Air Conditioning out the Star since yesterday

[Ronnieslady]

We are on the Star right now & the AC has not been working since yesterday. Head of customer service said the condenser is out 😱. Of course they said they are working on it. Yesterday the lady in the Lotus Spa said she got an email saying they were working on clearing or cleaning the barnickles “ sorry about the spelling “ under the ship. So anyone going on the next cruise, it’s a California coastal, better bring lite weight clothing, or maybe cancel. We are in a full suite & been in Cabo San Lucas since yesterday, which was our scheduled itinerary. We are not happy campers.

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

[CRUZBUDS]

Yikes -- I hope it is repaired soon.

 

Glad you have a veranda - at least you can get air, even if it's hot air.

[Griller]

We are on the Star right now & the AC has not been working since yesterday. Head of customer service said the condenser is out . Of course they said they are working on it. Yesterday the lady in the Lotus Spa said she got an email saying they were working on clearing or cleaning the barnickles “ sorry about the spelling “ under the ship. So anyone going on the next cruise, it’s a California coastal, better bring lite weight clothing, or maybe cancel. We are in a full suite & been in Cabo San Lucas since yesterday, which was our scheduled itinerary. We are not happy campers.

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

 

Hope its fixed soon, don't know what the exact connection between barnacles and A/C is but I do know that various marine growths like to grow on the grilles etc where cooling sea water is taken aboard and if they dislodge due to temperature change or whatever it blocks up everything and restricts the cooling water flow .

 

Sounds like it would be a good time for the Captain to implement some free drinks all round?

[Colo Cruiser]

The cabin? The Spa? The entire ship? :confused:

[azbirdmom]

We had a similar thing happen last year on the Emerald Princess Mexican Riviera cruise. It was the first trip to warmer waters after the summer in Alaska and we received a letter indicating that there were barnicles and other sea creatures that needed to be cleaned out to get the AC working. That was a new one on us. It was down a couple hours and I can only imagine the job that the unlucky crewmember had getting that all cleaned out.

[Pam in CA]

Considering it’s going to be about 72o on the coast today south of LA and the high at mid-70’s for the next week, I wouldn’t worry. If it were me, I’d need a sweater, not worried about roasting.

 

Barnacles are a constant problem for ships. That’s why they have to be scraped and repainted every three years or so. They also get into the thrusters and have to be cleaned out. Nothing new there.

[stoneharborlady]

Considering it’s going to be about 72o on the coast today south of LA and the high at mid-70’s for the next week, I wouldn’t worry. If it were me, I’d need a sweater, not worried about roasting.

 

 

Thats OK if you have a balcony, in an inside cabin or one without a window that opens, it could get quite stuffy.

[waltd]

I guess things could be worse. Anyone remember the Fair Princess days? Friends did a Mexico cruise many many years ago and major equipment broke down. Equipment had to be flown in. Passengers pulled mattresses out on desk. They were without air for days.

Hopefully the Star will be up and running soon.,

[Cruise Raider]

Yikes ... that doesn't sound good. I hope they fix it soon and even compensate those that are onboard.

[Coral]

Thats OK if you have a balcony, in an inside cabin or one without a window that opens, it could get quite stuffy.

 

Once on the Star Princess - electricity went out for about 15 minutes top. I had a balcony cabin (thankfully) but you could not believe how quick my room got hot. I can't imagine 36 hours.

[Ronnieslady]

The cabin? The Spa? The entire ship? :confused:

Most of the ship. The Spa for sure, dining rooms last night not to bad. Our aft suite a little better now, but it is still not right even tho we have it cranked all the way down. We are just now leaving Cabo for LA. I definitely agree with someone’s post about going from a cold weather cruise (Alaska) to warm weather cruise Cabo. The crew has a hard time readjusting the AC maybe on an older ship .

We learned our lesson never again. This was the last part of our back to back ending with this 5 dayer. Lots of 20 & 30 something & of course kids onboard. We have never been on Carnival, but this is what it must be like.

We overnighted in Cabo & the young people were loving it. The heat didn’t bother them. Some got back on the ship last night @ 2:00am. The tenders ran all night I heard. Cabo is a tender port,

We will stick with longer cruises from here on.

Thanks everyone who responded back it does make me feel better.

Can’t wait to be home Saturday :cool:

[mcrcruiser]

Sorry to hear bout the A/c problem . We are going on Star for Hawaii but not until Dec 2019 ,we would not want the A/c out during that cruise:rolleyes:

[chengkp75]

Once on the Star Princess - electricity went out for about 15 minutes top. I had a balcony cabin (thankfully) but you could not believe how quick my room got hot. I can't imagine 36 hours.

 

There's a big difference between not having any ventilation at all (power black out like you had) and having ventilation but no AC.

