Crown, June 11th

[GloriaF]

First Ketchikan was dropped bc of the propulsion issue.  

Icy Strait Point was added evening of Glacier Bay.

Yesterday, ISP was dropped.

We plan to stick with the original plan to cruise on Crown June 11th but are disappointed.

The one 'port' I wanted was Glacier Bay and it remains.  Lots of scenic cruising on this cruise...

[jk04]

Yes, there is, we are on the same cruise.  We went from about 30 hours of visiting Alaska to 18.  We plan on having a nice relaxing cruise enjoying the time with family and friends.  Maybe I'll get to do one of my whale watching trips!  

[cruisequeen4ever]

Ok, that’s messed up! I don’t understand why they’d make pax happy giving a replacement port at least and then yank it. I’m sorry; I hope you still have a quality cruise! 

[bittygeorgia]

I'm wondering why, if they are getting into Juneau even too late for excursions, don't they just add Ketchikan back in and get rid of Juneau.  Ketchikan is the first Alaskan town you get to, so it seems it would take less time.  Personally, I'd rather have Ketchikan and Skagway, than a few evening hours in Juneau.

[carbon]

On 5/28/2022 at 12:01 PM, bittygeorgia said:

I'm wondering why, if they are getting into Juneau even too late for excursions, don't they just add Ketchikan back in and get rid of Juneau.  Ketchikan is the first Alaskan town you get to, so it seems it would take less time.  Personally, I'd rather have Ketchikan and Skagway, than a few evening hours in Juneau.

I agree

[Sailor75]

On 5/28/2022 at 1:01 PM, bittygeorgia said:

I'm wondering why, if they are getting into Juneau even too late for excursions, don't they just add Ketchikan back in and get rid of Juneau.  Ketchikan is the first Alaskan town you get to, so it seems it would take less time.  Personally, I'd rather have Ketchikan and Skagway, than a few evening hours in Juneau.

If the ship went to Ketchikan I don't think it would make it to Skagway on time.

[ChimneyTenders]

Hearing more and more buzz on the chat's about Princess cancelling the remaining Crown sailings. 

 

Going on the July 2nd and wondering what's happening. Called Princess last night to ask and was told, "They haven't cancelled it yet so you are all good"

 

So far the ship has only 2 stops and a drive by now. They can't drop Victoria so wondering what's left to cut. 

 

[wolvey]

On 5/28/2022 at 7:17 AM, GloriaF said:

First Ketchikan was dropped bc of the propulsion issue.  

Icy Strait Point was added evening of Glacier Bay.

Yesterday, ISP was dropped.

We plan to stick with the original plan to cruise on Crown June 11th but are disappointed.

The one 'port' I wanted was Glacier Bay and it remains.  Lots of scenic cruising on this cruise...

They dropped icy point a couple of weeks ago and updated the future sailings accordingly.  If you look at the sailings, the picture does show icy point, but the text version which has the excursions links never had icy point as a stop. Princess just forgot to update the pic.  
 

I wouldn’t trust what the princess reps tell you.  They will forever tell you everything is ok. You have to go with what is the trend of what current passengers are saying on the boards.

 

 

[Sailor75]

1 hour ago, wolvey said:

They dropped icy point a couple of weeks ago and updated the future sailings accordingly.  If you look at the sailings, the picture does show icy point, but the text version which has the excursions links never had icy point as a stop. Princess just forgot to update the pic.  
 

I wouldn’t trust what the princess reps tell you.  They will forever tell you everything is ok. You have to go with what is the trend of what current passengers are saying on the boards.

 

 

Are you referring to June's sailings? On June 5th the June's sailings still showed Icy Strait Point as well as a full day in Juneau, then it was changed; this was well after Princess had adjusted the previous cruises in May and knew June's cruises would have to be adjusted as well. As of today, the website still shows July's cruises going to Icy Strait Point and arriving in Juneau at 2:30 even though Princess knows that's not possible; that will be updated as time goes on. They just want people who are not aware of the problems to book. Who would pay this kind of money to get half the stops? It's unethical and they should be sued.

[geoherb]

4 hours ago, Sailor75 said:

Are you referring to June's sailings? On June 5th the June's sailings still showed Icy Strait Point as well as a full day in Juneau, then it was changed; this was well after Princess had adjusted the previous cruises in May and knew June's cruises would have to be adjusted as well. As of today, the website still shows July's cruises going to Icy Strait Point and arriving in Juneau at 2:30 even though Princess knows that's not possible; that will be updated as time goes on. They just want people who are not aware of the problems to book. Who would pay this kind of money to get half the stops? It's unethical and they should be sued.

