Sun Princess - Original

[SouKnoMe]

9 hours ago, timcahill98 said:

Another interesting aspect to the story....I'm scheduled on the Feb 28th sailing and today I got an email from Princess about booking shore excursions.  That's normal.  But in prior emails the voyage was entitled "10 Day Grand Mediterranean," but in today's email the voyage is tagged as "Europe - Southern."  I checked the itinerary on my account page and it's still the same, but I wonder if they plan on completely changing the itinerary and not announcing it beforehand....?

 

 

9 hours ago, Vinnyv20032003 said:

 

I got the same email today for my March 19th sailing and had the same voyage title change to 'EUROPE - SOUTHERN'. 

There needs to be a new reaction icon added other than the ‘like, thanks and laugh’. More like a ‘wow, whoa, or OMG!’

 

 

[kathy49]

41 minutes ago, CruiseCrabs said:

With a completely new fuel system, larger capacity, complex entertainment venues, etc. that have not been seen on Princess before, we passed on the 1.0 version, the Sun, and booked fall on the Star so all glitches could (hopefully) be dealt with on the new LNG ships could be worked out and Princess corporate’s odd, seemingly protracted and delayed partner negotiations (Love by Britto, Spellbound) should not be an challenge like I think those also were. I also think the Sun was conceived under one leadership team and revised under Padgett’s “carnivalization” of the brand, which would certainly result in delays. 
 

By now, I would expect more ship tour videos from Princess of this is a truly revolutionary experience that was ready to sail, even if that may create confusion as it is so different from the other ships in the fleet. Let’s hope we have seen the last of the cancellations for the passengers’ sake and that Princess can share some good news soon.

Princess was fully aware of the increased risk due to all aspects of construction as outlined above. That is no excuse.

[Vinnyv20032003]

Maybe they changed the title from ‘10 Day Grand Mediterranean’ to ‘EUROPE -SOUTHERN’ because they’re just going to allow us to enjoy the ship while it’s being worked on in Monfalcone. 

[SouKnoMe]

4 minutes ago, Vinnyv20032003 said:

Maybe they changed the title from ‘10 Day Grand Mediterranean’ to ‘EUROPE -SOUTHERN’ because they’re just going to allow us to enjoy the ship while it’s being worked on in Monfalcone. 

And practice in the casino with Monopoly money? 😂

[Jo_Chee]

Got my boarding pass today on my app. I think I have had enough stressful news n speculations on cancellations, etc..

I'm so looking forward to my 1st trip on Princess n I don't wanna spoil my excitement. Come what may.. 😂

See u guys on board..

🤩🤩👍👍👍

[kathy49]

50 minutes ago, Vinnyv20032003 said:

Maybe they changed the title from ‘10 Day Grand Mediterranean’ to ‘EUROPE -SOUTHERN’ because they’re just going to allow us to enjoy the ship while it’s being worked on in Monfalcone. 

Seriously why would they change the name of the cruise at this time??? Has to be a reason. If I were on this voyage I would keep a close eye on the itinerary as something will be changed or no need to change the name.

[SouKnoMe]

15 minutes ago, Jo_Chee said:

Got my boarding pass today on my app. I think I have had enough stressful news n speculations on cancellations, etc..

I'm so looking forward to my 1st trip on Princess n I don't wanna spoil my excitement. Come what may.. 😂

See u guys on board..

🤩🤩👍👍👍

🙏🏽 so looking forward to your boarding on the 28th, and to your reviews. 🥂🍾

[MsSoCalCruiser]

1 hour ago, SouKnoMe said:

And practice in the casino with Monopoly money? 😂

And it will be smoke free while docked.

[JimmyVWine]

23 hours ago, eroller said:

I think it’s beyond monetary compensation.  Open and honest communication in a timely manner I’m sure would be appreciated.  Transparency goes a long way.  Being purposeful vague creates speculation and a loss of credibility.  

But only to a point.  Let's be honest here.  Suppose Princess had published the following press release:

 

Dear loyal Princess customers.  We regret to inform you that we will not be able to proceed with our inaugural sailing as planned.  We simply are not ready to sail.  We severely overestimated the ability of the workforce at the shipyard to get the ship finished in time for the scheduled departure, and vastly underestimated that amount of remaining work that would be needed to get the ship into the first-rate condition that you have come to love and rightfully expect.  Some of the issues are labor related, some are supply-chain related, and some are just our own miscalculation as to how long it would take to complete the build.  And if we are being totally honest here, we still don't know when the ship will be ready to sail.  Our February 18 departure is looking doubtful, and beyond that we just don't know.  We will do our best to keep you apprised of the progress being made.  We know that you are deeply disappointed and so are we.  We want to see you on board as much as you want to be on board.  All that said...[INSERT ALL OF THE REFUND AND FCC STUFF HERE].

