Alaska on Crown Princess June 2, 2023

[PurpleTraveller]

2 hours ago, dockman said:

That medical emergency delay while sad for the passenger really was quite pleasant as the ship just sat there on far side of lions gate bridge at anchor for couple of hours and the scenery was spectacular in the late afternoon....lots of people out on the decks enjoying the views.

 

I did crown back to back may 23 and then again june 2....may 23 was lots of rain and fog most every day...jun 2 was not a drop of rain and great weather with lots of sunshine...luck of the draw.

 

I felt desperately sorry for the unwell passenger and their travel companion/s to have their cruise cut short so soon and hope they have fully recovered. You are correct that it was a lovely evening to be at anchor in the harbour. We spent hours up on deck enjoying the evening and chatting to other passengers.

 

We were very lucky with our good weather and it was a lot better than forecasted. I hope you enjoyed both of your cruises.

[Coral]

44 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

I found complaints about embarkation surprising. It only took me about 30 minutes to get through check in and customs for my june 25 sailing with rccl. There was a huge celebrity eclipse ship at the same time. I went at 11am. Customs i was lucky to get in a short line which for some reason a lot of people weren't using. It was a little confusing which line you were supposed to go into.

I had no issues on my May 12th cruise with embarkation (on the Crown). I did stay at Pan Pacific so my luggage was transferred. I arrived about 9:45 and was on the ship by 11. I did have to wait quite a bit for the ship to allow for new passengers but that is what happens when you arrive early.

[PurpleTraveller]

2 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

I guess I will have the chance to experience this in October. Staying at the Pan Pacific so maybe a different experience? 😬

 

Hopefully it will not be so busy in October and staying at the Pan Pacific will speed up your boarding. Hope you have a great cruise!

[PurpleTraveller]

2 hours ago, dockman said:

May 23 boarding of crown in yvr was the worst congestion i can remember and i have done a LOT of cruises out of yvr...the biggest hold up seemed to be the US immigration part which is now all machines.  Not sure why or what slowed it all down but it was a LONG wait in line to get through all that which was to check u out of Canada and soon enter into usa i guess.  Big deal but of course after the cruise when you reenter Canada no big deal at all.  I did have elite boarding so got to skip that part which also looked like long lines.

 

The worst part of our embarkation was the queue and disorganisation to do luggage drop off. The US immigration for us as Australians was relatively quick as we were in a different queue to those from the USA which was very long. We were very pleased to miss the boarding hall as we walked straight through the Elite/Platinum/Suite entrance or our embarkation would have taken even longer.

[PurpleTraveller]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Our biggest problem boarding in Vancouver was being lumped in with the passengers from another cruise line in a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong line that wound around and around. Why in the world can't they do it like every other port where passengers from multiple cruise lines aren't lumped into one idiotically long line. I don't care at all about people getting on some other ship. I was supposed to have a "boarding group" time and Elite boarding. Instead I spent a good 90 minutes winding my way through the stupid long line with a ton of other people who were on a different ship. Then I was finally passed through to the next session of scrutiny that was only for the Princess passengers. Stupid, Horrible, Idiotic.

 

It didn't make any sense to us to have everyone from both ships in the same queue to do luggage drop off. Talk about creating chaos! No-one ever looked at our boarding group or time or whether we were "Green" or "Blue". A couple we met on board told us that they had a boarding time of 1.00pm but decided that they wanted to get on board earlier so came when they wanted, so I don't know what the point is to choose a boarding group and time.

[PurpleTraveller]

1 hour ago, sunviking90 said:

We boarded the crown June 23 (Friday) and were on board in 15 -20 minutes. We do have Nexus, so I don’t know how long it would have taken without. We arrived around 10:30 am. We’ve been lucky I guess that we’ve never had to wait “too” long in YVR. It will also depend on how many ships are in that day. We also avoid May cruises as there are always growing pains with new staff, equipment, etc.
The problem with Vancouver is that the facility was built in the 80’s as a convention centre/cruise terminal and the ships were half the size as well as fewer of them. There are a LOT of ships sailing to Alaska this year!

It was expanded about 20 years ago to handle more ships, but not much can be done with the interior set up. The areas they are now using to manage passenger check ins are some of the convention halls. It is also only a “seasonal” port with new seasonal staff every year. Add to that the need for most passengers to funnel through US customs, which is unique (I think) to Vancouver.

At least Vancouver has the advantage of being right downtown and the better scenery of the BC inside passage.

