Crippled MSC Opera limps back to Southampton!

My friends are on this ship at the moment. Half the ship has no power, the loos are out of order and there is no hot food!

They're doing just 8.5 knots and were supposed to be docking in Copenhagen but the Captain is heading straight back to the UK.

Not good.

According to AIS she is currently just under 9 miles off Visby...

MSC OPERA

Flag: Panama

Ship Type: Passenger

Status: Underway

Speed/Course: 0.6 kn / 105˚

Length x Breadth: 253 m X 32 m

Draught: 6.8 m

Destination: VISBY

ETA: 2011-05-15 06:30 (UTC)

Received (737): 0h 2min 41s ago

(AIS Source: Oskarshamns Sjofartsforening)

Visby webcams here...the ferry is the Gotland in the capture....the cams update every few minutes.

http://www.webbkameror.se/webbkameror/visbyhamn/webkamera_visbyhamn2_640.php

If you keep an eye on the camera, you may well see Opera at some point in the next few hours.

According to Swedish media the cruise is cancelled and MSC Opera will be towed to the Swedish city Nynäshamn. The UK passengers will be flown home by a charterflight leaving tomorrow.

What a way for a cruise to end...the passengers must be gutted and it can't be much fun being onboard with things not working.

Wonder what went wrong?

Yes, swedish media claim that the towing boat arrived 1 hour ago, the distance Visby-Nynäshamn takes around 3 hours with a speedferry

averaging 35 knots. I dont know how fast a towing will take, being without water, hot food and electricity since yesterday. I wouldnt been to keen to continue my journey with a flight tomorrow evening.

The company will fly home people tomorrow and offer a voucher for future

trips with them as compensation according to swedish press, how grand of them....:rolleyes:

We are contemplating a cruise on the Opera in July.. I realize that by then the ship's current problems will have been taken care of... although I am concerned about the condition of the ship since it is a older ship and whether this has happened before?? Thanks

We are contemplating a cruise on the Opera in July.. I realize that by then the ship's current problems will have been taken care of... although I am concerned about the condition of the ship since it is a older ship and whether this has happened before?? Thanks

I wouldn't be too concerned. I was aboard Costa Victoria a few weeks ago and she had a blip off the Brazilian coast which was quickly dealt with and we were underway again in 20 minutes.

These breakdowns are quite common and only rarely hit the headlines....and the age of ship makes no difference either...Carnival Splendor had her breakdown caused by a fire last year and she is barely 3 years old, QM2 has had breakdowns...most ships get them every so often, nowt to be worried about :)

Cruise Industry News have the Opera incident listed...

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/5558-msc-opera-under-tow.html

Looking at it, they seem to have everything in hand and have made arrangements for the passengers pretty quickly.

We are contemplating a cruise on the Opera in July.. I realize that by then the ship's current problems will have been taken care of... although I am concerned about the condition of the ship since it is a older ship and whether this has happened before?? Thanks

I think the most important thing is not the actual problem, which, lets face it can occur, but how MSC deal with the passengers both in terms of repatrication and also compensation.

Personally, knowing MSC as I do, I have my doubts. Future cruise credit doesn't cut it.

Direct Links to the AIS pages...

MSC OPERA

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=357627000

Being pulled by this TUG!

SVITZER TRYM

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=219014875

All AIS Cruise Ships

http://shiptrackingais.blogspot.com/p/cruiseshipstrackingais.html

We had a blackout on the new Norwegian Epic less than three weeks ago and we were drifting for awhile in the Caribbean.

This was supposed to be a "no fly" cruise.

How are they dealing with those passengers who are unable (for whatever reason) to fly?

I bet they'll be pleased to get off - days without working toilets, showers, etc.. Doesn't bear thinking about.

My brother was on the ship with his family. They were a bit scared but the crew and msc staff are looking after them now...

I was on the Opera and she was in an inmaculate state. I had a wonderfull holiday in the Brazilian waters.

My Father was supposed to be on the cruise tomorrow, which has obviously now been cancelled by the company ... but at present they are only offering an upgraded replacement cruise. Is he not entitled to a full refund????:confused::confused:

Wondered what people's experiences were please?

Thanks, Lisa

My Father was supposed to be on the cruise tomorrow, which has obviously now been cancelled by the company ... but at present they are only offering an upgraded replacement cruise. Is he not entitled to a full refund????:confused::confused:

Wondered what people's experiences were please?

Thanks, Lisa

The only time I've not been able to have my cruise with MSC was last year due to the volcanic ash situation. the cruise still operated, I just could not get to it. I was offered an alternative cruise to the same value or a refund, if I could not get something else that suited. Circumstances were different to this one, so I don't know if it is comparable or not.

You'd need to see what the terms and conditions on their website say.

Yikes not good, hope everyone gets back ok.

Kirk

Looks like an evacuation going on earlier -

On this link from a Swedish shipsboard you can see some photos of MSC Opera today as well as loads of buses, waiting for the passengers going to Stockholm Airport, Arlanda for their flights home to UK.

http://www.landgangen.se/forumsmf10/index.php?topic=20488.0

UPDATE MSC OPERA TECHNICAL ISSUE

 

Following the technical problems to an electrical panel experienced on May 14th, MSC Opera has been towed to the port of Nynäshamn (close to, Sweden) where she arrived this morning around 11 am.

 

 

 

Since yesterday afternoon, most of the services have been restored and this morning passengers have been offered a hot breakfast. All ship’s bars were open with a complimentary beverage service. The whole crew, together with a team of technicians from STX Yards have been working around the clock to solve the electrical problem and an additional technical team has just embarked in the port of Nynäshamn.

