Technical issues on Caribbean Princess

[GonzoWCS]

There is always a chain of events that leads up to any failure. And in between engineering & operator there are many people who could break any link to prevent a failure.

 

As you wrote, anything made by humans is subject to breaking & hopefully someone breaks a link in the chain of events to prevent any failure. Unfortunately due to a variety of factors that doesn't always happen.

 

Chief attempted to objectively point out that possibility but not everyone is willing to accept that unfortunately things break. And from failure comes solutions to prevent a recurrence & thus a safer system.

 

Well Said.

 

Cheers

GonzoWCS

[traveling2]

I'm amazed that so many people have safety concerns because of reduced ship speed. Had Princess initially offered the current itinerary on the 22 September cruise, they would have no need to reveal the problem.

 

Also I don't recall seeing any mention of problem Impact on max speed. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but according to my calculations, the ship has to average about 20 knots to make the crossing to Bermuda in six days. According to Wikipedia, the CP is rated at 22 knots. So the max speed is about ten percent less than rated. That doesn't seem like a big loss.

 

With regard to propulsion failure, there are many cruise days between now and 22 September for that to happen.

 

 

So I see no reason to cancel my reservation, and perhaps the price will drop before final payment if enough people cancel theirs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[chengkp75]

Using typical port departure/arrival times, the crossing from Lisbon to Bermuda is scheduled for 6 days 12 hours, adding in the time changes, that makes 6 days 17 hours, for a required speed of 17 knots. This is a 23% reduction in speed, but a likely 35% reduction in power required.

 

Since the CB has six diesels (4 large, 2 small), only having two engines down would account for this kind of reduction in power, so it points more towards a problem with the propulsion system, where one propeller can only generate half power.

[licram]

Getting really stressed. We leave on the June 30th cruise hopefully. Have not had any cancellation emails.

 

 

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[jkrislc]

Getting really stressed. We leave on the June 30th cruise hopefully. Have not had any cancellation emails.

 

 

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I'm pretty confident we're going to be fine on our shared sailing. We would have heard something by now. I also have friends onboard right now and the only disruption they've had was the first port because of weather.

[railman]

We sailed on the Caribbean Princess in March 2012 when one propulsion motor failed. We spent most of the seven day cruise tied to the dock with full hotel services. We were given a full refund and a 50% future cruise credit as compensation.

[licram]

Thanks for the reassurance.

 

 

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[Bucket List Bohemians]

Personally, I welcome all opinions and comments on this Roll Call. I do wish the very few snarky interchanges could be less judgemental and more of a discussion, and hopefully ni one will drop off. Selfishly, I am mainly concerned about OUR Roll Call voyage here of Oct. 7. I'm in the "how does this effect ME" mode. My main question is still, will our cruise still go Oct. 7 or will we be cancelled? I hope everyone will remain on the thread and share info. As for the ship engineer who has commented, my questions would be, WHERE is the Florida dry dock? Would the ship need dry dock ? Or can repairs be made Oct 7 between 7am-3pm so we can sail ? As for the civilians commenting, is it true they'd board us Oct. 7 then let us sit in port for days doing repairs, without notice or a chance to cancel? Im still hoping Princess combines the 2 Panama cruises right after our Oct 7 voyage, and puts the ship in dry dock one of THOSE times, not on Oct. 7. We so are looking forward to this cruise. And we especially want the full 14 days. I dont care if the ports are changed. I dont however want 7 sea days.... Please, everyone, continue to exchange info, and stay friendly. We so appreciate this thread♡

[Bababooey Land]

Iv been reading this message board regarding the ship. this my two cents for what its worth. i dont think the ship is experiencing any major problems. The current sailings have been fine, any canceled ports have been due to weather. the ports are very close to each other, ship doesn't need to travel fast nor are the seas that rough. The cruise in question, is the transatlantic. thats another situation completely. ship needs to travel many many miles and possibly through rough seas. Priority for the cruise line is the Safety of guest and crew and getting the ship to the final port on time for the next sailing.

 

Yes, the ship may have a minor engine issue but that may not affect 99% of sailings. unfortunately, it does affect a transatlantic. iv seen ships operate with a minor engine issue, for a long long time before its fixed. Iv seen Celebrity do it. So I dont think this is unusual.

 

I am sure princess has many reasons why they don't or can't fix the problem right now. But if it only affects the transatlantic sailing, I would think they arent in a rush to fix it.

 

just my opinion.

