Engine problems on the Quantum of the Seas

[BirdTravels]

52 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Sad to say but I would take the FCC or change it to either a northbound or southbound one way cruise in Alaska.

 

Those roundtrip sailings are garbage anyway from Seattle. Got to at least see Hubbard Glacier when doing an Alaska Cruise.

Seattle round trips are the best cruises ever. We do it every year. Try it. 

[DaKahuna]

Nothing from RCL for our 8/29 or 9/5 sailings on Quantum. 
 

 

[Kathleen Kruiser]

We are on the crossing from Vancouver to Hawaii. I wonder how that will play out if they are reporting reduced engine speeds. 

[squierjosh]

Seems awfully suspicious that the July sailings are JUST FINE. It's almost as if they're planning on purposefully crippling the ship for the August cruises so they don't have to drive them as far.

[SeattleAl]

16 minutes ago, squierjosh said:

Seems awfully suspicious that the July sailings are JUST FINE. It's almost as if they're planning on purposefully crippling the ship for the August cruises so they don't have to drive them as far.

Maybe they need to wait for parts to do the repair. These engines are massive and I don't think you can get parts at West Marine.

[volk904]

It depends on what the Engine issue is.  There is a very good chance that the ship would need to be taken out of service to make the repair especially if it is a Azopod which requires a short dry dock to replace the unit.  You would be talking about canceling 2-3 full cruises if they can even get a West Coast dry dock   For RCCL it is better to work around the issue as they have in the past until a repair can be scheduled.  

Edited June 30, 2022 by volk904

[mianmike]

10 hours ago, irishgal432 said:

I was on the 6/6 sailing and there was a small engine fire when we were in port which caused a total blackout shipwide for about an hour.  It delayed us leaving until it was given an all clear.  We were in a Grand Loft Suite which was aft and it looked like they were only using 1  engine as the wake wasnt the same as before the blackout.

 

We were on the same sailing.  There was quite a shutter felt in our cabin, then the blackout and constant announcements of "Bravo, Bravo."   My gut feeling is that incident may be directly related to the current slower speeds.  

[Biker19]

14 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Yeah that doesn't quite seem right, both the date and the issue, especially since right now Quantum is sailing at a respectable 17 knots

She's doing 18 now, but on some of the stretches, she routinely does 20+ knots (first day and return to Victoria) to make her schedule. This has happened to other azipod equipped ships where they don't want to damage the azipod with sustained high speed runs.

[TeachUF352]

I leave on Monday, July 4th and haven't received an email...we are scheduled for Sitka not Skagway. Sitka is much further south so perhaps no need to change port times.

 

We have had several excursions canceled but when I called the operator directly they confirmed it is a staffing issue.

[ONECRUISER]

9 hours ago, volk904 said:

It depends on what the Engine issue is.  There is a very good chance that the ship would need to be taken out of service to make the repair especially if it is a Azopod which requires a short dry dock to replace the unit.  You would be talking about canceling 2-3 full cruises if they can even get a West Coast dry dock   For RCCL it is better to work around the issue as they have in the past until a repair can be scheduled.  

Agree and Common. Over the yrs similar issues with Azipods have happened on dozens of Ships/Lines. As in past Cruises continue on until parts/Drydock fix. Feel for Cruises, over last 35 yrs have Skipped, missed or shortened many Ports myself

Edited June 30, 2022 by ONECRUISER

[Ben Nicholls]

15 hours ago, JeffT237 said:

What is the new itinerary that the Quantum will now be sailing for your cruise?  What is RCI offering you for the change, just the $100 OBC?  So sorry this is happening, I know how much of a disappointment this is, we sailed with Princess in May to Alaska and had the same issue and we ended up with cancelled ports and were late to all of them.  Resulted in all excursions cancelled and about 15 total hours in Alaska.

 

 

For the 15th this is the new itinerary.  Skagway changed to Ketchikan, some of the port durations reduced, and no Dawes.   So far the OBC is the only offer and if I am reading it correct it is per cabin not per person. 

 

Day	Port	Arrive	Depart
Mon	Seattle, Washington		4:00 PM
Tue	Cruising
Wed	Ketchikan, Alaska	7:00 AM	4:00 PM
Thu	Sitka, Alaska	8:00 AM	4:00 PM
Fri	Juneau, Alaska	7:30 AM	3:00 PM
Sat	Cruising
Sun	Victoria, British Columbia	5:00 PM	10:00 PM
Mon	Seattle, Washington	7:00 AM

 

 

We know you were looking forward to visiting Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier, so to help make up for this unexpected change, we're providing you with an Onboard Credit to use during your cruise – $75 USD for Interior and Ocean View staterooms | $100 USD for Balcony staterooms | $200 USD for Suites. These credits can be used anywhere onboard. If at the end of the cruise you have a remaining amount left over, it will be refunded to your card on file.

[squierjosh]

49 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree and Common. Over the yrs similar issues with Azipods have happened on dozens of Ships/Lines. As in past Cruises continue on until parts/Drydock fix. Feel for Cruises, over last 35 yrs have Skipped, missed or shortened many Ports myself

But the ship is running just fine right now and making all the ports. Somehow it's going to stop performing in August, then be ok again at the end of August?

