Sapphire Princess May 11, 2024 Cruise Delayed - Propulsion Issues

[lstone19]

I just took a look at the Reddit post. So much misinformation there. Someone else has now posted that only Ketchikan and College Fjord are cancelled, not Glacier Bay. And then there's the person who posted they were still sitting in Vancouver Harbor eight hours after the ship departed - apparently that poster thinks the Strait of Juan de Fuca is part of Vancouver Harbor as that is where the ship was (I checked the ship's track on marinetraffic.com) when that poster said they were still in Vancouver (the Strait of Juan de Fuca is the strait between Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula (Washington) and is several hours sailing from Vancouver).

[Joken35]

We are scheduled to board on 5/25 I hope they fix their problem by then. Give people time to Change their plans

[CPs4591]

Sounds like (if the most recent Reddit posts are to be believed) they will get Glacier Bay.  

[Princessscrewedme]

The ship is constantly lurching forward, then seemingly losing momentum. I'm no cruise expert, but this doesn't seem normal. Especially for how flat the water is. It's just concerning that so much has been cancelled within the first 24 hours, so I just wonder how long it'll be until they cancel something else. I have a speedometer app that I check periodically and we're only moving 16-18 mph most of the time. I just feel like more cancelations are coming.

[lstone19]

1 minute ago, Princessscrewedme said:

The ship is constantly lurching forward, then seemingly losing momentum. I'm no cruise expert, but this doesn't seem normal. Especially for how flat the water is. It's just concerning that so much has been cancelled within the first 24 hours, so I just wonder how long it'll be until they cancel something else. I have a speedometer app that I check periodically and we're only moving 16-18 mph most of the time. I just feel like more cancelations are coming.

 

Cruise ships have a top speed of a little over 20 knots (23 mph). But they normally set a planned speed based on the distance to travel so they arrive at the next port at the desired time. Unfortunately, per your current position and the expected track marinetraffic.com is showing, you're about 625 nautical miles from Juneau so need to make about 18 knots (21 mph) to get there on-time. So it would appear there's still problems and you won't make Juneau on-time (marinetraffic.com is showing that the ship is reporting an ETA for Juneau of 6:15am local Tuesday but that you're only doing 15.3 knots - 35 hours at 15.3 knots will put you 100 nm (six hours) from Juneau at 6:15am Tuesday).

[jannieb]

42 minutes ago, Joken35 said:

We are scheduled to board on 5/25 I hope they fix their problem by then. Give people time to Change their plans

We are too. This is a special trip for us so I'm hoping there aren't too many changes. 

[JJ_Outdoors]

30 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

 

Cruise ships have a top speed of a little over 20 knots (23 mph). But they normally set a planned speed based on the distance to travel so they arrive at the next port at the desired time. Unfortunately, per your current position and the expected track marinetraffic.com is showing, you're about 625 nautical miles from Juneau so need to make about 18 knots (21 mph) to get there on-time. So it would appear there's still problems and you won't make Juneau on-time (marinetraffic.com is showing that the ship is reporting an ETA for Juneau of 6:15am local Tuesday but that you're only doing 15.3 knots - 35 hours at 15.3 knots will put you 100 nm (six hours) from Juneau at 6:15am Tuesday)

[Gretchendz]

I have a client on board who told me this:

:

The captain just updated us and told us Ketchikan and College Fjord will be skipped on this cruise. We are also not cruising the entire Inside Passage.  He also said he will update us tomorrow on whether we will be late in Juneau. We left Vancouver just after midnight.

 

The TV has been spotty, but at least it was up for awhile today.  

 

Captain also mentioned there will be some compensation issued to all passengers.

 

The Starboard propeller has been the issue and it still looks like it is not at 100%, compared to the Port side propeller.

 

[Princessscrewedme]

Just now, Gretchendz said:

I have a client on board who told me this:

:

The captain just updated us and told us Ketchikan and College Fjord will be skipped on this cruise. We are also not cruising the entire Inside Passage.  He also said he will update us tomorrow on whether we will be late in Juneau. We left Vancouver just after midnight.

 

The TV has been spotty, but at least it was up for awhile today.  

 

Captain also mentioned there will be some compensation issued to all passengers.

 

The Starboard propeller has been the issue and it still looks like it is not at 100%, compared to the Port side propeller.

