Help me decide between these two cruises, please!

[Buckeye10640]

On 4/19/2023 at 12:07 PM, coco2/27 said:

I would take any balcony room over one without a balcony, in a heartbeat.  Also, our last cruise that was supposed to stop in Astoria ended up having that port cancelled!

I would take the balcony room too, even with one fewer days. I have been to Astoria on a previous cruise and, while I enjoyed it, missing that port would sway my decision. 

[SuzieQ521]

On 4/19/2023 at 10:10 AM, Yehootu said:

Sailed the Royal last May and just got off the Crown. Excellent staff on the Crown, however the buffet was worse than my 1980's college dorm food. Bad layout and horrible selection. Could've been Astoria was missed due to conditions of the Columbia River Bar.

 

What did you think of the Royal? We sail her in a few weeks to Alaska!

[Yehootu]

10 minutes ago, SuzieQ521 said:

 

What did you think of the Royal? We sail her in a few weeks to Alaska!

It was the first time on a Royal class ship, and we really enjoyed it. We've sailed almost exclusively in mini suites and on the Royal we had a deluxe balcony room.  The extra 2 seater couch was a big plus over a regular balcony room. The balconies on the Royal class ship are smaller but that didn't matter. The Royal has so many great viewing spots. I loved sitting at the aft bar and enjoying the scenery as we sailed. What I missed on our most recent cruise on the Crown was the variety of food venues that the Royal offers. The buffet on the Royal sure beat the layout on the Crown. Beautiful ship, great time. Enjoy! We are on the Regal in Sept, and can't wait.

[SuzieQ521]

2 minutes ago, Yehootu said:

It was the first time on a Royal class ship, and we really enjoyed it. We've sailed almost exclusively in mini suites and on the Royal we had a deluxe balcony room.  The extra 2 seater couch was a big plus over a regular balcony room. The balconies on the Royal class ship are smaller but that didn't matter. The Royal has so many great viewing spots. I loved sitting at the aft bar and enjoying the scenery as we sailed. What I missed on our most recent cruise on the Crown was the variety of food venues that the Royal offers. The buffet on the Royal sure beat the layout on the Crown. Beautiful ship, great time. Enjoy! We are on the Regal in Sept, and can't wait.

 

Thank you! We have a deluxe balcony room so that's good to hear (needed the sofa bed for our son).

 

We actually also sail the Crown for a Thanksgiving cruise this year...here's hoping that the food will be better for that special holiday, haha!.

[Yehootu]

3 minutes ago, SuzieQ521 said:

 

Thank you! We have a deluxe balcony room so that's good to hear (needed the sofa bed for our son).

 

We actually also sail the Crown for a Thanksgiving cruise this year...here's hoping that the food will be better for that special holiday, haha!.

Hopefully Thanksgiving will be better than what we had for Easter!! We were in Michelangelo dining room and had 2 of the best servers we've ever had. Dining room food was good, we had a table for 2 at 6;40 and dinner was always hot and efficent.

[nini]

On 4/20/2023 at 10:34 AM, allimaree said:

Thank you everyone for your help! We went with the longer cruise on the Crown Princess and were able to get a OF guarantee room which has the possibility of not being obstructed. The only ocean view rooms we could have picked were in lower categories and were almost 100% obstructed when verified on cruisedeckplans. It really came down to the longer times in port plus the extra stop in Astoria. 

A balcony may become available, just keep checking in.

[allimaree]

5 hours ago, nini said:

A balcony may become available, just keep checking in.

How do I "check in"? Just call princess or the company that I booked through? Thanks!

[nini]

7 minutes ago, allimaree said:

How do I "check in"? Just call princess or the company that I booked through? Thanks!

 

You can call your TA. Or (for us), I go to the website of our TA and see if there have been any changes in the pricing on the cabins of our category. Often, there has been a rate decrease and we can et the lower rate.

[capriccio]

OP - I agree with your choice of the Crown including the Astoria port stop.  If you are old enough to remember the eruption of Mt. St. Helens or just interested in volcanic activity, I highly recommend the Princess excursion to the Visitors’ Center.  The terrain is still otherworldly for miles and miles plus the story of the scientist, David Johnston, who gave his life in the pursuit of knowledge is both heartbreaking and inspiring.

[Deisemum]

I got back last week from sailing on the Sapphire Princess cruise same itinerary as the Crown sailing you have chosen.  We docked about 1.5 miles from the town centre. 

 

As it was drizzling when we got off the ship the riverfront trolley wasn't running so we walked into town - easy walk as it's level.  The weather cleared up and the trolley started running then.