Continuing the story about Queen Mary 2 in Blohm + Voss dry-docks…
In 2006 Queen Mary 2 made two trips to the Blohm + Voss Repair shipyard, but one was not scheduled at all!
2nd Visit: May 6 to 10, 2006
Pod woes forced Queen Mary 2 back into dry-docks after she suffered damage to one of her four propulsion pods. This happened when she hit ground leaving Ft. Lauderdale as she embarked on a circumnavigation of South America in January 2006. The pod struck a channel wall, forcing the ship to sail at a slower speed. As a result Commodore Warwick decided to skip several calls on her voyage to Rio de Janeiro. Many of her passengers threatened to stage a sit-in protest because of the missed calls, before Cunard offered to some sort of refund. The Queen Mary 2 continued to run on reduced speed and several itinerary changes were necessary, including the cancellation of a return trip to Ft. Lauderdale scheduled for April. Cunard offered passengers who planned to disembark in Ft. Lauderdale to disembark in St. Thomas or to continue on to New York and be flown back to Florida at Cunard expense.
The pod, a so-called Mermaid pod, was damaged to such extend that it had to be removed and repaired by Blohm and Voss Repair. The reinstallation of the repaired pod was planned for the November visit and until then, Queen Mary 2 operated on the remaining three pods. She was dry-docked for 6 days; two subsequent voyages had to be cancelled.
3rd Visit: Nov 12 to 17, 2006
Queen Mary 2 arrived in Hamburg without passengers on board on November 12, 2006 at dry-dock Elbe 17 at about 21.25h for the reinstallation of the repaired propulsion pod which weighs approx. 250 t. At the same time, drencher systems were installed in all of the vessel’s balconies to comply with new safety regulations which had come into effect since the MV Star Princess fire.
Additionally, both bridge wings were extended by 2 metres to improve visibility which was necessary after the ocean liner hit ground. The extension of the left bridge wing is clearly visible in the photo below.
Extension of Bridge Wings Nov 2006
Queen Mary 2 left on November 17, 2006, for Southampton from where she started a Transatlantic passage to Fort Lauderdale and, subsequently, a western Caribbean cruise.
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