Aos doa

So if you don't see another update from me in the morning you can assume we're underway hopefully. :)

Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope we don't hear from you in the morning :p and that all is going well. All kidding aside, you have been wonderful in posting your information, and in a very calm and collected manner. Thank you.

Sending good thoughts and Bon Voyage.

So, great to hear about all the efforts to get this boat underway and all, but I wonder, who's the cruise director and how he/she is handling the day-to-day entertainment and passenger activities at port while the issues are resolved? I'm sure he/she is a busy fella! How is the CD staff doing? I mean, when life gives you lemons, are they adding tequila, triple sec and sugar and making margaritas out of all this?

If after three days people on board have run out of things to do, give me a shout and I can tell you what else you can do while waiting for your ship to sail. Puerto Rico is much more than the Pan Am Pier and Old San Juan.

Plus, it's supposed to be spring but it's still snowing in the mainland U.S. It's not like the AD hit an iceberg or something.

Cheers!

I don't think many aboard AOS have any idea what is going on in Galveston to be honest. From what little I've read our compensation doesn't appear to be equal on the surface to NOS, BUT at this point we are hopefully only missing out on 1 of our ports. So it is hard to compare the two right now. To me if we sail tonight and everything goes as currently propsed I will be satisfied with the outcome. I don't really want a future cruise discount as Royal left me feeling as though they don't value me as a person with their handling of our cruise from the beginning and I am ready to try different cruiselines now. This was the push I needed.

 

Last update from the Captain for the night was about 20 minutes ago. The second blade is being lifted out of the water and the third is being unbolted. According to someone on the Captain's staff(not sure his exact position but he was a representative for the Captain and answering our questions), there are only 3 blades. So we are on the last one and we should be sailing by 1am. So if you don't see another update from me in the morning you can assume we're underway hopefully. :)

Hmmm. Earlier in this thread it was established that there are four blades. Did they remove one earlier? Time for more conjecture from the smart guys.

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

I suppose it is possible that the ship threw one of the 4 blades from the Fixipod between St. Kitts and St. Croix. Shortly before almost docking at St. Croix they were making something around 15 knots, and the propellers / propulsion system had been being worked on in St. Kitts last week. The ship could not even make 6 knots back to San Juan.

Hmmm. Earlier in this thread it was established that there are four blades. Did they remove one earlier? Time for more conjecture from the smart guys.

 

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

Well you wouldn't remove a single blade and attempt to run it. It would be so severely out of balance and would destroy the bearings in very short order. Two blades in place exactly opposite from each other in a 4 blade setup MIGHT be somewhat balanced, but I don't think it would be safe for the bearings even then. Cheng could probably be a bit more exact though. I'm not a marine engineer by any means, as he certainly has expertise in this area.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

I told my parents to text me when they woke up at 1am to them leaving. It's 1:30am EST and no text so… I'll be up for another hour on the west coast so I'll post if I get a text from them.

Last update from the Captain for the night was about 20 minutes ago. The second blade is being lifted out of the water and the third is being unbolted. According to someone on the Captain's staff(not sure his exact position but he was a representative for the Captain and answering our questions), there are only 3 blades. So we are on the last one and we should be sailing by 1am. So if you don't see another update from me in the morning you can assume we're underway hopefully. :)

Hmmm. Earlier in this thread it was established that there are four blades. Did they remove one earlier? Time for more conjecture from the smart guys.

It may have been at the time this was mentioned that there were still three blades to remove. I posted the link to the picture of the pods, which is of Voyager not Adventure but I can't imagine why the latter would be different especially being a less efficient type and I see the center fix pod blades are spaced at 90 degrees and you can barely see the fourth blade behind or on the far side of the pod.

Currently marine traffic website still shows AOS in SJ.

Currently 236am EST(thanks to a restless 1 year old) I can see we are still here in San Juan.

As to the 4 blades vs 3...we were told onboard by the Captain's staff(more than 1 individual) that there are only 3 blades total. Again I know it was established here that there are believed to be 4, but onboard we were told today there are only 3. At this point I have no idea who is right or who is wrong. Just know I hear one answer here another onboard. ;) The question of total number of blades was however specifically asked here onboard. The posters here seem quite knowledgeable(and have been completely right about timeline so far) and I have no reason not to believe them. The crew onboard also seem quite knowledgeable, but were a bit overwhelmed by the angry mob of people demanding answers it seemed. So it is possible there was a misunderstanding/miscommunication somewhere along the lines when that question was asked. Though as I said it was answered the same way by several staff members.

