Just returned from Infinity

[jeanb]

We were on the cruise to S.A. which sailed 12/3/06 from Valparaiso and ended on 12/17/06 in Buenos Aires. It was a great cruise, the weather was good and we made all the ports. The only rain was when we were leaving the Tango show Saturday night 12/16. It rained all that night. We did a private tour after disembarking and by afternoon the rain stopped.

On the second week of the cruise, a letter was put in each cabin by the captain that there was an unusual number of virus cases going around throughout the ship. The staff were disinfecting railings, elevators, etc. constantly. They gave complimentary visits to the doctor for anyone who got sick. My group of 8 were lucky. None of us got sick. On the last day of the cruise, they tried to get everyone off the ship as early as possible. We saw the staff scrubbing down all the furniture in the lounges with disinfectant.

I brought Lysol travel wipes and wiped down the cabin (TV remote, telephone, counter tops etc.) when I first arrived into my cabin. I also carried a trial size of the hand sanitizer in my purse all the time which we used a lot. Maybe, that's why we didn't get sick.

[tak2]

Thank you for posting. Where exactly did the ship visit the glaciers?

I'm on Jan 28 cruise, sailing the same itinerary as you did. My cabin is on starboard side. What parts of the cruise scenery will I not see from my balcony? Thanks in advance for your comments.

[shifty]

We're on the 12/30 Infinity sailing and are curious if there were any pod/mechanical problems on your cruise? From what we can tell by viewing the BridgeCam, all seemed well. The seas appeared to be fairly smooth. Is that correct?

 

Thanks.

 

Mike S

[jeanb]

tak2 We saw the glaciers while sailing through the Straits of Magellan. My cabin was also on the starboard side. At some of the ports you have a good view from the starboard side but not the glaciers. We started seeing the glaciers early in the morning ( around 6:00 am) so I went to deck 4 port side which is open with my camera and binoculars. Deck 4 is a great deck for taking photos of albatrosses and petrels. These birds love to follow the ship.

 

shifty We had no mechanical problems and the seas were quite smooth even when we had to tender in. We made all the ports.

[LauBu]

Thanks for the info jeanb! Will you be posting a review? I am interested to know what excursions you took and how you liked them.

[BenLynn]

Thanks for the info jeanb! Will you be posting a review? I am interested to know what excursions you took and how you liked them.

I was also on the same cruise and the ship had a motor problems and wasn't traveling at full speed so we were late into Puerto Montt and we missed part of our land tour. We also didn't cruise the Chilean Fjords because of the motor problem. It was fixed by the time we reached Ushuaia and then we were able to cruise at full speed. We use Terracota Excursiones in Santiago for transfers,hotels and tours-they were excellent. they can arrrange everything in Chile. We also used them for Punta Arenas tour of Otway Sound penguins. We used GVtours in Puerto Montt-good tour of lake,mountains,etc. Used Whalespatagonia in Puero Madryn to see the penguins at Puerto Tombo. They were great-we were the first ones to the site and had it to ourselvesfor about 45-60 minutes with about 500,000 penguins. used the ship-Day with the Royals on the Falklands. This weas the best tour to see penguins-Kings,Gentues and Magellenic all about 2 1/2 hours from the pier. .

If you have specific questions ,email me at bgoldman@ssd.com

[Captain Cosmo]

We were also on the 12/3 cruise out of Valpairiso; The ship was able to make about 20.5 knots for most of the cruise, so whatever was done in Lima appeared to be working well enough. The seas however, not to argue with any of the other posters, were quite rough for the first 3 "at sea" days of the cruise. This is typical for this part of the Pacific at that time of year, but it was rough enough that cabinets in the storerooms had popped open and spilled their contents, and on the third "at sea" day the ship was pitching quite a lot, with passengers holding onto the handrails in the halls to get to their cabins. I found the food greatly improved over our April cruise on Infinity, and the menus now list the items that you can get anytime, like the steak, salmon, chicken breast and shrimp cocktail. There were a large number of South Americans onboard, so maybe the menus and the recipes are altered depending on the market being served. It was nice not having to salt everything like I had to in April. There was enhanced cleaning going on from the beginning of the cruise, all buffet items were served to the passengers by the serving staff, and the sanitizer "balls" were present from the first day of the cruise with the waiters standing there asking people to please use them. Of course, there was the usual problem of people using the bathroom without washing up afterwards, so its an uphill battle to keep the norovirus at bay as long as some passengers refuse to practice good hygiene. One woman told my wife that she doesn't use the sanitizer balls because the gel "dries her skin".

