Just back-Caribbean Princess w/a problem

[christiansmom]

Hi all:

Just back from the CP. Unfortunately, we had a terrible problem all week long that was never resolved. Before we left FLL, I noticed a sewage stench when on my balcony (mini-suite D725). I thought it was just due to the fact that they were doing some maintenance or something of the sort. By evening time, I thought otherwise. First thing Sunday morning, I went to the Purser's Office to report it. I had a message later on that they sent maintenance up and no smell was noticed although I had spoken to the passengers along side of me and they agreed with me. To make a long story short, after several phone calls, visits from officers, etc., the situation was acknowledged but never resolved. At one point, they had all the balconies open and were removing the flooring. They said there was a cap missing on a pipe and they thought the problem was fixed but it was not. We were unable to step foot on our balcony or even open the door the entire week without smelling sewage. Some times it was worse than others...sometimes so bad that you could smell it through the door. We were told that we will be contacted by the Santa Clara office but I am not going to wait and plan on making contact as soon as possible via a certified letter. I would appreciate any information on who I should contact. This was my 4th sailing on Princess and the first time I experienced a problem. I felt that the staff should've been more attentive....we were offered nothing but an apology.

That being said, we made the best of it otherwise. The ship is beautiful, staff friendly and the food was plentiful and very good. Unlike some others, we enjoyed Club Fusion. The spa is gorgeous and worth every penny according to my mom (my parents were also sailing with us in the Martinique Suite so we did get some balcony time in http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif My son loved the kids program (3-6 group) and the staff was darling. In our opinion, Sterling Steakhouse was a waste. It was no better than Longhorn Steakhouse (or Outback) for those who are familiar. We enjoyed the offerings at Cafe Caribe and utilized it often. For those wondering, there is a buffet available round the clock, alternating between the two. Pizza was great, my son ate tons of it. Sorry to be a downer but I did want to share my experience and to alert others to be persistent from the get go if you encounter this problem. My friends, port side, and my parents, directly aft did not have any stench to deal with. I will be happy to answer any questions.

All the best!

Lisa
christiansmom

[daWoods]

You said, "I felt that the staff should've been more attentive....we were offered nothing but an apology." What would you have had them do? From your report it sounds like they made several attempts to solve the problem, without any luck. You had visits from officers and maintenance staff, and an apology. I realize having that smell outside your door couldn't have been pleasant, but some things are not that easy to solve, especially at sea. What could they have done that they didn't do?

Island Princess Feb. 2004
Grand Princess Feb. 2002
Norwegian Sky Feb. 2001

[crusdiva]

Lisa,

So sorry to hear about your problem on the CP.
My husband and I sailed her on May 1st and also experienced a foul odor aft when we would walk promenade deck.
As our room wasn't near it that was the only dealing with it.
That being said, write a letter to Princess and include all details and the names of personnel who acknowledged your concerns.
The address for Princess is:
Princess Cruises Mail Center
Passenger Relations Department
24844 Avenue Rockefeller
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
Also, if you booked via a TA send him/her a copy of your letter so they can follow-up with Princess.
Princess will send acknowledgement that they received your letter and then 6-8 weeks later you will get a letter of resolution.

Sharon

Crown 1991 Eastern Caribbean
Dreamward 1994 Bermuda
Sun 1997 Western Caribbean
Grand 1999 Mediterranean
Dawn 2000 South Caribbean
Ocean 2001 Mexican Riviera
Crown 2001 Hawaii/Tahiti
Dawn 2002 Eastern Caribbean
Conquest 2003 (it was free)
Dawn 2003 Transit Panama Canal
Caribbean 2004 Eastern Caribbean

[christiansmom]

What would I have liked them to do? I would've liked them to contact me without having to call them repeatedly to tell them the problem wasn't rectified. To follow up and not just assume. A bottle of wine, flowers, perhaps? This was a HUGE inconvenience. We are not talking a missing chocolate here. If I hadn't of pressed the issue, I doubt we would've received a business card (we asked for one)or offered to write an e-mail. We had officers visit us on Thursday. By that time, the cruise was all but over. The other visits were by maintenance men who looked around and wrinkled their noses when they stepped on the balcony. I truly believe they would've just let it go had we not been so persistent. I am not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Truly, the odor was foul...so foul that my 6 year old had to sleep in bed with us many nights because he could not sleep by the door. I think they could've offered something more than just an apology.