 

And if you look at the August sailings, the website still has the original itinerary listing 10 hours in Juneau, 11.5 hours in Skagway, Glacier Bay for 9 hours, Ketchikan for 6 hours, and Victoria for 5 hours. 

[OKCruiseMan]

On 5/28/2022 at 11:44 AM, cruisequeen4ever said:

Ok, that’s messed up! I don’t understand why they’d make pax happy giving a replacement port at least and then yank it. I’m sorry; I hope you still have a quality cruise! 

Well I have one thought. They did the same to us, we rushed to book and pay for an ISP excursion. Then they canceled and said we should get a check in 12 weeks....

[Sailor75]

3 hours ago, OKCruiseMan said:

Well I have one thought. They did the same to us, we rushed to book and pay for an ISP excursion. Then they canceled and said we should get a check in 12 weeks....

I had so many shore excursions cancelled, I'm waiting for a check for over $1,000; I'm not happy.

[Riley_Mon]

On 6/11/2022 at 4:42 PM, ChimneyTenders said:

Hearing more and more buzz on the chat's about Princess cancelling the remaining Crown sailings. 

 

Going on the July 2nd and wondering what's happening. Called Princess last night to ask and was told, "They haven't cancelled it yet so you are all good"

 

So far the ship has only 2 stops and a drive by now. They can't drop Victoria so wondering what's left to cut. 

 

canceling the cruises is probably the right thing to do. Princess is taking a hit everywhere with disgruntled passengers who are unhappy with how this has been handled and the service delivered. I know some people make the best of it and kudos to them for having that kind of outlook. But putting people on a ship that is not mechanically sound is just a bad decision no matter what the economic situation is for them.

[Riley_Mon]

On 6/11/2022 at 6:40 PM, Sailor75 said:

Are you referring to June's sailings? On June 5th the June's sailings still showed Icy Strait Point as well as a full day in Juneau, then it was changed; this was well after Princess had adjusted the previous cruises in May and knew June's cruises would have to be adjusted as well. As of today, the website still shows July's cruises going to Icy Strait Point and arriving in Juneau at 2:30 even though Princess knows that's not possible; that will be updated as time goes on. They just want people who are not aware of the problems to book. Who would pay this kind of money to get half the stops? It's unethical and they should be sued.

I would guess their excuse is they are hoping to improve the performance of the ship to make those stops but no one at this point would really believe it. I can't imagine how angry I would be signing up for cruise in July/August without knowing these issues and then finding out Princess had known all along this ports were in jeopardy. I'm pretty angry signing up for the June 18th cruise as it is.

[ChimneyTenders]

What I dont understand is everyone Keeps talking about it's speed issue yet it's sailing at just over 18knots. Other ships in the area are 18-20knots.

 

Something is not adding up

[OKCruiseMan]

14 hours ago, ChimneyTenders said:

What I dont understand is everyone Keeps talking about it's speed issue yet it's sailing at just over 18knots. Other ships in the area are 18-20knots.

 

Something is not adding up

I've had the same thoughts. Although others did pass us on the 28th departure not sure what the deal is.

My guess is it has something to do with getting up to speed. They seem to bypass the inside passage for a more straight line out to sea route. Maybe with the propulsion issue they can eventually get up to a decent speed but it forces a simplified route. So a stop in ISP would take the wind out of their sails so to speak putting Victoria in jeopardy. 

Not sure this makes sense. However I've been on a few cruises and it also seemed like docking took longer than I recall. Although we were also anxious to get ashore due to the reduced time so maybe just my imagination!

[ChimneyTenders]

wonder if it has more to do with a docking time slot than speed issues. She's pulling over 19 knots now

[jk04]

We are clocking close to 20 knots this morning. I’m just hoping we get in a little early to Juneau so we can get off the ship and have time to do excursions. There are 1720 passengers on board this sailing according to the Captain. So, a little over half full. 
 

Watching some beautiful snow top mountains out the balcony 😀

Edited June 13, 2022 by jk04

[Astro Flyer]

49 minutes ago, MarcsSharon said:

The ship has propulsion issues. We arrived in Juneau about 5:30… very few options that late in day, most excursions cancelled. Ketchikan cancelled, Icy Point subbed…then Icy Point cancelled. Victoria arrival was late..all excursions cancelled. Princess is very aware of all the problems but continues to sell the trip..knowing they can’t deliver. Truly shameful.

