Crown Princess has a lot of maintenance issues

[SCX22]

21 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

As for someone that lives just outside of San Francisco, we e been spoiled now having the Ruby, but especially having the Royal Princess home parted here.  I was so disappointed to see the Crown Princess coming to our home port full time for a couple of years.  Maybe it’s just time for some land vacations for a while.  
I will get in as many sailings as possible before the Royal and then, the Ruby leaves us once again later this year.  When cruises out of SF seem to sell like hotcakes, I just can’t imagine why they wouldn’t give us a really nice ship on which to cruise, like one of the Royal class ships.  
 

I think part of the problem with the Royal Princess in San Francisco is that while the ship sailed out full a lot of the passengers were local and last minute bookings after final payment passed.  (Having said that, there was only 1100 passengers on the October 2022 California Coastal cruise I was on, and the capacity limits had been lifted.)  In January 2023, the 15 day sailings to Hawaii for March went to as low as $649 per person plus port/taxes for interior.  Princess is filling the ship, but not at top dollar.  Also, I think Princess is short ships right now, so they would rather deploy ships to destinations where they can make the most revenue, like the Mediterranean, Australia/New Zealand, Alaska.  If you look at next year's schedule the Sun Princess starts the Med in February.  That's the earliest I've ever seen the Med offered on Princess.  Also, it's unusual for a new ship to start in the Med; usually, it's a transatlantic to the Caribbean for the inaugural season.

[Cruise Raider]

38 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

I think part of the problem with the Royal Princess in San Francisco is that while the ship sailed out full a lot of the passengers were local and last minute bookings after final payment passed.  (Having said that, there was only 1100 passengers on the October 2022 California Coastal cruise I was on, and the capacity limits had been lifted.)  In January 2023, the 15 day sailings to Hawaii for March went to as low as $649 per person plus port/taxes for interior.  Princess is filling the ship, but not at top dollar.  Also, I think Princess is short ships right now, so they would rather deploy ships to destinations where they can make the most revenue, like the Mediterranean, Australia/New Zealand, Alaska.  If you look at next year's schedule the Sun Princess starts the Med in February.  That's the earliest I've ever seen the Med offered on Princess.  Also, it's unusual for a new ship to start in the Med; usually, it's a transatlantic to the Caribbean for the inaugural season.

You make sense!  More places to fill a ship now!  It’s so convenient for us and was in my heaven with the Royal being here … but yea, the prices were great!  

[Mike45LC]

Chengkp, very good explanation, thank you!

 

we did not experience any serious problems on board the Crown, unlike the OP. I guess we did not have passengers stupid enough to be flushing their clothing and/or towels down the toilets.

[SuzieQ521]

We are sailing the Royal to Alaska this May but just booked a Thanksgiving cruise with lots of family on the Crown... so very dismayed to read this! 😞 

 

Hopefully things get better by November!

[chengkp75]

10 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 If the sewage pipes take this long to clear, then that means probably time to overhaul the system in a dry dock.

If the problem, and the resultant time involved to clear the problem, is caused by inappropriate items being flushed down the toilet, what kind of "overhaul" would prevent this?

 

Also, I don't recall seeing that the OP mentioned long periods of toilets being out, just repeated ones.  I was the one who brought up the past instances of long outages caused by severe blockages, and the possibility that it could take hours.  Most blockages are cleared in under an hour or two.

 

And, as noted by other posters, other cruises on the Crown didn't seem to have toilet issues, so this does not point to a "systemic" or equipment problem, but a user problem, with the users changing each cruise.

[chengkp75]

11 hours ago, SCX22 said:

The OP's account of the experience reminds of the "Poop Cruise" on the Carnival Triumph.

And, if you know anything about ships, you know that most of the accounts from that cruise are misleading at best, and mostly false.  There was not sewage "running down the walls", as this is a physical impossibility, even if you were to continue to use a completely full toilet.  The discolored water that was observed was from the high humidity within the ship when the AC wasn't working, and this humidity caused the dust and dirt that accumulates between the cabin ceiling and the deck above to become wet and run down the cracks in the cabin ceilings and walls.