 

I'll provide updates as they come, especially about compensation. I doubt it'll be anything that satisfies. It better be a cash refund. I'm going to be very upset if they offer any sort of discount on a future cruise because I'll never sail with princess again. I just want a refund

[lstone19]

19 minutes ago, JJ_Outdoors said:

Not sure what you’re trying to say with this but 14:15 UTC (aka GMT) is the 06:15 local I mentioned above.

[startedwithamouse]

5 minutes ago, Princessscrewedme said:

I'll provide updates as they come, especially about compensation. I doubt it'll be anything that satisfies. It better be a cash refund. I'm going to be very upset if they offer any sort of discount on a future cruise because I'll never sail with princess again. I just want a refund

They're not going to provide refunds. Read your cruise contract, they can skip ports. Any OBC is goodwill. And they may offer future cruise credit. 

Don't take it personally. 

 They didn't do this on purpose. Sapphire has an excellent crew and will make sure the guests have an enjoyable trip. 

[TRLD]

3 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

They're not going to provide refunds. Read your cruise contract, they can skip ports. Any OBC is goodwill. And they may offer future cruise credit. 

Don't take it personally. 

 They didn't do this on purpose. Sapphire has an excellent crew and will make sure the guests have an enjoyable trip. 

Usually they will be a little more generous with mechanical issued, since they are technically under the control of the line.

 

About the only time that they offer any kind of a refund is if the number of cruise days is reduced.  In a case where the cruise goes the full number of days the usual response is in the form of future cruise credits and/or non refundable obc.

[Princessscrewedme]

7 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Usually they will be a little more generous with mechanical issued, since they are technically under the control of the line.

 

About the only time that they offer any kind of a refund is if the number of cruise days is reduced.  In a case where the cruise goes the full number of days the usual response is in the form of future cruise credits and/or non refundable obc.

I'm glad you think they'll be more generous, because it really is their fault for not maintaining their ship well enough. The crew is great, but the company can never be redeemed in my eyes for this. 

 

Haha I wish the number of cruise days could be reduced if it meant a refund. I'm here for an Alaska experience, and instead I'm being given a tour of the open ocean with a pitstop in Alaska. Not a good use of my time.

[Princessscrewedme]

24 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

They're not going to provide refunds. Read your cruise contract, they can skip ports. Any OBC is goodwill. And they may offer future cruise credit. 

Don't take it personally. 

 They didn't do this on purpose. Sapphire has an excellent crew and will make sure the guests have an enjoyable trip. 

They didn't do it on purpose, but they failed to maintain their ship, so they're completely guilty and responsible for this failure. But yes I agree the crew is great, and I absolutely don't want anyone to disrespect the crew. It's not their fault personally 

[waltd]

Just now, Princessscrewedme said:

They didn't do it on purpose, but they failed to maintain their ship, so they're completely guilty and responsible for this failure. But yes I agree the crew is great, and I absolutely don't want anyone to disrespect the crew. It's not their fault personally 

And what evidence do you have that Princess did not maintain their ship.  From the sounds of things your car NEVER breaks down.

Edited May 13 by waltd

[TRLD]

9 minutes ago, Princessscrewedme said:

I'm glad you think they'll be more generous, because it really is their fault for not maintaining their ship well enough. The crew is great, but the company can never be redeemed in my eyes for this. 

 

Haha I wish the number of cruise days could be reduced if it meant a refund. I'm here for an Alaska experience, and instead I'm being given a tour of the open ocean with a pitstop in Alaska. Not a good use of my time.

Responsibility for is not the same as failure.

 

Good maintenance practice reduces the number of failures but not totally prevent the chance of an unexpected failure.

 

In this case you are making statements about failure to maintain without any proof.

 

Princess could have and most likely have followed good maintenance practices.

 

Refund is very unlikely a credit in the form of future cruise credit or non refundable OBC likely.

 

The cruise will go the full number of days. The biggest draw glacier bay is expected to occur.  So basically the impact will be the loss of one port and  the cruise through college Ford.  Have seen more impact than that due to weather on some Alaska cruises.

 

 

 

 

[Princessscrewedme]

Just now, waltd said:

And what evidence do you have that Princess did not maintain thier ship.  From the sounds of things your car NEVER breaks down.

