Be the Karen
I would have never thought I would write that title. But here we are.
So my wife and I were on our 5th cruise. Our first with Princess. We had done 3 with Holland and one with Carnival before that. Two to Alaska, one to Mexico, and one to Hawaii. The first one was to Alaska in 2011. The rest were in 2024 and 2025.
The Hawaii one was with Carnival in Feb 2025. We really loved the trip. Not so much Carnival. So booked another Hawaii cruise, but this time with Princess. Almost the same itinerary, but instead of 14 days it would be 16.
We booked the Ruby Princess. 16 Days out of San Francisco. Jan 29 to Feb 14. We were psyched.
Picked an inside cabin. R741. Aft. Second cabin from the back. You would walk up some stairs and you were at the aft pool and you had a great view. Who needs a balcony with that so close?
I liked the location, but there was one small problem.
There was a pump or some kind of noise in the pipes coming from the bathroom. Loud enough you could hear it with the door closed. I could hear hit when walking outside the room. It was not a consistent sound. It would get quieter, then louder. So it was not white noise that your brain could just ignore. Because the volume and tempo of the noise would keep changing.
It did not start until the 2nd sea day. But it would not fully stop. Maybe it would stop for hours but take a shower or flush the toilet and it would return. I think I might have heard it on embarkation day, but it went away before sail away.
I called Guest Services and explained the issue. They said they would send someone.
I never heard back.
The noise affected my ability to sleep. My wife had noise canceling headphones and earbuds. Somehow, she was able to fall asleep with those on. Not me. I cannot sleep with those in my ears.
I found a few hacks. I could turn the water on just the slightest and it would sometimes stop. Or once in a while, after a shower, it would go away for most of a day.
But it always returned.
I called again one day when our toilet would not flush. The toilet was fixed, the noise never was.
By day 11, I gave up. I had reported it and heard nothing back. Then Princess left a NPS survey to fill out. Give a score and comments. I was not a happy camper. Gave a 3 and explained why. Explained I had given up since they had ignored my issues and never even left me a note.
Strangely enough, after I dropped off the survey the night before, when we got back to our room that night there was no noise! It was fixed finally! I slept until after 9 AM when we were called by Guest Services. The Hotel Manager was outside and wanted to talk. I said come back in 30 minutes becuase we were not dressed. We both took a shower and that damned noise came back. It was NOT fixed. It just gave me a one night reprieve. I was twitchy from the sleep deprivation. I was not in a good state of mind.
We were moved to a Balcony more midships after talking to the Hotel Manager. He heard the noise in our room. They apologized.
I was happy not to have the noise and the balcony was nice for the last 5 days of our cruise. But it was too late. To top it off, we missed one of the Hawaiian ports, Kona, due to the sea state and Kona is a tender port. We missed the port. I was going to hit a couple of beaches to snorkel. I had purchased a snorkel set just for this cruise and did not get to use it. Sucks but can happen. Coupled with the noise and <insert silent screams>.
So be the Karen. Complain every day. Do not feel like you reported it once and that is enough. Go to Guest Services and report it. I know that doing that is not being a Karen, but I feel like it is to complain over and over. But they never contacted me until I submitted that NPS survey.
Do not be like me. Thinking that one report, or two, is enough. If it is impacting your cruise, report it over and over until you get a response. Even if you do not like the response, at least get one. Do not give up as I did. I would have been perfectly happy if they had just fixed the noise. I really liked the location.
I am not sure what I will do now in regard to another cruise. I was planning on a second cruise in 2026 in the fall. That is not happening. I am in tenative plans to do a land trip to Alaska in 2027. Strangely enough, I want to visit Whittier for the 26 Glaciers Cruises and Seward for Kenai Fjords. We will visit two of the cruise ship ports but not on a cruise ship. But no southbound cruise to Vancouver from Whittier as we did in 2024. Just a trip to Alaska and driving by car. Denali, Whittier, Seward. Sounds like a winner.
Our next Hawaiian trip will be by plane. One island for at least a week. But I am not sure when that will happen. Maybe 2028.
Will I cruise again? I hope so. My parents have cruised a bunch. We have never gone together. I would like to go with them. They are winding down as they get older, so the opportunities are becoming fewer.