Tell me about Capt. Todd McBain

[Pia1913]

I just received an email stating that he's to be our Captain on our upcoming Star Princess cruise. So many Princess cruises "under our belt" and yet have never heard of him.

[shellbeachjim]

He was our captain on the Star in March. This is the cruise which had the 5 hour delay leaving San Francisco due to a number of factors beyond his control (worst embarkation ever). We also had 7 Alpha-Tango incidents and had to return to one port because of a medical emergency. Through all of this he kept the passengers aware of the situations at hand. Very professional and I'd sail with him again.

[Pia1913]

He was our captain on the Star in March. This is the cruise which had the 5 hour delay leaving San Francisco due to a number of factors beyond his control (worst embarkation ever). We also had 7 Alpha-Tango incidents and had to return to one port because of a medical emergency. Through all of this he kept the passengers aware of the situations at hand. Very professional and I'd sail with him again.

 

 

YIKES! Thanks, Jim. Captain probably got blamed for it all anyway. **** happens; beyond our control. I usually just laugh. ;)

[bhopal21]

He was captain of The Golden back in 2008 for two weeks. We were on a Mex riviera cruise and found ourselves adrift in the Pacific ocean one evening with no power and only emergency lighting on half the ship for over two and a half hours. It was spooky to say the least as there was no moon and it was totally dark outside.

 

He did try to keep us informed during the outage by having announcements made via megaphone on each deck as best he could.

 

He disembarked as we did upon arriving in San Pedro.

 

Mike:)

[Pia1913]

Two for two. Hasn't anyone cruised with this captain WITHOUT mishaps?

[Pam in CA]

Two for two. Hasn't anyone cruised with this captain WITHOUT mishaps?

They all have mishaps. :) Even "Crash" Nash who was Captain of the Star until Captain McBain replaced him in SF and is now facing the court of public opinion with regards to the alleged "non-rescue" of the "fishermen" last March.

[Josy1953]

They all have mishaps. :) Even "Crash" Nash who was Captain of the Star until Captain McBain replaced him in SF and is now facing the court of public opinion with regards to the alleged "non-rescue" of the "fishermen" last March.

 

It was Edward Perrin not Nick Nash who is being castigated in the court of public opinion

[shellbeachjim]

Two for two. Hasn't anyone cruised with this captain WITHOUT mishaps?

The ones on our cruise weren't his fault. The embarkation was an absolute disaster:

US Coast Guard inspection of the ship

Full immigration check for passengers and crew on the previous cruise

Late disembarkation of the previous cruise (Pam was on this cruise)

Chaos on street in front of pier

Two ships at the pier embarking

Staggered boarding which didn't work

Inadequate number of xray machines working

Full restocking of provisions (and longshoremen "working to rules")

Medical disembarkation prior to ship leaving

 

Some of this impacted the passengers directly and some of it was behind the scenes, but impacted the departure. We were 5 hours late departing. It occurred well into the late seating in the traditional dining room.

 

As Pam noted, "stuff" happens on every cruise. It's a matter of how the captain deals with it and Captain McBain handled it very well.

[Cruisin Sal]

We had no problems on my 2 Star cruises in April.

[Pam in CA]

It was Edward Perrin not Nick Nash who is being castigated in the court of public opinion

Opps... Thanks for the correction.

[TLC535]

Pia - we sailed with him April/May on the Star (no mishaps;)) ~

He came to our M & G to chat for a few & take pics...saw him a few times around the ship & spoke a few mins. - seems very personable.

DH did the UST & said he chatted with the group for quite a while on the bridge....we would have no problem sailing with him again :)

[Pia1913]

I'm really looking forward to meeting Capt. McB, and I know I definitely will. :D

[srpilo]

Pia, I think you missed him because in the last few years he's been down-under as captain of the Sun & Dawn

 

 

Btw.. Hi :)

Pete

[Pia1913]

Pia, I think you missed him because in the last few years he's been down-under as captain of the Sun & Dawn

 

 

Btw.. Hi :)

Pete

 

He's been down under and I've been up top? ;) Strike that! :D

[rdsqrl]

Snorting coffee out of my nose here.

[gloriouscruise]

With all these mishaps, sounds like the captain handled it quite well! You shouldn't be worried.

