Tag Archives: lifeboats

Palfinger Completes First Cruise Drydock Since Pandemic

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Palfinger Marine has completed its first major refurbishment jobs since the start of the pandemic, according to a press release.

The job involved servicing 18 lifeboats and 20 winches for the Allure of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International.

To complete the job, 11 technicians from Palfenger’s U.S. service office travelled to Naventia’s shipyard in Cádiz, Spain, where they joined five LSA- and seven refinishing technicians from Palfinger Spain. 

Palfinger’s Florida-based Operations Manager Josh Lozano has celebrated the resumption of major cruise operations at Palfinger.

“Slowly but surely, we were able to resume our work after the lockdown, starting with the first successful service job for the Allure of the Seas,” he said.

Together, the technicians working on the Allure refinished the canopies on 18 lifeboats – which can carry up to 370 people each – and inspected the boats and release gear. 

This work included “cleaning and maintaining the release hooks as well as inspecting the boats according to MSC.402 and other regulations required by class and flag,” the company stated. The jobs took 30 days to complete.

Lozano said that they have also been performing two cruise drydocking in Italy and Singapore, utilizing the company’s corresponding local offices. Additional planned inspections were performed by the company’s UK office.

Explorer of the Seas damage does not affect safety

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Explorer of the Seas damage does not affect safety

The Explorer of the Seas has sustained a bit of damage during a storm, although the Royal Caribbean has said it does not affect the safety of the cruise ship. A large wave smashed into Explorer of the Seas and hit its lifeboats, where one sustained some damage, but seeing as though new cruise ships have more than enough lifeboats, there is still enough for all passengers and crew.

According to Royal Caribbean Blog a huge wave that measured around 40 feet hit the lifeboats on deck four, which you can see an image of above. We would imagine that these passengers were scared when sailing through those rough waters, although it is to be expected at this time of year in certain regions.

We do love a good cruise, but there are areas where we tend to stay away from, choosing to go places where the waters are calmer.

Doors are closed so that water cannot enter the ship during bad weather, but some water managed to get through a sliding door on deck four, which in turn flooded the aft of the deck. Water then came into the Aquarium bar, dining room lobby and flooding down the stairs

There are no reports of injuries and the ship has continued on its normal course.

Lifeboat malfunctions plague Royal Caribbean

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Royal Caribbean vessels drop two lifeboats within as many weeks

A pair of Royal Caribbean cruise ships have been forced to set sail one lifeboat lighter than usual after both vessels were struck by strange malfunctions that caused them to drop unexpectedly into the water.

Legend of the Seas was anchored near Cabo San Lucas when one of the pulleys malfunctioned on November 25th, causing the lifeboat to fall into the sea. It was later recovered and reattached.

More recently, a similar issue plagued Allure of the Seas when it lost a lifeboat near Nassau due to a broken wire.

Cynthia Martinez, spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean, reassured Cruise Critic that “we had enough safety crafts for everyone onboard the ship. …Our ships carry extra lifesaving vessels at all times”.

She added that, despite the fact the occurrences happened within a two week span, it is not considered to be anything more than an unusual coincidence