Anyone know if the Grand Princess is "fixed"?

[Jeepsterchick]

We are going Oct. 17th - I assumed it was fixed, but it looks like more than one sailing has had an "adjusted" itinerary?

[Breezey]

We are going Oct. 17th - I assumed it was fixed, but it looks like more than one sailing has had an "adjusted" itinerary?

 

No it is not fixed. We just got off the ship a few days ago and the reason for the adjusted itinerary was because of the engine problems. We received a letter when we embarked, giving us a vague explanation and an offer of $150 credit per person (small consolation but at least none of the ports were cancelled).

 

The ship at times seemed sluggish and there was lots of disappointment when we found out that Mykonos was shortened (the captain announced that the day before we were to be in Mykonos) and that we might get into Naples late (which affected some of the cruise excursions).

 

I suspect they will not fix the problem thoroughly until the cruise ends it tour of duty in Europe.

[Starbright]

I was on the same cruise and felt that the adjustments were very minor. They didn't really affect our enjoyment of the cruise. I expect people who had booked private tours were somewhat inconvenienced by the changes, but we only had Princess tours.

 

Passengers were notified of the shortened stay at Mykonos when boarding. I have the letter in front of me now, so it certainly wasn't only announced the night before.

 

The reason for a possible delay arriving in Naples was nothing to do with the engine problem. It was because of very strong headwinds which were preventing the ship from doing the necessary speed. In the eventuality we weren't particularly late arriving.

 

We loved the cruise and were more than happy to accept the $150 each! :)

[Breezey]

Sorry Starbright. You are right. We did know about Mykonos from the letter we received upon boarding. It was Naples being delayed that was announced the day before. Sorry for the mistake, no need to take out the letter and reprint it to correct me.

 

While I recognize the headwinds were strong, do you honestly think that the Captain would share all the concerns regarding the ship with the passengers? I heard directly from staff who had acknowleged that there still continued to be problems with the ship.

 

Minor or not, for those who have planned this for months, even if it is beyond our control, it is disappointing to have the itinerary changed.

 

Jeeperstick - not to worry, am sure you will have a great trip. The itinerary is great and you will visit some beautiful parts of the world.

[Jeepsterchick]

Thank you for the updates - We certainly will not let it ruin our time. We missed a couple of ports before due to weather, its a bummer - but I could think of worse places to be stuck!

 

If anyone has any new info. please share, I think the Grand does a few more weeks in the Med -

 

Thanks!

[seattlekckckc]

Hello! I am aboard the Grand right now, and while I cant comment on whether we are "fixed" or not, I will say that any problems it had in the past have not affected us ~as of yet~. We are in Santorini today, yesterday was a relaxing day at sea, and before that we hit Monte Carlo, Livorno and Naples ON TIME. Let me also say that whe the capt says he is leaving at 6pm, he is leaving at 6pm! Knock on wood, no delays as of yet. I am holding my breath on Turkey tommorrow, of course. I hope we will get there. If we do not, it is not as a result of the engines, as we are very close right now, according to the map.

 

Wonderful cruise, exhausting but having a great time! We have a GREAT waiter in first seating, and we were very pleasantly surprised to realize that 3 of the people at our table for 7 were from our cruise critic group! We had just met them that day at the embarkation get-together!

 

Any questions about the cruise, please ask. Computers are tough to get at busy times, make sure you go off peak.

 

Casey

[cruzinchar]

I was also on the cruise that just ended last Friday, and I agree, whatever was still wrong, and may still be wrong with the electrical supply to that one engine, did not affect our cruise in the least. We loved Mykonos, so that would have been so cool to have been able to stay longer, but on the other hand, it forced us to go back to the ship and enjoy that a little bit too!

 

When the captain announced at noon during the sea day that we would probably be late coming into Naples the next morning, I went down to the purser's desk and they offered to place a free courtesy call for me so that I could alert my private tour guide to the late arrival. I thought that was nice, especially since I never asked. The captain did say in his announcement that the faulty engine had caused the ship to lose some time while traveling in the heavy seas the night before, therefore causing the anticipated delay. As others have said, though, they made the time up and we were barely late into Naples after all.

 

We were very impressed that Princess had been able to make these adjustments in our itinerary without really affecting any enjoyment.....of course, I didn't have any tours affected, otherwise I might be disappointed. Athens and Santorini were on different days than originally scheduled, and Princess was able to exchange all those tours, which I thought was great.

 

The cruise before ours, when the problem with the engine first occured, was the one that was the most affected, since Princess had little time to make proper adjustments in itinerary.

 

Enjoy!

 

Charlene

[ssbeagle]

We are on the Grand transAtlantic in November and the engine should be repaired by then. Of course, if our cruise gets extended because of slow going that's fine with me.