Crown Princess - Notes
September 5 - 15, 2023
Flights - 9:45 - 12:20 - NP at airport, facial recognition worked seamlessly.
Transfer - KJ Limo Service - good service but expensive will take taxi next time.
Hotel Pan Pacific
Expensive but great location, Bellman delivers your bags to ship
Embarkation
NP arrived at 10:30 in our cabin @ 11:30
Notes on Crown Princess
Cabin
We had a deal on this cruise thus Princess chose our mini suite, D114 , uncovered balcony. If you choose, get a balcony that’s covered. Mattress was deplorable, our steward tried everything but to no avail. I contacted the Hotel Manager and the mattress was changed, or something. It was a lot better.
The ship and our cabin was immaculate.
Food
MDR food was good, serving staff great. Needs improvement on their reservation system, you had to call the “dine line”, not good. The line was seldom answered and you could not reserve a table for two thus without reservation you had to wait in line and they were heavily pushing “shared table”. Most of the time waiting was less than 15 minutes for a table for two.
The buffet was not good, food was cold and repetitive. The carving station had chicken most days. The chicken was massacred, not very appetizing. Breakfast, hot food was cold, cold food hot😩. Same soup, seafood chowder, was served almost everyday. They always had a broth alternative.
International cafe was good but they too had the same soup, seafood chowder, everyday. Salty dog was good, we didn’t eat at the other up charge restaurants. The ship needs more casual food venues especially in Alaska where weather is iffy. Room Service was good.
Disembarkation
I fretted over this as Princess said we could not make an 11:45 flight out of Vancouver internationally. I wasn’t told this until a month before the trip so it was difficult to get another flight , especially a direct flight so we stuck with this flight and had a plan B if we missed.
We did self assist and arrived at the gate at 9:00am. We did use the limo service again but learned that there were plenty of taxis at a flat rate of 38CAD. We will try a taxi next time.
Ship berthed at 7:00am clearance given shortly before 8:00 and we rolled our luggage off. Very easy ramps for disembarking, no elevator or stairs required. Only immigration at dock, have your immigration form ready. You will clear US and Canada formalities at the airport. I could see that if you arrived late this process could take some time.
We had a great time, we love this class of ship with the full promenade on deck 7 and Skywalkers is one of our favorite lounges. Princess could do more to improve customer service on these old ships . Old mattresses should be replaced as a priority. No excuse for cold food with repetitive choices. The staff were always smiling and went out of their way to assist you but they only do what they’re told to do….with a smile.
These are notes, my notes, seniors looking for a holiday after DH knee replacement. The 10 day itinerary was perfect. We would do this again🥰