Regal Princess accidents and incidents

27 October 2024Structural and Technical Issues

A 7-night "Western Caribbean with Mexico Cruise" (itinerary October 27-November 3, 2024, roundtrip from Galveston Texas USA) was canceled for necessary technical maintenance.

The itinerary included visits to destinations in Honduras (Isla Roatan/Oct 30), Belize (Belize City/Oct 31) and Mexico (Cozumel/Nov 1).

With the canceled voyage, Regal Princess was scheduled to start a maiden Caribbean season based on homeporting in Texas (Galveston/October 2024 through April 2025).

All affected bookings received a full refund plus an FCC (Future Cruise Credit) equal to 25% of the fare paid. The FCC applied to bookings made by May 31, 2025, for all itineraries departing by May 31, 2026.

Customers with flights booked via Princess EZair had their flights automatically canceled, and full refunds were issued. Customers with independently booked flights were advised to contact the airlines directly, and Princess Cruises offered up to US$200 in reimbursement for flight change fees.

The cancellation followed the ship's Transatlantic relocation cruise from Europe to the USA (21-day crossing from Southampton to Galveston/itinerary October 6-27).

UPDATE: On November 1st, Princess Cruises emailed all passengers that the November 3rd voyage was also canceled. While details on the technical issues were not disclosed, there were rumors about an engine room incident during the Transatlantic crossing followed by power outages.

All affected bookings were again fully refunded (cruise fares and shore excursions), plus compensation of 25% of the fares paid in FCC. The next scheduled departure was November 10th.

The second "Western Caribbean with Mexico" itinerary (Nov 3-10) included visits to Costa Maya Mexico (Nov 6), Isla Roatan (Nov 7) and Cozumel Mexico (Nov 8).

Eventually, due to the prolonged repairs, the November 10th departure was also canceled. The 3rd consecutive canceled cruise (7-day "Western Caribbean with Mexico"/Nov 10-17) was scheduled to visit Cozumel (Nov 12), Costa Maya (Nov 13) and Roatan (Nov 14). Affected bookings were fully refunded and additionally given 50% FCC toward a future booking made by May 25th, 2025, for all voyages scheduled through May 25th, 2026.

04 May 2023Coast Guard Medevacs

On May 4, 2023, a male passenger was medevaced by an Air Ambulance/helicopter. The patient was winched/airlifted from the ship (navigating in the Iris Sea) and transported to Newport (Wales). The operation was supervised by RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

The information provided to the passengers was scarce and mentioned only that the "casualty" would be winched. All glass doors and windows were reportedly taped up. The medical evacuation was conducted in rough sea conditions (strong winds and waves).

The incident occurred during the 8-day "Ireland and Scotland Cruise" (itinerary Apr 30 - May 8, roundtrip from Southampton) with call ports in England (Isle of Portland/May 1), the Channel Islands (St Peter Port/Guernsey Island/May 2), Ireland (Cobh-Cork/May 3), Scotland (Greenock-Glasgow/May 5) and Wales (Holyhead/Anglesey Island/May 6).

December 2021Structural and Technical Issues

In December 2021, Carnival Corporation (shipowner) and Wartsila Corporation (Finnish machinery manufacturer) signed a contract to develop and deliver Carnival's Decarbonisation Modelling Service for reducing greenhouse gas emissions fleetwide and complying with incoming IMO regulations.

The project started in February 2022, with Regal Princess. The ship was used to collect operational data for modeling and creating machine-learning algorithms to deliver a detailed analysis of the data as well as to simulate the impact of several marine engine-related technologies - including the patented "Wartsila E-start" (electric start solution) and "Wartsila HY" (hybrid/battery system/energy storage).

05 September 2021Coast Guard Medevacs

On September 5, 2021, a male passenger was medevaced from the ship off Isle of Wight's eastern coast (Cowes England). For the emergency evacuation was dispatched a vessel (Tamar-class lifeboat) from RNLI’s Bembridge Lifeboat Station.

The lifeboat was launched at 08:17 pm (London time) at the request of Solent Coastguard. The man was suffering from anxiety and (together with his wife) transferred to RNLB Alfred Albert Williams (Isle of Wight). An overnight accommodation for the couple was arranged in Ryde (seaside town on the island's northeastern coast).

