Anyone have any updates on the Crown's itinerary after the June 11 cruise?

[The Collie]

I hoping to book the cruise that leaves on June 25  (or July 16) as on the Princess website they list Icy back up and not Ketchikan (I have been there before and could pass on returning). I chatted with Princess a week ago to see if they anticipate getting rid of Icy due to the mechanical problems they are having and the person said that they didn't know. I know ports can and do get changed due to things however I'd rather not pay in advance if they honestly anticipate already canceling Icy replacing it with Ketchikan. If that's the case I'd rather go with Discovery (on June 26, July 3, or July 17) which does go to Ketchikan but is cheaper overall for me. I deliberately wanted Crown due it going to Icy and not Ketchikan. Also it appears the July 2 sailing is not available. Was it sold out or canceled?

 

Just wondering if anyone has the scoop.

[JeffT237]

Pretty sure you will not get a definitive answer on Icy Straight Point pre-cruise, with the history of the Crown this Alaska season it's probably more than likely that the itinerary will get changed and Icy bypassed.  That's just speculation. We couldn't get any answers from Princess pre-cruise, their chat agents and phone reps just did not know what would happen to our itinerary or excursions.  Good luck with ever you decide.

Edited June 9, 2022 by JeffT237

[Becky_Mac]

I am on the July 2nd cruise. I did look up the cruise ship schedule at Icy Straight and the Crown isn’t on it all this year. At one point I believe it was though. So I have been assuming that they will cancel Icy. Still haven’t had any communication from Princess about the change, so just an assumption on my part. 

[mandyq1030]

We were on the Crown last week.  They had told us we were going to Icy Straight a few weeks before the cruise and then told us when we got on the ship that we were no longer going on Icy Straight.  I wouldn't plan on going to Icy Straight.  We would have gone on Discovery if we would have been given enough notice.

[miagirl]

2 hours ago, mandyq1030 said:

We were on the Crown last week.  They had told us we were going to Icy Straight a few weeks before the cruise and then told us when we got on the ship that we were no longer going on Icy Straight.  I wouldn't plan on going to Icy Straight.  We would have gone on Discovery if we would have been given enough notice.

did you go to Ketchikan Instead of Icy Straight Point or somewhere else?  

[BobbySu]

1 hour ago, miagirl said:

did you go to Ketchikan Instead of Icy Straight Point or somewhere else?  

The ship went to neither.  just sea days.

 

And to TheCollie, OP, book the Discovery unless you want the slow boat to Glacier Bay.  Whatever is wrong with the ship will not be fixed any time this summer.  (when are they going to fix it???, while they are docked in Skagway?)  

[BobbySu]

Oh, I also wanted to say we were on the Crown for the 18th sailing and had neither Ketchikan or ISP listed.  Just an extra sea day along with the very short stop in Juneau.  

[hh11302]

We sail 8/6 and so far the itinerary has not been changed.  I e-mailed my PVP today asking if they had any information or updates and this all  I got back:

 

If you want to switch  to a different ship let me know.

[wolvey]

32 minutes ago, BobbySu said:

The ship went to neither.  just sea days.

 

And to TheCollie, OP, book the Discovery unless you want the slow boat to Glacier Bay.  Whatever is wrong with the ship will not be fixed any time this summer.  (when are they going to fix it???, while they are docked in Skagway?)  

I am deeply concern that princess is continuing this charade.  June 18 sailing has the current shortened schedule and miraculously the following sailing on the 25 has it back to normal (Juneau in at 2:30 and icy strait is back??).  Yeah, are they fixing everything while in the middle of the ocean or at Skagway?  I doubt it.

 

it’s also strange that the july 2 sailing is not available anymore. There is no way it can be sold out…it would be the only one to be sold out.  I wonder if they will last min cancel this sailing to do a dry dock to fix the engine.

 

I enjoyed the glacier bay experience.  Wish I saw more wildlife tho.

