Slow boat to Alaska

[hunt182644]

Doing the Crown cruise to Alaska in Sept, as we have done this before we are just looking to enjoy a get away trip. Was a party of four now down to just the two of us. Have been watching the Sept 10 roll call for quite some time, hardly any response four posts. One of which cancelled recently. Am beginning to think we may be some of the lonely passengers on this cruise LOL. Reason for this post is there anyone on CC who who is going on the slow boat or do you know anyone? If you have recently been on how was the trip and very many passengers.🙂

[Rick&Jeannie]

Given that the Crown is going into dry dock in early October, there is NO hope of the propulsion issues being repaired before your cruise.  (It would have been done by now if it were possible.)  Unless you're a glutton for punishment and disappointment I would seriously consider changing ships!

[hpeabody]

Has anyone actually seen something in print by Princess stating that the scheduled dry dock will address the propulsion/generator/electrical whatever the issues are?  I do not have high hopes they will be able to resolve whatever the issues are.  I am in the camp of they should never have restarted Crown in the poor shape she is in.  I have a November booking to the South Pacific that I will cancel because I am just very very afraid of setting foot on that ship.  I am imagining being stranded out in the middle of the Pacific ocean unable to get anywhere or that the cruise turns into a huge disappointing disaster.   It makes me angry that Princess has already re-deployed Crown cruises in 2023 to another ship.  Hey, what about those of us who were book in later 2022 after Alaska.  We would be stuck with this limping ship ????  If they would swap the Crown for another ship, I would keep my booking. 

[brisalta]

9 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

Has anyone actually seen something in print by Princess stating that the scheduled dry dock will address the propulsion/generator/electrical whatever the issues are?  I do not have high hopes they will be able to resolve whatever the issues are.  I am in the camp of they should never have restarted Crown in the poor shape she is in.  I have a November booking to the South Pacific that I will cancel because I am just very very afraid of setting foot on that ship.  I am imagining being stranded out in the middle of the Pacific ocean unable to get anywhere or that the cruise turns into a huge disappointing disaster.   It makes me angry that Princess has already re-deployed Crown cruises in 2023 to another ship.  Hey, what about those of us who were book in later 2022 after Alaska.  We would be stuck with this limping ship ????  If they would swap the Crown for another ship, I would keep my booking. 

 

Dry docks are typically to address major maintenance items which a propulsion problem may be. It may be that they attempted to fix the problem underway such as cleaning accumulated organisms in the cooling system but the solution failed or revealed other problems.

@chengkp75 may have further comments regarding this.

Edited June 25, 2022 by brisalta

[seaside sally]

36 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

Has anyone actually seen something in print by Princess stating that the scheduled dry dock will address the propulsion/generator/electrical whatever the issues are?  I do not have high hopes they will be able to resolve whatever the issues are.  I am in the camp of they should never have restarted Crown in the poor shape she is in.  I have a November booking to the South Pacific that I will cancel because I am just very very afraid of setting foot on that ship.  I am imagining being stranded out in the middle of the Pacific ocean unable to get anywhere or that the cruise turns into a huge disappointing disaster.   It makes me angry that Princess has already re-deployed Crown cruises in 2023 to another ship.  Hey, what about those of us who were book in later 2022 after Alaska.  We would be stuck with this limping ship ????  If they would swap the Crown for another ship, I would keep my booking. 

My husband and I are booked for The Crowns first cruise after drydock to Hawaii.....I am following all the threads that I can to keep up to date on what may or may not happen.  I have concerns for sure, but hoping her current problems will be fixed for that 15 day cruise

[deliver42]

Princess, in my opinion is handling the Crown issue as badly as they possibly can.

[hunt182644]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Given that the Crown is going into dry dock in early October, there is NO hope of the propulsion issues being repaired before your cruise.  (It would have been done by now if it were possible.)  Unless you're a glutton for punishment and disappointment I would seriously consider changing ships!

I wonder did you even take time to read what I posted. We have done this cruise previously and been to several of the ports before. Just looking for a cheap seven day get away. Thanks for taking time to post tho. Actually don't care if they make any ports or if it takes an extra week to get back to Seattle.

 

[svend52]

1 hour ago, seaside sally said:

My husband and I are booked for The Crowns first cruise after drydock to Hawaii.....I am following all the threads that I can to keep up to date on what may or may not happen.  I have concerns for sure, but hoping her current problems will be fixed for that 15 day cruise

My wife and I are booked for the 1/31/23 Hawaiian cruise(rebooked from our COVID cancelled cruise) and  like you are following all the 'Crown threads', have concerns and are hopeful the propulsion issues will be taken care of during the dry dock. Agree with all that Princess should have had the Crown 'ship shape' before she was put back in service. Will surely cancel if those issues aren't remedied in the dry dock. Would love it if they decided to go with our favorite the Emerald for those cruises. Wishful thinking. 

