Caribbean Princess cruise cut short?

[SanDiegoHeather]

Big difference between the two events. On the RCI cruise the sickness started quickly. Large numbers were sick before they ever reached a port. they basically skipped all of their ports except 1 and that one was severely impacted because the sickness was widespread. 20% of the ship was sick. Pools closed. Entertainment canceled because the entertainers were sick.

 

On the princess cruise the ship came back 33 hours early and missed 1 port. Other activities ran as scheduled.

The 20% refund plus 20% FCC seems resonable based upon the level of impact.

 

I agree - however, POOLS WERE CLOSED and most of the hot tubs were closed as well. There were only 3 HOT tubs on board - the other 4 were closed. When I asked one of the staff why they were closing the MUTS hot tub, they said "maintenance issues". I happen to own a pool and hot tub and saw then take out the levels and I spied.. they were normal ( a little high on chlorine). Anyway, 30 minutes later they opened it.

 

The pool by the spa was never reopened.

 

The pool and hot tub on deck 17 were never reopened after Tuesday.

[alisrockin]

People that have cruised out of Houston. how long till you are out of cell phone reception. do you have service all the way out of the channel, till you are past Galveston?

[sminfiddle]

I will never sail out of Houston again. We were the only cruise that sailed on time.

 

I hallucinated our two on-time B2B cruises in December.

Strong medicine it must have been. My wife hallucinated them too.

 

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

[sminfiddle]

People that have cruised out of Houston. how long till you are out of cell phone reception? Do you have service all the way out of the channel, till you are past Galveston?

 

 

Yes and I think an hour or two after you pass Galveston too.

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

[Tbirdconvert]

fog on sunday does not affect travel on friday night last i knew

[Rixnsd]

This went on - even a day later. On Caribbean Princess it is 8 laps. So I am 210 pounds and it took me 56 minutes - WOW! That was a challenge for me. I went to the gym EVERY day while on board.

[RocketMan275]

CB bridge cam shows CB at sea bound for Costa Maya.

[MauiLvrs]

...the tugs give no assist to ships so this causes all ships to stay in Gulf until fog lifts. ...

Princess ships NEED no tugs there ...

 

For those interested in the Houston Ship Channel operation and procedures you might want to visit the website for the Houston Pilots: http://www.houston-pilots.com/default.aspx

Seems to be local rules... They need to find a way to accommodate passenger vessels or the ships will likely move elsewhere. Their current method just isn't working.

 

A tanker is 4 hours late ... not that big a deal ... the total crew is less that say 50 people.

 

A cruise ship is 4 hours late ...

there are 6000+ displaced passengers...

2000+ missed flights...

2000+ hotel rooms to dig up...

[sminfiddle]

A tanker is 4 hours late ... not that big a deal ... the total crew is less that say 50 people.

 

 

 

A cruise ship is 4 hours late ...

 

there are 6000+ displaced passengers...

 

2000+ missed flights...

 

2000+ hotel rooms to dig up...

 

Have to agree with you there. Passengers are amazingly perishable cargo.

I get spoiled within hours of boarding :D

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Had they done similar to what Royal Caribbean did for the Explorer - which was 50% of cruise refund (which was over the top and not expected by Caribbean Princess passengers) and 50% of the cruise fare paid as a credit for the next cruise -Princess would have had LOYAL customers for life. I know I am LOYAL to RCI/Celebrity because of how I've been treated before (we only went on 6 Previous Princess cruises because of itinerary/family reasons).

 

I don't think that Princess needed to match RCI, but the fact that they always want to CHEAP OUT makes them suck. If they were smart - they would have MATCHED RCI. I think people expected more than 1/7 cruise fare since we missed a port - since that was pretty much the port most passengers wanted and took the cruise for. Also, we also missed a whole day because there were no activities. They should have offered 30% and 30% on a future cruise.

 

Anyway, the ROTTEN treatment pretty much alienated a bunch of us. While I'm just platinum on Princess, my parents are Elite and are now switching to Celebrity. We are higher levels already on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity so I don't care - I just wanted to add that so that anyone reading this knows that I have been on more than 1 cruise.

 

But on the RCI boards they are saying the 50refund/50credit isn't enough and should be free cruises for all onboard - you will never make people happy even if you gave them 100% back they want more and more and more.

[DebJ14]

 

 

The bottom line though - they treated us poorly on this cruise and I recall when we were booked on a 9/15/01 cruise on Royal Caribbean without insurance. They let us rebook the next week without charge and Princess/Carnival did not. I am LOYAL to cruise lines that treat people well even when they do not have to via terms of contract. There were only certain reasons we were going on another princess cruise this year...

