Is this ship jinxed or what? She must currently hold the Lloyds record for the longest list of accidents and mishaps!

But it was, as still there this morning, stuck

She does seem rather susceptible to being blown about by the winds.

When P & O Australia sold this ship to Pullmantur Cruises they got rid of a ship which had given them several problems which resulted in cruises being cancelled.

She had several breakdowns on cruises from Sydney, including one off of Singapore, and spent about three weeks in dry dock at Brisbane while some new engine parts were made.

She also started to take on water when enroute from Auckland to Nuku'alofa, in Tonga, which resulted in her returning to Auckland where repairs to her hull took about three weeks to complete.

It will be interesting to see how the ex P & O Pacific Star operates for Pullmantur Cruises as she has had problems when on cruises from Australia.

My understanding is that many of these issues can be traced back to Sitmar days. When P&O Engineers took over on the transfer to UK flag it was discovered that due to bonuses paid under Sitmar many of the "new" spare parts used where in fact parts previously removed and thought to have been dumped/disposed of etc. It also included waste oils not being disposed of but reused or dumped at sea, filters not being replaced etc.This covered not only main engineering but hotel and electro-technical. It "Costa Fortuna" to resolve. While the balance of her life with Princess went reasonably ok almost immedaitely on her transfer to Aussie she began to have serious issues, probably due to the distances she had to steam at higher speeds ? While with Princess she had mainly deployed on Alaska, Mexico and Caribbean routes. Needless to say the bonus scheme with P&O was ran on a differing scheme. All the Fair sisters had issues in this respect when investigations were made after these discoveries.

Sky Wonder passengers evacuated
27/3/2008
Passengers aboard Pullmantur's Sky Wonder, which grounded in high winds on Tuesday while approaching Kusadasi, were safely evacuated yesterday, according to a local Turkish media report.
Further information was not immediately available.

The passengers have been going to and fro in the tenders and taken on excursions.

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Originally posted by jeffrossatsea:
i always thought the ex. fairsky now sky wonder had a beautiful stern, but from looking at the web shot....looks like someone has built up the stern to the highest deck....hopefully it's a visual affect by the camera....jeff

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I think it is a camera affect as she has not really had any major external changes since she was built in 1984. Though it looks like Pullmantur has added some tent like features, including "plastic sheeted walls" for the stern promenade decks, and a large tent above as well. Different looking to say the least.

Strange looking at her that she was one of those ships born just a little too early so she missed on many of the innovations we take for granted. Had she been designed a year or 2 later she would have had public areas in the hull, accommodation above, a lido restaurant, no little portholes but larger windows, and would almost certainly have had diesels. Compare her to Royal Princess 1 launched the same year.

The report about the Sky Wonders reverse gears not working, on the Spanish website, was one of the same causes of her being dry-docked in Brisbane for about three weeks while new parts were made.

It looks like they have not lasted very long.

It seems the passengers have got a good deal from Pulmantur Cruises and would also be flown home free of charge.

Seems there are 2 tugs pushing at her stern at this moment [lower image] and have made some headway compared to this morning [upper image].

Many thanks for the latest picture with Sky Wonder gone !

If the website news reports were correct about not being able to put her engines into reverse, it does lead one to wonder if she should be in use for cruising.

The question now is ' Where has she gone ', as she may need to go into drydock for a hull inspection after being aground.

The webcam covering the Piraeus passenger terminal areas has not been working since early on Friday morning but she might turn up on the AIS system for the port if she heads that way.

Embarkation for her next cruise, which starts from Piraeus, is advertised in their brochures for the 30th March.

Regards,

Neil ( Bob )

[ 03-29-2008: Message edited by: Neil Whitmore ( Bob ) ]

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Originally posted by Neil Whitmore ( Bob ):
If the website news reports were correct about not being able to put her engines into reverse, it does lead one to wonder if she should be in use for cruising.

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Originally posted by dougnewman:
She is certainly not the most reliable ship in the world, but to suggest she isn't fit to be used is a bit much IMO.

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quote:

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:

I wonder what the chances are of her finally being re-engined. Olsen's former RVL ships had it done and they are much older then the former Tss Fairsky.

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With the age of the ship I would not think it is worth the cost of replacing her steam engines with diesels.

It is not long ago that she was dry docked in Gibraltar so this could be a repeat of an old problem with her not being able to go in to reverse with her engines.

When it happened before she was out of service for about five weeks and the parts were specially made in the USA as there are no spares available for the ships gearbox.

She is not old enough to scrap, but too old/complicated to be re-engined.

Seriously though I am sure they have factored these costs in already, it is not as if anyone is surprised when she breaks down etc. She will bumble along running around and breaking down for a few more years and then head to India.

The Greek AIS aystem is showing the Sky Wonder as being in Piraeus harbour this morning having arrived on the 30th March.

It would appear she has not been transmitting since she was re-floated at Kusadasi.