Celebrity Cruises passengers intending to depart yesterday on the Celebrity Constellation from Barcelona, Spain are stuck in that port for two days due to propulsion issues, even though the cruise ship just came out of dry dock.
During the recent two week dry dock, two new restaurants were constructed and certain suites were refurbished. The software on the ship which manages the turbines and propulsion systems was also upgraded. But shortly after departure from the dry dock facility in Marseilles, France, the Constellation experienced problems with her speed.
The Constellation was scheduled to sail to Monaco, (where the Grand Prix is occurring) and Villefranche. Instead, the cruise ship will sail Genoa and then resume her itinerary.
Popular cruise media sites are reporting that Celebrity promised to accommodate passengers and pay for meals while they stay in Barcelona over this Memorial day weekend as the Constellation is being repaired. Celebrity Cruises has also promised to provide onboard credit of an undisclosed amount for the missed ports.
Celebrity posted a Facebook message yesterday which reads: "We regret that we have had to delay the departure of Celebrity Constellation, due to depart on 26th May 2017 from Barcelona. Because we need to resolve an unforeseen technical challenge related to the software that manages the ship’s propulsion, boarding for the cruise will be delayed by two days. Constellation will now depart Barcelona, Spain on Sunday, the 28th May."
Since that time, many Guests expressed frustration on social media due to the lack of updates from Celebrity. Many people asked why they could not simply board the ship and stay in their paid-for cabins rather than experience confusion and delay looking for hotel rooms ashore. One answer may be that the ship is experiencing limited electric power generated from her engines, or that the ship may have to shut down her power system in order to perform the necessary repairs. Either way, this raises the issue whether this is simply a minor problem with the software.
Cruise line often characterize power losses and profusion problems like this as "technical issues."
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Photo credit: Megadri – CC BY-SA 3.0, commons / wikimedia.