Royal Princess has reported she lost power in the Med!

[icat2000]

I'm really sorry to hear about the troubles the Royal Princess is experiencing. Its been an expensive couple of weeks of late for Princess, first the Sun Princess drama out of Singapore and now their newest jewel in the fleet suffering issues. I hope they resolve it quickly especially for the people who booked on the next cruise.

[cherylandtk]

Are you saying you're still on the ship after 6 PM? We just saw something that said all passengers were already off. In Naples. And that ship now had full power.

From Princess' advisory today: "and we anticipate that passengers will spend Tuesday night onboard and depart the ship on Wednesday."

[mabones]

Come to think of it, I purchased one for my DH to cook on the grill at night! I'll have to find that & throw it in the Suitcase.

[baldercash]

Advantage for Princess is the problem occurred in the Med close to point of manufacture and Technical expertise. If she broke down in the Carribean it would be more difficult to deal with.

 

Celebrities recent pod breakdown on Millennium required X to cancel 5 weeks of cruises and the ship had to sail empty from Alaska to Bermuda to meet up with the engine that was shipped from Europe. X gave only 24 hours on the cancellationS.

 

If Royal has a ongoing problem the sooner they tell the future cruisers the better.

Ships breakdown it is expected how the management responds to the situation is what is important.

[Pia1913]

From Princess' advisory today: "and we anticipate that passengers will spend Tuesday night onboard and depart the ship on Wednesday."

 

So much misinformation and supposition trickling down. Now that Princess has posted officially on their site, we know where it is and what is anticipated.

 

I'm still flying to Barcelona on Wednesday. :D

[gioia73]

:eek:Hummmm so just put my deposit down for 17 day maiden? and 10 min latter im hearing the royal lost power.. cruise cancelled... this is the second time now??

 

how can a new ship have this many issues? that's unheard of

??

 

so what will princess do going forward to prevent regal - will the people making the boat today- upgrade to a more fancier system... will my cruise fare go down?:D

 

should I cancel and go with ROYAL CARIBBEAN? or Holland- princess is starting to sound like carnival with their fires and outages....

 

this will be our milestone anniversary on board the regal.. maybe I have made a huge mistake?

 

or does this mean that the regal will not have issues... as princess will learn from this?

[Loonbeam]

A couple of notes -

 

First of all, it is not uncommon for a new build/design to have issues, and actually this is the prime time for them to appear. It's like a new car, most problems (manufacturing) tend to appear in the 700-1000 mile range, or run-in period. The most likely scenario is a part or system was not holding up well under the load, which may have varied from designed tolerance and needs to be modified or replaced with a different system (I have no inside knowledge as to waht actually happened)

 

Second, I suspect that after the concordia, triumph,etc, most cruise lines are in a VERY conservative stance as per failures and cancellations.

 

Third - If you are going to get stuck somewhere if the next cruise doesn't sail, there are worse places than Barcelona. If you are heading there, I must suggest booking a cancelable hotel room for a couple of extra days JIC.

[spunkie4]

So much misinformation and supposition trickling down. Now that Princess has posted officially on their site, we know where it is and what is anticipated.

 

I'm still flying to Barcelona on Wednesday. :D

 

We're still flying to Barcelona on Tuesday!

[sashas_mom]

To be honest, I don't believe much from Cruise Law News. :( It's not an independent news organization but the work of James Walker who lives to sue cruise lines for any perceived infraction or issue. He's like a pitbull. If you want to sue a cruise line, you'd want him as your lawyer but he is the furthest thing from objective when it comes to news.

 

The fact that they're not sure whether to cancel the next cruise means to me that they haven't been able to identify source of the electrical problem which is why they're canceling the cruise. It may or may not be something serious. Obviously, temporary repairs haven't worked and they need more time to identify and fix the problem without passengers onboard using services.

 

I guess we'll see.

 

I agree Pam. My thought is, while I feel so bad for the passengers on the ship currently, i don't think Princess wants to risk getting us in the middle of the Atlantic and have serious problems when they can fix them properly now while they have the chance. I hope our cruise friends who will be embarking in Barcelona will have an uneventful embarkation and wonderful time. At this point we all have to wait and see what unfolds, but I am feeling better about things knowing they are trying to get things fixed properly than just putting a band aid on it and hoping for the best.

[sunsetbeachgal]

if I was booked ion the Royal's next voyage I would do exactly as others are, get on the plane and go to Barcelona.

 

Agree with Baldercash, if a problem was to occur, being close to shipbuilder is the best place. We saw several large Fincantieri marked buildings in the ports of Livorno and La Spezia in our recent trip and when asked the tour guide said those facillities are for ship repairs.

[HKM]

So much misinformation and supposition trickling down. Now that Princess has posted officially on their site, we know where it is and what is anticipated.

 

I'm still flying to Barcelona on Wednesday. :D

 

I'd do the same thing. Even if the ship's departure is delayed a few days, Barcelona is a great place to spend some extra time. Have a great trip!