10 May 2020Crew / Passenger Deaths

(crew suicide/overboard) On May 10, 2020, a female crew was reported dead after jumping overboard while the cruise4 liner was berthed in Port Rotterdam. The woman (Ukrainian) committed suicide. A lifeboat from the ship was immediately launched. The rescue crew located and retrieved the body.

The ship arrived and docked in Rotterdam on May 6 as part of a Carnival Corporation planned repatriation of Eastern European crew from the fleets of Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Seabourn Cruises. For May 8, from Rotterdam Princess Cruises organized 2x charter flights. One of them was cancelled and rescheduled for May 12. On May 5, the ship disembarked in Port Southampton (England) ~70 UK citizens.

April 2020Other Incidents

(crew repatriation) In mid-April 2020, Carnival Corporation developed a repatriation plan using 8 cruise liners from 3 of its brands - Princess Cruises (ships Regal, Caribbean, Crown, Island), HAL-Holland America Line (ships Nieuw Amsterdam, Veendam, Volendam) and Seabourn Cruises (ship Quest) to bring crew back home. The planned relocations (announced on April 18) included:

Caribbean Princess repositioning from The Bahamas to repatriate staff-crew to countries in the Caribbean and South America.

(two Transatlantic crossings) Regal Princess repositioning from Bimini Islands (Bahamas) to Europe (Southampton UK and Rotterdam Holland) to repatriate all European staff-crew. Crown Princess repositioning from Fort Lauderdale (Florida USA) to Asia and South Africa to repatriate all Filipino, Indonesian, Indian and South African staff-crew.

(Panama Canal transit) Island Princess repositioning from Fort Lauderdale to Asia to repatriate Filipino, Indonesian, Indian and South African staff-crew.

(three Panama Canal transitions) The 3 HAL ships (anchored near Great Harbour Cay Bahamas) - Nieuw Amsterdam, Veendam and Volendam - reposition to Asia to repatriate all HAL's Filipino, Indonesian, Indian and South African staff-crew.

(Transatlantic crossing) Seabourn Quest repositioning from Speightstown (aka Little Bristol, Barbados) to Europe, also carrying staff-crew from Seabourn Odyssey (also being anchored near Speightstown).

28 February 2020Crew / Passenger Deaths

On February 28, 2020, a 31-year-old male crew was reported dead. Fellow colleagues found the man (Davide Pignataro) dead in his cabin while the liner was berthed in Puerto Cozumel. The Italian crew worked on the ship as Second Engineer Officer.

The incident occurred during 7-day Western Caribbean cruise (itinerary Feb 23 - March 1) roundtrip from homeport Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) visiting Bahamas (Princess Cays), Jamaica (Falmouth)m Grand Cayman Island (George Town) and Mexico (Cozumel, port stay 10 am - 10 pm).

25 December 2019Crew / Passenger Deaths

On December 25, 2019, while the liner was docked at call port Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas Island, USVI), a 30-year-old male passenger died ashore. The man was travelling with his family (wife and two kids) and died on a Princess Cruises-sponsored snorkelling excursion.

The incident occurred during 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise (itinerary Dec 22-29) roundtrip from homeport Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) visiting Princess Cays (Eleuthera Island, Bahamas), Saint Thomas Island (Charlotte Amalie port stay 10 am - 10 pm) and St Maarten Island (Philipsburg).

05 March 2019Boat Rescue

In the afternoon on March 5, 2019, the cruise liner rescued two plane crash survivors while en-route from the Bahamas to St Thomas (USVI). Ship's Captain received a USCG message about two people in a liferaft at sea as their small airplane crashed and soon sank. Federal Aviation Administration (part of US Department of Transportation) contacted the USCG, which deployed a cutter ship (from Puerto Rico) and an aircraft (from Miami). The cruise ship changed course and after reaching the site (approx 23 ml / 37 km southeast of Grand Turk Island) deployed a rescue boat to retrieve both men.

The incident occurred during 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise (itinerary March 3-10) roundtrip from homeport Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades) to Bahamas (Princess Cays), USVI (Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas) and Dutch Antilles (Philipsburg, St Maarten).

