Crown Princess Alaska May 21st

[SmedonSeas]

10 minutes ago, Crow9 said:

Tonight I went to Crown Grill without a reservation and they just took me and gave me a window seat.

 

I got the shrimp appetizer which was nice a refreshing and the lobster tails which were amazing and looked better in their shells (just didn't get a picture of that).

Looks yummy!

[Crow9]

Everything happens for a reason, I ran into Libby Riddles, got a picture with her and a signed book, got hats for everyone, and listened to her talk.  She is a very cool person.  I am glad I got to meet her.

[Coral]

4 hours ago, Crow9 said:

Everything happens for a reason, I ran into Libby Riddles, got a picture with her and a signed book, got hats for everyone, and listened to her talk.  She is a very cool person.  I am glad I got to meet her.

She is amazing. I have listened to her talk several times!

[llarsen]

Hi,

We will be on the Crown to Alaska Aug 6th. Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, Victoria.

We have never been to Alaska and just returned from trip to Europe that I have been planing for a year, (so haven't had much time to look into Alaska)

 

I feel overwhelmed trying to find things to do in ports.

Can you or anyone give some advice? Ship tours? Private tours?

We will be traveling with my brother in law who has cancer so I don't want to leave him out while we take more advanced activity tours, but we do want to see some wild life and take the train that goes to the Yukon (either by tour or booking privately)

 

Hope this cruise turns out to be amazing despite the problems it's having. 🙂

 

[Crow9]

It is 6:30am, I think we made it to Skagway at 6am, just woke up. It is 46° F and raining. 

 

For advice and ship tours, I recommend youtube, I youtubed ship tours, reviews, port tours, what to pack, etc. before this.

 

For excursions, you can look them up in your booking, maybe look for ones labeled low activity or wheelchair accessible?

[capriccio]

9 hours ago, Crow9 said:

Everything happens for a reason, I ran into Libby Riddles, got a picture with her and a signed book, got hats for everyone, and listened to her talk.  She is a very cool person.  I am glad I got to meet her.

 

4 hours ago, Coral said:

She is amazing. I have listened to her talk several times!

 

I agree with your assessments of Libby and her talk.

 

Did she have one of her dogs with her?  One one Alaska cruise we got to the theater early and Libby had set up her table outside the entrance and was accompanied by one of her very well behaved dogs who just wanted everyone to stop and pet her/him.  

[capriccio]

@llarsen - don't forget to check the Alaska Ports of Call forum:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/.  I've had excellent results using cruise critic members recommendations.

[Dar & Bob]

1 hour ago, llarsen said:

Hi,

We will be on the Crown to Alaska Aug 6th. Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, Victoria.

We have never been to Alaska and just returned from trip to Europe that I have been planing for a year, (so haven't had much time to look into Alaska)

 

I feel overwhelmed trying to find things to do in ports.

Can you or anyone give some advice? Ship tours? Private tours?

We will be traveling with my brother in law who has cancer so I don't want to leave him out while we take more advanced activity tours, but we do want to see some wild life and take the train that goes to the Yukon (either by tour or booking privately)

 

Hope this cruise turns out to be amazing despite the problems it's having. 🙂

 

We are cruising with Princess to Alaska in July.  We have booked a couple of excursions with Alaska Shore Tours.  We booked with them in 2020 when we were originally supposed to go and they were quick with our deposit refunds.  In talking to them they are very knowledgeable.  Also, they only want to a deposit of 5% and charge the rest about 3 weeks out from the tour.  They make it all very easy and straight forward.

 

[Riley_Mon]

I've been reading these posts as I am on the June 18th sailing of the Crown

 

The picture of the stormy seas caught my attention because I believe from the map change they are not going up (or back) thru the inside passage which I would assume would result in calmer seas. 

 

At any rate , it sounds like the Crown is now 0-3 in cruises for meeting their day  of cruising documented itinerary .

 

That is unfortunate.  IMO, Princess is hurting their brand with this approach.

[wolvey]

2 hours ago, Riley_Mon said:

I've been reading these posts as I am on the June 18th sailing of the Crown

 

The picture of the stormy seas caught my attention because I believe from the map change they are not going up (or back) thru the inside passage which I would assume would result in calmer seas. 

 

At any rate , it sounds like the Crown is now 0-3 in cruises for meeting their day  of cruising documented itinerary .

 

That is unfortunate.  IMO, Princess is hurting their brand with this approach.