[billco]

I have a flashlight that is called "larry". True! My BIL is an Electrician & he bought a bunch of them at the Electrical Supply Store. It is about 6-8" long & about as wide as a large Sharpie. It comes in Bright Yellow so that you can find it & it is also Magnetic so that you can just place it on the Wall of the Stateroom, because the LED lights are located on the side. I also bring a couple battery operated puck lights. One is always used in the Bathroom @ night. All you need to do is tap the top & it turns on.

My Samsung Galaxy S4 doubles as a flashlight. I just tap the volume up button. My wife has a flashlight app on her iPhone.

[Pia1913]

I'd do the same thing. Even if the ship's departure is delayed a few days, Barcelona is a great place to spend some extra time. Have a great trip!

 

Yes, Barcelona is a great city. And I know where to find inexpensive wine :D

[TorontoTL]

My mom and dad had exactly one cruise under their belts when she passed away. That cruise, a 3-night to the Bahamas on Carnival Ecstasy to celebrate their anniversary, was the 'trip of a lifetime'. I had secretly upgraded them from a standard ocean view to the largest available suite on the ship. She talked about it for years, as if it were an Around the World Cruise. They had been as far as Bali, flown there by my brother on Garuda and had a wonderful time, but there was something about that single cruise that just hit the right mark with my mom. Their picture, exiting off of the gangway in Nassau, hangs above my work desk at home.

 

When she got real sick and I told the family I was cancelling my cruise on Sun Princess to be by her side, she literally threatened me "Don't you dare, I'll never forgive you!!! Tell me about it when you get back...", and she smiled and held my hand. So reluctantly I went, letting them know how to contact me just in case anything happened no matter how small. After I returned I told her all about my trip, and her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas Day! It was amazing and she was so thrilled! And five weeks later she was gone. I wish I could have done more. I wish I had cancelled that cruise but I didn't want to disappoint her. That was in 1997, and I still dream about my mom to this day. Someone told me that was her way of telling me that she's OK now. I miss her so much, and I'm just glad that I had a hand in her 'trip of a lifetime'.

 

Your mother sounds like she was a wonderful person Dave. I'm sure you miss her every day.

[TorontoTL]

Sounds like there is something more serious than Princess or the Captain are letting on about! to cancel the cruise suggests that there may have been some sort of Electrical fire.

 

It seems that a lot of ships built at Fincantieri have suffered these blackout situations probably due to building bigger ships but not increasing the Electrical systems to cope with the extra demand .ie Bigger ship but with Grand class Electrics.

 

Fingers crossed that they manage to get it sorted out for you guys who are on the next cruise ... :)

 

If there had been fire there would have been a major alarm on board, the passengers would have known about it.

[janetz]

This seems to be the latest. CC had it posted on the RC board!

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5539

[baldercash]

Yes, Barcelona is a great city. And I know where to find inexpensive wine :D

I bought a decent bottle for 1euro there had to try it at that price, you will have a great time on and off the ship.

[Mom33]

The reports on the "news" board are correct. It was 8 hours before we actually got underway and were sailing again about 10 pm or so last night. The crew has been fantastic and managed to pull together the formal night menu last night at the last minute!

The Captain has been very frequent in his updates, however at breakfast he announced that the rest of the cruise will be cancelled and passengers disembarked in Naples tomorrow and Wed. They need more time for the repairs. We won't be arriving in Naples until about 10pm tonight- about 14-15 hours behind schedule.

Princess is going to be taking care of everything-they are really going the extra mile to provide the appropriate service and have been more than accommodating! We are very impressed in spite of the huge disappointment- as we had been upgraded to a suite this cruise and the ship is beautiful, and the crew fabulous.

 

The above post by baldercash is as much as we know at this point. We are all waiting for letters specific to our situations. In the meantime it is a beautiful sunny day, the water is beautiful and the drinks are good!

As you can imagine with almost 4000 people there are a lot of different scenarios happening about where people are going etc. Princess is also covering the expenses to get home- flights, hotels, etc.

Kathy

 

Thanks for reporting from the ship and keeping us posted on this disappointing end to your cruise. Thank goodness the ship has the latest safeguards for this kind of break down and it could make port on its own. I hope Princess is able to correct the problem with out a lengthy delay.

I wish you and your fellow shipmates a safe journey home.

[The Big Booper]

This seems to be the latest. CC had it posted on the RC board!

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5539

 

This link leads to the main news section. Nothing to do with RCI or any other cruise forum section.

[Mom33]

My mom and dad had exactly one cruise under their belts when she passed away. That cruise, a 3-night to the Bahamas on Carnival Ecstasy to celebrate their anniversary, was the 'trip of a lifetime'. I had secretly upgraded them from a standard ocean view to the largest available suite on the ship. She talked about it for years, as if it were an Around the World Cruise. They had been as far as Bali, flown there by my brother on Garuda and had a wonderful time, but there was something about that single cruise that just hit the right mark with my mom. Their picture, exiting off of the gangway in Nassau, hangs above my work desk at home.