I am not trying to bash Princess....I love Princess, but I think that this situation should've been given more attention and more importance and not just at my urging.

Lisa
christiansmom

[This message was edited by christiansmom on 05-15-04 at 04:18 PM.]

[christiansmom]

Thanks for the address, crusdiva. I will let you know what the outcome is.

All the best!

Lisa
christiansmom

[Jacqueline]

I cant believe that there wasnt one cabin that they could move you to... Did this come up as an option?

Jacqueline
Constellation 3/20/04
HAL Westerdam 7/30/04
Tahitian Princess August 2003
Grand Princess Western Caribbean 2003
Brilliance of the Seas Baltic 2002
Ocean Princess- Alaska 2001
Celebrity Zenith- Bermuda 2001
Grand Princess Med 2000

[christiansmom]

No Jacqueline, we asked and were told more than once that the ship was completely full. The odor was apparent from the sitting area on a few nights and my son either slept with us or I sent him to my parent's suite (C751) which was fine. He slept on the couch. If it would've been so bad that it permeated the whole cabin (it did not) I would've bunked with my parents even though their suite only accomodated two.

Lisa
christiansmom

[spongerob]

Let us know how it is resolved when you get a reply. Hopefully it will be handled to your satisfaction.

Completed:
Sea Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess (3X), Caribbean Princess, Golden Princess
Coming up:
Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04
Caribbean Princess redux 6/25/05

[Coral]

Princess has been "overbooking" quite a bit lately - so it doesn't surprise me there wasn't another cabin available.

I have had 2 problems on Princess ships - on the one, it could not have been resolved on the ship and I was handed a card of someone to contact after the cruise. This problem was a miscoommunication between my TA and Princess.

On the second one, I also had a foul odor in my cabin on the Coral Princess. Ours was not as severe as yours - I could only smell it in the morning in my bathroom - it made me want to gag. I did call several times and they did try to fix the odor several times. I ended up writing a letter to Princess and received a small shipoard credit on my next sailing - all in all, it was a fair offering.

I have read about this issue on several cruise lines and several ships. This issue came up when I had booked the Zuiderdam last year - I ended up canceling it because many had reported this. Princess isn't the only line to have to deal with this.

Good luck.

[Lynda90]

Lisa: At the very least, Princess should have offered you a healthy on-board credit. Or, perhaps they will offer you a major discount or on-board credit for a future cruise. I agree with you that they did not do enough to even attempt to accommodate you. Hard to believe they couldn't have moved you somewhere. In any event I totally disagree with DaWoods; they didn't even begin to do enough to help the situation. You did not get what you paid for. Let us know if this is resolved.

Lynda

[enyliram]

this appears to be a consistent problem on the cp beginning with the innaugural april cruise and all subsequent cruises and has not been fixed.other message board cruisem----es has info on this. booked for 07/03. fortunately not aft but nevertheless uneasy about this ship with sewage waste problem. are they pulling this ship for the repairs? seems to be warranted.

[christiansmom]

Thanks for the replies! Lynda, I appreciate your comments. I really feel Princess dropped the ball and if this is a consistent problem, they need to get it rectified ASAP. I so wanted to sit on my balcony, if just for a cup of coffee, but the stench literally made me gag. I do hope they work things out but would definitely watch these boards especially if you are booked aft.

All the best,

Lisa
christiansmom

Rules regarding issues of this type – not just lost chocolate:

1 – Document the problem – document…in writing – while on board and have one of the ship’s personnel sign the document. You have really no recourse in writing a letter to Santa Clarita if you don’t have documentation of what happened on board. Anyone can tell a story.

2 – Send the documentation with a letter to Passenger Services and follow up every couple of weeks if you don’t get results.

You were definitely inconvenienced. I would have asked for some sort of credit while on board – not waited for an offer. You should receive some sort of on board or future cruise credit.