 

We were booked on a 9/11/01 Canadian Rockies cruisetour and we all know what happened to flights that day. Princess was wonderful. They assisted us in booking a hotel in Toronto where our flight was ordered down. They rebooked our flights once air service was restored. They got us to Vancouver the day before the cruise and put us up at the Pan Pacific at Canada Place the night before the cruise. They promptly refunded the tour portion of our fare. Couldn't have asked for anything more.

 

FYI - Carnival did not buy Princess until 2003 so you can't blame Carnival for what happened in 2001.

[waterboy2006]

I was on the ship. I don't see where Princess screwed up, at all. With the information they had, they made the decision to skip Belize and head in early. There was a very good chance that the port would be fogged in. That is not my opinion. That is the opinion of people who's job it is to know weather forecasting. The call Princess made inconvenienced roughly 3100 passengers. If they had stayed out and the fog did materialize, they would have inconvenienced roughly 6200 passengers by messing up two sailings. And they would've been criticized for NOT paying heed to the weather reports. This way, they only messed up one sailing.

I think the media loves a story about sickness on cruise ships right now. Big News. 180 people out of 4253 people on board got sick. From what I've seen, people on vacation over-drink on cruise ships. Amateurs! People get queezy from the movement of the ship, even if they're not drinking. People spew. Put 4253 people in a party atmosphere anywhere alcohol is served and there is jostling about and some will get sick. Ever been to a Men's room during a pro basketball, baseball, or football game? Yuk. Some awful sounds and smells emanate from those stalls. I didn't witness anything like that on the Caribbean Princess.

This experience will not dissuade me in the least from sailing again on Princess or any other cruise line.

As for those who say they will never believe anything other than the Captain and Princess lied, I believe you.

Waterboy

[iceleven]

This is a long thread and I haven't read every post. Forgive me if this was mentioned before but does anyone (Corporate or CDC, etc.) consider what the impact is when releasing a ship full of people who could be carrying the noro virus onto airplanes or hotels and other public places once a ship comes into port with a sizable number of infected people? I wonder how many people who deal with cruise ship passengers in port cities become ill from guests on cruise ships. I wouldn't blame them at all if they wanted to not allow a ship from docking if there was a sizable infection on board.

 

There is 24-48 hours for incubation and people could be walking off the ship without even knowing it. Of course, the same goes for those who are boarding the ship.

 

Does anyone know the regulations (rules) regarding who has the final word over coming into port? Does the harbour master or the captain? It's possible the captain had orders he had to follow. I would suspect the harbor master has the final word especially when he is the one responsibility for all the many incoming and outgoing ships at that port.

[Colo Cruiser]

This is a long thread and I haven't read every post. Forgive me if this was mentioned before but does anyone (Corporate or CDC, etc.) consider what the impact is when releasing a ship full of people who could be carrying the noro virus onto airplanes or hotels and other public places once a ship comes into port with a sizable number of infected people? I wonder how many people who deal with cruise ship passengers in port cities become ill from guests on cruise ships. I wouldn't blame them at all if they wanted to not allow a ship from docking if there was a sizable infection on board.

 

There is 24-48 hours for incubation and people could be walking off the ship without even knowing it. Of course, the same goes for those who are boarding the ship.

 

Does anyone know the regulations (rules) regarding who has the final word over coming into port? Does the harbour master or the captain? It's possible the captain had orders he had to follow. I would suspect the harbor master has the final word especially when he is the one responsibility for all the many incoming and outgoing ships at that port.

 

 

The HM controls the port.

[Shayna20]

The HM controls the port.

 

The HM can keep a ship in port or outside at the port anchorage, but the ship Captain is totally responsible for the safety of the ship and all passengers and crew. This comes from my DH who was a captain of a passenger carrying vessel.

[iceleven]

The HM can keep a ship in port or outside at the port anchorage, but the ship Captain is totally responsible for the safety of the ship and all passengers and crew. This comes from my DH who was a captain of a passenger carrying vessel.

 

Keeping them safe on his ship is one thing but it seems he has no authority as to when he can come and go within the harbor. I feel that the captain was given orders to return within a specific time due to the fog and anticipated heavy traffic in the harbor. He was simply following orders.

[caribill]

There is 24-48 hours for incubation and people could be walking off the ship without even knowing it. Of course, the same goes for those who are boarding the ship.

 

 

And actually people can infect others for up to two weeks after all symptoms are gone.

[RickSue]

I was on the CB Princess for this cruise too - I'm tired of the whiners. Enjoy the trip you were able to take and forget the problems. Life is a lot easier when you just quit fussing and looking for problems and just roll with it. Geez. I'm just happy we got to go and had a good time. People in this country are so spoiled - it's embarrassing.

