Unexpected Dry Dock Ends Alaska Sailing Season Early

Celebrity Millennium

2013 Alaska Season

Over in Ketchikan

Celebrity Millennium has been experiencing mechanical problems since early August, resulting in the early termination of its latest cruise and cancellation of 4 sailings ending the Alaska sailing season early for the vessel.

During the August 2nd sailing, the ship was delayed coming into port at the end of the cruise.   The ship made news as it was stranded in Seward during the August 9th sailing for emergency repairs. The ship bypassed all ports, sailing directly to Vancouver.

The final straw was on the August 16th sailing when the ship was stranded in Ketchikan in need of additional repairs.  Celebrity then decided to cancel the four remaining cruises and transition the ship to Freeport, Bahamas where it can undergo maintenance at the dry dock facility.

Celebrity Cruises provided charted air transportation for all passengers as well as compensation for the cancelled cruises.   

This is not the first time this year that Celebrity Millennium has had propulsion problems.   Itineraries were impacted in April (see Celebrity Millennium Itinerary Change).

 Propulsion: 2 × 19 MW Rolls-Royce/Alstom Mermaid azimuth thrusters

The Celebrity Millennium-class were the first of the larger class ships to be introduced to the Celebrity fleet later being  joined by the modern and popular Solstice-class ships.   Propulsion problems have often occurred with the azipod system, which improves maneuverability of the vessel.  In many of the previous cases, problems could be repaired by the onboard mechanics.   When they can't be resolved, unexpected dry docks, like the current one, result.

Hopefully the impacted passengers will be able to return to Alaska another time.  We are certain that Celebrity Cruises made the decision to cancel the remaining cruises after exhausting all other options.

Travel Alert: Computer Problem Halts American Airlines Flights

American Airlines grounds flights until 5pm

American Airlines flights across the country are grounded because of computer problems.

 

American asked the Federal Aviation Administration to halt its flights until 5 p.m. EDT. Flights on regional affiliate American Eagle heading to Dallas, Chicago or New York's LaGuardia Airport have been stopped until 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Some passengers are stuck on planes while others can't make reservations.

American Airlines spokesman Kent Powell said that the airline is trying to resolve the issues as quickly as it can.

The company is providing updates on their website and Facebook page. 

UPDATE as of 3:30pm CDT: Our systems have been fully restored, however we expect continued flight delays and cancellations throughout the remainder of the day. We have made several options available to our customers:

If customers must travel today and are already at the airport, they can rebook on another airline by visiting an American Airlines agent or by going to the other airline’s ticket counter with their electronic ticket number.

If customers must travel today and are not yet at the airport, they can rebook through American Airlines reservations or through another carrier and American will honor the fare difference.

If a customer chooses not to travel today, there will be no charge for reservation changes or a full refund will be provided.

It is important to note we see no evidence that today’s technical outage is related to the tragic events in Boston.

We will continue to provide more information throughout the day as we make progress in resolving this issue. We apologize to our customers and our people for this inconvenience.