Off to bed at 3am EST. Hope to see some good news when I wake up in 7 hrs for work!

So, great to hear about all the efforts to get this boat underway and all, but I wonder, who's the cruise director and how he/she is handling the day-to-day entertainment and passenger activities at port while the issues are resolved? I'm sure he/she is a busy fella! How is the CD staff doing? I mean, when life gives you lemons, are they adding tequila, triple sec and sugar and making margaritas out of all this?

 

If after three days people on board have run out of things to do, give me a shout and I can tell you what else you can do while waiting for your ship to sail. Puerto Rico is much more than the Pan Am Pier and Old San Juan.

 

Plus, it's supposed to be spring but it's still snowing in the mainland U.S. It's not like the AD hit an iceberg or something.

 

Cheers!

The cruise director is Mercedes. Things on board seem to be going on as scheduled. Shows, activities, contests and such seem to be similar to our previous cruises. I feel like the vast majority of people onboard are really enjoying themselves it seems. Yesterday was really the first time I witnessed the angry mob mentality kick in. I think it is a natural response at this point as we keep being told we will be leaving at X time and then within a few hours of X time they finally tell us we won't be leaving again. The crew is being fantastic and treating us very well trying to give us the best experience they can. And I realize all the information they are giving us, the typed letters, and the timing of most announcements regarding the work and when we should be underway are being determined by Royal. You can see from the body language of the Captain when he is out there checking the progress and hear in his voice in annoucements that he is truly frustrated/disappointed as well.

Currently 236am EST(thanks to a restless 1 year old) I can see we are still here in San Juan.

 

As to the 4 blades vs 3...we were told onboard by the Captain's staff(more than 1 individual) that there are only 3 blades total. Again I know it was established here that there are believed to be 4, but onboard we were told today there are only 3. At this point I have no idea who is right or who is wrong. Just know I hear one answer here another onboard. ;) The question of total number of blades was however specifically asked here onboard. The posters here seem quite knowledgeable(and have been completely right about timeline so far) and I have no reason not to believe them. The crew onboard also seem quite knowledgeable, but were a bit overwhelmed by the angry mob of people demanding answers it seemed. So it is possible there was a misunderstanding/miscommunication somewhere along the lines when that question was asked. Though as I said it was answered the same way by several staff members.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Navigator_of_the_Seas

I went with the sister ship info as the article on Adventure of the Seas didn't have the propulsion information

Main propulsion[edit]

The ship has a diesel-electric powertrain that uses three Azipod azimuth thrusters. Each propeller is driven by a double-wound 3-phase synchronous motor with 4-bladed fixed-pitch bronze propellers. The motors are mounted outside the hull directly on the propeller shaft inside the pod. The three propellers are arranged so that the center propeller is a pushing on–azimuthing Fixipod-type and the two wing ones are of pulling-azimuthing–type steering propellers.

Appears aos still in san juan as of 530am est

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk 2- Please excuse any errors.

Sorry, out for the night, so didn't catch the great 3 vs 4 blade debate. I don't know of anyone who makes a 3 bladed wheel of this size, so I'm sticking with there being 4 blades. I don't believe they actually lost a blade while underway, as the vibration from this would have removed the fillings from the teeth of all guests aft of midships. And even if the blade did "come off", it would have left the bolted flange in place which would have to be unbolted to balance the hub. I see that she is still sitting in port at 0530 EDT, so they are still struggling to get the blades off.

The ship left on time, but arrived well after the Carnival Valor, which was still in San Juan when we departed. Same with the Equinox. Do you really believe RCI is going to tell us so they would have to refund money? Don't be naive, this is corporate greed, plain and simple.

I really don't care whether the ship arrived after the Valor, did it arrive on time? Did the Adventure meet all advertised departure and arrival times up until leaving St. Kitts? Everything else is useless information. What speed did the Valor make, and what were her advertised departure and arrival times? Perhaps RCI wanted to conserve fuel, so made advertised departure before the Valor, and arrival after Valor so they could steam slower than Valor. So what, as long as they kept to the itinerary, you have no claim to know that there was a problem at that time.

What I'm saying is that if RCI was never intending to sail to the two southern ports, that AS SOON AS THEY CANCELLED THEM, they would have to refund/credit money back, so where's the gain? Since the cancellation of the ports wouldn't have been weather related, the much lauded "cruise bill of rights" would have allowed for compensation even if not offered by RCI.

