Sunday, May 15, 2011

MSC Opera Loses Power

MSC Opera Bridge View                Credit: MSC Cruises
Electrical Power Problem 
Disrupts MSC Opera's Baltic Cruise

UPDATE: May 17th - Guests Disembark and Return Home from Stockholm, Sweden
MSC Opera will resume service next week, on Friday May 27th, cruising from Southampton on a beautiful 8 night Norwegian Fjords cruise.  

MSC Cruises would like to once again thank the Stockholm Port Authorities for their efficient cooperation in assisting both the company and its guests and would like to apologize for any inconvenience experienced. 

UPDATE:  May 16th - MSC Opera's May 17th Cruise Cancelled

Despite having the majority of power restored, MSC Cruises has cancelled the next scheduled cruise so that technicians from STX Europe and the cruise line can examine the electrical system and determine the cause of the failure.   Impacted passengers will be contacted and offered compensation.



MSC Opera lost power Saturday following problems with one of its electrical panels.  The ship was in the midst of  a 10-night Baltic sailing out of Southampton, England when trouble began.

According to a statement from the line, tugboats will assist the 58,600-ton, 1,756-passenger ship, which has been diverted to the port of Nynamshamn, Sweden.  The photo above, from MSC's website, shows  a view from the bridge with tug boat guiding the ship.



Details are sketchy at this time, but it appears that the electrical problem has knocked out at least half of the ship's power, causing a disruption in toilet facilities and hot food service.  The situation sounds very similar to the incident that left Carnival Splendor without power last fall, however in that case, there was a fire.  There is no indication that a fire occurred on MSC Opera.

The statement indicated that passengers onboard the Baltic cruise would be issued a future cruise credit, in the same amount, that could be applied to another sailing through December, 2012.   There is no word yet about MSC Opera's next sailing, which is scheduled to depart next Tuesday.


We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as new information is made available.



1 comment:

cre8ov said...

I was one of the people whose cruise was cancelled. Read how we coped with being stranded in Amsterdam on my blog Delicious www.cre8ov.com