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Illness Outbreaks by Ship:
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| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2009 |
Incident |
| 12.12.09 | Sun Princess & Diamond Princess | ABC News (Australia) reports hundreds of cruise ship passengers had their travels disrupted this afternoon while police investigated a suspicious package at Melbourne's Station Pier. The package was found just after 3:00pm (AEDT) and as a precaution the pier was closed to all pedestrians and vehicles. Operations resumed as normal several hours later after the bomb squad investigated. It is believed that package contained military uniforms. | Bomb scare |
| 29.11.09 | Coral Princess | Associated Press reports Colombian maritime authorities searched Sunday for an Italian chef believed to have gone overboard from the ship while off Colombia's Caribbean coast. The 31 year old man was last seen in the galley at about 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 25 while he was working the dinner shift while the ship was sailing between Aruba and Cartagena, Colombia. His family was alerted Thursday that he had been reported missing and that a life preserver was also missing, with its nighttime illumination flares torn off and left aboard the ship. His sister said, "He surely didn't jump off. It wasn't suicide. We think there was an accident or a homicide." The ship left Miami on Nov. 23 and is currently en route from Panama to Acapulco, Mexico; it is due to dock in Los Angeles on Dec. 7, at which point the FBI is expected to join the investigation. | Crew member missing |
| 23.11.09 | Coral Princess | The ship was cited for one air quality violation in Alaska during the 2009 cruise season. | Environmental |
| 14.11.09 | Sapphire Princess | From a passenger: I was on the cruise that departed San Pedro, CA November 14th to Cabo San Lucas. The was one of three ships docked offshore. The water had moderate to strong chop with a swell of two to three feet. The wind was from the south at approximate 10 to 15 knots. The ship's tenders were providing ferry service in and out of Cabo that day. Other ships were using commercial tenders or water taxis that were larger and more stable. The trip to shore was more or less uneventful. However, on the trip back to the ship that afternoon, the tenderlost an engine. The drived immediately cut the other engine. The tender was bobbing in the ocean under no power. It was rolling in heavy swells with a pitch of approximately 35 degrees, side to side. This was not pleasurable. The driver made a decision to go back to port and restarted the signle functioning engine and started back. He was then instructed to go to the ship instead and made a u-turn, limping on one engine. He was barely able to make it back to the ship; at no time was anything said to passengers by the crew, and life jackets were not passed out. Once at the ship, there was no plan in place to get the tender under control. The driver could not control the tender with one engine. We bobbed and rolled and bounced off the ship several times. The shipboard crew had a large bale of ropes and were trying to get them untangled to toss a line. It was a Chinese fire drill, and no one spoke English. It was a totally unprofessional exhibition of how not to react in an emergency. We, the passengers, were all aghast at the total lack of seamanship of these inept crewmembers. I have never seen anything like it. | Tender nightmare |
| 2.11.09 | Sapphire Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on September 8 exceeded the allowable level of zinc, on September 16 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia, and onSeptember 16 exceeded the allowable level of copper. | Environmental |
| 2.11.09 | Island Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on September 3 and September 11 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 2.11.09 | Sea Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. On September 4, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 2.11.09 | Golden Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on September 7 and September 14 exceeded the allowable level of zinc. | Environmental |
| 2.11.09 | Diamond Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. On September 15, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of zinc. | Environmental |
| 23.10.09 | Diamond Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on August 12 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia and zinc. | Environmental |
| 23.10.09 | Sapphire Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on August 11 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia and on August 11 and August 25 the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of biological oxygen demand. | Environmental |
| 23.10.09 | Sea Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on August 16 and August 26 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 23.10.09 | Pacific Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. On August 3, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of copper. | Environmental |
| 23.10.09 | Golden Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on August 3 exceeded the allowable level of chlorine and on August 3 and August 10 exceeded the allowable level of zinc. | Environmental |
| 23.10.09 | Island Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on August 14 and August 20 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 19.10.09 | Crown Princess | The Cape Breton Post reports ship cancelled its planned call in Sydney(Nova Scotia) today due to weather. The port authority said the ship was about an hour away from Sydney this morning when the decision was made to cancel the stop due to high winds off shore. | Port skipped |
| 16.10.09 | Caribbean Princess | Cruise Critic reports while at sea today en route from Halifax to New York, the encountered gale force winds that caused the ship to list. According to an official statement from the cruise line, there were no passenger injuries and only one minor crew injury; this crewmember has already returned to work. The severity of the list in actual degrees is not yet known. Cruise Critic member JohnLauben was onboard and shares this post on the Princess forum: "Currently onboard, off the coast of New England. We're in a storm, with gale-force winds up to 70 knots. We listed a bit this morning ... several waiters in the Horizon Court fell, carrying trays of food or other dining supplies. A piano in the Explorer's Lounge slid off the stage, and was [totalled]. The galley and backstage tours were cancelled...." From a Reader: Seems there might be more Damage to the Caribbean Princess, last night [Oct 19] she left Boston late [9pm ish] due to inspections and possible repairs [report of DECK Damage / Cracked]. According to Sources at the port, Llyods of London was there doing the inspection[s] as well.See here for more information. | Storm damage |
| 23.9.09 | Sapphire Princess | Vancouver Sun reports a search is underway for a 67-year-old American woman who boarded the ship in Alaska on Sunday but never got off in Vancouver when the ship docked at Canada Place on Wednesday morning. Crew members checked the woman's cabin where they found all her belongings. Rescue crews in three helicopters immediately started searching the waters between Comox and Vancouver on Wednesday, while Vancouver police have boarded the ship at Canada Place. It's not clear where the woman may have gone overboard or how long the search will take. UPDATE: Subsequent reports indicate the woman jumped overboard at 6:08 AM Tuesday morning based on video surveillance equipment. The ship was more than 200 miles south of Ketchikan. Earlier, the cruise line had said she went overboard Monday evening around 6 p.m. near Ketchikan, in southeast Alaska, and the Coast Guard had been searching in that area for two days. | Missing Pax (suicide) |
| 1.9.09 | Diamond Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. On July 29, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 1.9.09 | Island Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. On July 9, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 1.9.09 | Pacific Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on July 6 and July 20 exceeded the allowable level of copper. | Environmental |
| 1.9.09 | Sapphire Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on July 13, July 14, and July 28 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 1.9.09 | Sea Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. On July 27, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 14.08.09 | Sea Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. On June 17, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 14.08.09 | Sapphire Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. There were six violations. The ship's effluent on June 2, June 16, and June 30 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. On June 2 and June 30, it's effluent exceeded the allowable level of copper. And on June 2 its effluent exceeded the allowable level of nickel. | Environmental |
| 14.08.09 | Island Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on June 11 and June 25 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. | Environmental |
| 14.08.09 | Golden Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. On June 1, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of zinc. | Environmental |
| 14.08.09 | Diamond Princess | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on June 3 and June 17 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| 13.08.09 | Coral Princess | According to a passenger, four people were ejected from the ship in Juneau for smoking pot onboard. The ship was held for many hours up to midnight while C.B.P. and state troppers searched the ship. The passengers reportedly were in rooms 9216 and 9218. | Drug bust - delayed departure |
