Caribbean Princess Propulsion Problems? True or Fixed?

[lives to cruise]

Hi. We will be sailing the CB in March of 2019. I read that the CB will have a Dry Dock in 2019. Can someone tell me when that might be? New to Princess and not sure where to find that information. Thanks.

[skynight]

Hi. We will be sailing the CB in March of 2019. I read that the CB will have a Dry Dock in 2019. Can someone tell me when that might be? New to Princess and not sure where to find that information. Thanks.

By the gap in the schedule looks like it is scheduled for dry dock April/May 2019

[chengkp75]

Hi. We will be sailing the CB in March of 2019. I read that the CB will have a Dry Dock in 2019. Can someone tell me when that might be? New to Princess and not sure where to find that information. Thanks.

 

If I remember right, the latest word is May 2019.

[lives to cruise]

If I remember right, the latest word is May 2019.

 

Thanks!

[lives to cruise]

By the gap in the schedule looks like it is scheduled for dry dock April/May 2019

 

Thanks!

[moki'smommy]

Would the propulsion problems cause any issues sailing through rough waters? The Caribbean Princess will be sailing from Ft. Lauderdale right through hurricane season. I just book the August 4th sailing and wondered why we arrived in St. Thomas at noon. I've done this itinerary many times and the last few years its been 7 am ish to 10 pm.

Hurricane season is 6 months of the year, and no captain will take his ship anywhere near a hurricane if it can be avoided. The only thing the propulsion issues might affect is how fast they can move away from a storm.

 

That said, the port times in April were awful. On several occasions we arrived at port at 6:30 am and departed at noon. Limon was the only port where we had a full day. Grand Cayman wasn't bad--we departed at 2pm there.

 

You will only get OBC if you booked before the problem was made public. If you booked after they posted the awful port times, too bad.

[PoohUnderstands]

Hurricane season is 6 months of the year' date=' and no captain will take his ship anywhere near a hurricane if it can be avoided. The only thing the propulsion issues might affect is how fast they can move away from a storm.

 

That said, the port times in April were awful. On several occasions we arrived at port at 6:30 am and departed at noon. Limon was the only port where we had a full day. Grand Cayman wasn't bad--we departed at 2pm there.

 

You will only get OBC if you booked before the problem was made public. If you booked after they posted the awful port times, too bad.[/quote']

 

I just booked a cruise on the CP at the last minute so I am only 63 days out. I am doing the western itinerary. My port times listed on my booking confirmation are decent. Since it is so close to the cruise and Princess aware of how "fast" the ship can go, shouldn't my times be pretty accurate ( 8-4 in Grand Cayman; 12-7 in Roatan; 7-6 in Belize City; and 9-9 in Cozumel)?

 

Pooh

[AF-1]

Pooh, I have the same port times listed for my CB cruise next February. They are decent times I don't have an issue with these times.

[satxdiver]

It appears the CB has been scheduled for drydock to fix the propulsion problem on May 9, 2019. This is not a simple problem but has to do with the generators that produce the electricity to run the two screws. Each screw has its own generators. This has been an ongoing problem now for several years as Princess has tried to fix it without a lot of downtime in drydock. It appears they have finally admitted that it can only be fixed in an extensive drydock.

 

We are on the CB this fall and received the notice of ports being skipped or times changed along with the $50/pax goodwill OBC.

[moki'smommy]

I just booked a cruise on the CP at the last minute so I am only 63 days out. I am doing the western itinerary. My port times listed on my booking confirmation are decent. Since it is so close to the cruise and Princess aware of how "fast" the ship can go, shouldn't my times be pretty accurate ( 8-4 in Grand Cayman; 12-7 in Roatan; 7-6 in Belize City; and 9-9 in Cozumel)?

 

Pooh

Yes, your port times look GREAT. We were on a Panama partial transit. Limon was our only full day port. Grand Cayman was next--departure there was 2pm.

[MISTER 67]

Perhaps someone who does not spend every waking hour following Princess news?

 

Kind of a snarky response

 

There seems to be a lot of snarkiness on these boards.

Civility is a thing of the past.

