Aos doa

[Mark_K]

The original itinerary for next week is:

- San Juan

- At sea

- Barbados

- St. Lucia

- Antigua

- St. Marten

- St. Croix

- San Juan

 

I am hopefully but do not know how it will be possible with a reduce traveling speed.

 

 

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I would think that that should at least be able to do two sea days to St Lucia, and then the rest of the itinerary working back towards San Juan.

 

 

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[chengkp75]

The original itinerary for next week is:

- San Juan

- At sea

- Barbados

- St. Lucia

- Antigua

- St. Marten

- St. Croix

- San Juan

 

I am hopefully but do not know how it will be possible with a reduce traveling speed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

 

Thanks, hate to be picky, but do you have the arrival/departure times, as that may affect things. I'll start working with this, given usual times.

[chengkp75]

I would think that that should at least be able to do two sea days to St Lucia, and then the rest of the itinerary working back towards San Juan.

 

 

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Given a sea day between San Juan and Barbados, she only needs about 15 knots to make this, and everything else is even slower, so she should be able to make the planned itinerary, weather permitting.

[Dmom & dad]

Given a sea day between San Juan and Barbados, she only needs about 15 knots to make this, and everything else is even slower, so she should be able to make the planned itinerary, weather permitting.

 

Thanks so much for the peace of mind!!:)

[Ocean Boy]

Yes, wherever you see those spare blades bolted to the fore deck of ships, they are variable pitch. Most of the older cruise ships with shafted propulsion were both variable speed and variable pitch systems. The reason that pods are not variable pitch is that it would be very difficult to get the pitch mechanism into the pod along with the drive motor.

 

The ships generate 10,000 volt power from the diesels, and this is stepped down to about 800 volts, and goes through a variable frequency drive to accomplish the variable speed of the motor.

 

I don't think I've seen a prop removed in the water on any thing larger than a tugboat. One reason is that large props are "keyless" and rely on the shrink fit of the prop on the shaft to keep it in place, not a key like small props on pleasure boats, etc. This shrink fit is formed by having the bore of the prop and the shaft tapered, and the prop is moved up the taper as far as possible, and then 40,000psi hydraulic oil is used to expand the prop bore, and the prop is forced further up the shaft, when the oil pressure is released, the prop shrinks back down, gripping the shaft with tremendous force. Because oil is used to do this, it generally cannot be done in water, and you also don't want any contaminants between the prop and shaft.

 

Very interesting.... as always.:)

[Topo Gigio]

Looks like she just arrived in St.Maarten.

[Folk Singer]

I know that Independence had its prop blades removed by divers during a normal port-of-call stop, so if it were something that simple it would likely be fixed during one of the extended port stops.

 

 

good to know.

[ahecht]

I don't think I've seen a prop removed in the water on any thing larger than a tugboat. One reason is that large props are "keyless" and rely on the shrink fit of the prop on the shaft to keep it in place, not a key like small props on pleasure boats, etc. This shrink fit is formed by having the bore of the prop and the shaft tapered, and the prop is moved up the taper as far as possible, and then 40,000psi hydraulic oil is used to expand the prop bore, and the prop is forced further up the shaft, when the oil pressure is released, the prop shrinks back down, gripping the shaft with tremendous force. Because oil is used to do this, it generally cannot be done in water, and you also don't want any contaminants between the prop and shaft.

That's not true for these azipods. There's a video of Independence of the Seas having the prop blades removed in the water during a normal port-of-call stop here:

 

Independence of the Seas Azipod Blades Removal:

 

This was also from the center fixipod, just like the one causing trouble on AoS. As you can see in the video the blades are individually bolted on, not shrunk fit as one monolithic piece.

[chengkp75]

That's not true for these azipods. There's a video of Independence of the Seas having the prop blades removed in the water during a normal port-of-call stop here:

 

Independence of the Seas Azipod Blades Removal:

 

This was also from the center fixipod, just like the one causing trouble on AoS. As you can see in the video the blades are individually bolted on, not shrunk fit as one monolithic piece.

 

Okay, stand corrected. I haven't seen any of these with separate blades that are not variable pitch. The square mounting flange is the give away, as the variable pitch blades have a round boss.

[daljettjockie]

Given a sea day between San Juan and Barbados, she only needs about 15 knots to make this, and everything else is even slower, so she should be able to make the planned itinerary, weather permitting.

 

My elementary calculations show that at 15 knots she would need about 36 hours to travel the 568 statute miles from San Juan to Barbados. If this is the case, she leaves San Juan at 8:30pm on Sunday night and arrives in Barbados at 8:00am on Tuesday morning. That is 35-1/2 hours enroute. I don't see any reason why she can't make the jump from San Juan to Barbados.

[chengkp75]

My elementary calculations show that at 15 knots she would need about 36 hours to travel the 568 statute miles from San Juan to Barbados. If this is the case, she leaves San Juan at 8:30pm on Sunday night and arrives in Barbados at 8:00am on Tuesday morning. That is 35-1/2 hours enroute. I don't see any reason why she can't make the jump from San Juan to Barbados.

