April 26 - May 3, 2008 Caribbean Crazy Cruisers

[ohiominnie]

RAt least one person had expectations that were so high no matter what happened they wouldn't be happy. We had one who was surprising her children and wouldn't get involved in any of the pre-planning less they find out. The kids were underwhelmed to say the least and she was upset. We had another who wanted to plan every single second of her cruise and again the smallest thing went wrong and "ruined" her cruise.

And, if I remember correctly, those people were no fun to be around. You could tell their family was miserable because they just wanted to have fun, but yet that one "over-planner" was ruining all the fun. And DIS-ers would scatter if they saw them coming rather than have to endure the rant about how horrible the cruise was so far. Sad, really.

 

[ohiominnie]

Really? There is talk about canceling all cruises prior to the repo?
Hmmmm, guess I don't go to the main board much for just this reason.
I was in my happy little place planning a cruise until I heard this.

And I still will be even if they cancel. Yeah, we'll have to scramble and figure out what to do (Please, God, don't let the answer be "stay with relatives for the week we should be cruising.")

But I know IF (and ONLY if) cruises are canceled, Disney will somehow compensate.

But the question is, will Disney compensate me for my medication and mental health inpatient stay if, in fact, I do have to lodge with FL based relatives for a week???????

 

[ohiominnie]

Maybe part of the life boat drill will include a rowing tutorial. In case the engines all give out, at least we'll be able to get home.

 

[WDWLVR]

And I still will be even if they cancel. Yeah, we'll have to scramble and figure out what to do (Please, God, don't let the answer be "stay with relatives for the week we should be cruising.")

But the question is, will Disney compensate me for my medication and mental health inpatient stay if, in fact, I do have to lodge with FL based relatives for a week???????

Now wait a minute...what about spending the week with us?????? I can see it now...endless games of LRC at the pool! Oh and there is that pool house in Port Orange...maybe we could talk the owners into letting us stay there.

 

[ohiominnie]

Now wait a minute...what about spending the week with us?????? I can see it now...endless games of LRC at the pool! Oh and there is that pool house in Port Orange...maybe we could talk the owners into letting us stay there.

THANK YOU! I now have an argument "But Nick needed to spend the week with Smoothie Dad, we can't stay at (someone's) house."

 

[ohiominnie]

Ya know, if they are going to cancel, I hope they tell us soon.
Cuz then I won't worry about fitting into my cruise clothes! HA!

 

[wdwluvrs]

OK I'll add my 2 cents first I am not worried at all about a cancelled cruise as for the engines 4 out of 5 running is good I am willing to bet that all 5 are rarely used at the same time anyway. Does anyone know are the propellers on the magic the new electric driven pod type or the older steam turbine driven if they are electric the engine rooms are only electric generating plants. When I was in the Navy we had a engine room but the Boiler room is what really provided the steam for propulsion and electricity you want excitement have the boilers go out in the middle of the night and you are dead in the water. I have a cousin that works for Dresser Rand and he on a number of occasion has along with other service technicians had to go to sea for a week with ships to repair their systems while they were underway. So not to worry we are all going to have a great time.

 

[ohiominnie]

I'm 99.9% sure the Magic's engines are diesel-electric.

I'm sure Mark can chime in here on the mechanical stuff.

 

[zerog]

Cruise lines to reimburse passengers

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI — Cruise lines Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. and Celebrity Cruises Inc. have agreed to reimburse passengers for fuel surcharges that were not adequately disclosed, the Florida attorney general announced today.

The settlement affects 300,000 bookings — the number of customers involved was not immediately available — and will return $21 million to people nationwide who made trip deposits as of Nov. 15.

“There’s gonna be a lot of happy cruisers,” said Sandi Copes, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill McCollum.

The world’s top two cruise operators announced in November they would start billing passengers to offset rising fuel prices — $5 per person, per day — for voyages beginning Feb. 1.

Attorney General Bill McCollum received more than 300 complaints about the fuel surcharge, which other cruise operators also added, and launched an investigation into whether customers were made aware of the new fee when they made their bookings.

In a statement released late Monday, McCollum praised the two Miami-based cruise lines for being proactive and taking steps in the best interest of their customers.

“This resolution will serve as a model for the rest of the cruise line industry and I expect the other companies to take this example and follow suit,” McCollum said.

The cruise lines will directly contact customers eligible for the reimbursement, Copes said. Those who have not yet sailed will receive their refund as an on-board credit; those who have sailed will receive the money back. The cruise lines also agreed to clearly disclose the charges in advertisements.

The settlement amends a 1997 agreement that cruise lines were not to put extra charges on their bills unless they were for taxes or government fees. The companies now may add surcharges as long as those costs are properly disclosed to customers, Copes said.

Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan said the company concluded that “taking this action would be the best thing to do.”

The agreement will have not effect Royal Caribbean’s revenue projections, Sheehan said. The possibility of refunds was considered when the company provided guidance late January, he said.

 

[WDWLVR]

Ya know, if they are going to cancel, I hope they tell us soon.
Cuz then I won't worry about fitting into my cruise clothes! HA!

Now now we can't think like that. After all I just bought a new dress.