I would like to know if anyone important at princess realizes this fiasco with Crown?  If so, why aren't they making any decisions?  why keep this up?  They will not budge in terms of future passengers changing ships or sailing or refunds, knowing this is a huge issue!  They give you the update when you're already on board and become a prisoner.  Future OBC or FCC does me no good when half of my trip will canceled!

 

They cannot continue this where they will be batting zero!  What can we do to get someone to make a decision about future sailings??

 

Sorry, i know i should keep an open mind and be flexible....but this is getting to be ridiculous.  i will keep an open mind when the issue is unforeseen...but this is slapping us all in our faces and the corp is just laughing at us.

 

We spent alot of money to be able to relax and do things that is stated in the itinerary.  It is our right to be angry if Princess continues to drag us through this mess and keep our money.

[Coral]

1 hour ago, wolvey said:

I would like to know if anyone important at princess realizes this fiasco with Crown?  If so, why aren't they making any decisions?  why keep this up?  They will not budge in terms of future passengers changing ships or sailing or refunds, knowing this is a huge issue!  They give you the update when you're already on board and become a prisoner.  Future OBC or FCC does me no good when half of my trip will canceled!

 

They cannot continue this where they will be batting zero!  What can we do to get someone to make a decision about future sailings??

 

Sorry, i know i should keep an open mind and be flexible....but this is getting to be ridiculous.  i will keep an open mind when the issue is unforeseen...but this is slapping us all in our faces and the corp is just laughing at us.

 

We spent alot of money to be able to relax and do things that is stated in the itinerary.  It is our right to be angry if Princess continues to drag us through this mess and keep our money.

Not to exaggerate but Celebrity did this for years with their Millennium class ships. They had azipod issues that plagued them for years. Princess isn't the only one who has done this.

 

I agree - Princess should do the right thing and let people cancel or switch. Give them a choice. I hope they don't plan on going an entire season like this.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Coral

[wolvey]

2 minutes ago, Coral said:

Not to exaggerate but Celebrity did this for years with their Millennium class ships. They had azipod issues that plagued them for years.

 

I agree - Princess should do the right thing and let people cancel or switch. I hope they don't plan on going an entire season like this.

How did the celebrity passengers dealt with that?  i can't imagine people still sailing on those ships if there are constant issues.  what if princess plan on doing this the entire season?  what can we, as consumers, do to make them do the right thing? I've tried to ask the reps and got nowhere.  doing the survey after a sailing may not even reach anyone's ears.  

 

i am fine with the original switch...but anymore changes or cancelations make the sailing pointless and waste of everyone's money and time.

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, wolvey said:

How did the celebrity passengers dealt with that?  i can't imagine people still sailing on those ships if there are constant issues.  what if princess plan on doing this the entire season?  what can we, as consumers, do to make them do the right thing? I've tried to ask the reps and got nowhere.  doing the survey after a sailing may not even reach anyone's ears.  

 

i am fine with the original switch...but anymore changes or cancelations make the sailing pointless and waste of everyone's money and time.

There were disappointing customers on Celebrity also.

 

I agree - I am sorry for all of you who have this ship scheduled. Especially for those who this is going to be their only trip to Alaska. 

 

I hope it is fixed by the time you sail. 

[JeffT237]

6 minutes ago, wolvey said:

what can we, as consumers, do to make them do the right thing? I've tried to ask the reps and got nowhere.  doing the survey after a sailing may not even reach anyone's ears.  

 

I really didn't get anywhere pre-cruise as far as concerns I had addressed, I'm not sure if you'll get anywhere either.  The communication was just poor, the chat agents and phone agents had different answers I think it was still so new and they really had little direction from the company at that time.  upon returning home I've completed the post cruise survey and spoke with a supervisor from customer service, she was very professional and advised me to e-mail further up the chain.  I have directly e-mailed most of the executive team including the CEO.  What i'm asking for is a real conversation or email exchange to first praise the staff and crew of the Crown, they truly were outstanding, as well as voice my displeasure with the compensation that was offered.  I really hope they don't ignore me or many others who I know are doing the same.  It will say a lot about Princess if they don't get back with us.  I am patient and realize the state of the world, I don't expect them to drop everything and contact me immediately, but I think with 30 days is a reasonable expectation. I've been told it will take up to 6-8 weeks to have our excursion money refunded to us.

