Between 5 April and 20 September, she is due to sail every week from Lisbon to Gibraltar, Casablanca, Agadir, Lanzarote and Funchal, with one sea day. I hope this programme goes ahead as scheduled.

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Originally posted by ahrpd:
Between 5 April and 20 September, she is due to sail every week from Lisbon to Gibraltar, Casablanca, Agadir, Lanzarote and Funchal, with one sea day. I hope this programme goes ahead as scheduled.

Tony

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Originally posted by ahrpd:
Pullmantur's SKY WONDER has reportedly been laid up in Eleusis. Two other steamships, MAXIM GORKIY and IVORY are anchored close by.

Tony

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Let's hope 2009 won't bring about the end for this collection of steam-powered cruise ships.

With the new additions to the Pullmantur fleet, I fear for the future of OCEANIC and SKY WONDER as they are the only steam-powered vessels in the Royal Caribbean group.

Sadly the still stunning ss Oceanic is nearing the end of her commercial service even though she is apparently in excellent operating condition but Sky Wonder has another 10-years of life left in her.

[ 12-15-2008: Message edited by: lasuvidaboy ]

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Originally posted by mike sa:
What is happening with their Mexican venture which is where she was supposed to go to ?

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Pullmantur originally planned to deploy OCEAN DREAM out of Acapulco, but later switched to SKY WONDER. These plans were again changed with the former now their year-round Caribbean ship, while the latter is due to begin a new programme from Lisbon as I indicated earlier on this thread. As far as I'm aware, no ship is now being sent to Mexico. With Pullmantur, however, you never can tell!

My experience is with US flagged vessels primarily sailing in US waters. One vessel makes a nearly 40-hour transit of Canadian water twice weekly, but since no stop is made in Canada, the ship is not required to be SOLAS compliant. Other ships, which stop in Canada are required to be SOLAS compliant even if the time in Canadian waters is much less (around 6 hours each way from Alaska to Prince Rupert).

A SOLAS ship is not necessarily safer than a non-SOLAS ship. The SOLAS regulations are very complex and difficult to interpret.

For instance the US has its Jones Act, the EU has some regs and I would think Aussie and indeed most countries do to.

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Originally posted by gpcruisedude:
I would think Oceanic would find a new home after '09, Sure she is a steamship but I believe she has been quite efficent in terms of operating.

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Originally posted by gpcruisedude:
Sky Wonder did very well on the West Coast of North America all the years she did Alaska in the summers and Mexican Riviera in the winters for Princess and Sitmar. I wonder why Pullmantur would not use her for Their Mexican program she would do very well!

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No you could not as without SOLAS compliance, the ship will not be able to obtain class and thus not obtain insurance.

The AU reference is also incorrect as all nations that belong to the UN abide by SOLAS regs.

Not only is steam propulsion fuel-hungry, it costs more man them as they require more men overall, steam is now a specialty and it is hard to find qualified engineers and more importantly, costly break-downs.

Parts for these propulsion plants must be custom made whether they are turbine blades, boiler tubes, etc. So repairs can be costly and time-consuming.

Even older diesel-driven ships are on their way out, DISCOVERY is a prime example of it taking months and months to machine the parts. It is also very tought to rotate crew in and out of these ships, Orient Lines found it very tough to rotate any engineers between MPO and Crown Odyssey due to the vast age difference.

On my cruise in 200' on Oceanic, it was clear she was not sailing at topspeed....

Exteriorwise very elegant, interiorwise not so, but a very very pleasant ship to sail on. I hope someone will take her over. I am sure they will enjoy her, more than some anonymous more modern ship.

Anyone planning to take a short cruise onher this summer from Valencia? must be pleasant.

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Originally posted by mike sa:
I heard that Oceanic is operating at well below her rated speed etc to avoid any stress on her machinery, she is after all getting on a bit.

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But of course old ships are just more expensive to run, period.

With the exception of the three ex-RVL ships with their new engines, I don't think most pre-1980 ships are long for this world. Most of these ships "should" have been scrapped long ago anyway but were kept around by a very strong market that doesn't exist any more.

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Originally posted by Johan:
I think that Sky wonder had many more breakdowns than Oceanic, at least hers were not so widely known.

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OCEANIC has proven much more reliable.

[ 12-23-2008: Message edited by: dougnewman ]