| 1.08.09 | Crown Princess | A passenger posted the following at Cruise Critic: Just disembarked the Crown Princess British Isles cruise yesterday morning, and there were a couple of instances of idiots being idiots. There were quite a few really, really rude people onboard but that wasn't the worst. As we were waiting to disembark, we learned that some idiot threw a glass at the pilot boat in one of the ports. Someone reported it and after reviewing the security tapes, the people were put off at the next port (which must have been either Ireland or France); because of the seriousness of this, the UK barred them from entering so they couldn't use their air tickets from Heathrow so they had to pay for all new airfare to get home. Also, during the last night before disembarkation, the elevators were vandalized and rendered unusable. They got one working among the aft elevators and a couple mid-ship (I don't know about the forward elevators) but it was chaos with only one working elevator in the aft of the ship with people trying to get up to the buffet or down to disembark. I was told that the security cameras would be reviewed and the culprits identified. I hope they throw the book at them. IMHO, this is a criminal act since it affected the safety of everyone on the ship, particularly those with limited mobility. | Pax evicted / vandalism to elevators |
| 27.07.09 | Golden Princess | The Juneau Empire reports the ship twice violated Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards for zinc in May 2009. On May 11th the concentration of zinc was 0.250 mg/L (effluent limit is 0.23 mg/L); on May 18th the concentration of zinc was 0.290 mg/L. | Environmental |
| 27.07.09 | Sea Princess | The Juneau Empire reports the ship violated Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards for ammonia in May 2009. On May 27th the concentration of ammonia was 99 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L). | Environmental |
| 27.07.09 | Sapphire Princess | The Juneau Empire reports the ship twice violated Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards for ammonia in May 2009. On May 19th the concentration of ammonia was 99 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L), May 27th it was 120 mg/L. In addition, on May 19th as a result of a hose leak that resulted in 50 gallons of untreated graywater being released at dock, the ship was cited for one violation of pH, one violation of Biological oxygen demand, one violation of allowable total suspended solids, and one violation of allowable fecal coliform. | Environmental |
| 27.07.09 | Island Princess | The Juneau Empire reports the ship violated Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards for ammonia three times in May 2009. On May 14th the concentration of ammonia was 130 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L), May 27th it was 120 mg/L, and May 28th it was 160 mg/L. | Environmental |
| 27.07.09 | Coral Princess | The Juneau Empire reports the ship violated Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards for ammonia in May 2009. On May 21 the concentration of ammonia was 91 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L). | Environmental |
| 26.7.09 | Ruby Princess | The Daily Mail reports the ship was briefly impounded by Italian authorities when it arrived today in Venice. Two additional people (passengers) have now been reported with swine flu. An official with the Maritime Health Agency in Venice said that three passengers, an American, a Mexican and a German had been confirmed while the other four were crew. He added that the Mexican and German would be taken off and treated ashore, while the American and the crew members were making good progress and would be allowed to remain on the ship -- about an hour delay. The ship is in Venice until Tuesday (July 28) when it leaves for Dubrovnik. (See July 24th below for more information.) | Impounded briefly |
| 25.7.09 | Sapphire Princess | Vancouver Sun reports the ship arrived on its return from the Alaska run with a female whale firmly wedged in the bulbous bow. Lisa Spaven, a coordinator for the B.C. Marine Mammal Response Network, said it appears to be about a fin whale, a threatened species in Canada. Spaven estimated the whale is about 70 feet long. The whale's fin and part of its back is protruding from the water and tourists are snapping photos. According to information Spaven obtained she said the ship's captain wasn't aware of the whale until the ship docked at Canada Place. She believes in all likelihood the whale was struck north of Vancouver Island since fin whales are not normally found in Johnstone or Georgia Strait. This is the second time in the last 10 years that a cruise vessel has come into the Port of Vancouver with a whale caught on the bow. In that instance, in June of 1999, the Celebrity Cruise vessel MV Galaxy collided with an adult male fin whale, which likely happened as the ship transited the Hecate Strait north of Vancouver Island. However, there are many more whale strikes on Alaska-bound cruise ships, as well as cruise ships in other parts of the world (for example, see January 31, 2009 below). NOTE: In January 2007, Princess Cruises agreed to a plea bargain under which it payed a fine of $200,000 and restitution of $550,000 after criminal charges were filed -- the company was charged with failing to operate at a slow, safe speed while near humpback whales when in 2001 the Dawn Princess hit and killed a humpback. UPDATE: A necropsy determined the whale had been dead for up to a week before it was struck by the cruise ship. | Whale strike |
| 24.7.09 | Ruby Princess | Earth Times reports five people (one passenger and four crew) discovered with swine flu aboard the ship have been put in quarantine by oficials in Athens. "We have advised the four crew and passenger to remain in their cabins and to not disembark," said Health Ministry official Panagiotis Efstathiou, adding that all the other passengers have been allowed to leave the vessel. The captain had asked the Greek government to inspect the ship as soon as it arrived in the port of Piraeus from neighboring Turkey. The Ruby Princess is scheduled to leave for Venice, Italy on Friday evening. | Swine flu |
| 21.7.09 | Tahitian Princess | Newspapers in St. John's (Newfoundland) and Sydney (Nova Scotia) report unscheduled visits by the ship yesterday and today. The visit to St. John's was advanced one day because the ship's port calls to Greenland had been canceled (it sailed directly from Iceland); the visit to Sydney was apparently added. | Ports canceled and added |
| 16.7.09 | Dawn Princess | Chinese media report five passengers on board the ship were in isolation due to influenza A/H1N1 as the vessel is on a stop-over in the French Polynesian capital of Papeete. The health ministry said the five have been given Tamiflu, and there is an unspecified number of people who were in close contact with the five, Radio New Zealand International reported on Thursday. The ship is carrying nearly 2,000 passengers and almost 900 crew. It arrived from Samoa and will sail to Bora Bora before continuing its voyage to Hawaii and California. | Swine flu |
| 8.7.09 | Emerald Princess | Media in Finland report the ship docked in Helsinki this morning. Helsinki City health authorities have been notified that five people aboard the ship have contracted swine flu. On Tuesday Helsinki City Epidemiologist Hannele Kotilainen said any passengers or crew members who are infectious will not be allowed ashore while the vessel is in Finland. All in all, ten people have been quarantined. When the ship was last in Helsinki in late June (see July 2 below), Finnish officials were not informed that there were several people on board at the time who had contracted swine flu. The ship was in Finland on June 28th before sailing on to St. Petersburg. Cases of swine flu onboard had been confirmed by tests taken in Oslo four days earlier. The infections were reported to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control by Norwegian officials, but the information went unnoticed by Finnish authorities. The captain of the vessel was under obligation to report the infections before entering Helsinki harbour. | Swine flu |
| 6.7.09 | Sun Princess | Press in Australia report Customs and Border Protection successfully prosecuted Princess Cruise Lines for allowing an unauthorised person to board a vessel while in port. The company was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay an additional $1000 in court costs. On 11 November 2007, the ship Princess was anchored at Funnel Bay in the Whitsunday Islands. While the ship was anchored, an unauthorised person boarded the vessel for a personal visit. The cruise ship had been granted permission under the Customs Act 1901 for the vessel to be brought into unproclaimed ports in Queensland subject to a number of conditions. One of these conditions stated that persons are not permitted to visit the vessel except for work-related situations and detailed advice must be relayed to Customs and Border Protection if this is to occur. | Fine (Border protection) |
| 2.7.09 | Emerald Princess | Copenhagen Post reports doctors at Copenhagen hospitals are awaiting the arrival the cruise ship due to dock in Copenhagen on Saturday that has 14 crew members on board infected with the Influenza A H1N1 virus (see June 29, below). Princess Cruises confirmed to the Cruise Critic website that some of the crew on board its Emerald Princess cruise liner had tested positive and are now in isolation and being treated with anti-viral medication. The ship has already called at ports in Finland, Russia and Sweden, prior to its expected arrival in Denmark this weekend. There are 4,400 passengers and crew on board, but Danish health authorities have not yet decided if passengers will be allowed off the ship when it reaches Copenhagen. ‘The hospitals have been advised that there could be a number of passengers or others who have to be admitted,’ said health inspector Arne Scheel Thomsen. ‘So the system is ready to deal with the situation.’ | Swine flu |
| 29.6.09 | Emerald Princess | RIANOVOSTI reports the ship, with 14 A/H1N1-infected people onboard, arrived in St. Petersburg on Monday. Swine flu was confirmed in 13 crew members and one passenger. The ship sailed from the Finnish capital, Helsinki. The infected have been quarantined in their cabins and are being treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. The first case of the highly pathogenic virus was confirmed in several crew members on June 18. When the vessel arrived to St. Petersburg, 16 people had already recovered and tested negative for the virus. | Swine flu |
| 20.6.09 | Crown Princess |
From a reader: My friend is on board the Crown Princess Mediterranean Explorer itinerary. She emailed me this morning with the following information: "Yep- we heard it from the head of passenger services - there was a fire on board this morning.
