Pride of America issues 12/23-12/30 2017

[nevada2121]

I was on the pride last week, we had no running water from midnight to around 5-6AM most nights, except Christmas Eve. We left most ports late and then when you would ask what’s wrong, the reply was there’s a plumbing issue, the water was off on the entire ship, that it’s being worked on and would be back on as soon as possible.

 

Only on the last day, they admitted that the water plant had failed, and instead of cruising the north shore of Kauai, we needed to stay in port to take on more water. When we did finally leave, we did a flat out speed run for Honolulu arriving around 2-3AM. They gave us a $100 OBC pp, max $200 per cabin for missing one of the highlights of the trip.

 

Does anyone know how long this issue has been going on? The whole story wrecks of bull to me, I feel this should have been disclosed at least at the start or sooner if this has been a long term problem. And how can a ship, have issue of not storing enough fresh water?

 

Then at a private reception with the hotel director, he apologized for the captain making the call to stay longer in port for fresh water, after being there overnight to begin with. He then made a kind of insulting joke, we took to many showers aboard, showers, please?

 

 

 

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[easyboy]

That was a disappointing experience. Not sure how I would have handled the situation you have been in. That was also a nasty joke by the hotel director.

 

 

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[nevada2121]

Not as nasty waking up and going to can 1-2AM and there’s no running water to wash your hands, I used bottled water for that and they sent me two.

 

After the third time, I filled up a old water bottle while in the shower to use at night. But they never warned us this was going on, until 4PM Friday and we headed straight to Honolulu at over 22 knots per hour.

 

 

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[pizzalady1]

We were on the 12/9 cruise and did not have that problem. Sorry that you did.

[BirdTravels]

I was not aware that the POA manufactures any water. I thought it was all bunkered in port.

 

Although, Hawaiian water may not meet cruise ship standards. Honolulu water is mostly untreated well and spring water.

[txagfan]

No water at all? That’s insane.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Sorry to hear about this, what an awful experience.

[nevada2121]

No water at all? That’s insane.

 

 

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From midnight to 5-6AM none, no water from sink, shower or toilets and the operator said It was that way, ship wide.

 

 

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[FLAHAM]

Always carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

[Keith1010]

Sorry this happened.

 

I would followup with NCL about this.

 

Keith

[don't-use-real-name]

Why is it ALWAYS a water issue with NCL ?

You can't bring your own - you have to use NCLs - Bottled water is (over)charged with a fee and gratuity !

You can take water off the ship but can't bring it back ?

 

NCL POA would not need to make water since with the exception of Kona the POA can bunker water at

all the scheduled ports. The POA overnights at most of the ports and there is certainly enough time to

bunker water if the game plan is not to make water with the ships system.

It would appear that the POA had a water pump problem and left it be fixed too late for the Kauai trip

viewing the Na Pali coast. Very BAD decision - the prime viewing attraction on the whole cruise scratched

due to this issue and then offering petty peanuts (OBC) to offset the inconvenience. Real SAD for the folks

who make this once in lifetime trip !

 

Isn't the POA scheduled for a dry-dock soon ?

Maybe NCL needs to do more than dry-docking the POA !

 

ALOHA and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

Edited January 2, 2018 by don't-use-real-name
add Hawaiian ending

[chengkp75]

As with all cruise ships, the amount of water that a ship can make depends on the length of time in port or at slow steaming speed, compared to the time at sea. Ships cannot make water in port, or within 12 miles of shore. Also, most of the water made onboard uses waste heat from the engines, so if the ship is going slow between ports, there is less heat from the engines, so less water can be made. The POA is only "at sea" about 60 hours during the week, so there is little time to make water, but it is necessary to make water at capacity at all times to keep up with demand.

 

Now, yes, with the large amount of time in port for the POA, you would think that she could load all the water needed in port. However, even with 2-3 hoses in Honolulu, and one hose in each of the other ports (that's all the hydrants available, IIRC), the municipal water pressure is so low, that you really cannot take on sufficient water to make the trip without making water underway. And yes, the Hawaiian water meets the FDA requirements (POA does not fall under USPH since it does not visit foreign ports, but under the FDA's ship sanitation program). The other problem with loading water in port is that it has to be tested for coliform bacteria (even though the hydrant has been tested within the last month, as is required), and this test requires 18-24 hours to complete. Until the test is complete, and the result is negative, the water must be segregated from any other onboard water, and not used. So this can require a lot of juggling of water tankage to ensure there is enough available and tested to get through until the current tanks being bunkered can be tested, and this can in some cases limit the amount of water taken in a port, due to not being able to intermingle the water being bunkered with other tanks.

