Caribbean Princess AC Problems

[Duffysmom]

I’ve been reading HostCJSKIDS live review and concerned about the problems with the AC.  I’m currently under treatment for cancer and wanted to take a cruise for relaxation, especially for DH who has been an amazing caregiver; he loves AC (we live in Florida) and not a fan of sweat lodges😳 which some people are currently experiencing on board the ship. We are in cabin R744 (interior) and would like to know if deck 14 aft is experiencing the AC problem.🥵.  My understanding is the AC problem has been going on for some time but this is first I’ve heard about it.  Thank you

[kywildcatfanone]

We were on the CB last summer in a lido deck balcony.  It was quite warm when we boarded, and it didn't seem to be cooling much as the first evening progressed.  I can't handle being warm, like my room 72 or lower all the time, so we always have the A/C on it's lowest setting all week long.  I didn't have a thermometer, but would guess it was high 70's in our room.

Called them a couple of times that evening, finally a guy showed up, hooked up his computer and gave me a current room temp if 76, and said it was running full out, no mention of issues.  I thought maybe the deflector was slowing the air flow, so he removed it, it just pops off, no screws and air flow was much better.

 

Never felt the temp got down to 72, but probably stayed around 74 the whole week, even with the diffuser off.  Will be taking it off again this summer if needed.

 

And yes, the recent thread about this first cruise and the A/C issues is concerning me.  I couldn't possibly be any warmer than last summer, and we are booked on her in an inside cabin on Lido this 4th of July week. 

 

Saw someone post the A/C was fixed for them in the other thread, so maybe this is just an adjustment after the wet dock.

[PoohUnderstands]

I was in a midaft mini in March and we had to shut our drapes 24/7 to keep the heat out.  So you won't have that problem.  We also had a very lazy A/C system.  Never could use the duvet.  Had our steward switch out to just a sheet on top.  Then finally around 11pm-midnight the room's temperature got to a reasonably comfortable temperature but not great.  We spent little time in the room during the day due to the A/C situation.

I just got off the Disney Fantasy and I nearly froze to death and was able to control A/C and actually turn it down some.  I don't know why Princess can't regulate the A/C better on the CB.

 

Pooh

[Pam in CA]

It’s hard to separate real A/C problems from passengers leaving their balcony doors open. There’s a sign on every balcony door to please keep the door closed. This is because even if you turn the thermostat way up, the system is still compromised and nearby cabins, particularly insides, are affected. Many people also keep their drapes open which heats up the cabin and strains the A/C with the effect similar to open balcony doors.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

 

Really no way to tell until you are actually onboard. What is currently fact onboard now may not be when you sail.

You don’t say when you are sailing?

[DrivesLikeMario]

Most people with balconies don't realize there are a few things they can do to keep the cabin cooler:

1.  Keep their balcony door closed all the time for the air to work properly

2.  Keep their heavy curtains closed completely over the sliding glass door until the sun sets

3.  Keep the thermostat on the lowest setting all the time

 

If everyone would do those things, even the inside cabins would benefit. 

[Crzn-Life]

We are on the Caribbean Princess right now. If I hadn’t read the thread by the cruise critic person I wouldn’t know that some passengers are experiencing a/c issues. It’s definitely not ship-wide. We are in an aft cabin on Emerald deck close to the aft elevator and our a/c is fine. We were freezing in Club Fusion the other night when we went to see the comedian. We were chilly at dinner tonight in the Coral Dining room. Apparently the areas experiencing the a/c problems are all forward. 

 

We are also fans of the World Fresh Market and have found the food there to be quite good. We were on the Crown a month ago and in our opinion the food in the World Fresh Market is better than what we had in the Crown’s Horizon Court. More selections especially for vegans and vegetarians. 

 

We are booked on this ship again in July and based on our current experience have no concerns or reservations about returning. However we will be in an aft cabin. We’re on for another three weeks so if any issues with a/c develop I’ll come back and post that. 

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Crzn-Life

[BuckeyeMark]

 This is such a helpful post. We forget as we read all of these at home that there are 3000 people on this boat and for most of them the cruise is going great. If one or two people have a problem and they get on Cruise Critic and post about it we assume the boat is in shambles and probably about to sink. LOL. It’s good to hear a moderating voice.  Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate concerns and reporting issues - just have to keep it in perspective. 

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

Most people with balconies don't realize there are a few things they can do to keep the cabin cooler:

1.  Keep their balcony door closed all the time for the air to work properly

We never opened our balcony door except to use it to go outside.

2.  Keep their heavy curtains closed completely over the sliding glass door until the sun sets

We never opened out drapes, day or night. 

3.  Keep the thermostat on the lowest setting all the time

We kept our thermostat at max cool form the minute we got on the ship and even requested the steward not to leave it open when he cleaned the balcony.

 

If everyone would do those things, even the inside cabins would benefit. 

In addition to the above we never used the hair dryer, removed the duvet, and keep the bathroom door closed so that it wouldn't remove any of the cooler air than necessary. We also removed the diffuser trying to get max air flow and the DH inserted his own deflector to increase the flow.