We heard an announcement that said "immediate containment in room---" Later we were in the Sky Walker lounge and the head of passenger services was there to chit chat again and he volunteered the information. Story is- woman smoking in her room was collecting her ashes in a napkin and wrapping them up to put in the trash can. Destroyed her room. She is being escorted off tomorrow and charged for the repair of the room. He then told us about the sensors to pick up candles and then smoke!! The sprinklers do more damage than fire." Note - This clarification was offered by another reader: I was disturbed to read the last sentence. Being a firefighter, sprinklers SAVE LIVES, and protect property. When a sprinkler is activated, it contains the fire until firefighters arrive, then the sprinklers must be turned off at a reasonable timeframe, usually when the firefighters with hoses have contained the blaze. So the sentence, they cause more damage is just wrong! Note: Many cruise ships have fog nozzles rather than sprinklers in the main
crew/passenger areas. These are just as effective, but cause less damage should
they be activated. |
Fire |
| 18.6.09 | Royal Princess | Cruise Critic reports a fire broke out in the engine room at 8:10 p.m. local time on Thursday as the ship was departing from Port Said, Egypt. A statement from Princess says that passengers aboard were called to their muster stations and fire teams were deployed. All 733 passengers and 393 crewmembers have been accounted for, and there have been no resulting injuries onboard the ship, which is currently in the middle of a 12-night Holy Land sailing from Rome to Athens. Royal Princess is currently anchored off the coast of Port Said. Princess spokeswoman Karen Candy said there is no word yet on whether the incident will delay any of the ship's remaining calls in Ashdod (Jerusalem), Haifa, Kusadasi or Patmos Island. The ship is due in Athens on the 25th. UPDATE: Princess Cruises released the following statement: In order to fully assess the impact of the engine fire that occurred earlier this evening, we plan to bring Royal Princess back into Port Said, Egypt tomorrow. The assessment process includes flying various technical experts and regulatory authorities to the ship for a complete inspection, and they should be arriving onboard by tomorrow evening. So while our own assessment will occur throughout the day tomorrow, we expect the full assessment to be complete on Saturday. This means Royal Princess will be spending Friday and Saturday in Port Said. UPDATE June 19: Princess reports that the current cruise and the next cruise (June 25) will be cancelled because damage is greater than initially thought. Passengers on both voyages will receive a full refund of their fare, plus a future cruise credit equal to 25% of the cruise fare paid for these sailings. | Fire |
| 16.6.09 | Sun Princess | The West Australian reports ill passengers aboard the cruise ship have been tested for swine flu before docking in Fremantle tomorrow. The ship, which departed from Sydney on May 2 for an Indian Ocean cruise. is the first international cruise ship to arrive in Perth since the outbreak of the A/H1N1 virus. It is due to dock at Fremantle Port at 7am tomorrow and is expected to leave at 4pm. A Princess Cruises spokesman said he did not know how many swabs had been taken from passengers for testing at a WA health laboratory but confirmed the ship’s doctor had sent swabs to for testing as precaution. He said during the 46 night cruise, which made stops in Asia, South Africa, India and Mauritius, only seven people had shown flu-like symptoms of which five were confirmed to have contracted influenza A. In line with national protocols, all passengers will be required to fill out health declaration cards before being allowed off the ship. All sick passengers will be assessed by WA health communicable disease control staff and people sharing the same cabin will be offered Tamiflu as a precaution if appropriate. | Swine flu |
| 2.6.09 | Dawn Princess | ABC News reports the ship has been turned away from Lifou, New Caledonia amid fears of swine flu after up to five people on board started showing flu-like symptoms. Swabs have been taken from the sick passengers and sent to Sydney for testing. The cruise left Sydney May 24 for a 13-day South Pacific cruise (previous port calls at Vanuatu and Fiji) and is now heading back to Sydney and will arrive on Friday. | Swine flu |
| 23.5.09 | Dawn Princess | The Melbourne Herald Sun reports ship was quarantined for several hours on arrival in Sydney at the end of a 35 night cruise of the Pacific amid a swine flu scare. Almost 2000 passengers, and another 900 crew, were kept on the ship for more than five hours while another 2000 passengers waiting to board were left to wait on the dock. The ship arrived at Darling Harbour at about 12pm (AEST) today, hours late due to poor weather conditions. Then, health officials were called out and the ship was locked down because four passengers with mild influenza-like symptoms were suspected to have swine flu - they underwent tests. All passengers and crew were subsequently allowed to leave the ship but told to remain in isolation in Sydney until the test results are known. | Swine flu |
| 16.5.09 | Coral Princess |
From a passenger: During a 3 day repositioning cruise on the Coral Princess from L.A. to Vancouver at 10:30 am in the Lotus Pool on deck 14, a young woman was severely injured while swimming. At 2:30 pm, the Captain ordered all upper decks cleared as well as many staterooms on the port side, as a Coast Guard rescue helicopter was on its way from San Francisco to initiate an emergency evacuation of the young woman. They announced over the P.A. system, that no photography or video cameras were allowed during the procedure. At 3:00 PM the rescue team arrived and hovered over the Coral Princess mid ship pool during the evacuation procedure that lasted until 4:00 pm. | Swimming pool injury |
| 8.5.09 | Crown Princess | Gibraltar Chronicle reports a British Airways plane aborted its landing after the ship strayed into its flight path as it sailed from Gibraltar. “By the time we did the final turn, it was obvious to me that we would not clear the ship,” one passenger told the Chronicle. The exact position of the cruise ship is not clear but admiralty rules establish an exclusion zone at either end of the runway. | Plane aborts landing |
| 17.4.09 | Star Princess | From a passenger: My sister and I were on a 10 day cruise from San Francisco to the Mexican Rivera. At midnight, after leaving port, we learned our luggage was missing. We filled out and filed a report with the passenger service desk. We were offered tolieties items and nothing else. We called in the AM and told the luggage was still missing. Since we are both on scooters we had no carry-on or any clothes except what we had on our backs. We were not offered any help with shipboard credits for clothing even though we were at sea for 4 days and still no luggage. We were questioned at one time if we were sure we brought luggage and could we show them airline claim check for the luggage (ironically, the Princess agent assisted us with our luggage because we relied on scooters). Now not only did we not have luggage we were now called liars. Late Saturday afternoon they offered to wash and dry our clothes but they would not be returned for 24 hours. Being those were the only clothes we had we declined. I instead went to the laundrymat and did the clothes myself in a Princess robe. Sunday still no luggage I called my travel agent from the ship to arrange a flight home on Tuesday from Accapulco. We had to pay for this flight home even though we had one for the end of the cruise. Still no compensation from Princess Cruise on board; our travel agent call the headquarters and since we are on board only the on board staff could help us. Very late Sunday our luggage was found. It had been left in the bus with 5 other pieces. The assistant purser called and told us this and also said they could not get our luggag to us in Acapulco. I asked if he would arrange transportation for us on Tuesday to go to the airport in Acapulco and he said he would. On Tuesday at noon when we docked there was no ride waiting for us. We finally found the taxi and left for the airport. During the trip to the airport my sister asked if this was paid for by the cruise line and was told no we needed to pay and it cost $70.00. UPDATE: We have heard back from Princess -- given a $75.00 shipboard credit. despite leaving the 10 day cruise on the 4th day. | Missing luggage |
| 22.3.09 | Golden Princess | From a passenger: Just got back from a 14 day cruise to Hawaii. On Sunday March 22nd just before midnight the ship's main fire alarm sounded off. The assesment crew was sent to the engine room. The Captain came on the PA system and announced a reported fire in the main engine room. The crew was scrurrying around with their life vests on. I went up to the top deck to see the smoke stacks. The ship had slowed down to less than half speed and there was a strange burning smell. About 20 minutes later the Captain came back on and announced that a turbocharger on one of the main engines had blown a seal, set off the smoke detectors and blinded the cameras. Within an hour we were back up to speed again. Also we aborted the port docking in Nawiliwili, Kauai. We were told this was due to high winds although they didnt seem all the high? Some of the crew members confessed that this port is missed about 1 out of 4 times?? Had I known this I might have thought twice about booking this cruise. | Fire |
| 19.3.09 | Coral Princess | Posted at www.cruise.co.uk: Just be aware we are currently on this cruise & have been just told that the ships turbo is broken & we cant go as fast !! We have to miss Colombia, but the Captain is aiming to get us to Aruba.If your on this cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale next Monday Good Luck !! | Propulsion problems |
| 9.3.09 |
Coral Princess | The Los
Angeles Times (and Associated Press)
reports a dining room headwaiter (a 38-year-old Portuguese national who
has worked for Princess for 18 years) was
arrested
today on suspicion
of sexually assaulting a 42-year-old female passenger. The crew member
was taken
into custody after the Federal Bureau of Investigation received the
complaint about the assault and dispatched investigators and an
evidence response team to the ship, which docked in Los Angeles this
morning. The ship was on 14-day cruise through the Panama Canal,
between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Los Angeles. |
Sexual assault |
| 27.2.09 | Grand Princess | From a passengers: I just returend from a 2 week Souther Caribbean cruise from Ft. Lauderdale. Staff had colds the first day, including our waiter. By the second week every other person was sneezing and coughing. Nothing was done to contain this and no announcement was made. Not sure if they even realized how many people were sick! | Illness |
| 23.2.09 |
Grand Princess | Caribbean
Net News reports strong winds prevented two of the four scheduled
cruise ships from docking at Port Zante (St. Kitts) over the weekend.
