Key Aspects:
- Caribbean Princess temporarily lost power while sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Port Canaveral, Florida, on June 5.
- Some guests thought the outage was related to the ship’s engines, but they appear to be operating normally.
- Princess Cruises confirmed that power was restored onboard after around an hour and 15 minutes.
A scary situation unfolded onboard Caribbean Princess on the morning of June 5, 2026, as the ship lost propulsion and power for at least an hour during its current Eastern Caribbean sailing.
Up to 3,140 guests onboard the Princess cruise ship were left without air conditioning in the sweltering Caribbean heat in a situation that felt at least somewhat reminiscent of Carnival’s infamous 2013 “Poop Cruise.”
“Hey, if you hear our ship —Caribbean Princess — lost power, it did, twice, this morning. Weird thing to wake up to. It lasted a few hours but all is fine,” one current guest shared on Facebook.
Princess Cruises also confirmed the situation in an email to Cruise Hive and stated that the issue was resolved after a little over an hour.
“This morning, while en route from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Port Canaveral, Florida, Caribbean Princess experienced a temporary loss of main power for approximately one hour and 15 minutes,” the cruise line wrote.
The spokesperson also confirmed that guests were never in danger and that emergency power was provided normally for the duration of the outage.
Are the Engines to Blame?
While Princess Cruises has not confirmed what caused the temporary outage, some cruise guests think that the issue might be related to something going wrong in the engine room.
While Caribbean Princess doesn’t have a reputation for constant engine issues, reports show that she has previously experienced technical difficulties related to power and propulsion in 2005, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2017.
Based on updates from the captain that were shared by current guests, it also sounded like the majority of the repairs were taking place in the engine room.
“They’ve got emergency power/wifi back up and now just floating along while trying to recover the engines,” one passenger posted on Reddit.
“8:50a ET. Captain just announced no power recovery after the previous failed recovery. Now just floating around again and the ship is going to hit some winds on the starboard side. All room lights are out except for WiFi,” they said in a subsequent update.
But even with the inconvenience caused by the power outage, most guests commended the captain and the rest of the 1,200-person crew for their transparent and frequent communication as the situation evolved.
“Crew is very nice and the Captain providing good updates…Old ships do come with old problems,” the Redditor continued.
Per cruise tracking data, the 112,894-gross ton ship is sailing at normal speeds of 20 knots in the direction of Port Canaveral as of the time of this writing, which suggests the engines are functioning normally.
And for the record, Princess Cruises does make a pointed effort to maintain its fleet. The 2004-launched ship visited dry dock fairly recently (in 2024) for a tune up.
No Impact to Debarkation
Thankfully, the power outage was resolved quickly and there will be no impact to debarkation in Port Canaveral on June 7, 2026.
The visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on June 4 was the final stop on the 14-night itinerary, so there were no additional port calls that could be affected.
“Main power has since been fully restored. Caribbean Princess is continuing its passage to Port Canaveral as scheduled, with no delay expected,” Princess Cruises confirmed in its statement to Cruise Hive.
“The safety and well-being of our guests and crew remains our top priority as our onboard teams continue to monitor the situation closely,” the cruise line concluded.
This also means that there should be no negative impact to Caribbean Princess’s next embarkation day on June 7. On this date, passengers for a 7-night and a 14-night Eastern Caribbean sailing will board the ship simultaneously.
