Cunard Line’s Cruise ship, Queen Victoria had to dry dock in the midst of one of its cruises. The ship docked for essential maintenance during its 15-night Canary Island Celebration cruise.
The ship boarded passengers for this cruise on December 23rd in Southampton, England. The passengers were informed upon embarkation that the ship would be entering dry dock and, hence the scheduled call to Lisbon, Portugal on January 4th would be canceled. All the pre-booked shore excursions at Lisbon were canceled and refunded.
The ship entered the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Spain on January 2nd and was held there for repairs for 2 days.
One of the ship’s Azipod engines was causing excessive noise and vibrations. A blade on the engine needed replacing, for which the ship had to be drydocked. None of the safety features or the hotel and guest operations were impacted.
While the ship was in Drydock, a complimentary shuttle service to the Downtown area was provided to the passengers. It was also a rare opportunity for the passengers to view the ship out of water.
The dock was flooded on the morning of January 4th following which it set sail and resumed its journey to Southampton.
The express repairs while the passengers are onboard are unusual but not unprecedented. The AIDA Bella too was dry-docked at the Navantia shipyard back in 2017 and was held for 30 hours for repairs. Costa Cruises also docked one of its cruise ships a few years ago at Marseilles.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
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