-------------------------
Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

[Cruisinforever]

That is too bad that you had to endure that stench. On the May 1-8 sailing we had a minisuite balcony on the Dolphin deck, starboard, midship, and never had an odor problem there. But, one day my co-traveler and I ventured onto the Princess Links for something different to see, and didn't stay long at all... the stench up there was awful. Something's up and they'd better find the cause.

I also think you should have recieved some on-board credit or nice perk if all the other cabins were full. They were full on our sailing also.

The only problem with our cabin we had were some bathroom tiles that just wouldn't stick to the floor, but they sure stuck to our damp feet! http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

JJ
Caribbean Princess 5/1/04
Star Princess 5/24/03
Sun Princess 6/12/00
Carnival Fantasy 1/18/98

[Coral]

Out of curiosity - what amount of shipboard credit would have been appropriate in this situation?

I am not sure if $300 shipboard credit would have "made me content" to not be able to use the balcony. Not exactly sure what amount would have seemed fair. I think this is a situation where the best compensation for this situation would be a percentage off a future cruise, or a large amount reinbursed for this cruise (maybe the difference between an inside cabin and a minisuite), etc. .

What do others think?

[This message was edited by Coral on 05-15-04 at 06:47 PM.]

[christiansmom]

You're right, bdjam. We should've asked for something while on board, but honestly, a ship board credit would not do it for us and I didn't want them to feel I was satisfied if I accepted such. I do have a note with a business card about the situation and do have several names of people I spoke with. At this point, I don't exactly know what I feel is appropriate compensation. We LOVE the experience of a balcony. We were not able to use ours for 5 minutes the entire week. My parents were inconvenienced as well because they had us camping out on their balcony whenever we tricked them into letting us in the door http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif It was a very unfortunate situation. I am curious as to what others feel would be appropriate as well.

All the best,

Lisa
christiansmom

[dimonzr4me]

The Zuiderdam did have this problem also last year but you could only smell the bad smell near one of the elevator areas. On our first Princess cruise we basically had no control over our air conditioning, it stayed around 80 in our room the entire trip, we called everyday and everyday they came and tried to fix it. To make a long story short when we got home we wrote Princess and they sent us a coupon for
$250 per person for the next cruise. I think they took care of us very well, we were very inconvenienced by this, we burned up all week long when in our cabin. We were happy with the outcome and we are not the complaining type, but DH would be happy with AC set on 68.

4/9 2005 Dawn Princess
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[goldengirl]

hi
soory to hear about your unpleasant experience. who likes a bad odar? no one.
and to pay for a balcony and not be able to enjoy it. my suggestion when you writr your letter is to tell them what you would like for compensation. they should have used there brains and sent you flowers or something special. write the letter asap and let us know the outcome. do you even want to sail this lien agian??

[stoneharborlady]

I am more than a bit concerned about this, a second member of this board complaining about aft cabins on this ship in one month. I sail July 3 in an aft cabin on Emerald deck, and am keeping my fingers crossed. I also find it hard to believe that they could not move you to another cabin. Sure sounds like something is seriously wrong here.

Caribbean Princess July 3 2004

[Pam in CA]

I agree with bdjam... for any problem you encounter, you should document when you called, who you spoke to, the response and the result, whether it's a cruise or any other customer service issue.

What would the appropriate onboard or future cruise credit be? I think it should be the difference between an outside and a balcony cabin for that sailing. That would seem fair to me.

I'm in a balcony cabin the end of December but on Aloha mid-deck. I'd be pretty p****d off if I couldn't use it.

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- Roll Call (http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=9323078957)
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-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- Roll Call (http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=4763056957&m=999100981&r=999100981#999100981)
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[roe2ship]

Lisa,
I am very sorry to hear about your experience. I hope you are compensated very well. I agree with Pam except using the difference from the lowest inside category to your category.
Stoneharborlady, where did you hear that this is the second same problem this month on this ship? This is a first for me.

Caribbean Princess 7/03/04
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[stoneharborlady]

Hi, On 5-11, Nick 1234 gave a review of the CP, and said her aft balcony had a septic system smell about it. As a matter of fact, you replied to her review, and asked what she meant by "septic system smell" I believe she meant a sewer type odor. Her review is now on page 4.

