Crown Princess Alaska Aug 15-25

[blizzard44ca]

Not exactly a live-from, but I plan to come back and update every few days with thoughts about our voyage 15-25 August, 2023.

 

Our trip to the ship was uneventful. We fly in to Vancouver day-of, as there are hourly flights. We arrived YVR about 10am, collected our bags, and took the train to Waterfront. I know Port of Vancouver isn’t set up for the volume of passengers, but holy hell is that an unpleasant check-in. They line people up at the elevator to take bags down to the parkade. (We should have taken the stairs) Then up to an open room to check in and get your medallion, then down again for security and customs/immigration.

 

Check in was only 2 lines - have/have not medallion.  The line for have not (blue) was long, but moved fast. No one ever referred to blue or green, or asked for QR codes, and no more platinum/elite line.

 

US preclearance is all done by machine now (for Canada/US passport holders), so was surprisingly fast.

 

After all that, it was now about 11:20, and they had just started boarding, so we were directed right on board (elite). Not having to sit on uncomfortable folding chairs was easily the best part of check in.

 

On board, they are making a big push for the packages, and all that they include. We were planning to purchase Plus when we got on board, so it wasn’t a tough sell. We decided on the dining room for lunch, and it turned out that it was the aft deck 6 dining room (Bottecelli) open 12-1:30. There was a line up waiting for them to open, but we were seated quickly. Meal was ok, not great.

 

After lunch, we went to our room, and our bags arrived soon after.  Phoned to swap items in the minibar, and that was no problem (and was done in the afternoon).

 

The Captain gave his briefing at 4:00’ish, and then announced that there was a problem with the fueling barge, so we had not been able to fuel. He said they anticipated fixing the problem, but that our departure would be delayed to 20:00. We still were to be taking the east route, and we were actually excited because we would transit Seymour Narrows at about 6am.  Well, by the time we went to bed at 11, we were still tied up.  We departed sometime in the night, but when I looked at the navigator, we are now on the south side of Vancouver Island.  My speculation is that we are doing a “tech stop” in Victoria for fuel, however nothing has been announced.

 

Edit to add: Now we are accelerating again, and it appears maybe we were just dropping off a pilot at Victoria.

Edited August 16, 2023 by blizzard44ca

[westcoaster]

Here are a couple of photos of the Crown Princess passing by Victoria this morning.

[blizzard44ca]

According to marine traffic website, we left Vancouver at 1:36am and are heading to Yakutat Bay.  
This would mean we are skipping Sitka tomorrow. We have not heard anything from the ship yet, however due to plans changing overnight, and it still being 8am, not entirely unexpected. Likely hear something official by or at noon.

[CruiserMickey]

Thank you for your trip report! My mom and  brother are on the ship right now. I hope you all have a fantastic voyage despite the initial departure delay.

[cr8tiv1]

Anxious to hear if they are charging standard Elite passengers for changing out the minibar.  

Edited August 16, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[blizzard44ca]

Just now, cr8tiv1 said:

Anxious to hear if they are charging standard Elite passengers for changing out the minibar.  

We have Plus, but there did not appear to be any hesitation in checking that or mention of cost. I would assume for now that changing minibar is included with the benefit. 

[Italy52]

We were on the Crown to Alaska on July 14th.  Looking forward to reading if your experience differed from what we had.  Have a wonderful cruise.

[yyjguy]

It looks as if the fuelling issues caused a re routing to the “outside” or west coast of Vancouver Island to save time.  She is also running “ pedal to the metal” running at 22.9 knots; well above her normal cruise speed.  I would shudder at her fuel bill running at that speed!

[blizzard44ca]

Captain made a shipwide announcement a little after 9am about the events that transpired overnight, and the change of itinerary to skip Sitka. (Too bad, as it was the only port I haven’t been to)

 

As we head into the open seas, the ship is definitely rolling a bit.

[theloo]

Looking forward to hearing about your cruise as well as the condition of the ship and crew.  A previous live thread mentioned that the ship seemed understaffed and the crew a bit overworked.  

