jk04

I hope you have a great time!!

@JeffT237 Thank you for starting this thread. Our group is on the June 11th cruise and when we received the initial email decided as a group to make the best of it. At that time, Juneau was still a 1430 arrival and Ketchikan was swapped with Icy Strait Point. We did receive an email from Princess explaining the situation plus a Goodwill $100 OBC. We were trying to be flexible and thought some of the issues would probably be corrected by June as the ship continued to sail and worked out the kinks. However, the engine problems continued to deteriorate, port times reduced further or eliminated and excursions canceled. They were providing various OBC and 20% FCC to those affected. Apparently the arrival time to Juneau had changed twice more and finally Icy Strait Point completely removed. This has been made a permanent change for the next four sailings leaving 05/28 thru 06/18 (as your sheet indicates). At that point absolutely no communication from Princess about the changes although we were contacted by Tour Operators to cancel excursions. Once we did receive an email from Princess, it's just a 'due to engine issues there is an itinerary change'. No mention of a Goodwill gesture or even 'We're sorry'. I'm assuming we are to expect no compensation of any kind because they did thoughtfully reiterate the Passage Contract after the revised itinerary.

For those that were on the cruises since the restart, they were given various amounts of OBC and 20% FCC. Based on the email we received last night, there is no additional OBC offered, except the initial $100 everyone had been given for switching Icy Strait with Ketchikan, and no mention of any FCC offers. Not even a sorry. Just the 'Important Notice' at the bottom quoting the Passage Contract. So, it seems the next four cruises will receive no further compensation since the itinerary is now published.

I don't thing Crown has enough speed to make it to Juneau any earlier than what is now planned. Changing the time in Victoria on the back-end won't help with that.

Re-read the paragraphs of the Passage Contract Princess specifically referenced in the email about the itinerary change. Honestly, they way it's worded, they could put us on the ship, chug us up to Victoria to satisfy PVSA and bring us back to Seattle and there is nothing we can do about it. Princess is basically refusing to take the ship out of service due to mechanical issues and refund the fares. But instead, offer an itinerary that is much less than what we paid for and hide behind the Passage Contract. Yes, I know we can probably call and maybe get a FCC, moved to a different ship, or later itinerary. At this point, we are not sure we will sail Princess again.

I get that we signed the Passage Contract. And, we stayed with the Crown because of Glacier Bay, also thinking the engine issues would start to work itself out, and to try to make the best of things. You know, a day on a cruise is better than a day at work. At some point the terms of the contract has to be unfair to the passenger. We finally got the email from Princess last night about 2330. It outlines the changes to the itinerary with the 3rd time change to Juneau and finally dropping Icy Strait Point, which was an earlier sub for Ketchikan. In the first email when Icy Strait was swapped for Ketchikan, we did get a sorry and a $100 OBC for our trouble. In this email there is no sorry, not one mention of an OBC, FCC, nothing. They did, however, throw the Passage Contract in our face at the end of the itinerary, and I think that is disgraceful. This cruise originally included a little over 30 hours in Alaskan ports (not including Victoria). With all the changes, the next four cruises are going to get about 18. I'm not including the extra early hour in Skagway because there is not a thing we can do with that. Our early excursion there has already been canceled due to operational issues. So, we are basically losing 40% of our time to actually visit Alaska to watching Alaska. Most of the cruises have also been late to Victoria and canceling all excursions there. We have quite a bit of money invested in this trip, along with friends and family in our group. It takes time to coordinate the flights, finding dog-sitters, a caretaker for my Mom, the usual things everyone has to go through to plan a vacation. We are trying to put a good face on this but it's becoming increasingly difficult. At this point, I wish they would just cancel the cruises and repair the ship. I don't want FCC, I would prefer a refund.

Freedom had the funnel catch fire, pretty extensive damage. Passengers will have to wait for another ship to get them on Saturday. Harmony was docking in Jamaica and took out a pier smaller boats used for docking. Minor damage to Harmony, not sure about the dock.

That is what I would feel bad about as well. It’s not their fault, they aren’t making the decisions. But I’m sure it’s difficult not to get frustrated.

