Engine Problems on the Carribean Princess

[Bowlersbus]

On the CB now - yesterday in St. Maarten we had some kind of power loss on the ship. When we embarked from St. Maarten none of the elevators were working. Capt came on and announced the engineers were working on fixing the problem. I have an aft balcony and can watch the wake as we leave - as we were leaving the engines did not sound right. Then the capt announces that we would be leaving the harbor and doing some manuevers (360's) so the engineers can make sure everything was online.

All nite it seemed we not were sailing as fast as we had been. Sure enough - today they announced that there were engine problems and we would NOT be stopping at Princess Cay. We'd be sailing straight home. Compensation is $100 ship board credit per passenger and port taxes for Bahamas refunded.

Tons of vibration on this ship. Since this is my first cruise on Princess I did not know if this was normal.

[cruisegirl25]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in June and it seemed to have more vibration (up and down- not normal swaying) then when we were on the Grand. Sorry you missed Princess Cays- we missed it too because of medical problems. Hope you had a great trip anyway.

[TheParrotHeads]

Thats all we need to add to the list of possible things to go wrong. As if cruising in August wasn't bad enough. I hope they fix this problem quick and things will be back to normal soon.

[Lillykat]

Oh great I hope they fix this as it is our first princess trip and it we leave a week from today.

[Coral]

Thanks for letting us know and I am sorry you missed Princess Cays - it is so beautiful there!

[Bowlersbus]

I live in Florida so missing Princess Cay (a beach day) is not that devastating to me. Although there are alot of people who are very upset.

Yes, the vibration is still there. Very noticable in the middle of the ship. Although it can be felt thru out. We just sailed thru and incredible storm. Thunder and Lightning. Just gloomy looking now, maybe it will clear up.

Even with out the PC stop, I have thoroughly enjoyed this cruise. Princess has the friendliest staff I have seen. The ship is so big and so much to see and do, I welcomed the extra sea day.

Hopefully it will all be fixed by the time you sail.

[sunluva7]

Thanks so much for the update. Sorry you missed Princess Cays - it's my favorite part of the cruise. We sail the CB a week from tomorrow. Please let us know if you hear anything else about the engine situation and how it might affect the next couple of sailings.

[atlcple2]

Please keep us updated. We will be on the CB 9/3-9/10. I wouldn't mind the extra sea day either, but would be really bummed if we had engine problems and didn't get to visit St. Martin...Glad to hear you are having a good time anyway! Hope the weather clears up for your last day at sea!

[donna5]

Are they ending the cruise a day early or something. When we didn't make Princess Cays or any other port, it was only a credit for the port fees?

[CoronaCpl]

Yep, sure do hope they get it fixed for our 6 Aug trip! This happened to us earlier this month on RCI's Grandeur to Bermuda cruise. We boarded knowing of the problem and aware of a very decent compensation. They fixed her (Grandeur) the day we got back to Baltimore. Still had a great time!

Surely they'll figure it out soon.

[set2374]

I am on the cruise that's leaving tomorrow!!! I am going to be irritated if the ship isn't ship shape!!! I want to go to princess cays!!!

[hcs81m]

Originally Posted by Bowlersbus

All nite it seemed we not were sailing as fast as we had been. Sure enough - today they announced that there were engine problems and we would NOT be stopping at Princess Cay. We'd be sailing straight home. Compensation is $100 ship board credit per passenger and port taxes for Bahamas refunded.

$100 per passenger credit (3,120 passengers) = $312,000 plus the cost to fix the problem, that's a huge expense. I wonder if Princess has insurance for these types of situations.

[Pam in CA]

Originally Posted by cruisegirl25

We were on the Caribbean Princess in June and it seemed to have more vibration (up and down- not normal swaying) then when we were on the Grand. Sorry you missed Princess Cays- we missed it too because of medical problems. Hope you had a great trip anyway.

I'm curious to know how you can tell whether the vibration is up/down or side-to-side. I sure wouldn't be able to! That sounds like normal ship's movement on water and not something to do with the engine.

[set2374]

I just called princess. They claim that they are not aware of any problems with the ship's engines or changes in itinerary.

[Pam in CA]

Originally Posted by set2374

I am on the cruise that's leaving tomorrow!!! I am going to be irritated if the ship isn't ship shape!!! I want to go to princess cays!!!

If there's an engine problem, I'm sure it wasn't deliberate or intended to disrupt your vacation. Engine problems happen on ships just as they do to cars. Actually, Princess has a LOT fewer engine problems than the ships on other cruiselines. Some ships (not Princess) have had multiple major problems. I'm sure the ship itself is ship-shape and they're doing everything they can to identify the problem and resolve it. As for Princess Cays, I've been there and would just as soon take a sea day.

[set2374]

I called Princess' main office again and I was advised that I was the first person to notify them of this engine situation. At first they told me that there had been no change in the itinerary. I pointed out that there have been several threads on cruisecritic addressing the issue and pointed out that their own website bridge cam for the ship indicates that the ship is enroute for port everglades. They put me on hold and told me they are going to investigate the matter and to call back. Obviously, since I am leaving tomorrow I have some concern about itinerary changes and engine related issues. This particularly an issue because there is tropical wave, which may be developing into a depression, that is bringing rain and thunderstorms to the area. At least with full power, we would be able to get away from them for the most part.

[FLDIXIE]

Hi all.
We're scheduled to leave on the CB tomorrow too and are really looking forward to it. I am going to stay positive that it will be fixed in time. They probably know what needs to be fixed and as soon as they get to Lauderdale the parts can be there and she'll be better than ever. We're driving over from the west coast so just may heed their warning to not arrive before 1 or later.

[dlb1357]

fldixie - thats the right attitude.

set2374 - try to relax and look forward to your vacation instead of stressing over somthing that you have no control over.

[Dreamer333]

Originally Posted by Bowlersbus

Compensation is $100 ship board credit per passenger and port taxes for Bahamas refunded.

Wow, that is very generous of Princess!!!

[cruzbabe]

We'll be on August 13th sailing (western itenerary) and I hope that the engine problems are fixed by then.

By the way, we missed Princess Cay last November (esatern itenerary) due to hurricane damage (Ivan?). I sure hope we make it this time.

CP is a beautiful ship and I know that we're going to have lots of fun.