The worst cruise we have experienced.

[vjmatty]

On 7/26/2022 at 12:38 PM, kcmufan said:

Sorry. I don't spend all of my time on CC. I posted the comments to let others know about our bad experience. Also, the thread was locked and i was unable to respond until i contacted CC.

Thank you for following up….and sorry some people were nasty, we’re kind of a tough crowd. Most didn’t realize your post was originally in the review section which doesn’t require further comments. It took guts coming back and answering so many posts after some of the reactions.

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, gepgelmik said:

I was on the Caribbean Princess July 9th to 16th and posted about how terrible a time I had because the AC and cold water didn't function in my room, D 223. The internet didn't work properly either. As a result, I am likely to look into cruises on another line in the future.

I wouldn't be to quick to right off the whole cruise line because of a bad experience with one of their older ships. The newer ships do not have those problems (except for a poor satellite connection depending on the ship location)

[dog]

I was on Discovery Princess in an aft facing corner suite and had trouble with the toilet not flushing for the 4 days. May 2022.

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, dog said:

I was on Discovery Princess in an aft facing corner suite and had trouble with the toilet not flushing for the 4 days. May 2022.

 

Ouch ... that would be a hard room to move from, too.  Except, a flushing toilet is a must have amenity.  We were on the Ruby in a starboard side room just forward from the aft stairs on the Caribe deck.  Two days of toilet issues and I was out.  Luckily, it was during the reduced capacity sailings so there were plenty of other comparable rooms available.  Plus, we got to meet one of the most wonderful guest services staff members and we had an ally from that moment forward.  

[dog]

35 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Ouch ... that would be a hard room to move from, too.  Except, a flushing toilet is a must have amenity.  We were on the Ruby in a starboard side room just forward from the aft stairs on the Caribe deck.  Two days of toilet issues and I was out.  Luckily, it was during the reduced capacity sailings so there were plenty of other comparable rooms available.  Plus, we got to meet one of the most wonderful guest services staff members and we had an ally from that moment forward.  

Cabin steward must have got it working  when we were out, but problem continued each day. No smell., or overflow.

had same issues on several princess ships, but never as bad as OP. 

[Cruise Raider]

5 minutes ago, dog said:

Cabin steward must have got it working  when we were out, but problem continued each day. No smell., or overflow.

had same issues on several princess ships, but never as bad as OP. 

 

No smell in ours either ... luckily, because there was overflow.  Our room steward told me not to use the toilet anymore.  I said, you mean until the end of the cruise???  Not going to happen!!  I marched right down to the guest services desk and told them that was unacceptable but in a nice way.  I know our room steward was upset about us moving rooms but it was so nice to be in a cabin where everything worked.  We booked that same (new) cabin three more times since then.  The toilet worked, the hairdryer worked, the safe worked, the TV worked ... 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 7/27/2022 at 1:38 PM, gepgelmik said:

As a result, I am likely to look into cruises on another line in the future.

I simply recommend sailing on a newer Princess ship. Royal and above. I mean - if you like what Princess has to offer in general, of course. But trying out other lines is also nice. Just make sure to book newer ships.

[vjmatty]

4 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I simply recommend sailing on a newer Princess ship. Royal and above. I mean - if you like what Princess has to offer in general, of course. But trying out other lines is also nice. Just make sure to book newer ships.

 

And if you're going to book those newer ships, book early if you want a normal balcony and not a ledge built for Spiderman.

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

 

And if you're going to book those newer ships, book early if you want a normal balcony and not a ledge built for Spiderman.

😳 Thank you!  I needed a laugh today!

[nini]

1 hour ago, vjmatty said:

 

And if you're going to book those newer ships, book early if you want a normal balcony and not a ledge built for Spiderman.

I love how you described those "imitation balconies"!

Edited July 28, 2022 by nini

[seastheday]

So sorry for your lousy experience. We sailed on CB in Feb 2019, somewhat against my better judgment as I knew it was an older ship without a really stellar reputation. Even then the plumbing issues were apparent (unpleasant odors) and then norovirus broke out and we returned to Port Everglades three days early. I learned my lesson the hard way, as did you…the older ships are not a great choice these days. Again, sorry for the bad anniversary “gift”.

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, seastheday said:

So sorry for your lousy experience. We sailed on CB in Feb 2019, somewhat against my better judgment as I knew it was an older ship without a really stellar reputation. Even then the plumbing issues were apparent (unpleasant odors) and then norovirus broke out and we returned to Port Everglades three days early. I learned my lesson the hard way, as did you…the older ships are not a great choice these days. Again, sorry for the bad anniversary “gift”.

Nevermind

Edited July 28, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[caribill]

On 7/27/2022 at 8:50 PM, dog said:

I was on Discovery Princess in an aft facing corner suite and had trouble with the toilet not flushing for the 4 days. May 2022.

 

Think of an apartment house on land with 1330 apartments.

 

Do you think the building could go a week without any repairs being needed to any of the apartments?

 

A cruise ship with 1330 cabins is like an onshore apartment house except any needed repairs must be dealt with by onboard personnel using available parts.

[dog]

4 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Think of an apartment house on land with 1330 apartments.

ok

4 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Do you think the building could go a week without any repairs being needed to any of the apartments?

ok

4 hours ago, caribill said:

 

A cruise ship with 1330 cabins is like an onshore apartment house except any needed repairs must be dealt with by onboard personnel using available parts.

ok

May 4-8/22 sailing, new ship,

 

less then 1800 passengers was a great cruise for us.

 

our cabin steward was wonderful. 

[kcmufan]

Update:

I sent emails to Collin Steinke and Mario Siebaldi on July 26th. Neither one has responded or acknowledged my communication.

Guess none of them care....