No it doesn't, because I maintain it and replace it when it needs to be upgraded. The ship is almost 20 years old. If they're running it too hard and too long that's on them. This issue isn't the equivalent of a flat tire, it's the equivalent of a busted head gasket of a dying vehicle. I don't know why you're defending them so hard? 

[waltd]

Just now, Princessscrewedme said:

No it doesn't, because I maintain it and replace it when it needs to be upgraded. The ship is almost 20 years old. If they're running it too hard and too long that's on them. This issue isn't the equivalent of a flat tire, it's the equivalent of a busted head gasket of a dying vehicle. I don't know why you're defending them so hard? 

Every cruiseline has a maintenance schedule for every ship.   Things break down.  Princess doesn't have a crystal ball.

Guess cruising is not for you.   Good luck finding another cruiseline .

[JJ_Outdoors]

48 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

Not sure what you’re trying to say with this but 14:15 UTC (aka GMT) is the 06:15 local I mentioned above.

14:15 is scheduled arrival.  Estimated arrival is a bit later than 14:15 UTC on the line below.

[TRLD]

Just now, Princessscrewedme said:

No it doesn't, because I maintain it and replace it when it needs to be upgraded. The ship is almost 20 years old. If they're running it too hard and too long that's on them. This issue isn't the equivalent of a flat tire, it's the equivalent of a busted head gasket of a dying vehicle. I don't know why you're defending them so hard? 

This is not a car.  Because ships are expected to be in service 24 X 7 for months the amount of maintenance conducted is huge along with the amount of redundancies. For example not unusual to have one of the generators scheduled to be off line and being rebuilt. 

 

One of the participants on CC is a former chief engineer @chengkp75  on NCL who often comments about maintenance related ship issues.

[lstone19]

46 minutes ago, JJ_Outdoors said:

14:15 is scheduled arrival.  Estimated arrival is a bit later than 14:15 UTC on the line below.

Missed that the next line said estimated arrival. Ouch, nine hours late (3:17pm local). While they can stay late since the ship only goes to Skagway the next day, that pretty much blows the Juneau port call as well.

[lstone19]

1 hour ago, Princessscrewedme said:

They didn't do it on purpose, but they failed to maintain their ship, so they're completely … responsible for this failure. 

 

I completely agree with this. Regardless of the why, a mechanical failure of the ship is 100% their responsibility. I am retired from the travel industry (airline) and was in the group that managed the reason categories we had for delays, cancellations, and diversions. There were many reasons but they grouped into two broad categories: company controllable and company non-controllable. Weather and Air Traffic Control were non-controllable; everything else was controllable (and therefore things like hotels for overnight delays and meal vouchers). Even things you might think were random acts completely beyond their control such as a medical diversion were company controllable (which I know from experience Princess disagrees). Everything maintenance related was controllable. Even though they can’t anticipate a random failure, the failure is still their responsibility.

[TRLD]

24 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

 

I completely agree with this. Regardless of the why, a mechanical failure of the ship is 100% their responsibility. I am retired from the travel industry (airline) and was in the group that managed the reason categories we had for delays, cancellations, and diversions. There were many reasons but they grouped into two broad categories: company controllable and company non-controllable. Weather and Air Traffic Control were non-controllable; everything else was controllable (and therefore things like hotels for overnight delays and meal vouchers). Even things you might think were random acts completely beyond their control such as a medical diversion were company controllable (which I know from experience Princess disagrees). Everything maintenance related was controllable. Even though they can’t anticipate a random failure, the failure is still their responsibility.

Responsibility for a failure, as some of us have said is materially different from their statement made about failure to perform maintenance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13 by TRLD

[JJ_Outdoors]

Sapphire arrived late with one non-operational engine.  Decision (guessing corporate) was made to depart with only one operational engine, reroute on open sea path with headwind, with the intent/hope of regaining the second propulsion unit functionality which did not happen.  My tracking app info says expected arrival in Juneau is mid-afternoon.

 

Researched and paid for inside passage route to maximize coastal scenery of Alaska.  Not crawling along at a snails pace in the North Pacific missing what is looking to be possibly 3 destinations and associated excursions.  Can’t perfume the pig on the go/no go decision and resultant impact to clientele.

[JJ_Outdoors]

And running with stabilizing system off to maximize speed.  Nice wave pool going in the top decks this morning.