jayrey

Landings on South Georgia as well as on Saunders Island and West Point on Falklands, and landings along the antarctic continental peninsula as well as some islands. We went on both north side of So. Georgia as well as the south side (zodiac cruise instead of landings because it is rougher there). We also went alongside the A23a iceberg...VERY COOL!!

Just returned (jan 19, 2024) from an 18 day expedition to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica peninsula with Polar Latitudes---fantastic!! I had just the right clothes..mostly polyester fleeces of various thicknesses, mainly bottoms. I had medium and a thick thermal tops and wore thin layers over. ALWAYS warm enough. Got most of them from 32Degrees online. I had thick polyester socks for the muck boots (no need to get boot inserts--I tried them, and they made the boots very tight) along with thinner socks that I wore under those. I had 2 outer pants to wear on he zodiacs and landings---an old pair of ski pants and some water resistant hiking pants. Wore fleece under them. The weather was marvelous and not that cold. South Georgia was probably 35-40, and Antarctica was around 32-35, but we had SUN!! One thing that I would recommend is a goggle that is close-fitting on your face to use as a windbreak and sunglasses when you are on the zodiacs--I do not mean big ski goggles. They are smaller and have an elastic band for the head. Great addition for me! I took along mittens as well as finger clothes. I also had underarmour glove inserts (that let you use a phone camera) that worked well. What do I wish I had brought that I didn't--my fleece gloves that I had left at home. Don't bring any cutesy, dress clothes--everyone is wearing their zodiac clothes generally, or jeans, or just informal stuff.

HERE IS WHAT I SENT TO THE TOP 3 CEOs OF PRINCESS AS WELL AS CARNIVAL, parent company. That was 3 dys ago....no response from anyone. My last line is rather funny (now) considering that the HAL cruise to Norway has been cancelled. I just returned from a week trip to Alaska from Seattle on the Crown Princess yesterday. The cruise was May 7-14. This is the 4th Princess cruise that we have taken, also having done a Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America one time each. And we have always preferred Princess to these other cruise lines (great food, entertainment, well run)………..until now. I am sure that you are revieing or will receive all sorts of complaints from people about this first cruise of the Crown Princess (in 22 months) back to Alaska. I should also say that I have sailed on the CP one other time, without any mishap. I also, on the trip, gave kudos to 3 crew members—Martin in guest services, and room attendants Mirai (B335) and Valentino (L201) for the change of rooms). I did this through guest services. Let me document my trip for you. First, I will tell you that I am not calling this “a trip from hell”, that some other people on the ship called it. I was unhappy at some times, but it was still a nice cruise even with the mishaps. May 7—embarkation day. Took forever. We were to get there between 12:30-1, and by the tie we got up the escalator to the check-in clerks, it was about 1:30. BTW, I had a GREEN on my medallion app: absolutely everything done ahead of time. No hot water in the cabin (L201)—I sent all sorts of notes through crewchat on the medallion app about this as well as talking to Martin in guest service in person. Crewchat told me repeatedly that it was being fixed....NOT. Our room attendant said that it was being fixed. NOT. I waited another whole day and a half and midday on the 9th, I had enough. I went down to guest services (always 10 or more people in line) and asked for another room and was told that it was being fixed. NOT. Then i had to ask again. Martin went out of his way to get us to another room, B335. There was hot water because I tested it and took a shower. Great. However, over the next 3 days hot water came and went—mostly lukewarm. I did not complain since they were good enough to change our room. Besides, I had heard all sorts of other horrible stories about toilets in rooms overflowing and no AC for inside rooms. The other obvious thing that was really annoying was the slow speed of the ship and the constant changing of itineraries---about 3 more changes slipped under the door, or given by the captain about changes in time of arrives. It became a running joke. We had a change in itinerary days before the cruise, then another change the evening before the cruise. Then a couple more slipped under our door. The ship evidently had TWO diesel engine problems (article online about this--Princess Cruise Ship Itinerary Change Due to Engine Maintenance (cruisehive.com)). So why was the ship even used? And even more incredible, it is going out again and again with this same problem. Are you really thinking that you are making people happy and satisfied customers by providing a trip, no matter if it is a shitty experience? The quality control is nonexistant here. Skagway---Our longer railway excursion was changed to a rather boring one that went 14 miles. And we had no time to even see Skagway—immediately got on a train and off the train back on the ship. 4 hrs later than we were supposed to get there. No Juneau or Icy Strait Later into Ketchikan than supposed to be but we had no excursion that day, so just walked Glacier Bay went well Victoria was a fiasco---supposed to be 8pm (way too late to see anything much to begin with but at least we were scheduled for an excursion to Butchart Gardens) but later than that. Got in line to get off of the ship and we were on land at 9:15p.. Our tour was canceled. We had 1 hour to wander around Victoria in the dark. Although we did not have to be back until 12, the bus shuttles stopped running at 11. Buffet food in the Horizon Court not as good as before on other Princess cruises although the restaurants were good. The workers were fantastic and as nice as they could be. But there seemed to be too few of them. Is it true that Princess had no offices opened in the Philippines or Indonesia to hire workers? Thanks for the $100 credit that was given as well as the 20% off for future cruises. However, one really bad experience may not get you your customers back. I am looking forward to my Holland America cruise to Norway this July.