Alaska on Crown Princess June 2, 2023

[PurpleTraveller]

It's been four long years since my last Princess cruise and review. We are an Australian couple in our late fifties and mid sixties who love to travel, usually for four to six weeks during our Australian winter. Our ideal trip is to combine a cruise with land travel and we usually don't do many organised shore excursions and prefer to DIY where possible. This trip started as a plan to visit friends who live near Seattle and ended up with an Alaskan cruise and two weeks travelling around south western Canada added to make a six week trip.

 

Even though the cruise was six weeks ago we have only just returned home and I now have time to write a review. This review will have our pre cruise time in Vancouver, the cruise and our post cruise time in Vancouver. 

 

 

[cpcanuck]

I look forward to hearing your review! 

[gottagoacruzn]

Yup, that makes two of us, will be on the Crown in Sept, an can't wait!!!

[PurpleTraveller]

Tuesday May 30 - Departure Day

 

We live three hours west of Sydney so we caught the train to Sydney and stayed the night at a hotel near the airport before our morning flight. The annual Vivid Sydney Festival that runs from 26 May to 17 June this year was on so we decided to start our sightseeing early and go into the city to see the lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After enjoying the lights we caught the train to the airport where we had an early night so that we could be up early the next day.

 

[nasa1974]

The pictures are beautiful. We did an Australia/New Zealand cruisetour in 2016. Looking forward to your review.

[PurpleTraveller]

29 minutes ago, cpcanuck said:

I look forward to hearing your review! 

 

Thank you, I hope you enjoy it.

[PurpleTraveller]

19 minutes ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Yup, that makes two of us, will be on the Crown in Sept, an can't wait!!!

 

Oh, you will have a great time! I hope you enjoy the review.

[PurpleTraveller]

1 minute ago, nasa1974 said:

The pictures are beautiful. We did an Australia/New Zealand cruisetour in 2016. Looking forward to your review.

 

Thanks! I hope you had a great time in Australia and that you enjoy the review.

[PurpleTraveller]

Wednesday May 31 - Flight Day

 

We flew out of Sydney on United Airlines to San Francisco on a 13 hour flight. After the joy of spending one and a half hours getting through US immigration we then flew on to Vancouver where we spent minutes getting through immigration. After collecting our luggage we hopped onto the SkyTrain which cost CAD9.00 each, to Waterfront station. Our hotel, the Days Inn Downtown, was just a short walk away. We checked in quickly and after dropping our bags in the room we headed to Canada Place. The Holland America Volendam was due to leave at 4.00pm and we had relatives sailing on her who we wanted to wave off. 

 

 

After watching her sail away we went for a walk to Gastown to see the gas clock. 

 

 

We also went to the IGA supermarket in Burrard Street to pick up supplies for the cruise. Dinner was at Mahoney's on the waterfront and then an early night was in order.

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[nasa1974]

2 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Thanks! I hope you had a great time in Australia and that you enjoy the review.

We did.

[PurpleTraveller]

Thursday June 1 - Vancouver

 

After a great night's sleep we had the included continental breakfast at the hotel and headed out into the sunshine. We wanted an easy day after our long flight the previous day so planned to walk to Stanley Park. It was lovely walking along the waterfront, watching the seaplanes take off and looking at the moored boats. 

 

 

 

We came across a large group of Canada Geese with their young.

 

 

 

 

As we walked along the waterfront we saw one of the horse drawn wagon tours starting.

 

 

We saw the totem poles.

 

 

 

 

 

And enjoyed the view of the city.

 

 

At the lighthouse we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing a seal playing in the water.

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[PurpleTraveller]

Thursday June 1 - Vancouver Part 2

 

As we walked along the waterfront there were lovely views across to the Lions Gate Bridge.

 

 

Further along we walked passed the "Girl in a Wetsuit" statue sitting on a rock.

 

 

We then walked on to the Empress of Japan figurehead. The figurehead is a replica from the SS Empress of Japan which sailed across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver many times from 1891 to 1922. The original figurehead is now in the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

 

 

After a light lunch we walked to the Rose Garden.

 

 

 

 

 

We continued on to the Lost Lagoon and further on we ended up at English Bay Beach before walking back to the hotel. Dinner was at the Sala Thai restaurant on Burrard Street.

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[Coral]

Following along! Hope you had a great cruise!

[PurpleTraveller]

20 minutes ago, Coral said:

Following along! Hope you had a great cruise!

 

Yes thank you, we had a wonderful cruise! Thanks for following along!

[RLK33853]

Great to see you made it back on board.  Your reviews have always been insightful and helpful.  Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

Ray

[PurpleTraveller]

10 hours ago, RLK33853 said:

Great to see you made it back on board.  Your reviews have always been insightful and helpful.  Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

Ray

 

Thank you. Very pleased to have you along again and I hope you enjoy the review.

[PurpleTraveller]

Friday June 2 - Embarkation Day

 

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and walked about ten minutes to Canada Place and arrived at the cruise terminal at 10.15am. We had check-in group A for 10.30am. 

 

There were people everywhere and very little organisation. After walking down to the terminal entrance we joined the queue for luggage drop off. The "organisation" of the queue was shambolic. You joined the queue on the right side of the walkway along with passengers for a Royal Carribbean ship which was also leaving and once you made it to the head of the queue you then had to join the queue on the left side of the walkway by walking across the walkway. The person supposedly in control of the queue wasn't watching what was going on as people who were arriving were jumping the queue on the right side of the walkway and simply joining the queue of the left side of the walkway much to the ire of those who had been queuing for quite some time. To say it was chaotic would be an understatement.