 

OK. Now, with all that said, how many people would come to this board and say: "All's good. PCL is doing good by me."  And how many people would come here and say: "JP doesn't know what he is doing.  He should be fired.  PCL is a ridiculous operation.  I can't believe the incompetence!"

 

I'm not suggesting that honesty is not the best policy.  But I think that we have a tendency to overstate just how impactful that honesty would be on our real world, real time reactions to the situation.  Princess could have fallen on the sword here and put the blame squarely on itself and been as open and honest as it could, and the cancelled vacations and honeymoons would still exist, the stress levels would be just as high, and the anger would still get vented.    

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

But only to a point.  Let's be honest here.  Suppose Princess had published the following press release:

 

Dear loyal Princess customers.  We regret to inform you that we will not be able to proceed with our inaugural sailing as planned.  We simply are not ready to sail.  We severely overestimated the ability of the workforce at the shipyard to get the ship finished in time for the scheduled departure, and vastly underestimated that amount of remaining work that would be needed to get the ship into the first-rate condition that you have come to love and rightfully expect.  Some of the issues are labor related, some are supply-chain related, and some are just our own miscalculation as to how long it would take to complete the build.  And if we are being totally honest here, we still don't know when the ship will be ready to sail.  Our February 18 departure is looking doubtful, and beyond that we just don't know.  We will do our best to keep you apprised of the progress being made.  We know that you are deeply disappointed and so are we.  We want to see you on board as much as you want to be on board.  All that said...[INSERT ALL OF THE REFUND AND FCC STUFF HERE].

 

OK. Now, with all that said, how many people would come to this board and say: "All's good. PCL is doing good by me."  And how many people would come here and say: "JP doesn't know what he is doing.  He should be fired.  PCL is a ridiculous operation.  I can't believe the incompetence!"

 

I'm not suggesting that honesty is not the best policy.  But I think that we have a tendency to overstate just how impactful that honesty would be on our real world, real time reactions to the situation.  Princess could have fallen on the sword here and put the blame squarely on itself and been as open and honest as it could, and the cancelled vacations and honeymoons would still exist, the stress levels would be just as high, and the anger would still get vented.    

Plus you would have attorneys lining up with press release in hand saying see they admitted fault.

 

If they did such a release it would more likely state that at their last status review meeting it was decided, that inspite of prior expectations that the Sun Princess would be ready for the cruise on the 18 and that it was planned to sail from the shipyard to the port with a thousand contractors on board applying finishing touches, it was determined at that meeting that the quality of the sailing experience would not meet  expectations of either the passengers or the cruise line and as a result of the review of all information at the meeting a no go decision was made. 

 

Edited February 16 by TRLD

[cr8tiv1]

I have no invested interest in the Sun's cancellation, but I do have some questions for those that were affected.

 

When Princess cancelled my cruise on Grand and moved me over to the Regal then the Sky, I was not happy with the ship's "upgrade".  So I cancelled the cruise.  I was guaranteed the same fare even though the "newer" cabins were more expensive.

 

From what I have gathered over the 89 pages is that a compensation was offered.  Full refund and either 50% FCC or $1000.

 

For many this is not going to be enough to cover the expenses due to the cancellation.  In my opinion, and just mine alone, why didn't Princess offer a move over deal guaranteeing the same category plus FCC for the inconvenience?

 

If the same passenger were to rebook the Sun Princess at a later date, I am almost positive the fare would increase.  Maybe not as high as 50% (FCC coverage).  But air fare would also be higher and other related costs.  

[Thrak]

6 hours ago, SouKnoMe said:

 

There needs to be a new reaction icon added other than the ‘like, thanks and laugh’. More like a ‘wow, whoa, or OMG!’