 

 

 

MSC Cruises' team ashore is working closely with the port of Nynäshamn and the port of Stockholm to welcome and repatriate all guests from Stockholm. MSC Cruises is issuing all passengers with a credit voucher for the whole amount of the 10-day cruise valid until December 2012.

 

 

 

As the work of the electrical team is not yet over, MSC Cruises has taken the precautionary measure of cancelling the next MSC Opera cruise which was due to sail out of Southampton tomorrow May 17th, in order to maintain its high standard of security, quality and comfort. All affected passengers will be contacted and offered compensation.

 

 

 

If you wish to contact MSC Cruises (UK) about this issue we have a dedicated team available on: 0800 121 8630.

 

 

 

Alternatively, you can email us on: emergencyuk@msccruises.co.uk

http://www.msccruises.co.uk/uk_en/MSC/MSC-Opera-Update.aspx

At least they all have a superb evening...ie not pouring with rain, which would have made it even more miserable for the passengers getting off Opera.

The ship in the webcam capture is not Opera...she is the brand new AIDAsol

MSC Cruises is issuing all passengers with a credit voucher for the whole amount of the 10-day cruise valid until December 2012.

MSC should be ashamed.

Seriously??? I get that s%!t happens, but a credit voucher? What a poor response to a bad situation!

 

MSC should be ashamed.

I don't think MSC should be ashamed, they should be congratulated for trying to put right a wrong.

Yes, it's unfortunate that the cruise ended like it did, no-one ever wants to have their holiday ended like that, but these things happen, and I'm sure that other people have been in a similar situation before with cruise ships breaking down.

My wife was on Oceana a while back and their cruise was ok, but the next cruise had problems with engines. People forget these ships are forever to-ing and fro-ing from port to port, and at some point something mechanical will break no matter how well maintained they are.

I'm sure that there have been cruises where there have been problems with the ships that have been dealt with behind the scenes without the passengers noticing..

MSC will be having to pick up the tab for all the problems, like several days of lost revenue, a complete loss of cruise, a replacement cruise for people, so could cost up to about $10million. Though, I imagine that the insurance company will pick up the tab for this.

In the same situation, yes I'd be a bit naffed off the cruise ended like it did, but at least I'd take comfort in knowing that we were still safe, and also that in the future, I had a holiday already paid for!!

ScrozUK

We were on the cruise so have first-hand experience on how it was handled. We weren't scared and felt safe, which is the most important thing and were pretty understanding of the situation... but read on. Communication from staff was very poor. We had no power, running water or toilets for a few hours before the first announcement was even made. The captain didn't make one announcement and many complained that he wasn't once visible. The fact that we were being towed to Stockholm and disembarking was reported on news sites several hours before it was communicated to us, which it was eventually at 11 p.m. when we were already sleeping and had to have our bags out before 8 a.m. Luckily the cabin power came on when they made the announcement.

The major problems for us really occurred on disembarking. The morning of disembarkation we received a letter advising us that we would be on a charter flight at 5:20 p.m. to Stansted. Perfect! No problem, no complaints. We have a 6-month-old infant with us so we were happy we were on an earlier flight. Our cabin neighbours received the same letter but their flight was leaving at 11:30 p.m. (we were in balcony suite cabins).

We then saw that we would need a tender to get to port. Two medium passenger boats were floating, waiting for us. After another hour or so an announcement was made for ALL PAX to meet at the meeting place indicated on their letter to disembark. 1800 people trying to get to one deck at once is a bit chaotic. We couldn't understand while they didn't get people to assemble by either flight time or our luggage tag colours.

Everyone went down and about 90 minutes later they started disembarking people by luggage tag colours, which were by nationality. It was approximately one hour between each colour was called so we all waited and waited. We inquired as we were supposed to be on a flight at 5:20 why were weren't getting off sooner but they didn't understand the question (we asked a few people at reception). Being in the mixed group of nationalities (i.e. Canadian), we were the last group off the ship - 7 hours later after 7 p.m.

When we got to the airport it was pure chaos. We had obviously missed the earlier flight and our cabin neighbours who were supposed to be on a later flight were already gone on an earlier flight. There were several hundred people in line waiting to check in for our charter flight and only one airport agent open to do so. The line was so big it extended the entire terminal. They eventually got a few more people to check people in but there wasn't one MSC person who was visible or made themselves available in the airport. There were flights leaving for Stansted, Bournemouth and Amsterdam. We were trying to inquire about hotels on arrival in Stansted but there was no one from MSC to inquire from.

At the airport after 4 hours of waiting in line (with a 6-month-old) we finally checked in and went through security... and continued waiting and waiting. By approximately 3:30 a.m. we were told we would be getting a hotel room in Stockholm and the flight would finally leave the following afternoon (May 17). Everyone had to collect their luggage, which took over another hour and go to the hotel. A wonderful Canadian lady found someone from MSC and demanded some better treatment and then another young guy was available. We saw a few passengers who had collapsed in the terminal, requiring medical attention - as they had last left their room at 11:30 the previous morning and were exhausted and many were frail or elderly and there were a few of us with infants and young kids.

Our travel interruption insurance kicked in once the flight was delayed until the following afternoon as we would miss our connecting flight and we made our own arrangements from there. I can't comment on how the repatriation took place after 4:30 a.m.

Our biggest complaint was the poor communication and organization. I completely understand that it took massive organization to get the logistics in place but it was handled pretty poorly.

Oh, I should also mention that there were several staff members disembarking at the same time as the passengers. They were put on much earlier tenders than we were and since I didn't see them at the airport I can only assume they got on one of the earlier flights.

I will plan to write a more thorough and balanced review of the cruise once we return home.

Bit of a worry as we were meant to be on the Opera this week but rebooked for June as DH couldnt get the week off work in May afterall..never thought i would be grateful for my original holiday plans being destroyed..