Grand Princess Late??

[GillCC]

we were on this sailing and were really pleased (and surprised)with a number of things Princess did. Yes we were late - but the captain did that for our safety, they produced an extra patter with activities for the extra sea day. Although they had to cancel the evening show in the interest of the performers safety they screened a new film twice, organised an impromptu classical performance and re-scheduled the production show for 2pm on the day of diembarkation (although we gained good time and were off the boat before it was scheduled). We had bought soda stickers and were able to use those until we diembarked (very different from other sruise lines!)

 

I thought that given the circumstances - lateness and change of terminal, that disembarkation went ok. We were allowed to stay in our cabin as long as we wanted. Finally left as the ship was tied up and went to our lounge. The bill situation was a bit of a problem but we went to the pursers desk and they had staff gathering cabin numbers so people didn't have to queue. They then returned with the printouts.

 

Our only problem was getting out of the dock area once we had collected the car - but that is Southampton's traffic control not Princess.

 

I say Well Done Princess for making a bad situation more bearable!

[SomeBeach]

Did Crown and Grand arrive in Southampton within a few hours of each other and actually swap their planned docks?

 

Currently on Crown and was on the cruise prior.

We arrived as scheduled Sat morning and the Grand came in a good 5-6 hours after us.

We were suppose to dock at the new Carnival terminal but were moved back to our original one because of the Grands delayed arrival. Caused a bit of confusion for those coming to Crown because many were already in London or SoHamt and weren't checking emails. Princess did send them out about the change but it was late Friday evening. They also sent emails Sat morning. It all sorted out and everyone got to where they needed to be.

 

We didn't get into the weather system the Grand did. As we prepared to leave So Queensferry (Edinburgh) for LeHarve Captain made an announcement about the conditions we would be heading into. The ship was turned and we returned to SoHamt by retracing the route our cruise took to that point.

[Posaune]

To Micki (SomeBeach)

We were on Crown prior to you and had flat seas on our entire cruise. Sorry you missed LeHavre, but marine forecasts had 15 to 20 foot seas and force 9 to 10 winds in the area you were supposed to be heading. (especially around Dover) The Captain made a wise decision. I am sure the change in docks and Grand's timing and condition made a difficult situation for the port workers and other support personnel even harder.

 

We were very lucky with our disembarkation in Southampton. We walked right off the ship at 6AM with our luggage in tow, jumped right in a cab to the bus terminal and into a bus for Heathrow. We were at Heathrow by 8:10.

 

Richard

[breezyb45]

Hi All!

I am relatively new to this CC business. However I would like to offer my observations on this thread.

It seems to me that Cruise CB was offering what he was witnessing. Getting off cruises, even in good weather, can be a stressful situation.

What he doesn't realize is that many people feel Princess is like family

and take it personal when comments are made.

We need to remember that everyone is entitled to an opinion and we don't always have to agree with it. I do feel we are too quick to jump on someone, "to set them straight".

Well, these are just my observations and I am sure some will say, "What does she know?"

Thanks for allowing me to add my two cents worth.

Kathy

[cruiseGB]

Hi,

Me again. Probably my 6th and last post.

Many thanks breezyb45, a voice of reason.

I do feel, and so does my family, that I must have ruffled some feathers of some long term Princess fans. I put down what we saw. We have not been on a late ship before so can't comment on P&O. I have no complaints of the way the Captain handled the ship through the storm, how could anyone when safety is everyone's main concern.

GillCC, you obviosly got your bill before the computer crashed. Did they check you off or do they have no idea that you actually walked off the ship? We don't like leaving the ship without knowing what we are being charged. We have had bill problems with P&O.

See I can criticise P&O aswell.

Colo Cruiser. You cannot comment about my actions. My son has close ties with our club, both with players and coaching staff. He is a qualified football coach himself. The wife's idea by the way. Yes guys, I am a lucky man to have a wife, of 27 years, like that. They only needed to push the trolley through the customs area because a friend was the other side to take them to his car for the journey home. As for the score, thats football.

Once again I am sorry that some of you can't take what I said in the manner it was meant. We may cruise Princess again, after all they are all part of the same company.

We are not people who complain and didn't at any time to Priness staff, who had a difficult disembarkation to deal with. We just felt it could have been better as they must train for these sort of situations.

Anyway, enough from me and goodbye. Enjoy your board, but without me to have a go at.

[Colo Cruiser]

Colo Cruiser. You cannot comment about my actions. My son has close ties with our club, both with players and coaching staff. He is a qualified football coach himself. The wife's idea by the way. Yes guys, I am a lucky man to have a wife, of 27 years, like that. They only needed to push the trolley through the customs area because a friend was the other side to take them to his car for the journey home. As for the score, thats football.

