Grand Princess went out of control near Civitavecchia on Sunday

[Host Mike]

Princess Chatter Exclusive:

"At around 9pm during dinner, there was a sharp lurch and then a hard drop and the ship shuddered noticeably.  Several hours later, the ship lurched again and then came down hard and shuddered again and the power to the entire ship went out. The ship seemed to drop again, and vibrated very hard. about 5 minutes later power was restored only briefly, and then went out again.  Power was out for about another 5-10 min and then came back on, but not to propulsion.  We drifted for about 30 min before limited propulsion was restored.  There was VERY limited notification as to what happened, just the usual all is well and we are working on restoring power and propulsion.  The ship was to arrive at 6am, but we were proceeding only at about 5 knots and on only one screw.  We finally limped ashore and arrived at 1230pm.  We had to be assisted by 2 tugs to get us docked- something I NEVER saw on any other port call for this ship.  The scene ashore was totally anarchy with little comment from Princess.   I heard from an engineer when i questioned him that we lost a generator as well as damaged a stabilizer- but again nothing from Princess in terms of compensation, assistance or comment.  Overall a very bad situation on their part.  What I want to know is how seas of only 4-8 feet could take out a modern mega-ship like Grand Princess?   Yes winds were like 40MPH but that should be nothing for a ship this large and modern."

[f-mattox]

nothing from Princess in terms of compensation

How did I know this is exactly where this post was going before it ever got there?

[Host Mike]

"Princess Cruises' Grand Princess. Grand Princess was en route to its turnaround port of Rome Friday evening after a 12-day Egypt and Aegean cruise when it hit the severe weather. During that time, there was a brief loss of power which resulted in the ship arriving back into port late on Saturday (around lunchtime). Fortunately, no one missed return flights due to the delay, and the ship was able to depart on its next 21-day transatlantic cruise as planned."

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2949

[druke]

I don't understand why the poster should feel that some sort of compensation should have been offered.

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

I dont think Mike was implying that he expected compensation(although he may).  He was just merely stating that they hadnt given any details to this point.

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

None of the cruise lines offered compensation to passengers since the delays were weather-related.

The good news is that the bad weather appears to have subsided -- Palermo is currently seeing temperatures of 19 degrees Celsius with winds of 9 miles per hour. We don't anticipate any further changes due to weather, but we'll keep you posted.

More from CC: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2949

[f-mattox]

Host Mike didn't write the post; it was a quote from a passenger.

[baglad]

Sudden total power and propulsion outages, especially at night, can be unnerving to some people. In my opinion, the lack of communication about what is going on is most frustrating. When the cabins, lounges, hallways etc. are in total darkness and there is no sign of a friendly crew person with a torch offering reassurance, rumor and speculation spread like wildfire.
One event I experienced a few years ago went on for 20 minutes before a crew person appeared saying everything was alright and nothing else. The lights finally came on about an hour later but still with no explanation for the rest of the cruise. Apparently a main generator went west and the accompanying jolt led me to think we had struck a reef. Luckily we always take a torch each for our bedside tables so we had some light to see by. On this occasion my partner was in her life jacket and ready to abandon ship in less than a minute. Looking out our window it was obvious that the ship was not underway.
Its not the compensation but the courtesy and respect of informing us fare paying passengers of the situation in a timely manner. C.R.U.I.S.E. should be more than marketing jingo.   

[f-mattox]

Well said, baglad;  well said!

[Host Mike]

What got me is that, allegedly, Princess wouldn't honor their own Princess Air by re booking a Princess Air passenger who was delayed from leaving the ship by the, shall we say, accident.  The passenger said they were told by a purser staff person that they were now completely on their own to find their own way home.

[Fllady]

We only did the cruise air once and never again.  It was terrible.  They kept changing it and then when we finally got there had to sit all night in the airport terminal, because of another change. 

[FLCRUISER]

What got me is that, allegedly, Princess wouldn't honor their own Princess Air by re booking a Princess Air passenger who was delayed from leaving the ship by the, shall we say, accident.  The passenger said they were told by a purser staff person that they were now completely on their own to find their own way home.

Same trip but someone else had a much better experience with cruise air. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=17113395&highlight=#post17113395 I have done both several times and always have had a good experience.

[f-mattox]

The only really bad experience I've had with a cruise air program was on Holland America and the airline was SAS; considering the reputations of these companies, it was a complete surprise.

Sometimes the layovers on Princess flights are pretty long; but you can always customize the arrangements for $50 plus the difference in price of the flight(s).

The passenger said they were told by a purser staff person that they were now completely on their own to find their own way home

I'm sorry, I just don't see a Princess officer saying something like this.