[Riley_Mon]

If you aren’t worried about the ports then based on what I have read on other cruises the Crown will be a great experience. Just got off and the service was great, no long waits and high quality , energetic service everywhere.

 

Lots to complain about to corporate for how they handled it but while on the boat I had zero complaints 

[pamps2801]

17 hours ago, hunt182644 said:

Doing the Crown cruise to Alaska in Sept, as we have done this before we are just looking to enjoy a get away trip. Was a party of four now down to just the two of us. Have been watching the Sept 10 roll call for quite some time, hardly any response four posts. One of which cancelled recently. Am beginning to think we may be some of the lonely passengers on this cruise LOL. Reason for this post is there anyone on CC who who is going on the slow boat or do you know anyone? If you have recently been on how was the trip and very many passengers.🙂

What sometimes happens is that there are a lot of first timers on these cruises who are totally unfamiliar with cruise critic. We recently did a b2b to Alaska, and there were only 3 comments on one blog and 5 for the return trip, yet the ship was almost full. 

[bittygeorgia]

I was on Crown 6/11-18.  LIke you, I've been to Alaska many times and was happy just to be going up there.  My friend had never been, and it was disappointing for her to miss Ketchikan.  And my favorite part of the cruise is actually the inside passage, which we didn't have, either.

I wasn't expecting much from this cruise. When we got done, I can honestly say it was one of the best cruises I have been on.  The best room steward I have ever had, the food was good (usually just plentiful), and every one of the staff was great, including casino personnel.  I did have issues with the front desk regarding Port Valet which took 3 days to fix, but it all ended up well.

I say, take the cruise.  You will enjoy it, if that's what you want to do.

[JimmyVWine]

27 minutes ago, bittygeorgia said:

I wasn't expecting much from this cruise. When we got done, I can honestly say it was one of the best cruises I have been on.  The best room steward I have ever had, the food was good (usually just plentiful), and every one of the staff was great, including casino personnel.  I did have issues with the front desk regarding Port Valet which took 3 days to fix, but it all ended up well.

I say, take the cruise.  You will enjoy it, if that's what you want to do.

While I don’t have any opinion on the go/cancel issue, I just want to say “Thank you, and I love your attitude.”  

[jk04]

We were also on the 6/11 Crown sailing with the remainder of our group.  Half of the group had to switch to the second sailing in May.  Three of us had sailed this itinerary before, the other five their first time to Alaska.  So, the reduced time in Juneau plus the missed port was disappointing.  But, we had a fabulous whale watching trip in Juneau seeing both Orcas and Humpbacks.  Everyone enjoyed their excursions in Skagway or just walking around the town.  And, the weather in Glacier Bay was picture perfect with lots of otters and seals.

 

As bittygeorgia said, every single one of the staff was fantastic.  We enjoyed time with our family and friends around the Explorers Lounge and caught several shows, a couple hysterical like the Liar's Club (?).  We also spent many relaxing hours in various places reading or watching the scenery.  If you are interested in Specialty Dining I would suggest making reservations early.  Embarkation and Disembarkation was very smooth.

 

My only real issue with the cruise itself was the vibration, grinding, and shudder.  We were in an almost aft cabin on Deck 8 and it was pretty bad.  Felt like the ship was going to shake herself apart.  Plus, paying the price we did when we booked over a year ago and getting 40% less time in Alaska ports.

 

If you are able to get a great price on the cruise and you have knowledge of the issues, this can be a nice relaxing cruise with possibly low passenger counts.  It's Alaska and it's still beautiful!

Edited June 29, 2022 by jk04

[disudds]

I really appreciate the positive posts from those who have sailed the troubled Crown as we are booked with a large family group on August 20. Because of the size of our group, changing is not an option, and  we normally sail NCL and have always been happy. This will be our second Alaska cruise and we upgraded to a club suite, knowing that we'd be unlikely to repeat excursions we've already done and wanting a comfortable place to hang out.

 

I also started a roll call and have had very little participation, which I've wondered about, and yet, none of my family is participating in  that either so ignorance of CC could be a thing.

 

So, I guess we are looking forward to a nice relaxing drive by Alaska. There's worse things in life!

[pris993]

On 6/25/2022 at 4:31 AM, hunt182644 said:

Doing the Crown cruise to Alaska in Sept, as we have done this before we are just looking to enjoy a get away trip. Was a party of four now down to just the two of us. Have been watching the Sept 10 roll call for quite some time, hardly any response four posts. One of which cancelled recently. Am beginning to think we may be some of the lonely passengers on this cruise LOL. Reason for this post is there anyone on CC who who is going on the slow boat or do you know anyone? If you have recently been on how was the trip and very many passengers.🙂

You are not alone,  we are on Royal for holiday cruise in December, roll call also very slow.  