 

I was using around 36 hours for my figures, as I wasn't sure of departure/arrival time. I did have to check your math, as it sends up a red flag for me when folks talk about knots and statute miles in the same sentence.:p My route planner uses 510nm (586 statute miles) from San Juan to Bridgetown, so that is 34 hours (plus maneuvering time at each end). For every half a knot better or worse speed she makes, that's about one hour subtracted/added to the time. Both our figures show it should be possible, so lets not pick nits, just enjoy the cruise!:D

[chengkp75]

Since I now see that they could have renewed the propeller blades individually, that then leads to the conclusion that either a spare set of blades is not carried, or that the infrastructure (divers, crane) are not available in the ports of call, or the port times are not sufficient to get one blade changed at a time.

 

Since Royal noted in the CC article that the issue was an oil leak, this points to a problem with the shaft seal, separating the oil lubrication of the bearings from the sea. This would require removing the center hub of the propeller.

 

I'm wondering whether the noise/vibration noted in earlier cruises was due to prop damage, or the incremental renewal of one blade at a time causing some imbalance, and whether this imbalance lead to the failure of the shaft seal. The truth is out there, but we will probably never know.

[daljettjockie]

I was using around 36 hours for my figures, as I wasn't sure of departure/arrival time. I did have to check your math, as it sends up a red flag for me when folks talk about knots and statute miles in the same sentence.:p My route planner uses 510nm (586 statute miles) from San Juan to Bridgetown, so that is 34 hours (plus maneuvering time at each end). For every half a knot better or worse speed she makes, that's about one hour subtracted/added to the time. Both our figures show it should be possible, so lets not pick nits, just enjoy the cruise!:D

 

You are exactly correct. I had 34 hours written down but typed in 36 hours.

[LetsGetWet!]

You are exactly correct. I had 34 hours written down but typed in 36 hours.

Just a note - as a (private) pilot, thought your webshots album looked interesting. Unfortunately, webshots has apparently changed things and the link just leads now to a "sign up and download our app" page. :(

[daljettjockie]

Just a note - as a (private) pilot, thought your webshots album looked interesting. Unfortunately, webshots has apparently changed things and the link just leads now to a "sign up and download our app" page. :(

 

Yeah, I need to delete that link. I had 3 Webshots accounts with hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures loaded. Unfortunately Webshots went belly up and deleted all of the pictures. Now they are back in business and want me to come back, lol. I don't think so.

[LetsGetWet!]

Yeah, I need to delete that link. I had 3 Webshots accounts with hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures loaded. Unfortunately Webshots went belly up and deleted all of the pictures. Now they are back in business and want me to come back, lol. I don't think so.

I don't blame you for telling them "no way, no how!" at this point! How frustrating!

 

Sorry I missed the pictures...

[bigeck]

Arriving in St Croix. Its been averaging 4 knots from St Maartin

[bigeck]

Looks like it's changed its mind. They have turned around and is headed to San Juan doing 5 knots

[Cruzin_PA]

My father is on this cruise, and just called. Seems that AOS has thrown another screw pulling into St. Croix. She can only make 5 knots, so they cancelled St. Croix and are heading straight to San Juan to make it by Sunday morning. Status of next cruise seems to be up in the air at this point.

[reallyitsmema]

Interesting that they have decided to head for San Juan. Only two hours prior, she was able to do 14 knots.

[bigeck]

My father is on this cruise, and just called. Seems that AOS has thrown another screw pulling into St. Croix. She can only make 5 knots, so they cancelled St. Croix and are heading straight to San Juan to make it by Sunday morning. Status of next cruise seems to be up in the air at this point.

 

Not good. Glad I'm on it after the dry dock.

I was following on marine traffic and it just suddenly turned round and headed north. I thought it was a bit strange.

Thanks for update

[sjpsoccer14]

I am on the sailing that leave tomorrow and I am very disappointed. The only reason we chose this cruise was for the ports.

 

 

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[Ocean Boy]

My father is on this cruise, and just called. Seems that AOS has thrown another screw pulling into St. Croix. She can only make 5 knots, so they cancelled St. Croix and are heading straight to San Juan to make it by Sunday morning. Status of next cruise seems to be up in the air at this point.

 

If this is true I doubt that the ship will be leaving on a cruise tomorrow. If anything it may just start limping its way to next week's dry dock.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[reallyitsmema]

If this is true I doubt that the ship will be leaving on a cruise tomorrow. If anything it may just start limping its way to next week's dry dock.

Jetscot, who is on the current sailing, posted this to the rollcall of next week's sailing a little while ago.

 

Sorry I haven't had internet connection for 2 days. Just floating out of St Croix. Another cancellation. More propeller probs. speed down to 5 knots . Waiting 4 news again. Don't know if any of u r still watching the boards but will try and stay in touch.

 

Hopefully, he will post again soon with updated information for those who are on tomorrows sailing. Doesn't look good though for those people.

 

Edit to add: She is only making 1.5 knots right now. I hope that they have slowed even more because they are trying to fix something and not because they have more issues.

Edited March 22, 2014 by reallyitsmema

[DJSteve552003]

To All,

 

We are on this cruise & the updates which were given is there were medical emergencies onboard but no helicopter lift was required. We slowed because there was overheating and a burning rubber smell so they had to let some of the smoke out. There is no fire onboard or there would have been notifications for the emergency response teams. We are limping back to San Juan. No announcements have been made about next weeks cruise.

 

DJSteve