 

If this was in fact the first cruise to Mexico after a season in Alaska, then I believe this has happened before, maybe last year. It is not that the crew have difficulty changing the AC from cooler temps to warmer ones. It is the fact that in cold sea water, the clams, mussels, and barnacles grow in the sea chests (the opening in the ship where the sea water is taken in to cool the AC system and the diesel engines), and when the water warms to a significantly higher temperature, these mollusks die off, fall off the sides of the sea chest and sea water piping, and get caught in the sea strainers (designed to do just this, keeping the shells and debris from blocking the small tubes of the heat exchangers). I would be surprised if the AC was off all around the ship at any time, but they likely had to cut off one or two of the chillers (reducing the overall cooling effect) while the sea strainers are taken out and cleaned. In some cases, this can happen repeatedly for a couple of days, until all the mollusks die off. It wouldn't surprise me to know that the ship was sailing at rather slow speed, around this time, as the sea strainers for cooling the diesel engines were likely also getting blocked, and they had to reduce the number of generators running while the strainers were being cleaned.

[Colo Cruiser]

There's a big difference between not having any ventilation at all (power black out like you had) and having ventilation but no AC.

 

If this was in fact the first cruise to Mexico after a season in Alaska, then I believe this has happened before, maybe last year. It is not that the crew have difficulty changing the AC from cooler temps to warmer ones. It is the fact that in cold sea water, the clams, mussels, and barnacles grow in the sea chests (the opening in the ship where the sea water is taken in to cool the AC system and the diesel engines), and when the water warms to a significantly higher temperature, these mollusks die off, fall off the sides of the sea chest and sea water piping, and get caught in the sea strainers (designed to do just this, keeping the shells and debris from blocking the small tubes of the heat exchangers). I would be surprised if the AC was off all around the ship at any time, but they likely had to cut off one or two of the chillers (reducing the overall cooling effect) while the sea strainers are taken out and cleaned. In some cases, this can happen repeatedly for a couple of days, until all the mollusks die off. It wouldn't surprise me to know that the ship was sailing at rather slow speed, around this time, as the sea strainers for cooling the diesel engines were likely also getting blocked, and they had to reduce the number of generators running while the strainers were being cleaned.

 

Sorry I can't resist.......will they bring out a new boat?

[Coral]

There's a big difference between not having any ventilation at all (power black out like you had) and having ventilation but no AC.

 

 

You are right.

 

I had no air conditioning this summer on the Sapphire Princess. The room was extremely warm and it took several days to fix and I was in an inside cabin.

 

When I saw the post, I immediately remembered my Star Princess situation as it got hot really quick vs this past summer where my air seemed to die only in the evening/night and multiple nights I had repair people come at midnight and it didn't cool down until 3 or 4 am.

[elliair]

Thats OK if you have a balcony, in an inside cabin or one without a window that opens, it could get quite stuffy.

 

#! reason why I would never book an inside cabin or a window cabin. Remember when the Splendor went dead in the water a few years back? There's been others who have lost power. The horror stories people told and setting up camp up on the pool decks, then the sanitary issues. NO WAY!

[Ronnieslady]

The latest is no AC anywhere on the ship since this afternoon. This is a 1st for us after about 30 cruises. Trying to cope, kind of puts a damper on the shows also on what we feel like doing (Nothing)

[geoherb]

A lot of public areas on the Royal Princess last month were too warm on our trans-Atlantic cruise. In retrospect, the ship's AC may not have been ready for the warmer climate of our revised itinerary. The ship was originally going to go on a northerly course across the Atlantic but we ended up going to Spain and the Azores before heading across the Atlantic around the 40th parallel.

[hobo1937]

The latest is no AC anywhere on the ship since this afternoon. This is a 1st for us after about 30 cruises. Trying to cope, kind of puts a damper on the shows also on what we feel like doing (Nothing)

 

Thanks so much for letting us know about the AC. We are sailing(or at least we think we are) on the Coastal Cruise leaving Saturday. If you can keep us posted on what's going on as I am not sure Princess will say anything about it.

[beg3yrs]

Just connected with a friend on board. AC is fixed!

[madmacs]

We are on Star this winter going from hot San Antonio to cold Cape Horn and hot Buenos Aires. Hope the a/c can cope with the changes!!

[chengkp75]

We are on Star this winter going from hot San Antonio to cold Cape Horn and hot Buenos Aires. Hope the a/c can cope with the changes!!

 

Again, it is not a problem of the AC not being able to cope with changes in air temperature. Since the systems are chilled water systems, they work fairly constantly whether hot or cold, and the air handler set points are rarely changed. As I've stated this is a problem common to ships when they move to warm sea water after months of colder sea water.

[Ronnieslady]

Just connected with a friend on board. AC is fixed!

Yes your friend is right, now that we are getting closer to LA out side is cooler, so it does seem to be working

[Ronnieslady]

We are on Star this winter going from hot San Antonio to cold Cape Horn and hot Buenos Aires. Hope the a/c can cope with the changes!!

I would go get a few fans. Battery & or plug in. This time of the year might be hard to find , maybe online. I got one @ Bed Bath & Beyond. It was light weight & used batteries or plug in.

[oskidunker]

Great news!