Golden Princess not stoppibg in Victoria

[Hibiscus118]

Does anyone know if the captain will continue on the Golden through the fall? I am paying a premium for my upcoming cruise b/c it has a Catalina stop. If he has a habit of skipping ports, combined with a propulsion problem, I may have to reconsider.

 

 

I'm not sure if he will be or not. I don't think he has a habit of skipping ports because he wants to. We were told he likes to get in early to ports so passengers have a little extra time. But it has not been happening due to propulsion problems. Either way, I'd keep an eye out because they may be fixing the problem in the fall sometime.

 

 

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[scmexico]

Since you were not able to satisfy the PSA requirement does this mean Princess must refund all the money you lost in the casino during this cruise????

[Cruiserkenn]

Yes, Captain Bonmarco is a regular Captain on the Golden. But the problems may not be his fault. We had major trouble, last year, docking in Juneau. The weather was terrible. A tug was standing by, for emergency.

 

On a different cruise, with a different captain, we also had to skip Astoria, Oregon, due to winds. It happens. Better safe than sorry. Remember the Costa Concordia.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

I'm not sure if he will be or not. I don't think he has a habit of skipping ports because he wants to. We were told he likes to get in early to ports so passengers have a little extra time. But it has not been happening due to propulsion problems. Either way, I'd keep an eye out because they may be fixing the problem in the fall sometime.

 

Thanks. I will keep an eye out. I'm thinking Princess might cancel some of the shorter fall repos and coastals to address the propulsion issue.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Better safe than sorry. Remember the Costa Concordia.

 

I agree. I'm not worried about weather as much as a propulsion problem causing a skipped port.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[runnerodb83]

Thanks. I will keep an eye out. I'm thinking Princess might cancel some of the shorter fall repos and coastals to address the propulsion issues.

 

I have a feeling they will just work on fixing the issues during the Alaska season, a ship not sailing with pax is not making any money. Case and point, the Ruby making 2 coastal repos in Nov Dec 2015 from LAX to Vancouver for drydock in Victoria.

 

Astoria and Victora are both difficult harbors to dock, and Princess grand class alaska based ships are larger than their NCL and HAL counterparts. Astoria has a nasty sandbar that makes the navigable channel very narrow. Combined with variable gusty winds and proximity of the active channel, its not uncommon to miss Astoria.

 

Victoria's Ogden point dock is not very sheltered and requires some tight maneuvering to get into dock, especially if there are 2 other vessels.

[SouthernBama]

When my wife and I took the Golden Princess to AK from Seattle on 5/3/14, it may as well not stopped in Victoria as we were late leaving Seattle on 5/3 and late getting into Victoria on 5/9. We chose not to get off the ship as I know many others elected not to do either. What can be done in that situation? Stop for 3 hours or drop the stop and lengthen another (like Ketchikan) further up the line? It's kind of a "danged if you do and danged if you don't " situation, isn't it?

[Colo Cruiser]

When my wife and I took the Golden Princess to AK from Seattle on 5/3/14, it may as well not stopped in Victoria as we were late leaving Seattle on 5/3 and late getting into Victoria on 5/9. We chose not to get off the ship as I know many others elected not to do either. What can be done in that situation? Stop for 3 hours or drop the stop and lengthen another (like Ketchikan) further up the line? It's kind of a "danged if you do and danged if you don't " situation, isn't it?

 

They shouldn't have to change anything, it was put in the schedule in the first place and within the parameters of the ships schedule. :rolleyes:

[SouthernBama]

I'd like to see them be more flexible with what they do scheduling wise. They aren't gonna give us more time, cruise wise, but if they've come down to the end of your week, 10 days, 2 weeks, or whatever, and they're hopelessly behind, I'd rather see them make something more out of one port than shaft us with less at all ports. Hope I made myself clear on that premise :)

[SoCal Cruiser78]

When my wife and I took the Golden Princess to AK from Seattle on 5/3/14, it may as well not stopped in Victoria as we were late leaving Seattle on 5/3 and late getting into Victoria on 5/9. We chose not to get off the ship as I know many others elected not to do either. What can be done in that situation? Stop for 3 hours or drop the stop and lengthen another (like Ketchikan) further up the line? It's kind of a "danged if you do and danged if you don't " situation, isn't it?

 

Yes, it is. In your case, however, if Victoria was the only Canadian stop on a Seattle/Seattle cruise, you would at least have to "touch base" there or be in violation of the PVSA, as I understand it.

[SouthernBama]

Victoria was our only "true" Canadian stop on that cruise but it was also our 1st cruise. They could have been guilty of arson in the 1st and we wouldn't have known it. I still think there has to be a happy medium somewhere that will keep them on schedule and us happy but that may be as unrealistic as expecting Alabama and Auburn football fans to be cordial too :)

[Cruiserkenn]

Victoria was our only "true" Canadian stop on that cruise but it was also our 1st cruise. They could have been guilty of arson in the 1st and we wouldn't have known it. I still think there has to be a happy medium somewhere that will keep them on schedule and us happy but that may be as unrealistic as expecting Alabama and Auburn football fans to be cordial too :)

 

Roll tide! :)

[Vexorg]

I'm booked for the last Golden Princess Alaska cruise of the season (departing September 13th) and there isn't any sort of Butchart Gardens tour on the shore excursions list for that particular sailing. It looks like after September 15th the gardens close at 5pm, so that isn't an option. To be honest, the shore excursion options for Victoria on the sailing I'm on seem to be very limited.

[SouthernBama]

We really enjoyed our trip on the GP and understand it's undergoing a renovation shortly. We would definitely cruise to AK again, on the Golden and your choice of the GP soon to be renovated is good. I'd be happy to share with you the choices we had, when we went through Victoria.....let me know and I'll dig them up for you.

