A woman is suing Princess Cruises Lines Ltd., alleging she was wrongfully terminated in 2025 from her job managing youth programs on a false claim of undocumented absences even though she was on an approved medical leave at the time.
Plaintiff Christina N. Wonders also contends in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that she suffered stress from a boss who overloaded her with work, including having her make multiple trips to Italy to address construction issues regarding the new Sun Princess ship.
Wonders’ multiple causes of action include disability discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Princess Cruises representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit filed Tuesday.
Wonders was hired in February 2004 as coordinator of youth programs at the company’s Santa Clarita office and received promotions over the years, including that of manager of family strategy and youth programs, the job she held when she was terminated. Wonders managed about 200 shipboard employees across the company’s fleet and her responsibilities included managing the design and implementation of youth venues for new ship launches.
Wonders worked mostly from home unless she was traveling on Princess ships worldwide.
Problems began for Wonders when her new boss was assigned in November 2022 because he was someone who often failed to provide essential information and direction that his staff needed to execute their responsibilities, leaving Wonders with a lack of clarity regarding project responsibilities, the suit alleges.
Work overwhelmed Wonders with duties as she found herself responding to emails until 9 p.m. or later despite her work days ending at 5 p.m. and she struggled to be present with her family on weekends, knowing she might need to respond to team issues across multiple time zones, the suit states.
In 2023-24, the Princess Cruises was constructing a new ship, the Sun Princess, and each manager was required to ensure that all areas within their departments were fully operational and prepared prior to sail, the suit states. However Wonders had to take on more responsibilities with the Sun Princess project due to her boss’ inadequate oversight, the suit further states.
The Sun Princess was supposed to have a roller coaster on deck and Wonders drafted the operation and maintenance procedures for the attraction, reviewed technical and operational manuals and developed protocols governing the staff’s use and operation of the roller coaster, the suit states.
“Ultimately, due to the lack of adequate support and oversight, the roller coaster attraction was not operational by the time the hip commenced sailing operations, causing the company a lawsuit,” according to Wonders’ complaint.
Wonders began having physical and psychological problems due to the alleged hostile work environment and by early November 2023 those symptoms intensified and occurred daily, including debilitating headaches as well as right shoulder and stomach pain, the suit contends.
Wonders had a nervous breakdown in April 2024 and her subsequent complaint against her boss caused him to retaliation and exclude her from meetings and give her tasks designed to cause her to fail them, the suit alleges. Wonders was fired in February 2025 while on approved medical leave and told the reasons were “undocumented absences” and a “failure to engage” with the company, according to the suit.
Judge Marisa Hernandez-Stern has scheduled a case management conference for Jan. 11, 2027.