PurpleTraveller

Friday June 2 - Embarkation Day After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and walked about ten minutes to Canada Place and arrived at the cruise terminal at 10.15am. We had check-in group A for 10.30am. There were people everywhere and very little organisation. After walking down to the terminal entrance we joined the queue for luggage drop off. The "organisation" of the queue was shambolic. You joined the queue on the right side of the walkway along with passengers for a Royal Carribbean ship which was also leaving and once you made it to the head of the queue you then had to join the queue on the left side of the walkway by walking across the walkway. The person supposedly in control of the queue wasn't watching what was going on as people who were arriving were jumping the queue on the right side of the walkway and simply joining the queue of the left side of the walkway much to the ire of those who had been queuing for quite some time. To say it was chaotic would be an understatement. Once you got to the front of the left hand side queue you then had to get in a lift and go down to the luggage drop off. Then you had to go to a different lift and go up to the hall to collect your medallion. After waiting for a while in the queue for our medallions, a worker decided to make the zigzag for the queue longer and cut off the frail elderly lady using a walker who was in front of us and told her to walk the extra loop of the queue. When she protested and asked if she could just stay where she was she was told to walk the extra distance. It was only when we chimed in and protested on her behalf that the worker begrudgingly allowed the frail elderly lady to stay where she was while we started the extra loop of the queue. After collecting our medallions we then had to walk to another hall to go through security and then on to US Immigration. Next was the Boarding Hall where we were thankfully waved through the Platinum/Elite/Suite side and then queued to get on the ship. After one and a half hours we finally got on the ship at 11.45am. I met people later in the cruise that had taken more than two hours to get on the ship. I can honestly say that this was the worst, most disorganised and chaotic embarkation I have ever experienced. However we were pleased to be on the ship and made our way to our cabin to drop off our hand luggage. E631 is an Obstructed Oceanview cabin located on the starboard side at the aft. We were pleased with the view from the window and liked the layout of the cabin.

Thank you. Very pleased to have you along again and I hope you enjoy the review.

Yes thank you, we had a wonderful cruise! Thanks for following along!

Thursday June 1 - Vancouver Part 2 As we walked along the waterfront there were lovely views across to the Lions Gate Bridge. Further along we walked passed the "Girl in a Wetsuit" statue sitting on a rock. We then walked on to the Empress of Japan figurehead. The figurehead is a replica from the SS Empress of Japan which sailed across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver many times from 1891 to 1922. The original figurehead is now in the Vancouver Maritime Museum. After a light lunch we walked to the Rose Garden. We continued on to the Lost Lagoon and further on we ended up at English Bay Beach before walking back to the hotel. Dinner was at the Sala Thai restaurant on Burrard Street.

Thursday June 1 - Vancouver After a great night's sleep we had the included continental breakfast at the hotel and headed out into the sunshine. We wanted an easy day after our long flight the previous day so planned to walk to Stanley Park. It was lovely walking along the waterfront, watching the seaplanes take off and looking at the moored boats. We came across a large group of Canada Geese with their young. As we walked along the waterfront we saw one of the horse drawn wagon tours starting. We saw the totem poles. And enjoyed the view of the city. At the lighthouse we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing a seal playing in the water.

Wednesday May 31 - Flight Day We flew out of Sydney on United Airlines to San Francisco on a 13 hour flight. After the joy of spending one and a half hours getting through US immigration we then flew on to Vancouver where we spent minutes getting through immigration. After collecting our luggage we hopped onto the SkyTrain which cost CAD9.00 each, to Waterfront station. Our hotel, the Days Inn Downtown, was just a short walk away. We checked in quickly and after dropping our bags in the room we headed to Canada Place. The Holland America Volendam was due to leave at 4.00pm and we had relatives sailing on her who we wanted to wave off. After watching her sail away we went for a walk to Gastown to see the gas clock. We also went to the IGA supermarket in Burrard Street to pick up supplies for the cruise. Dinner was at Mahoney's on the waterfront and then an early night was in order.

Thanks! I hope you had a great time in Australia and that you enjoy the review.

Oh, you will have a great time! I hope you enjoy the review.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy it.

Tuesday May 30 - Departure Day We live three hours west of Sydney so we caught the train to Sydney and stayed the night at a hotel near the airport before our morning flight. The annual Vivid Sydney Festival that runs from 26 May to 17 June this year was on so we decided to start our sightseeing early and go into the city to see the lights. After enjoying the lights we caught the train to the airport where we had an early night so that we could be up early the next day.

