Crown Princess to home port in SF. Mask mandates, and more.

[Italy52]

Have never been on the Crown.  We will be taking her 11-day Alaska cruise in July of '23 --- nice Vancouver-Vancouver itinerary.

 

On another note, we live in Sacramento County and would definitely fly into San Diego rather than LAX.

 

[pmallen]

We're booked on the Ruby to Alaska from SF in Sept 23. Does this mean they will change us to the Crown?

[Yehootu]

20 hours ago, masterty said:

Please keep scrolling if this is all old news. I just learned it. We are finally back on board after a long pause. Last sailed Sky in 2020. We boarded last week to learn "Masks not Required". The staff is masking in public for us. One bartender mentioned there is talk of eliminating staff mask requirements next week. Her fingers are crossed. I also learned the Crown is coming to San Francisco. Told it would be announced August 9th.

There has been no Pub Lunch, no Crab Shack, no Chefs Table, no UST, no hot towels when boarding, no 24/7 IC. Staff mentioned it would all come back once staffing was back up to normal levels. Until then we are just thrilled to be sailing. No complaints whatsoever. Food has been good, staff friendly, drinks avalible. Enjoy your next trip and happy sailing. 

On August 9, the Americas 2023-2024 go on sale for Elite. This is perhaps the "announcement" you might be referring to.

[Cruise Raider]

10 hours ago, pmallen said:

We're booked on the Ruby to Alaska from SF in Sept 23. Does this mean they will change us to the Crown?

No, I think you are safe looks like the Crown will be coming to SF the following month (October 2023).  Well, anything can happen but this is what it looks like at this point.  

 

[MissP22]

23 hours ago, masterty said:

We boarded last week to learn "Masks not Required". The staff is masking in public for us. One bartender mentioned there is talk of eliminating staff mask requirements next week. Her fingers are crossed.

Happy to hear that. All of the crew I talked to were frustrated with wearing them for as much good as they did.

At least we can see their faces again. 

[masterty]

4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Happy to hear that. All of the crew I talked to were frustrated with wearing them for as much good as they did.

At least we can see their faces again. 

Agreed. We find ourselves having to get so close to the workers faces speaking loudly only to have them pull thier mask down eventually to stop having to repeat. Thick foreign accents doesn't help either. I'm 100% in favor of staff "mask required" elimination. JM2C. 

[PrincessLuver]

24 minutes ago, masterty said:

Agreed. We find ourselves having to get so close to the workers faces speaking loudly only to have them pull thier mask down eventually to stop having to repeat. Thick foreign accents doesn't help either. I'm 100% in favor of staff "mask required" elimination. JM2C. 

 

Sounds like you play games with the staff.  

 

On all the cruises we did this year never had a communication problem nor heard staff saying they want to discard masks.  We got to know them very well because we had Club Class dining and play the table games in the casinos.  

 

"Thick Foreign Accent" remark is really telling about how you view the world.  Most of the staff speaks better English than I do.  

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by PrincessLuver

[SiliconCruiser]

I don't get it.  Based upon the Princess listing for the Crown, it looks like will spend time between Seattle, Vancouver, and Los Angeles as it's home ports.  It only stops a couple of times in San Francisco as part of the California Coastal voyages.
Ruby appears to still be home ported in San Francisco, but the Royal will also be home ported in San Francisco until May when the Alaska season starts; it looks like Seattle may be it's home port then, and Ruby will be making Alaska trips out of San Francisco.

We were told by a Princess employee that the Ruby was going to Galveston, but based upon Princess' schedule for the Ruby, it looks like it will be in Galveston while the Royal is home ported in San Francisco, but it will return to San Francisco as her home port during the Alaska season.

 

[suzyed]

On 8/5/2022 at 1:10 PM, masterty said:

Please keep scrolling if this is all old news. I just learned it. We are finally back on board after a long pause. Last sailed Sky in 2020. We boarded last week to learn "Masks not Required". The staff is masking in public for us. One bartender mentioned there is talk of eliminating staff mask requirements next week. Her fingers are crossed. I also learned the Crown is coming to San Francisco. Told it would be announced August 9th.

There has been no Pub Lunch, no Crab Shack, no Chefs Table, no UST, no hot towels when boarding, no 24/7 IC. Staff mentioned it would all come back once staffing was back up to normal levels. Until then we are just thrilled to be sailing. No complaints whatsoever. Food has been good, staff friendly, drinks avalible. Enjoy your next trip and happy sailing. 

We had Pub Lunch last month.

[suzyed]

9 hours ago, Yehootu said:

On August 9, the Americas 2023-2024 go on sale for Elite. This is perhaps the "announcement" you might be referring to.

What exactly is the "Americas"

[Sunwanabe]

I have to give a big praise to all the crew who have remained masked up all this time. I'm sure many would welcome a change from mandatory to reccomended/Optional.

[Allograft]

On 8/5/2022 at 2:02 PM, Cruise Raider said:

Looks like she will be in SF in mid to late October 2023.  

 

Welcome to the Crown!...Do people remember which of the Princess ships used to home port here in the even numbered docks? There was one that was retrofit here like 8 years ago I believe. I used to see it a lot in dry dock.

