As I have reviewed many of the posts, and recent cruise reviews, I found several comments denoting 'reliability' (is that even the right word?) concerns about several ships. Specifically, I found a review on the Infinity from Shipparade.com by Bart de Boer where he commented how the Infinity had her fair share of reliability problems.

Apparently, from many of the posts I was able to glean that the 'pods' on several ships, were less than desirable, as was the case with the Infinity.

My question to the group is whether or not there is a definitive resource which tracks issues such as this?

My suspicion is there is not. Data of this nature is likely only available through careful examination from other knowledgable individuals like yourselves from message boards, blogs, and the like.

Looking forward to a long voyage with the rest of you!

John

[ 02-08-2008: Message edited by: HondaJet ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by HondaJet:
Specifically, I found a review on the Infinity from Shipparade.com by Bart de Boer where he commented how the Infinity had her fair share of reliability problems.

---

Welcome aboard. I don’t know of a definitive source. However, cruise ships are incredibly reliable machines. They very rarely ‘break down’ as such.

Celebrity did have some problems with Pods on their Millennium class of ships. Some cruises were cancelled and corrective maintenance required. However in the case of infinity this represented putting the ship out of service for a few weeks in a six year career.

Technical problems do not always mean the cruise gets cancelled. I believe Infinity finished her cruise at reduced speed. The passengers are well compensated for any change of itinerary/missed ports.

If you booked a cruise and the ship broke down or was withdrawn, that would be very unlucky indeed! Your car is probably more likely to break down on the way to the port!

If there was a list of the least reliable ships, it would not be much use. The fact that a ship has suffered technical problems once or twice within a year does not reveal anything useful. The ship could go on another ten years without problems.

[ 02-08-2008: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

[ 02-09-2008: Message edited by: dougnewman ]

******

Since this will be a 'grown up' cruise, we have been considering Celebrity, thus my review of the Infinity and reason to scratch my head. Generally speaking, I am not worried about cruise ship reliability at all. However; I am a fairly data intensive guy and was looking for as many resources to check out cruise possibilities as I can.

Some of the recent discussions, particularly the current and next generation of mega ships I find fascinating. Although they are wonderful cities at sea, I do miss somewhat the beauty of ships built in the 60's and 70's such as the Oceanic, Vistafjord, and Clipper Pearl (Song of Norway). Having grown up in south Florida, I was very fotunate as a child to have had a grandfather who was a veteran cruiser and spent many afternoons at Port Everglades or Government Cut watching the ships depart on Satrudays. Maybe it's just me, but so many of the modern ships lack the personality of yesteryear. Mind you, I am not complaining, just wondering if anyone else feels the same?

In the event that you booked a cruise that had to be cancelled, I am sure you would be compensated quite handsomely, but nevertheless it is not something any of us wants to happen!

I know of no other major cruise ships that have chronic problems like these, so if it is really a concern for you you might want to steer clear of them.

Of course there are other Celebrity ships, and indeed other cruise lines as well. If you are really looking for a change you might consider looking beyond the big mass-market cruise lines - as much as they would like you to think differently, they are all far more similar than different (including Celebrity).

quote:

---

Originally posted by HondaJet:
....just wondering if anyone else feels the same?

---

Yes! Most of the time on CT there is at least on discusion about that very subject.

quote:

---

Originally posted by HondaJet:
Maybe it's just me, but so many of the modern ships lack the personality of yesteryear. Mind you.

---

Yes I think we all agree there!

However ships like the QM2 (and even the Queen Victoria) may be relatively new, but they also have there own personalities.

quote:

---

Originally posted by HondaJet:
My question to the group is whether or not there is a definitive resource which tracks issues such as this?

---

There is something which might be close to what you're looking for. It's not a definitive resource. It's run by a mad obssessive professor (I pity his students) who has irrationally got a hatred for the entire cruise industry - I think because one cruise line short-changed him by 50 cents some decades ago, IIRC - and his obssession is, I see, increasingly encompassing the ferry industry as well. It's wildly skewed towards bad news, however trivial - it's about as good an example as one can find of accentuating the negative and eliminating the positive.

But if you still want to have a look after those health warnings: http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html

[ 02-09-2008: Message edited by: Globaliser ]