Power Outage Hits Royal Princess; Ship Heads Slowly to Naples, Cruise Cancelled

Royal Princess' Seawalk

All photos by Susan J. Young

Another cruise ship has had power issues and this time it’s a sparkling new one. The 141,000-ton Royal Princess, which was christened and launched in June by the Duchess of Cambridge, had a power failure on Sunday en route from Mykonos, Greece to Naples, Italy.

Princess Cruises (www.princess.com) said neither the ship nor its 3,594 passengers and 1,336 crew members onboard were in any danger. After assessing the unexpected mechanical issue, though, Princess has canceled the rest of the ship’s 12-day cruise.   

"The ship’s technical team continued to evaluate the problem overnight and, upon further assessment, it became apparent that repairs need to be made to fully resolve the situation,” the line said in its latest statement.

“We sincerely regret this means the remainder of the current cruise will be canceled,” Princess said, also noting it was making flight arrangements to help guests return home after the ship arrives in Naples on Tuesday, a day later than expected due to the vessel's slower-than-normal speed.

Guests are expected to spend Tuesday night onboard and depart the ship on Wednesday. Passengers were enjoying the seventh day of a 12-day cruise from Venice to Barcelona.

As a result, they'll miss going ashore to explore Rome and Florence (Livorno), two bucket-list destinations for most first-time Mediterranean cruisers. They’ll also miss a port call at Toulon, France.

Royal Princess' Atrium

Princess’ Care Team has been sent to Naples to assist passengers and make flight arrangements. In addition, the line said it will provide a full refund as well as a 25 percent future cruise credit to guests on the shortened voyage.

The power problem surfaced at 1:30 p.m. local time on Sunday. Princess told Travel Agent that the captain notified guests of the situation, the ship slowed to conserve existing power and the ship’s emergency generator kicked in to maintain such important services as lighting and toilets.  

Some passengers told CruiseCritic.com (www.cruisecritic.com) that they experienced power outages of 3.5 to six hours. Guests also reported issues with air conditioning, electrical and plumbing, but Princess told the online consumer cruise site that those issues were unrelated to the outage.  

What’s the status of the ship’s next cruise? The line said: "The impact of the repairs on the next Royal Princess cruise, scheduled to depart from Barcelona on September 27, is not yet known and we will keep passengers fully advised as details become known."

Power issues have plagued several ships this year, most notably Carnival Triumph after an onboard fire earlier this year.

Royal Princess is a new class of ship for Princess; Travel Agent attended the christening and sailed on the ship in June. For more on the ship, see the video preview from Princess Cruises below. 

The vessel is sailing throughout the Mediterranean this summer, and will reposition later this fall to Port Everglades, FL, for the winter season.

FOR TRAVEL AGENTS ONLY: Do you have clients on this ship? What’s your perspective of the handling of the issue and arrangements the line is making? What are you hearing back from your clients? Let us know on our Facebook page and in the comments below.