 

[WDWLVR]

Good morning everyone - happy Tuesday! It is supposed to get up in the 40's today. Woo Hoo! Could Spring finally be here? I sure hope so.

Have a great day everyone!

Randy - did you get up to watch the shuttle launch?

 

[MarkRG]

I'm 99.9% sure the Magic's engines are diesel-electric.
I'm sure Mark can chime in here on the mechanical stuff.

Make that 100%. Most modern ships are all electric propulsion, with diesel generators, in multiples (I believe the Magic has 5), producing the power. The magic does use traditional style rear props but they are electric motor driven. Those pods mentioned is where the entire motor/propeller unit is external under the hull and they angle it to determine the direction it's pushing/pulling the ship, those ships don't even have a rudder. I'd not be surprised if the two new ships have them.

From what I remember, no, they do not run all 5 engines at any time, I could be wrong on this but thought it was 4 under full sail (~22-24 kts), 3 otherwise and only 1 when in port to provide services. And they rotate out which one is the down one. They also do cold restart drills sometimes when in port where they fully shut down and restart the ship.

As I said out on the main forum, I seriously doubt the ship would have sailed Saturday if it had any kind of serious condition ongoing. It's one thing to limp through to finish an ongoing sailing, it'd be quite another to leave home port that way, I don't see DCL doing that at all.

 

[MarkRG]

OK I'll add my 2 cents first I am not worried at all about a cancelled cruise as for the engines 4 out of 5 running is good I am willing to bet that all 5 are rarely used at the same time anyway. Does anyone know are the propellers on the magic the new electric driven pod type or the older steam turbine driven if they are electric the engine rooms are only electric generating plants. When I was in the Navy we had a engine room but the Boiler room is what really provided the steam for propulsion and electricity you want excitement have the boilers go out in the middle of the night and you are dead in the water. I have a cousin that works for Dresser Rand and he on a number of occasion has along with other service technicians had to go to sea for a week with ships to repair their systems while they were underway. So not to worry we are all going to have a great time.

One thing Mary may/may not have mentioned we were out in Hawaii early last year, and one of the things we did was take the below decks tour of the 'Mo. It was a truly amazing experience. Now to give some images to what you're describing,

Two of the USS Missouri boilers, which as said make steam which turn generators for power, pumps for onboard water, and the props. They are massive, about the size of a 1 car garage, each.

One of the prop turbines. This machine is as big as a compact car.

And last, you've seen the modern cruise ship's command centers with all the digital readouts? This is how they did it in the day, a mechanical signal from the bridge as to what propulsion they are expecting is indicated on this board then they operate the controls down here in the engine room to make it happen:

It's a very impressive ship even as it is in the care of a volunteer group who are keeping it maintained.


Mind you cruise ship tech is a far cry in some ways from this, but in others, not so much, just the medium has changed. Electric instead of steam.

 

[ohiominnie]

Yeah, exactly what Mark said.....only this time the USS Midway in San Diego.
And that's my dad.....checking out the engine room.....the one he actually WORKED in when he was on the Midway back in the 50's. The Midway had 4 engine rooms.....only one was rehabed for the tour, and it was the one my dad knew well. Pretty cool!

 

[WDWLVR]

Karen - that is very cool. I really enjoyed our tour and can only begin to imagine how great it was for your Dad to be able to tour the ship he actually was on! What wonderful memories and how fantastic that he was able to share it with you and your kids.

 

[AmyandMichael]

Someone please tell me not to worry about all that I am reading

 

[MarkRG]

Someone please tell me not to worry about all that I am reading

Don't worry about all you're reading.

Seriously, people are blowing what happened waaaay out of proportion. DCL definitely does not operate in a sloppy manner as some are imagining.

 

[WDWLVR]

Someone please tell me not to worry about all that I am reading

Amy - don't worry about all you are reading.

Honestly as I told Kay a page or two back. Most of what you are reading is speculation by people. Very few hard facts. A CM said this, my server told me this, etc. etc. etc. Now if the Chief Engineer or the Captain of the ship posted I'd be worried. Disney has too good a reputation to risk it by sending out the ship in an unsafe condition.

Does that guarantee we'll make every port and on time? No it doesn't and that is true of every single voyage of every cruise out there.

Hope this helps.

 

[WDWLVR]

GMTA!

 

[MarkRG]

Amy - don't worry about all you are reading.

Honestly as I told Kay a page or two back. Most of what you are reading is speculation by people. Very few hard facts. A CM said this, my server told me this, etc. etc. etc. Now if the Chief Engineer or the Captain of the ship posted I'd be worried. Disney has too good a reputation to risk it by sending out the ship in an unsafe condition.

Does that guarantee we'll make every port and on time? No it doesn't and that is true of every single voyage of every cruise out there.

Hope this helps.

I would add this - there is a serious level of separation between the cm's who work around us in the cabins/restaurants and the ship maintainance/command crew. People saying such things from the people serving them doesn't have much chance at all of being accurate. As Mary said, direct information from the Captain of the ship or other command crew or from the DCL offices is probably the only reliable source of information, anything else really needs to be looked at as hearsay, and some of it is really, honestly wild imaginings.