Live from the Crown Princess–r/t LA-Hawai’i–March 2-17, 2023

[NIkkiGR]

32 minutes ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Hey, fore I forget, does Princess still give out the princess patter? Don't have or will never get an app, jest have a flip phone. 

We had the option of either a digital version of the patter or the paper for our upcoming cruise on March 17. The only kicker is the you need to make your choices on the app. However when you log into Princess you can choose  the web version of the app. 

[Elkhorn20fan]

Have a great cruise. We are looking forward to your live posts. We have spent 6 weeks over the years on the Crown and loved every one. 

 

Can't wait to meet you both next year on the Discovery Princess

 

Lloyd

[cr8tiv1]

54 minutes ago, NIkkiGR said:

We had the option of either a digital version of the patter or the paper for our upcoming cruise on March 17. The only kicker is the you need to make your choices on the app. However when you log into Princess you can choose  the web version of the app. 

 

Better than the Journey View is the Ocean Concierge version. 

crown.princess.com

Once you are on board. 

[travelin.sisters]

Pre-cruise

Booking & Trip Prep

I often book cruises shortly after they become available as it makes it easy to get the rooms we want & sometimes it is the best price/perks combination. Our TA is very good about refaring if the price goes down & in the past this has been an easy process. This cruise I booked much later than usual as I was waiting on the end of the year Christmas sailings. I do dream of someday doing a Christmas cruise to Hawai’i but it was not to be with this year’s offerings so we booked this. 

 

I do feel bad for our TA this past year…she has worked so hard to get the rooms. deals & rates we wanted. For this cruise, like always I picked out the rooms we wanted, mid-aft (less walking for BIL) Aloha (because it makes us smile when the elevator says Aloha as we arrive to our deck) balcony with an inside across the hall. For some reason neither the TA nor her Princess person could see the rooms I had chosen as available nor anything in that section. On my web page I saw lots of possibilities, but it took until the next day before they could get us something that worked. This has seemed to be a pattern, what used to be easy has gotten harder & harder when dealing with Princess this past year. It was working well when cruising first opened back up, but as more & more people are returning it has gotten more difficult to do what was once simple. It seems to take her calling multiple times until she finds the person who knows what to do.

 

Anyway, my wonderful TA finally got us booked & the planning could begin. First step was to book the excursion to the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu. When I did my first cruise to Hawai’i in 2019, the one thing from my land-based visit with my parents about 50 years ago that I most wanted to do again was the PCC. Unfortunately, I did not realize that they were not open on Sundays & that was when we were there. Next, I booked the excursion when we were scheduled for Oahu on our Hawai’i, Tahiti & Samoa cruise in 2020, but that never sailed. When sailing resumed, we booked for Jan 2022, carefully picking a cruise that did not dock in Honolulu on Sunday & booked the excursion…but when cruises were finally allowed back to the islands (we were the very first one) they had to stop in Honolulu first so they changed our itinerary & we docked on…a Sunday! Finally, I think we will be going to the PCC in a week!

 

We booked some other excursions which I will talk about when we get there. Ordered a package of water bottles each (no beverage package this trip) & a coffee card for BIL (it is still showing on his travel summary, but we will see tomorrow if he gets it or not). This is our 4th cruise with the Medallion App so that went pretty smoothly except they messed my sister’s account before our last cruise (the computer changed her birth date) & she still can’t sign in to her account, she has to use her booking number to access it which is a pain because who remembers booking numbers. I got my medallion in the mail at no charge (I ordered before the changes) but they did not receive theirs, perhaps because the computer this time changed the date of birth on her passport (which had been right & she had been green earlier) & she was blue again? Not really a problem, they are fast & easy to pick up (at least at our port).

 

The one sad part of cruising is saying goodbye to the fuzzy person. However, she gets to go on her own “dude ranch” adventure & hang out with her uncle. We took advantage of a break in the unusually stormy February we have been having to take Koa (named for the beautiful Hawai’ian wood often used in ‘ukuleles–it means brave, fearless, warrior & she is definitely a warrior princess) for her vacation.

\

 

List of my posts in this LIVE: 

Introduction~post 1

Pre-cruise: packing~post 10

Pre-cruise:  booking & trip prep~post 29

[travelin.sisters]

8 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

Have a great cruise and thanks for taking us along! I look forward to seeing and hearing about the adventures of the Stanley Bears!

here they (Captain Stanley Bear, Ruby Princess Stanley Bear & Baby Brother Stanley Bear) are, ready to board (about 3 weeks early)

[travelin.sisters]

4 hours ago, memoak said:

Do people not do research on ships before they book ?  

