Is Caribbean Princess going to be late into Houston this morning?

[satxdiver]

We boarded the CB yesterday. We drove to the port arriving at 10:30, unloaded our checked luggage and were able to quickly get checked in and sent to the lounge to wait. They did have a wine table set up and allowed our 4 bottles to pass since we are on a B2B. Our sea cards are for the entire two weeks. We were on the CB by 11:45 AM. Lunch was in the MDR and was great per usual. Also per usual the CB staff denied that a MDR was open for lunch! Not much changes! I will post any problems that may arise like happened last week. We were told by a ship officer that last week the CB had to skip PC due to high winds making conditions too hazardous for the tenders. Off now for the pub lunch.

[Paula_MacFan]

I will post any problems that may arise like happened last week. We were told by a ship officer that last week the CB had to skip PC due to high winds making conditions too hazardous for the tenders.

 

Here is the letter we received in our cabin mail box last week while on CB:

(I will be happy to scan it and post as PDF tomorrow when I get back to work; it's on Princess letterhead)

 

February 24, 2016

 

Dear Princess Guest:

 

We hope you are enjoying your cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess.

 

I wish to advise you of a change to our scheduled itinerary. We are experiencing a technical issue with one of our diesel generators. While this in no way affects the safety of our guests and crew, which is our highest priority, it does restrict our ability to operate at full speed,

 

As a result, we need to allow more time for the passage back to Houston, which would result in our need to shorten our call to Princess Cays. However, the latest weather forecasts for tomorrow now predict strong winds from the west affecting the sea conditions off the harbor at Princess Cays, making it likely that conditions will be unfavorable to running a tender operation.

 

Given these factors, and to provide you with a full day in port, we have made the decision to cancel our call to Princess Cays. Instead, we will now call to Nassau from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM tomorrow, Thursday, February 25, 2016.

 

For those guests with shore excursions booked for Princess Cays, your shipboard folio will be credited automatically and pre-paid shore excursions refunded. There is no need to visit the Shore Excursions Deck or the Passenger Services Desk for a refund.

 

We regret any disappointment these changes may cause, and thank you for your patience and understanding. My officers, crew, and I look forward to continuing to serve you on our voyage together.

 

Best regards,

 

Captain Giorgio Pomata

 

He also read this same letter over the loud speaker the night before.

[232271]

Here is the letter we received in our cabin mail box last week while on CB:

(I will be happy to scan it and post as PDF tomorrow when I get back to work; it's on Princess letterhead)

 

February 24, 2016

 

Dear Princess Guest:

 

We hope you are enjoying your cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess.

 

I wish to advise you of a change to our scheduled itinerary. We are experiencing a technical issue with one of our diesel generators. While this in no way affects the safety of our guests and crew, which is our highest priority, it does restrict our ability to operate at full speed,

 

As a result, we need to allow more time for the passage back to Houston, which would result in our need to shorten our call to Princess Cays. However, the latest weather forecasts for tomorrow now predict strong winds from the west affecting the sea conditions off the harbor at Princess Cays, making it likely that conditions will be unfavorable to running a tender operation.

 

Given these factors, and to provide you with a full day in port, we have made the decision to cancel our call to Princess Cays. Instead, we will now call to Nassau from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM tomorrow, Thursday, February 25, 2016.

 

For those guests with shore excursions booked for Princess Cays, your shipboard folio will be credited automatically and pre-paid shore excursions refunded. There is no need to visit the Shore Excursions Deck or the Passenger Services Desk for a refund.

 

We regret any disappointment these changes may cause, and thank you for your patience and understanding. My officers, crew, and I look forward to continuing to serve you on our voyage together.

 

Best regards,

 

Captain Giorgio Pomata

 

He also read this same letter over the loud speaker the night before.

 

Do you know if the engine was fixed OR how high the winds speeds were that kept you out?

[Paula_MacFan]

Do you know if the engine was fixed OR how high the winds speeds were that kept you out?

 

I posted earlier that the next day we attended the Senior Officer navigational talk, and he said it would take about a week to fix the generator while underway. I do not know exactly how high the winds were, but the forecast was for 20 mph and it was quite breezy that day. I think the bridge report on the TV said 30 knots?

