Princess Cruises is offering a full refund to passengers on Grand Princess after the cruise ship experienced a switchboard malfunction that caused the vessel to temporarily lose power.
The malfunction caused smoke and a brief fire within the switchboard. The cruise ship was approximately 20 miles off the coast of Hilo, Hawaii at the time of the malfunction. There were no reported injuries to any crew members or passengers.
While power was quickly restored, the cruise ship is unable to sail at full speed. The ship has remained in Honolulu while port calls in Kaui and Maui were canceled. The cruise line is offering passengers a full refund of their cruise fare along with goodwill compensation. Airfare is being provided for passengers who wish to debark in Honolulu. Cruise Fever reached out to Princess Cruises and received the following response from the cruise line:
“Grand Princess is currently in Honolulu after the ship experienced a switchboard malfunction on November 30 that resulted in reduced speed. We had technical experts join the ship yesterday to inspect all systems and verify the safety of the ship. Lloyd’s Register reviewed all actions and cleared the ship to sail. In addition, the U.S. Coast Guard has been involved throughout the process and has also cleared the ship to sail.
While there is no impact to maneuverability or safety, the ship cannot attain maximum speed therefore we must adjust the future itinerary. Regretfully, the port calls to Nawiliwili (Kauai) and Lahaina (Maui) will be cancelled in order to return to San Francisco as scheduled on December 10. The ship will remain in Honolulu another day and depart this evening.
We regret that this situation has impacted the cruise and sincerely apologize that we’ve been unable to deliver the expected cruise vacation experience. We are offering guests a full refund and goodwill compensation. In addition, should guests wish to depart the cruise in Honolulu, we will provide airfare to return them home.
Grand Princess is carrying 2,592 guests and 1,095 crew on a 15-day Hawaii cruise that departed San Francisco on November 25.”
Photo Credit: Ivan T. – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons
I agree a refund is fair for the current cruise, but for the next sailing date, Dec 10th out of SF, there should be more info. After calling princess, we were told they were not sure of what was going to occur for the next departure until the 7th or 8th of December. I feel that its late notice to know whether or not there will be a cruise considering people have deposits, reservations and plans for their personal affairs to be taken care of while away. If Grand Princess is unsure of their next departur out of SF on the of Dec, they should be offering refunds for the upcoming cruise as well.
Very fair. We love Princess. Several years ago we cruised Carnival and it lost power for 12 hours. We did not get to visit Nassau. Only comp we were offered was 25% off a next cruise with them within a year. We trashed the offer.
The true mark of any company is how it responds when something goes wrong.
In this instance Princess deserve nothing but credit and praise. Not only are they offering to fly people out of Honolulu if they wish, but are also giving a full refund and a goodwill compensation.
Hats off to Princess.
Princess has gone over and above in Compensating the passenger’s. Great job Princess ?
Definitely fair. We haven’t had this ever happen to us on any of the cruises we have been on, but being seasoned travelers, we would prefer to be safe. I’d make lemonade out of lemons, stay a few days in Honolulu and then return home.
We have exclusively cruised with Princess. This compensation provided by Princess is awesome. We salied this itinerary on the Grand out of Vancouver in October 2014 and loved it. Kudos to Princess for looking after their clients.
This is certainly not fair… for Princess. They are way above and beyond the call. I wish something like this would happen on one of my cruises.
Very fair. Only the greedy would be unhappy about it.
100% fair. I say Princess has done everything that should be considered reasonable. Yes, passengers holidays have been spoilt/disrupted, but by offering a full refund, together with compensation, and for those needing, flights, what more could they do. Passengers have enjoyed a “partial” cruise and will later get to enjoy a “full” cruise. And I gaurantee, in years to come, this will be an experience enjoyed in conversations over dinner with friends. Well done Princess. Much better response than many Airlines.
I think this is really fair. There could be a lot worse places to be stuck!
I believe that the compensation package is fair, as far as it goes. However, it does not cover the cost of airfare that will be required in order to take advantage of the courtesy cruise. Perhaps that is a bit much to expect.
Quite fair under the circumstances. The passengers are getting a free cruise even though it’s not the itinerary they had planned
I think a full refund in this situation is fair. They’re even offering airfare to those that want to leave the ship – I think they are doing the best they can in this situation.
I think Princess deserves high praise for how they have handled this situation. While I have never cruised on Princess, or been on a cruise that experienced any problems, I think the cruise line industry gets a bad rap when problems do arise.
Most people who jump on the bandwagon of bashing the cruise lines when something goes wrong are just looking for something to complain about that day and probably have not been on a cruise. Most seasoned cruisers that we encounter feel the same way and are also quick to defend the cruise lines handling of problems and break-downs.
We cruise exclusively on Carnival and are about to embark on a back-to-back-to-back cruise in next week. I am confident that if any issues arise, they will be handled to the best of the cruise line’s ability. Things are going to happen and the cruise lines certainly do not want any down time, lost revenue or bad publicity.