Sun Princess Inaugural 2/8/24 cruise canceled

[nasa1974]

Let's hope my 10/14/24 cruise isn't her official maiden voyage.

[DHP1]

14 minutes ago, voljeep said:

SUN P had recently undergone sea trials - have any problems been reported that came up during those?  

What about Resilinet Lady - sea trials? 

Too many turns during last sea trial. I expect they ran into problems and therefore, they did not get permission to sail. If the cancellation was due to supply chain issues or a strike then why not say it. It not Princess fault. 

Edited January 26 by DHP1

[LACruiser88]

Inside info from someone currently onboard; there is at least 1 specialty restaurant venue that is still an empty space.  Sounds like they still have a lot to do!

[JGmf]

1 minute ago, DHP1 said:

Too many turns during last sea trial. I expect they ran into problems and therefore, they aren’t saying. If the cancellation was due to supply chain issues or a strike then why not say it. It not Princess fault.

 

I'm curious why does it matter whose fault it is for the purpose of a public announcement? 

 

Princess provided their remedy to the canceled cruisers with the FCC.  The case is closed on that.

 

Also, on the matter of public announcement of fault...as mentioned, there's a lot of finger-pointing and big-time money implications between engineers, contractors, owners, and vendors when assessing liability or fault on any large project.  Making any public statement complicates the legal and contractual battles between the parties.

[DHP1]

2 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Inside info from someone currently onboard; there is at least 1 specialty restaurant venue that is still an empty space.  Sounds like they still have a lot to do!

Which is expected. The ship won’t be 100% completed. There will be continuation work inside for a month or so. 

 

 

[nasa1974]

Just to clarify my 10/14 cruise. It is out of Ft. Lauderdale.

I might be wrong, but it seems like a lot less information about the new Sun class vs. what Princess did during the Royal class build.

[voljeep]

Just now, DHP1 said:

Which is expected. The ship won’t be 100% completed. There will be continuation work inside for a month or so. 

 

 

Huh? - why is that expected?  Did the SUN P lose a restaurant during sea trials - that's a whole lot of shakin' goin' on

[DHP1]

14 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

I'm curious why does it matter whose fault it is for the purpose of a public announcement? 

 

Princess provided their remedy to the canceled cruisers with the FCC.  The case is closed on that.

 

Also, on the matter of public announcement of fault...as mentioned, there's a lot of finger-pointing and big-time money implications between engineers, contractors, owners, and vendors when assessing liability or fault on any large project.  Making any public statement complicates the legal and contractual battles between the parties.

There 4,000 people on that cruise who had planned for this cruise over a year and for Princess to cancel their dream cruise without an explanation as to why is totally unacceptable. I do realize inaugural cruise are risky however, I expect most of them did not consider this. So in the meantime, are are all assuming.  The cruise is cancel so no point of pointing fingers who’s at fault because, we won’t know.  Let’s hope the Feb.18th cruise is a go and we put a closure on this cancellation cruise.  

 

Edited January 26 by DHP1

[lstone19]

9 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

Too many turns during last sea trial. I expect they ran into problems and therefore, they did not get permission to sail. If the cancellation was due to supply chain issues or a strike then why not say it. It not Princess fault. 

 

Whose fault it is is irrelevant. But it is Princess's responsibility. My cruise contract is with Princess, not with Fincantieri or any of the other sub-contractors. Princess is responsible for the performance of of its contractors, not me. For those who were booked on the cancelled cruise, it is Princess that failed to deliver their side of the cruise contract. 

[dides]

21 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Inside info from someone currently onboard; there is at least 1 specialty restaurant venue that is still an empty space.  Sounds like they still have a lot to do!

Well that's probably Love by Britto - I have been told by UK Princess PR that Spellbound and this restaurant will not be ready for the February sailings.

 

This isn't unusual -they didn't have the new production shows or escape room ready for the first Sky Princess inaugural sailings.

 

Edited January 26 by dides

[nasa1974]

3 minutes ago, dides said:

Well that's probably Love by Britto - I have been told by UK Princess PR that Spellbound and this restaurant will not be ready for the February sailings.

 

That's unfortunate.