[wolvey]

9 minutes ago, hh11302 said:

We sail 8/6 and so far the itinerary has not been changed.  I e-mailed my PVP today asking if they had any information or updates and this all  I got back:

 

If you want to switch  to a different ship let me know.

As with other peoples comments, princess reps will not have any good info for you. My excursion was still active up to the day of embarkment according to the rep…even tho previous passengers have said the excursions will be canceled due to the time constraints.  I wouldn’t believe anything they say as they will forever keep an optimistic view, even tho everyone else knows differently.

 

I kept this sailing due to glacier bay.  Hard to say if being on land is more of a priority than glacier bay. It’s comes down to being a personal preference. Also, if you can afford to switch.

[BobbySu]

1 hour ago, hh11302 said:

We sail 8/6 and so far the itinerary has not been changed.  I e-mailed my PVP today asking if they had any information or updates and this all  I got back:

 

If you want to switch  to a different ship let me know.

Unless the ship is fixed the listed itinerary will not be met (and when are they going to fix it? they didn't fix it in the two years they had during Covid I can't see them fixing it during a full summer schedule.  Princess will not tell you until they decide to tell you, which almost certainly will be within the 30 day window, if not the night you board.  I'll say to you what I said earlier.  Unless you want the slow boat to Glacier Bay change ships.  We were able to rebook for the Majestic.  It is leaving the same day but goes out of Vancouver and ends up in Anchorage.  But the price was lower so it paid for the airfare back.  We have full port days, still get Glacier Bay and actually longer in Juneau than we would have on the original Crown itinerary. We were driving to Seattle for the Crown so it is not that much further for us to drive to Vancouver.  We didn't have to worry about changing flights.  Those who are staying with the Crown seem to be making the best of things, time on a cruise can still be fun.  But for us it was about the ports and I was so grateful we were able to learn about the problems from the early cruises so we could adjust our plans.  

[rj59]

Unless you want to do ziplining, Icy Strait is a bit useless, especially for a quick evening stop, at least in my experience. The reason to go on Crown is to go to Glacier Bay, and if you're like me and have been to Ketchikan and Juneau so many times they aren't of interest, and when I was in both cities recently they had 10,000 passengers there. Discovery goes to Endicott Arm, but I was in neighboring Tracy Arm a few weeks ago and the ice in the fjord was too thick to only get a distant glimpse of a glacier. If you do a N/S route you get mandatory masking and expensive, usually late-night flights out of Anchorage, or testing if you fly out of Vancouver. The other reason for Crown is that it has an outside promenade, which the Royal-class ships no longer do, and I find it the best spot to see whales, otters, Dall's porpoises, the beautiful ice floes in fjords and Glacier Bay. Crown would also have smaller crowds, so it might be easier to find optimal viewing space in Glacier Bay and other spots. I'd think the July 2 cancelled cruise would be a chance for them to work on the ship somewhere--I know I had a HAL Mexico trip delayed a day while they had divers working on the propulsion system, so maybe they can try a fix without going into dry dock. 

[The Collie]

4 hours ago, hh11302 said:

We sail 8/6 and so far the itinerary has not been changed.  I e-mailed my PVP today asking if they had any information or updates and this all  I got back:

 

If you want to switch  to a different ship let me know.

Oh gosh LOL. That kind of says it all. 

[The Collie]

4 hours ago, wolvey said:

 

 

it’s also strange that the july 2 sailing is not available anymore. There is no way it can be sold out…it would be the only one to be sold out.  I wonder if they will last min cancel this sailing to do a dry dock to fix the engine.

 

 

Yep that's what I thought too. It almost to me seemed like they will cancel the July 2 cruise using that time to fix the engine but that they are waiting to the last minute to tell the people on that sailing.

 

I too was thinking how and when and where would they actually repair the ship. 

