Venture stabilizer issues - now

[florisdekort]

So according to “live from” posts on Facebook’s Seabourn Sailors, after leaving Ushuaia last evening on its 24 night Holiday cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica, the Captain casually announced the cancellation of South Georgia due to issues with the ship’s stabilizers. Apparently a mini-revolt broke out amongst passengers, and the ship is now back in Ushuaia because quite a few passengers demanded to be allowed to disembark.
 

I’m not on board, but I do find it highly questionable that Seabourn didn’t announce this major change until shortly after sailing. 

 

Seabourn is offering $1000 OBC plus 15% of a future cruise - which seems somewhat low given that South Georgia sailings tend to be 50% more expensive than regular Antarctica sailings. 

 

And of course this now triggers the question - is a dry dock needed to fix this issue? There are no gaps in Venture’s schedule, so that would require (a) cancellation(s). 
 

Floris

 

[Covepointcruiser]

Glad Seabourn is opting for safety.   As we all know there have been deaths this year and major accidents on Antarctic voyages.    In a normal year many ships don’t make it to the Falklands and South Georgia may be almost as difficult.   It’s an Expedition cruise and is inherently dangerous.   If sailing without the stabilizer was safe I am sure the Captain would have continued with the original itinerary.

[toseaornottosea]

Don't like the sound of this as we are booked on the 1/16/23 Antarctica sailing.   Not keen on 2 Drake Passage crossings with stabilizers that are not fully functioning.  

[Mr Luxury]

18 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Glad Seabourn is opting for safety.   As we all know there have been deaths this year and major accidents on Antarctic voyages.    In a normal year many ships don’t make it to the Falklands and South Georgia may be almost as difficult.   It’s an Expedition cruise and is inherently dangerous.   If sailing without the stabilizer was safe I am sure the Captain would have continued with the original itinerary.

The Viking incident with the freak wave would have made the Captain think even harder as to do the safe thing for everyone.

If a dry dock is needed to put things right then so be it to be seaworthy and safe.

[toseaornottosea]

16 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

If a dry dock is needed to put things right then so be it to be seaworthy and safe.

Amen to that.  Even if that means our 1/16/23 sailing is cancelled or delayed.

[florisdekort]

I don’t think anyone would disagree with safety first. 

This isn’t just a missed port however. This is 4 days of landings in a very remote, special part of the world, plus 2 days sailing there and 2 days back. It’s like booking an Antarctica cruise and being casually told, after sail-away, “oh, we’re not going to Antarctica” - whilst clearly this was known much earlier.

 

Also, South Georgia cruises come at a huge $ premium. 

 

Let’s just hope Seabourn does the right thing for the impacted guests. 
 

[sfvoyage]

While our 6 days in Antarctica Peninsula were fantastic, our 2 days in South Georgia were awe-inspiring.  If I had to choose between South Georgia and Antarctica, I would choose the former and forgo the latter.

[Fletcher]

Venture is currently closing in on the Falklands. 

[Covepointcruiser]

It is definitely disappointing to those sailing on the Venture but on expedition cruises they should expect changes.     We once took a cruise especially for a three day visit to Egypt.   Didn’t happen.   We drifted outside of Alexandria for a day hoping the port would open as it had closed due to severe winds.   Had lots of company as all ships bound for that port were waiting outside.   The Captain had to finally give up and we headed to Greece and had an extra day there.   We had been on the ship from Dubai and had no ports until Greece.    We were very disappointed and had to plan another cruise to visit Egypt.   We were refunded port fees, that’s it.    Now we don’t count on a visit to a particular port and are never disappointed.

[galeforce9]

50 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

It is definitely disappointing to those sailing on the Venture but on expedition cruises they should expect changes.     We once took a cruise especially for a three day visit to Egypt.   Didn’t happen.   We drifted outside of Alexandria for a day hoping the port would open as it had closed due to severe winds.   Had lots of company as all ships bound for that port were waiting outside.   The Captain had to finally give up and we headed to Greece and had an extra day there.   We had been on the ship from Dubai and had no ports until Greece.    We were very disappointed and had to plan another cruise to visit Egypt.   We were refunded port fees, that’s it.    Now we don’t count on a visit to a particular port and are never disappointed.

I think the difference here is that these factors facing Venture now are not totally beyond Seabourn’s control.  

[alainciao]

I'm scratching my head.

They have cancelled the South Georgia visit but are continuing to Antarctica.  I always thought the Drake Passage was the potential hazard.

[whogo]

23 hours ago, florisdekort said:

Apparently a mini-revolt broke out amongst passengers, and the ship is now back in Ushuaia because quite a few passengers demanded to be allowed to disembark.

Too few passengers debark when faced with unacceptable maintenance issues. My wife would not willingly cruise on a ship without stabilizers. Apparently seasickness is one of the worst feelings there is.

