Trying Houston/Caribbean Princ

[sailin'mama]

Never gone out of Houston for a Caribbean Cruise, now looking at Caribbeen Princess. Looking for advise from anyone who has recently taken this cruise

 

Last Cruise was on the Ruby/Ft Lauderdale. LOVED IT:D - will this one uphold the PC traditions or will I be disappointed?

 

Are all the technical problems with the ship fixed?

 

Happy New Year -

[Frenchymp]

I have booked this cruise too in april. I was on the Caribbean princess last year and enjoyed it a lot.

[gooch47]

Ship was fine except there was a bad water leak on Aloha Deck in the A434 cabin area. We saw it the first day (we were in A534) but not sure if it happened at the end of previous cruise or beginning of ours. They had to replace all the carpet in 4-5 cabins (best guess) and the passageway STUNK to high heaven until they got it cleaned up. No, not that. It was just musty carpet smell. As far as I could tell, it was clean water, not sewage.

 

We were delayed for 24 hours because of fog. From what I understand, leaving late and returning late seem to be the norm for that port. Fog mostly, but high winds, too. But they recovered enough to give us three ports. A lot of people's travel plans were obviously disrupted, though. I didn't hear a lot of grumbling.

 

Service was great. We had the best cabin steward we have had in years and years. Dining room was equally superior.

[satxdiver]

I was on this ship last month. At that time there were no ship problems that I was aware. Bayport is a really nice terminal, much better than the minimally converted warehouses in Galveston. This is the first time Bayport had ever been used for an extended time so they were in a learning curve last month. Hopefully they have the routine down now.

 

Houston is heavily impacted by fog this time of year. I have had flights out of both HOU and ICH delayed or canceled due to fog. The ship has to negotiate the Houston ship channel out to the gulf for about 45 or so miles. At points the ship channel is not very wide so that a large cruise ship is heavily impacted by high wind. I know on one cruise they used tug boats to help the ship out to the gulf. The tug boats helped keep the ship from blowing out of the channel and grounding.

[sminfiddle]

Happy New Year!

I heard of propulsion problems on the Caribbean Princess last year. If perhaps that's what you are referring to.

 

We were on her for two B2B cruises two weeks ago and there was no sign of any issues with generators, motors, propulsion or any of that.

(Even gazed a long time at the various status screens while on the Ship's Tour - yes I am a huge nerd - lots of Green and no concerns!)

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

Edited December 29, 2013 by sminfiddle

[nnzz]

Anyone have any idea if fog or other weather problems normally cause delays

for late April sailings out of Bayport?

[caribill]

Anyone have any idea if fog or other weather problems normally cause delays

for late April sailings out of Bayport?

 

This is first season for Bayport, so no actual cruise ship history available.

[alyssa0922]

I am also concerned about fog in and out of this port during the holiday season... Should I book a holiday cruise out of FLL instead?

[caribill]

I am also concerned about fog in and out of this port during the holiday season... Should I book a holiday cruise out of FLL instead?

 

If I remember correctly, there have only been two times that the ship was unable to leave the Houston port within a reasonable amount of time from the schedule.

 

One was due to high winds and the ship did not leave until Sunday instead of Saturday. The itinerary was altered.

 

The other was due to forecasts of fog and the closing of the entire port of Houston by the port authorities. On this occasion Princess tried to be proactive and advised incoming passengers that the ship would arrive a day late and would depart 24 hours after the original Saturday departure. It turned out the port reopened unexpectedly and the ship was able to dock only a few hours later than the original Saturday docking time. But because Princess had already notified new passengers the ship would not leave until Sunday, the ship had to wait until then. Again the itinerary was altered.

 

The main lesson for this is to not book your return air flight before about 1 PM. Earlier flights can be made if the ship returns on time, but if a few hours late because of fog.....

Edited December 30, 2013 by caribill

[Coveguy4]

I also have this cruise booked for end of April. Hopefully weather won't impact departure or arrival then. You will be very happy with the CB, I've sailed on her before....nice ship well maintained. Jim

[lljost]

I am also concerned about fog in and out of this port during the holiday season... Should I book a holiday cruise out of FLL instead?