 

Also, if you have time or happen to visit the gym, could you report on whether they have foam rollers.  I need one for physical therapy, but they are so large that it would take up a lot of space in my luggage.  Many thanks.

[flyboy88]

For something outside of their control, the $50usd obc is a nice gesture. 

[milogurd]

9 hours ago, blizzard44ca said:

Not exactly a live-from, but I plan to come back and update every few days with thoughts about our voyage 15-25 August, 2023.

 

Our trip to the ship was uneventful. We fly in to Vancouver day-of, as there are hourly flights. We arrived YVR about 10am, collected our bags, and took the train to Waterfront. I know Port of Vancouver isn’t set up for the volume of passengers, but holy hell is that an unpleasant check-in. They line people up at the elevator to take bags down to the parkade. (We should have taken the stairs) Then up to an open room to check in and get your medallion, then down again for security and customs/immigration.

 

Check in was only 2 lines - have/have not medallion.  The line for have not (blue) was long, but moved fast. No one ever referred to blue or green, or asked for QR codes, and no more platinum/elite line.

 

US preclearance is all done by machine now (for Canada/US passport holders), so was surprisingly fast.

 

After all that, it was now about 11:20, and they had just started boarding, so we were directed right on board (elite). Not having to sit on uncomfortable folding chairs was easily the best part of check in.

 

On board, they are making a big push for the packages, and all that they include. We were planning to purchase Plus when we got on board, so it wasn’t a tough sell. We decided on the dining room for lunch, and it turned out that it was the aft deck 6 dining room (Bottecelli) open 12-1:30. There was a line up waiting for them to open, but we were seated quickly. Meal was ok, not great.

 

After lunch, we went to our room, and our bags arrived soon after.  Phoned to swap items in the minibar, and that was no problem (and was done in the afternoon).

 

The Captain gave his briefing at 4:00’ish, and then announced that there was a problem with the fueling barge, so we had not been able to fuel. He said they anticipated fixing the problem, but that our departure would be delayed to 20:00. We still were to be taking the east route, and we were actually excited because we would transit Seymour Narrows at about 6am.  Well, by the time we went to bed at 11, we were still tied up.  We departed sometime in the night, but when I looked at the navigator, we are now on the south side of Vancouver Island.  My speculation is that we are doing a “tech stop” in Victoria for fuel, however nothing has been announced.

 

Edit to add: Now we are accelerating again, and it appears maybe we were just dropping off a pilot at Victoria.

Next time you embark in Vancouver, take the ramp outside the hotel/convention center instead of the elevator.

 

[blizzard44ca]

15 hours ago, milogurd said:

Next time you embark in Vancouver, take the ramp outside the hotel/convention center instead of the elevator.

 

Yes, we entered there, down to the level they have ground transportation (busses), but then we had to go down further (to P2) to leave our bags. They made everyone line up at an elevator as the only way to go down. (There was a stairway, which we took back up)

[blizzard44ca]

Some random thoughts about things…

 

Internet is listed as Starlink and has been good so far. No issues streaming music, or waiting for things to load.

 

Buffet set up is terrible on this ship. It is not all Grand class, just this ship. There are only a couple of stations, and it is not free flowing, causing line ups and crowding.  Also, no hand wash stations? I thought all ships were retrofitted with sinks, but not this one apparently.

 

The extra deck of cabins really taxes out all the public areas.  It is constantly busy everywhere.

 

On the plus sides, there is a ton of railing space in various areas of the ship - great for scenic cruising. Also really like the layout of the casino (we’ve recently been on the Discovery Princess, and that casino is smaller than the one on the Crown Princess)

 

Cabin is near the front of the ship, which I don’t normally mind, but when we hit waves, it vibrates the whole front end.

[memoak]

23 minutes ago, blizzard44ca said:

Some random thoughts about things…

 

Internet is listed as Starlink and has been good so far. No issues streaming music, or waiting for things to load.