 

And, given that there are over 1600 passenger toilets, I doubt that anywhere near that total number were out at any one time, making a comparison to a total power outage useless.

[chengkp75]

23 minutes ago, ChC said:

It is too much of a systemic issue for the ship by the reading of OP's case.

So, it is a systemic issue over multiple separate systems?  If I had a nickel for every strange object we found in the ship's toilet system, I would have retired about 15 years early.  Food bones, silverware, facial and or diaper wipes, in addition to clothing and other fabric items, and one time we found ammunition.

[SCX22]

21 hours ago, DrSea said:

Not having access to your stateroom toilet for 12 hours is not prompt enough. Can you go an entire day not using your bathroom? Some ppl had covid and had to isolate in their room. IDK what happened in those situations. 

 

And toilets all over the ship were out of order. 2 likely scenarios: customers were flushing inappropriate things all over the cruise ship or there is a systemic issue. The mens gym bathroom was literally out of 3 days.

 

Princess needs to hire more people to fix these maintenance issues if their workers are working around the clock. 

@chengkp75

OP stated that stateroom toilets were out for 12 hours at a time.  That's unacceptable when you're paying a couple of thousand dollars for a vacation.  On land, you'd be out of that hotel, at least I would be.

 

Where does your passion for ship sewage systems come from, if you don't mind me asking?

[chengkp75]

29 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

@chengkp75

OP stated that stateroom toilets were out for 12 hours at a time.  That's unacceptable when you're paying a couple of thousand dollars for a vacation.  On land, you'd be out of that hotel, at least I would be.

 

Where does your passion for ship sewage systems come from, if you don't mind me asking?

Okay, perhaps I misunderstood that as a response to my post, and not their actual experience, and even if their toilet was out for 12 hours, were all the others out for that long?

 

If you want the "flexibility" of a land hotel, then you need to book a land vacation, what most people don't want to accept is that a ship and a ship vacation is something totally different than on land.  Do land hotels require a fire drill every time a new customer checks in?  No, because a fire in a hotel is totally different than a fire on a ship.

 

For 46 years, I was the guy that cleaned out the clogs and maintained the ship's sewage system.  I have been a marine engineer for that long, and a Chief Engineer for over 40 years.

[Yehootu]

On 3/8/2023 at 12:47 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

San Francisco is a little further away than Los Angeles to Hawaii.  Will the extra days be sea days or an extra port?  Also, it’s a long run from Ensenada (PVSA)….at least 2 sea days.  

Backwards, San Francisco is closer to Hawaii than Los Angeles. The 2 closest points on the Transpac flight is between Hilo and San Francisco.

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

Backwards, San Francisco is closer to Hawaii than Los Angeles. The 2 closest points on the Transpac flight is between Hilo and San Francisco.

Yes, SF to Honolulu is 2095 nm, while LA to Honolulu is 2231 nm.

[SCX22]

5 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

For 46 years, I was the guy that cleaned out the clogs and maintained the ship's sewage system.  I have been a marine engineer for that long, and a Chief Engineer for over 40 years.

Got it!  For a moment there you were starting to sound like a Princess apologist.

 

I still respectfully disagree with your opinions, but wholeheartedly agree with you about your technical analysis.

[Yehootu]

We have friends on the Crown right now and they say all's well and NO big problems. They are in Lahaina today.

[chengkp75]

18 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

I still respectfully disagree with your opinions, but wholeheartedly agree with you about your technical analysis.

"Systemic" issues would be belied by the following statement.  What is different from the OP's cruise and this one?  The passengers.

18 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

We have friends on the Crown right now and they say all's well and NO big problems. They are in Lahaina today.

 

[SCX22]

13 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

"Systemic" issues would be belied by the following statement.  What is different from the OP's cruise and this one?  The passengers.

 

How do I pick a sailing where the passengers are aware of how the toilets function?