Once again I am sorry that some of you can't take what I said in the manner it was meant. We may cruise Princess again, after all they are all part of the same company.

We are not people who complain and didn't at any time to Priness staff, who had a difficult disembarkation to deal with. We just felt it could have been better as they must train for these sort of situations.

Anyway, enough from me and goodbye. Enjoy your board, but without me to have a go at.

 

 

I was not being demeaning. You posted your experience and basicly said you were done with Princess and would go back to P&O. More power to you, thats your choice.

Remember when you post comments on here you are subject to opinions. Oh well thats my opinion Princess family or not. :cool:

[CruisinChris]

I've been on Princess ships delayed to final port - the Golden Princess (VEnice to NYC) in 9/2002. This was a rough sailing and we knew for at least a couple days we would be arriving late - how late we weren't sure. Princess took care of making flight changes in advance for everyone with Princess air. People with Princess insurance got extra accomodation. We had independent insurance and air. Through my insurance company I was able to make new air arrangements and Princess paid for ground transportation, hotel near the airport, and provided meals for us at the hotel - which we thought was extremely generous. Now - we arrived at the Manhattan piers which are terribly outdated and very manual when it comes to moving luggage and people. Plus the ship was arriving in the US and had to go through the whole inspection process. We werent cleared to disembark until 8 hours after arriving at the pier. We were among the last off and to say it was chaotic quayside would be an understatement. But then, their whole flow is thrown off and arriving passengers show up early with luggage, and no where to go, while disembarkation was still going on. Not necessarily a P problem and easy to understand how all the logistics could be totally out the window. It was still the best cruise we ever took.

 

LInked here is long footage of some of the storm and a walk around I did later showing many of the blown out windows on Prom deck.

[SomeBeach]

To Micki (SomeBeach)

We were on Crown prior to you and had flat seas on our entire cruise. Sorry you missed LeHavre, but marine forecasts had 15 to 20 foot seas and force 9 to 10 winds in the area you were supposed to be heading. (especially around Dover) The Captain made a wise decision. I am sure the change in docks and Grand's timing and condition made a difficult situation for the port workers and other support personnel even harder.

 

We were very lucky with our disembarkation in Southampton. We walked right off the ship at 6AM with our luggage in tow, jumped right in a cab to the bus terminal and into a bus for Heathrow. We were at Heathrow by 8:10.

 

Richard

 

Richard, I didn't object to the Captains decision. I leave the *driving* to him. :D I know many folks were upset to have missed LeHarve because of the plans they had and I felt sorry for them but missed ports is a part of cruising.

 

I didn't witness any problems with the Crowns disembarkation because I didn't have to leave the ship so I don't know how things went Sat for those that did so.

 

Our seas throughout the trip weren't too bad on the way up and around. In ports, for the most part, the rain co-operated whilst on excursions. On our return we did have some swells that caused a bit of rockin' and rollin' but we only had that for a few hours. It was nothing near what the Grand experienced.

[Pink-belle]

That sounds like an awful last day of a cruise, I came back on Oceana on the 29th, we only had Force 9 and I found that quite bad enough, needed to resort to some tablets and an hour of fresh air, to get me feeling well again.

I have a question though, as Princess had warned you of the much later expected time of arrival in Southampton, had they allowed you longer in your cabins on that last day ? If you had had to leave them by 8am as usual I can see a lot of people getting irate in the public areas.

 

Our disembarkation from Oceana wasn't without problems, but mainly due to staff rather than fellow pax. On Princess, we are used to finding a quiet area on deck or the prom deck to soak up the last couple of hours away from our everyday life. On P&O we were herded together, quite literally, asked to leave the Starlights theatre ( Vista lounge on Sun Class ships) As it was going to be used for a seminar, Prom deck roped off etc.

The experience we had in those last few hours did put a bit of a shadow over our previous week. So I can fully appreciate what you went through has done the same for you.

 

That said different courses for different horses :lol: We have done 6 Princess cruises and now tried P&O and say exactly the same. Yes Princess does charge for a lot that P & O provide freely, how I wish Princess provided free shuttles for example. We however just love Princess, the timings, the meals, the entertainment, we would sail P&O again (in fact are on the 23rd September on a short cruise) For our longer holidays Princess would be our first choice.

 

I hope you try Princess again, I am hopeful that our next cruise on P&O will leave us with a different opinion.

[Pink-belle]

Sorry Gill, I missed your post, seems like Princess did a great job then, rescheduled entertainment and use of the cabins :)

 

Yes we had major problems leaving the Ocean terminal carpark, In the end we gave up, in the end pulled out of the queue, which we dutifully had joined an hour earlier, but became a free for all with others joining along its entire length. Went back to the terminal picked up coffee and a couple of free mags and returned to the car, waited away from the fumes for the chaos to die down, not a great experience though.