[StillPooh]

It appears the CB has been scheduled for drydock to fix the propulsion problem on May 9, 2019. This is not a simple problem but has to do with the generators that produce the electricity to run the two screws. Each screw has its own generators. This has been an ongoing problem now for several years as Princess has tried to fix it without a lot of downtime in drydock. It appears they have finally admitted that it can only be fixed in an extensive drydock.

 

We are on the CB this fall and received the notice of ports being skipped or times changed along with the $50/pax goodwill OBC.

It was an issue on our CB cruise six YEARS ago! I can’t believe they haven’t fixed it yet.

[JUST CRUZIN]

Our April 11 cruise was without problems and all the crew I asked about the propulsion problem said it was corrected. As I said our 10 day sailing was without issue but could the crew be just told to say that? Who knows. I am sailing on her again this June 23 and hope it’s as smooth as the last voyage..

[likeadisguise]

It was an issue on our CB cruise six YEARS ago! I can’t believe they haven’t fixed it yet.

New problem. This one happened just as they came out of drydock a little over a year ago.

[chengkp75]

Our April 11 cruise was without problems and all the crew I asked about the propulsion problem said it was corrected. As I said our 10 day sailing was without issue but could the crew be just told to say that? Who knows. I am sailing on her again this June 23 and hope it’s as smooth as the last voyage..

 

It's been my experience that the vast majority of crew that passengers interact with have absolutely no clue how the ship they live on actually works, nor do they have any idea about technical issues. I believe these crew truly believe the problem is fixed, because the ship is meeting its schedule (changed), so "everything must be okay". The problem is not fixed, nor will it be until drydock and they can cut a large hole in the side of the ship to fix the propulsion motor.

[skynight]

Our April 11 cruise was without problems and all the crew I asked about the propulsion problem said it was corrected. As I said our 10 day sailing was without issue but could the crew be just told to say that? Who knows. I am sailing on her again this June 23 and hope it’s as smooth as the last voyage..

Not fixed. Max. speed 18 knots and schedules arranged to adjust to that speed. The problem is not evident when on board. If seas are calm you will have smooth sailing just like your last cruise. Believe there is a long hole in the schedule during May 2019, when it will be addressed.

[JUST CRUZIN]

Well then, let’s hope for calm seas in June.

[jonesbk]

I did the Ultimate Ship Tour in April. No one mentioned the propulsion issues, but just looking at the monitors and displays in the engine control room (part of the tour) you could easily tell something was wrong as one of the shafts was in red versus green and there were notes and instructions everywhere not to exceed X power to that shaft. So no, the issue has not been resolved, but I doubt most of the crew would have any idea that there is a problem.

 

 

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[jovisoul]

We are sailing on her Oct. 18th, we received the $50 p/p Goodwill credit also. We booked this cruise while we were on the CB last October.

[OttawaJohn]

On the behind the scenes tour I did in May this year, someone directly asked about it. The engineer tried to talk around answering before admitting to it. He said drydock wasn't needed just for repairs but to allow for investigations into the cause. The arrival times are effected at ports, and sometimes the order, but we never noticed a material effect in performance other then reduced speed.

[TwoCruisers]

I was on the Caribbean Princess about 2 months ago. There was one port dropped from the schedule and some minor changes for port times. The only other thing was a slight vibration in the aft dining room during dinner. This vibration was slightly more than normal but nothing to complain about.

[lola2013]

I was on the Caribbean Princess about 2 months ago. There was one port dropped from the schedule and some minor changes for port times. The only other thing was a slight vibration in the aft dining room during dinner. This vibration was slightly more than normal but nothing to complain about.

 

Hi Gordon...greetings to you and Jan. It was a great cruise, wasn't it?

Susan

[TwoCruisers]

Hi Gordon...greetings to you and Jan. It was a great cruise, wasn't it?

Susan

Hi Susan, you are right it was a great cruse. It was nice meeting you and your friends, Linda and Phil.

[caribill]

I was on the Caribbean Princess about 2 months ago. There was one port dropped from the schedule and some minor changes for port times.

 

And all current posts about how the problem is not affecting their cruise do not mention that there is one less port and some reduced port times at other ports.

[SSMEX]

We're booked on the 8/11/2018 cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman, Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. Does anyone know what a typical Western Caribbean itinerary out of FLL looked like before the adjustment?