[PacnGoNow]

11 minutes ago, kcmufan said:

Update:

I sent emails to Collin Steinke and Mario Siebaldi on July 26th. Neither one has responded or acknowledged my communication.

Guess none of them care....

That’s too bad.  Did you send it to Jan Swartz too?  Her team always seemed to respond. Not sure in the last few months though.

 

JSwartz@Princesscruises.com

[suzyed]

5 hours ago, kcmufan said:

Update:

I sent emails to Collin Steinke and Mario Siebaldi on July 26th. Neither one has responded or acknowledged my communication.

Guess none of them care....

I never heard those names...who are they?

[dogm]

We just got off 7/19 cruise on Caribbean Princess.  We had cabin D229 and my son and DIL had D227.  We had disgusting sewage smell all 7 days! Also had LOUD banging on pipes directly below our cabins for 5 out of 7 days.  ALL MORNING that banging!   No response from Customer Service.  It's a shame that they cannot fix this or respond to their customers.   Will not be going on that ship again! 

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, dogm said:

We just got off 7/19 cruise on Caribbean Princess.  We had cabin D229 and my son and DIL had D227.  We had disgusting sewage smell all 7 days! Also had LOUD banging on pipes directly below our cabins for 5 out of 7 days.  ALL MORNING that banging!   No response from Customer Service.  It's a shame that they cannot fix this or respond to their customers.   Will not be going on that ship again! 

I see you've learned your lesson. 

Stick with the newer ships which can minimize problems like that. 

[prmssk]

6 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

I see you've learned your lesson. 

Stick with the newer ships which can minimize problems like that. 

This isn't just an old ship vs. new ship problem.  I sail other lines and never have I heard problems to this extent and this ongoing with any of their older like I have with this and other Princess ships.  I commented to one of my travel companions who mostly travels Princess while I was on the Caribbean Princess at how many public toilets and faucets were out of use and her response was that it's just normal.  That is not normal on other lines that maintain their ships better.  And I'm not saying other cruise lines never have maintenance issues but they just aren't this widespread and go unresolved for so long.

 

I generally agree that you shouldn't judge a whole cruise line by one cruise experience but sometimes that one cruise experience is actually a representation of how the cruise line handles problems and in this case how well they maintain ships.

 

After we sailed the Emerald in February, we cancelled our cruise on the Crown that was supposed to take us to Hawaii next year.  Our experience on the Caribbean in June just confirmed that was the right decision.

[Triptkr]

7 minutes ago, prmssk said:

This isn't just an old ship vs. new ship problem.  I sail other lines and never have I heard problems to this extent and this ongoing with any of their older like I have with this and other Princess ships.  I commented to one of my travel companions who mostly travels Princess while I was on the Caribbean Princess at how many public toilets and faucets were out of use and her response was that it's just normal.  That is not normal on other lines that maintain their ships better.  And I'm not saying other cruise lines never have maintenance issues but they just aren't this widespread and go unresolved for so long.

 

I generally agree that you shouldn't judge a whole cruise line by one cruise experience but sometimes that one cruise experience is actually a representation of how the cruise line handles problems and in this case how well they maintain ships.

 

After we sailed the Emerald in February, we cancelled our cruise on the Crown that was supposed to take us to Hawaii next year.  Our experience on the Caribbean in June just confirmed that was the right decision.

What was it about the Emerald that made you decide to cancel your Crown cruise?

[prmssk]

24 minutes ago, Triptkr said:

What was it about the Emerald that made you decide to cancel your Crown cruise?

We cancelled the Crown because of all we were hearing about the ongoing maintenance and propulsion issues (things that still appear to be ongoing) combined with just an okay experience on the Emerald which was an expensive cruise.  Our biggest issues with the Emerald were

• their lack of ability to really modify dishes (or help me select better ones) to meet my very common dietary restriction which resulted in repetitive, bland food for me and not a lot of options (something that was an issue on the Caribbean as well),
• the tiny run-down staterooms with no seating area unless you upgrade to a mini-suite, and
• the lack of sufficient public space even when the ship was only at 60%.

 

[DrivesLikeMario]

On 7/20/2022 at 3:16 PM, CineGraphic said:

I'm sorry this happened to you.

Pay no attention to those who feel compelled to say that they've sailed 300+ days on Princess and this has never happened to them. And let's not forget those who will chime in and say, "give them a break, it's a pandemic".

The response from Princess for many of us who've had bad experiences while on board has been underwhelming at best. In your case, Princess treated you like crap. (Pun intended)

 

Here's some contact info if you don't already have it.

Mail Jan, and CC the others.

 

Jan Swartz jswartz@princesscruises.com

 

Collin Steinke
Director, Customer Relations
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
csteinke@princesscruises.com

 

Mario Siebaldi
Senior Vice President Guest Experience
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
msiebaldi@princesscruises.com

 

Jan Swartz is no longer the head of Princess.  

[DrivesLikeMario]

17 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

That’s too bad.  Did you send it to Jan Swartz too?  Her team always seemed to respond. Not sure in the last few months though.

 

JSwartz@Princesscruises.com

She is not the head of Princess anymore.  It's John Padgett now.

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, prmssk said:

This isn't just an old ship vs. new ship problem.  I sail other lines and never have I heard problems to this extent and this ongoing with any of their older like I have with this and other Princess ships.  I commented to one of my travel companions who mostly travels Princess while I was on the Caribbean Princess at how many public toilets and faucets were out of use and her response was that it's just normal.  That is not normal on other lines that maintain their ships better.  And I'm not saying other cruise lines never have maintenance issues but they just aren't this widespread and go unresolved for so long.

Perhaps, but since we haven sailed other cruise lines in quite a while we'll be sticking with the newer ships. We've sailed on all the older Princess ships at one time or another & have had problems or disappointments on some of them.