[JeffT237]

 

1 hour ago, disudds said:

So, I guess we are looking forward to a nice relaxing drive by Alaska. There's worse things in life!

 

According to the current roll call the Crown has made her itinerary including Icy Straight Point.  That's great news for those who are on the upcoming cruises.  Sounds like ports have been on time and excursions have gone off as scheduled. So really only Ketchikan is missed from the original itinerary but Icy has replaced it and a shortened Juneau time, that's not ideal but you should have some more time on land than the previous Crown cruises.  Plus according to Cruisemapper it looks like the Crown is hitting 20 knots pretty regularly now, enjoy!

[hunt182644]

2 hours ago, disudds said:

I really appreciate the positive posts from those who have sailed the troubled Crown as we are booked with a large family group on August 20. Because of the size of our group, changing is not an option, and  we normally sail NCL and have always been happy. This will be our second Alaska cruise and we upgraded to a club suite, knowing that we'd be unlikely to repeat excursions we've already done and wanting a comfortable place to hang out.

 

I also started a roll call and have had very little participation, which I've wondered about, and yet, none of my family is participating in  that either so ignorance of CC could be a thing.

 

So, I guess we are looking forward to a nice relaxing drive by Alaska. There's worse things in life!

Just curious are you talking about the Seattle and back to Seattle on Sept. 10 on the Crown Princess? A gentleman, ron1946 started a roll call the first of Feb. There at this time are only 4 replys to the roll call.

[hunt182644]

2 hours ago, disudds said:

I really appreciate the positive posts from those who have sailed the troubled Crown as we are booked with a large family group on August 20. Because of the size of our group, changing is not an option, and  we normally sail NCL and have always been happy. This will be our second Alaska cruise and we upgraded to a club suite, knowing that we'd be unlikely to repeat excursions we've already done and wanting a comfortable place to hang out.

 

I also started a roll call and have had very little participation, which I've wondered about, and yet, none of my family is participating in  that either so ignorance of CC could be a thing.

 

So, I guess we are looking forward to a nice relaxing drive by Alaska. There's worse things in life!

Hope you excuse my tired eyes, thought you were talking about Sept. !0 not August my bad.

[redtop101]

1 hour ago, JeffT237 said:

 

 

Plus according to Cruisemapper it looks like the Crown is hitting 20 knots pretty regularly now, enjoy!

Yes, I’ve been following the Crown Princess on CruiseMapper.com and very happy to see she is no longer “limping” along - maintaining 20 knots quite regularly in open water. Now, if they could only fix the aft vibration issues in time for our Sept 22nd 10 night Pacific Coastal cruise. 

 

[Riley_Mon]

consistent 20 knots was not my experience. There were periods when we would be moving along quite well and then periods where the ship felt like it was barely moving,. I'm not sure if this was because they were trying to hit a port at a specific time or not but we missed our arrival time in Juneau and had our shore excursions canceled. This was last week.

[tja273]

On 6/30/2022 at 12:12 PM, redtop101 said:

Yes, I’ve been following the Crown Princess on CruiseMapper.com and very happy to see she is no longer “limping” along - maintaining 20 knots quite regularly in open water. Now, if they could only fix the aft vibration issues in time for our Sept 22nd 10 night Pacific Coastal cruise. 

 

 

We were on deck 9 and mid-forward, so the vibration was never really an issue for us EXCEPT one night dining in the Botticelli Dining Room. If I didn't know about it ahead of time, I would have been concerned. It sounds and feels like they are pushing the remaining engines as hard as they can go. On the rest of the ship, for us, it wasn't a big deal.

[redtop101]

7 hours ago, tja273 said:

 

We were on deck 9 and mid-forward, so the vibration was never really an issue for us EXCEPT one night dining in the Botticelli Dining Room. If I didn't know about it ahead of time, I would have been concerned. It sounds and feels like they are pushing the remaining engines as hard as they can go. On the rest of the ship, for us, it wasn't a big deal.

My wife and I try to get a table for 2 whenever possible. When trying to make Dine My Way dinner reservations the Da Vinci dining room mid-ship deck 6 was only available for shared tables at that time. We booked a table for 2  in the Botticelli Dining. I then read on CC about the vibration issues in that aft dining room. Since then, my brother and his wife have decided to book this cruise, so we have now reserved a table for 4 back in the Da Vinci Dining Room. 

[Riley_Mon]

it was noticeable in Sabatini's too - 16th deck and the room is vibrating

[PacnGoNow]

What are the using the DR Michelangelo for?  CC?  Midship 5.

[Riley_Mon]

It was closed during our cruise.