 

A ship the size of POA will use about 1000 metric tons of water a day (260,000 USG), or about 120 gallons/day/person. Compare this with the average US household consumption of 80-100 gal/person/day. Now, compare the house toilet using 1.6 gal/flush with the vacuum toilet using 0.25 gal/flush, compare the house dishwasher that uses 6-16 gal/cycle with the shipboard dishwashers that use the same water all day long, compare your handwashing of dishes that takes 8-27 gal/meal with the shipboard pulper system where all the dishes are rinsed into that recycles the water all day long, and finally look at the second largest consumer of water in a US household, showers. Using a 2 gal/minute water saver shower head, a relatively short 10 minute shower by all passengers is 43,000 gal/day, or 16% of the ship's consumption. So, showering is a major consumer of water onboard, but I won't comment on the HD's "joke".

 

How do I know this, I operated the Pride of Aloha, a similar sized vessel for NCL for 4 years in Hawaii, so I am very familiar with the water supply in the ports and the consumption onboard the ship. It was always a priority to get the water hoses out and connected as quickly as possible once docked, and leave them until the last possible moment, and water quantity was always a concern.

 

I won't go into guest services aspects of this, as I never do, except to say that it should have been handled better.

 

As for drydocking, repairs to either the evaporators or RO units don't require drydocking or even shipyard, and was probably being worked on during the cruise cited. It would appear that the problem was cumulative over the cruise (because they couldn't make enough water, the reserve kept getting lower and lower), rather than "leaving it too late". Since taking the ship completely out of service for what is a relatively low cost repair (likely less than $100k) would not be economically sound, what they should do is remove cabins from inventory, to lessen the water consumption, and the cost of reimbursing maybe 20% of a couple of cruise's worth of passengers for rescheduling their cruise would be more cost effective.

Edited January 2, 2018 by chengkp75

[dexddd]

Why is it ALWAYS a water issue with NCL ?

You can't bring your own - you have to use NCLs - Bottled water is (over)charged with a fee and gratuity !

You can take water off the ship but can't bring it back ?

 

NCL POA would not need to make water since with the exception of Kona the POA can bunker water at

all the scheduled ports. The POA overnights at most of the ports and there is certainly enough time to

bunker water if the game plan is not to make water with the ships system.

It would appear that the POA had a water pump problem and left it be fixed too late for the Kauai trip

viewing the Na Pali coast. Very BAD decision - the prime viewing attraction on the whole cruise scratched

due to this issue and then offering petty peanuts (OBC) to offset the inconvenience. Real SAD for the folks

who make this once in lifetime trip !

 

Isn't the POA scheduled for a dry-dock soon ?

Maybe NCL needs to do more than dry-docking the POA !

 

ALOHA and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

 

POA went through drydock March 2016 so no, not going into drydock soon.

[guitarboy53]

As with all cruise ships, the amount of water that a ship can make depends on the length of time in port or at slow steaming speed, compared to the time at sea. Ships cannot make water in port, or within 12 miles of shore. Also, most of the water made onboard uses waste heat from the engines, so if the ship is going slow between ports, there is less heat from the engines, so less water can be made. The POA is only "at sea" about 60 hours during the week, so there is little time to make water, but it is necessary to make water at capacity at all times to keep up with demand.

 

Now, yes, with the large amount of time in port for the POA, you would think that she could load all the water needed in port. However, even with 2-3 hoses in Honolulu, and one hose in each of the other ports (that's all the hydrants available, IIRC), the municipal water pressure is so low, that you really cannot take on sufficient water to make the trip without making water underway. And yes, the Hawaiian water meets the FDA requirements (POA does not fall under USPH since it does not visit foreign ports, but under the FDA's ship sanitation program). The other problem with loading water in port is that it has to be tested for coliform bacteria (even though the hydrant has been tested within the last month, as is required), and this test requires 18-24 hours to complete. Until the test is complete, and the result is negative, the water must be segregated from any other onboard water, and not used. So this can require a lot of juggling of water tankage to ensure there is enough available and tested to get through until the current tanks being bunkered can be tested, and this can in some cases limit the amount of water taken in a port, due to not being able to intermingle the water being bunkered with other tanks.