 

Overall, it was a great experience because of the incredible ports that were visited. Most of the shore excursions we took came off without a hitch, and the Day at the Beach with Royalty excursion in the Falklands was the highlight - seeing the King, Gentoo and Magellanic penguins all in one spot. Be advised the 5 hours of travel to get there is agruelling, hard-core 4 wheel adventure that should not be done by anyone with back problems (or an allergy to peat dust!). The hard part was leaving via the Buenos Aires airport, which is run as well as the country. 2.5 hours to go from the front door to your departure gate, with almost all the passengers leaving at the same time. Anyway, its a great itinerary and South America was amazing.

[BenLynn]

We were also on the 12/3 cruise out of Valpairiso; The ship was able to make about 20.5 knots for most of the cruise, so whatever was done in Lima appeared to be working well enough. The seas however, not to argue with any of the other posters, were quite rough for the first 3 "at sea" days of the cruise. This is typical for this part of the Pacific at that time of year, but it was rough enough that cabinets in the storerooms had popped open and spilled their contents, and on the third "at sea" day the ship was pitching quite a lot, with passengers holding onto the handrails in the halls to get to their cabins. I found the food greatly improved over our April cruise on Infinity, and the menus now list the items that you can get anytime, like the steak, salmon, chicken breast and shrimp cocktail. There were a large number of South Americans onboard, so maybe the menus and the recipes are altered depending on the market being served. It was nice not having to salt everything like I had to in April. There was enhanced cleaning going on from the beginning of the cruise, all buffet items were served to the passengers by the serving staff, and the sanitizer "balls" were present from the first day of the cruise with the waiters standing there asking people to please use them. Of course, there was the usual problem of people using the bathroom without washing up afterwards, so its an uphill battle to keep the norovirus at bay as long as some passengers refuse to practice good hygiene. One woman told my wife that she doesn't use the sanitizer balls because the gel "dries her skin".

 

Overall, it was a great experience because of the incredible ports that were visited. Most of the shore excursions we took came off without a hitch, and the Day at the Beach with Royalty excursion in the Falklands was the highlight - seeing the King, Gentoo and Magellanic penguins all in one spot. Be advised the 5 hours of travel to get there is agruelling, hard-core 4 wheel adventure that should not be done by anyone with back problems (or an allergy to peat dust!). The hard part was leaving via the Buenos Aires airport, which is run as well as the country. 2.5 hours to go from the front door to your departure gate, with almost all the passengers leaving at the same time. Anyway, its a great itinerary and South America was amazing.

 

The ship wa not runniung at 20+ knots for about the first week and the engineers were still on the ship fixing the motor and that's why we were late at the first port and didn't go into the Chile Fjords. The seas were rough and lots of people were sea sick. . Some from the rough seas and some from the anti-sea sickness patches. I agee that the food was good and that the Day at the Beach with the Royals was the highlight for us. To clarify it was 2 1/2 hours each way over bumpy roads and then over Peat Bogs.

[Captain Cosmo]

Thanks, Ben - the 5 hours to get to the King penguins is the total travel time. We would do it again in a heartbeat (I'm still shaking peat dust out of my clothes!). The only other problem we encountered was in the last week of the cruise when the bleaching got heavy - wound up sick for half a day and then made it a point to spend as little time in the hallways as possible, as that is where the bleach smell seemed to linger most. I'm wondering if other passengers on this cruise who have more cruises under their belts noticed a difference in the food (improvement). Does anyone out there know if X uses different recipes/levels of spice for different markets?

[BenLynn]

Thanks, Ben - the 5 hours to get to the King penguins is the total travel time. We would do it again in a heartbeat (I'm still shaking peat dust out of my clothes!). The only other problem we encountered was in the last week of the cruise when the bleaching got heavy - wound up sick for half a day and then made it a point to spend as little time in the hallways as possible, as that is where the bleach smell seemed to linger most. I'm wondering if other passengers on this cruise who have more cruises under their belts noticed a difference in the food (improvement). Does anyone out there know if X uses different recipes/levels of spice for different markets?

People also leaned against railings, etc. and got the bleach on their clothing in the form of a stripe. or light spot. If you went into the public bathrooms ,you could pass out from the smell of the bleach.

This was our third cruise on the Infinity,last year to Alaska in May and Mexico in December, and the food was the best on this cruise,especially the quality of the meats.