 

Rabitt: ROLL DAMN TIDE :)

Edited July 7, 2014 by SouthernBama

[Thrak]

We missed Astoria on our last cruise as there was going to be a problem navigating the Columbia River. My wife was far more disappointed than I was. I just said, "Cool. Another sea day!"

 

I realize many people cruise almost exclusively for the ports but I really love the sea days. I had someone ask me how I could stand the 15 day SF - Hawaii RT with "all of those horrible and boring sea days". I just grinned and told them it was wonderful.

 

I really doubt the captain will skip ports for trivial reasons. I'm quite happy for him to be the arbiter of what is safe and reasonable. He knows far more about ships, the sea, ports, etc. than I will ever know (or want to know) and I'm quite happy to leave the "driving" details to him. If he should err on the side of caution that is far better than to err in the opposite direction. (We all saw what happened with the Costa Concordia when the captain failed to use due caution.)

[Wuggy19]

We were also on this cruise and felt the skip was BS. The ship was going slow all day - waiting until dinner to tell us was unacceptable. Never mind the lack of alternative plan for on the ship that night - people were just wandering.

 

First princess cruise and will probably be the last.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

We were also on this cruise and felt the skip was BS. The ship was going slow all day - waiting until dinner to tell us was unacceptable. Never mind the lack of alternative plan for on the ship that night - people were just wandering.

 

First princess cruise and will probably be the last.

 

Sorry to hear that. I have booked my first Princess cruise on the Golden, a short coastal, to get a feel for Princess before I book a longer one. Did any of the crew give any info about an upcoming dry dock for repairs? I see no gaps in her schedule anytime soon.

[cdngrl]

I really doubt the captain will skip ports for trivial reasons. I'm quite happy for him to be the arbiter of what is safe and reasonable. He knows far more about ships, the sea, ports, etc. than I will ever know (or want to know) and I'm quite happy to leave the "driving" details to him. If he should err on the side of caution that is far better than to err in the opposite direction. (We all saw what happened with the Costa Concordia when the captain failed to use due caution.)

 

very well said.

 

We were also on this cruise and felt the skip was BS. The ship was going slow all day - waiting until dinner to tell us was unacceptable. Never mind the lack of alternative plan for on the ship that night - people were just wandering.

 

First princess cruise and will probably be the last.

 

some captains are more forthcoming than others on each different princess ship and more than likely each different cruise line.

[Colo Cruiser]

We were also on this cruise and felt the skip was BS. The ship was going slow all day - waiting until dinner to tell us was unacceptable. Never mind the lack of alternative plan for on the ship that night - people were just wandering.

 

First princess cruise and will probably be the last.

 

 

Never cruise Princess again because they missed a port?

[Wuggy19]

No, there were a lot of issues in our group that turned us off from princess.

 

Yes, this will probably be our last princess cruise.

[Thrak]

No, there were a lot of issues in our group that turned us off from princess.

 

Yes, this will probably be our last princess cruise.

 

Lots of other lines out there. Hopefully you will find one that makes you happier. Best of luck.

[SouthernBama]

We missed Astoria on our last cruise as there was going to be a problem navigating the Columbia River. My wife was far more disappointed than I was. I just said, "Cool. Another sea day!"

 

I realize many people cruise almost exclusively for the ports but I really love the sea days. I had someone ask me how I could stand the 15 day SF - Hawaii RT with "all of those horrible and boring sea days". I just grinned and told them it was wonderful.

 

I really doubt the captain will skip ports for trivial reasons. I'm quite happy for him to be the arbiter of what is safe and reasonable. He knows far more about ships, the sea, ports, etc. than I will ever know (or want to know) and I'm quite happy to leave the "driving" details to him. If he should err on the side of caution that is far better than to err in the opposite direction. (We all saw what happened with the Costa Concordia when the captain failed to use due caution.)

 

 

As far as I'm concerned, the port days are for my wife. If she's out of sight of land for more than 24 hours, panic sets in. Which leads me to in interesting dilemma on how to get her to come along on the coast to coast Panama Canal trip I've been working on for a year :) The sea days are what I enjoy, myself. I've figured it out for 35 years now so I imagine I will this time too lol

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

Never cruise Princess again because they missed a port?

 

Some people just have unbending expectations.

 

I feel "heck I'm on a ship and if we stop, we stop". I love sea days (sister hates them) and on a cruise as in life, the unexpected happens. It is up to the person how he/she handles it. If missing a port causes the person never to sail on a certain cruise line again, it makes me wonder how they function in real life.

[Wuggy19]

I find it amazing that someone makes a comment outside the expected norm and the claws come out.

 

No where did I say this ruined our cruise. I said this probably would be my last princess cruise. We had a ball, there were 23 of us, ranging from 12 to 77 and we loved the adventure. We loved the ports.

 

Our major disappointment was lack of communication, from this thread this seems to happen frequently so a better plan should be put in place.

 

Nothing is perfect, life is a rollercoaster - and guess what I love rollercoasters. But I also am entitled to express my opinion.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Wuggy19

[peety3]

Our major disappointment was lack of communication, from this thread this seems to happen frequently so a better plan should be put in place.

How fast was the ship traveling on your way south to Victoria? What were the currents at the time?

 

I'd encourage you to consider the possibility that the ship was making reasonable speed but the currents were abnormal. Or that the chief engineer kept promising a little more speed than what the ship could actually achieve, only to come up short.

 

If the ship thinks it'll make port, should they announce that they might not? At what confidence level do you want them to announce it?