While Island Star and Carnival Victory were able to berth, Ventura
aborted efforts on Saturday, after trying to berth in winds up to 32
knots. On Sunday, unusually strong winds gusting as high as 45 knots
forced Grand Princess to turn away. Unrelated
missed ports: In other news, several cruise ships skipped port
calls at Guadeloupe and Martinique because of labour unrest on the
islands. Silversea's Silver WInd skipped Sri Lanka because of civil
unrest. |
Missed port calls |
| 12.2.09 |
Emerald Princess | The Antigua
Sun reports the ship canceled its scheduled call to Antigua
yesterday due to the weather conditions. The vessel had entered the
entrance of the St. John’s Harbour channel when it decided to turn back
because the ship’s captain became very concerned about the ground
swells and the high winds. This forced him to cancel the call out of
safety for his passengers and crew.The President of the Antigua and
Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association said pilots at the Antigua and
Barbuda Port Authority tried to reassure the captain that they could
have brought in the cruise ship safely. This was, however, not enough
reassurance for the captain. |
Canceled port call |
| 24.1.09 |
Dawn Princess | The ship's port call at Otago (New Zealand) was delayed
because of dense fog. Rather than arriving at 8:30 AM, the ship set
anchor and finally entered the habour at 11 AM. Its departure from
Otago was delayed for two hours, but some shore excursions had still
been disrupted. |
Fog-caused delay |
| 22.1.09 |
Golden Princess | Associated
Press reports that a commercial fishing vessel nearly collided with
the cruise ship in Los Angeles harbor's main channel. A Coast Guard
spokesperson said a 31-foot-long fishing vessel "erratically" crossed
within about 30 feet of the front of the cruise ship as it entered the
harbor. The incident is under investigation. Federal law prohibits
vessels from coming within 200 yards in front and 100 yards behind or
to the sides of a cruise ship that is moving. |
Near collision |
| 15.1.09 |
Golden Princess | The ship was anchored offshore from Lahaina (Maui) and
unable to disembark passengers because of rough seas and weather
conditions. The ship was scheduled to allow passengers to go onshore at
Lahaina Harbor, but the captain feared the weather conditions would
deteriorate Thursday afternoon, making it unsafe for passengers who
would need to use a tender to get back to the ship. He was concerned
about having a large number of passengers onshore during the one-day
stop before going on to Ensenada, Mexico. If they were unable to
reboard, they would have to be flown to Ensenada. |
Canceled port call |
| 7.1.09 |
Sun Princess | Hawke's
Bay Today reports three passengers (one a seven-year-old boy who
needed cut on his head stitched) needed medical care following a
traffic accident when a car crossed into the path of their tour bus
with 26 passengers. The accident, which occurred in Napier (New
Zealand) brought residents out to comfort the 26 shocked passengers
with tea and biscuits while ambulance officers checked them over. |
Accident on Shore Excursion |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2008 |
Incident |
| 29.11.08 |
Grand Princess | Antigua
Sun reports the the ship diverted to safe harbour, anchoring
outside English Harbour. It had to be diverted to that part of the
island because it was having problems with its bow thruster. Due to
this mechanical problem, the ship had to be anchored and the cruise
line made the choice of securing the ship in the safe port of English
Harbour considered much more sheltered than St. John’s. The decision
was also made on the basis that the prevailing high gusts of winds
being experienced in Antigua required that the ship, its passengers and
crew go to the safest position which is in English Harbour’s sheltered
bay. |
Thruster problems |
| 30.11.08 |
Emerald Princess | Miami
Herald reports that officials are checking cars leaving Port
Everglades, looking for a fired cruise ship worker who slipped out of
government custody. The worker, who is not a U.S. citizen, was fired by
Princess Cruises and was being processed by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection to be sent back to his country when he ran off, said a
spokeswoman for Port Everglades. It was believed that the man was
hiding somewhere in the port. He was let go along with five other
workers. Those five workers remained in the custody of Customs and
Border Protection. |
Fired worker |
| 22.11.08 |
Grand Princess | Cruising
Talk reports the ship has been delayed by overnight poor weather
and will not be arriving in Civitavecchia until at least 1430 today. FROM A PASSENGER: 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. Another passenger
adds: the subsequent cruise
sailed at 830PM but missed Cannes
due to wind. There were quite a few ships caught in the unexpected
storm and a ferry is missing. There was damage to one window in
Sabatini's but no damage to any passenger cabins and no injuries. She also suggested that the power outage was not as long as mentioned
above, and that Princess did everything possible to make a bad
situation better. And another writes: I can confirm that during
second seating dinner, 9ish, a crash sent our cutlery and glasses all
over the table. I can also confirm that around 11 pm - 12:30 am we were
hit by several waves the biggest of which cut power and engines.
My room on the Aloha deck was one of the last to have power restored at
about 2 am, so it wasn't just 15min like reported, my series on deck 12
camped out in the hall until power was restored. |
Delayed embarkation |
| 21.1..08 |
Sapphire Princess | From a passenger: We
are booked on the Sapphire Princess for November 22-29, and just got a
notification via email that the cruise will have a delayed boarding due
to operational reasons. We were also contacted by phone and told
that there had been a delayed departure from Cabo on the current
cruise. |
Delayed embarkation |
| 12.11.08 |
Coral Princess | The port call at Punta Arenas (Costa Rica) was cancelled
after industrial fishing boats blocked entrance to the port in protest
at shark finning regulations. |
Cancelation of port call |
| 4.11.08 |
Sea Princess | SKN Vibes (St. Kitts and Nevis) reports the ship encountered ‘technical difficulties’ as it attempted to dock at Port Zante this morning which resulted in passengers being ferried to the nearby marina by the ship’s life crafts. Initial reports indicated that there had been a fire onboard the Sea Princess which caused engine damage to the vessel and hindered its berthing. However an employee at the Port explained that the ship developed engine problems earlier today and was drifting out at sea. The individual informed that since there is no tug boat at the pier, the passengers were therefore tendered to the marina adjacent to the Port. A press release issued by the St. Christopher Air and Sea Port Authority (SCASPA) shortly after the incident indicated that the cruise vessel will remain at anchor for the entire day due to said engine problems. | Engine failure |
| 3.11.08 |
Island, Sapphire, and Diamond Princess | The Juneau
Empire reports that each ship reportedly violated
its
wastewater discharge permit in September (2008), according to Alaska
state
regulators. Wastewater
samples from the ship had higher-than-permitted ammonia. |
Environmental |
| November |
Dawn Princess | From a reader: On
the recent repositioning from San Francisco to Sydney aboard Dawn
Princess, it seemed the captain and his crew showed who was the boss on
board ship a few times. Two women were removed from the ship after
being caught shoplifting in the ship's boutique. Two men were removed
from the ship after assaulting crew who had removed their belongings
from a hogged lounger. And to round it all off another couple of men
having a heated argument/fight in the laundryroom were also removed
from the ship. |
Ejections |
| 16.10.08 |
Ruby Princess | The launch ceremony for the ship was cancelled after a
worker died in an accident on board the vessel last night. A 43 year
old supervisor at the Fincantieri shipyard was killed when he tried to
squeeze through a heavy watertight door that closed upon him. Around
2,000 workers at the Monfalcone shipyard went on an eight-hour strike
in protest of the fatality and to call for improved workplace security. |
Death at shipyard |
| 5.10.08 |
Caribbean Princess | The ship lost power after arrival at Ambrose light (New
York). It was towed into New York Harbor by 3 tugs from Moran Towing,
arriving at Pier 12, Brooklyn approximately 2 hours late. |
Loss of power |
| 2.10.08 |
Island, Sapphire, and Sun Princess | The Juneau Empire reports that each ship reportedly violated its wastewater discharge permit in August (2008), according to Alaska state regulators. Wastewater samples from the ship had higher-than-permitted ammonia (twice on Island Princess, once on Sapphire and Sun Princess. | Environmental |
| 2.10.08 |
Star Princess | The Juneau Empire reports that the ship reportedly violated its wastewater discharge permit in August (2008), according to Alaska state regulators. Wastewater samples from the ship twice had higher-than-permitted copper. | Environmental |
| 2.10.08 |
Golden Princess | The Juneau Empire reports that the ship reportedly violated its wastewater discharge permit in August (2008), according to Alaska state regulators. Wastewater samples from the ship had higher-than-permitted zinc. | Environmental |
| 29.9.08 |
Royal Princess | The ships' Bar Harbor call, originally scheduled for today,
has been cancelled. The ship instead spent the night in Boston, and
sailed after 7:30am today for Saint John, New Brunswick, where it
will arrive on schedule at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. |
Cancelled port |
| 27.9.08 |
Golden Princess | A fellow passenger saved the life of a nine-year-old child
who he found lying unconscious att he bottom of the 1.5 metre deep
swimming pool. According to The
Province, "the pool area was busy, he recalled. There were lots of
people chatting, loud music and a group of kids frolicking in the
water. There were no lifeguards, and large signs warned swimmers they
were on their own." The man, who received a free seven night cruise for
his heroics, says the cruise line should post a lifeguard at its pool. |
9-year-old saved
from drowning |
| 26.9.08 |
Coral Princess | Passengers were met with a protest by local independent
transport operators when the ship arrived at Punta Arenas (Costa Rica).
