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Liberty Itinerary Changes, Dec 3 sailing

txjim09

By txjim09,
in Royal Caribbean International

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SNJCruisers

SNJCruisers

Posted
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NOMO cruises to nowhere.

Why not? Many consider the ship as the destination since many of the Caribbean ports are the same and you could just enjoy the amenities of the ship for a week and also have the port charges severely reduced. Some people don't get to enjoy all of the nuances on the mega ships because they are off exploring ports and this way the cruisers would be on board 24/7 and the cruise lines would have a captive audience.

 

 

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internetwhiz

internetwhiz

Posted
Posted
Why not? Many consider the ship as the destination since many of the Caribbean ports are the same and you could just enjoy the amenities of the ship for a week and also have the port charges severely reduced. Some people don't get to enjoy all of the nuances on the mega ships because they are off exploring ports and this way the cruisers would be on board 24/7 and the cruise lines would have a captive audience.

 

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Forums mobile app

 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6402

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YadaYadaJodi

YadaYadaJodi

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After thinking about it and seeing how quickly some of the ports are coming back, I think it is an IT thing also. It is really far in advance to be changing the itinerary. I think all the ports will do everything possible to be open as quickly as they can. The cruises are a huge source of income for the ports and they certainly need the income desperately. As far as the service, it surely has nothing to do with propulsion as the Liberty would have to travel at near full speed to get to Nassau in one sailing day.

 

It's really 2 days - the Liberty doesn't arrive until 9pm Tues after leaving Galveston at 4pm Sunday.

I was looking at this cruise or possibly the Carnival Breeze for that week. I don't mind booking the Breeze but I wonder if their prices are going up for that week? :confused: I better make my mind up soon or the Breeze might get booked up.

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gigi65

gigi65

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We have cruised out of Galveston 5 times because we live only a few hours away. We may be the minority because I’m looking forward to visiting Bahamas. Galveston basically has 2 routes so we actually switched our 5 day cruise On vision to The 7 day liberty of sea for only a slight increase today . We opted for guaranteed balcony due to significant savings and if we don’t like the port- we are happy to spend time on the ship.

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internetwhiz

internetwhiz

Posted
Posted
Has Liberty been sailing at slower speeds lately? Haven't seen any reports of suspected 'pod problems. What can you do with 'pods in Nassau that you can't do elsewhere? It's Freeport that has the big dry docks isn't it?

 

 

Not on our 12 day extended sailing from August 20 to Sept 1. Was fine.

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internetwhiz

internetwhiz

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I just asked at the Captain's Corner about the 3 day stop in Nassau. The captain stated that it is to work on one of the azipods.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Beth, I think you said Captain James said "sealing it" meaning an azipod. Wonder if the resident engineer knows that that precisely means.

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pspercy

pspercy

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Sorry maybe temporary glitch, worked fine for me but glad you found it. Basically a retrofit update so probably explains why no loss of power on present sailings.

 

Rather a sudden change of plan though. Looks like prop will need to be removed??

The little map implies 'pod service centre is in New Orleans not Nassau.

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c-leg5

c-leg5

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Rather a sudden change of plan though. Looks like prop will need to be removed??

The little map implies 'pod service centre is in New Orleans not Nassau.

 

Only speculation on my part although I was also told the change was due to azipod work.

 

Probably still need our engineer to confirm if this is likely.

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chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
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Okay, internetwiz alerted me to your questions on this thread (actually had a little trouble finding it :confused:).

 

As for the Azipod service center being in New Orleans, I think its actually in Galveston, as I've been to a launch service right next to it in Galveston many times. Anyway, that is merely where the service engineers and parts are, they come to the ship, not the other way around.

 

A bit funny that they've decided to do this in December, but the last drydocking was early by about 15 months. This kind of upgrade is not mandatory, so timing would not be critical. Interesting.

 

As far as the work to be done, this kind of multi-chamber propeller shaft sealing arrangement is quite common, and works very well to decrease the possibility of oil leaking from the pod to the sea. Things like commercial fishing lines, and junk in ports are common causes of seal failures, which can lead to both pollution fines and failures of pods, so since the pod is also used like a thruster in ports means they are very susceptible to these kinds of failures. Taking the propeller off in the water would be pretty difficult, but depending on how it is secured to the shaft it may be possible. The seals and chambers may be designed for underwater replacement, where they will essentially glue the rubber seal rings around the shaft. If they are only looking at a three day period, I would say they are not removing the propellers, but renewing the seals in place.

 

As for cruises to nowhere, they are actually not prohibited, but CBP has determined that crew on foreign flag ships doing a cruise to nowhere need B-1 work visas instead of C-1 crew visas. Work visas are costly and difficult to obtain, for the hundreds of crew involved, so the lines have stopped doing cruises to nowhere.

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Clarea

Clarea

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It seems to me that this service would require the azipod to be out of the water. Does this mean the passengers are going to have to stay in a dry docked ship in a shipyard somewhere?

I don't think the ship is coming out of the water.

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chengkp75

chengkp75

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It seems to me that this service would require the azipod to be out of the water. Does this mean the passengers are going to have to stay in a dry docked ship in a shipyard somewhere?

 

I don't think the ship is coming out of the water.

 

We actually did a seal renewal on a stern thruster (virtually the same type they are renewing) while the ship was still in operation. The divers worked each day in port, and the parts (propeller blades and hub) were chained in place in the tunnel for the trip to the next port, and then they went back down and worked some more. It took 6-7 days doing it this way. The first thing they do is push the oil out of the azipod bearing with water, then remove the seal, install the new seal, and pump oil back down into the bearing while venting the water into the inside of the ship.

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beachygirl1

beachygirl1

Posted
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Looking at the Atlantis website, it's ~$30 cheaper per person to book the Aquaventure passes directly with Atlantis.

And the passes they are offering are for two days. I think I want to go for one day only. There really are a lot of things to do in Nassau. I too am disappointed about the changes but decided it is still a great and very inexpensive vacation.

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