@Crow9 Sorry your thread has been hi-jacked for other discussions. I did appreciate all your time and effort with the review, updates, and pictures. Thank you! 😊

This is the third Alaska cruise I have done with Princess on this itinerary. We usually do this every 3-5 years as a Family and Friends cruise. Since we normally go as a group and have first time cruisers, RT out of a Seattle is one of the more economical ports for an Alaskan cruise. Plus, we love Glacier Bay and feel that is just a must-see for first timers. Of course, prior cruises were pre-Covid and never experienced any kind of these issues on any of our Princess cruises. We wanted to stick with Crown because of Glacier Bay, but still expect a bit more of an Alaska cruise experience for our dollar. I have no idea if we even can switch to Discovery at this late date.

Unless we are now reading the itinerary/travel summary on an hourly/regular basis, we can't keep up with the time changes. I had no idea Juneau had changed from 1430 to 1630 since we didn't get a notification email. Read about those changes on here and then it was quickly changed to 1730. We need program notes to keep up.

I know, we have received probably 3-4 emails over the last few days that the beverage package has a new name. But, can't be bothered to let us know our itinerary is changing. Our private excursion company called and will try to work with us on the whale watching tour in Juneau. May be a shortened trip, but they are going to try. Otherwise, we will get a full refund.

Just looked at our itinerary and excursions in the Cruise Personalizer. We are on the June 11th sail date. It now shows arriving Juneau at 1730 departing at 2245, the full day in Skagway, cruising Glacier Bay, but Icy Strait Point has been removed. Victoria is still scheduled for the 1900 arrival. Princess seems to have notified the Alaska travel partners, updated their website in record time, but has not sent one email or given one phone call to the passengers on the Crown for those dates. The lack of communication is what really annoys me since we are now basically paying for what amounts to an expensive drive-by of Alaska. @wolvey I agree with you on this one even though June 11 is our cruise week. Just take the week, fix the ship, and salvage the rest of the season for everyone else at least.

If I miss both my whale watching, I’ll be really disappointed. Only excursions I have. With you on the OBC, we have more than we can use. Maybe I can go crazy in the casino 😂

I used to love that! Agree 😁

So, I wonder if that means the rumored dry dock the week of the 11th is just that, a rumor.

I assume this is for Juneau. We already had to adjust our private whale watching tour that day from 1400 to 1700. I'm sure Princess has no concern for the private excursions but they should have concern for their own tour partners. It's also unfair to them to cancel or change so close to sailing. These tour operators rely on the cruise passengers to make their money as well. I mean, I know everyone will be upset if there are no excursions available, but something has to give somewhere. I know the cruise lines have been bleeding cash the last couple of years and need to recoup their losses. But, I don't think to many people would be happy to book a trip to Disney World only to ride around on the Monorail. Not the same, but you know what I mean....

Non-refundable OBC is just ridiculous...

Wonderful, that would be June 11th, which is our cruise.

I assume it's refundable? So, you could go to the casino slot machine and cash out for the cash if you wanted.

Yes, June 11th. But, they are offering both beverage packages in the cruise planner. So, either I'm confused or Princess is.

I just looked at our Personalizer and same thing, the wording has now been changed to Plus Beverage package as well. However, if I print the Travel Summary from the booking, it still says Premier Drinks. As does the print-out I have in my cruise notebook. We also booked under the Best.Sale.Ever promotion (i.e. Sip and Sail) and I believe the drinks package has always had a limit on the drinks up to a certain amount. The expectation that the really premium drinks would obviously be more expensive. But, if they start categorizing regular call brands into the over $12 limit where they were not previously, that I do not feel is right. However, my name is not on the door and they didn't ask my opinion . And, I can always take my cruise dollars elsewhere. But, we cruise in about 2 weeks so we are stuck with it and hope for the best. I think we are going to follow your plan.....

Macavity and his henchmen capture Old Deuteronomy. What the cut version doesn't really make clear is that Macavity returns disguised as Deuteronomy. His cover is eventually found out and he ends up in a fight with Munkustrap. As Macavity starts to lose the fight he shorts out the lights and escapes. Mr. Mistoffelees is then asked to use his magical powers to restore the lights and bring back Old Deuteronomy. Once he returns, the Jellicle Choice can be made for the journey to the Heaviside Layer. He chooses Grizabella.

Cruise Timetables is the handy website

That is disappointing. We would miss our Harv and Marv if that happens. It's already been shifted to 1700.