Caribbean Princess delayed!

[Cruzin-K]

Wow, so a floating hotel in San Juan that they don't have to pay for, plus credit for a future cruise. Not a bad deal really. Of course, it would have been preferable to visit those wonderful islands, but hopefully this down time will fix the ship for good and the rest of the cruise season won't be a total loss for the CB.

 

I hope everyone on board can make the best of this and have fun planning that next cruise :)

[CruisingMouse]

Plan B is first choice but I'm a little OCD about vacation plans.....

 

Sounds as bad as me. Good luck to you I hope all works out.

[tigercat]

We were on the CB in Jan. for a B2B and both weeks they had problems with the propulsion system. One time we ended up docked for several hours until they could get it going. It didn't affect our cruise at all though.

tigercat

[decibel123]

what do you guys think the credit would be?

if next week cruise is cancelled, when will we know!i dont wantto be stuck in San Juan for a full week

[mnbruce]

We are on the April 8th departure. I figure we will still be going, but if not I'm ok with that as long as I know ahead of time. Our favorite hotel in Playa Del Carmen should have room for us.

[decibel123]

is that even if i did not purchase air with PRincess?

[decibel123]

for people cruising next week, if it is cancelled, are we all out of luck for the flights that we paid if it was not purchased through Princess?

[govols1]

If you are not going to use the tickets, ensure you cancel the reservations so you can use use the value of the tickets again. You will have to pay a $150.00 penalty but you will not lose the entire value of the tickets. Only way you will get a refund is if the airlines cancel the flight and are unable to get you to your destination in a similar time-frame.

[decibel123]

as long as we know before i head out to san juan

princess should inform us asap

[COMBOY]

Although most air tickets are non-refundable they still can be used on another trip in the future up to a year if you cancel prior to departure less $150 rebooking fee. I believe Princess will reimburse you the $150 if you use it towards air on another Princess cruise; however, if you decided to do something else like a land package to Hawaii then no.

[Astro Flyer]

I didn't read all of this thread so I don't know if you're aware of a 'sticky' that LauraS began with a link to the CC article about the Caribbean's propulsion problems...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1593237

 

 

The link to the CC article:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4776

 

If this is old news, sorry...:o

[rdsqrl]

Didn't you already post this question? You said in that other thread you started that your flights are frequent flyer tickets, so we can't answer your question as we don't know what airline and what their frequent flyer rules are for cancellations and redepositing miles. You need to contact whomever you're booked with because, no matter how many times you post here, none of us will know the answer. I can barely remember the rules for the one airline I'm a Platinum Exec flyer on, much less the others!

 

[Topo Gigio]

If you already have your ticket to SJU-and I guess most of you have it- there are some choices out there for the ones who can decide fast. Carnival Victory, Serenade of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and some attractive prices. Looks like Celebrity Summit is sold out for next week.

[COMBOY]

i am to sail on CB this coming SUnday.If thecruise is cancelled, would i be entitled to a compensation from PRincess for my flight?. I had exchanged 80000 points aeroplan plus $300.00 for a flight for two from Montreal to San Juan. HOw would i get my points and $300 back?

we are nervous. will also loose 200 dollars for dog babysitting

 

No reason to be nervous. Princess will either contact you or your travel agent to inform you of what you options are. There are over 3000 passengers to contact so this does take time. Hang tight and be patient.

[Lovetravel101]

This trip just keeps getting better and better,,,Air Canada strike notice last week, broken ship this week...... First time cruise already seems like a bad idea, way too much worry for this trip!

[ahracer]

If you already have your ticket to SJU-and I guess most of you have it- there are some choices out there for the ones who can decide fast. Carnival Victory, Serenade of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and some attractive prices. Looks like Celebrity Summit is sold out for next week.

 

 

Have a 24 hour hold on the Celebrity Eclipse out of Miami. Already have my air to SJU but air to MIA is less so even with change fee It comes out even. Now I hope Princess decides something before the 24 hour hold is up.

[swimgirl1]

So sorry for all, we fellow cruise lovers feel your pain.

Good luck with whatever choices you make.

[fishin' musician]

I hope for the sake of those onboard that they can dock in Old San Juan, at least for a few days. It sounds to me that the decision of whether the ship will opperate next week will be revealed tomorrow afternoon.

[jrzebird]

Perhaps they should consider offering those with already booked air the option of joining the ship in SJ and living and eating on board. What are they going to do with all of the crew if they don't sail for a couple weeks? Granted, they can use the time to clean and do repairs, but it might be more reasonable to act as a floating hotel. Just a thought.

