that was her sister ship Sapphire Princess. IIRC, that was fixed fairly quickly and there were no further problems.

Of course, one could relate the story of the name swaps between those two ships, but this isn't the time or the place.

Posts: 1869 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2003 | IP: Logged

GregD
First Class Passenger
Member # 4176

posted 07-25-2005 10:20 AM

every cruise line has their sick puppy:
Carnival has the Glory
Princess has the Dimond
P&O has the Aurora
NCLA had the Pride of America

-Greg

Posts: 548 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2003 | IP: Logged

chateausmith
First Class Passenger
Member # 3423

posted 07-25-2005 01:21 PM

Shame on you Malcolm! I would have expected you to know better. There is no such time as 12.00am .......it is either 12.00 noon--or 12.00 midnight, hence the 11.59 timing. Cheers Chateausmith.

Posts: 68 | From: Alpharetta georgia | Registered: Oct 2002 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 07-25-2005 03:38 PM

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

bulbousbow
First Class Passenger
Member # 4440

posted 07-26-2005 12:57 AM

quote:
chateausmith wrote:
Shame on you Malcolm! I would have expected you to know better. There is no such time as 12.00am .......it is either 12.00 noon--or 12.00 midnight, hence the 11.59 timing.

Malcolm, maybe use the 24 hour clock: midday being 12:00 and midnight being 00:00. It's easier, less confusing and without error.

But I have noticed on some port sites that 00:00 is rarely used, instead they mark it as 23:59 and give the ships in question a minute up-their-sleeve ( ).

******

Cheers

Posts: 6866 | From: Adelaide, Australia | Registered: Feb 2004 | IP: Logged

Globaliser
First Class Passenger
Member # 4153

posted 07-26-2005 05:58 AM

quote:
Originally posted by chateausmith:
There is no such time as 12.00am .......it is either 12.00 noon--or 12.00 midnight, hence the 11.59 timing.

While technically accurate, it has become convention that 12.00 am is midnight, and 12.00 pm is noon.

Posts: 1869 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2003 | IP: Logged

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