[startedwithamouse]

18 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

Which is expected. The ship won’t be 100% completed. There will be continuation work inside for a month or so. 

 

 

The ship should have all the venues open for the first paying guests. 

 

Does anyone know if there was a media preview prior to the inaugural?

 

We were on the first sailing of Discovery Princess, all restaurants were open.

[DCThunder]

You might be interested in this video of the complete building of a cruise ship.  It's incredible how complex these machines are.

 

 

[teecee60]

On 1/24/2024 at 1:09 PM, LACruiser88 said:

I had been hearing "rumblings" from a few of our Princess inside sources that this was coming.  They just might cancel a couple more???  

 

On 1/24/2024 at 1:13 PM, mthomp5 said:

Must be so disappointing for those on the inaugural.  There was no mention of a delivery date so I’m guessing it may impact more cruises.   

 

On 1/24/2024 at 2:21 PM, UKWildcatCruiser said:

I’m on the 2/18 sailing. I really have no hope that it will go as scheduled. 

 

4 hours ago, DHP1 said:

Let’s hope the Feb.18th cruise is a go and we put a closure on this cancellation.  

 

I am an enrichment speaker for Princess Cruises, and I have just been assigned to the February 18th sailing of Sun Princess. The company is flying me from Tucson, AZ... to Europe... then back home, so at least SOMEONE at Princess Corporate HQ is definitely planning for that cruise to sail. 😉

 

The fact that the ship was not ready, rests with the SHIP BUILDER who signed a legal contract with Princess Cruiselines to deliver the ship on a specified date.

Edited January 26 by teecee60

[UKWildcatCruiser]

@teecee60 - very happy to hear that!!

[DHP1]

18 minutes ago, teecee60 said:

 

 

 

 

I am an enrichment speaker for Princess Cruises, and I have just been assigned to the February 18th sailing of Sun Princess. The company is flying me from Tucson, AZ... to Europe... then back home, so at least SOMEONE at Princess Corporate HQ is definitely planning for that cruise to sail. 😉

 

The fact that the ship was not ready, rests with the SHIP Builder... who signed a legal contract with Princess to deliver the ship on a specified 

Edited January 26 by DHP1

[teecee60]

16 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

What is enrichment speaker?

 

Someone who presents audio/visual programs on interesting subjects for cruise ship guests. My area of expertise is astronomy and space exploration. Besides my "sun" program shown above, here are a few more programs scheduled for the February 18th cruise...

 

Edited January 26 by teecee60

[loeb]

Sorry we will miss your presentations, may be on a future Princess cruise we will get to experience your presentation(s) first hand.

[Cdude]

3 hours ago, teecee60 said:

 

 

 

 

I am an enrichment speaker for Princess Cruises, and I have just been assigned to the February 18th sailing of Sun Princess. The company is flying me from Tucson, AZ... to Europe... then back home, so at least SOMEONE at Princess Corporate HQ is definitely planning for that cruise to sail. 😉

 

The fact that the ship was not ready, rests with the SHIP BUILDER who signed a legal contract with Princess Cruiselines to deliver the ship on a specified date.

That’s great and I hope you’re properly informed but right now Princess isn’t exactly reputable and from the passenger’s perspective it doesn’t matter if YOUR builder didn’t deliver. How about you make sure there is a proper buffer before you sail before people spend hard earned money, take time off of work and commit emotional spend? Same goes for airlines. They barely have the last passenger off and they are reboarding. Not clean and not safe! It’s all about company profits and 0% about customers which is why Princess deserves a heaping pile of dong salad right now. Why did all those other inaugural sailings that were canceled give guests so much notice? Better management and a long term perspective regarding their reputation! Don’t make excuses. Own it!

Edited January 27 by Cdude

[Geoffa30]

15 hours ago, Cdude said:

That’s great and I hope you’re properly informed but right now Princess isn’t exactly reputable and from the passenger’s perspective it doesn’t matter if YOUR builder didn’t deliver. How about you make sure there is a proper buffer before you sail before people spend hard earned money, take time off of work and commit emotional spend? Same goes for airlines. They barely have the last passenger off and they are reboarding. Not clean and not safe! It’s all about company profits and 0% about customers which is why Princess deserves a heaping pile of dong salad right now. Why did all those other inaugural sailings that were canceled give guests so much notice? Better management and a long term perspective regarding their reputation! Don’t make excuses. Own it!