 

It's probably a good thing they don't offer this one: 💩

[Mike07]

18 hours ago, lstone19 said:

 

Story time: Not cruise ships but transportation none the less. Let's turn the clock back to March 1989. Earlier I mentioned I was retired from an airline but my airline employment was still over a year away. I was arriving SFO on an international flight and we pulled into a gate next to a Singapore Airlines plane. It looked like a 747-300 except it had winglets. What is that? Well, it was a 747-400 but I hadn't seen one before as the first had gone into service a little over a month earlier. Some digging turned up it had just arrived from Seattle (delivery from Boeing) and was going into service that night at SFO.

 

Compare that to my carrier. I went to a delivery once to see the figurative handing over of the keys. We then flew on the plane back to one of our hub airports where the plane went into maintenance for a week or so so that things could be fully checked out as well as some additional interior upgrades done. In other words, some slack in the schedule between planned delivery and putting it in the schedule.

 

So Princess is like Singapore Airlines was - put it in service as soon as you can while my carrier was like Royal Caribbean with some slack in the schedule despite how expensive an asset it is. 

 

 

I'd be scared to be the first paid commercial flight of a new Boeing jet

[Cruising Forever!]

I wonder if they will schedule a short media cruise a few days before Feb 28th, just to get some positive press out there?  I'm really chomping at the bit to see NEW pictures aboard.  I just checked Marine Traffic, and she's still docked at the shipyard (as of 2/16/24).  If any Sun crew are reading this, please smuggle out some pictures (and please, not with your face blocking the views)!  I'm surprised at the lack of vloggers aboard. (Ok, there was that one guy, but he mostly reports from his cabin)

[SouKnoMe]

I check marine traffic site every time I get online. At least people are posting their confirmation emails that the 28th is the date!🙏🏽

[PacnGoNow]

7 hours ago, SouKnoMe said:

 

There needs to be a new reaction icon added other than the ‘like, thanks and laugh’. More like a ‘wow, whoa, or OMG!’

 

 

Or 👎🏻

🥴

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

But only to a point.  Let's be honest here.  Suppose Princess had published the following press release:

 

Dear loyal Princess customers.  We regret to inform you that we will not be able to proceed with our inaugural sailing as planned.  We simply are not ready to sail.  We severely overestimated the ability of the workforce at the shipyard to get the ship finished in time for the scheduled departure, and vastly underestimated that amount of remaining work that would be needed to get the ship into the first-rate condition that you have come to love and rightfully expect.  Some of the issues are labor related, some are supply-chain related, and some are just our own miscalculation as to how long it would take to complete the build.  And if we are being totally honest here, we still don't know when the ship will be ready to sail.  Our February 18 departure is looking doubtful, and beyond that we just don't know.  We will do our best to keep you apprised of the progress being made.  We know that you are deeply disappointed and so are we.  We want to see you on board as much as you want to be on board.  All that said...[INSERT ALL OF THE REFUND AND FCC STUFF HERE].

 

OK. Now, with all that said, how many people would come to this board and say: "All's good. PCL is doing good by me."  And how many people would come here and say: "JP doesn't know what he is doing.  He should be fired.  PCL is a ridiculous operation.  I can't believe the incompetence!"

 

I'm not suggesting that honesty is not the best policy.  But I think that we have a tendency to overstate just how impactful that honesty would be on our real world, real time reactions to the situation.  Princess could have fallen on the sword here and put the blame squarely on itself and been as open and honest as it could, and the cancelled vacations and honeymoons would still exist, the stress levels would be just as high, and the anger would still get vented.    

Nothing would ever be said complete enough or well enough. They would expect a three-day trial presenting evidence of the labor shortages, supply chain issues, and would want to investigate the veracity of the claims. 

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I have no invested interest in the Sun's cancellation, but I do have some questions for those that were affected.

 

When Princess cancelled my cruise on Grand and moved me over to the Regal then the Sky, I was not happy with the ship's "upgrade".  So I cancelled the cruise.  I was guaranteed the same fare even though the "newer" cabins were more expensive.

 

From what I have gathered over the 89 pages is that a compensation was offered.  Full refund and either 50% FCC or $1000.

 

For many this is not going to be enough to cover the expenses due to the cancellation.  In my opinion, and just mine alone, why didn't Princess offer a move over deal guaranteeing the same category plus FCC for the inconvenience?

 

If the same passenger were to rebook the Sun Princess at a later date, I am almost positive the fare would increase.  Maybe not as high as 50% (FCC coverage).  But air fare would also be higher and other related costs.  

While your asking questions, add to the list “Why didn’t every single passenger on an inaugural cruise buy travel insurance for the world’s most predictable problem?”