The
independent transport operators were protesting the decision by the
cruise line not to use transport services unless contracted by them
(services for which the cruise line likely gets a commission or cut).
The protest was quickly disbanded when members of the Fuerza
Pública (police) and Tránsito (traffic police) arrived on
the scene. |
Protest Onshore |
| 25.9.08 |
Crown Princess Princess Cruises |
A passenger writes: The Crown Princess was unable
to make its planned port call to
Reykyavik yesterday (9-24) due to a storm. The Crown Princess is
currently off the coast of Greenland and hopes to make its planned stop
tomorrow at Qaqortoq. |
Missed port |
| 25.9.08 |
Island and Golden | The Juneau Empire reports the ships violated its wastewater discharge permit in May, June and July (2008), according to Alaska state regulators. Wastewater samples from the ship had higher-than-permitted zinc. | Environmental |
| 25.9.08 |
Sapphire, Star, Coral, and Diamond Princess | The Juneau
Empire reports the ships violated its
wastewater discharge permit in May, June
and July (2008), according to Alaska state regulators. Wastewater
samples from the ship had higher-than-permitted effluent limits on
several parameters. |
Environmental |
| 23.10.08 |
Caribbean Princess | It was announced today that five Caribbean Princess cruises
in April 2009 have been cancelled following an approach to hold an
important government conference on board. The affected cruises are
April 5 (14-day), April 12 (7-day), April 12 (14-day), April 19
(7-day), and April 19 (14-day). Passengers affected will be offered
alternative cruises. |
Cancellations |
| 15.9.08 |
Sea Princess | From a reader: The ship appears to have had problems with
one of the Stern Thrusters, entering and departing Boston. Both
times a Tug was required to assist [if needed]. It doesn't look like it
is affecting schedules, but today due to the Winds [remnants of
Hurricane Ike] it seemed to be a precaution. |
Thruster problems |
| 10.9.08 |
Sea Princess | From a passenger: During Sea Princess' recent
transatlantic 'repositioning' cruise the
port of St Johns, Newfoundland was missed on 10th September 2008 due to
high winds making the passage through 'The Narrows' too
dangerous. Captain stayed offshore for 2 hours before
making the decision to sail for New York in advance of scheduled
departure time, making for a very slow transit to final destination. Editor's Note: Winds that day were
40 kph (24 mph) and coming from the WSW meaning there was no cross wind
affecting entrance through the narrow. Note event on September 15 --
this may be a more logical explanation for skipping St. John's given
the absence of tugs at the harbour. |
Skipped port call |
| 25.8.08 |
Sun Princess | The Sydney
Morning Herald reports about 1,600 Australian cruise ship
passengers were forced to wait in a Russian port for five hours as
local authorities took hours to make a series of passport inspections.
The ship, which left Sydney on July 14 carrying 2,000 passengers -
mostly Australians - was held in the port of Petropavlovsk on Russia's
east coast as the Russian navy checked and re-checked every passport.
The ship was blocked from leaving the port by two naval frigates. The
ship was scheduled to depart at 4:30PM but was still at dock past
9:30PM. Local authorities did not explain why they had kept the boat so
long. |
Delayed in port |
| 7.7.08 |
Caribbean Princess |
It has been reported that the ship is experiencing
mechanical problems (i.e., genset fault) and that it is running slow.
St. Maarten has been dropped from the itinerary and replaced with
Tortola. Other port calls have been shortened. |
Mechanical problems |
| 22.4.08 |
Sapphire Princess |
The was prevented from making its scheduled port call at
Dunedin because of bad weather. Winds were expected to whip up to 110
km per hour in the afternoon so even though the ship could get into
port at 6AM, there was concern it would not be able to leave with winds
so high. It was to be the last cruise ship visit of the 2007-08 season.
The ship continued on to Auckland. |
Missed Port |
| 31.3.08 |
Grand Princess |
Press in Jamaica reported what appeared to be a fire when
the ship was in Ocho Rios -- residents in the area reported the ship
came to a halt and there was thick smoke surrounding the vessel.
Princess Cruises later reported there had been a breakdown of one of
the ship's engines and damage to another. The ship cruised at reduced
speeds with delayed arrivals in ports. Repairs were planned without
taking the ship out of service. |
Engine breakdown |
| 24.2.08 |
Sun Princess | The ship's arrival/departure (debarkation/embarkation) from Darling Harbour (Sydney, Australia) was delayed by more than eight hours. The reason for the ship's late arrival is not known.Accoridnmg to a passenger: We learned in the morning that the ship was running late and instead of a midday embarkation we would have to wait until 18:00. On arrival at the Passenger Terminal at about 17:30, we were met with chaos -- passengers were still in the process of disembarking and check-in was terribly long with a huge degree of confusion at all points. We were issued with a number and then promptly stood around trying to look intelligent but feeling distinctly like a herd of sheep. There must have been about 1500 people in an area designed to hold about 500. The public toilets were over loaded and much to be desired, in fact were disgusting. There were attempts to distribute water bottle amongst the crowds with the occasional fruit and crisps, however this was not a very effective exercise either. We finally cleared check-in and boarded the ship at 20:00 with tempers flaring; the ship offered late dinning which I suppose was a small compensation. We set sail at 23:00 and left Sydney in the dark. I think our baggage was finally delivered to our stateroom at about 03:00 in the morning. We were then woken at 10:00 in the morning with a Fire Drill, so not much sleep for many! |
Delayed
Debarkation & Embarkation |
| 20.2.08 |
Emerald Princess | The port call at Basse-terre, St. Kitts was canceled for both ships because of high winds. An explanation is given in Caribbean Net Newspaper: “As we are all aware, the pier in St. Kitts lies in a north to south direction on the windward side of the island which means it is fully exposed to the winds out of the east. Ships the size of Crown and Emerald have a very large profile surface area. They also have a large number of balcony cabins providing pockets of further resistance to the wind,” said Nielsen, who added: “With winds in excess of 30 knots out of the east, it is nearly impossible to safely come alongside the berth and even more difficult to maneuver off the berth if the winds conditions do not improve at the time of sailing." | Port call canceled (weather) |
| 18.2.08 |
Crown Princess | Port call canceled (weather) | |
| 11.1.08 |
Star Princess | From a passenger:
There was a fire in the
incinerator room on deck 3 on the Star Princess this morning (Jan 11).
We knew that something was up when the captain called for an assessment
crew for the incinerator room on deck 3. I was at the purser's desk
when a bell sounded an alarm and the captain announced that the crew
was to respond to an emergency. The pursers ran out of the room, the
gift shops closed and we could see the crew with their life jackets on.
In a few minutes the captain came on and announced that a small fire in
the incinerator had been put out. I was impressed with how fast the
crew responded and that the captain let us know what was going on as
soon as he could. The ship left Buenos Aires yesterday and is
en route to Port Stanley (Falkland Islands). |
Fire |
| 2.1.08 |
Grand Princess | The port call at Cozumel was canceled because of rough seas
and weather. On January 4 the ship stopped at Freeport instead of
Princess Cays. |
Canceled port call (Weather) |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2007 |
Incident |
| 2.12.07 | Sapphire Princess |
The Sunday
Mail reports that passengers were offered compensation after the
ship was battered by storms as it sailed from Bankok (Nov. 18) to
Beijing (Dec 4). Weather also caused the ship to miss several ports.