OP thank you for taking the time to do a trip report. It’s nice to relive the cruise through your eyes. We also had an obstructed OV (last minute booking) and I tried to pick the least obstructed I could, but your view was definitely better!

 

I think that you are correct that the terminal facilities simply can't cope with the quantity of embarking passengers that have to be processed in a facility that wasn't built to manage such huge numbers. I'm glad your experience embarking your cruise was a lot quicker. Hope you had a great cruise.

 

I always book fairly early when I am going to be in an obstructed oceanview cabin so I can get the best view possible. Some views are very obstructed! Thanks for reading my review. 😊

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, latebuyer said:

Customs i was lucky to get in a short line which for some reason a lot of people weren't using. It was a little confusing which line you were supposed to go into.

 

We had one line. Only one line for two ships and, while Royal Princess isn't small, the other ship was HUGE.

[PurpleTraveller]

1 hour ago, latebuyer said:

I found complaints about embarkation surprising. It only took me about 30 minutes to get through check in and customs for my june 25 sailing with rccl. There was a huge celebrity eclipse ship at the same time. I went at 11am. Customs i was lucky to get in a short line which for some reason a lot of people weren't using. It was a little confusing which line you were supposed to go into.

 

I am glad that your embarkation was a lot quicker and easier than mine. We also found it confusing to work out where to go to get in line. Our line for US immigration was short so that was good.

[PurpleTraveller]

30 minutes ago, Coral said:

I had no issues on my May 12th cruise with embarkation (on the Crown). I did stay at Pan Pacific so my luggage was transferred. I arrived about 9:45 and was on the ship by 11. I did have to wait quite a bit for the ship to allow for new passengers but that is what happens when you arrive early.

 

I didn't know you could do that. Having your luggage transferred from the Pan Pacific would be a big time saver as it took us about 45 minutes to drop off our luggage. If we sail from Vancouver again we will consider staying there to get the luggage transfer. 

[latebuyer]

As a vancouverite, i am sorry people had a bad time at the port which didn’t represent our city well. Are the cruiselines partly to blame?

[PurpleTraveller]

Saturday June 3 - Sea Day, Inside Passage

 

We were up at 7.00am and opened our curtains to the beautiful scenery of the Inside Passage.

 

 

 

We went up to the Horizon Buffet for breakfast and ate on the back deck looking out over the back of the ship enjoying the view.

 

 

 

After breakfast we went down to the Promenade where we spent hours enjoying the scenery.

 

 

 

 

At one point we were delighted to see a full rainbow that arched across the Inside Passage. The colours were so vibrant that it did not seem real and at one stage it was a double rainbow. Even crew members were coming out to take photos. Simply magnificent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had the pleasure of watching two seals catching fish as we glided through the passage and enjoyed every minute of our morning until eventually we got so cold that we went inside to warm up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then spent some time in Crooners sitting by a window so that we could still see the scenery but warm up after being in the cold. After leaving the Inside Passage we went to the "North to the Glaciers and Wildlife of Alaska" presentation by Allan Conlin in the theatre at 11.00am.

 

Lunch was in the Horizon Buffet which was very busy. At 1.30pm in the theatre was a presentation "North to Alaska" by author Brendan Jones who lives in Sitka. We then went to afternoon tea at 3.00pm in the Da Vinci Dining Room. The rest of the afternoon was spent at MUTS watching Hall and Oates Live in Dublin. The captain made an announcement that we would be two hours late into Sitka the following day due to leaving Vancouver late at our new arrival time would be 12.00pm rather than 10.00am.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[Coral]

40 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I didn't know you could do that. Having your luggage transferred from the Pan Pacific would be a big time saver as it took us about 45 minutes to drop off our luggage. If we sail from Vancouver again we will consider staying there to get the luggage transfer. 

They asked for a gratuity. I think I gave them $10 which was more than reasonable. Definitely worth the money. Someone thought the Fairmont across the street would do it also. I do not have any experience at Fairmont but I have done this multiple times at Pan Pacific, even 15 years ago (and again this year). Some cruise ship rates at PP say it is included but they will do it for any room at PP. I was told by my person the sooner you call the better. 

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Coral

[PurpleTraveller]

Saturday June 3 - Sea Day, Inside Passage Part 2

 

At 6.00pm we went to have dinner at Botticelli Dining Room. We had made a reservation for each night of the cruise for a table for two at 6.00pm. It was formal night and we were seated at table ten. We had a nice meal and as I have a food allergy arrangements were made to preorder my meal for the following evening. We asked if we could be seated at table ten for the remainder of the cruise so that I wouldn't have to explain my food allergy every night and was told to talk to the hostess at the front desk.