[satxdiver]

We were told by a ship officer that Captain Pomata will be leaving the ship in Roatan and that his replacement came aboard in Houston. The captain has ended his current assignment and will be going to further mariner training.

[Paula_MacFan]

See attached letter from Princess regarding Nassau subbed for Princess Cays.

Princess letter.pdf

[eclue]

Do you know who is replacing Captain Pomato ?- Capt Pomato just replaced Capt Nash in January.....seems to be a lot of replacing on the CB......

 

eclue:rolleyes:

[DebJ14]

We boarded the CB yesterday. We drove to the port arriving at 10:30, unloaded our checked luggage and were able to quickly get checked in and sent to the lounge to wait. They did have a wine table set up and allowed our 4 bottles to pass since we are on a B2B. Our sea cards are for the entire two weeks. We were on the CB by 11:45 AM. Lunch was in the MDR and was great per usual. Also per usual the CB staff denied that a MDR was open for lunch! Not much changes! I will post any problems that may arise like happened last week. We were told by a ship officer that last week the CB had to skip PC due to high winds making conditions too hazardous for the tenders. Off now for the pub lunch.

 

That happened to us on the Emerald in 2015 when all staff denied that a MDR was open for lunch. On the CB in January 2016 we were handed a paper at check in with all the lunch options listed, including the MDR that was open. Surprised they tried to pull that one on you.

[TNTLAMB]

Do you know who is replacing Captain Pomato ?- Capt Pomato just replaced Capt Nash in January.....seems to be a lot of replacing on the CB......

 

eclue:rolleyes:

 

 

There are several officers and senior hotel staff on the CB who have their families with them and do 3 month rotations. Met with a group doing a home school project together last week.

[satxdiver]

Captain Nicolo Bommarco has taken command of the CB as of today. One thing I have noticed around the pool areas is that the deck attendants periodically go around and take towels off of vacant loungers. Thus far everything has been on schedule. Tomorrow is Belize. There has been an alcohol collection table present at both ports of call so far and very unbusy.

Edited March 3, 2016 by satxdiver

[Colo Cruiser]

 

[232271]

Where can we check for traffic closures this weekend??

[babygrljaz]

it should be on Transtar

 

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/roadclosures/

Edited March 3, 2016 by babygrljaz

[satxdiver]

The CB left Belize an hour late due to late returning ship excursion. I was on the late returning trip to the far flung Mayan ruins 1 mile from Guatemala. I did learn though that the ship anchors 5 miles off the arrival pier. We had 3 other ships with us today. Tomorrow is the circle party.

[jedwards01]

The CB left Belize an hour late due to late returning ship excursion. I was on the late returning trip to the far flung Mayan ruins 1 mile from Guatemala. I did learn though that the ship anchors 5 miles off the arrival pier. We had 3 other ships with us today. Tomorrow is the circle party.

 

What is a circle party?

[jedwards01]

The CB left Belize an hour late due to late returning ship excursion. I was on the late returning trip to the far flung Mayan ruins 1 mile from Guatemala. I did learn though that the ship anchors 5 miles off the arrival pier. We had 3 other ships with us today. Tomorrow is the circle party.

 

Love reading your posts. thanks for them.

[Colo Cruiser]

 

[StLouisCruisers]

What is a circle party?

 

The Captain's Circle party, for those passengers with two or more Princess cruises.

[satxdiver]

What is a circle party?

 

The circle party I am referring to is for pax who are platinum and elite. The captain and others speak and then the three pax aboard with the most days spent on a Princess ship are given awards (champagne) and recognition. The party was Friday night. The 3 longest sailing pax were 1235 days, 665 days and 587 days on a Princess ship. One was a single male and one a single female with the last one being a married couple. For those interested there are 257 elite, 569 platinum, 614 gold and 319 ruby members aboard this cruise. Cocktails are passed out during the party which makes it rather nice.

[satxdiver]

We are on the CB as I write this and will stay aboard for the next week cruise to KW, Freeport and PC. We have been notified however that the ship will not be going to PC but rather Nassau due to a generator problem. It is the same problem that prevented the cruise last week from going to PC so it appears that the problem has not been resolved. The ship has 6 generators but the loss of this generator (or maybe just low output) prevents the ship from running at top speed of about 22 knots or so. We currently are running at 18 knots back to Houston to arrive Sunday morning.

