Unexpected failure

Caribbean Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 22

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Caribbean Princess

7 Night Western Caribbean (Houston Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 29, 2015

Ship: Caribbean Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: E216

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

We  always thought that in a stressful situation "Princess" would do everything possible to ensure safety and satisfaction of its passengers. But we were very disappointed when in an expected and not at all unusual event the company failed 100%. Passengers like us arrived to the terminal around 11 a.m. on November,29, for boarding.and were directed to the truck scale area. We were told that the ship was delayed and asked to join the line of cars. Security guards who were there knew very little or nothing at all of what was going on. They were speculating and saying unpleasant words about "Princess". Not a single company representative ever showed up to talk to the people sitting in cold cars who 've been waiting there for hours. There were no WC for so many people, no food or water. I like many others can not understand why we were not told to leave and check into hotels. Many had insurances to cover costs. And it was very easy to bring water bottles and some food like pizza to the people if they wanted us to wait. But absolutely nothing was done or said. At about 16.00 we decided to leave, we could not take it any longer without WC , water and food. At the fast food place we met other passengers who were upset and their travel agent was trying to get some information from "Princess". The truck driver at that fast food place told us that the ship won't come, he spoke to his buddies on the radio in Galveston. Amazing, that the driver knew more then the cruise company. Finally the travel agent told her people to check into the hotel and we decided to make sure it was correct and drove back to the terminal. They were loading people on buses and I was told to leave. So we checked into the hotel together with other people from that cruise. Everybody were saying bad things about the way they were treated. We got a 800 number that was supposed to give us updates. I called at 7 a.m. next morning and the info was still from 16.30 the previous day. At breakfast  one guest told us that the ship was in the port, her travel agent informed her. Embarkation was a mess. On the ship itself nobody was waiting to direct people to the restaurants or elevators. We got info about the sit down restaurant from a passenger. We asked several crew members on the way and they knew nothing. At the safety drill we were harassed by a woman doing the drill who was extremely rude trying to push us to the corner into the wall by squeezing a big fat man on a seat instead of bringing a chair for him. We bought the cruise because of Grand Cayman and Costa Maya. We skipped Cayman and had very little time in Costa Maya. Our cruise was 1 day short and it was very stressful. We returned back exhausted and not renewed. The compensation they provided was just onboard credit for one day. We believe it is not enough. We expected at least 25% off future cruise plus to that credit. We were given 50 dollars back pay by the travel company but could not use it. The tour I planned to use it for got cancelled.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
attended zumba 3 times, very good. and a cosmetic seminar also very good.

Entertainment

1 out of 5
We had first sitting at 17.45 and had to go to the late show. It was too late for us,too loud and bright lights were hurting our eyes.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We got what we expected.

Ship tip

We enjoyed food and coffees in the International café. We got a coffee card and used it every day

Was this review helpful? 10

5 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

momof4mpls    8 years ago

It is unfortunate Princess could not communicate with the people waiting to board. Last year we were coming into port and ran into fog. We were told the night before we might be late coming in. They kept us informed of the situation. We did make it on time. We leave February out of Houston again on the Caribbean. I hope this doesn't happen.

MandyCruisesToo    8 years ago

terrible

terry115    8 years ago

I hope this never happens to me