 

When she got real sick and I told the family I was cancelling my cruise on Sun Princess to be by her side, she literally threatened me "Don't you dare, I'll never forgive you!!! Tell me about it when you get back...", and she smiled and held my hand. So reluctantly I went, letting them know how to contact me just in case anything happened no matter how small. After I returned I told her all about my trip, and her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas Day! It was amazing and she was so thrilled! And five weeks later she was gone. I wish I could have done more. I wish I had cancelled that cruise but I didn't want to disappoint her. That was in 1997, and I still dream about my mom to this day. Someone told me that was her way of telling me that she's OK now. I miss her so much, and I'm just glad that I had a hand in her 'trip of a lifetime'.

 

Dave...a very touching experience. Thanks for sharing it.

[cruiseerf]

Reading this board to figure out what is happening with this ship is exasperating. Nobody seems to realize that the cruiseline is in full control and can say or do whatever they want.....I read, if there is a fire the alarms would have gone off and they would have told us....NOT! All systems can be manual overridden in the case of short circuits etc. "happenings" on cruise ships is not new....It has always happened from the days my grandparents used to work on them (old time entertainers).....but the stories were kept quiet...there was no internet and communications, and as long as people got where they were going safely...which was cruises were for back in the day...everyone was happy. My grandparents talked of rapes, robberies and fires as a common occurrence, but as they said...it all happened at sea.....and that was that. Different times.

 

For the cruiseline to have cancelled a cruise which is costing them millions of dollars in expenses and lost revenue flights etc. They KNOW something is seriously wrong and are going to try and fix it. Ships make repairs all the time at sea, so their actions are clearly serious for serious problems......This ship is going to need major work. Thats my take on it. Otherwise, they would have flown in engineers to naples to do the repairs with parts there...... Has princess said what the problem is after two days of working on it so far? Nope? Electrical? Mechanical? no news....which is never good.

 

I applaud princess for taking the safety of passengers first....At least I hope so. I hope they have had no other problems they have hidden in order to keep the ship sailing....nothing surprises me that these cruise lines do and I await the serious Legal Bill of rights for government oversight of these operations.

 

Also people....keep in mind that while cruisecritic has rules and regulations, all you need is an email to post here. That said, there are for SURE people on these boards who work for the cruiselines to allay fears and try and put good comments for bad situations....How would cruisecritic know? They are not the internet police. Everyone has Yahoo and hotmail and gmail.....So take some of these posts...mine included...with a grain of salt and an intelligent outlook. Don't believe everything you read as Gospel! Remember weapons of mass destruction???? I rest my case.

 

Wishing those people who have had their plans ruined good luck. Wishing all future cruisers safe travels. I wish Princess would be forthcoming with what exactly happened to cause that outage? There is clearly much they know already and are not telling.

 

Safe travels to all!

[janetz]

This link leads to the main news section. Nothing to do with RCI or any other cruise forum section.

 

To help you understand..

This link is a sticky on the RC board. You are correct in that it has nothing to do with RC. However, that is were I took it from. ;) RC folks are commenting on how it is over there and NOT on the Princess board.

[westendgirl]

I bought a decent bottle for 1euro there had to try it at that price, you will have a great time on and off the ship.

 

So if 2 buck Chuck is not available, go for 1 Euro Arturo? :D

 

But I sincerely hope the problem with the Royal is quickly fixable and everyone can board & enjoy the Maiden Transatlantic. With Pia and Pam from Cali on board we'll be sure to hear all the Royal scuttlebutt!

[CI66774]

So if 2 buck Chuck is not available, go for 1 Euro Arturo? :D

 

But I sincerely hope the problem with the Royal is quickly fixable and everyone can board & enjoy the Maiden Transatlantic. With Pia and Pam from Cali on board we'll be sure to hear all the Royal scuttlebutt!

 

Good one - "one Euro Arturo!!"

[Hlitner]

Geez folks (or at least some folks), let's give Princess a break. Imagine buying a new car and after a few months having it just fail and refuse to start. You need to get it towed to a garage where they still have no clue. Then you get it taken to a dealer where they finally find and repair the problem. The Royal Princess is a new ship and like all modern cruise ships the electrical systems are complex beyond the comprehension of most normal folks. The onboard staff can certainly isolate the failure, which apparently is going to take some resources to repair (beyond what is available at sea). But it can take several days and the help of real experts to isolate the "cause" of a failure. If a main electrical bus or generator fails.. that is obvious. But why that bus fails is not always so obvious. So even though one can repair the bus, it is necessary to find the underlying cause to prevent future failures. So to assume that Princess knows all and is not telling all is a real stretch. And with a new vessel it also becomes a warranty issue as there is much money at stake. If it is a manufacturers defect that Princess can seek restitution to make the cruise line whole. So many questions? Give em a chance. All that being said, we do really feel compassion for those on that cruise and those that will have their lives affected by one or more cancelled cruises.

 

Hank