Caribbean Princess Technical problems will persist into NEXT YEAR

[canadarocks]

I just cancelled our January 2019 booking. Fool me once.....

[sonomaphil]

Not really, since they are going to have to lose a cruise's worth of revenue repairing the issue whether it is now or next summer. I don't believe that class would allow this to remain unrepaired at the next annual survey after the part becomes available, let alone to the next scheduled drydock in 2019.

 

Wanna bet? If the next dry dock is 2019, that's when they will fix it.

 

Think about it, it's probably cheaper for Princess to give every passenger $50 on every cruise than to cancel one cruise. 3140 passengers X $50 = $157,000 each cruise. How much does it cost to cancel an entire cruise?

Edited August 25, 2017 by sonomaphil

[chengkp75]

Wanna bet? If the next dry dock is 2019, that's when they will fix it.

 

Think about it, it's probably cheaper for Princess to give every passenger $50 on every cruise than to cancel one cruise. 3140 passengers X $50 = $157,000 each cruise. How much does it cost to cancel an entire cruise?

 

Well, it isn't entirely Princess' decision to make. Class has a large input in when repairs have to be made, as well as Port States like the USCG. And as I've said, they have already committed to $5.8 million (those $157k a week for 9 months), which is probably close to the revenue for a cruise, plus the cost savings of not having the ship in operation (no fuel burned, no food and booze purchased), so I don't see that they are making more this way than to do a special drydocking, as they have already committed to refunds for so long a period.

[Palmist]

We're on the Jan. 3 sailing. We received email notice: the OBC $50, change of not stopping in Jamacia, going to Grand Cayman instead, not going to Colon, but Cristobel instead. We've been to Panama once so it doesn't make any difference to us where the ship goes. BUT WHAT IF THE SHIP SUDDENLY STOPS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN WITH ENGINE PROBLEMS? Not a good thought is it? They would have to provide extra entertainment and free drinks all around if we get stagnated. I hope that does not happen to us.

[jerseyaxn]

I think it will be fixed before 2019 we will see its there call

 

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[Corfe Mixture]

I rather suspect that very few of us really understand the significance of the $50.

 

Instead of coming clean and changing itineraries in a timely manner, Princess are continuing to advertise and sell cruises which they well know they cannot deliver.

 

They are doing so with the deliberate intention of subsequently hiding behind their contractual conditions in any legal dispute.

 

And now for the rub. By accepting and spending the $50 OBC compensation, passengers will be, de facto, agreeing to accept the change of itinerary and will not be able to seek any other redress.

 

Now you see the real reason why they are offering $50 OBC.

 

It is not, as some have suggested not necessary, because the contractual conditions already allow them to change the itinerary. It is, I suspect, actually very necessary, from Princess's point of view, as it is a cheap way of undermining folks ability to raise the issue of the delay in communicating the change of itinerary.

 

FWIW. Not relevant to me as I had my flights booked and was committed before the fault occurred. But if you booked an affected cruise after the fault occurred and, importantly, after Princess became aware of the need to change your itinerary, accepting the $50 is probably highly significant.

 

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Edited August 25, 2017 by Corfe Mixture

[bananawindnj]

January 13, 2018 Caribbean Princess

 

 

 

Yes, they are moving St Maarten to the 17th, taking away Antigua, adding St Thomas on the 16th, arriving an hour later at Princess Cays on the 14th and giving everyone $50 OBC.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

The itinerary change prior to the above was cancelling Curacao and adding Grand Turk.

 

 

 

None of the changes are of great importance to us. We're still looking forward to having a GREAT cruise. :D

 

 

 

The same for us. 14 days in the Caribbean on a ship in the winter is what we wanted mainly. We got such a good deal on this cruise, we could never cancel, unless we were forced to by medical issues.

 

 

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[chisoxfan]

Not if you book with a big box company as I had done. They told me they get too many emails per day and can't possibly contact their clients. Many TA"S are really just a booking venue for OBC and do not service the booking.

 

We had a prompt e-mail communication from our big box (NW US) agent.

 

This was for a Jan. 2018 Canal cruise. Frankly the issue not a game changer for us as the new canal was primary goal of our travel.

[mellon1]

Wanna bet? If the next dry dock is 2019, that's when they will fix it.

 

Think about it, it's probably cheaper for Princess to give every passenger $50 on every cruise than to cancel one cruise. 3140 passengers X $50 = $157,000 each cruise. How much does it cost to cancel an entire cruise?

 

Ok, we are scheduled on CB end of Jan 2019 and Feb 2019. When is drydock???? HELP!!! don't want any surprises

[Grego]

Oh I so agree with you!

 

The fact that Princess knowingly and willingly sold itineraries they couldn't deliver is nothing more than a bait and switch hidden behind the passenger contract. Is it legal...yes, but not very eithical and really poor customer service.

 

They also waited till after many made final payment before notifying passengers of the changes to the itineraries. When they knew months in advance it would happen. That tells you there was intent to mislead their customers.

 

Did you notice they are now notifying everyone well into next year? I guess all the complaints on this board did some good.

 

We book itineraries and dates first, then the ships. Minor last minute unforeseen changes happen. This is another kettle of fish.

 

Princess did notify customers before final payment. We are booked on the Sept 22nd voyage and the first announcement of the technical issues was before final payment. The next voyage the CB does after that, which we are on as well, was also announced before payment as were the subsequent ones.

