Fantasy having mechanical issues

[hanscarlet]

Interesting. Only a slight change with regards to distance travelled. Perhaps something about the ports themselves

my thoughts went there too, perhaps San Juan can assist with repairs or something? Odd how they would go out of the way to change ports when the distance isn't that big of deal? Seems like giving up all those guests' port excursions wouldn't be worth it but what do I know

 

[tink1970]

Our a/c didn't work, we called, it was fixed.
A hinge needed to be tightened (the door of the fridge cabinet kept drooping). We called, they fixed it.

Our fridge was leaking, they were on their way when we were leaving our room. Nothing catastrophic and I wouldn't have called for any of them but there's always someone who will be devastated if things aren't perfect so figured it was best to get the problems taken care of prophylactically since I noticed them.

Even r/s my flight is fine...just got upgraded to first class

 

[Dug720]

my thoughts went there too, perhaps San Juan can assist with repairs or something? Odd how they would go out of the way to change ports when the distance isn't that big of deal? Seems like giving up all those guests' port excursions wouldn't be worth it but what do I know

Considering they do have cruises embarking in San Juan that would not surprise me.

 

[bobbiwoz]

This was my 15th Disney cruise. Have sailed them out of 3 different ports. Sorry, Royal does embarkation & debarkation soooooooo much better. Like lightyears better. So much more orderly. Soooooooo much better.

This is NOT my first chaos/cluster debark from DCL either. Unfortunately.

Wow, we would say DCL is much better than RCCL on most RCCL ships we have been on .

 

[bobbiwoz]

This is from my cousin who was on the Fantasy 3 night about the experience !

Great trip...weather 80° in Castaway Cay.
Funny to see Freeport for medical situation.

Saw many sea turtles on approach to terminal!! Gorgeous!

Extra time on the ship has been lovely.
Rooms available til 11 am.
Food available.
Movies in both theaters.
Crafts in D lounge.
Ice cream soft serve flowing.
It's all good!
We are safe...all that matters.
Crew has been awesome!!!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Having a great time on EBTA. Weather in Azores was gorgeous today!

There was an electrical fire on board 4 AM.... quickly put out.

 

[dclpluto]

Looks like the cruise leaving today is getting a better port than they were going to get. But sucks for having to get on late And all the people that missed their flights. Most times you get worse ports or skip ports when something like this happens.san Juan is better than Tortola imo.

 

[iZon]

Maybe they could change The Tube to a dance club called Vibrations. Keep it on theme.

 

[mevelandry]

lol! I do feel bad for the people on board, apparently theres been issues with AC and toilets the whole time as well as weird vibrating.

Woh that's a problem.

 

[truck1]

The 64000 question is what could have gone boom, shaken the ship, and only effect 1 drive motor.

may have nothing to do with the motor

possibles off the top of my head: a shaft bearing, a strut bearing, a shaft seal, reduction gear, clutch ... could even toss a blade from the screw!

with any of these one would 'lock the shaft' to prevent further damage

heck I had a rudder damn near fall off once when the nut (a damn BIG nut) on the top came loose and the rudder dropped .... another time the bearings in the strut that supports the shaft after it exits the hull, near the prop attachment, failed not long after 'passing inspection' .... oops, turns out the inspection was done wrong by the yard .... expensive booboo ...

I didn't mean the motor specifically, but the associated equipment. Something that does come to mind, but doesn't explain the vibration is that the Queen Mary I think, has a history of blowing large capacitors, that have damaged the ship. 1 took a door off the hinges.
I don't think the DCL fleet has reduction gears as there propulsion motors are all electric. The mains might have reduction gear, but since they are gensets, it doesn't explain the locked shaft.

 

[SweetSpot]

We also just got off the 3 night Fantasy. We booked knowing that there was a great possibility of issues or incomplete projects. Our air conditioner didn't work well and we felt a lot of vibration. They spent all day yesterday grinding and drilling at the adult pool attempting to repair the hot tub and there were issues with registers in the stores the last night. Really they are my only complaints and those things didn't really affect my cruise at all. I found the ship to be immaculate, all staff working very hard and all services ran smoothly. We were informed that we needed to stop in Freeport for an evacuation and in no way did it affect our cruise, only the person who was evacuated. We were notified of the mechanical issue and were given updates. Clubs stayed open later last night since we were going to be able to sleep in.

This morning as promised at 8:00 AM we were updated and continued to be updated as needed. We didn't need to leave our room until 11:00. Characters came out, current movies were in both theaters, kids clubs were open for open house, family crafts and karaoke activities were planned. All food stations on deck were open, bars were open and they served a full lunch in Cabanas and sit down meal in EG. The staff remained helpful and catered to every need even though they really needed to get ready for the new passengers.

This is our 14th DCL cruise. We've also cruise on other cruise lines. Disney does their best to make everyone's experience perfect but things happen. Given the situation, as someone stuck on board, I think DCL did a great job of handling the situation. IMO probably better than another line would handle it. I'm sure people who had a hard time getting home could have a different opinion. It was nice to see so many passengers just going with the flow and not hearing many complaints.

 

[truck1]

Before everyone starts saying what was and wasn't fixed, we might want to wait a week or 2 and see what happens. It's entirely possible that the vibration was fixed and this new vibration had to do with whatever failed. There are issues that pop up from time to time that are completely normal for ships in service. For example. If someone flushes something that's not supposed to be flushed, and it blocks a pipe, it.could take an hour or so to track down. And it could take several dozen toilets down with it before its fixed. Ac in the rooms can be changed by the mechanics on board. If you get someone that like the room warmer it's possible the ac was changed bybthe previos occupant.

Now, I'm not saying the Fantasy came out of dd pristine and like new, but we may have to wait a little bit for the dust to settle to see what the results are.