 

We have been to PC many times with the last time last month so no big loss while we have never been to Nassau. Looks like it has worked out to our favor.

[232271]

We are on the CB as I write this and will stay aboard for the next week cruise to KW, Freeport and PC. We have been notified however that the ship will not be going to PC but rather Nassau due to a generator problem. It is the same problem that prevented the cruise last week from going to PC so it appears that the problem has not been resolved. The ship has 6 generators but the loss of this generator (or maybe just low output) prevents the ship from running at top speed of about 22 knots or so. We currently are running at 18 knots back to Houston to arrive Sunday morning.

 

We have been to PC many times with the last time last month so no big loss while we have never been to Nassau. Looks like it has worked out to our favor.

 

I understand your view, but to those of us who wanted to go to PC, having been to Nassau many, many times, it's a tad disappointing. I know we will still have fun. But now it'll cost me more, PC was free for me, LOL, Nassau is pricey because we like Atlantis. :D

Edited March 5, 2016 by 232271

[Paula_MacFan]

We are on the CB as I write this and will stay aboard for the next week cruise to KW, Freeport and PC. We have been notified however that the ship will not be going to PC but rather Nassau due to a generator problem. It is the same problem that prevented the cruise last week from going to PC so it appears that the problem has not been resolved. The ship has 6 generators but the loss of this generator (or maybe just low output) prevents the ship from running at top speed of about 22 knots or so. We currently are running at 18 knots back to Houston to arrive Sunday morning.

 

We have been to PC many times with the last time last month so no big loss while we have never been to Nassau. Looks like it has worked out to our favor.

 

At least you are getting a week's notice. We found out onboard the night before, so people were scrambling to make shore arrangements. There were 5 ships in port, so that's 15,000 people potentially getting off at the same time (all the ships arrived within an hour or so of one another). We talked to some people who went to Atlantis on a last-minute ship-sponsored excursion, but they didn't have access to most of the amenities, due to the large number of people who had already booked from other ships. Their excursion tickets literally said 'no beach, slides, etc access'.

 

We had a nice day and took a snorkel excursion. It was a nice stop, but we were disappointed we didn't get to go to PC since we've never been before. Still, we appreciated that Princess made arrangements for a port stop and not a 3rd consecutive sea day.

[satxdiver]

Seems the generator problem is an ongoing issue and will impact our cruise this coming week. All it seems to impact though is the ability to run at full speed. Let us hope it stays that way.

 

We were told that the CB is going into dry dock next year for 9 days. They have been working around the ship doing upgrades and repairs. The glass door on the mid-ship lido deck that faces the video screen is being removed and is all boarded up for now. We have heard them in there working on it. As a result there is only one door out from the mid-ship elevator bank on the lido deck which has led to traffic jams of pax getting off while others are trying to get on the elevators.

 

We are currently 90 NM from Houston according to the TV. We just passed the NCL ship headed south from Bayport.

[caribill]

We are on the CB as I write this and will stay aboard for the next week cruise to KW, Freeport and PC. We have been notified however that the ship will not be going to PC but rather Nassau due to a generator problem. It is the same problem that prevented the cruise last week from going to PC so it appears that the problem has not been resolved. The ship has 6 generators but the loss of this generator (or maybe just low output) prevents the ship from running at top speed of about 22 knots or so. We currently are running at 18 knots back to Houston to arrive Sunday morning.

 

We have been to PC many times with the last time last month so no big loss while we have never been to Nassau. Looks like it has worked out to our favor.

 

The distance from PC to Nassau is about 61 nautical miles.

 

I am surprised this relatively small distance means that PC must be skipped unless Princess hopes to have the problem worked on while docked in Nassau.

 

The distance from Freeport, the scheduled stop before PC, to PC is approximately 160 nautical miles which, in the 14 hours scheduled between departure from Freeport and arrival at PC, can be achieved traveling at 11.5 knots.

[232271]

Is the reboard time in port, 30 minutes before the schedule leave time?