 

Not sure what holiday you are considering but I was on over Thanksgiving and there were nearly 800 children on board. Obviously, I expected there would be quite a few over the holiday but not that many. Although they were mostly very well behaved, they were every where. I was most amazed at how many of them were in second seating for dinner. Our entire section was huge families with many children. By the last night, the parents were pretty much ignoring them and letting them run from table to table. We usually book true 14 day cruises over the holidays as it normally has fewer children but we wanted to try out the Caribbean Princess out of Houston for a change so booked a B2B instead. As far as weather is concerned, we had high winds and were unable to sailaway until Sunday morning instead of Saturday night. On turnaround, we had good weather, but we had cold and wind again when we returned. Our captain raced in on our last sea day so he would be into port early and be sure of on time disembarkation. It appears you never know how the weather will be in Houston. So do take that into consideration if planning a holiday cruise...

[satxdiver]

Wow 800 rugrats on board your ship. Texas schools generally give the elementary and secondary students the week off during T-day so I am not surprised. We went on a cruise the week before the christmas holidays and were surprised that there were 370 aboard. I guess they took their children out of school a week early since all the TX schools were in session. We did have a lot of college kids aboard however and that was expected since they were out of school for the holidays. We did not have any problems with any of them and would do it again without hesitating.

[caribill]

Article in the Houston Chronicle about fog and the CB

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Dense-fog-continues-to-trouble-cruises-5103225.php

[carefreebee]

Article in the Houston Chronicle about fog and the CB

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Dense-fog-continues-to-trouble-cruises-5103225.php

 

To read the article you must subscribe to the Houston Chronicle :(

[caribill]

To read the article you must subscribe to the Houston Chronicle :(

 

What? Living in Indiana you do not subscribe to the Houston Chronicle?

 

Caribbean Princess travelers frustrated over consequences

 

By Cindy Horswell

December 31, 2013

The Port of Houston's $108-million Bayport Cruise Terminal - which sat unused for nearly four years before attracting a cruise line - is battling dense winter fogs that have delayed three of seven sailings in recent weeks.

 

The Caribbean Princess, which can transport up to 3,000 passengers to Cozumel, Belize City and Roatan on seven-day excursions, began using the terminal last month. The company reports that since the first sailing on Nov. 5, it has had to keep eager travelers waiting twice for four hours and once for an entire day because of heavy fog.

 

"Unfortunately, sometimes you just have to wait for fog to clear. We can't control the weather," said Julie Benson, Princess cruise line spokeswoman. "While some passengers are frustrated, most are understanding."

 

Tracy Ferguson, a Houston woman who has taken 50 cruises over the past four decades, said Princess crew members told passengers to trek over to Kemah for a few hours or to cool their heels in the terminal's parking lot when fog impeded the ship's Dec. 14 departure.

 

"I can only describe the scene as chaotic," said Ferguson, a travel agent who was initially excited at booking a trip so close to her home on the sleek 19-deck vessel with multiple pools, entertainment venues and dining facilities.

 

Ferguson said she puttered around the area for a couple of hours and then returned to the Pasadena terminal, where she was directed to a large parking lot. The lot is usually used by container trucks but now was filled with hundreds of cars packed with other passengers, she said.

"It looked like they were lining them up at a race track," she said. "A cold front had blown through. People had been shivering there for hours in their idling cars with windows cracked."

 

Marcus Woodring, the port's spokesman, said the port provided a free shuttle to transport passengers to Kemah.

 

"If they decided to wait in the big lot, they did it by choice," he said. "As for me, I'd rather go get a cup of coffee and use Wi-Fi."

 

Ferguson could not find any food or beverages for sale. But Woodring said vending machines and restrooms were available inside a building by the parking lot.

 

Luckily for Ferguson, although her Dec. 21 return trip was also delayed by fog, she was happily stuck on the ship, where she could enjoy the food and amenities Princess provided during a much longer wait.

 

New passengers expecting to board the cruise ship that day, however, were likely less enthused. They were notified by email not to come to the terminal until Dec. 22 and were told that they were losing one day of their cruise due to the heavy fog, Benson said.

 

Like the Bayport Terminal, the port authority's Galveston terminal, which currently serves four cruise ships, also has problems with fog.

 

During November and December, Galveston's cruise ships experienced the same number of fog delays as Houston's terminal, but Galveston's were of shorter duration, only one to two hours, said Mike Mierzwa, the port's director. He could only recall a rare occasion in 2011 where a fog event lasted 24 hours.

 

Visibility for cruise ships is especially bad during the winter months, when warm air rolling across cold water is most likely to trigger fog, said Don Oettinger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in League City.

 

Mierzwa said ships from his port have an advantage over those leaving Bayport because they reach the open water more quickly since they don't have to navigate a narrow 34-mile-long Houston Ship Channel, dodging everything from barges and tankers to shrimp boats and pleasure craft along the way.