 

[truck1]

But didn't the Fantasy have this same problem last year? An engine failed and they had to limp back to PC? If I'm remembering right, I have to wonder if it's the same engine.

Also, I didn't read anything about the ship going boom or a big shake. Actually, I didn't read anything before this about this cruise being problematic at all.

She did have a similar issue with in the last year or so. Time will tell if it's the same, related or coincidence.

 

[camdensmom]

I posted on the other thread as well, but we were also on this cruise. I found the trip to be absolutely wonderful. While I did feel bad for the folks who are scheduled to sail today, I actually really enjoyed the late arrival. We drove in so flights were not an issue and I can completely understand how that would cause stress and frustration. I also opted for the express walk-off and had kept our luggage in our room so that also may factor into our experience. We noticed the boat had stopped moving right after we put our kids to bed and when they announced we would be arriving late to port I had visions of needing to sit somewhere and entertain hungry kids indefinitely.

Instead I could not be more impressed with how DCL handled the situation. I awoke to find us sailing along. I enjoyed a relaxing hour up on deck sailing, drinking coffee and watching the sunrise while my family slept in a bit later than planned. We went to breakfast. We spent some time in the Oceaneers Club and played a few holes of mini golf. My daughters got to see Mickey and Pluto (who were wandering the 4th and 5th floor around the atrium for interaction and photos) again and did some crafts in the DLounge. My son and husband went to see a movie (Guardians of the Galaxy and Beauty and the Beast were playing in the theaters and Big Hero 6 was up on the pool deck). The kids took a few trips down the Aquaduck and Mickey water slide (Nemo's Reef was also open) and then we went back to the stateroom so they could change into dry clothes. There was also a dance party, karaoke, and trivia going on and Cabanas stayed open until 10 serving breakfast and then opened again for lunch not long after that.

We went back to our stateroom until 11:00 and soon after were called to the theater to disembark. Yes it was crowded and yes there were people who needed to "swim upstream" from the theater back to the hall near the atrium to drop their bags, but in the cluster of people we were herded in with the ones that needed to bring their bags back and seemed annoyed were the ones who had not listened to the 6-7 crew members who had been saying to leave the bags on the way by. We sat in the theater for a bit and then walked back down to the atrium in the same shoulder to shoulder way we walked in, but we were in our car driving by 12:15 so overall it was a pretty quick process despite feeling a bit chaotic.

We were all over the ship between 5:30 a.m. and noon and aside from the theater and march to customs nowhere felt overly crowded and I was extremely impressed with the lengths DCL went to in order to make the most of a bad situation for us. Again, we did not need to catch a flight and we had all our toiletries and luggage, but it just felt like half a day of bonus vacation time. Since we disembarked at the same time as we embarked we truly got 3 full days out of our vacation and with two days in Castaway Cay it really felt like we got so much value out of the trip.

 

[cruiser21]

I was just wondering because that's the reasoning so many DCL lovers use when this stuff happens on other lines. They cruise DCL because you get what you pay for.

I've seen that posted many times on here when other cruiselines have problems. I thought it was pretty funny. Hope everyone gets their flights rescheduled.

 

[minorthr]

So we got off a few hours ago. Currently in the air flying home. We had various issues, lack of ac, toilets not flushing my luggage getting destroyed. And the absolute cluster f that was getting off the ship today.

The first night was extremely rough and included what I can best describe as a pulsing vibration that seemed to run from the back of the ship to the front in waves. Never experienced that before. That continues to happen every once ina while till last night when we were at dinner at enchanted garden and I don't even know what we left but it was way different from everything else the whole ship shook then the boat stopped or came real close to not going anywhere. About 11 is when the commodore came on and announced we had issues.

 

[AquaDame]

This was my 15th Disney cruise. Have sailed them out of 3 different ports. Sorry, Royal does embarkation & debarkation soooooooo much better. Like lightyears better. So much more orderly. Soooooooo much better.

This is NOT my first chaos/cluster debark from DCL either. Unfortunately.

We had clusters the two times we've boarded/debarked on RCCL... the second time they even outright refused to let my husband and I use the shorter line for repeat cruisers even though I had the right paperwork for her and everything. I have no idea why. I'm glad you've had good experiences, but I haven't... personal anecdotes shape each person's brand loyalty I suppose.

 

[SteveMouse]

my thoughts went there too, perhaps San Juan can assist with repairs or something? Odd how they would go out of the way to change ports when the distance isn't that big of deal? Seems like giving up all those guests' port excursions wouldn't be worth it but what do I know

It could very well be the approach to the different ports- Tortola may be more difficult to manage with limited engine capacity. St. Thomas and San Juan can probably provide more assistance (in terms of tugs).

 

[tvguy]

This was my 15th Disney cruise. Have sailed them out of 3 different ports. Sorry, Royal does embarkation & debarkation soooooooo much better. Like lightyears better. So much more orderly. Soooooooo much better.

This is NOT my first chaos/cluster debark from DCL either. Unfortunately.

To be polite, DCL certainly was my least favorite disembarkation, and I have been flamed here for over 13 years for saying that. Before my cruise people on DIS talked about walking right off when you wanted. We had a 45 minute wait in line. It was very stressful. They have no system.
So yes, I prefer the systems the 5 other other lines i cruised used. Priority given based on your travel plans, go to an assigned public room to wait your turn to leave in comfort. Pastries and juice and coffee set up while you wait. Walk right off....when it was my turn.

 

[tvguy]

Today's situation just reminds me that, despite how reliable cruise ships are, you need to be financially prepared for a problem at the end of your cruise .
Have plenty of credit available on your credit card, or cash, or debit cards to cover unexpected food, air and hotel expenses. Even with travel insurance, you will have to pay those expenses out of pocket, and submit a claim when you get home.