 

3 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

My husband doesn’t… he says any ship is a good ship. 

...one of the lovely things about cruising is that we can make it what we want...I am a planner & want all the info I can get, others like to just take a leap & see what good things come...most I imagine are somewhere in the middle...if we were all the same, in life or on a cruise, how boring it would be

[travelin.sisters]

4 hours ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Hi, having never cruised on the Crown before, will be lookin forward to your posts. Will be on the Crown in Sept to Alaska, an can't wait. Was on the Navigator ots back in Nov an had a wonderful time, was the first cruise in 3 yrs an had a blast, now got to see Alaska again!!! Please let me know if they have a Chef's table, like on Royal or any specialty restaurants.

hope to do a tour of the ship tomorrow depending on when we actually get to board but if I forget to answer your questions after we've been on a few days, please don't hesitate to ask again

 

[travelin.sisters]

2 hours ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Hey, fore I forget, does Princess still give out the princess patter? Don't have or will never get an app, jest have a flip phone. 

yes there is a patter (some ships you apparently have to ask, although you can do that in the pre-registration) but all three that we were on last year it was delivered nightly...it is much shorter than previously, just one page double sided with hours that things are open & the daily schedule, no sales ads or interesting articles about the crew, ports or other passengers

[travelin.sisters]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Better than the Journey View is the Ocean Concierge version. 

crown.princess.com

Once you are on board. 

thank you for sharing this...it is so much easier to scroll through the whole schedule (too bad you can't bookmark in it anymore but still a great thing for people to konw)

[kiwimum]

Were you on the Grand in 2022 to Hawaii?

[travelin.sisters]

4 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Were you on the Grand in 2022 to Hawaii?

yes January 2022...first cruise into the islands after the pause

[Happiest when cruising]

29 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

 

...one of the lovely things about cruising is that we can make it what we want...I am a planner & want all the info I can get, others like to just take a leap & see what good things come...most I imagine are somewhere in the middle...if we were all the same, in life or on a cruise, how boring it would be

I’m a big planner and like to have a plan B,C and D for everything. 
He basically just asks when and where we are going and does his own packing. It must work for us as we have been married for 42 years. 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Happiest when cruising

[travelin.sisters]

6 minutes ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I’m a big planner and like to have a plan B,C and D for everything. 
He basically just asks when and where we are going and does his own packing. It must work for us as we e been married for 42 years. 

can you imagine how hard it would be if he were trying to override your plans with his instead of wisely realizing how good you are at this & letting you do it? sounds like you have figured out how it works best for you in those 42 years!

[kiwimum]

14 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

yes January 2022...first cruise into the islands after the pause

We were on Baja, think you were caribe and we could talk with the crew quarantined on Aloha.  Mostly entertainment staff.   Could see the person who was quarantined in our original cabin on Dolphin and exercising.
Enjoy your trip.

Edited March 2, 2023 by kiwimum

[Happiest when cruising]

16 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

can you imagine how hard it would be if he were trying to override your plans with his instead of wisely realizing how good you are at this & letting you do it? sounds like you have figured out how it works best for you in those 42 years!

Oh my…that would be harder.  He is pretty easy going, that’s for sure. 
We enjoy most of the same things, but we also spend a fair bit of time apart on a ship, doing our own thing. 

[travelin.sisters]

6 minutes ago, Happiest when cruising said:

Oh my…that would be harder.  He is pretty easy going, that’s for sure. 
We enjoy most of the same things, but we also spend a fair bit of time apart on a ship, doing our own thing. 

one of the many wonderful things about cruising...I need to travel with someone who I can spend time together with happily but who will also be able/willing to go separate directions at times...too much togetherness is crazymaking! 

[travelin.sisters]

30 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

We were on Baja, think you were caribe and we could talk with the crew quarantined on Aloha.  Mostly entertainment staff.   Could see the person who was quarantined in our original cabin on Dolphin and exercising.
Enjoy your trip.

we were actually on Baja also (moved from our favorite Aloha location when they decided to have an entire deck for isolation)--it was definitely an interesting cruise!

[cr8tiv1]

Have not received confirmation from my "source", but you should have a fun surprise upon embarkation.  Sorry for the delayed embarkation. (Crown has not left Ensenada yet).  

[travelin.sisters]

Pre-cruise

Last Day Stuff & Weather

 

So, I thought, foolishly it seems, that I only had two things left to do today (neither of which are done yet at 11pm). I was going to set up my new tablet so I could take it instead of my laptop on the cruise & create a pattern for the embroidery I need to do on the quilt we need to finish on the cruise. After several late & short nights recently, I did one of my favorite things & slept late.

