Buying a Brand New Princess 55: Problems Encountered During Repair Works

During repair works, we have been quite frustrated with the way the boat was treated. To say the least, it was shocking and at the same time we found it somewhat disrespectful that absolutely NO PROTECTION measures were put in place during these works. Technicians, tools, parts, hands, feet were all over the place.
We could not blame the workforce as at the end of the day they all go home thus have no reason to think about how filthy they worked and what a big time mess they left behind. If no one asks, they certainly won't have to answer. We think that the onus here was on Princess to supervise those works and take necessary measures to protect the future 'home' of their clients.

Whilst it was too late for the protection, we fought hard to get Princess at least to perform a thorough cleaning, which they refused at first claiming that a "handover cleaning" did not include a carpet and upholstery wash/clean. In a way they were right, that is if the works were properly supervised and workers asked to put protection in place before touching any tools. We have been persistent with this request, we persevered and finally succeeded in convincing Princess to perform a full cleaning including carpets, upholsteries, bed cover, throws, cushions etc.

Carpets were full of marks and the cockpit sofa was in a horrible state as anybody getting in or out of the boat had to hold on to the backrests or throw whatever they have on their hands onto the seats. A couple towels or even a bed sheet would have been enough to protect these areas. Our list started to get quickly populated with scratch marks, stains, dents and cleaning items. For 40+ days Princess insisted on not using any protection at the expense of having to deal with new damages.

Exterior cushions in VIP cabin. Bed cover properly protected.

Forward sunbathing cushions thrown over Master Cabin bed, others squeezed between sideboard and bed mattress without any protection in place.

The boat comes with a factory supplied flybridge helm cover which obviously aims to protect sensitive electronic equipment from sun, dust, rain, heat etc. The boat has been shipped from UK to West Med with no covers in place and she was naturally covered with dust and salt upon arrival.
When we have asked why covers were not fitted, we have been told that the IP rating of equipment were suitable for exterior conditions. We realize that equipment might be adequate for marine use but this begs the question "under which conditions one must use the factory supplied covers then?"

These cable debris were left at the engine room floor for 2 full days, after which they have been picked up by a technician upon our request.

Loose cable ties, cables, washers in bilge area underneath Seakeeper Gyro unit.

A protection mat sighted on horizon, later took its place on the cockpit table which was used as a workbench by technicians.

Here is the "handle" that we were talking about. Still relatively clean as picture taken in early stages in order to ask Princess to put proper protection in place, which unfortunately never happened.

Tools might be laid on the sofa for a purpose. What about the flagpole?

A blower fan duct laying on the cockpit sofa.

Master cabin wardrobe floor picture taken right after a technician accessed the tech area behind it.

Master cabin soft furnished wall behind dinette

Tools being charged on the ceramic surface of the galley hob

BEFORE.
This photo was taken on a Friday evening. Princess technician who was working on bimini hinges left the scene for the weekend as seen on picture above. Storm and rain was forecasted for that weekend, so we had to retract the bimini, tidy up the area and close the covers

AFTER

Scratch on the main electrical panel frame, probably occurred when they tried to remove the panel. One quick protection measure would have been to stick a couple of blue tape stripes on vulnerable surfaces.