Caribbean Princess July 3 2004

[stoneharborlady]

Make that three reports of a nasty odor. A bit earlier today (on this post) crusdiva also reported a foul odor while walking aft on Promenade deck.

Caribbean Princess July 3 2004

[NancyK]

enyliram - just saw your post..are you sailing with us on July 3, 2004?? If you are, join our rollcall - we have a list of around 60 + people so far and planning to meet somewhere on the ship - can't wait - until July....NancyK

[roe2ship]

Stoneharborlady, yes I do remember now...the post was not quite detailed and confusing. Nick1234..what aft cabin were you in?

Caribbean Princess 7/03/04
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[CruisingForever]

I had an inside cabin on the Lido deck and the bathroom had a septic smell also. It wasnt all the time though.

[stoneharborlady]

To roe2ship, Nick1234 stated in her review that she and her friends were in E726 and E728.

Caribbean Princess July 3 2004

[UK Cruiser]

Hi everyone. We have just returned from back-to-back cruises and I can attest to the smell. For our first week we were on Dolphin, midships and no problems on the balcony - however we "smelled the smell" around the aft elevators and entrance to Club Fusion - several other passengers also commented.
For our second week we were in a starboard aft cabin on Dolphin and there was definitely a smell on the balconies! (our friends were next door). We also noticed the smell around the Princess links.

Lisa - I will write a letter to Princess which will back your complaint, although we did not complain on board, so it will be an advisory letter only. We did make comment ofn the survey form at the end of the cruise.

Apart fromn this problem we really enjoyed our cruises!

[enyliram]

nancyK. yes we are sailing july and should probably pack lysol with our luggage. how do you join the roll call??enyliram.

[enyliram]

nancyK. yes we are sailing july3 and should probably pack lysol with our luggage. how do you join the roll call??enyliram.

[tjcox9]

Just back from the 5/8 sailing on the Caribbean Princess and am pleased to note that we had no problems at all and found the trip very enjoyable.

This was the first Princess cruise taken and probably not the last. The cabin, a balcony on the Lido was small, but certainly adequate with plenty of storage and had no problems with anything not functioning properly.

I'm sorry to hear that you all had problems that were not resolved.

[jemingway]

enyliram, go to the Roll Calls section and then to Princess. Scroll down until you see our July 3 topic. http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

JV The 4 stages of cruising: planning, anticipation, experience and reflection.

[NightOne]

One of our standard items that we pack whenever we are going to be staying overnight anywhere but at home is spray air fresheners (Glade and the like).

This may have not helped with your balcony door open, but it might have helped with it closed.

We have found many occasions in hotels and such that we have glad we brought one.

Time until Sailing
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[gillianrose]

The problem that christiansmom
experienced on this cruise is unforgivable, in my opinion. An apology, a bottle of wine? No way. There must be financial compensation in this instance as Princess did not take care of the problem during the cruise.

Princess is very prone to cabin dumping and not setting aside some empty cabins where people can move to if serious problems arise.

My friends and I are becoming very wary of booking Princess.

[Ella2]

YIKES, we have a Vista Suite booked, as aft as you can get on the Dolphin Deck for the 12/4 cruise. I would be VERY disappointed to not be able to use my balcony.

I have to HOPE that any odor problems would be resolved by then but the continuing issues are making me nervous about that. I will be watching carefully for future reviews and any information about this problem!

Christiansmom, I hope you get a satisfactory resolution to your problem.

[NancyK]

enyliram - like jemingway said - go to roll call and click on pg. 2 for our sailing..glad to have you aboard. We have a list of people - 60 + - planning to meet somewhere on the ship - plans are in the works - will let you know. - I hope I don't have to pack my lysol.....I am in D728 - Radtech in D718 - I to would be disappointed if I couldn't use my balcony...until July 3rd.......NancyK

[dewla]

Now I am really worried! We have four starboard balcony cabins a few cabins in front of the very aft of the ship!
We booked this one for the balconies!
How do we find out if this STINK has been fixed???
Laura