Who pays if ship breaks down or Princess cancels?

[cruiserdru]

We are booked on the Caribbean Princess on 10/19 on the New England/Canada cruise. What happens if the CP breaks down (she does have engine problems that won't be fixed until drydock in 1/2009) or Princess cancels?

 

Does Princess refund for a cancellation or does my travel insurance? What if it is a trip interruption, i.e., they can't complete the trip? What happens to the passengers?

 

Any experience out there?? :confused: :eek:

[johnmik1]

We are booked on the Caribbean Princess on 10/19 on the New England/Canada cruise. What happens if the CP breaks down (she does have engine problems that won't be fixed until drydock in 1/2009) or Princess cancels?

 

Does Princess refund for a cancellation or does my travel insurance? What if it is a trip interruption, i.e., they can't complete the trip? What happens to the passengers?

 

Any experience out there?? :confused: :eek:

 

CP is the Sea Princess and CB is Caribbean!

[cruiserdru]

:o OOPS :o

 

Still interested in the answer to my question, however.

[dazza]

Hi last may our cruise on the sea princess was cancelled after 2 days on the ship, allthough we never left the port. princess gave us a full refund they did not charge us for our onboard account and they refunded all our travel expenses including our hotel pre cruise, they also gave us a 25% of our next cruise. which saved us £1000 of our panama canal cruise in 2008.

[Pam in CA]

First of all, the Caribbean Princess (CB) doesn't have "engine" problems. There are mechanical issues but there's nothing wrong with the engines. That said, the ship is sailing at about 2 knots less than usual which isn't normally an issue; cruise ships rarely sail at top speed anyway. To equate it to your car, if your car weren't performing at top speed and you had to drive 5mph slower than you might otherwise, you'd still be able to make your destination.

 

Should the ship not be able to make port FOR WHATEVER REASON, your port charges will be reimbursed. Ports are missed and itineraries modified all the time so that you should never expect to be guaranteed to make every port every time.

 

When you book a cruise, you are getting your cabin, food, and entertainment. If those are not provided, then you would possibly due a credit.

 

Should, for some extremely unusual reason, your cruise be cancelled, you will be notified by your TA and your money refunded to the same credit card you used to make final payment.

[sunshine426]

The most common things that would happen on your cruise are addressed by Pam in the post above.

No way to determine exactly how Princess would respond to the very unusal. I will share that we were on the Star Princess when the ship caught fire. Our cruise was terminated 1/2 thru the cruise. Princess refunded our cruise, offered 25% off a future cruise(based on what fare we paid for on this cruise). Arranged and paid for travel home from Jamaica(where the cruise was terminated). While our ship board acct for the time on ship was assessed, no further charges were accrued until we disembarked, including bar bills, photo's etc. My two college age daughters felt like they had gotten a "free cruise". Not that we would ever want to experience that again, but we did feel they treated us well.

[coiran]

First of all, the Caribbean Princess (CB) doesn't have "engine" problems. There are mechanical issues but there's nothing wrong with the engines. That said, the ship is sailing at about 2 knots less than usual which isn't normally an issue; cruise ships rarely sail at top speed anyway. To equate it to your car, if your car weren't performing at top speed and you had to drive 5mph slower than you might otherwise, you'd still be able to make your destination.

 

Should the ship not be able to make port FOR WHATEVER REASON, your port charges will be reimbursed. Ports are missed and itineraries modified all the time so that you should never expect to be guaranteed to make every port every time.

 

When you book a cruise, you are getting your cabin, food, and entertainment. If those are not provided, then you would possibly due a credit.

 

Should, for some extremely unusual reason, your cruise be cancelled, you will be notified by your TA and your money refunded to the same credit card you used to make final payment.

 

Knowing all this can you define whay the "mechanical issues" are?

Last I can recall an engine is a mechanical device - or - if it is the generator it could be an electrical problem - or - if it is the electric motor that drives the propshaft it could be an electrical/mechanical problem.

Ron

[NeurosurgeryNP]

From my understanding the generator that is down does not have anything to do with the propulsion system.

[coiran]

If it is a generator that is down then they are probably diverting power from the propulsion motor/generator sets in order to keep the ship,s other electrical systems running thereby pulling power from the propulsion system and causing the ship to run slower.

 

Ron

[West Coast]

Keep in mind that any compensation you may receive may be different than that of the person in the cabin next to you.

 

We sailed aboard the Dawn Princess back in 2004 or 2005 when she was limping through the Caribbean. We had booked a year+ in advance. As it turned out, they cancelled two ports about 4 months prior to sailing (one of which was Princess Cays) and we received $400 in OBC pp. So, $800 total for the two of us. We met people on the ship who had booked after the ports had been cancelled and they received nothing.

 

So, the old cliche of YMMV (your mileage may vary) prevails.

 

Whatever happens, have a great trip - after all, you are on vacation and will have someone else doing the cooking and cleaning for a week!

[Pam in CA]

Knowing all this can you define whay the "mechanical issues" are?

Last I can recall an engine is a mechanical device - or - if it is the generator it could be an electrical problem - or - if it is the electric motor that drives the propshaft it could be an electrical/mechanical problem.

 

Ron

I read through the thread that had more specific information about the problem: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=15244964&postcount=106

 

It's a generator problem and thus one engine is down (there are six engines on the ship.) Note the comment from the poster that it didn't impact the cruise.

 

Here's another comment, i.e., about the six engines: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=15244111&postcount=98

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree. :)

[fathercop]

Princess has always been fair with us when we have been on incompleted excursions. Most recently, we had an excursion cancelled after we were 90% through it! We got a complete refund. Port charges / taxes are reimbursed if the port is missed. Though we never had a cruise cancelled or cut short, from what friends of our have said, they had recieved a complete refund of their cruise fare, plus hotel and airfare reimbursement. Additionally, they recieved 25% credit toward their next cruise. In another case, our friends recieved 50% credit.