 

On our way out we went to the front desk and made our request to be seated at table ten for the rest of the cruise. To our surprise the hostess asked us why we had been seated at table ten as we had been allocated to table 89. We replied that we had been taken to table ten when we had arrived at the Dining Room. She then said that we should have been at table 89 as we had been seated at table 89 the previous night. When we said that we had never been to the Botticelli Dining Room before she then told us that we had been seated at table 89 the previous night. Very confused I told her that I had cancelled our reservation in person the previous night at 5.00pm and had eaten pizza on the Sun Deck. Her reply that we had not eaten pizza on the Sun Deck but had definitely been at table 89 in Botticelli the previous night astonished us. We asked her if she thought we didn't know where and what we eaten the previous night. She stated again that we had sat at table 89 in Botticelli the previous night. She went on to say that she remembered us, our cabin number and name from the previous night. My husband and I looked at each other totally bewildered. All we could say was that we definitely had not been there the previous night. The hostess was getting quite abrupt with us and was adamant that we had sat at table 89 the previous night. Trying to lighten the tense atmosphere my husband joked that he hoped that whoever had sat at table 89 last night hadn't charged any drinks to our account. She replied that no-one else could have charged drinks to our account as we were the ones sitting at table 89 the previous night. By now she was speaking to us in a very terse and quite unpleasant manner and refused to accept that we knew where we had eaten dinner the previous night. It was all quite bizarre. My husband asked her where table 89 was in the Dining Room and she very rudely replied that it was the table where we had sat last night and where we would be sitting for dinner for the remainder of the cruise. 

 

At this point we said goodbye and left the Dining Room. We have never been spoken to by any crew member on any ship, Princess or any other, in this manner. By the end of the conservation she was being positively rude and was adamant that we did not know what or where we had had dinner the previous night because she was correct. What the....... !!! 

 

We have never made a complaint on a Princess ship before but we went straight to Guest Services to make a complaint about her completely unacceptable behaviour. 

 

The following day I received a phone call from a manager who apologised profusely and said that we could be seated at table ten for the rest of the cruise. I told her that I no longer wished to eat in the Botticelli Dining Room as I was so upset at the experience we had had and could we please eat at a different dining room. She put me on hold for a short time and returned to say that she had arranged for us to eat in the Michaelangelo Dining Room at 6.00pm for the remainder of the cruise and gave me the name of who to ask for when we arrived that evening for dinner so that they could look after us. She also apologised profusely again and said that the hostess would be spoken to.

 

I feel that the matter was handled quickly and appropriately and I was satisfied with the result.

 

When we returned to our cabin the Disembarkation Form was on our bed to be completed and left on our desk for our steward to collect. 

 

 

Clocks were turned back one hour that night.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[sunviking90]

1 hour ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

That's interesting. I didn't notice different carpet in cabins as I was so busy trying to see what their view was like from their windows.😊

It is. We had different carpeting than you too. It was similar to what we had recently on the Discovery Princess. As far as the bed, it “looked” pretty saggy but ended up being super comfy. The duvet was in sad shape though with many bald spots.

I see you’re from Sydney; during the Captains coffee chat he was asked his favorite ports and they were Sydney and Vancouver!

[latebuyer]

Sorry to hear that. Whoever heard of someone insisting you sat somewhere. How was the food in the dining room?

[PurpleTraveller]

33 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

As a vancouverite, i am sorry people had a bad time at the port which didn’t represent our city well. Are the cruiselines partly to blame?

 

I don't know who is responsible but I think it is a combination of the terminal not being able to cope with the huge numbers of passengers, poor organisation, larger ships, maybe too many ships and probably a whole lot more than I can know or think of. I certainly don't blame Vancouverites who are lovely. We had a fabulous time in Vancouver and during our six week holiday were in Vancouver three times. I would love to come back again.

 

[PurpleTraveller]

9 minutes ago, Coral said:

They asked for a gratuity. I think I gave them $10 which was more than reasonable. Definitely worth the money. Someone thought the Fairmont across the street would do it also. I do not have any experience at Fairmont but I have done this multiple times at Pan Pacific, even 15 years ago (and again this year). Some cruise ship rates at PP say it is included but they will do it for any room at PP.