 

A ship the size of POA will use about 1000 metric tons of water a day (260,000 USG), or about 120 gallons/day/person. Compare this with the average US household consumption of 80-100 gal/person/day. Now, compare the house toilet using 1.6 gal/flush with the vacuum toilet using 0.25 gal/flush, compare the house dishwasher that uses 6-16 gal/cycle with the shipboard dishwashers that use the same water all day long, compare your handwashing of dishes that takes 8-27 gal/meal with the shipboard pulper system where all the dishes are rinsed into that recycles the water all day long, and finally look at the second largest consumer of water in a US household, showers. Using a 2 gal/minute water saver shower head, a relatively short 10 minute shower by all passengers is 43,000 gal/day, or 16% of the ship's consumption. So, showering is a major consumer of water onboard, but I won't comment on the HD's "joke".

 

How do I know this, I operated the Pride of Aloha, a similar sized vessel for NCL for 4 years in Hawaii, so I am very familiar with the water supply in the ports and the consumption onboard the ship. It was always a priority to get the water hoses out and connected as quickly as possible once docked, and leave them until the last possible moment, and water quantity was always a concern.

 

I won't go into guest services aspects of this, as I never do, except to say that it should have been handled better.

 

As for drydocking, repairs to either the evaporators or RO units don't require drydocking or even shipyard, and was probably being worked on during the cruise cited. It would appear that the problem was cumulative over the cruise (because they couldn't make enough water, the reserve kept getting lower and lower), rather than "leaving it too late". Since taking the ship completely out of service for what is a relatively low cost repair (likely less than $100k) would not be economically sound, what they should do is remove cabins from inventory, to lessen the water consumption, and the cost of reimbursing maybe 20% of a couple of cruise's worth of passengers for rescheduling their cruise would be more cost effective.

 

Wow! What an informative read...Thanks!

[not-enough-cruising]

As with all cruise ships, the amount of water that a ship can make depends on the length of time in port or at slow steaming speed, compared to the time at sea. Ships cannot make water in port, or within 12 miles of shore. Also, most of the water made onboard uses waste heat from the engines, so if the ship is going slow between ports, there is less heat from the engines, so less water can be made. The POA is only "at sea" about 60 hours during the week, so there is little time to make water, but it is necessary to make water at capacity at all times to keep up with demand.

 

Now, yes, with the large amount of time in port for the POA, you would think that she could load all the water needed in port. However, even with 2-3 hoses in Honolulu, and one hose in each of the other ports (that's all the hydrants available, IIRC), the municipal water pressure is so low, that you really cannot take on sufficient water to make the trip without making water underway. And yes, the Hawaiian water meets the FDA requirements (POA does not fall under USPH since it does not visit foreign ports, but under the FDA's ship sanitation program). The other problem with loading water in port is that it has to be tested for coliform bacteria (even though the hydrant has been tested within the last month, as is required), and this test requires 18-24 hours to complete. Until the test is complete, and the result is negative, the water must be segregated from any other onboard water, and not used. So this can require a lot of juggling of water tankage to ensure there is enough available and tested to get through until the current tanks being bunkered can be tested, and this can in some cases limit the amount of water taken in a port, due to not being able to intermingle the water being bunkered with other tanks.

 

A ship the size of POA will use about 1000 metric tons of water a day (260,000 USG), or about 120 gallons/day/person. Compare this with the average US household consumption of 80-100 gal/person/day. Now, compare the house toilet using 1.6 gal/flush with the vacuum toilet using 0.25 gal/flush, compare the house dishwasher that uses 6-16 gal/cycle with the shipboard dishwashers that use the same water all day long, compare your handwashing of dishes that takes 8-27 gal/meal with the shipboard pulper system where all the dishes are rinsed into that recycles the water all day long, and finally look at the second largest consumer of water in a US household, showers. Using a 2 gal/minute water saver shower head, a relatively short 10 minute shower by all passengers is 43,000 gal/day, or 16% of the ship's consumption. So, showering is a major consumer of water onboard, but I won't comment on the HD's "joke".

 

How do I know this, I operated the Pride of Aloha, a similar sized vessel for NCL for 4 years in Hawaii, so I am very familiar with the water supply in the ports and the consumption onboard the ship. It was always a priority to get the water hoses out and connected as quickly as possible once docked, and leave them until the last possible moment, and water quantity was always a concern.

 

I won't go into guest services aspects of this, as I never do, except to say that it should have been handled better.