 

I'm sure that they will take care of those who might miss the next cruise as well. They were very fair to the people who had to cut short their cruise on the noro-vacation. And, I was on the CB right before Hurricane Irene, and they offered some very good deals for those who were impacted by reason of not being able to get out of NYC because the airports were closed.

 

As I said earlier, I had a message from a friend who works on the CB and, as of 4:15 this afternoon, they still weren't sure if they would have to go into dry or wet dock for the repairs. I'm waiting for an update from him.

 

Thank you Eyeinthesky for sharing that first-hand information with us. Welcome to CC. Great first post!

 

Maureen

[VirginiaVacationer]

I'm sorry to hear about the for everyone...my sister and I just got off the ship Sunday, and we experienced no propulsion problems or delayed departures. I hope this works out for everyone who has cruises coming up. :(

[brentlym]

My family and I just left the CB on Sunday morning in SJU. It was an absolutely delightful cruise and week away. All seemed very normal, and the Captain and staff were fantastic. I really hate to hear this news. Hopefully, they'll get her all fixed up quickly.:(

[cookie225]

:(where is the crying little face here, i was sooo looking forward to my first Princess sailing but I too will have to decide in 24 hrs....

[fathercop]

Just my opinion , I am entitled to it so don't shoot me but I kind of agree that if it is the fault of Princess that they miss a port and or have to sit in a port, for a long period of time, something s/b done about it. Nothing major like a free cruise but it should be their responsibility to make sure their equipment is working properly. How about a little bit of on board credit. Depending on how long they are stuck there. Now if it had to do with a storm or something out of their control then it would be a different story. Again, everyone has their opinion.

 

Linda

 

Linda - not going to shoot you - LOL - when we were on the CB, I think it was 3 years ago, we had generator problems. This caused us to be in San Juan for 13 hours and about 4 hours in Bermuda -which was the port I really like. I did not expect anything from Princess, because the contract I signed and agreed to, stated in short that I had no compensation coming to me due to these problems. I did not look for any, nor did I expect any. However, Princess gave every passenger a $75.00 OBC. (For me that was nice because I was travelling with 5 family members.)

 

I know we want our vacations to go perfectly, but we (the passengers) do sign a contract with Princess, which hardly anyone reads.

 

Things just go wrong. When you drive, your car breaks down, not when you want it to, but usually at the least opportune time. The car breaks down even if you take good care of it. The same is true of ships. When you think of it, the propulsion system is actually pushing a 90 story skyscraper through the water. Unfortunately things happen that ruin our vacations and sometime the first feelings are along the lines that this is not fair and I should be given something.

 

I don't believe any good business plans to make things go badly, poorly or wrongly for their customers. Could Princess go to an even higher level of ensuring that nothing ever goes wrong with their ships? Probably, but could you imagine how much that would cost? (I DO BELIEVE THEY ARE ALREADY AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL OF CARE ANYWAY.)

 

When we say something is someone's fault, aren't we saying that they were negligent or purposeful in creating the problem? I cannot see how Princess would want to slack off on maintenance so that could be willfully "at fault" so that they could pay out compensation.

 

But to repeat what I previously said, I am sure Princess will do something nice to compensate their customers. They did for us when we were on the Crown and I am very appreciative of that.

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing.

 

Good luck to you and I hope you have enjoyable cruises.

 

P.S. And upon reading an updated post, it looks like Princess is offering a nice compensation package.

[Lovetravel101]

Ok. So people keep talking about choices........I must be missing something cause I feel like I have no choices as it is all out of my control. What choices do I have? I am also looking for the cry button

[fathercop]

Nothing posted just means that the Princess "spin doctors" are still working on an appropriate CYA response that paints the cruise line with the most flattering brush.

 

Mike

 

 

Mike, I am not sure what Princess would have to CTA for. Did they do something negligent?

 

What company or individual doesn't like to paint a rosier picture of events that have gone bad? Parents always explain away their mistakes when they are caught making them by their younger children. Speeders always make a good excuse for going 30 miles over the speed limit, when caught. Contractors will blame their supplier or their parts. As for me, I think for the most part, Princess does a good job of being honest and telling their customers what is going on.

 

Of should it go something like this:

 

"Hi, there customers. We here at ACME company would like to say that we have been making widgets for quite sometime and, well, a number of them left our factory in unsafe conditions. The only thing we can tell you is that we are really a group of misfits who should not be in the widget business in the first place, but we have a clever marketing department who only spins things in the best possible light. To be more specific, Jimmy Smith, and Bob Doe came to work that day drunk and in a bad mood, but we figured, what the heck maybe they can get the job done right and no one will notice? Well, someone noticed and we just want to take this time to say we apologize for being nitwits and hope that you will continue to purchase your widgets from us. Thank you."