Royal Princess July 7th cruise

[Carol RN]

Has anyone heard if the July 7th sailing of the Royal Princess is still on? I received an email from Princess yesterday called a "Moveover Notification" asking if I want to reschedule my cruise from that date to another date in 2009 or 2010 and receive some perks for doing so. I'm not quite sure if this is standard procedure for Princess or if it's due to the possibility of them cancelling the cruise because of the damage caused by the fire and the length of time it may take to repair. Does anyone have any info? I tried calling Princess but got nowhere.

[paul929207]

Princess said that when the Royal gets to Pireaus and they have a better feel for the repairs needed they will decide on your cruise. As of now it is a go.

 

As to te move over offer, Princess does this when they have a ship over booked.

[Toto2Kansas]

Only a guess here, but I would think Princess sent you this offer as they don't 'expect' the ship will be ready to sail for the July 7th voyage. If they can get many of the passengers to 'move over' now, that will be less for them to deal with 'IF' things take longer than they calculate to repair the damage. As said, they won't know anything for sure until the ship is thoroughly checked out to see exactly what has to be done.

 

If it were me, and my plans could be changed, I think I would really consider this offer. Good Luck! I hope they can make repairs and quickly get the Royal back on it's schedule, but sometimes these things take a lot longer than anticipated. Only the next week or so will tell the real story. But July 7th is less than two weeks away, and that is cutting it way too close for comfort when the damage seems to be this extensive. :(

[cruisedadrob]

Princess is offering the moveover as they need the rooms. The repair crew will be staying aboard the ship for an extended period of time while continuing repairs after the ship is underway. The larger class ships maintain a certain number of crew cabins just for this reason. Repair and maintenance crews must have beds to sleep in do to unusual or extra ordinary repairs while the ships continue their 365 day a year schedules. The R class ships do not have crew cabins set aside for this. There just isnt enough rooms. So when something like this happened princess is forced to try and find space for the crews. I suspect that the offers may get better and better if they find themselves in a position of not having space for them

[dance4fun]

Princess is offering the moveover as they need the rooms. The repair crew will be staying aboard the ship for an extended period of time while continuing repairs after the ship is underway. The larger class ships maintain a certain number of crew cabins just for this reason. Repair and maintenance crews must have beds to sleep in do to unusual or extra ordinary repairs while the ships continue their 365 day a year schedules. The R class ships do not have crew cabins set aside for this. There just isnt enough rooms. So when something like this happened princess is forced to try and find space for the crews. I suspect that the offers may get better and better if they find themselves in a position of not having space for them

 

If your travel dates are flexible and not locked down by airline tickets, etc, I would consider moving to a different sailing. We were on the CB last summer for a sailing the week after the CB blew 1 or 2 engines (the story varies and we never heard directly anything from Princess). The ship had to move at reduced speed, thus totally changing the times of arrival in all ports and dropping the most distant port from the itinerary altogether. The changed port times made the San Juan stop totally useless (arriving near dark). Additional vibrations were felt throughout the ship. People on lowest passenger deck complained about noise of repairs. All in all, not the best cruising experience. To top if off, the CB had been scheduled for an overhaul before the engine mishap. Princess decided to not perform that overhaul.

 

We have a Princess cruise scheduled in a few weeks so we are giving them another chance on a different itinerary. But to get to the island that was dropped from our Princess itinerary last summer, we are going on a Celebrity cruise in 2010. We may have felt differently, if Princess had treated their customers better.

[FLACRUISER99]

Has anyone heard if the July 7th sailing of the Royal Princess is still on? I received an email from Princess yesterday called a "Moveover Notification" asking if I want to reschedule my cruise from that date to another date in 2009 or 2010 and receive some perks for doing so. I'm not quite sure if this is standard procedure for Princess or if it's due to the possibility of them cancelling the cruise because of the damage caused by the fire and the length of time it may take to repair. Does anyone have any info? I tried calling Princess but got nowhere.

Cruise Critic news says Yes. http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3296

[whale-watcher]

If your travel dates are flexible and not locked down by airline tickets, etc, I would consider moving to a different sailing. We were on the CB last summer for a sailing the week after the CB blew 1 or 2 engines (the story varies and we never heard directly anything from Princess). The ship had to move at reduced speed, thus totally changing the times of arrival in all ports and dropping the most distant port from the itinerary altogether. The changed port times made the San Juan stop totally useless (arriving near dark). Additional vibrations were felt throughout the ship. People on lowest passenger deck complained about noise of repairs. All in all, not the best cruising experience. To top if off, the CB had been scheduled for an overhaul before the engine mishap. Princess decided to not perform that overhaul.

 

We have a Princess cruise scheduled in a few weeks so we are giving them another chance on a different itinerary. But to get to the island that was dropped from our Princess itinerary last summer, we are going on a Celebrity cruise in 2010. We may have felt differently, if Princess had treated their customers better.

This is my concern as well. I am hoping that princess takes the time to fully repair the ship rather than send it out as a "work in progress" (resulting in shortened port times and abbreviated itineraries).

 

As a general rule, people opt for smaller ship med cruises because of the ports and not the ship. We will be watching the next few cruises very closely, and will convert our fall Holy Land cruise to a land-based itinerary if there is any indication that the Royal is operating at reduced capacity. Just can't take the chance on this kind of itinerary.

[Pia1913]

Cruise Critic news says Yes. http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3296

 

This article is dated four days ago, so perhaps it really is a go. The 7th is only one week from today.

[paul929207]

I checked Princess.com this morning and no update on July 7.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree Toto, they are probably anticipating a possible cancelation of the July 7th cruise. :)

[Rose1970]

My Mother was on the July 7th sailing for the Royal Princess. She received the offer to change dates. When she called about it, they advised her that the sailing is going on the 7th at the time she was talking to them (which was yesterday the 29th) however they are adding technical staff to the sailing to make sure everything goes well. She took the offer and is now going next year because it just worked out she was going to have to cancel her cruise.

I have had an offer like this in the past and loved it. If you are flexible, that is the way to go. ;)

[whale-watcher]

My Mother was on the July 7th sailing for the Royal Princess. She received the offer to change dates. When she called about it, they advised her that the sailing is going on the 7th at the time she was talking to them (which was yesterday the 29th) however they are adding technical staff to the sailing to make sure everything goes well. She took the offer and is now going next year because it just worked out she was going to have to cancel her cruise.

I have had an offer like this in the past and loved it. If you are flexible, that is the way to go. ;)

I would accept the offer. "Technical staff to make sure everything goes well" suggests ongoing repairs during the cruise:(