 

Benson said Princess conducted a fog study at Bayport before agreeing to sail out of the terminal for the next three travel seasons. She would not disclose the study's findings.

 

"We will continue to look at this issue," she said of the fog delays.

Lisa Ashley, the Port of Houston's communication director, said the port also had done a weather study but could not say whether fog had been studied.

 

"But I can say that the Norwegian line operated for 10 years at Barbours Cut, which is 5 miles farther inland on the Ship Channel. They are coming back to use our new terminal now," she said. "This company has had plenty of experience with channel fog, and it's not been a deterrent."

 

Starting in fall 2014, Norwegian Cruise Line will bring its 2,374-passenger Norwegian Jewel to Houston to sail seven-day Western Caribbean cruises through the 2017 cruise season.

 

The port authority is giving Princess and Norwegian $6.7 million in incentives to offset their advertising expenses for the new terminal. The port believes the cruise ships will generate $50 million a year that will go into the local economy.

 

Ashley said the Bayport terminal is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of cruise passengers because of its proximity to Houston's major airports and population centers. She added that the terminal is more protected from hurricanes than Galveston's terminal.

 

After Hurricane Ike in 2008, Carnival Cruises used the Bayport terminal while damage to Galveston's docks was being repaired.

[Blindhog]

I would recommend you book return flights beginning at 4:00PM. We were on the 12/7 to 12/14 cruise which was delayed by fog and would not have made 1:00 PM flights. Cost me LOTS of SW points to change reservations at the last minute. Don't know if fog is an issue in April but high winds will cause delays too.

[AKman2495]

We were on the first 2 cruises out of the Bayport terminal back in November. The first was a 4 day and the second was a 7 day. That means we were in Bayport 3 times (Embarkation, turn around and disembarkation).

 

Embarkation went very well. The ship was only about 1/2 full for the first cruise and it was great. There ship is in fine shape and we had no problems in getting to the first port and back. The seas can get a little rough, though.

 

At turn around, we stayed on board and had to march off and march back on for all of 10 minutes. After that, we had the run of the ship.

 

The send cruise was packed full-3400 passengers. But even then we really didn't fell crowded. That cruise was fine. We made all ports with no problem. On the return, we were held up for 3 hours before docking-so, as others have said, to be on the safe side, book your return flights in the afternoon.

 

 

As for the fog, I have no problem sitting comfortably in a cruise ship for the fog to lift. The IC was open and we had access to all of their goodies while we "suffered" through the wait.

 

Obviously, people with early flights were having kittens, but that was not Princess' fault.

 

People talk about the narrow channels at Houston. To see just how complicated it is to get out of there, go up to the Skywalker's lounge at sail away and sit on the seats all the way in the back and look down. We could not believe how the ship essentially pivoted on the dock. We we amazed that the ship didm;t hit the dock in all that maneuvering. Finally, the ship got turned and then pulled away from the dock-that was a memorable bit of maneuvering.

[carefreebee]

What? Living in Indiana you do not subscribe to the Houston Chronicle?

 

.

 

Thanks for the article Bill, not much need for Texas news around here!

 

We sailed out of Galveston in 2007 on the Grand Princess. That cruise began with typhoon rains that flooded roads and parking lots and made getting to the port a struggle. We loved the itinerary but we didn't take to the Houston/Galveston area much.

 

This time we will arrive a day early, stay at the hotel in Bush Airport and take Princess transfer to the pier on Saturday. Our flight home is not until after 7pm so I'm hoping we have any delays covered.

 

I love the CB and was just on her in September. I'm really looking forward to being back!:D

[satxdiver]

Thanks for the article Bill, not much need for Texas news around here!

 

We sailed out of Galveston in 2007 on the Grand Princess. That cruise began with typhoon rains that flooded roads and parking lots and made getting to the port a struggle. We loved the itinerary but we didn't take to the Houston/Galveston area much.

 

This time we will arrive a day early, stay at the hotel in Bush Airport and take Princess transfer to the pier on Saturday. Our flight home is not until after 7pm so I'm hoping we have any delays covered.

 

I love the CB and was just on her in September. I'm really looking forward to being back!:D

 

What? You don't need TX news? shocking!!

disclaimer: although I now live in San Antonio, I was born and raised in central Indiana and still have a lot of relatives living there including my sibling in Brownsburg.

 

BTW I share your opinion of Galveston.