The mix of rough seas, and extra days at sea and missing ports led to a
near-mutiny on the part of a large group of passengers. The compenation
was a gesture of goodwill, and as uch it was modest. |
Compensation |
| 24.7.07 |
Sun Princess |
A sightseeing plane with a pilot and four cruise ship
passengers (2 sisters and their husbands) crashed in steep Alaska
terrain and all were killed. The floatplane left Ketchikan
(Alaska) Tuesday afternoon for a tour over Misty Fiords National
Monument. The ship was on the second day of a 7-day roundtrip
cruise from Seattle. |
Shore Excursion Plane Crash |
| 17.5.07 |
Crown Princess | A 32-year-old sailor who put out
a Mayday call after he lost his sails in storms and went two days
without food was plucked from his stricken yacht in rough
seas off
Puerto Rico by the Crown Princess, which had picked up his
distress signal. Ironically, the ship's Captain and the rescued
man live around the corner from one another in Warsash (UK). |
It's a small world |
| 12.5.07 |
Sea Princess | The cruise scheduled to depart today was cancelled at the
last minute due to technical problems with one of the propulsion
systems. The cruise scheduled for May 26 is expected to sail as
planned. Passengers received a full refund plus a 25% discount on
a future cruise. |
Cancelation |
| 25.3.07 |
Grand Princess | A
22-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were rescued after
"accidentally" going overboard from their cabin balcony. The two
were
reported to have gone overboard at 1:30
a.m. when Grand
Princess was approximately 150 miles off the coast of Galveston. They
were recovered after a four-hour search, one found at 5:30 a.m. and the
other at 6 a.m.. The female returned to the US for medical
attention;
the male continued on the cruise. UPDATE MARCH 30: The Colorado
Springs Gazette reports that the jumpers were both trained for
water survival. The 22 year-old-male is an Air Force Academy
cadet with extensive training in water survival, which includes how to
leap into the water from a high dive platform and how to stay afloat by
inflating clothing with air. The 20-year-old woman is a trained
lifeguard. This has led some to speculate that their going
overboard was a stunt designed to demonstrate (two days before
Congressional hearings) that the cruise industry could effectively and
competently save passengers who go overboard. Watch here for
further updates. |
People Overboard -- Rescued Alive |
| 8.3.07 |
Sapphire Princess | The ship's call at Dunedin (NZ) was cancelled because high
winds (40 knots) made it too dangerous to enter Port Chalmers. |
Missed port |
| 3.3.07 |
Sea Princess | From a passenger on the 14-day sailing (17 Feb - 3 Mar): The Southern Caribbean sailing experienced 3 missed ports: Princess Cays (rough water), Dominica (the captain claimed swells too large to permit safe docking, though the seas appeared calm, what appeared to be average-sized swells hitting the sea wall in port, and another cruise ship docked!), and Curacao (the captain claimed winds were too high to attempt to enter the channel into port). As a replacement port for Curacao, the Captain announced that he had obtained corporate approval and obtained allocation of a berth in Aruba. But when we arrived there, he turned the ship around and sailed away, again saying the winds were too high to dock. However, another cruise ship was observed to be docked there. Another event was a power outage while docked in Barbados, that the captain said was due to an engine problem. The emergency power did come on very quickly, and full power came back on in about 20 minutes. | Missed ports |
| 20.2..07 |
Regal Princess | The 10-day Panama Canal cruise scheduled for February 19 has
been canceled after the shipsustained damage to a ballast tank after
touching bottom on Sunday’s (2/18) departure from Huatulco. The vessel
arrived safely in Acapulco from where it was due to sail for San Juan.
Passengers boarded the ship on the 19th and were soon told the cruise
was cancelled and the would be flown home. After temporary
repairs, the ship will proceed to a drydock. It was announced
February 21 that the cruise scheduled for March 1 has also been
cancelled. The next scheduled voyage will be March 13 from Lima
to San Juan. The ship was seen leaving Acapulco at 10:30AM
on February 22. |
Grounded -- Cancelation |
| 29.1.07 |
The cruise line agreed to a plea bargain under which it pays a fine of $200,000 and restitution of $550,000 after criminal charges were filed. The company was charged with failing to operate at a slow, safe speed while near humpback whales and in 2001 the Dawn Princess hit and killed a humpback. | Fine Whale Death |
|
| 17.1.07 |
Coral Princess | Rescue at sea -- a passenger's
pics of 16 Cuban refugees who were rescued off the coast of Cuba.
He writes: When our ship sent
a small rescue craft over to tow them to the cruise ship, it appeared
that some of the men were waving the rescue boat away. We have
since learned that Cubans refugees found at sea are returned to Cuba;
if they had made it to land, they would have been able to stay. |
Rescue of Refugees |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2006 |
Incident |
| 4.11.06 |
Grand Princess | According to a passenger, at
approx 19:20 (local time) the ship appeared to run aground while
heading to sea from Liverno, Italy. Approx 1/2 mile beyond the
harbor entrance, just as the pilot appeared to have disembarked, the
ship appeared to come to a soft stop. For the next 30 minutes (from our
starboard balcony) it appeared that the ship's officers tried many
combinations of thrusters and props at varying speeds and directions
trying to twist and pivot the ship back and forth on it's axis until at
about 20:00 she began to regain her way forward. No notice was or
has been given to passengers. In an unrelated incident, a
week and a half ago the Golden Princess in the waters around Rhodes
reportedly scraped bottom (sustaining some damage to itself and
to the reefs). |
Grounded |
| 10.10.06 |
Diamond Princess | A 58 year old man was arrested in Long Beach after returning from a cruise. He was suspected of molesting two 12 year old boys in the ship's sauna. FBI agents interview the two alleged victims when the ship pulled into port on October 7. Details are laid out in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. UPDATE JUNE 11/06: Alleged perpetrator acquitted. | Alleged Child
Molestation (Pax on Pax) |
| 4.10.06 |
Star Princess | A security breach while the ship was in St. John's
(Newfoundland) resulted in passengers being forced to disembark while
the ship was searched. According to police, some passengers had
reported seeing a stranger onboard the vessel, although the
unidentified man left the ship before the search. Three
suspicious packages were found onboard and removed. The ship left
port three hours past its scheduled departure. See
article here. |
Security |
| 12.8.06 |
Sapphire Princess | A senior assistant purser was taken off the ship in
Ketchikan and appeared in court on charges she stole $400,000 from the
ship's safe. A search of her cabin recovered $400,000 in US
bills, Can$40, $4660 in US traveler's checks, and $9700 in credit card
payment slips. |
Robbery |
| 20.7.06 |
Crown Princess | The nine-day cruise scheduled for today has been delayed
until Saturday and changed to a seven day cruise. The ship will
visit Bermuda and Grand Turk, but will skip San Juan and St.
Thomas. Passengers may canacel and receive a full refund, or take
the cruise and receive a 50% refund plus reimbursement of airline
change fees. |
Itinerary change |
| 18.7.06 |
Crown Princess | The month-old ship severely rolled (15 degrees) to one side
shortly after
leaving Port Canaveral (at 3:25 PM) on its return to New York City from
a nine day cruise of the Western Caribbean. Approximately 240
passengers were treated on board for various injuries,
such as abrasions, bruises and fractures; 94 were transferred
to local hospitals ashore for evaluation and treatment, of which three
passengers and two crew
members remained hospitalized the next day but were expected to make a
full recovery. Some described the roll as feeling like the
ship was going to fall over. The cruise returned to Port Canveral
and the cruise was terminated; passengers received a full refund.
Speculation is that the roll was caused by a malfunction of the
auto-pilot. A similar severe list occurred on February 4 on the
Grand Princess -- see below. |
Severe Roll |
| 16.7.06 |
Sun Princess | Passengers were advised, with the final onboard statement
delivered the last night of the cruise, that a passenger had contracted
an illness presumed to be Meningococcal Meningitis and was taken to
hospital in Victoria. They were alerted that though the risk of
catching the illness was low, they should consult a physican
immediately if the experience any of several symptoms. The
passenger in hospital is expected to fully recover. |
Meningococcal Meningitis |
| 2.7.06 |
Crown Princess | According to a passenger, the ship was supposed to depart at 4:30 but didn't leave until 1AM because of fuel problems -- the Captain said the fuel delivered was of improper grade and the ship refused shipment. Fuel was then sent in from NJ and it arrived late. We missed our first port call in Grand Turk and sailed directly to San Juan. | Delayed departure -- Missed port |
| 15.4.06 |
Regal Princess | The ship became stuck on a sandbar in the Amazon in its
current cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Manaus. The ship was freed
after 1.5 hours, "by using its bow thrusters, emptying the pools and
probably grey water and some ballast." |
Aground |
| 1.4.06 |
Grand Princess | Two crew members jumped ship from the Grand Princess on its
turnaround day in Galveston. As a result, crew members were
restricted in shore leave in Galveston on subsequent visits. A
bit more information here. |
Jump ship |
| 23.3.06 |
Star Princess | At approximately 3:10 AM, as the ship was en route from Grand Cayman to Montego Bay, a fire broke out in the passenger accommodations, and spread to adjacent cabins. About 150 cabins were damaged by the fire which may have been started by a cigarette. Passengers were immediately notified of the fire using the public address system and requested to report to their muster stations. The company confirmed that one passenger had died following a cardiac arrest, two passengers had significant smoke inhalation injuries and nine passengers with had minor complications resulting from smoke inhalation. The fire was extinguished, and the ship proceeded to Montego Bay which it reach around noon. Passengers in the cabins affected by the fire were provided hotel rooms ashore in Montego Bay; other passengers remained on the ship until their flights home were arranged. The cruise began March 19 in Fort Lauderdale. All cruises are cancelled until May 15th. See: Report of the investigation of the fire onboard Star Princess off Jamaica 23 March 2006. UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch Report No 28/2006, October 2006 | Fire |
| 4-11.3.06 |
Grand Princess | It was reported by CBS TV in Dallas-Fort Worth that a couple
staying in the Vasco de Gama suite had an encounter with bed bugs
onboard the ship. The family said they are disappointed the
cruise line did little to eradicate the bugs while on-board.
