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At some point our port aft stabilizer malfunctioned and could not be retracted. Maybe that's why we moored at Lisbon facing downstream while the other cruise ships that we saw all moored facing upstream?
Upon learning of the malfunction, Portuguese authorities refused to let us sail until the problem was resolved.
RCCL flew in divers with the equipment needed to carry out repairs, but they weren't allowed to do the work; supposedly the authorities insisted that it be done by local divers.
After 20 hours of negotiating between the captain, the local authorities and the line's head office, we sailed down the river, anchored off Cascais, and a diver went down and removed the stabilizer fin with a cutting torch. I watched for a while until it got too late, but supposedly a crane mounted on a barge was used to lift away the fin once it was free.
We immediately proceeded, but the remaining 2 stops on the way to Lisbon (Cadiz and Malaga) had to be canceled. Passengers were given $200 per cabin (more for suites, I heard) and the associated port taxes were refunded.
The next day there was a gathering of hundreds of disgruntled passengers in the Grand Promenade. One passenger found a working microphone and started stirring up the crowd, until a group of ship's personnel arrived and took away the microphone. There were also a couple of meetings in a lounge to allow concerned passengers to ask the captain questions, and I heard that he had trouble getting a word in.
In the end we actually arrived at Barcelona early, the evening before the scheduled time.
We had booked an excursion from Cadiz to Seville, which of course was canceled, but it didn't bother us too much; it was mostly the days at sea that we were along for. However, some passengers were very upset, and I heard of some that were calling the cruise their "dream vacation of a lifetime" based on the 2 days that they were supposed to have had ashore in Spain but didn't. I guess they hadn't read their passenger contract where it says that ports can be skipped for any (or no) reason.
Otherwise our cruise was pretty good. The cabin was clean and comfortable, service was good, and food was decent (although cost cutting was fairly obvious in this area).
I hope to submit a proper review and get some pictures posted before long.
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