 

As for drydocking, repairs to either the evaporators or RO units don't require drydocking or even shipyard, and was probably being worked on during the cruise cited. It would appear that the problem was cumulative over the cruise (because they couldn't make enough water, the reserve kept getting lower and lower), rather than "leaving it too late". Since taking the ship completely out of service for what is a relatively low cost repair (likely less than $100k) would not be economically sound, what they should do is remove cabins from inventory, to lessen the water consumption, and the cost of reimbursing maybe 20% of a couple of cruise's worth of passengers for rescheduling their cruise would be more cost effective.

 

 

 

FASCINATING

 

Thank You

 

 

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[Zeno]

Thx Chengkp75!!

 

It's a relief to hear from someone who actually knows what they are talking about instead of the people here who really don't have a clue and just blame every problem on "NCL incompetence or negligence". It's so good to hear a detailed explanation that makes sense. ALL cruise ships can have problems. I was begining a Windstar cruise when the drive shaft was badly damaged and we missed nearly 2 days of cruising. Stuff happens. I do agree with others that from a "how to treat your guests" aspect NCL could handle things better. (Windstar was superb in my opinion.) Oh well I hope on our Feb cruise on POA that all will be well.

[chengkp75]

POA has a water making capacity of about 1400-1600 mt/day, or greater than the typical consumption, but since she spends only 35% of her time where she can operate this watermaking plant, she can only make about 55% of the water required for the cruise, and that is assuming she is steaming near full speed, which she does not do except for one passage, if I remember her itinerary correctly.

 

As simple a thing as one tube leak in an evaporator (one out of about 1200) can raise the salt concentration in the distillate above the alarm level, at which point all product is diverted over the side. To fix this one 1/2" diameter copper tube leak, requires a day to determine which of the four stages has the leak, then a couple of days just to rig up and lift the top and bottom covers of the evaporator stage, and then checking each and every tube (300-400 per stage) for leakage, then plugging the tube, and a couple more days to reassemble and retest operation (which can only be done at sea), and 3-4 men. All this while still operating and maintaining everything else onboard to keep the passenger service uninterrupted. This kind of corrosion failure is not something you can plan on, just like there is no recommended interval for renewing your muffler and exhaust pipe on your car, you just fix it when it breaks.

 

And further, the water making plant is two separate flash evaporators and 1-3 RO water makers. So, the problem is most likely with one of the evaporators, and the other units are still operational, but unable to keep up.

[Linda the Book Lover]

Thank you Chengkp75 for explaining the water situation on this ship. I am hoping all will go well when we take my granddaughter.

[don't-use-real-name]

YES - Thank You chengkp75

for making crystal clear potable water out of this

and the detailed facts about water making !

 

The itinerary of the POA:

7 day cruise

Leave Honolulu arrive Maui stay 2 days

Leave Maui arrive Hilo stay 1 day

Leave Hilo arrive Kona stay 1 day

Leave Kona arrive Kauai stay 2 days

Leave Kauai * arrive Honolulu

* except for the last leg Kauai (Na Pali coast)

Note sailing days are actually nights - ship travels at night

full day time port access

 

Repeat and do all over again 52 times a year

 

I would imagine that the bunker water has a steep municipal surcharge ?

While the rainfall in Hawaii refills the reservoirs the population demands

are not making this easy.

 

The one leg you mention about getting up a head of steam to make water

would be Kona to Kauai.

Then there is a cost factor in fuel burned for going pedal to the metal full

speed to achieve making water. Fuel in Hawaii is not cheap by any means.

It has to be less expensive to bunker water rather than burn high speed

fuel to make it.

 

I don't know if NCL is into water conservation but maybe it's time to take

a serious look into it - maintenance problems aside.

[littlelulu01]

Sorry about the water situation. We’re so lucky to have easily accessible water and when it isn’t, it’s hard to adjust. When we travel places where drinking water is scarce it really hits home how precious a commodity water is and how very lucky for the time being that we still enjoy a pleantiful supply. I know a cruise ship isn’t the planned way to deal with it and I’m sure Ncl hadn’t anticipated the issue either. That was a nice gesture with the obc.

 

I will say on our last cruise Norway, Iceland and U.K. they were a lot more lax with the water bottle situation compared to what we experienced when they first instituted the water ban. We were allowed to take our water off the ship and were never hassled if we brought it back on. Could have been this way because the cost of water bottles on ship was far less than many ports visited. All in all I felt the water packages were not out of line price wise. We had 14 nights so we took advantage of the lower cost mega packs.

