Cruisers prepare to embark Royal Princess the next cruise received the bad news that their trip had been canceled – just two days before their departure. due to set sail.

On October 25, 2024, Princess Cruisers contacted affected passengers to inform them that on October 27 Sailing in the Western Caribbean aboard the Royal-class ship would not take place due to unspecified technical difficulties.

“We deeply regret to inform you that due to unforeseen technical work required for the Regal Princess, we have to cancel your upcoming voyage…we appreciate your understanding and regret any disappointment this causes,” reads a notification from the cruise line.

The 3,560-guest ship is currently en route to Galveston, Texaswhich will be its home port for the winter, from Southampton, United Kingdom. The now-canceled voyage would have been the first of many Western Caribbean sailings offered from the Texas port.

This particular 7-night cruise would have stopped in Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; and Cozumel, Mexico.

Naturally, many affected passengers are very upset by the unfortunate turn of events and have taken to social media to express their frustration – although Princess Cruises has offered compensation to make things right.

“You canceled our cruise less than two days ago. 10 of us had been planning this for over a year. You think a 25% cruise credit covers that?!?” a frustrated cruiser posted on X.

In effect, all guests will receive a full refund of all money paid to Princess for this cruise and receive a 25% future cruise credit, calculated from the total cruise base fare paid.

The credit can then be applied to any sailing carried out before May 31, 2025 and which departs on or before May 31, 2026.

The cruise line will also cover non-refundable airfare change fees of up to $200 per person.

Rocky seas for Royal Princess

Although the cruise line hasn’t specified what exactly is wrong Royal Princessthe current journey of the 141,000 gross ton has not exactly gone smoothly.

Although it has not been confirmed by the cruise line, it is possible that the issues that affected the current cruise are at least partly to blame for the current technical difficulties.

The current navigation, which is a transatlantic crossing from Southampton, England to Galveston, Texas was offered as both a 33-night cruise departing September 24, 2024 and a 21-night cruise departing October 6, 2024.

Regardless of which embarkation date guests choose, all must disembark in Galveston on October 27 – the date the now-canceled trip would have departed.

However, a few major problems occurred during the entire trip.

First, on September 30, 2024, a fire broke out in the engine room of the ship launched in 2014 – which, fortunately, was quickly extinguished.

“I just received an emergency announcement on the Regal Princess that there was a fire in the engine room. This was followed by a throaty shudder. a current passenger shared on Facebook.

“Eventually the captain shared that there had been a fire, but it had been put out and we could all have a wonderful evening. I don’t know about you, but ‘fire in the engine room’ doesn’t usually precede ‘wonderful evening!’ continued the guest.

The extent of possible damage caused by the fire is unclear – with the captain and key officers likely retaining this information as needed to avoid panic on board.

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Most recently, current passengers reported that there was a power outage on board as the ship departed George Town, Grand Cayman, on October 24, 2024, when it was the final port of call on the voyage.

“There was an electrical fire a few weeks ago…Yesterday the entire ship lost power as we were leaving Grand Cayman. I don’t know if the two are related, but the ship definitely has some issues to resolve,» » commented a current passenger.

Others claimed that this was not the only power outage that occurred during the voyage and claimed that the ship had been operating on backup generators since the fire, although this has not been confirmed by the cruise line.

Regardless, without knowing the extent of the ship’s technical difficulties and the repairs required, it is unclear how long it will be out of service.

However, the subsequent voyage – which is another 7-night Western Caribbean cruise scheduled to sail on November 3, 2024 – is still expected to go ahead as planned.