 

 

 

Thank you, that's really good to know. $10 is very reasonable and worth every cent!

[PurpleTraveller]

3 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

It is. We had different carpeting than you too. It was similar to what we had recently on the Discovery Princess. As far as the bed, it “looked” pretty saggy but ended up being super comfy. The duvet was in sad shape though with many bald spots.

I see you’re from Sydney; during the Captains coffee chat he was asked his favorite ports and they were Sydney and Vancouver!

 

The next time I'm on a Princess ship I'm going to check the carpet in every cabin I get to look into to!

 

I'm glad that you bed was comfortable but a pity about your duvet.

 

Sydney and Vancouver are very similar and the sail in and out of both ports are beautiful (though I could be a bit biased towards Sydney 😀)

 

[Coral]

8 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

It is. We had different carpeting than you too. It was similar to what we had recently on the Discovery Princess. As far as the bed, it “looked” pretty saggy but ended up being super comfy. The duvet was in sad shape though with many bald spots.

I see you’re from Sydney; during the Captains coffee chat he was asked his favorite ports and they were Sydney and Vancouver!

Yea - some of the carpet looked very new and modern. I had the same carpet as @PurpleTraveller

Edited July 13, 2023 by Coral

[PurpleTraveller]

8 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

Sorry to hear that. Whoever heard of someone insisting you sat somewhere. How was the food in the dining room?

 

The whole conversation was totally bizarre and very surreal!

 

We thought the food in the dining room was very good and just as good if not better than we have had on previous Princess cruises before the shutdown.

[Coral]

17 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

On our way out we went to the front desk and made our request to be seated at table ten for the rest of the cruise. To our surprise the hostess asked us why we had been seated at table ten as we had been allocated to table 89. We replied that we had been taken to table ten when we had arrived at the Dining Room. She then said that we should have been at table 89 as we had been seated at table 89 the previous night. When we said that we had never been to the Botticelli Dining Room before she then told us that we had been seated at table 89 the previous night. Very confused I told her that I had cancelled our reservation in person the previous night at 5.00pm and had eaten pizza on the Sun Deck. Her reply that we had not eaten pizza on the Sun Deck but had definitely been at table 89 in Botticelli the previous night astonished us. was correct. What the....... !!! 

 

We have never made a complaint on a Princess ship before but we went straight to Guest Services to make a complaint about her completely unacceptable behaviour. 

 

I struggled with the dining room "keepers" also! I wanted a private table that wasn't immediately next to another table (that long row of tables that have bench sitting). I eventually found a Restaurant Manager on Deck 6 that would help. I would show up and the woman would tell me I would have an 1-2 hour wait. He would then see me and find a table quickly for me. He got a nice tip! I have never struggled with dining like I did on the Crown.

[Coral]

6 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

The next time I'm on a Princess ship I'm going to check the carpet in every cabin I get to look into to!

 

I'm glad that you bed was comfortable but a pity about your duvet.

 

Sydney and Vancouver are very similar and the sail in and out of both ports are beautiful (though I could be a bit biased towards Sydney 😀)

 

Our sailing was not full and there were many obstructed cabins that were empty. They were shampooing the carpets as I walked down the long hallway to my room so I could look inside. I did ask a room steward when I saw him and that is what he said - if there is a stain they can't get out, they replace it with the newer styles.

[PurpleTraveller]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

I struggled with the dining room "keepers" also! I wanted a private table that wasn't immediately next to another table (that long row of tables that have bench sitting). I eventually found a Restaurant Manager on Deck 6 that would help. I would show up and the woman would tell me I would have an 1-2 hour wait. He would then see me and find a table quickly for me. He got a nice tip! I have never struggled with dining like I did on the Crown.

 

Fortunately this was the only crew member that we had an issue with. Every other crew member we came across was great, especially those in the Michaelangelo Dining Room. We had a fantastic experience there and excellent service. It seems to be dependent on who you happen to deal with and no-one should have to struggle with their dining on a cruise.

[sunviking90]

12 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

Saturday June 3 - Sea Day, Inside Passage Part 2

 

At 6.00pm we went to have dinner at Botticelli Dining Room. We had made a reservation for each night of the cruise for a table for two at 6.00pm. It was formal night and we were seated at table ten. We had a nice meal and as I have a food allergy arrangements were made to preorder my meal for the following evening. We asked if we could be seated at table ten for the remainder of the cruise so that I wouldn't have to explain my food allergy every night and was told to talk to the hostess at the front desk.

