Mini-review: Crown to Alaska, May 30-June 6

[jasbo49]

I may do an actual "review" in the appropriate section in a day or two, but thought I'd just drop in some highlights -- and a few lowlights -- here.

 

I prefer mentioning the things that stick out to us, rather than feeling like I have to cover all things with equal weight.

 

We had a really nice cruise. We went to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and Victoria.

 

Among the bright spots were these:

 

-- I loved having educational lectures. This was our 12th cruise and none of the previous 11 had much beyond the usual port shopping talks, which are degrading to everyone in my opinion. Our naturalist was Michael Modzelewski, who was fascinating and informative. Unfortunately, my wife didn't like his delivery, which was a bit odd for sure. So we didn't see all of his presentations.

 

-- We never felt attacked by sales personnel like we did on back-to-back shorties last October. On that cruise we were interrupted four times during the same dinner with pleas to purchase tickets to a wine tasting the next night. This time we had just a few things offered over seven days, and it never seemed like we were being badgered. On the occasional lounge visit, we never felt ignored or pushed to buy a drink.

 

-- With a few exceptions, the food was good, and we saw no signs of the norovirus that apparently has plagued the Crown Princess. The ship was as clean and ship-shape as any I've seen.

 

Now, for things that could use some attention:

 

-- Cabin issues. Ever seen a sway-back horse? That was the mattress on my side of the bed. Asking for an egg-crate topper wouldn't have helped. The problem wasn't the top. It was the whole bed. C226 needs new mattresses. I'd also like to see usable reading lights by the bed. There simply isn't enough light coming from the bedside lamp for a decent read. Also, why is Princess the only major line (I think) that doesn't have a sofa in a standard balcony?

 

-- MDR service problems. We haven't had a good experience yet with breakfast in the dining room. On our previous cruise, we waited 2 hours between arriving and finishing breakfast. Everything from ordering to delivering the food took forever. This cruise, in two visits they botched our order every time. My wife would ask for A, B and C and get A and C, but no B. Sure, you can say "I ordered bacon too, but by the time you get it, you're done with everything else. Also, we felt really rushed the last night of the cruise in the dining room. We're not dawdlers, but got the feeling we were holding up the waiter's party plans.

 

Neither plus nor minus:

 

-- The dress code thing just gets weirder all the time. This is a cruise of mostly adults. You'd think they could read. But people show up for dinner on formal night in the MDR in jeans and T-shirts and tennies. On a non-formal night, I sat next to a guy wearing camo board shorts. We're not fancy dressers by nature, but we try to play by the rules. Why have rules if you have no intention of enforcing them?

 

-- I guess I'm going to be the first person here to say we were disappointed by Glacier Bay. We went on an Alaska cruise three years ago and were scheduled for Sawyer Glacier and actually ended up at Endicott Arm. We really enjoyed that. We saw lots of huge free-floating icebergs and beautiful calm water. After reading here that there is "no contest" and Glacier Bay was better "hands down" we expected to be wowed beyond belief. Frankly I thought Endicott Arm was better than Glacier Bay.

 

-- We've seen a lot of discussion about "the Alaskan menu" here. My quick explanation is that there isn't really a different menu. There are some dishes, almost all fish entrees, that are declared as Alaskan Cuisine. It's all good, but not really a whole new menu. They do seem to take advantage of the local waters to offer super-fresh fish and we enjoyed it. When you're cruising, any chance to eat healthy and eat well is welcome

 

Jim

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your comments.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Belle]

Why you were not like WOW with

the bay because they haven't had much

snow and been having warm weather.

Few years ago lots of ice in water, snow

on mountains and a bigger glacier.

 

When you went three years ago there was

more snow, cooler weather in the E Arm.

Sure this year it's less there too.

 

In Alaska you take your chances on what you see.

I think Alaska is beautiful no matter the weather

or snow!

[Working 2 Cruise]

I think that's the very first time I've read that Glacier Bay was a disappointment! Goes to show you can't please everyone!

[srpilo]

Good stuff ..

 

 

Thanks for sharing

Srpilo

[OCruisers]

Thanks so much for you time and thoughts!

Seems it was an overall good cruise for you! :)

 

Our friends who were on a HAL cruise would very much agree with you on Glacier Bay. It was way less than they expected. Still, they also enjoyed their cruise.

 

LuLu

[jasbo49]

Thanks so much for you time and thoughts!

Seems it was an overall good cruise for you! :)

 

Our friends who were on a HAL cruise would very much agree with you on Glacier Bay. It was way less than they expected. Still, they also enjoyed their cruise.

 

LuLu

 

Yes, we did have a good cruise. And as Belle said, maybe our Glacier Bay experience was affected by the warm winter. More snow and icebergs would have made more awe-inspiring sights.

 

I did think of a couple things to add, though.

 

On the plus side, we really didn't find anytime dining to be a problem, as so many have reported. Once in a while you wait a few minutes, but nothing outrageous. No beepers, just standing in line.

 

On the minus side, I don't think Princess shines when it comes to entertainment. You can walk from lounge to lounge, looking for a place to get a drink and listen to some good tunes and never find the good tunes. I wish NCL entertainment could be grafted onto a Princess cruise. NCL has great entertainment. Princess has very little we cared about.

 

Jim