02 April 2018Fire Accident

On April 2, 2018, via the liner's PA system were made several announcements about a "small fire" on Plaza Deck (5) in sector 6.  Each announcement was made by the Captain and clarified that the fire involved a deep fat fryer (in the Symphony Restaurant / main dining room) and occurred during maintenance. 

The fire was quickly extinguished by the crew and without injuries. The incident happened after leaving Port Everglades FL, during a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise (itinerary April 1-8) roundtrip from homeport Fort Lauderdale Florida to Princess Cays, St Thomas Island and St Maarten Island.

At ~4:30 pm was reported smoke in crew quarters caused by an overheated phone charger.

26 February 2018Other Incidents

In February 2018, Carnival Corporation partnered with SES Networks to provide industry's biggest bandwidth to a mobile shipboard platform (first introduced on Regal Princess). The new technology broke all previous myths about connectivity limitations at sea. The fastest cruise ship internet remained affordable (priced at USD 10 per day).

The technology combines the SES Networks satellites with the MedallionNet and provides bandwidth of minimum 1,5 gigabits per second to the vessel. The tests were done on February 26, 2018, while the Princess Cruises ship was docked at the private island Princess Cays Bahamas. During the tests was reached Internet speed of 2,6 gigabits per second.

Regal Princess was the first of the "Medallion-class" Carnival Corporation ships linked to the company's MedallionNet. The liner was on 7-day Western Caribbean cruise (itinerary Feb 25 - March 4) roundtrip from homeport Fort Lauderdale Florida to Bahamas, Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico.

25 February 2018Fire Accident

On February 25, 2018, the liner experienced an incinerator fire accident, during which the alarm was sounded. Soon after, the small fire was extinguished by the crew. No injuries were reported.

The ship was on 7-day Western Caribbean cruise (itinerary Feb 25 - March 4) roundtrip from homeport Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades) Florida.

23 March 2017Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

On March 23, 2017, a male crew (ship maintenance staff) lost a finger when a deck door (on Deck 16) slammed on it.

03 March 2016Other Incidents

On March 3, 2016, MS Regal Princess was featured in a 6-part documentary (made by Wild Pictures, UK) screened at prime time on ITV in March. The documentary (named “The Cruise”) was filmed onboard the ship while navigating in Northern Europe (to ports in Scandinavia and Russia).

The series showed the crew’s daily routines (featuring the Captain, Hotel Manager, Head Chef), as well as Princess cruise passengers. The premiere was aired on March 3 (8:30 pm GMT).

Similar 4-part documentary (named “The Cruise Ship”) was filmed onboard the fleet mate and sistership Royal Princess and was aired in prime time on ITV1 in May 2014. In both documentaries, the Princess cruise company had no editorial control over the production.

22 September 2015Other Incidents

On November 10, 2015, CBC news reported live about a medical emergency with an elderly couple being mishandled by the ship’s infirmary staff.

On September 22, 2015, the ship left the retired couple (Ana Lisa and Cayetano Avelino, from Toronto Canadia) in St John’s (Newfoundland) for 46 days and the man’s treatment was delayed. The man suffered a brain aneurysm and collapsed in their cabin’s shower. After that, he was hospitalized overnight in the onboard infirmary, but the staff didn’t call 911.

On the next day (Sept 23), the couple was disembarked in St John’s NF – without any priority, a wheelchair was not provided, an ambulance was not called. They were sent to a wrong hospital by a taxi, then taken by an ambulance to Health Sciences Centre, where he spent 16 days in an induced coma.

10 February 2015Coast Guard Medevacs

On February 10, 2015, being 2 days into an RSVP-chartered Western Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades Florida), due to an unspecified medical emergency the ship was diverted to Miami. The vessel was approx 80 ml / 130 km off the coast and en-route from Princess Cays Bahamas to Cozumel Mexico.

In the afternoon, 2 male passengers (suffering from amphetamine/drug overdose) were disembarked alive via tender boat in Miami and blacklisted by Princess Cruises. As a result of the incident, the following stops in call ports Cozumel and Grand Cayman were slightly shortened. The itinerary was themed “30th Anniversary Caribbean Cruise” (gay-themed cruise charter). Curiously, this was the first time for the ship to stop in PortMiami.