 

Then, ‘wasted’ a little time here on CC, where I discovered that there might be a delay for our ship arriving back to town tomorrow morning. First the Crown tried to stop briefly without allowing passengers off the ship to do the necessary paperwork for a foreign stop & try to go around the storm but after docking the decision was made to stay in port & passengers were told they would not be docking until 9am instead of 6am.

 

After checking for any notification from Princess that our boarding would be delayed (there was none), it was time to run out for some last-minute errands & stop by the TA to finalize our next booking (my sissy decided while we were out dropping off the puppy that it was time to take her youngest granddaughters on a cruise). 

 

While I was out, I stopped to take some photos of the wild seas. This winter has been a crazy one in California, but I thought there was nothing left to worry about in the forecast for our cruise; tomorrow was forecast for sun & warmer & today didn’t seem like much…however…I forgot to look at the marine forecast which was gale force winds! It was definitely blowing hard while I was out taking these.

 

 

 

 

After a nice visit with my TA (who also had no notice that our departure might be delayed) which included a conversation about how helpful CC is & some last-minute purchases, it was home to get to my day's projects. Three or so hours of unexpected family things to deal with later, it was time for dinner & the projects were still untouched. There was also still no notice that our ship was delayed but the ship’s cam & cruisemapper showed her still in Ensenada!

 

A little after 7pm I finally received an email from Princess that our boarding would be delayed by 3 hours. I understand that they couldn’t tell us definitely when boarding would begin until they had all the information, but I also think it would have been helpful for people to have a heads up that there would be some kind of delay & that further info would be coming as it was available. I think there will be any number of people who couldn’t change their transportation & will be stuck at the port outside in the cold for hours. I never did receive a text about this even though I am signed up for text updates. 

 

 

It seems like the plan is to wait in Ensenada until the gale force winds start to abate around midnight before sailing. The latest from the ship is that the captain has announced that they may leave before midnight depending on Coast Guard approval & they expect heavy seas when they do sail. As hard as this is for those boarding tomorrow, it is much worse for many who have to totally redo their travel arrangements in order to return home. Hoping & praying the Crown & her passengers & crew have a safe & relatively uneventful trip back home. 

 

I think that’s it until I see she has arrived on the bridge cam or cruise mapper tomorrow & go out to check how things are at the port. Maybe I can still get my projects for today done today? But whatever else, tomorrow we cruise...

 

update at 11:15 the Crown is finally moving!

 

List of my posts in this LIVE: 

Introduction~post 1

Pre-cruise: packing~post 10

Pre-cruise:  booking & trip prep~post 29

Pre-cruise: last day stuff & weather~post 44

[arizonaperson]

13 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

We had the option of either a digital version of the patter or the paper for our upcoming cruise on March 17. The only kicker is the you need to make your choices on the app. However when you log into Princess you can choose  the web version of the app. 

 Just ask your cabin steward or stewardess for a paper copy of the  Patter and if everybody in the room wants their own you can ask for that as well. I don’t believe that has changed. But if you don’t want a paper copy you just tell them or like a few you said just note it on the app .

[KLM3164]

@travelin.sistersYour pup is so beautiful! I find that the hardest part of traveling is leaving our fur baby at home. 

 

Since the ship arrived late and your embarkation is delayed I’m wondering if you will be able to have lunch in the MDR today?

[startedwithamouse]

2 minutes ago, KLM3164 said:

@travelin.sistersYour pup is so beautiful! I find that the hardest part of traveling is leaving our fur baby at home. 

 

Since the ship arrived late and your embarkation is delayed I’m wondering if you will be able to have lunch in the MDR today?

No, they will be too late for an MDR lunch. 

[travelin.sisters]

44 minutes ago, KLM3164 said:

@travelin.sistersYour pup is so beautiful! I find that the hardest part of traveling is leaving our fur baby at home. 

 

Since the ship arrived late and your embarkation is delayed I’m wondering if you will be able to have lunch in the MDR today?

MDR lunch is the thing that makes me feel like the cruising has started, but I was already prepared that it would not happen as the Crown did not do it on the last cruise (same itinerary) so I was planning on looking, but ready for it not to happen...now boarding does not start until 2 & MDRs only go from 12 to 1:30 so being on the ship will have to be the way I feel the cruise has started.

 

Oh & thank you...we think Koa (the pupper)  is gorgeous too!

[KLM3164]

@travelin.sistersI’m sorry you are missing the MDR lunch today. I also feel like vacation has started as soon as I’m seated in the MDR on embarkation day.

[cr8tiv1]

1:56 PM and embarkation countdown has begun.   10 - 9 - 8 .....

 

"Welcome about the Love Boat"