According to the TV report, the company spokesman admitted fault and
offered the family its "unreserved apology". |
Bed Bugs |
| 11.2.06 |
Grand Princess | The ship returned to Galveston 1.5 hours
late at
the end of the cruise (because of high winds) causing some passengers
to miss flights home. Princess-arranged bus transportation to the
airports was anarchic, causing further delays. One passenger says
it took 3 hours to get to Hobby Airport, twice the time normally
required because the bus driver kept getting lost on the way.
Another passenger (on the same bus) says passengers destined for
Bush Airport (IAH) were abandoned at Hobby Airport and left to
find their own way to Bush. (See thread at Cruise
Critic) |
Ground transportation nightmare |
| 4.2.06 |
Grand Princess | Two hours after leaving Galveston, a passenger suffered a heart attack and required urgent onshore medical attention. The ship made a sharp turn while traveling at 21 knots, causing 18.5 degree list (at 24 degrees the ship would be in trouble) which resulted in glassware, dishes, ornaments, and numerous objects sliding off tables in the dining room and shelves in shops. Twenty-seven passengers and ten crew suffered injuries, mainly cuts and bruises (including some who were injured when TVs in their rooms slid off shelves -- reportedly, 82 television sets were destroyed by the list). According to Princess, the vessel experienced a “roll greater than normal” during the execution of the turn. The ship was met by the Coast Guard eight miles offshore to transfer the sick (reportedly dead) passenger from the ship. An injured crew member was also taken off the ship by stretcher. Unconfirmed reports were that 300+ passengers left the ship at its first stop, in Costa Maya | Severe List --- Injuries For pictures of shops after list, click here |
| 1.2.06 |
Grand Princess | A passenger has written to say that again the ship's
itinerary was changed for "technical reasons," dropping Grand Cayman as
a port call. Passengers on subsequent cruises were
informed: Due to increased
passenger satisfaction scores based on our recent itinerary changes,
the decision has been made to enhance the itinerary for the remainder
of the season, therefore the 1/2 day call to Grand Cayman has been
canceled and replaced with a full day call to Playa Del Carmen on March
22, 2006, from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. In addition, the port times in
Belize and Cozumel have been extended. We recognize that some passengers may be
disappointed as a result of this itinerary change and are pleased to
provide your clients with a non-refundable goodwill credit of usd $25
per person. This credit will be applied to your client's onboard
folio. |
Itinerary change |
| 29.1.06 |
Island Princess | A veteran harbour pilot died when he fell from a ladder and
was hit by the pilot boat after navigating the ship out of Nawiliwili
Harbour (Kaua'i, Hawai'i). The accident occurred about 5PM. |
Pilot slips |
| 28.1.06 |
Caribbean Princess | The Sun-Sentinel reported on Feb 4 that a 30 year old
waiter from Portugal was found dead in his cabin on Jan 26. When
the
cabin was searched, 2 packages of heroin (1 kg) were found wrapped in a
white t-shirt stashed in the bed's headboard. Federal authorities
began investigating when the ship returned to Fort Lauderdale on
January 28. |
Crew death --- Drugs found |
| 23.1.06 |
Grand Princess | The port call at Georgetown, Cayman Islands on January 25 is
cancelled on the seven day cruise running January 21 - 28 from
Galveston. Passengers were initially told it was because the port
of Georgetown was closed to all cruise ships that day. But a
passenger contacted the port and learned that was false. The port
says the ship cancelled its planned call for "technical reasons."
The ship is replacing Playa del Carmen for Cayman; passengers are being
given a $75 onboard credit. For full story see Cayman Net
News. |
Cancelled Port |
| 5.1.06 |
Island Princess | From a passenger: A toddler fell overboard when her mother set her on the railing on the gangway staircase. The mother let go of the child to put her documents back into her purse. The 3 yr old fell overboard between the ship and the dock while at port in Ensenada, MX. The toddler was alright after staff ran to her rescue and one person jumped in. | Reminder to take care |
| 1.1.06 |
Island Princess | From a passenger: The port call at Kona, Hawaii on Dec. 31, 2005 was cancelled due to forecast of high surf in the afternoon that would make tenders dangerous. The Captain announced the changed itinerary at about 8:00a.m. and we proceeded directly to Ensenada, Mexico which was changed from four hour service stop to all day stop. |
Missed Port |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2005 |
Incident |
| 3.11.05 |
Sun Princess |
A power outage while docked at St. Thomas, USVI, left
passengers mostly in the dark for more than 2 hours in the
evening. Backup generators provided limited power. Power
was restored and the ship left port two hours later than scheduled. |
Power Loss |
| 25.10.05 |
Coral Princess |
Many ships had their itineraries impacted by Hurricane
Wilma, including the port of embarkation and de-barkation changing
without proper notice. I received many e-mails, including from
the Coral Princess and Volendam. The latter two were interesting
because passengers complained about the lack of information and the
giving of false information by folks on the phones prior to the
cruise. There were also complaints about confusing information
onboard. As one person recommended to cruise lines: This is not
the only time this is going to happen -- learn some lessons and develop
measures to ensure customer support and satisfaction for the next
time. Interestingly, a passenger on the Coral Princess reported
that passengers on the shortened sailing received a refund of 33%; a
passenger on the Volendam reported receiving an onboard credit of 78
cents and a free cocktail. |
Weather Delays |
| 13.9.05 |
Grand Princess | Repairs were not completed while the ship was in Venice and
the ship is operating at decreased speed. Time of stay has been
shortened in several ports (Dubrovnik, Corfu, Katakolon, amd Mykonos)
but the ship is otherwise expected to stick to the published itinerary. |
Propulsion problem - Itinerary change |
| 8.9.05 |
Grand Princess | The ship reportedly suffered engine problems while sailing in the Eastern Mediterranean en route to Istanbul. It missed its scheduled calls at Istanbul and Kusadasi, stopping instead at Samos and arriving in Piraeus (Athens) yesterday. Repairs are expected to be completed on Sunday when passengers embark/disembark in Venice. Passengers reportedly "rioted and protested" and were subsequently given a $400 onboard credit. One passenger wrote: We were informed by the bridge that there were propulsion problems that would cut our speed from 22 to 11 knots. It was apparent there were problems because if you watched the wake there was a very noticeable difference between the two sides. While we were disappointed at missing the two ports we were liberally compensated by the cruise line. They gave us one on shore excursion at no cost and also gave cash credit toward either excursion or on board charges. | Propulsion problem -- Missed ports |
| 29.7.05 |
Caribbean Princess | Posted at Cruise
Critic: Yesterday in St.
Maarten we had some kind of power loss
on the ship. When we embarked from St. Maarten none of the elevators
were working. Capt announced the engineers were working on
fixing the problem. I have an aft balcony and can watch the wake as we
leave - as we were leaving the engines did not sound right. Then the
capt announces that we would be leaving the harbor and doing some
manuevers (360's) so the engineers can make sure everything was
online. All nite it
seemed we not were sailing as fast as we had been. Sure
enough - today they announced that there were engine problems and we
would NOT be stopping at Princess Cay. Compensation is $100 ship board
credit per passenger and port taxes for
Bahamas refunded. |
Engine problems |
| 19.6.05 |
Star Princess | The New
Orleans Times-Picayune reports on an incident in which a couple was
told upon disembarkation that their luggage had been "dumped"
overboard. Princess assured them that the cruise line would take
care of everything, including monetary compensation and a free
cruises. What they actually received, after wrangling and
hassles, was $500 per passenger for the lost luggage and belongings and
nothing more. The possessions lost with the luggage were valued
at over $5000. |
Luggage overboard |
| 26.5.05 | Sea Princess | After being flown to Southampton on a private jet, Goldie
Hawn said she was unwell and refused to christen the ship. Guests
were "disappointed, and the ship's owners were apoplectic."
