Passengers boarding Cunard Line’s liner Queen Victoria had no idea they would be embarking on a unique voyage to be remembered with a once-in-a-lifetime vacation experience.
On Monday, January 2nd, the Queen Victoria ship entered an unexpected 2-day drydock for repairs (at Navantia Cadiz, Spain) with passengers still on board.
The liner has been dealing with issues with one of its Azipod blades (propulsion unit) which over the course of several months has been causing disrupting vibrations towards the aft.
Currently, Cunard's Queen Victoria is on a 15-night Christmas & New Year’s Canary Islands voyage that departed on December 23rd from Southampton (England UK).
In a letter to passengers on embarkation day, the ship’s captain Tomas Connery said that Queen Victoria would be going into a dry dock in Cadiz during the voyage.
"This means that unfortunately we will be cancelling the scheduled call in Lisbon on 4th January, and instead you will be in port over two nights to explore the ancient Andalusian city of Cadiz. We shall be arriving there with time to go ashore during the evening of Monday 2nd January and departing on the morning of Wednesday 4th January.
"Whilst in dry dock, our service and activities will largely continue as normal… There will also be complimentary regular shuttle buses to and from the yard to the city centre.”
Instead of shortening the journey and disembarking guests before the drydocking, they will be staying onboard throughout the whole process where shipyard workers are replacing the faulty blade.
In another letter, the ship's captain gave more details, explaining how guests would get ashore and explore Cadiz while the vessel is at the shipyard.
“All guests will be required to use the shuttle bus service between the ship and the port gate, no walking through dry dock area is permitted.
“Guests must stay within the defined foot path between the ship and the shuttle bus pickup.”
At 09:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 4th, all passengers are required to be back onboard Queen Victoria. Shortly after, the gangway is to be removed and the dock flooding process will commence.
The liner is scheduled to sail out of the drydock between 12-noon and 2 pm and is scheduled to arrive back in Southampton UK on time on January 7th.
“We thank you for your understanding as we carry out this essential piece of maintenance, and hope that you thoroughly enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity for most guests to admire Queen Victoria out of the water.”
For more Queen Victoria incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.