[timcahill98]

17 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

While your asking questions, add to the list “Why didn’t every single passenger on an inaugural cruise buy travel insurance for the world’s most predictable problem?”

Perhaps they did.  But like me, my travel insurance doesn't consider a cancellation by the carrier to be a covered loss.  So please don't assume that "travel insurance" covers all expenses or situations.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

I'd be scared to be the first paid commercial flight of a new Boeing jet

I won’t get on any 737 Max

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, timcahill98 said:

Perhaps they did.  But like me, my travel insurance doesn't consider a cancellation by the carrier to be a covered loss.  So please don't assume that "travel insurance" covers all expenses or situations.

Nothing in life covers everything. There is nothing in life that isn’t risky. My point is that you don’t need to be an insurance adjuster to know that there is substantial risk to being first in line for something that isn’t done being built. 

[karatemom2]

This whole scenario has been quite eye opening. We got a great casino offer on the inaugural cruise scheduled for February 8 and seriously considered booking it, but just couldn't manage the time away from work at this time of year. I'm so glad we passed and I feel just terrible for the people affected by these cancellations. For those saying people should know that it is risky to book a new ship, I honestly would never have thought about it being a risk. I guess I would have assumed that Princess would schedule these initial cruises with a buffer for getting the ship operational and tested out with some executive or industry cruises before bringing on the first group of paying passengers. I just always thought that is how it worked with launching new ships. It sounds like that is how RCI approached the launch of Icon of the Seas. It does make me wonder why Princess would not build in that extra time as it would just make sense that things can get delayed. 

 

We were looking at booking one of the early cruises on Star Princess next August, but are having serious second thoughts. I love the idea of trying out a new ship and being one of the first to experience something new and innovative, but this debacle with the launch of Sun Princess has made me think twice. I wonder if they will be better prepared and planned with the launch of the second ship in this series?

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, timcahill98 said:

Perhaps they did.  But like me, my travel insurance doesn't consider a cancellation by the carrier to be a covered loss.  So please don't assume that "travel insurance" covers all expenses or situations.

 

Sorry - deleted.  I had not read the earlier posts (too dang many of them).  🙂 

Edited February 17 by ldubs

[timcahill98]

57 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Nothing in life covers everything. There is nothing in life that isn’t risky. My point is that you don’t need to be an insurance adjuster to know that there is substantial risk to being first in line for something that isn’t done being built. 

Then what was your point about complaining that everyone should have had insurance. You can't have it both ways....

[tazza_0712]

4 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

But only to a point.  Let's be honest here.  Suppose Princess had published the following press release:

 

Dear loyal Princess customers.  We regret to inform you that we will not be able to proceed with our inaugural sailing as planned.  We simply are not ready to sail.  We severely overestimated the ability of the workforce at the shipyard to get the ship finished in time for the scheduled departure, and vastly underestimated that amount of remaining work that would be needed to get the ship into the first-rate condition that you have come to love and rightfully expect.  Some of the issues are labor related, some are supply-chain related, and some are just our own miscalculation as to how long it would take to complete the build.  And if we are being totally honest here, we still don't know when the ship will be ready to sail.  Our February 18 departure is looking doubtful, and beyond that we just don't know.  We will do our best to keep you apprised of the progress being made.  We know that you are deeply disappointed and so are we.  We want to see you on board as much as you want to be on board.  All that said...[INSERT ALL OF THE REFUND AND FCC STUFF HERE].

 

OK. Now, with all that said, how many people would come to this board and say: "All's good. PCL is doing good by me."  And how many people would come here and say: "JP doesn't know what he is doing.  He should be fired.  PCL is a ridiculous operation.  I can't believe the incompetence!"

 

I'm not suggesting that honesty is not the best policy.  But I think that we have a tendency to overstate just how impactful that honesty would be on our real world, real time reactions to the situation.  Princess could have fallen on the sword here and put the blame squarely on itself and been as open and honest as it could, and the cancelled vacations and honeymoons would still exist, the stress levels would be just as high, and the anger would still get vented.    

But you're basing your question on the response of what would be most likely, the most 'unreasonable' person. The reality is, a proper PR statement from Princess to the effect that you drafted would have resulted in far greater understanding from a far greater number of people. That's a fact that I would happily bet money on.

Don't discount the value of the brand, the loyalty that the brand has built within its most loyal cruisers, many of whom booked on the early Sun Princess voyages, or the respect with which people want to be treated.