British actress Joanna Lumley christened the ship in Hawn's
absence. The ship was returning to the Princess fleet after
sailing two years as P&O's Adonia. |
Christening |
| 3.4.05 |
Diamond Princess | FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED --
From a passenger A passenger reported a compact 35mm camera was stolen while s/he was being cleared by security -- the details are here. The moral of the story is don't trust your valuables to those wearing a uniform onboard a ship -- vigilance should be maintained both on and off the ship. |
?Robbery? |
| 29.3.05 |
Sapphire Princess | According to passengers, the ship is still experiencing
engine problems and is "limping its way to Singapore." It was
supposed to be at Singapore at 9:00am on Monday but as of Monday night
they were still on their way "at sea" heading towards Singapore.
They're skipping their Viet Nam stop. The delay was made worse by
a lengthy but unsuccessful search for a crew member who went overboard. |
Engine problems contine -------- Crew member overboard |
| 20.3.05 |
Sapphire Princess | The ship is "limping" to Malaysia after a malfunction in an engine turbine between Darwin and Indonesia on Tuesday -- a scheduled stop in Bali was canceled in order that the ship arrive in Thailand on time. P&O Cruises spokesman John Richardson said crew members were having trouble starting one of the gas turbines used to boost the ship's speed from 17 to 22 knots. "The gas turbines operate separately to the diesel engine, which is fine, and they allow the boat to perform high speeds." A technician is due to join the boat in Singapore on Tuesday morning. The 19-day cruise began on March 9th in Sydney. | Engine Problems Canceled port |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2004 |
Incident |
| 28.12.04 |
Coral Princess | The FBI is investigating a stabbing that took place two days
earlier. Two workers reportedly got into an argument and one stabbed
the other. The wounded man was transferred to hospital in stable
condition. |
Assault Crew on Crew |
| 6.12.04 |
Sapphire Princess |
From
a reader: As the ship came into the inlet to anchor at Moorea it lost all power and was out of control for about 5 minutes, which resulted in the ship touching the coral reef. Two weeks later the captain admitted what had happened and that to lose control of the ship was the worst thing to happen in his career. He told us that in August one of the front three thrusters packed in and a little while later the second one left him. As we manoeuvred into Moorea the last one as he said, left us resulting in a power surge and cutting all power. The only way to stop the ship was to drop an anchor and he said they just touched the reef. We then had to use tugs from then on and I don’t think even as I write this that the three thrusters have been fixed. |
Loss of propulsion |
| 22.5.04 |
Diamond
Princess |
The
ship left port late (3:30 AM Sunday morning) because of
inspection of damage caused by
the grounding/collision in Victoria. Because of the late
departure, and sailing at slower than normal speeds, both Juneau and
Victoria have been dropped from this weeks itinerary (although
there will be at least a technical stop at a Canadian port in order
to satisfy Cabotage laws). |
Delay Schedule change |
| 21.5.04 |
Diamond
Princess |
High
winds pushed the ship into a pier at Victoria, BC, when
it tried to dock. "You could hear the scraping and crunching,"
said one witness. The ship aborted the docking operation until
winds subsided. Damage was minor, except for bent propeller blade
tips, and there were no injuries. The ship returned to Seattle
the next day, arriving six hours lite. |
Collision with pier |
| 7.5.04 |
Coral
Princess |
A
cruise passenger called a
San Francisco television station to report that the Coral Princess
struck a whale near Golden Gate Bridge while leaving San Francisco
harbour enroute to Vancouver. The incident was reported by KNTV,
Channel 11. |
Whale collision |
| 10.3.04 |
Diamond
Princess |
The
ship was 5 hours late in
its return to Los Angeles on the 3 - 10 April 2004 Mexican Riviera
cruise because of "technical difficulties.". The rumor onboard
was that the ship had blown an engine. On the cruise before this
one, there were three power failures (none longer than 5 minutes) and
there had been a water main break in a public washroom. |
Delayed
arrival |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2003 |
Incident |
| Nov.03 |
Coral Princess | A kitchen assistant (new employee) jumped overboard and committed suicide shortly after the ship left Cozumel. According to an officer onboard: he was a new guy, had only been on the ship a short time and he said he missed home a lot. People remembered him being very miserable and lonely. Our Captain was very sympathetic and held two memorial services for him so that many of the crew could attend. | Suicide |
| 21.11.03 |
Royal
Princess (4) |
A
passenger report indicates that the ship collided with the
pier when it was docking, causing an 8 foot rent in the bow of the
vessel and delaying its departure
until repairs were completed. Mykonos was skipped as a result;
Rhodes was missed earlier in the cruise because of sea conditions. |
Collision and delay |
| 1.11.03 |
Sapphire
Princess |
Announced
that the ship's
maiden voyage will be delayed from May 16 to June 13. Sapphire's
hull was damaged by a shipyard fire when it was originally destined to
be the Diamond Princess -- This delay is the coninued after effect of
the
original delay. |
Delay |
| 22.10 - 1.11.03 |
Sun
Princess |
A
passenger reported that
during this 10 day cruise they were told that 1 of the 4 engines were
not
working. Consequently, they left ports of call early and arrived late.
They
also did not stop at Princess Cay as planned. |
Engine
problems |
| 27.8.03 |
Sun
Princess |
A
61 year old man is indicted on six felony counts of
sexual abuse on a minor. It is alleged that he
forced sexual relations on a 15 year old boy while the boy was in the
sauna and the cruise ship was near Juneau. |
Sexual Assault (Pax on Pax) |
| 6.2.03 |
Island
Princess |
Announced
that the ship's delivery will be delayed 2 months.
The maiden voyage, originally planned to be a Panama Canal
transit on May 13, is now set for July 12 -- an Alaska sailing from
Vancouver to Seward. |
Delivery
Delay / Cancelation |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2002 |
Incident |
| 10.12.02 |
Coral
Princess |
Announced
that the ship's
inaugural voyage will be further delayed because the ship isn't ready
yet. The December 24 and January 3 sailings have now been
cancelled. |
Cancelation |
| 13.11.02 |
Coral
Princess |
Announced
that the inaugural sailing scheduled for December
14, 2002 is being cancelled because of delays in the delivery of the
ship by the shipyard. |
Cancelation |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
Significant Events 2001 and earlier |
Incident |
| 25.6 - 5.7.01 |
Crown Princess |
Engine problems delayed for
departure from Copenhagen for three days of the 10 day cruise.
When the ship was finally repaired, the revised itinerary dropped half
the ports (Tallin, Gdansk, Oslo). There was a near-mutiny by
passengers. The company finally increased compensation to a
rebate of 1/2 of cruise fare paid. |
Engine problems --- Revised interary |
| Apr.01 |
Dawn Princess |
Engine problems. 5 hours
late in arriving at Barbados. |
Engine problems |
| 26.4.01 |
Royal Princess |
While docked at Port Said the
ship broke its mooring oines, drifted further from the pier, and was
side swiped by a cargo ship. |
Collision |
| 16.3.01 |
Regal Princess |
Investigation into the
grounding of the
British flag passenger ship Regal Princess in the
|
Grounded |
| 20.12.00 |
Crown Princess (1) |
Engine problems caused late
arrival in Cartagena and replacing Aruba with Nassau. |
Engine problems |
| 24.7.99 |
Crown Princess |
The ship is operating with a
propeller that is damaged and the ship is now scheduled for repairs
September 20 -- that cruise has been cancelled. |
Cancellation |
| 12.7.99 |
Grand Princess | Princess reported a passenger missing in the
Mediterranean. He apparently fell overboard from the private
balcony in his cabin. |
Passenger
overboard |
| 7.7.96 |
Golden Princess (2) |
An engine room fire knocked out
power and left the ship adrift. It will be towed to Victoria
(British Columbia). |
Fire |
| 24.6.95 |
Star Princess (3) |
The ship struck Poundstone Rocks in ALaska and sustained a 40 ft long, 8 inch wide gash to the starboard bow section and a 100 ft gash amidships. Water was taken on by the ship, and oil released. See: Grounding of the Liberian Passenger Ship STAR PRINCESS on Poundstone Rock, Lynn Canal, Alaska June 23, 1995, NTSB/MAR-97-02 | Grounded - Holed |
| 19.2.95 |
Regal Princess | A 14 year old Canadian boy jumped overboard after an
argument with his parents. He left a suicide note before
disappearing while the ship was off the Florida coast. |
Suicide |
| Apr.95 |
Regal Princess | Princess Cruises agrees to a fine for dumping more than 20
garbage
filled plastic bags off the Florida Keys. Passengers videotape
offense and receive half of fine. FINE = $500,000 |
Environmental |