 

Good luck to you and enjoy your cruise.

[fathercop]

BTW - I for got to add that due to the generator problem on our CB cruise earlier in the summer, we had a multitude of time in port changes. We recieved a $75.00 OBC pp. Since there was five of us, that was a nice gift. In addition to the $800.00 OBC we had, the additional OBC came in handy!

[Colo Cruiser]

BTW - I for got to add that due to the generator problem on our CB cruise earlier in the summer, we had a multitude of time in port changes. We recieved a $75.00 OBC pp. Since there was five of us, that was a nice gift. In addition to the $800.00 OBC we had, the additional OBC came in handy!

 

 

I'll bet it did. ;)

[DonnaK]

I'm a bit upset over reports that the air conditioning isn't working efficiently, and that some cabins and some public spaces are uncomfortably hot. Both my mom and I have health issues that cause heat intolerance, and it's one of the reasons we opted for a Canada/NE cruise rather than a Caribbean.

 

If the "mechanical issues" happened before our final payment was due, we would have cancelled our CB cruise and booked something else. But, now we have to endure uncertainty about whether the ship will be comfortably cool enough for us. If our cabin is too warm, it will have a huge negative impact on our cruise. We'll be bringing along a fan for the cabin, but it's not a replacement for air conditioning.

[Pam in CA]

Like food, one person's opinion as to temperature is not another's. I was chatting with another lady the other day as I was waiting to get my hair cut and she remarked at how nice the A/C was since she couldn't stand heat warmer than 70o whereas I'm perfectly comfortable at 77-78o. When we were in Berlin a couple of weeks ago, it was 33oC (about 94-95oF) and very humid. I remarked to my nephew's wife at how hot I thought it was and she told me that wasn't hot at all. Of course, where she lives it's regularly well over 100oF and often close to 120oF every single day in the summer.

 

Something else to remember is that the A/C on a ship is far more efficient when it's cooler out than when it's hot. On our recent Baltic cruise, I had to keep adjusting the cabin temperature up or down depending on whether it was 70o or 90o out. My travel clock has a temperature gauge on it so I could tell exactly what the temperature was.

 

The point is, read comments about the air conditioning closely and take them with a grain of salt. If you're reading comments about the A/C while the CB is in the Caribbean, it would be a completely different situation when cruising New England and Canada.

[NeurosurgeryNP]

If it is a generator that is down then they are probably diverting power from the propulsion motor/generator sets in order to keep the ship,s other electrical systems running thereby pulling power from the propulsion system and causing the ship to run slower.

 

Ron

I mis spoke - I meant it was not the engine/propulsion system directly that was bad.

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm a bit upset over reports that the air conditioning isn't working efficiently, and that some cabins and some public spaces are uncomfortably hot. Both my mom and I have health issues that cause heat intolerance, and it's one of the reasons we opted for a Canada/NE cruise rather than a Caribbean.

 

If the "mechanical issues" happened before our final payment was due, we would have cancelled our CB cruise and booked something else. But, now we have to endure uncertainty about whether the ship will be comfortably cool enough for us. If our cabin is too warm, it will have a huge negative impact on our cruise. We'll be bringing along a fan for the cabin, but it's not a replacement for air conditioning.

 

 

 

It is not that hot onboard. :)

[CQG67]

My husband and I and our best friends (we are all in our mid 60s so we are not spring chickens) are also sailing on the Oct 19th New England cruise and are looking forward to the trip. We have done New England once before back in 2001 and it was wonderful. I have been on more than 22 cruises (the majority of them on Princess) and have never had one cancel or break down (of course there is always a first time). Princess is a very good company and I am sure would more than make up for any inconvenience. We are flying into New York from Florida so we aren't exactly a few miles from the embarkation point. :)

[DonnaK]

It is not that hot onboard. :)

 

Have you been onboard since the problem? In the same cabin we'll be in? :rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

Have you been onboard since the problem? In the same cabin we'll be in? :rolleyes:

 

 

Have you been onboard since the problem came about?? and have you stayed in the same cabin you have booked???

 

Sounds like you have doomed yourselves before even arriving.

 

If you are that worried, and it would affect you both that much then you should probably cancel. :cool:

[DonnaK]

Have you been onboard since the problem came about?? and have you stayed in the same cabin you have booked???

 

Sounds like you have doomed yourselves before even arriving.

 

If you are that worried, and it would affect you both that much then you should probably cancel. :cool:

 

Like I said, I would have cancelled if there was an issue prior to my final payment, but the problem began once I was already into my penalty period.

 

We're not dooming ourselves before we arrive...the A/C is an issue that's important enough to us that it will make or break the cruise. And, I'm more inclined to trust reports of faulty A/C in cabins and public spaces from people who have been on a recent sailing than from someone who hasn't and makes random statements giving a false sense of security.

[coiran]

I read through the thread that had more specific information about the problem: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=15244964&postcount=106

 

It's a generator problem and thus one engine is down (there are six engines on the ship.) Note the comment from the poster that it didn't impact the cruise.

 

Here's another comment, i.e., about the six engines: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=15244111&postcount=98

 

If it is a generator problem there would not have to be an engine down. Your earlier post stated not an engine priblem. Which is correct?

The engines drive the generators which produce electricity to feed the ship and also drive the electric motors which turn the props.

I am really confused as to what the problem really is. Although it really does not matter since I have no plans on cruising on the Caribbean Princess.

Ron

[pablo222]

It's a generator problem and thus one engine is down (there are six engines on the ship.)

 

A few posts back, you told us it wasn't an engine problem.