It may have been at the time this was mentioned that there were still three blades to remove. I posted the link to the picture of the pods, which is of Voyager not Adventure but I can't imagine why the latter would be different especially being a less efficient type and I see the center fix pod blades are spaced at 90 degrees and you can barely see the fourth blade behind or on the far side of the pod.

Currently marine traffic website still shows AOS in SJ.

 

Definitely 4 blades. Found this picture from a previous dry dock of the AOS, clearly shows 4 blades.

Link to cruise critic article on previous dry dock - http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=878

not to solve the 3 vs 4 debate but here are the 3 blades out this am. Caption has been telling us it has 3 blades, but there is also one more set of chains sitting on the bed of the semi.

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[ATTACH]307232[/ATTACH] not to solve the 3 vs 4 debate but here are the 3 blades out this am. Caption has been telling us it has 3 blades, but there is also one more set of chains sitting on the bed of the semi.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Thanks!! I was hoping it wasn't just me misinterpreting what we were being told on the 3 vs 4. Also thanks for the picture that saves me the walk from up here to down there. The planes flying over told me all I needed to know about where we are this morning. Have you heard anything new yet? I guess if there is another set of chains and another blade to be taken off there's still work to be done. Wonder what this morning's excuse will be and how they will explain the fourth blade that we weren't told about...and what our new ETD will be. If there is one.

Full refunds. 50% of what we paid for this cruise towards a future cruise wothin the next year. Fourth blade being removed now. Departure estimate of 10am.

Full refunds. 50% off future cruise. Fourth blade being removed now. Departure estimate of 10am.

Thanks for the updates.

That's great that you are getting a full refund. It is great to see that the cruiseline did the right thing. Hold onto those 50% future credits and once you look at this a few months down the road, you might want to use that money to try one of the big girls (Oasis and Allure). I totally understand your frustration and disappointment, hopefully, once you finally set sail, you can enjoy a few beautiful days at sea.:)

They already knew something was wrong two weeks back, but decided to continue to eek out more profits. The clients are not important, they paid and can't cancel their trip. AOS sailed out of San Juan VERY slowly with plenty of shaking going on. The Carnival Valor departed well after Adventure and was sitting pretty, upon arrival in St. Thomas. Same thing next day to St Kitts, Celebrity Equinox departed well after us form St Thomas, but had arrived well before us. I am pretty sure RCI never intended to take this ship to Aruba and Curacao, but had no problem getting paid for it. Shameful.:(

Really feel for everyone on board, we've had cruises cancelled on us in the past, but you're wrong about the arrival/departure times for Adventure versus the Carnival ship. We've done this itinerary for as long as Adventure has operated it and we always leave San Juan before Carnival (the Victory before the Valour) and it's been docked in St Thomas before us, that's just the port schedule.

Thanks for the updates.

 

That's great that you are getting a full refund. It is great to see that the cruiseline did the right thing. Hold onto those 50% future credits and once you look at this a few months down the road, you might want to use that money to try one of the big girls (Oasis and Allure). I totally understand your frustration and disappointment, hopefully, once you finally set sail, you can enjoy a few beautiful days at sea.:)

My DH is the more level headed, far less emotional of us(imagine that) and he is already asking which ship we should try next. :) I'll reassess in the next few weeks it takes the certificate to get to us.

My DH is the more level headed, far less emotional of us(imagine that) and he is already asking which ship we should try next. :) I'll reassess in the next few weeks it takes the certificate to get to us.

That's good, might as well take advantage of the credit and book something extravagant!:D

Have they given any information on what the revised itinerary will be?

I really hope we stop hearing from you really soon and I mean that in a good way!:eek:;):p

the 50% credit will be 50% off what you paid for this cruise, not 50% off the full price of another one.

So those in an inside cabin that might not be a great deal but at least you will be refunded too.

They have dropped St Martin now. So we will be doing St Lucia, Antigua, and St Croix still. They are still telling us 10am departure. The last bolt on blade 4, which has now been acknowledged, has been removed. Crane has moved into place to bring it out of the water.

the 50% credit will be 50% off what you paid for this cruise, not 50% off the full price of another one.

So those in an inside cabin that might not be a great deal but at least you will be refunded too.

Correct. I misworded my original post and it looks like reallyitsmema quoted me before I got a chance to edit. The full refund is on th cruise fare. So I'd imagine that isn't beverage packages, etc. Not sure if it will be the taxes and port fees for th ports we end up visiting either.