We would also do the trip to the King penguins again and again.

Sorry we didn't meet up on the cruise. Maybe in the future. We're on the Millennium on April 21,2007 to Barcelona.

Have a Happy Holiday to all and a Happy and Healthy New Year

Ben

[MacDuff]

The ship wa not runniung at 20+ knots for about the first week and the engineers were still on the ship fixing the motor and that's why we were late at the first port and didn't go into the Chile Fjords. The seas were rough and lots of people were sea sick. . Some from the rough seas and some from the anti-sea sickness patches. I agee that the food was good and that the Day at the Beach with the Royals was the highlight for us. To clarify it was 2 1/2 hours each way over bumpy roads and then over Peat Bogs.

 

Hi BenLynn:

 

Thanks for the information from some one who was on the Infinity. There have been a lot of people wondering what was going on. One poster made the following report on cruisecritic on December 5 and it is only right to have this report, which turned out to be false, finally corrected. My understanding is that the Infinity was running at 20.5 knots or less for the entire cruise. Maybe some one else could verify this. This would be a reduction from the 22.5 knots that the ship is designed to sail at.

 

December 5th, 2006, 08:52 PM (from the "Infinity on schedule?" thread)

dkjretired vbmenu_register("postmenu_8490822", true);

Cool Cruiser

Join Date: Apr 2000

Location: Hazlet,N.J.

Posts: 1,671

Quote:

Originally quoted Post

I'm waiting with baited breath as well. We cruise on Feb 25th all the way back to Florida. I was hoping someone was back from Valparaiso on the 3rd and reporting all the latest..

 

(response)

One of the newsletters I receive is reporting that the fix was successful and the ship is operating at normal speed at this time. The fix was to a short circuit in the motor of the starboard propulsions system.

__________________

Don

 

Charter member of Cruise Critic (1995)

Over 12000 posts eliminated in three conversions0

 

 

 

It is important on cruisecritic for all members to have access to what is going on. We all appreciate the efforts of the moderators for allowing this information to be available to all.

MacDuff

[Mar-velers]

We would like to add our concurrence that this was a great experience both at sea and on land. We made a few more comments on the Infinity thread of the "Celebrity Connections."

[dkjretired]

Hi BenLynn:

 

Thanks for the information from some one who was on the Infinity. There have been a lot of people wondering what was going on. One poster made the following report on cruisecritic on December 5 and it is only right to have this report, which turned out to be false, finally corrected. My understanding is that the Infinity was running at 20.5 knots or less for the entire cruise. Maybe some one else could verify this. This would be a reduction from the 22.5 knots that the ship is designed to sail at.

 

December 5th, 2006, 08:52 PM (from the "Infinity on schedule?" thread)

dkjretired vbmenu_register("postmenu_8490822", true);

Cool Cruiser

Join Date: Apr 2000

Location: Hazlet,N.J.

Posts: 1,671

Quote:

Originally quoted Post

I'm waiting with baited breath as well. We cruise on Feb 25th all the way back to Florida. I was hoping someone was back from Valparaiso on the 3rd and reporting all the latest..

 

(response)

One of the newsletters I receive is reporting that the fix was successful and the ship is operating at normal speed at this time. The fix was to a short circuit in the motor of the starboard propulsions system.

__________________

Don

 

Charter member of Cruise Critic (1995)

Over 12000 posts eliminated in three conversions0

 

 

 

It is important on cruisecritic for all members to have access to what is going on. We all appreciate the efforts of the moderators for allowing this information to be available to all.

MacDuff

 

According to most of the posters returning my report was correct. I stand behind it which came from another well known cruise board and the operator of that board and newsletter. No further comment will be made on this subject by me to this poster. It is really a shame that you have to try and find one line from a post to go back and try and correct something that was written over two weeks ago. The line you reported doesn't even dispute what I reported and additionally several other posters have confirmed what I wrote.

[dkjretired]

with all the Christmas going on at the house.

 

MacDuffs report and attempt at correcting my post is absolutely incorrect. This is old news and was reported by me and several others correctly in another thread about this cruise.I have included a link to that thread below. The info posted by me at the time and in the further thread provided info that the engineers were on board during this cruise, repaired the part, tested it and the rest of the cruise went fine. That is what the posters in this thread are saying and that is what I reported. I would refer MacDuff to Laura's comments about stirring things for no reason over the same problem. The second link below is to Lauras post.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=456728

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=452177

[C 2 C]

Thanks for the updates and posts concerning Infinity. We are booked for the Feb 25 th cruise from BA B2B to Florida. I would appreciate any contact information anyone has for non-Celebrity tours. Advice on times to wake up for viewing the cruise itself from the top lounge would also be great.