How do you know there wasn’t a proper buffer but prior delays had already blown through that hence this cancellation?

[Coral]

I haven't read all 5 pages but it is not rare for ships to miss their inauguration sailings. The Coral Princess was delayed - I believe it was scheduled for around Christmas and missed that date (and obviously the Diamond Princess also but that was known farther in advance). 

 

On the flip side, if the ship is done early, they often add more sailings and then those who were on the original inauguration cruise are upset as they wanted to be the first.

 

Booking the first sailing of a ship can be a gamble (as someone who was booked on inauguration of the Diamond Princess). I booked another cruise and they knew months in advance it wasn't going to make it so I got a little bit of OBC for the inconvenience. Princess was pretty generous back then.

 

I was surprised - I just watched something on Disney on the Making of the Disney Wish and was surprised how much was still being done on the transatlantic before the inauguration. There was another line (that I don't remember) that did get their ship to the docking position of the first cruise and told their passengers that the ship wasn't all the way done but if they wanted to sail, they could as contractors finished the final work on the first cruise. They obviously got a discount but their ship wasn't fully finished decor wise.

[lstone19]

25 minutes ago, Coral said:

I haven't read all 5 pages but it is not rare for ships to miss their inauguration sailings. The Coral Princess was delayed - I believe it was scheduled for around Christmas and missed that date.

 

We were supposed to be on one of the Coral Princess early cruises. It was worse than that. We were booked for 12/24/02-1/3/03. That was supposed to be the sixth(!) cruise. Then it was the second cruise as the first four were cancelled. Than the inaugural. Then cancelled. The cancellation was announced 15 days in advance, on 12/9, a day I well remember as my employer filed for bankruptcy the same day (not exactly a good day for me although the employer successfully reorganized and I worked another almost 15 years there. And rebooked Coral Princess for the same thing a year later). Coral Princess did go into service 1/3/03 but all those cancelled cruises were ten-night cruises (Panama Canal partial transits out of FLL) so in the end, it was two months late.

[Coral]

44 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

 

We were supposed to be on one of the Coral Princess early cruises. It was worse than that. We were booked for 12/24/02-1/3/03. That was supposed to be the sixth(!) cruise. Then it was the second cruise as the first four were cancelled. Than the inaugural. Then cancelled. The cancellation was announced 15 days in advance, on 12/9, a day I well remember as my employer filed for bankruptcy the same day (not exactly a good day for me although the employer successfully reorganized and I worked another almost 15 years there. And rebooked Coral Princess for the same thing a year later). Coral Princess did go into service 1/3/03 but all those cancelled cruises were ten-night cruises (Panama Canal partial transits out of FLL) so in the end, it was two months late.

Thanks for remembering the details - sadly because it affected you. I knew someone who was going to be on your sailing so I remembered Christmas. Just didn't remember there were sailings before yours. I was on the ship in May 2003.

[SCX22]

Not sure what sort of explanation some people are looking for.  The ship isn't finished, simple as that.  Do they want the line by line list of what's still to be completed?

 

Princess is damned if they do and damned if they don't.  They didn't sail the the inaugural with the ship unfinished, and people are complaining.  If they did sail the inaugural with the finishing touches still needing to be completed, people would be complaining that Princess made them sail on an unfinished ship on top of the service hiccups.

 

If you got any goodwill FCC, use it to book another cruise and forget about the Sun's inaugural on February 8; it's not happening whether you like it or not.

[dides]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

If you got any goodwill FCC, use it to book another cruise and forget about the Sun's inaugural on February 8; it's not happening whether you like it or not.

 

As someone who booked the Feb 8th inaugural 17 months ago as soon as it went on sale, the most difficult aspect as it there was no chance to move over to a follow-up cruise. Princess have done move overs before but every cruise is sold out until the end of March ...well it appears to be sold out - Princess may be holding back inventory. Three weeks ago there was speculation that was over 600 staterooms available on the Feb 18th cruise for example.

 

 

Edited January 28 by dides