[florisdekort]

3 hours ago, galeforce9 said:

I think the difference here is that these factors facing Venture now are not totally beyond Seabourn’s control.  

Totally agree. There’s a difference in terms of responsibility between a port strike or a broken down ship. Plus missing one port in Egypt doesn’t compare to missing 4 days of zodiac landings in South Georgia. This is more like booking an Antarctica cruise and being told the ship is going to Argentina instead. 

[toseaornottosea]

Does anyone know the current situation with respect to the Venture's stabilizers?

[Covepointcruiser]

They are in the Falklands now and have landed Zodiacs at the penguin colonies.   Stabilizer issues did not impact the landings there.   There are photos on the Facebook site.   On our 15 cruise from Dubai to Southampton, we had two ports.   Our two day stay in Alexandria was the mail port for the sailing so we had the right to be disappointed.    We ended up with one port, in Greece, in 15 days.

[SLSD]

10 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

They are in the Falklands now and have landed Zodiacs at the penguin colonies.   Stabilizer issues did not impact the landings there.   There are photos on the Facebook site.   On our 15 cruise from Dubai to Southampton, we had two ports.   Our two day stay in Alexandria was the mail port for the sailing so we had the right to be disappointed.    We ended up with one port, in Greece, in 15 days.

And what were the reasons for so few ports?

[toseaornottosea]

24 minutes ago, SLSD said:

They are in the Falklands now and have landed Zodiacs at the penguin colonies.   Stabilizer issues did not impact the landings there.

Yes but what happens when they get into rough waters?  The Drake anyone with less then fully functional stabilizers?

[galeforce9]

36 minutes ago, toseaornottosea said:

Yes but what happens when they get into rough waters?  The Drake anyone with less then fully functional stabilizers?

No thanks 

[Kauaijim]

I wonder if they regret taking Quest off that itinerary . Floris, we were on that trip with you and it was an interesting crossing . 

[Covepointcruiser]

SLDS, we had few ports because it was one leg of the world cruise.    The visit to Egypt was the highlight as it included a charter flight to Luxor with an overnight there and then on to Cairo.   For folks on the 100+ day cruise, they had multiple ports of call with time for overnight journeys.   We were very unlucky to have missed our reason for this cruise.   We later booked another cruise and toured Egypt.    IT was the first QM2 passage through the Red Sea and Suez Canal so we had an escort by British warships.

[mcshane]

I really think Seabourn should communicate with those of us who have upcoming trips on Venture. I really don’t want to cross the Drake Passage on a compromised ship, particularly at the price paid, and we travel in February. Can anyone on board update us informally? 

[florisdekort]

I wouldn’t expect many updates… Seabourn’s letter to those on board confirmed issues with the stabilizers, which apparently make landings in South Georgia - with its notorious swell - unsafe, but apparently that’s less of a problem in the more sheltered landing locations of Antarctica and the Falklands. I find that hard to understand, but then again, I’m not a Captain / haven’t studied for this. There are no further sailings to South Georgia this season, so I would expect Venture to finish its Antarctica season as planned and get the issue addressed in a dry dock sometime later 2023. (There are no dry docks near Ushuaia.) 

[twodjs]

We DO have Antarctica booked in mid-February 2023 and South Georgia IS scheduled for several days of our journey. Sorry to disagree with the author, but this DOES affect us.

[Heidi13]

On 12/20/2022 at 1:05 PM, florisdekort said:

I wouldn’t expect many updates… Seabourn’s letter to those on board confirmed issues with the stabilizers, which apparently make landings in South Georgia - with its notorious swell - unsafe, but apparently that’s less of a problem in the more sheltered landing locations of Antarctica and the Falklands. I find that hard to understand, but then again, I’m not a Captain / haven’t studied for this. There are no further sailings to South Georgia this season, so I would expect Venture to finish its Antarctica season as planned and get the issue addressed in a dry dock sometime later 2023. (There are no dry docks near Ushuaia.) 

 

While stabiliers can be fins or tanks, from what I have read, the Venture is fitted with fins that extend out from the ship. When not required, and for docking, they are folded into the hull.

 

To be effective, the stabalisers require the ship to be moving, so I am having difficulty understanding how the reduced effectiveness of the stabilisers would impact the S Georgia landings, as the ship is stopped - anchored or holding position in DP Mode. Has to be another reason for eliminating S Georgia.

 

Unless a stabaliser suffered contact damage, many issues can be resolved with a drydocking. We have also used divers for an increasing number of underwater repairs.

[toseaornottosea]

Is there anyone on board Venture who can bring us up to date?  What is the current status of the stabilizers?  From what I can see on cruisemapper.com Venture has crossed the Drake Passage and is now in the Antarctic islands.  How was the crossing?