It's been four long years since my last Princess cruise and review. We are an Australian couple in our late fifties and mid sixties who love to travel, usually for four to six weeks during our Australian winter. Our ideal trip is to combine a cruise with land travel and we usually don't do many organised shore excursions and prefer to DIY where possible. This trip started as a plan to visit friends who live near Seattle and ended up with an Alaskan cruise and two weeks travelling around south western Canada added to make a six week trip. Even though the cruise was six weeks ago we have only just returned home and I now have time to write a review. This review will have our pre cruise time in Vancouver, the cruise and our post cruise time in Vancouver.

We also had a poor experience on our June 2 cruise on Crown Princess with the whale watching excursion we had booked for Icy Strait Point. When we first booked the excursion, when the excursions opened for booking, it was at 8.30am. A few months later it was changed to 9.30am without notifying us but I noticed on my Travel Summary. When we got on board and looked at the tickets the meeting time was 10.45am. Thinking that there had been an error I immediately went to the shore excursion desk only to be told that four whale watching excursions had been merged into one, once again with no notification. When I asked if there was another whale watching excursion in the afternoon I was told that the new time of 11.00am was the only whale watching excursion. As the time of 11.00am did not suit our plans for the day I had to cancel the excursion. Fortunately I was able to book a morning Wilderness Tour but was still disappointed to miss out on whale watching. When in Ketchikan we met a couple who did a Princess whale watching excursion in Icy Strait Point at 2.00pm and the friends that they were travelling with had done a 2.30pm Princess whale watching excursion. Why I was not offered either of these options I do not know (maybe they were sold out) and the lack of communication from the shore excursion department was very poor. While circumstances change there is no excuse for the lack of communication (Princess can manage to send me numerous marketing emails each week). You should not have to wait until you are on board the ship or land tour to find out about changes or cancellations of tours booked through Princess. We have been on eleven Princess cruises so are not new to Princess.

This is the damage as at 3.30pm Friday. Lot's of grinding noise to be heard from inside the hull.

The company was Juneau Tours and I think the buses were white and blue. They were clearly marked "Juneau Tours" and the buses were more modern than the "Blue Bus". There were quite a few companies that had the little tour booths and we chose Juneau Tours at random and were very happy with their service. All the companies charged the same amount for the shuttle service to the glacier.

When I was in Juneau in June, when we got to the dock (we had to tender) we just went to the line of little ticket booths near the Juneau Visitor Center and bought tickets for a shuttle bus to and from Mendenhall Glacier with Juneau Tours. The tickets were USD45 each plus tax. The shuttle bus was quick and easy and dropped us in the carpark (Bear Stop) near the visitor center.

Thank you for another wonderful review of your journey. I am so pleased that you had a fantastic day connecting with your family and friends. Such a great thing to do while travelling. I'm thoroughly enjoying following your travels and look forward to reading more. Thanks again. Allison 😊

Thank you for another thoroughly enjoyable review. I am doing a seven day Greek Islands cruise on Infinity in June 2024 followed by a ten day Italy and Croatia cruise from Rome on Constellation. I have been to all the Greek ports previously but it is lovely to see your wonderful photos. Thanks. 😊

I'm just off the Crown and the most annoying thing I found with the wardrobe area sensor light is that it would turn off when I was getting something out of the safe or closet. Having to move back to the entryway and then back to the closet each time to get the light to turn on again when looking for something was frustrating. At our stewards suggestion we rolled up two hand towels (and he gave us two extra hand towels) and placed them on the floor, over the sensor lights in the bottom of the bedside stands, to stop them randomly coming on. He also said that random checks were made to make sure sensors were operational.

Oops, typo mistake. I was there on a Sunday in June 2022 not 2023. Sorry.

I was there on a Sunday in June 2023 and the train was not running on that day. We paired up with another couple and got a taxi to Olympia, the taxi waited two hours for us and then returned us to Katakolon for €80 which cost us €20 per person. There was no booths or anyone selling transport to Olympia at the dock exit but hopefully that will have changed this year.

Thanks for your report. I get on tomorrow and have packed a bit of everything and plan to layer. Good to hear that you thought the food was very good. Hope you have enjoyed your cruise.

A few years ago (pre Covid) we were able to leave the ship, get the free shuttle to the port gate (this was before there was a paid shuttle directly to the train station), walk from the port gate shuttle stop to the train station, buy our tickets and get what was then the 8.01am train to Rome. You should be able to make the 7.58am train.

Thank you so much for posting your gorgeous photos! Your weather looks spectacular and I really hope we have some good luck and get similar weather for the June 2 cruise. Hope you enjoy the remainder of your cruise!

Last year it was €3pp so the price has doubled which is quite an increase. Does anyone know approximately how much a taxi would cost?

I've been using a travel cube for years to charge my phone etc and find it to be excellent as you only need to find one wall plug. I'm really enjoying following your trip. I'll be on board on June 2 and can't wait! Thanks for taking the time to post your report. 🛳️