divamom2 Posted April 2, 2008 #51 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Your T.A. feeding you a lot of merde. :o apparently so. It would appear she doesn't know Princess well, which is odd since she recommended them. Oh well - doesn't much matter as long as I get to sail on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules79 Posted April 2, 2008 #52 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Has anyone heard anything more about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whale-watcher Posted April 2, 2008 #53 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Yeah lol, maybe find a new TA. That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. It is no fault of your own.Princess has all of their ships sailing constantly, they dont have any spare ones laying around. these days even airlines often don't have extra aircraft available... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiavol Posted April 2, 2008 #54 Share Posted April 2, 2008 We are also on the Grand this Saturday. And we also have a useless TA. Does anyone know how to get more information on the ship's condition and plans for next week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules79 Posted April 2, 2008 #55 Share Posted April 2, 2008 We are also on the Grand this Saturday. And we also have a useless TA. Does anyone know how to get more information on the ship's condition and plans for next week? I spoke to princess again today and they say the ship is fine...there was an issue but it was resolved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgiavol Posted April 2, 2008 #56 Share Posted April 2, 2008 DG turbo's don't get fixed overnight, but it's possible they did fly in parts to Grand Cayman and started work while at sea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules79 Posted April 2, 2008 #57 Share Posted April 2, 2008 We don't know if it was even the turbos....its obvious that usatoday is making this sound worse than it actually was....I'm telling you that they keep saying the boat was fixed in grand cayman and it was only a minor issue. I know Princess would down play this, but I also think that if it was an issue that could jeopardize the next cruise then we (the ones leaving on her april 4th) would know. I mean its less than three days away and people are already heading to Ft. Lauderdale and Princess knows that. I think they know they would have a lot of pissed off people if they did that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natnat8465 Posted April 3, 2008 #58 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Just quoting what my TA said: " What the cruise lines will do is have the ship repaired, if it is not ready in time, they will have another Princess ship put into its place. I will keep an eye out and see if we hear of anything else." All I can do is go with what I am told....... :rolleyes: I told my DH about this and he asked if that ship was called the Spare Princess. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKCruisers Posted April 3, 2008 #59 Share Posted April 3, 2008 If Princess has another ship sitting around waiting to be called to the rescue then they have to be the dumbest bunch in the world. Can you imagine having many, many millions of dollars tied up in a ship that was not being utilized? I posted this reply on the roll call a few hours ago: "My TA called Princess today and told me that everything is a go. There are repairs to be done in Fort Lauderdale but they expect they will be done in time. Having worked in the shipbuilding industry (submarines) I can imagine that they have the material ready and staged, personnel available and briefed, engineering paperwork prepared and reviewed and a schedule prepared down to the hour (or less) so that they will be able to hit the ground running. They have too much money and PR riding on something like this to screw it up. That does not mean there is a guarantee that all will go well. Remember Murphy's Law." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancyquilts Posted April 3, 2008 #60 Share Posted April 3, 2008 I told my DH about this and he asked if that ship was called the Spare Princess. lol. :D :D :D ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules79 Posted April 3, 2008 #61 Share Posted April 3, 2008 If you read Johns blog (address above) you will see that he is on the grand now. He said they were only an hour late to grand cayman and they now have the 6th engine up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaTeacher Posted April 4, 2008 #62 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Hi Folks! Yes I am live aboard the Grand Princess. It is my first cruise without Fuzzzy, so there is definitely an empty place in my heart. But, I am doing this cruise with a terrific friend and we are having a wonderful time. As for the “incident” (that’s how the CD referred to it): It really wasn’t a big deal to the average passenger. Yes the crew did start running when the fire alarm sounded in the public spaces. Some inexperienced crew members told a few passengers to go back to their cabins and get their life jackets. But, the general alarm never sounded. In fact, within a couple minutes of the short fire alarm, the staff captain was on the intercom letting everyone know the situation was under control. Just a few minutes later, he came back and announced all crew members should “stand down and resume their normal duties.” There were only two outward indicators of the problem. I was told by a passenger that one section of the ship lost power for about 1 minute. But the big indicator of a problem was large billowing clouds of black smoke coming out of the funnel. The smoke stopped after several minutes. We were dead in the water just minutes after we had departed from Ocho Rios. I would estimate we sat there for about and hour or a little more. Just as we got underway again, the captain announced we would arrive in Grand Cayman at least two hours late because we had only five of six engines working. When I woke up the next morning, we were pulling into port but only a little more than one hour late. During my scuba dive, one of my fellow divers said he had been using his portable GPS to track the speed of the ship. We were doing about 14 knots after the engine fire. But, during the night they were able to kick it up to 19.6 knots – a normal cruising speed. On Wednesday we had drinks with one of the assistant cruise directors and she remarked the engineering staff “finally finished repairing the engine, poor dears.” I don’t think future cruises will face cancelation. In my mind, this incident was less disruptive to passengers than a similar problem I experienced when I was on the Sun Princess last summer when smoke was spotted in a passenger corridor at 3am. Engine rooms are well equipped to handle fires. I never felt afraid. In fact, I just took a nap. I’ll write and post a more thorough review when I return to Seattle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmalibu1 Posted April 4, 2008 #63 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Thanks! I think that settles everyones nerves just a bit! Glad to hear your trip/s werent affected...have fun! I am quite jealous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules79 Posted April 4, 2008 #64 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Thanks for the information! I figured there were many that were trying to make this a bigger deal than it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etoile Posted April 4, 2008 Author #65 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I wasn't trying to make it a big deal. :o I posted it based on the original article, which said it was on fire. :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules79 Posted April 4, 2008 #66 Share Posted April 4, 2008 If you weren't the one who was writing the news articles then I wasn't talking about you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etoile Posted April 4, 2008 Author #67 Share Posted April 4, 2008 If you weren't the one who was writing the news articles then I wasn't talking about you. Ah, you said "many" so I figured you meant on here. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FamilyGuy1010 Posted April 6, 2008 #68 Share Posted April 6, 2008 Hi: I too, was on this sailing. I happened to be on my balcony when the smoke began. I took photos. Anyway, while initially unnerving, especially to hear the alarm sound (one long tone, not the GES). However, as described earlier, the staff captain informed us the problem was with an engine and under control. So I went in and dressed for dinner! Anyway, the ship burns bunker grade fuel (thicker than diesel). Any writing of exactly what happened would be pure speculation, as we weren't told. However, seeing some of these old diesel trucks and cars spewing thick black smoke, I can understand how a ship's engine might do the same. After Grand Cayman, the ship was back to full speed again. We were traveling over 23 knots on Thursday. So all is well. Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kywildcatfanone Posted April 6, 2008 #69 Share Posted April 6, 2008 Hi Folks! Yes I am live aboard the Grand Princess. It is my first cruise without Fuzzzy, so there is definitely an empty place in my heart. But, I am doing this cruise with a terrific friend and we are having a wonderful time.As for the “incident” (that’s how the CD referred to it): It really wasn’t a big deal to the average passenger. Yes the crew did start running when the fire alarm sounded in the public spaces. Some inexperienced crew members told a few passengers to go back to their cabins and get their life jackets. But, the general alarm never sounded. In fact, within a couple minutes of the short fire alarm, the staff captain was on the intercom letting everyone know the situation was under control. Just a few minutes later, he came back and announced all crew members should “stand down and resume their normal duties.” There were only two outward indicators of the problem. I was told by a passenger that one section of the ship lost power for about 1 minute. But the big indicator of a problem was large billowing clouds of black smoke coming out of the funnel. The smoke stopped after several minutes. We were dead in the water just minutes after we had departed from Ocho Rios. I would estimate we sat there for about and hour or a little more. Just as we got underway again, the captain announced we would arrive in Grand Cayman at least two hours late because we had only five of six engines working. When I woke up the next morning, we were pulling into port but only a little more than one hour late. During my scuba dive, one of my fellow divers said he had been using his portable GPS to track the speed of the ship. We were doing about 14 knots after the engine fire. But, during the night they were able to kick it up to 19.6 knots – a normal cruising speed. On Wednesday we had drinks with one of the assistant cruise directors and she remarked the engineering staff “finally finished repairing the engine, poor dears.” I don’t think future cruises will face cancelation. I’ll write and post a more thorough review when I return to Seattle. SeaTeacher's quote is accurate. Up on Deck 14, after the alarm was over and things started returning to normal, one of the crew did use the word "fire" about an engine, but then said that it was all under control, then the announcements began to be made ship wide over the PA. I don't know if there was ever a "fire", but after Grand Cayman, everything seemed fine. I posted a picture from Deck 15 shortly after the black smoke started to spew on my mini-review in another thread. Thanks, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess Chatterer Posted April 6, 2008 #70 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I took photos. Can you put them on the web and post a link? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxsonbrownie Posted April 6, 2008 #71 Share Posted April 6, 2008 Found this at Kywildcatfanone's other post, hope they don't mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etoile Posted April 6, 2008 Author #72 Share Posted April 6, 2008 Found this at Kywildcatfanone's other post, hope they don't mind. YIKES! That looks pretty scary. I'd have been scared if that was me! Funnels aren't supposed to do that! :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kywildcatfanone Posted April 6, 2008 #73 Share Posted April 6, 2008 YIKES! That looks pretty scary. I'd have been scared if that was me! Funnels aren't supposed to do that! :eek: Actually I don't recall hearing any unusual noises until the alarm started sounding. It wasn't the GES signal, but a long (seemed like a minute) horn sound. Like I said in my review post, the crew on deck with us at the time didn't seem to know what the sound was for either. It wasn't until their two way radios went off that they postponed the demo they were doing and left the pool area. That's when I noticed the black smoke rolling out of the stack. It was a few minutes later when the crew returned to the pool and announced that something had happened in the engine room, and a few minutes later before the PA announcement. There was no explosion or anything like that. I took about 4 pictures of the smoke clouds, but the one I posted was the best one. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8summersoff Posted April 6, 2008 #74 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I was on the Grand Princess, sitting on the pool deck when there was a loud noise and a cloud of black smoke. It was kind of funny because the crew kind of looked at each other wondering if it was a drill or not. About 30 minutes later the captain made a short announcement that one of the engines had sustained some damage but there wasn't any emergency. We did arrive into GC at 9:45 and some excursions had to be amended or canceled. No big. But the ship was never engulfed in smoke, not even close to it. So don't believe everything you read! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoshar Posted April 7, 2008 #75 Share Posted April 7, 2008 We were there as well, and impressed at how Princess handled this emergency. Our cruise was not compromised...and other than late for one port, we had a perfect cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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