[cr8tiv1]

4 hours ago, Yehootu said:

Backwards, San Francisco is closer to Hawaii than Los Angeles. The 2 closest points on the Transpac flight is between Hilo and San Francisco.

 

You are correct.  I did know that.... What was I thinking?????  

 

I always can count on certain posters to keep me on the straight and narrow.

 

Mahalo Nui Loa

[Guest ldtr]

13 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Chengkp, very good explanation, thank you!

 

we did not experience any serious problems on board the Crown, unlike the OP. I guess we did not have passengers stupid enough to be flushing their clothing and/or towels down the toilets.

Was on the Crown in December. Did not see any of the issues described by Op on that cruise.

[Guest ldtr]

5 hours ago, SCX22 said:

How do I pick a sailing where the passengers are aware of how the toilets function?

Pick one where you expect fewer children  for one thing.  Have found more young children the more unflushable things get flushed.

[Mike45LC]

3 hours ago, ldtr said:

Pick one where you expect fewer children  for one thing.  Have found more young children the more unflushable things get flushed.

LDTR, I am not a Chief Engineer of a cruise ship, but as a landlord, I know that little boys are fascinated with toilets and love to flush things down them.  Toys cars, rubber animals, hair care items, the list is endless.  So avoiding cruises with young boys would be a great start to a clog-free cruise.

[SCX22]

3 hours ago, ldtr said:

Pick one where you expect fewer children  for one thing.  Have found more young children the more unflushable things get flushed.

 

21 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

LDTR, I am not a Chief Engineer of a cruise ship, but as a landlord, I know that little boys are fascinated with toilets and love to flush things down them.  Toys cars, rubber animals, hair care items, the list is endless.  So avoiding cruises with young boys would be a great start to a clog-free cruise.

 

Where does Princess publish the age demographic of a particular sailing prior to the sailing date?

[sfpd3000]

23 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

You make sense!  More places to fill a ship now!  It’s so convenient for us and was in my heaven with the Royal being here … but yea, the prices were great!  

Instead of keeping the Royal here in San Francisco, they give us the Crown.  We, too, love the Royal.  Of course, they'd rather give SoCal the nicer newer ships (Discovery).

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, sfpd3000 said:

Instead of keeping the Royal here in San Francisco, they give us the Crown.  We, too, love the Royal.  Of course, they'd rather give SoCal the nicer newer ships (Discovery).

So disappointing, to say the least … especially since we’ve had a taste of the good life!  😆 

I suppose I will try the Crown again at sometime while she’s here.  I do have a trip for next year out of LA on the Discovery planned that I’m really looking forward to.  The Royal class ships are just so nice!  but, it’s also so nice sailing in and out of SF.  

[Mike45LC]

3 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

 

Where does Princess publish the age demographic of a particular sailing prior to the sailing date?

I wish!!  I also wish for info on large groups booking cruises, to avoid the polka cruise!

[Ladyshopper23]

We were on the same cruise and can confirm the issue with all the public bathrooms on those main decks essentially being shut and locked for a couple of days. It wasn't a great situation. Fortunately we had no issues with the toilet in our cabin on Baja deck, which I'm very relieved about.

There was also a huge leak coming through the ceiling in Club Fusion one morning. It was right by the bar and the door that staff use. Was absolutely pouring through for quite some time.

I did notice some buckets in the buffet, but didn't actually see any leaks. Did see the broken pane of glass in there that has essentially been taped up though!

We had a great cruise, don't get me wrong, but there are definitely some issues on Crown which I presume are down at age. Some simple things they could remedy would be getting new drawers for beside the beds - these are really difficult to open, and basically stick, I guess because they're old. Heard other people comment on this too.

All that aside, we had a great time and loved our cruise, although if we'd had a problem with the toilet in our cabin that would probably have had far more of an impact on our enjoyment.

[Guest ldtr]

17 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

 

Where does Princess publish the age demographic of a particular sailing prior to the sailing date?

Stay away from cruises during school holidays would be a good indicator.