[dleighb]

You know, I actually had a good cruise even with the frustration of losing 36 hours. Although now that I am back and reading through these threads, I'm getting more and more irritated. So I suppose I should stop. But it's sort of like watching a train wreck. You don't want to watch, but you can't turn away.

 

But, I'm telling you. I expect every cruise now to make a decision on Tuesday night, and if fog is predicted for the weekend, I expect them to return a day early. Can't wait to see what havoc that creates.

[eclue]

I was on the CB Princess for this cruise too - I'm tired of the whiners. Enjoy the trip you were able to take and forget the problems. Life is a lot easier when you just quit fussing and looking for problems and just roll with it. Geez. I'm just happy we got to go and had a good time. People in this country are so spoiled - it's embarrassing.

 

Well said and I was there and I agree...it was a wonderful cruise...

The whiners will go on and on and yes, believe it or not, they are able to predict fog several days in advance in the port due to temperature variations. Take a break already!!!

By the way, you can get noro in Target or Walmart or Macy's so better stay home!!!

[myfuzzy]

I was on the repo from NY to Houston in Nov 2013. It was the first time the CB sailed into that port. Everyone was worried about the forthcomming "posibility" of problems. No one in Houston has any information on transportation, car rentals, or hotels in the vicinity. I personally e-mailed the Houston visitors bureau about accommodations and other visitor information and was e-mailed back that "I" made a mistake-that we would be arriving in Galveston. On the two previous repos we encountered the Noreaster, and Sandy, which made us late in leaving the NY port and missing some caribbean ports, cutting our cruises short as well, but getting back to Fort Lauderdale was fine. This time when Princess decided to make the repo to Galveston then changed to Houston, was of some concern, because of the stories that had circulated about other ships that ported at Galveston and that the Bayport sat unused for years. It seemed like Houston had no draw for a lot of people, so it seemed like bookings for light. We recieved a generous upgrade, and upon boarding, found that a whole block of cabins remained empty. Fortunately 2013 found a great day to sail from NY and made all ports on time. Returning to Houston, we were greatly surprised to find all the security in place that we had not seen (or noticed) in other ports. We opted to choose the Princess transfers to the airport to acquire a rental car, as we always stay at the return port for a few days to account for any unexpected delays, only to find that there were ample cars available to take you to your hotel or airport. The only delay we encountered was that our debarkation time was 8:30, but was not able to get off until 11:30, we sat in the lounge waiting, don't know why the delay, except the ususal, possibly no one at the terminal having any direction. The disadvantage of this port is the inaccessbility to towns or attractions within a reasonable distance. I don't know if we are spoiled by Ft Lauderdale and Miami by having everything within a short cab ride. Fortunately I have never been exposed to illness in the 25 years of sailing, maybe because we cruise in the fall, before cold and flu season. But we have experienced many weather related issues and have found no fault with the cruiseline or captain by any decisions that were made on my safety. It seems that so far this season, weather has been a challenge for all of us, from Canada to the Gulf. everyone has been affected one way or another, so maybe we are being a little rough on Bayport. Maybe if the weather and Princess get their act together, just maybe.....

[dleighb]

they are able to predict fog several days in advance in the port due to temperature variations

 

Then why was there no fog Friday night/Saturday morning? They predicted it.

[Loonbeam]

Because any meteorologist who is 100 percent accurate will make way more money not working for the port of Houston.

 

They are relatively accurate though as compared to most forecasters. The difference is often more of timing than degree (the projected fog DID come in, just later than expected).

 

Let's just say they didn't divert and the fog came in as predicted. How many people would be complaining just as loud that Princess 'Should have known about the fog and now I missed my flight!"

 

Then why was there no fog Friday night/Saturday morning? They predicted it.

[douglinc@msn.com]

Because any meteorologist who is 100 percent accurate will make way more money not working for the port of Houston.

 

They are relatively accurate though as compared to most forecasters. The difference is often more of timing than degree (the projected fog DID come in, just later than expected).

 

Let's just say they didn't divert and the fog came in as predicted. How many people would be complaining just as loud that Princess 'Should have known about the fog and now I missed my flight!"

 

Exactly, there are some people that Princess (or any other line) could have filled their luggage with $100 bills and they would still complain that they should have got more. We have become a gimme, gimme, gimme, society.

 

Doug

[obnurse]

We had a problem with our ship once (Sun Princess) and we stayed in St. Kitts several hours longer than anticipated, causing us to miss Barbados. The cruise line substituted Tortola instead. We were thrilled they had a substitution for us, but we sure heard a lot of whining from others! Maybe some people have the luxury of so much travel that they don't appreciate it as much as others?