 

Buffet set up is terrible on this ship. It is not all Grand class, just this ship. There are only a couple of stations, and it is not free flowing, causing line ups and crowding.  Also, no hand wash stations? I thought all ships were retrofitted with sinks, but not this one apparently.

 

The extra deck of cabins really taxes out all the public areas.  It is constantly busy everywhere.

 

On the plus sides, there is a ton of railing space in various areas of the ship - great for scenic cruising. Also really like the layout of the casino (we’ve recently been on the Discovery Princess, and that casino is smaller than the one on the Crown Princess)

 

Cabin is near the front of the ship, which I don’t normally mind, but when we hit waves, it vibrates the whole front end.

Are there an equal amount of slots on each side or is there twice as many in the smoking side than non smoking like we could on the Discovery 

[theloo]

4 hours ago, blizzard44ca said:

Buffet set up is terrible on this ship. It is not all Grand class, just this ship. There are only a couple of stations, and it is not free flowing, causing line ups and crowding.  Also, no hand wash stations? I thought all ships were retrofitted with sinks, but not this one apparently.

 

The extra deck of cabins really taxes out all the public areas.  It is constantly busy everywhere.

When you are comparing to other Grand class ships, do you mean Crown's sister ships, Ruby & Emerald?  I would think she would be the same as those (except for some small changes during retrofits).  That's not good about the sinks.  There were definitely sinks near the buffet on the Emerald.

What exactly do you mean about the extra deck of cabins?  Is it not the same as Ruby & Emerald?

[nycmedic]

Thanks for your review..My parents are aboard for this sailing so I am closely following.

[Coral]

On 8/16/2023 at 10:41 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

Anxious to hear if they are charging standard Elite passengers for changing out the minibar.  

I missed something. Is this a thing?

[cr8tiv1]

2 minutes ago, Coral said:

I missed something. Is this a thing?

 

I am waiting for some one to chime back in.  You have to call Room Service to change out your Elite/suite Minibar.  Calling Room Service incurs a $5 charge.  My last steward said he would do it for me since I was having a hard time (called 3 times) for Room Service to do this (pre-charge).  

 

I do not want to add one more thing for my steward to have to do.

[Coral]

19 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I am waiting for some one to chime back in.  You have to call Room Service to change out your Elite/suite Minibar.  Calling Room Service incurs a $5 charge.  My last steward said he would do it for me since I was having a hard time (called 3 times) for Room Service to do this (pre-charge).  

 

I do not want to add one more thing for my steward to have to do.

I was told last time that the room steward does this. It goes back and fourth. Annoying. Ok - I get where you are coming from.

[blizzard44ca]

8 hours ago, memoak said:

Are there an equal amount of slots on each side or is there twice as many in the smoking side than non smoking like we could on the Discovery 

Pretty much equal on each side. Discovery seemed jammed in, this has more space.

[blizzard44ca]

4 hours ago, theloo said:

When you are comparing to other Grand class ships, do you mean Crown's sister ships, Ruby & Emerald?  I would think she would be the same as those (except for some small changes during retrofits).  That's not good about the sinks.  There were definitely sinks near the buffet on the Emerald.

What exactly do you mean about the extra deck of cabins?  Is it not the same as Ruby & Emerald?

More comparing to the originals and the Japanese copies (Grand, Golden, Sapphire, Diamond, others).  There is no Riviera Deck on those ships. They kept the common areas the same, and added an extra deck of cabins.

[blizzard44ca]

On 8/16/2023 at 10:06 AM, theloo said:

 

Also, if you have time or happen to visit the gym, could you report on whether they have foam rollers.  I need one for physical therapy, but they are so large that it would take up a lot of space in my luggage.  Many thanks.

They have foam rollers.  They are quite large.

[theloo]

18 minutes ago, blizzard44ca said:

They have foam rollers.  They are quite large.

 

Thank you.  That's the one I need!

[gottagoacruzn]

Hey guys, was lookin at the crown princess web cam the other night, an was wonderin why the ship was so late leavin vancouver.