[Liat]

Thanks for the updates and posts concerning Infinity. We are booked for the Feb 25 th cruise from BA B2B to Florida. I would appreciate any contact information anyone has for non-Celebrity tours. Advice on times to wake up for viewing the cruise itself from the top lounge would also be great.

 

Arno: Did you already try to get Patrick Watts on the Falkland Islands?

Also - in Puerto Montt, contact Aqua Motion tours [http://www.aqua-motion.com] for good tours in that area. It is a German company that provided us a great river raft experience when we were there on Mercury in January 2002; and they are still in business. There are a number of tours in Punta Arenas, but I can't recall the name of the one we used. Abova all, in Ushuaia, do not take the Train to the End of the World. It is a total rip off.

Have a great cruise;

Phil & Edith

[C 2 C]

Arno: Did you already try to get Patrick Watts on the Falkland Islands?

I tried but he was already booked. Thanks for the info.

[tak2]

Abova all, in Ushuaia, do not take the Train to the End of the World. It is a total rip off.

Have a great cruise;

Phil & Edith

 

What else would you suggest? I do not plan on any adventure tours, but moderate walking is fine.

Thanks.

[Raining in Cancun]

According to most of the posters returning my report was correct. I stand behind it which came from another well known cruise board and the operator of that board and newsletter.

 

I asked my Travel Agent for additional information after my husband read an article In the Miami Herald a few weeks ago about problems with the Infinity. After not being able to reassure me she suggested I call Celebrity myself and also referred me to this forum. I too am on the 12/30/06 Infinity cruise and am concerned about what I have been reading on this forum. The reports from those who were on the ship were of reduced speed, delay in arriving in one port and missed fiiords. The reports from those who were not on the ship say everything is fine - how do you know this?

 

What is the name of the other board you refer to and what is the name of this newsletter that you obtained your information from. I would like to at least know what I am dealing with as I cannot get a straight answer out of Celebrity and this thread has me confused to say the least.

 

Thank-you for any light you can shed on this issue. My husband is a real worrier and is quite concerned we are going to have a major problem. I want to set his mind to rest before we leave.

[Captain Cosmo]

Hi again - as someone who was on the ship for the 12/3/06 cruise and watched the "Navigation" channel onboard several times a day I can report that the ship was never able to exceed 20.5 knots at anytime in the cruise, even with the ship was attempting to make up time after a delayed departure from Punta Arenas (due to tender problems). Standing at the stern you could see the difference in the prop wash that showed that the starboard pod was not running as hard as the port pod. So, the pods are working but not in a manner that lets the ship hit its top speed of 22.5 knots. Since I was aware of the pod problems the Infinity had already experienced on her way down from Fort Lauderdale to Chile I was very tuned into the problem and checked the navigation channel several times a day to see what speed the ship was making. My greatest concern with the pod problem for this particular itinerary is that the ship travels great distances between the ports, so the chances of missed ports or delays is greater than when the ship only needs to cruise a couple of hundred miles a day, like in the Carribean or most parts of the Mexican Riviera cruises. I would be the first person to say that the food was greatly improved over our April 2006 cruise on Inifinity, and the onboard service and crew morale was great. However, the pod thing is real and its definitely a factor that one has to consider with the M-class ships.

 

Meanwhile, for tours we used GV Tours in Puerto Mont, very nice and the scenery outside of town is very nice. In Ushia I recommend the "Ushia in Depth" tour. It takes you to the beautiful national park there, makes stops at one of the region's lakes, a sled dog operation, the prison, and most of the highlights of the region. In the Falklands, do the King Penguin tour that is only available from X. Very expensive but a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see King, Gentoo and Magellanic penguins all in one area. In Montevideo, take the 3 hour highlights tour in the afternoon but get off the ship early and hit the Port Market for lunch, where you can choose from a dozen different restaurants specializing in parilla-cooked meats. (A parilla is a method of cooking that involves using only the embers from a large fire built off to the side of the grill area). In Buenos Aires take advantage of the free shuttle to and from the dock to the Galleria Pacifico, an upscale shopping mall in downtown Buenos Aires that is built inside the shell of an historic building. For tours, the Tigre Islands tour was hot and humid but provided a very interesting look at a variety of Buenos Aires neighborhoods as well as the series of little island homes that Buenos Aires residents flock to on the weekends for boating, swimming and relaxation. On the departure day we did the BA tour that gives you the highlights of Buenos Aires and then takes you out to the countryside for an authentic Argentinian BBQ at an estanchia (ranch) owned by a Basque/Argentinian family. Features a show of guacho folk dancing and enough meat to choke a horse! Just be ready for the mess at the Buenos Aires airport when departing - along with most of the 1950 passengers from the ship. The airport is run terribly, with multiple lines and secondary screening at the gate area for US airlines such as Delta and American, with staff that are not familiar with TSA rules that allow you to bring liquids purchased inside the terminal aboard the plane. They were tossing out everyone's bottled water that had just been purchased from a vendor located 20 feet from the gate, and were tossing out all liquids and gels regardless of the quantity. 2.5 hours from the time we entered the building until we had our boarding passes, had paid our departure tax, been screened twice, and finally got to the gate area.

