Cruise Critic is reporting that guests onboard the Celebrity Constellation have reported that they will be overnighting in Key West as the 90,940gt ship is having engine troubles. According to initial reports, this is related to the ships gas turbine engines.
Royal Caribbean Spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez to Cruise Critic:
Yesterday, December 15, Celebrity Constellation became aware of a technical issue with one of its gas turbine engines. Celebrity Cruises made arrangements to replace the necessary component. Regrettably, the installation work has required more time than originally anticipated.
She is expected to sail tonight. The ship is currently sailing of 4 & 5-night Bahamas cruises from Port Everglades.
That may be a bit misleading I feel. I’m sure the Celebrity Millennium breakdown and emergency drydock earlier in the year is fresh on everyone’s minds. If this IS the gas turbines, then this is a completely differnt issue. The ships (Celebrity Millennium Class in this example) all use external pods for propulsion. The propeller on the pod spins via an electric motor inside that pod. That motor is what historically they have had issues with (a thrust bearing in particular). In order to generate the insane amount of electricity to power that motor, ships use generators (in a typical diesel arrangement its an average of 6 per ship). In most cases its Marine Grade Diesel Oil (bunkers) but in this case its gasoline. The Millennium class uses two gas turbines and one diesel generator. Its with one of these gas turbine engines that the Constellation is having issues with.
If there are any new developments I will update this post.