 

[wolvey]

1 minute ago, JeffT237 said:

 

I really didn't get anywhere pre-cruise as far as concerns I had addressed, I'm not sure if you'll get anywhere either.  The communication was just poor, the chat agents and phone agents had different answers I think it was still so new and they really had little direction from the company at that time.  upon returning home I've completed the post cruise survey and spoke with a supervisor from customer service, she was very professional and advised me to e-mail further up the chain.  I have directly e-mailed most of the executive team including the CEO.  What i'm asking for is a real conversation or email exchange to first praise the staff and crew of the Crown, they truly were outstanding, as well as voice my displeasure with the compensation that was offered.  I really hope they don't ignore me or many others who I know are doing the same.  It will say a lot about Princess if they don't get back with us.  I am patient and realize the state of the world, I don't expect them to drop everything and contact me immediately, but I think with 30 days is a reasonable expectation. I've been told it will take up to 6-8 weeks to have our excursion money refunded to us.

 

I hope you get real answers in a timely manner.  the excursion refund for me when they canceled Ketchikan was about 2 weeks.  I would still like to know what they are going to do for future sailings and customers.  They can't keep hobbling along for the entire season.  I feel they are hoping things will be fixed or that the customers will just go along with being kidnapped. for customers already on these 3 sailings, they should return at least half of the cost as compensation...not FCC.  For future sailings, just decide already!  yea or nay and let everyone breathe a sigh of relief!

[JeffT237]

1 minute ago, wolvey said:

the excursion refund for me when they canceled Ketchikan was about 2 weeks.

I should say we got one back in a few days, it is now the other 2 we are waiting on.

 

2 minutes ago, wolvey said:

for customers already on these 3 sailings, they should return at least half of the cost as compensation...not FCC

This was exactly the amount that many I spoke with onboard felt, I only talked to one fellow passenger who felt a 100% refund was owed.  Most acknowledged the service and positive things that Princess delivered.  But in reality how many potential customers would look at this itinerary and chose it? Especially on a ship with a known mechanical issue. It is really now just a late arrival to Juneau, Skagway all day, GB and a few hours in Victoria.  Ours was actually less, we had about a total of 15 hours in Alaska.  That's why I've asked for a 50% FCC, I think thats fair, others may not but this was our experience, we were on it.

[Crow9]

Skagway was amazing.  I did 3 excursions.

 

First was red onion saloon town tour.  Breakfast at red onion saloon was bland, and then a tour of the brothel, a tour or the cemetery with history, and pictures at the overlook for the town.  It was a good town overview.

 

I did the train ride which was a very nice scenic ride up the snowcapped mountains.  It was so hot in the train that I took off all my layers and was in a tshirt.

 

Then I did glacier discovery by helicopter which was a 20-25 minute helicopter ride followed by a 45 minute walk on a glacier and viewing 300 foot drops and drinking glacier water right from the glacier.  Then a 25 minute helicopter ride back.  It was amazing.  Completely worth the price and a once in a lifetime experience.

 

Then I went to the shops and got many presents and  

made it back in time for dinner on the ship.

[Crow9]

The pictures do not have depth to them, that is actually 17 miles long in the first picture.

[Coral]

Great pictures!

 

So glad you had an amazing day!

[JeffT237]

Have a great day cruising Glacier Bay, it’s amazing!

[wolvey]

How was the weather in Skagway and Juneau? What type of clothing do you suggest for touring the city and being outside? Trying to figure out to pack winter type clothes or not.

[GloriaF]

I've enjoyed this thread.  Thanks, crow9 for taking the time to post!

 

When I checked the average weather for June in Alaska  ,it said highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s, w/15 days of rain possible.   Our cruise is June 11th, and I'm packing layers including leggings and long sleeve tees that can be worn under other clothing.  Hat & gloves, just in case, and waterproof coat.  

 

 

 

 

[Crow9]

Skagway was raining and windy, morning felt like 32 with wind, midday felt like 45-50 and then the glacier felt like 32 again.

I wore 2 pairs of socks, leggings, jeans, t-shirt, puffy warm jacket, rain coat, ear warmers, buff, and a hat.  I'm in the same outfit today since glacier bay is cold.

[strickerj]

I'm on board Eurodam, which left Seattle about 15 minutes after you guys but passed while in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I was wondering why Crown Princess was going so slowly; sorry to hear about the issues.

 

Sunday sure was rough! I was in my room all afternoon, and I never used to get seasick.

[JeffT237]

Weather in Glacier Bay looks great today on the bridge cam.