Candia

On 3/13/2022 at 7:01 AM, piggybabymcpig said:

We were on this cruise and have some different opinions.  We thought the food was excellent.  We enjoyed the food at all the venues.  We ate at the buffet, Crown Grill, Alfredo's, Sabatini's  Davinci's and Salty dog grill.  There were some items we enjoyed more then others but nothing we didn't like.  We had no problem making reservations at the restaurants.  Staff were fantastic, always a smile and hello.  They all seemed very happy to be back.  Our only complaint would be regarding a tour we booked with Princess in Puerto Vallarta.  We thought the tour guide was very good but thought the group size was too big.  A very minor complaint but the only one we had.  Thanks Princess for a wonderful return to cruising!

We were also on this cruise. Found the Crown Grill and Sabattini to have the best food on board. We chose to dine in Botticelli because we wanted to have the same team serving us since we had done on 2 separate prior cruises, one in October and one on New Year's Eve. We had a great dining room captain who remembered us and without even asking took us to the SAME table we had with the same team of servers. Both of them were very happy, as we had forewarned them 2 month before we were coming back. Service was inpeccable by all staff, but the food quality was not great. We complained about the lobster so small and tasting salty and fishy...pretty bad. Found the buffet a very good choice for breakfast and lunch. We ate at Alfredo on our NYE cruise and the pizza was very good, be aware 1 pizza is big enough for 2 people to share unless you can eat a lot.

We did see many times during our 10 days onboard, maintenence staff working to fix problems on our corridor on Caribe deck. We had no plumbing issues during any of our voyages. The ship will be in dry dock, confirmed by officers, when she arrives in Canada fefore starting the Alaska sailing in May. You all have a great future cruise on this old but overall nice ship. 

16 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Princess will end up cancelling the Alaska trips.  All ships have to pass thru Canada because of maritime laws.  Canada has barred all cruise ships until July.  So May and June trips will be cancelled by Princess.  They are dealing with cruises around the world for Mar/Apr and will probably start cancelling May cruises in a few weeks

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/canada-bans-large-cruise-ship-arrivals-through-july-1

Yes, you are correct. Spoke with my Princess rep yesterday and his advise is to hold on for a week or so. Voyages starting May 11 through the 31st now have a "cancell 48 hours prior to sail date". We have a short cruise starting on the 11th followed by one on the 16th, both to canadian ports. We will know something before the end of next week...or so he said. Ither way we will have plenty time to make a decision.

1 hour ago, martincath said:

 

Personally I'd take the evening train when you have a hotel stay planned - a day sightseeing in Vancouver is preferable to one in Seattle, we're much nicer😉 - but if you have to take a daytime bus, Bolt's the one to use. Scheduling this far ahead is not guaranteed - they may be into their summer schedule with more departures or not - but even in winter there's a bus mid-morning (usually 10:30am IIRC) that gives you more than enough time to get from the pier to the bus station (~10mins, $12 in a cab) even if you stay onboard until the end of disembarkation, having a leisurely breakfast on the ship.

Thank you for the advise. Certainly options there. We are several months away and the summer schedule is not posted for the busses. We have been in Vancouver twice before and loved the city, this will be our 3rd Alaska cruise, 1st out of Seattle. 

Gardyloo, you mentioned the bus from Vancouver to Seattle can be long ride due to custom control at the border. We are planning to travel from Vancouver to downtown Seattle hotel, the day prior to our Alaska cruise on the 15th of May, and want to book a direct bus service. We looked at the bus schedule and see many pick up locations. Arriving at the pier in Vancouver and disembarking the ship by 8:00 am can we book the 9:30am with pick up at the Holiday Inn or is there a better alternative. Renting a car is not an option for us. Thank you for advise.  John and Lil

Just didembarked the shortened cruise, overall the Illness, delays and things beyond the control of Pricness did not bother me much. Stuff happens! Thank god the crew member that they turned back for received needed medical attention and is recovering well. To the person / persons that made that decision to turn back, may your forevery be rewarded!

 

All in all it was a good cruise, and did not tarnish my opinion of Princess, HOWEVER, the sum of my last 3 cruises has definitly brought my attention to princess not paying attention to the details as I remember in the past. There is CLEARLY a decrease in the number of crewmembers doing the necessary jobs around the ship. It as caught my attention and will be mentioned in my survey.

 

Happy sailing!

Just got home from the Crown...I totally agree that the ship was understaffed in many areas. Our dining room waiter (Botticelli fixed dining) was overwhelmed and had to do most of the serving without an assistant. We asked why he was so busy and did not get much help....he said because they needed more staff to serve the BUFFETT lines! This does make sense to us, since we did not eat any meals in the BUFFET, we do not know if indeed the lines were very long at the "normal" times of lunch and dinner. We walked through the area a couple of times to get to the other side of the ship, we did not see many people in line, the times were about 7:00 pm when people normally have dinner on ship. Happy sailing to those getting on today and good luck! We did not get sick and did know see anyone sick on the ship.