[The Collie]

2 hours ago, rj59 said:

Unless you want to do ziplining, Icy Strait is a bit useless, especially for a quick evening stop, at least in my experience. The reason to go on Crown is to go to Glacier Bay, and if you're like me and have been to Ketchikan and Juneau so many times they aren't of interest, and when I was in both cities recently they had 10,000 passengers there. Discovery goes to Endicott Arm, but I was in neighboring Tracy Arm a few weeks ago and the ice in the fjord was too thick to only get a distant glimpse of a glacier. If you do a N/S route you get mandatory masking and expensive, usually late-night flights out of Anchorage, or testing if you fly out of Vancouver. The other reason for Crown is that it has an outside promenade, which the Royal-class ships no longer do, and I find it the best spot to see whales, otters, Dall's porpoises, the beautiful ice floes in fjords and Glacier Bay. Crown would also have smaller crowds, so it might be easier to find optimal viewing space in Glacier Bay and other spots. I'd think the July 2 cancelled cruise would be a chance for them to work on the ship somewhere--I know I had a HAL Mexico trip delayed a day while they had divers working on the propulsion system, so maybe they can try a fix without going into dry dock. 

 

Definitely no ziplining! I've done 2 AK cruises (oddly enough I don't like going on them except to AK....just find it relaxing and beautiful). I really just wanted different stops. I would have loved to have gone on the NCL Bliss because it has to me a great itinerary with sitka and Icy but it was way too much money for me. 

 

Part of me is also just excited to finally be able to pay for a balcony (I was too cheap to pay for it on the 2 I went on and regret  going cheap) and eat and drink good food since the rates on Princess right now is affordable. 

 

 

[The Collie]

-

Edited June 10, 2022 by The Collie
repeat

[The Collie]

5 hours ago, BobbySu said:

The ship went to neither.  just sea days.

 

And to TheCollie, OP, book the Discovery unless you want the slow boat to Glacier Bay.  Whatever is wrong with the ship will not be fixed any time this summer.  (when are they going to fix it???, while they are docked in Skagway?)  

LOL yeah I was wondering realistically where they would do the repairs. I'm leaning now to Discovery, I just wanted Icy since I have never been there. 

[caribill]

1 hour ago, The Collie said:

Yep that's what I thought too. It almost to me seemed like they will cancel the July 2 cruise using that time to fix the engine but that they are waiting to the last minute to tell the people on that sailing.

 

 

The roll call for July 2 is small with the latest entry being a week ago.

 

No mention of cancellation on the roll call.

[The Collie]

15 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The roll call for July 2 is small with the latest entry being a week ago.

 

No mention of cancellation on the roll call.

Not yet

[AE_Collector]

Drydock for the Crown is October 2 to 18. 
 

@The Collie you needed to do the Royal Princess 12 day Vancouver Alaska round trip in may. We took it rather than doing a 14 day North-South as it stopped at Icy Point Straight as well as Sitka. Plus the usual 3 stops and 3 glazier days.

Icy Point Straight was interesting if you leave the dock area as Hoonah is very close by. We did a walking tour from a wildlife rescue area through a large park and into Hoonah. We had a good time. They do this 12 day again in September but in Grand Princess.

[wolvey]

I just chatted with a princess rep and stated that for the july 2 sailing, it says it's unavailable and asked if it was sold out.  they replied "Yes all the stateroom was occupied for the July 2 cruise on Crown Princess."

 

guess everyone decide to go cruising on their independence day vacay.

[TheValleyGirl]

Not sure what I think about that date being unavailable, but I don't think that Princess rep has the full story as truly sold out would mean completely oversold and we're still a few weeks out. It does make me nervous as someone on another thread mentioned Crown might be waiting for parts that are difficult to get in a timely manner--maybe the parts aren't arriving anytime soon (like this summer) and they have to re-evaluate? Not trying to stir the pot, but I'm actually hoping it's a brief website/booking glitch.

[SmedonSeas]

23 hours ago, BobbySu said:

Oh, I also wanted to say we were on the Crown for the 18th sailing and had neither Ketchikan or ISP listed.  Just an extra sea day along with the very short stop in Juneau.  

Did they give you the $100 onboard credit?