 

Once you got to the front of the left hand side queue you then had to get in a lift and go down to the luggage drop off. Then you had to go to a different lift and go up to the hall to collect your medallion. After waiting for a while in the queue for our medallions, a worker decided to make the zigzag for the queue longer and cut off the frail elderly lady using a walker who was in front of us and told her to walk the extra loop of the queue. When she protested and asked if she could just stay where she was she was told to walk the extra distance. It was only when we chimed in and protested on her behalf that the worker begrudgingly allowed the frail elderly lady to stay where she was while we started the extra loop of the queue.

 

After collecting our medallions we then had to walk to another hall to go through security and then on to US Immigration. Next was the Boarding Hall where we were thankfully waved through the Platinum/Elite/Suite side and then queued to get on the ship. 

 

After one and a half hours we finally got on the ship at 11.45am. I met people later in the cruise that had taken more than two hours to get on the ship. I can honestly say that this was the worst, most disorganised and chaotic embarkation I have ever experienced.

 

However we were pleased to be on the ship and made our way to our cabin to drop off our hand luggage.

 

E631 is an Obstructed Oceanview cabin located on the starboard side at the aft. We were pleased with the view from the window and liked the layout of the cabin.

 

 

 

 

[Teechur]

7 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

Friday June 2 - Embarkation Day

 

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and walked about ten minutes to Canada Place and arrived at the cruise terminal at 10.15am. We had check-in group A for 10.30am. 

 

There were people everywhere and very little organisation. After walking down to the terminal entrance we joined the queue for luggage drop off. The "organisation" of the queue was shambolic. You joined the queue on the right side of the walkway along with passengers for a Royal Carribbean ship which was also leaving and once you made it to the head of the queue you then had to join the queue on the left side of the walkway by walking across the walkway. The person supposedly in control of the queue wasn't watching what was going on as people who were arriving were jumping the queue on the right side of the walkway and simply joining the queue of the left side of the walkway much to the ire of those who had been queuing for quite some time. To say it was chaotic would be an understatement.

 

Once you got to the front of the left hand side queue you then had to get in a lift and go down to the luggage drop off. Then you had to go to a different lift and go up to the hall to collect your medallion. After waiting for a while in the queue for our medallions, a worker decided to make the zigzag for the queue longer and cut off the frail elderly lady using a walker who was in front of us and told her to walk the extra loop of the queue. When she protested and asked if she could just stay where she was she was told to walk the extra distance. It was only when we chimed in and protested on her behalf that the worker begrudgingly allowed the frail elderly lady to stay where she was while we started the extra loop of the queue.

 

After collecting our medallions we then had to walk to another hall to go through security and then on to US Immigration. Next was the Boarding Hall where we were thankfully waved through the Platinum/Elite/Suite side and then queued to get on the ship. 

 

After one and a half hours we finally got on the ship at 11.45am. I met people later in the cruise that had taken more than two hours to get on the ship. I can honestly say that this was the worst, most disorganised and chaotic embarkation I have ever experienced.

 

However we were pleased to be on the ship and made our way to our cabin to drop off our hand luggage.

 

E631 is an Obstructed Oceanview cabin located on the starboard side at the aft. We were pleased with the view from the window and liked the layout of the cabin.

 

 

 

 

The mattress looks worn out in your cabin photo. How was it for sleep?

[PurpleTraveller]

32 minutes ago, Teechur said:

The mattress looks worn out in your cabin photo. How was it for sleep?

 

Yes they were worn out and quite uncomfortable despite a mattress topper. This was our eleventh Princess cruise and we have previously had very comfortable beds but this one was not comfortable to sleep on. There were large sags in the middle of each mattress and a large hump in the middle of the bed where the two mattresses met. We mentioned it to our steward and also in our post cruise survey. The mattresses should have been changed long ago!

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[PacnGoNow]

14 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Yes they were worn out and quite uncomfortable despite a mattress topper. This was our eleventh Princess cruise and we have previously had very comfortable beds but this one was not comfortable to sleep on. There were large sags in the middle of each mattress and a large hump in the middle of the bed where the two mattresses met. We mentioned it to our steward and also in our post cruise survey. The mattresses should have been changed long ago!

 

Ours was too in November.  They 

need to replace those mattresses.

 

 

 

[PurpleTraveller]

4 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Ours was too in November.  They 

need to replace those mattresses.

 

 

 

 

I agree! Were you on Crown Princess or another ship?

[Coral]

27 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Yes they were worn out and quite uncomfortable despite a mattress topper. This was our eleventh Princess cruise and we have previously had very comfortable beds but this one was not comfortable to sleep on. There were large sags in the middle of each mattress and a large hump in the middle of the bed where the two mattresses met. We mentioned it to our steward and also in our post cruise survey. The mattresses should have been changed long ago!

 

I was in E721 (I think) in May and my mattress was horrible.

[Teechur]

29 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Yes they were worn out and quite uncomfortable despite a mattress topper. This was our eleventh Princess cruise and we have previously had very comfortable beds but this one was not comfortable to sleep on. There were large sags in the middle of each mattress and a large hump in the middle of the bed where the two mattresses met. We mentioned it to our steward and also in our post cruise survey. The mattresses should have been changed long ago!

 

We went around South America on the Crown in 2017. The mattresses probably haven't been changed since then.

[SuzieQ521]

11 minutes ago, Coral said:

I was in E721 (I think) in May and my mattress was horrible.

That's too bad...it seems like the Emerald Deck mattresses have not been replaced. We are on the Emerald Deck on the Crown in November so not looking forward to sleeping on those...😐

[PacnGoNow]

18 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I agree! Were you on Crown Princess or another ship?

Crown on Caribe deck balcony.  One side was worn down.  I don’t know why I didn’t ask for a topper or a replacement mattress.  Crazy 😳