 

On our way out we went to the front desk and made our request to be seated at table ten for the rest of the cruise. To our surprise the hostess asked us why we had been seated at table ten as we had been allocated to table 89. We replied that we had been taken to table ten when we had arrived at the Dining Room. She then said that we should have been at table 89 as we had been seated at table 89 the previous night. When we said that we had never been to the Botticelli Dining Room before she then told us that we had been seated at table 89 the previous night. Very confused I told her that I had cancelled our reservation in person the previous night at 5.00pm and had eaten pizza on the Sun Deck. Her reply that we had not eaten pizza on the Sun Deck but had definitely been at table 89 in Botticelli the previous night astonished us. We asked her if she thought we didn't know where and what we eaten the previous night. She stated again that we had sat at table 89 in Botticelli the previous night. She went on to say that she remembered us, our cabin number and name from the previous night. My husband and I looked at each other totally bewildered. All we could say was that we definitely had not been there the previous night. The hostess was getting quite abrupt with us and was adamant that we had sat at table 89 the previous night. Trying to lighten the tense atmosphere my husband joked that he hoped that whoever had sat at table 89 last night hadn't charged any drinks to our account. She replied that no-one else could have charged drinks to our account as we were the ones sitting at table 89 the previous night. By now she was speaking to us in a very terse and quite unpleasant manner and refused to accept that we knew where we had eaten dinner the previous night. It was all quite bizarre. My husband asked her where table 89 was in the Dining Room and she very rudely replied that it was the table where we had sat last night and where we would be sitting for dinner for the remainder of the cruise. 

 

At this point we said goodbye and left the Dining Room. We have never been spoken to by any crew member on any ship, Princess or any other, in this manner. By the end of the conservation she was being positively rude and was adamant that we did not know what or where we had had dinner the previous night because she was correct. What the....... !!! 

 

We have never made a complaint on a Princess ship before but we went straight to Guest Services to make a complaint about her completely unacceptable behaviour. 

 

The following day I received a phone call from a manager who apologised profusely and said that we could be seated at table ten for the rest of the cruise. I told her that I no longer wished to eat in the Botticelli Dining Room as I was so upset at the experience we had had and could we please eat at a different dining room. She put me on hold for a short time and returned to say that she had arranged for us to eat in the Michaelangelo Dining Room at 6.00pm for the remainder of the cruise and gave me the name of who to ask for when we arrived that evening for dinner so that they could look after us. She also apologised profusely again and said that the hostess would be spoken to.

 

I feel that the matter was handled quickly and appropriately and I was satisfied with the result.

 

When we returned to our cabin the Disembarkation Form was on our bed to be completed and left on our desk for our steward to collect. 

 

 

Clocks were turned back one hour that night.

 

I’m sorry you had such an experience but I’m glad they made it right for you. We also had strange experiences at Boticcelli. I had made reservations for the same time every night and requested the same table for 2. The first night it was, that’s right, table 89! The next night they seated us at table 90. I asked why as 89 was free (it is a quiet nice table by the wall) and we preferred it, and table 90 had different wait staff. She said 89 wasn’t free and was reserved for someone else. I insisted I had requested the same table nightly and she said it simply wasn’t free. We sat at 90 and decided to deal with it after dinner. 5 minutes later they bring another couple near us and they don’t like the table they’re offered and ask for table 89 instead, and they give it to them! I was a little perturbed at this and went to the front desk and asked nicely if I could have 89 every night. She said yes and gave me a “ticket” with our room, table and time on it. 
Every evening people with tickets were told to just walk in directly to their tables so we did. For the next 3 evenings at some point they walked people to our table saw us there and turned them around. This happened with some of the tables around us too. That dining room has some real management issues, but the food was great!

We were told that the ship is currently without a hotel manager so I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it. We also met one of our dining room hosts from the Royal who said he was called back early from his vacation to come and work in Da Vinci as they were short staffed.

[PurpleTraveller]

5 minutes ago, Coral said:

Our sailing was not full and there were many obstructed cabins that were empty. They were shampooing the carpets as I walked down the long hallway to my room so I could look inside. I did ask a room steward when I saw him and that is what he said - if there is a stain they can't get out, they replace it with the newer styles.

 

My sailing was completely full so I could only peek in when a cabin door was open when the steward was cleaning. Good to hear that they were taking the opportunity to clean the carpets while they were empty.