[chengkp75]

YES - Thank You chengkp75

for making crystal clear potable water out of this

and the detailed facts about water making !

 

The itinerary of the POA:

7 day cruise

Leave Honolulu arrive Maui stay 2 days

Leave Maui arrive Hilo stay 1 day

Leave Hilo arrive Kona stay 1 day

Leave Kona arrive Kauai stay 2 days

Leave Kauai * arrive Honolulu

* except for the last leg Kauai (Na Pali coast)

Note sailing days are actually nights - ship travels at night

full day time port access

 

Repeat and do all over again 52 times a year

 

I would imagine that the bunker water has a steep municipal surcharge ?

While the rainfall in Hawaii refills the reservoirs the population demands

are not making this easy.

 

The one leg you mention about getting up a head of steam to make water

would be Kona to Kauai.

Then there is a cost factor in fuel burned for going pedal to the metal full

speed to achieve making water. Fuel in Hawaii is not cheap by any means.

It has to be less expensive to bunker water rather than burn high speed

fuel to make it.

 

I don't know if NCL is into water conservation but maybe it's time to take

a serious look into it - maintenance problems aside.

 

Water supply to ships' date=' and I can't find the Hawaiian port rates, tend to add 15-25% over the normal non-residential water rates for the local water board.

 

The Kona to Kauai leg is full speed due to itinerary, not the need to make water. On the Aloha, we did a similar run from Kauai to Kona. For years, we tried to get the company to change the itinerary to remove this leg (you could rearrange the ports (now especially with only one ship) to make all segments rather slow steaming) to reduce fuel consumption and control costs. Bunker fuel in Hawaii all has to be brought from the West Coast (the last refinery making bunker fuel in Hawaii closed a couple years ago), and runs about 40% higher than fuel on the West Coast.

 

POA can almost always make [b']some[/b] water. The RO units are not dependent on the waste heat to operate, but these are relatively small (about 2-300 ton/day). If the ship can operate in the 12-17 knot range, they can operate one of the two flash evaporators (600 ton/day), and above 17 knots they can run both evaporators.

 

NCL, like all cruise vessels, have long been into water conservation, for just the reasons shown on this cruise, water capacity.

 

1. Toilets use 1 liter/flush

2. Shower heads are 2 gpm low flow

3. The dish rinsing/garbage disposal system (which is a centralized system that services all galleys and dining venues) uses the same water all day, and can be non-potable

4. The dishwashing machines only change water twice daily (large conveyor machines in the dining venues), or once daily (glass washers in galleys, bars, and steward's pantries)

5. About 90% of the water used in the ship's laundry is non-potable water that is collected from the condensation in the ship's AC system.

6. All engineering uses are non-potable "technical" water

7. The far and away largest consumer of potable water onboard are the passengers and crew, using sinks and showers. Very difficult to impose water conservation on the pax, unless you want complaints about the per minute charge for showers.

[newmexicoNita]

Why is it ALWAYS a water issue with NCL ?

You can't bring your own - you have to use NCLs - Bottled water is (over)charged with a fee and gratuity !

You can take water off the ship but can't bring it back ?

 

NCL POA would not need to make water since with the exception of Kona the POA can bunker water at

all the scheduled ports. The POA overnights at most of the ports and there is certainly enough time to

bunker water if the game plan is not to make water with the ships system.

It would appear that the POA had a water pump problem and left it be fixed too late for the Kauai trip

viewing the Na Pali coast. Very BAD decision - the prime viewing attraction on the whole cruise scratched

due to this issue and then offering petty peanuts (OBC) to offset the inconvenience. Real SAD for the folks

who make this once in lifetime trip !

 

Isn't the POA scheduled for a dry-dock soon ?

Maybe NCL needs to do more than dry-docking the POA !

 

ALOHA and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

just wanted to let you know, the problems as you see them with bringing water on board has nothing to do with what these people had to indure, and NCL isn't the only line that has cracked down on bringing water onto the ship. So why are you saying NCL has a water problem?

[newmexicoNita]

I was on the pride last week, we had no running water from midnight to around 5-6AM most nights, except Christmas Eve. We left most ports late and then when you would ask what’s wrong, the reply was there’s a plumbing issue, the water was off on the entire ship, that it’s being worked on and would be back on as soon as possible.