[jovisoul]

Personally, I welcome all opinions and comments on this Roll Call. I do wish the very few snarky interchanges could be less judgemental and more of a discussion, and hopefully ni one will drop off. Selfishly, I am mainly concerned about OUR Roll Call voyage here of Oct. 7. I'm in the "how does this effect ME" mode. My main question is still, will our cruise still go Oct. 7 or will we be cancelled? I hope everyone will remain on the thread and share info. As for the ship engineer who has commented, my questions would be, WHERE is the Florida dry dock? Would the ship need dry dock ? Or can repairs be made Oct 7 between 7am-3pm so we can sail ? As for the civilians commenting, is it true they'd board us Oct. 7 then let us sit in port for days doing repairs, without notice or a chance to cancel? Im still hoping Princess combines the 2 Panama cruises right after our Oct 7 voyage, and puts the ship in dry dock one of THOSE times, not on Oct. 7. We so are looking forward to this cruise. And we especially want the full 14 days. I dont care if the ports are changed. I dont however want 7 sea days.... Please, everyone, continue to exchange info, and stay friendly. We so appreciate this thread♡

 

I'm with you, there is no need for the nastiness that this site continually has.

 

People have legitimate concerns about their upcoming cruises. I am also on the Oct 7th cruise and am wondering how all of this will affect us. We booked this cruise because it was 14 straight days and not returning to FLL in between. I don't mind sea days, but I sure do not want 1/2 of the cruise to be sea days and I surely do not want to sit at the dock for days either.

[chengkp75]

There really isn't a shipyard in Florida with a dock capable of taking the CB, there aren't that many on the Eastern US seaboard, until you get to Boston Ship Repair. They would most likely use the Grand Bahamas Shipyard in Freeport, Bahamas, since Carnival Corp is a part owner of the yard.

 

Whether the ship would need a drydocking or not, I can't say. One poster said a Princess CSR mentioned it, but I take almost nothing as fact when it is technical and comes from a phone CSR. It could require drydocking, or it could be repaired in the water.

[Videopark]

Seems like the Caribbean Princess is not the only ship with problems:

 

Carnival Fantasy Suffers Propulsion Problems : Cruise Law News

 

Another cruise ship experiencing propulsion problems - Detroit News

 

 

Propulsion Problems Slow Carnival Fantasy, Resulting in Cruise to ...

 

 

Carnival Splendor Suffers Power Loss? : Cruise Law News

 

 

Carnival Fantasy Suffers Propulsion Problems : Cruise Law News

 

 

Carnival Cruise Ship Adrift Videos at ABC News Video Archive at ...

 

 

Cruise Ship Problems Today‎

 

 

Seven Most Outrageous Cruise Stories of 2016 : Cruise Law News

 

 

The 8 Worst Cruise Ship Disasters | US News

 

 

These Carnival Owned Cruise Ships Fail Health Inspection, CDC Says ...

 

 

Carnival Cruise Line Swaps Ships As a Result of Carnival Liberty ...

 

 

Cruise Mishaps: How Normal Are They? - The New York Times

 

 

 

 

Enough.

[mamaw58]

Just talked to Princess the shore excursions for Brussels/Bruges should be up by the end of the month.

 

 

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[mamaw58]

Also Bermuda

 

 

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[Iamcruzin]

I have sailed on CB 4 times since 2006. I have been reading about propulsion issues on this ship since I joined Cruise Critic in 2008. I never experienced any issues in 2008, 2009 or 2010. I must have been lucky. With that said I am booked on her again for spring of 2018.

[bananavan]

According to your posts on the roll call thread you have already cancelled. So why keep flogging this thread--just to take a potshot at a ship's officer who is kind enough to provide their perspective? You also said on the roll call you book cruises solely for itinerary, but you obviously despise sea days. So perhaps you should be grateful you learned of these changes before final payment so you could cancel; I still don't get why you booked a Transatlantic in the first place.

 

Why is this your concern?

I do not remember you from the roll call for the cruise that Mike and I were on.

We have every right to be annoyed at Princess and we have every right to express that here.

How do you know that Mike despises (pretty harsh) sea days?

We all have a right to post our thoughts, especially those of us who were actually affected.

[fishywood]

Why is this your concern?

I do not remember you from the roll call for the cruise that Mike and I were on.

We have every right to be annoyed at Princess and we have every right to express that here.

How do you know that Mike despises (pretty harsh) sea days?

We all have a right to post our thoughts, especially those of us who were actually affected.

 

Are you calling it out of line to have also read the roll call even though I am not on that particular cruise? Or have clicked on someone's posting history?

 

But when someone's "thoughts" are so reactionary as to:

 

• Accuse a well-respected member offering an inside perspective of "making excuses"
  
• Accuse Princess of being "deceitful" (pretty harsh) when they made the effort to send notification of the issue before final payment
  
• Call Princess cheap because the goodwill OBC offered was not high enough for their standards
  

...for a cruise they are no longer booked on, then I have the right to reply with my thoughts. Which for that post can be summed up with two letters.

[caribill]

The current sailings have been fine, any canceled ports have been due to weather. the ports are very close to each other, ship doesn't need to travel fast nor are the seas that rough.