Our cabin for the first 10 days was C602. We talked to people in the vicinity (both inside & one inside cabins) and everyone was complaining. 

There was nothing they could do. This happened last Nov when the outside temps were a little cooler. I can only imagine what it's like today.

This ship has had AC cooling problems for a while now and it's recently gotten worse from the reports I'm reading. Maybe it's a good thing so they'll finally fix the problem once & for all. 

Maybe they'll even changed back to the old proven Horizon buffet food. 

 

The second 10 days we changed cabin to C423 & found it to be a normal Princess cabin with adjustable AC.

[chengkp75]

What Mario fails to mention with regards to balcony doors is that one cabin who does leave their balcony door open will affect an entire block of cabins' AC.  Typically all the cabins on that deck, on the same side as the offender, and in the same fire zone (between the passageway doors).  So, even though you are doing everything you can, some other inconsiderate passenger is causing your cabin to be warm.

[Pepper0074]

I find that many of us had a different concept of comfortable temperatures. Being from NE, I like it a bit cooler than many of my relatives now living in the south. We were on CB in April, our room was warmer than we keep our home but we were very comfortable. We were in C627. 

[richsea]

We were on Caribbean Princess in January  in A535 just aft of mid ship, & could not get the AC below 74 even though we kept the balcony door closed, along with the drapes. Maintenance checked it & said it was working properly. It does seem that while it may not be a ship wide problem, there does appear to be more complaints about AC on Caribbean Princess than other ships in the fleet.

[Mapu]

Just off the Caribbean Princess where we had an aft balcony on Caribe deck with no air-conditioning issues . Friends in a forward cabin on Caribe did have an issue one day and called passenger services to complain. Their AC was restored later that evening but based on the fact that they reported it they were compensated with refundable onboard credit for the equivalent of one day's cruise fare. You had to ask for compensation, it was not offered.

[Host CJSKIDS]

As Mapu said, some cabins did not have AC others there were no issues.  It was forward cabins starting on deck 5 and ended on deck 11 I believe. 

 

Some people were without for 2 days, some for the day we were in Mexico.  It was finally fixed and by late at night on Thursday, they all had AC back. 

 

I met quite a few people at Crooners who didn't have it and even more on line with passengers services voicing their frustration.  I think many were more annoyed at how the entire thing was being handled. By last night, all issues seemed to be fixed.

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, richsea said:

Maintenance checked it & said it was working properly.

What a joke. 

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, richsea said:

We were on Caribbean Princess in January  in A535 just aft of mid ship, & could not get the AC below 74 even though we kept the balcony door closed, along with the drapes. Maintenance checked it & said it was working properly. It does seem that while it may not be a ship wide problem, there does appear to be more complaints about AC on Caribbean Princess than other ships in the fleet.

If you're having problems with your AC, no matter what you do, the first thing is to walk down the passageway, both sides of the ship, in your fire zone, and listen for air whistling under a door.  That is the culprit who has their balcony door open, and is causing the reduction in AC to all the cabins in the zone.  Report that cabin number when you complain about the AC, or if you don't hear that, then notify guest services that there is a problem.

[Mapu]

Passenger Services acknowledged that it was a system failure and that coils were being replaced.

[DrivesLikeMario]

There's no way for passengers to fix a system-wide problem.  There are only steps you can take to mitigate the problem like I listed above and unfortunately, you can't stop your fellow passengers from leaving their balcony doors hanging open.

I sure hope the CB gets it's long-standing A/C issues fixed or that Princess at least notifies passengers of the deficiency before they book.

[stoneharborlady]

8 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

There's no way for passengers to fix a system-wide problem.  There are only steps you can take to mitigate the problem like I listed above and unfortunately, you can't stop your fellow passengers from leaving their balcony doors hanging open.

I sure hope the CB gets it's long-standing A/C issues fixed or that Princess at least notifies passengers of the deficiency before they book.

 

Unfortunately your fellow passengers will keep doing what they are doing, and Princess will never in a million years notify passengers of that kind of problem.

[voljeep]

no A/C problems at all in R411 ... only noticed it being a little warm was in Vines one night ...

[Mapu]

Decks 5-11 (forward cabins) were the ones that did not have ac for awhile.

[richsea]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

If you're having problems with your AC, no matter what you do, the first thing is to walk down the passageway, both sides of the ship, in your fire zone, and listen for air whistling under a door.  That is the culprit who has their balcony door open, and is causing the reduction in AC to all the cabins in the zone.  Report that cabin number when you complain about the AC, or if you don't hear that, then notify guest services that there is a problem.

I would agree with you except what are the chances of someone having their balcony door for the entire 14 days of our cruise? We’ve been on 40 cruises and have never had a room so warm. 

[kywildcatfanone]

I think 74 is their default for comfortable a/c. I would prefer 66 to 68 myself.  Never gets cold enough for me, but over 74 is unacceptable for me.

[hlandrews12]

Just got off CB, I have never been so warm on a cruise at all times. 3 different rooms and warm the entire time. The person I was with was comfortable most of the time, but each night I couldn't sleep because I was sweating so badly.