Husband & wife who cru

Condensed version is that the equipment designed to monitor the capacitors did not detect any abnormalities up to the time of the failure.

Absolutely true and had the components in question been PHYSICALLY checked the "gradual detoriation" outlined in the report may have been found before hand. But, that requires time and expense and many land and sea based entities simply do these things only when absolutely necessary. But, two major engineering incidents in the space of a year already has Carnival's insurers planning to look into this.

Are you saying that Cunard/Carnival Corp. is doing a who cares attitude when it comes to doing the proper maintenance of the QM2 and the other ships? It would make them look very bad if it is true? Regards,Jerry

Not at all.

But two major engineering incidents in the space of a year is not something that will escape Carnival's insurers. When QM2 had her explosion last year many in the engineering community were very surprised that P&O did not put QM2 in for an inspection and overhaul. The primary reason seems to be the fact that P&O puts all their platform builds in for maintenance every three years. These overhauls are not cheap but having QM2 adhere to that schedule might prove to be a mistake. Given her previous misfortune and knowing first hand how extremely serious a gas turbine fire is P&O/Carnival should look indepth at QM2's operations before their good luck runs out.

Next month the QM2 will be put into dry-dock at a German shipyard for routine maintenance so hopefully this overhaul you speak of will be done then? I do know that the QM2's last dry-dock was 3 years ago in late 2008. Regards,Jerry

QM2's upcoming overhaul has been labelled as cosemetic only..she is only due to be out of service for a very short period of time which is in no way going to address mechanics in an indepth fashion. Two major mechanical incidents in less than a year from an engineering standpoint is indicative of building issues within the ship. Judging QM2's need for attention based on the platform builds within the company sounds like it might be a mistake. It could be she requires an indepth check every 2 years which is not that uncommon (Carnival's insurance carriers will be looking at this indpeth). But, an every 2 overhaul is an expense and one Carnival may not want to undertake.

Tweets from @cunardline this morning:

 

There was a minor fire on board Queen Mary 2 this morning, this was extinguished immediately and has not affected any guests or crew...

 

...the operation of the ship has not been affected in any way and she is en route to New York as planned.

I fully expect P&O/Cunard to play this down. But a gas turbine fire with a standing evacuation order onboard QM2 is not "minor". This is extremely serious.

I have the following on very good authority as of 21:00 Oct 5, 2011:

 

A gas carbine in the engine room of the QM2 caught on fire this evening. Cunard staff were given a 90 minute warning in order to prepare to deploy the lifeboats. Guests had their children dropped off and their animals picked up from the kennels.

 

Apparently it is now under control, but people are understandably shaken up. They are currently in extremely rough seas and my source tells me that "things are flying all over the ship". In one instance a copier machine was ripped from its harnass and destroyed into 8 pieces.

 

That's all I know at the moment.

After last year's capacitator incident onboard QM2 many engineers were very surprised P&O did not pull QM2 from service for a complete overhaul. As I have been told Cunard is on P&O's every 3 year overhaul system that they do within their own fleet (Cunard is managed/directed by P&O). Clearly there is something amiss here and it would appear Carnival needs to pay attention more to maintenance with QM2 and within its fleet. Again, they got lucky avoiding a major disaster this time and this luck can not run forever...get with it Carnival!

JUST RETURNED FROM QUEEN VICTORIA PART FOUR

 

 

Can someone explain to me why Cunard has smoke colored glass panels as railings???? r

Those smoked glass panel railings are all over Carnival and their cruise lines I have noticed. Not an attractive feature in my mind and I'm sure more a bean counter directive than an esthetic move. I agree with your comments on food service, even in the grills where my wife and I dined we came to the conclusion of the "heat lamp" effect as well. It's all subjective, but having cruised a Carnival company at least once a year we have noticed a down grading of the quality of our experience. It seems more and more the accountants are dictating the experience rather than listening to passenger expectations. It is the primary reason why we just booked with Celebrity and Oceania this year...Carnival's Cunard just can not compete with the attention to detail its rivals are now giving.