 

13 minutes ago, jk04 said:

We are clocking close to 20 knots this morning. I’m just hoping we get in a little early to Juneau so we can get off the ship and have time to do excursions. There are 1720 passengers on board this sailing according to the Captain. So, a little over half full. 
 

Watching some beautiful snow top mountains out the balcony 😀

Hopefully you’ll have a better experience than MarcsSharon. 🤞

[wolvey]

2 hours ago, OKCruiseMan said:

I've had the same thoughts. Although others did pass us on the 28th departure not sure what the deal is.

My guess is it has something to do with getting up to speed. They seem to bypass the inside passage for a more straight line out to sea route. Maybe with the propulsion issue they can eventually get up to a decent speed but it forces a simplified route. So a stop in ISP would take the wind out of their sails so to speak putting Victoria in jeopardy. 

Not sure this makes sense. However I've been on a few cruises and it also seemed like docking took longer than I recall. Although we were also anxious to get ashore due to the reduced time so maybe just my imagination!

I was on the 28th.  Regardless of what the speed should be, it is not normal to cut Juneau’s port time from 12:30 originally to 230pm to 530pm.  Nor is it normal to cut out an entire port city or Ketchikan or icy point.

 

How can anyone say losing 5 hrs from Juneau is normal?  The engine even went out for 30 mins during the glacier bay.  
 

sorry, but what you have seen from crown princess since the first May 7 is unacceptable. Look up previous chatters and you’ll see that princess has just strung the passengers along.

[GloriaF]

We’re on Crown now. Captain announced today there are 1600 something pax and 1200 are first timers. Now it makes sense since we received an invite to the most traveled pax luncheon.  Never before and probably never again. We have lots of cruises with Princess, but not in the most traveled category usually. 
 

Weather was  good but windy and cold. Seattle was warm and sunny and I was beginning to think I had packed too many warm clothes. Just before sail away yesterday we felt a cool wind and it just kept getting colder.  Monday and rest of week has rain at least part of the day.  Rainy with low clouds/fog  InJuneau.
50 F. 
 

we are visiting Mendenhall Glacier but will not do the hike to Nugget Falls in the cold rain. Hoping for better weather later. Captain announced we have made better time than expected and we will arrive in Juneau earlier than anticipated. Great news. Now if only rain stops and clouds lift!  

 

All cruises are fun in my opinion!!  
 

Edited June 13, 2022 by GloriaF

[JeffT237]

18 minutes ago, GloriaF said:

Captain announced we have made better time than expected and we will arrive in Juneau earlier than anticipated

 

That's great news, it does seem like the Crown is starting to see more consistency with her performance and speed.  Although it is not the original itinerary at least the times seem to be pretty close with the new schedule which should make planning your excursions and more importantly being able to enjoy them!  Have a great week and hopefully the weather will be good especially for Glacier Bay.

[Sailor75]

On 6/13/2022 at 4:53 PM, GloriaF said:

We’re on Crown now. Captain announced today there are 1600 something pax and 1200 are first timers.

So 75% of the passengers are first time Princess cruisers? That doesn't sound like Princess gets a lot of repeat cruisers; maybe they're doing something wrong. I can tell you, a lot of those first time cruisers will not be returning after the experience on that ship; I won't be.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Sailor75

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, Sailor75 said:

So 75% of the passengers are first time Princess cruisers? That doesn't sound like Princess gets a lot of repeat cruisers; maybe they're doing something wrong. I can tell you, a lot of those first time cruisers will not be returning after the experience on that ship.

Alaska attracts a lot of people who "always want to see Alaska and the best way is via cruise but are not cruisers normally". They only cruise once. For both one ways and RT Seattle sailings. This is very common.

[Sailor75]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

Alaska attracts a lot of people who "always want to see Alaska and the best way is via cruise but are not cruisers normally". They only cruise once. For both one ways and RT Seattle sailings. This is very common.

I disagree. I have been on over 50 cruises and over the years have spoken to many cruisers who have been to Alaska. I think Alaska may be a once in a lifetime cruise and that may be why so many first time Princess cruisers; but, Princess ruined that. As you said I got to "see Alaska" not experience it.