Wondered on this myself so did some digging and found out the azipod helps the propulsion system. Apparently when one is on the fritz their speed is slowed from 24 to 19 knots max. I leave on Saturday for the Seahawks Mexican Riviera cruise and we received notice a couple of port calls were being cut short and we would receive a $25 onboard credit. I think this is probably because of this problem.
I thought that I had read on a thread at some point that it was supposed to be fixed in March or April and was hoping someone knew if this was still the case. HawkerBacker & Reenie1 please let me know after your trip if you were able to find out any info. on this. Heading to Alaska in June....I am a teacher of students with autism and we have been talking about Titanic for the last 3 weeks. Needless to say I know more about the whole iceberg/ sinking thing than I would like. Occupation hazard....Want this ship to be in top shape for our visit.....
I just spoke with Kelly at HAL concerning the Oosterdam azipod problem, and he said it had finally been repaired! We are Alaska bound next month and this was a concern to us.