 

Only on the last day, they admitted that the water plant had failed, and instead of cruising the north shore of Kauai, we needed to stay in port to take on more water. When we did finally leave, we did a flat out speed run for Honolulu arriving around 2-3AM. They gave us a $100 OBC pp, max $200 per cabin for missing one of the highlights of the trip.

 

Does anyone know how long this issue has been going on? The whole story wrecks of bull to me, I feel this should have been disclosed at least at the start or sooner if this has been a long term problem. And how can a ship, have issue of not storing enough fresh water?

 

Then at a private reception with the hotel director, he apologized for the captain making the call to stay longer in port for fresh water, after being there overnight to begin with. He then made a kind of insulting joke, we took to many showers aboard, showers, please?

 

 

 

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what a crappy way to spend a vacation. I am so sorry you had to go through this, but as least Chergkp was able to give you and the rest of us some insight. Let's hope you never have such a problem again. I don't know what else NCL could have done to improve the situation for all of you.

[nevada2121]

Cheng once again proves the capabilities of a ship, without a real single reason why what happened, happened or the NCL response of canceling a major highlight of the trip with a trivial token of a rebate for what happened, it happened all week long and since it started from the first night, more than likely a carry over from before, a complete lack of disclosure by NCL when asked what’s going on, was stupid.

 

My complaint is informing the passengers, after a couple of nights, I filled old water bottles just Incase I needed it, why the secrecy? To keep us quiet and complacent as long as they could, but $100 pp or $200 max per cabin offer was rude for a high light.

 

It didn’t help all the time, the crew kept saying we have to talk to Miami first.

 

They did ration the water, by shutting it off for 6 hours every day, but Christmas Eve.

 

When it was on, it worked fine, so I doubt it was a pumps related issue. I bet it was a plumbing or storage issue. Remember where this ship came from, a party built ship from a bankrupt Southern shipyard and finished in Europe, I could not think of a worse combination for potential problems, especially since it was renovated last year in the states. Partly built using metric measurements and partly using US measurements, what could go wrong in a renovation, not done by experts who built this Frankenstein ship.

 

 

 

 

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[chengkp75]

Cheng once again proves the capabilities of a ship, without a real single reason why what happened, happened

 

Remember where this ship came from, a party built ship from a bankrupt Southern shipyard and finished in Europe, I could not think of a worse combination for potential problems, especially since it was renovated last year in the states. Partly built using metric measurements and partly using US measurements, what could go wrong in a renovation, not done by experts who built this Frankenstein ship.

 

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No one who was not part of the engineering crew onboard, or working for NCL at this time, could provide a definitive reason that this happened. I was responding to your original post where you stated it was a "failure of the water plant", which as long as you had running water at times could only mean the water making plant, so I described how this worked. I also described how, like your car, you can follow every single recommended maintenance procedure, and even do more than recommended, and it will still possibly break down. Airlines are the same, they follow manufacturer and government regulations for maintenance, and how many of us have had flights delayed or cancelled due to a "broken" plane?

 

As far as your "frankenstein" ship comments, these show a very limited knowledge of american manufacturing in today's world. Much of US industry uses the metric system (car manufacturers in particular), and there is really very little problem for manufacturers to switch between systems as needed.

 

The shipbuilding industry in particular has embraced the metric system for decades, even ships built in the US. The ship repair business (your comment about the recent drydocking) is wrong, because the shipyards regularly work on ships using the metric system, and in fact, every shipyard period the POA has undergone since her building has been in the US. My ship was built in Philadelphia, and is completely metric.

 

The shipyard where the POA was originally built was not bankrupt, but the cruise line that ordered the ship did go bankrupt, leaving the US government with a hull that they had guaranteed payment on to the shipyard. The Lytton yard in Pascagoula is still in business, and still turning out US Naval vessels. Nor is Lloyd Werft shipyard in Germany out of business, despite the damaging claims against the yard for the POA's sinking at their dock.

 

And, the entire hull of POA was built in the US, and only the superstructure was built in Germany. Much of the machinery used in POA, as well as many US flag vessels, come from European or Asian manufacturers (engines, pods, generators, boilers, evaporators, all the way down to pumps), and are metric, and US crews and US shipyards have managed repairs on this equipment for decades. And all parts used for repairs, like an evaporator, come from the original manufacturer, so they will be in the same system as the original.

 

Finally, I'm not sure what problems you visualize with any possible cross-over between US (imperial) and metric "measurements".

 

I'm not downplaying your customer service problems, I just don't comment on them as that is not my area of expertise. I just try to provide facts to give a background to a situation.