 

Stuff happens and how you deal with it is your decision and be happy with your choice. We are going anyway and will have a great time. The changes are fine with us and if they weren't we would have done differently.....because we had enough notice to do so.

[maz48]

Princess did notify customers before final payment. We are booked on the Sept 22nd voyage and the first announcement of the technical issues was before final payment. The next voyage the CB does after that, which we are on as well, was also announced before payment as were the subsequent ones.

 

Yes, we on the Sept.22nd cruise did get notified prior to final payment, but more recently they have been not been letting cruisers know till after final payment. More annoying for them than for us.

[generaljar]

My brother works for Princess and states dry dock will be Nov26th to Nov30

 

Just checking on this. Nov 26 -30, 2017/dry dock? Is this to fix the propulsion issue?

[phantomII]

Just checking on this. Nov 26 -30, 2017/dry dock? Is this to fix the propulsion issue?

That better be in 2018

[MrMan]

No the point is not the credit, the point is that Princess knew it was not able to complete the cruise as advertized. Consumers (us) in good faith booked this cruise with a non-refundable deposit. They (princess) knew probably in June/July of 2017 they could not get the repairs done until probably October of 2018. We (the consumer) booked what was advertized after Princess knew they could not complete the cruise as advertized on the specfic date. I for one, dont book last minute but plan ahead. Low and behold, they offer $50 cruise credit and point to a contract statement they have the right to do this EVEN THOUGH they knew they could not fulfil the contract as advertized for quite some time and now offer this credit! Sure we all understand when the ship is underway due to weather, issues at a specfic port, etc, you need to make a change and I am ok with this, but come on, they knew of a major issue and did not make the change and continued to advertize the cruise and the specfic ports that this ship was going to stop at. When I buy a car, order a meal, I dont expect, sorry the item you ordered for the car, dinner is not available, they should know that in advance and not let us order the item. To me, this sounds like a class action lawsuite on a contract dispute with false advertizing to the consumers.

 

I have no dog in this, but there is a lot of speculation and "probably" in this statement. One may want to get the complete facts, if one can, before talking lawsuits and false advertising.

[sonomaphil]

Just checking on this. Nov 26 -30, 2017/dry dock? Is this to fix the propulsion issue?

 

It was fake news. There is no dry dock scheduled for the Caribbean Princess scheduled in 2017 nor 2018.

[Northender]

It was fake news. There is no dry dock scheduled for the Caribbean Princess scheduled in 2017 nor 2018.

Thanks. I just checked for my cruise in Dec. and no changes at all.

[dforeigner]

Due to changes with the Christmas holidays with the school district our little one attend, we had to cancel our dream vacation. Always wanted to do a cruise during Christmas. We were booked for 10 days on board the Royal this coming December.

 

Even though we already sailed twice on board the Caribbean Princess, I was thinking about taking a cruise next summer out of FLL. Due to all these issues, we may have to book with either Celebrity or try Y Club on board MSC.

 

It is a shame because we really enjoy cruising with Princess.

[bbjjw]

Just returned from the Dec 10thPanama Canal Cruise. The ship is operating on only one propeller.

[TwoCruisers]

Here is the explanation for the slower speed of the Caribbean Princess.

 

This is from CanadianBurger’s tread titled “LIVE From the Caribbean Princess-New Panama Canal-Dec. 10, 2017”

CanadianBurger posted this on Post #81 on December 11, 2017

 

“Learned a few things about the CB’s propulsion issues after talking to officers today: there is an electrical problem with the motors driving one of the propellers, resulting in a reduced maximum RPM of the propeller shaft. The other side must also be reduced in RPM to match, so the effective reduction in speed is approximately two knots. This is not an easy repair, so the CB will be going back into drydock in May 2019, earlier than originally scheduled, for repairs. This will be an extended drydock, lasting about 30 days.”

[riclop]

Not good at all.

[phantomII]

We were on the Nov 20th cruise. We did get up to over 20 knots as measured by my GPS. That is because we were late leaving Panama so he opened it up as fast as it would go. Most of the trip we were at 18 knots.

[Coolmama_1]

Here is the explanation for the slower speed of the Caribbean Princess.

 

This is from CanadianBurger’s tread titled “LIVE From the Caribbean Princess-New Panama Canal-Dec. 10, 2017”

CanadianBurger posted this on Post #81 on December 11, 2017

 

“Learned a few things about the CB’s propulsion issues after talking to officers today: there is an electrical problem with the motors driving one of the propellers, resulting in a reduced maximum RPM of the propeller shaft. The other side must also be reduced in RPM to match, so the effective reduction in speed is approximately two knots. This is not an easy repair, so the CB will be going back into drydock in May 2019, earlier than originally scheduled, for repairs. This will be an extended drydock, lasting about 30 days.”

We had schedules April 2019 and just got notice of cancellation. Finally getting fixed. We were just on the CB in October and other than shortened times in ports, no problems.

[voljeep]

curious - did Princess offer any compensation for the cancellation that far out?

[satxdiver]

Princess has finally decided to take the CB to drydock and address the problem. I imagine they will do the usual maintenance while there as well. Whether they have to change out the motor or repair it remains to be seen. It is a very large piece of equipment and to replace it probably will require cutting a hole in the side of the ship to get it out. With any luck this will fix the problems permanently with the CB propulsion problem. We were last on the CB in the fall of 2016 for a TA back to North America. While the ship was operating under reduced power, we made the trip on time without any adjustments to the itinerary.

[spookyfudge]

With the ship fixing its propulsion issues, I wonder if the time in ports will change?