FWIW According to the Captain of the Century, sailing speed has had an effect on the frequency of pod problems on the M-class ships. A message on another forum states:
"When I asked the Master of Century how he explained the better record of Connie vs the other M-ships.. he responded fewer days sailing at speeds over 19 knots. He suggested that Connie's itineraries are not as demanding as ships that must go faster to make their port stops, especially in Alaska and S America."
What I find fascinating is that Constellation has never had thrust bearing failures that have the other ships have had, and as I recall, Alstom swears the same bearings that were refitted to Constellation before it went into active service are the same ones being used in the other 3 ships. Go figure. It's no surprise that Celebrity/RCCL went elsewhere for their new builds... heck, they're still trying to recover all of their losses from Alstom and Rolls.
Re: the bearings. Many bearing manufacturers in the world now. Used to be that if you needed a thrust bearing, you had maybe two choices. Now you might have 40 choices of manufacturers. Guess what? Some of them are overseas and use steel that is not of a a 52100 class and therefore those are bound to have failures. Of course these 3rd world countries have cheaper prices. Might have something to do with the thrust bearing failure. Most US companies are ISO approved and most of the 3rd world countries can't spell ISO.
Most US companies are ISO approved and most of the 3rd world countries can't spell ISO.
Don't get me started on ISO! It's mostly a system for assuring that you've documented well what it is that you have shipped. It can be junk, but by golly, you can explain exactly how that junk was manufactured and tested!
Back to the point, though -- if it were as easy as using bearings of a better grade of steel, the difference in the bearing cost would be PEANUTS compared to the costs Alstom and Rolls have gone through in drydock costs with these ships! What surprises me is that Rolls still doesn't seem to have a clue as to how to avoid the premature failure. As they're the ones that rate the pods for speed, you'd think they'd have understood that, too, if it were a major factor.
There are different types of ISO and manufacturing facilities have different standards than shipping facilities. All bearings are supposed to be made to AFBMA (anti friction bearing manufacturers association) standards. Offshore bearings do not comply with AFBMA in most cases. I can tell you from a bit of experience, that major bearing failures such as this one are due to : misapplication, misdesign, lack of lubrication, and junk! You can purchase the same bearing in this country ..for instance... a 1" pillow block for approx $3.00 for offshore mfg and the same pillow block manufactured in the US will cost you $50.
If in fact they have purchased a lesser quality bearing and in this case the cost of the bearing might be thousands of dollars less, you get what you pay for.
Since I don't know the history of the beginnings of this situation, I wouldn't presume to know what is really wrong.
My question to them would be.....When this was designed and first ran, how long did it run before problems began to arise? Did the manufacturer of the thrust bearing change?
Bearing manufacturers of quality items will warrant their products, but only if they are used properly.
Celebrity has had years to figure this out. I can't imagine that everything we have mentioned hasn't been thoroughly investigated and whatever is needed to make a permanent fix discovered. The whole freakin pod assembly could have been replaced for, I would guess, less than what has been spent already. The Radiance class ships of RCCL are on the same hull as the Millie class ships. If I'm not mistaken they use a different pod system and they have been relatively trouble free.
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It's mostly a system for assuring that you've documented well what it is that you have shipped. It can be junk, but by golly, you can explain exactly how that junk was manufactured and tested!
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