 

Leaving early and arriving late tells me there is a speed problem. (The early departure might be due to tides, but when tides are known for a port years in advance of a cruise I am always surprised when a change is made for that reason.)

 

 

Clearly speed, rather than safety, is the issue. I am on the July 24 CB sailing and received the following itinerary change from Princess on April 21:

 

 

Please be advised that due to operational reasons, Caribbean Princess will now depart Cork (Cobh) at 4:30 PM on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 rather than 6:00 PM, and will arrive in Edinburgh (South Queensferry) at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, August 2 rather than 7:00 AM as previously scheduled.

 

In both cases, it appears more time is required to get to the next port. Didn't understand the need for the changes at the time, but now makes sense.

[ToriaT]

Going on this ship in 2 days have received nothing.

 

 

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[maz48]

Going on this ship in 2 days have received nothing.

 

 

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I don't think there would be any problems for shorter distances where speed is not an issue. I hope you have a great cruise and enjoy the ship.

[Cruise Raider]

<<ITINERARY CHANGE

 

Please be advised that Caribbean Princess has experienced technical difficulties which have resulted in our inability to operate at full speed. This in no way compromises the safety of our guests and crew which is our highest priority; however, our technical experts have determined that it is necessary to make the following changes to our itinerary. We will no longer call to Rotterdam, Vigo, or the Azores (Ponta Delgado). Instead, we will now call to Zeebrugge on Saturday, September 23, 2017, and to Bermuda (West End), on Wednesday, October 4. In addition, we will now call to Paris/Normandy (Le Havre) on Sunday, September 24 rather than on Monday, September 25, and to Lisbon on Wednesday, September 27 rather than on Thursday, September 28, and call times have been amended.

As a goodwill gesture, each guest will receive a refundable credit of $100 USD applied to their onboard folio. We regret any disappointment these changes may cause, and look forward to welcoming you aboard Caribbean Princess.>>

 

Oh my, that is a lot of changes, especially for those that have private tours and excursions planned.

I agree with others that it has to do with the propulsion system and that isn't easily fixed on an immediate basis without putting the ship out of commission. At least there is some compensation involved, albeit, for so many changes, I would have expected a bit more ... not a free cruise or anything like that, but maybe double what they have offered. But, the TA's are already quite inexpensive so maybe that is a sufficient amount of OBC.

We were sailing on the Infinity quite a number of years ago and the propulsion system went awry causing us to miss one of our ports up in Alaska. We were given $250 for just missing one port of call at that time (I believe it was in 2007). Since the propulsion system was a known issue with that class of ship on Celebrity, they were suing the manufacturer for the faulty system and so that money they gave to their passengers ended up being recouped down the road. Of note, since they gave us the same short notice they are giving you, we were able to cancel without any penalty whatsoever if we chose to do so. We still went on the cruise however, they were quite late getting into port for embarkation. I hadn't noticed anything being too much different while on the cruise in terms of speed .... the only difference was skipping that one port as they couldn't travel as quickly as previously scheduled. If I were crossing one of the world's oceans, I might have a few more concerns but that might just be me being extra cautious.

[bananavan]

Most TAs are relatively expensive, yes. But this one is still overpriced.

The mini-suites, which we had booked are still showing as $2999pp.

For a shortened itinerary, I think not.

With the concerns about the quality of the food post refit and the dangers of being on a compromised ship in the Atlantic, during hurricane season, we chose to cancel.

We were lucky. We had our air through Princess. Normally I book my own but for the one way ticket I decided to give EZAir a shot. Thank goodness we did. It was canceled along with the cruise. Others were not so lucky.

[chloe45]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in 2006 (Nov I think). The ship was a year 1/2 old. We lost one of the propulsion engines halfway into the cruise. Missed the remaining port because of it.

[Videopark]

Those sailing on the July 24 to the British Isles will see this Itinerary Change under Important Notices in the Cruise Personalizer:

 

ITINERARY CHANGE

 

Please be advised that due to operational reasons, Caribbean Princess will now depart Cork (Cobh) at 4:30 PM on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 rather than 6:00 PM, and will arrive in Edinburgh (South Queensferry) at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, August 2 rather than 7:00 AM as previously scheduled.

[jkrislc]

Those sailing on the July 24 to the British Isles will see this Itinerary Change under Important Notices in the Cruise Personalizer:

 

ITINERARY CHANGE

 

Please be advised that due to operational reasons, Caribbean Princess will now depart Cork (Cobh) at 4:30 PM on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 rather than 6:00 PM, and will arrive in Edinburgh (South Queensferry) at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, August 2 rather than 7:00 AM as previously scheduled.

These changes may be port related as I'm on the June 30th cruise and our itinerary hasn't changed for Cobh, only Edinburgh for an hour. I also have friends on the current sailing, and other than weather leading to the cancellation of the first tender port, their itinerary hasn't been changed.