[CRUZGAL53]

Capt. Todd McBain was the first Canadian to become a Captain on Princess. A nice young man. We sailed with him on the cruise when he was promoted from Staff Captain to Captain (a few years ago). He was extremely personable.

[caribill]

We sailed with him on the cruise when he was promoted from Staff Captain to Captain (a few years ago).

 

Picture taken on that cruise before the promotion.

 

[rkmw]

we had him on the Dawn Princess a couple of times and he was really good, every day he would give an update about 9am and keep everyone informed of what was happening onboard

[Brismarg]

I just received an email stating that he's to be our Captain on our upcoming Star Princess cruise. So many Princess cruises "under our belt" and yet have never heard of him.

 

He is a great captain. We had him on the world cruise on "Dawn" last year and lost 1 engine before Darwin but he kept us informed everyday though the engine wasn't restored until Dover. He is very particular and keeps a very healthy ship.

[crusdiva]

Two for two. Hasn't anyone cruised with this captain WITHOUT mishaps?

 

Hi Pia,

We have.

We sailed with him on the Star in 2008 out of San Francisco - without incident. Well, there was the medical evacuation off the coast of San Diego which he handled expertly. As cruzgal53 said he is Princess' first Canadian Captain, he's very personable and approachable.

[Pia1913]

Snorting coffee out of my nose here.

 

You seem to do that quite often. :D

 

With all these mishaps, sounds like the captain handled it quite well! You shouldn't be worried.

 

What? Me worry? ;)

[indicamguy]

We went on the Dawn Princess from San Francisco to Sidney, Australia for 31 days and our captain was Captain Todd Mcbain. He stood out amongst all the ships captains we have ever met or traveled with. There are some cool stories that we could tell you about what a great captain he is. I said to my wife that I would go on any ship that he was the captain of and we (like you) get be be aboard the Star Princess (Oct 21) this fall. We love the Star Princess as a ship and Captain Todd Mcbain as a captain. We get the best ship and the best captain that we could hope for.

Enjoy your trip to Hawaii and make sure you meet him in person. Maybe I'll relate a story about why he is our favorite captain later if your interested.

[vickie_bernie]

WE have sailed with Captain McBain, he is from B.C. so we had chatted about that, sorry can't remember the ship we were on.

 

Then in March he boarded the ship in Cabo on our way to San Fran for the takeover from Captain Perrin.

 

We were at the end of our South America adventure. We saw both Captain in Vines and chatted with them. I commented to Captain McBain that if during the upcoming Hawaiin cruise if he had to miss a port (like Perrin had in Ushuaha because of protest and therefore sailed us past Glacier Alley - to the delight of all the passengers during the day) all he had to do to make the passengers happy was to take the ship to a glacier.

 

We are said that Captain Perrin won't be on our voyage in Sept. It would o been nice to catch up with him. But we look forward to seeing Todd again.

[indicamguy]

When we sailed with him on the Dawn Princess (repositioning cruise from San Francisco to Sydney,Australia) we came to like him better than any previous captains. Even his crew said they liked him while most crews just say "We don't see him very much" or "He's OK.). When one of our ports (Kirabati) didn't clean out their harbor for landing safety reasons, Captain McBain said we weren't going to land there or give them any money because they hadn't done what they were supposed to do. Instead, we would sail around the island for a couple of hours and go to Tahiti a day early. The passengers were happy with that. Also, when some passengers got into a fight with a crew member, for doing his job, the captain threw them off the ship. This is what I heard happened...The passengers in question would "reserve" a number of pool side lounge chairs by putting towels on them and then leave to do whatever. After an allotted time, the crew member would remove the towels so those who were actually going to use the chairs could. Well, the previous mentioned passengers waited one morning to see who was removing their towels and when they found out, they got into a fight with the crew member. When the rest of us passengers heard Captain McBain tell us what happened and that he put the offenders off his ship we all cheered. Captain McBain would also take the time to do seminars and stay after to talk to us, his passengers. We came to feel that he was not only a great captain but also a great man. We'll sail anywhere that he goes. We're going from San Francisco to Hawaii and back this October on the best ship (Star) and the best Captain (Captain Todd McBain).