 

On 8/5/2022 at 2:33 PM, Cruise Raider said:

But, Carnival is also home porting one of their ships in SF (at least for now)

 

Which one?

 

On 8/5/2022 at 4:02 PM, Ombud said:

I will NEVER get on the Crown because of its history.

 

Do tell? what happened? I'm about to get on the Sapphire which caught fire in dry dock 20 years ago....

 

22 hours ago, pris993 said:

 Don't know what you mean by Crown history?  I have never been on Crown.   

 

Same

[Tedferg]

21 hours ago, Italy52 said:

On another note, we live in Sacramento County and would definitely fly into San Diego rather than LAX.

 

Have you thought of Long Beach instead of LAX?

[Ombud]

6 minutes ago, Allograft said:

Do tell? what happened? 

I prefer to not wear shoes which I can normally do in my stateroom. But the sewage backed up, ruined my shoes, couldn't move to another room, propulsion issues,  need i go on??

 

I'll fly to cruise instead of taking Bart to embarcadero 2023-2024 ... but I'm on Royal 1st

[Italy52]

13 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Have you thought of Long Beach instead of LAX?

We only took one cruise using LAX.  Ever since then, we go out of Long Beach.

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Allograft said:

 

Welcome to the Crown!...Do people remember which of the Princess ships used to home port here in the even numbered docks? There was one that was retrofit here like 8 years ago I believe. I used to see it a lot in dry dock.

I do remember seeing ships over there from time to time but don’t know which ones were over there.  
oh .. and I probably won’t be jumping to cruise on the Crown, either … it’s probably my least favorite ship on which I’ve cruised.  

1 hour ago, Allograft said:

As of now, I believe it’s the Carnival Miracle here in San Francisco.   

 

[pris993]

1 hour ago, Allograft said:

 

Welcome to the Crown!...Do people remember which of the Princess ships used to home port here in the even numbered docks? There was one that was retrofit here like 8 years ago I believe. I used to see it a lot in dry dock.

 

 

Which one?

 

 

Do tell? what happened? I'm about to get on the Sapphire which caught fire in dry dock 20 years ago....

 

 

Same

The Grand Princess was home ported in SF for a number of years.  I took about 10 cruises the Grand out of SF.  I took the first cruise on the Grand out of Istanbul in l998.   Grand was retrofitted a number of years ago because the disco frame on the back was too heavy.  Grand was switched to the Ruby, now the Royal will be in port this fall, I am doing a 15 day to Hawaii on the Royal.  

 

Some years ago, Celebrity did some cruises out of SF, wish they still did.

 

I am not interested in going on Carnival. I am too old for Carnival, better for a younger crowd. 

[Ombud]

35 minutes ago, pris993 said:

The Grand Princess was home ported in SF for a number of years. 

Love the Grand!! Has Alfredos, IC, Vines, Skywalkers .... great ship layout

[cr8tiv1]

2 hours ago, Italy52 said:

We only took one cruise using LAX.  Ever since then, we go out of Long Beach.

 

2 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Have you thought of Long Beach instead of LAX?

 

The new People Mover at LAX is suppose to be ready in early 2023.  From what i am seeing, there is a vehicle track that takes people from outside of LAX to 3 (yes, three) elevated drop stations.  From there, you are to walk to any of the 8 terminals.  "Trains" will run every 2 minutes with 4 cars each.  

 

In reverse, I am guessing , you pick up your luggage on ground level, make your way up to the elevated level to catch your "train" to the drop off area to pick up your ride share.  

 

And how is this suppose to "improve" LAX?  No thank you.  LGB for me if at all possible.

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/new-lax-people-movers-on-track-for-2023-completion/

 

[disneyochem]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Love the Grand!! Has Alfredos, IC, Vines, Skywalkers .... great ship layout

I also love the Grand but no Skywalkers!

[Allograft]

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I probably won’t be jumping to cruise on the Crown, either … it’s probably my least favorite ship on which I’ve cruised.  

 

Details please...

[Ombud]

26 minutes ago, disneyochem said:

I also love the Grand but no Skywalkers!

I was on it a long time ago. Turns out they removed it!! Ah well. Still a good ship

[sloopsailor]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

I was on it a long time ago. Turns out they removed it!! Ah well. Still a good ship

 

The Grand was the first of it's class, and the first to get Skywalkers (AKA: The Shopping Cart Handle). It was made of steel and caused stability issues with so much weight up so high and essentially on stilts. Soon after launch cracks started to form in the supports due to all that weight. Over the years the weight and those cracks became a real safety issue, so that section was removed in May 2011. On the other ships in the class, Skywalkers was made out of much lighter aluminum, so the issues the Grand had never materialized. 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by sloopsailor

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, Ombud said:

Love the Grand!! Has Alfredos, IC, Vines, Skywalkers .... great ship layout

 

Me too.   It has been many years.  Crooners was my hangout.   We also enjoyed several cruises on the Crown.  I'm sorry to hear about the problems.    

[caribill]

On 8/5/2022 at 4:08 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

 

 Makes sense to move her to San Francisco in 2023 since the Ruby will be sent to Galveston.

 

The Ruby leaves Galveston for San Francisco April 14, 2023.

 

The Regal will be in Galveston for the 2023-2024 winter season starting December 17,2023.