[dkjretired]

Hi again - as someone who was on the ship for the 12/3/06 cruise and watched the "Navigation" channel onboard several times a day I can report that the ship was never able to exceed 20.5 knots at anytime in the cruise, even with the ship was attempting to make up time after a delayed departure from Punta Arenas (due to tender problems). Standing at the stern you could see the difference in the prop wash that showed that the starboard pod was not running as hard as the port pod. So, the pods are working but not in a manner that lets the ship hit its top speed of 22.5 knots. Since I was aware of the pod problems the Infinity had already experienced on her way down from Fort Lauderdale to Chile I was very tuned into the problem and checked the navigation channel several times a day to see what speed the ship was making. My greatest concern with the pod problem for this particular itinerary is that the ship travels great distances between the ports, so the chances of missed ports or delays is greater than when the ship only needs to cruise a couple of hundred miles a day, like in the Carribean or most parts of the Mexican Riviera cruises. I would be the first person to say that the food was greatly improved over our April 2006 cruise on Inifinity, and the onboard service and crew morale was great. However, the pod thing is real and its definitely a factor that one has to consider with the M-class ships.

 

Meanwhile, for tours we used GV Tours in Puerto Mont, very nice and the scenery outside of town is very nice. In Ushia I recommend the "Ushia in Depth" tour. It takes you to the beautiful national park there, makes stops at one of the region's lakes, a sled dog operation, the prison, and most of the highlights of the region. In the Falklands, do the King Penguin tour that is only available from X. Very expensive but a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see King, Gentoo and Magellanic penguins all in one area. In Montevideo, take the 3 hour highlights tour in the afternoon but get off the ship early and hit the Port Market for lunch, where you can choose from a dozen different restaurants specializing in parilla-cooked meats. (A parilla is a method of cooking that involves using only the embers from a large fire built off to the side of the grill area). In Buenos Aires take advantage of the free shuttle to and from the dock to the Galleria Pacifico, an upscale shopping mall in downtown Buenos Aires that is built inside the shell of an historic building. For tours, the Tigre Islands tour was hot and humid but provided a very interesting look at a variety of Buenos Aires neighborhoods as well as the series of little island homes that Buenos Aires residents flock to on the weekends for boating, swimming and relaxation. On the departure day we did the BA tour that gives you the highlights of Buenos Aires and then takes you out to the countryside for an authentic Argentinian BBQ at an estanchia (ranch) owned by a Basque/Argentinian family. Features a show of guacho folk dancing and enough meat to choke a horse! Just be ready for the mess at the Buenos Aires airport when departing - along with most of the 1950 passengers from the ship. The airport is run terribly, with multiple lines and secondary screening at the gate area for US airlines such as Delta and American, with staff that are not familiar with TSA rules that allow you to bring liquids purchased inside the terminal aboard the plane. They were tossing out everyone's bottled water that had just been purchased from a vendor located 20 feet from the gate, and were tossing out all liquids and gels regardless of the quantity. 2.5 hours from the time we entered the building until we had our boarding passes, had paid our departure tax, been screened twice, and finally got to the gate area.

 

Thank you Cosmo for the information. You have confirmed that what I wrote about the ship was correct AT THE TIME I WROTE IT...

[BenLynn]

I asked my Travel Agent for additional information after my husband read an article In the Miami Herald a few weeks ago about problems with the Infinity. After not being able to reassure me she suggested I call Celebrity myself and also referred me to this forum. I too am on the 12/30/06 Infinity cruise and am concerned about what I have been reading on this forum. The reports from those who were on the ship were of reduced speed, delay in arriving in one port and missed fiiords. The reports from those who were not on the ship say everything is fine - how do you know this?