[FamilyCruiserUK]

From an engineers point of view. The engines are regularly inspected and any faults logged to be fixed or replaced at a date when convenient. This could be down to spares or having to drydock. These faults will reduce the efficiency of the engine. Sea conditions or other safety factors will effect speed and handling.

 

I agree though, if you have paid for a service and rcl unable to deliver service and know in advance then a full refund + expenses should be issued. For some these trips are once in a lifetime. 

[CruiseWendy]

We are on this cruise and have yet to receive any notifications from RCCL except our Sitka helicopter ride was cancelled. This is so weird. 😞

[Tlbecker1]

14 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Sad to say but I would take the FCC or change it to either a northbound or southbound one way cruise in Alaska.

 

Those roundtrip sailings are garbage anyway from Seattle. Got to at least see Hubbard Glacier when doing an Alaska Cruise.

We did 4 cruises last year out of Seattle and had the best time on the Ovation.  We are doing B2B on Quantum this year at the end of August.  We love them and it is a nice change from all of the cruises that we do in the Caribbean.

[Jimbo]

37 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We did 4 cruises last year out of Seattle and had the best time on the Ovation.  We are doing B2B on Quantum this year at the end of August.  We love them and it is a nice change from all of the cruises that we do in the Caribbean.

Have you ever seen Hubbard Glacier yet? How about Glacier Bay on Princess?

[Tlbecker1]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Have you ever seen Hubbard Glacier yet? How about Glacier Bay on Princess?

No, I haven’t but we still had a great cruise.  Enjoyed the views, wildlife and hikes that we have done.

[Ben Nicholls]

I had an idea what could be the reason for this. From what I hear only the 1st 3 Aug sailings have received this change. None in July or none after. I was thinking what engine wise could be a reason. What if it's an engine repair? They have an issue that needs to be fixed soon, but the engine is running now. When the parts arrive they need to take the engine offline for 3 weeks to perform the repair. That would explain how they could know it was only those 3 sailings. It is because they are scheduling the work for then. 

 

No facts to back this up, it just fits what we know.

[Catmomma]

I’m booked on this trip 7/18, no word from RCCL for us yet.  
i only have one excursion booked (in Victoria) and now our stop there might be super short.  Will see how this pans out but missing the glaciers will be very disappointing 

 

[DaKahuna]

I just compared the itinerary for our Aug 29-Sep5 Quantum sailing with the itinerary showing on our reservation on the RCCL website and Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier and Juneau are not showing on the web site. 
 

They both are also missing on our 9/5-9/12 sailing as well.  I really like Juneau and was looking forward to Dawes Glacier, having been to Glacier Bay on our first RCCL sailing. 
 

Can’t wait to see what my TA can find out about itinerary changes from RCCL. 

[BirdTravels]

4 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

I really like Juneau and was looking forward to Dawes Glacier, having been to Glacier Bay on our first RCCL sailing. 

We were on the Quantum earlier this month, and this is as close as we got to Dawes (5 to 8 miles out) due to ice in the water. We were out at 5 am and after two hours, it was disappointing that we didn't get closer. 

 

[BirdTravels]

error

Edited July 1, 2022 by BirdTravels

[lovescats5]

We sail Sept. 19.  Hopefully everything will be working fine then.  But in any case it will still be a great cruise.  We would not change ships or ask for FCC.  It is hard to get the Royal Loft at a good price so we will be on Quantum regardless.

 

[kitkat343]

On 6/29/2022 at 7:09 PM, jlshouston said:

We booked the Aug 22 sailing of Quantum and I haven't gotten any emails. I did browse the shore excursions 2 weeks ago and there weren't many left with availability. First time Alaskan cruise so I didn't realize I had to start early on on shore excursions, sometimes I wait until the day we board to decide if we are doing an excursion so I may be in trouble seeing a whale or a bear or an iceberg...

Have you tried contacting the private tour operators?  As someone else noted, this could be an issue with getting seasonal workers to show up to Alaska this year in which case the private tour operators will be swamped too, but it would be worth contacting Temsco directly if you want a helicopter, or Harv and Marv were great for whale watching if you are going to Juneau (if they are booked, they may be able to recommend a competitor).  On the Alaska boards or tripadvisor you should be able to find providers to try.  We also thought the deadliest catch tour was really interesting, and that was easy to book privately and we were able to walk there easily.  Good luck.

Edited July 1, 2022 by kitkat343

[kitkat343]

On 6/29/2022 at 9:19 PM, BirdTravels said:

Seattle round trips are the best cruises ever. We do it every year. Try it. 

If I lived on the West Coast, I would try the roundtrip since Alaska was so spectacular and being able to do that easily would be amazing.  Living on the east coast, we did the northbound and really loved it  (we might have loved the roundtrip too, but can't compare them directly).  I did feel if you flew all that way, you should try to maximize what you see, but if I lived on the west coast, I'd be really excited to try a roundtrip to Alaska.  That would be a great trip with kids.