Persistent propulsion problems have brought a premature end to Celebrity Millennium's Alaska season.

Persistent propulsion problems have brought a premature cheap airline tickets low cost airfare end to Celebrity Millennium's Alaska season. The 13-year-old ship has disembarked more than 2,000-passengers and is heading to dry dock in Grand Bahama for repairs.
Problems first struck earlier this month when Millennium arrived late into Seward at the end of a seven-day cruise from Vancouver and then remained in port for four days for repairs to be carried out.
Its subsequent return voyage to Vancouver went ahead without stopping at any of the scheduled ports of call in between - though all but 100 passengers chose to remain on board rather than take up the offer of flights home.
Following a further assessment by engineers, the decision was taken to take the vessel to dry dock and charter flights were arranged to fly passengers home or to Anchorage for their pre-booked post-cruise land tours. cheap airline tickets low cost airfare No date has yet been announced for its return to service.
It has not been disclosed if the two power failures were separate incidents or whether they were related. The ship was the first in the world to have a combined gas and steam turbo-electric power plant.
Like its sister ships, Constellation, Infinity and Summit, propulsion and steering is provided by two Mermaid pods - electric motors driving 19-foot diameter propellers and capable of swiveling through 360 degrees. They have caused trouble before; Millennium was out of action for a month in 2009 after a failure cheap airline tickets low cost airfare while in New Zealand.
Cynthia Martinez, director of corporate relations for parent company Royal Caribbean, said: "A mechanical issue has made it necessary to perform unscheduled repairs on Celebrity Millennium. As a result, we have informed guests that we have had to cancel a number of sailings."
Enhancements included new Blu and Qsine restaurants and the creation of AquaSpa staterooms. The ship's winter programme cheap airline tickets low cost airfare includes Australia and a season of cruises in south-east Asia before it heads to Japan and China in April before a return to Alaska in summer cheap airline tickets low cost airfare 2014.
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