 

What is the name of the other board you refer to and what is the name of this newsletter that you obtained your information from. I would like to at least know what I am dealing with as I cannot get a straight answer out of Celebrity and this thread has me confused to say the least.

 

Thank-you for any light you can shed on this issue. My husband is a real worrier and is quite concerned we are going to have a major problem. I want to set his mind to rest before we leave.

To further clarify my earlier posting. After the first week ,the Infinity was operating at full speed with no pod or motor problems. Take the cruise,its a wonderful experience and the staff on the Infintiy is first rate except for guest relations.

Ben

[Raining in Cancun]

Hi again - as someone who was on the ship for the 12/3/06 cruise and watched the "Navigation" channel onboard several times a day I can report that the ship was never able to exceed 20.5 knots at anytime in the cruise.

 

I'm sorry if I come across as a complete idiot, however I have two people from the same cruise saying two different things. Is there a third person who would care to ring in with the deciding vote? Its not a question of not going as it is far too late for that but we do have private tours booked and it is just a question of what we might expect delay wise into ports etc.. Thanks so much for anybody who is able to answer tonight.

 

To further clarify my earlier posting. After the first week ,the Infinity was operating at full speed with no pod or motor problems.

[Captain Cosmo]

Hi Raining in Cancun - as I said in my earlier post, the ship never exceeded 20.5 knots. It was sufficient to keep Infinity on schedule for the second week of the cruise. As some of you have recalled, Infinity extended its stay in Lima a few days before the 12/3 cruise to work on the pods as she was only making 17 knots prior to coming into Lima. So, some sort of fix definitely improved her top speed but she was still not making full power. Also, when standing near the huge window in the rear of the main dining room on the 4th floor you could feel more vibration than I felt during the April 2006 cruise on Infinity. As you know X does not really share a lot of info about what it does to get the pods working again so its hard to speculate about the actual problem, but the effects were evident in terms of her speed and the vibration factor. I did hear crew members assuring passengers that the pods were fine, so perhaps folks assumed that the pods were running at full speed. At 20.5 knots the ship does feel like its zipping along, so I'm not surprised that people would have perceived the pod problem as being solved. Interestingly, when I asked one of the crew about the Solstice class ships he told me that it will most likely be a convential diesel propulsion system, but then I don't know that the design is that far along as yet.

 

In terms of conflicting posts, I was surprised to read in this thread that the "seas were smooth", given the rough conditions for the first week of the cruise and the fact that several store clerks on board were complaining about a lot of the merchandise having fallen off the shelves and/or falling out of cabinets during the 3rd "At sea" day. So, as always on these boards, a lot of people have different scales to evaluate service, sea conditions, food, etc.

[Fisherman Jim]

Hi Raining in Cancun - as I said in my earlier post, the ship never exceeded 20.5 knots. It was sufficient to keep Infinity on schedule for the second week of the cruise. As some of you have recalled, Infinity extended its stay in Lima a few days before the 12/3 cruise to work on the pods as she was only making 17 knots prior to coming into Lima. So, some sort of fix definitely improved her top speed but she was still not making full power. Also, when standing near the huge window in the rear of the main dining room on the 4th floor you could feel more vibration than I felt during the April 2006 cruise on Infinity. As you know X does not really share a lot of info about what it does to get the pods working again so its hard to speculate about the actual problem, but the effects were evident in terms of her speed and the vibration factor. I did hear crew members assuring passengers that the pods were fine, so perhaps folks assumed that the pods were running at full speed. At 20.5 knots the ship does feel like its zipping along, so I'm not surprised that people would have perceived the pod problem as being solved. Interestingly, when I asked one of the crew about the Solstice class ships he told me that it will most likely be a convential diesel propulsion system, but then I don't know that the design is that far along as yet.

 

In terms of conflicting posts, I was surprised to read in this thread that the "seas were smooth", given the rough conditions for the first week of the cruise and the fact that several store clerks on board were complaining about a lot of the merchandise having fallen off the shelves and/or falling out of cabinets during the 3rd "At sea" day. So, as always on these boards, a lot of people have different scales to evaluate service, sea conditions, food, etc.

 

Thanks Captain Cosmo for clearing that up. Sometimes it is difficult to get the whole true story. Do you know if the pod problem was completely fixed before the December 17 cruise began?