Alaska on Crown Princess June 2, 2023

[quack2]

6 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

Just a thought. Not making an excuse for Princess. Maybe there was an issue or problem taking the inside passage and the captain changed course to avoid any problems or delays. It would be nice to communicate that information to the passengers though.

FWIW, Norwegian also sails to/from Vancouver on the west side of Vancouver Island, despite their sales map showing the inside passage route.  It's not so much much an issue sailing out of Vancouver, but returning to Vancouver you want to be on the east side of Vancouver Island as its stunningly beautiful.

[quack2]

20 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

Just thought I would give an update on my email to Princess about the change of itinerary to sail on the western side of Vancouver Island rather than the eastern side as per the itinerary map.

 

I received a reply today apologising for my disappointment but that the inside passage is a shipping lane and not a scenic point of interest and as per the Passage Contract the captain can change the itinerary at any point.

 

 

There is no mention that all of the Crown Princess 11 day Inside Passage itineraries have been changed and I would be fairly certain that the captain has not made an unilateral decision to change the itinerary on all sailings.

 

Also no mention was made of my complaint about the terrible state of our mattresses and that they need to be replaced.

 

If I do an Alaskan cruise again I will do further research on the itinerary to make sure that I will cruise in the shipping lane of the eastern side of Vancouver Island so that I can enjoy the non existent scenic cruising point of interest. 😂

 

I wonder why if the inside passage is not a scenic cruising point of interest why do Princess call the cruise "Alaska - Inside Passage"?

 

What a bunch of crap from Princess.

[PurpleTraveller]

8 hours ago, quack2 said:

Not always.  I had a very easy boarding in Vancouver in June

 

That's good to hear that it's not always a mess in Vancouver. I hope if I go from Vancouver again that I get an easy boarding like you got.

[PurpleTraveller]

7 hours ago, quack2 said:

FWIW, Norwegian also sails to/from Vancouver on the west side of Vancouver Island, despite their sales map showing the inside passage route.  It's not so much much an issue sailing out of Vancouver, but returning to Vancouver you want to be on the east side of Vancouver Island as its stunningly beautiful.

 

I'm sort of glad that it's not only Princess showing an inaccurate itinerary map. It makes it difficult to choose an itinerary if the itinerary map is not accurate.

 

I have heard from a number of people that the eastern side of Vancouver Island is really beautiful. It seems a pity that Princess' opinion of the eastern side of Vancouver Island is that it is not a "scenic cruising point of interest". I'll just have to do a lot more research before booking another cruise to and from Vancouver so that I can get to see the scenery for myself.

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[shackpacker]

On 7/13/2023 at 6:47 PM, sunviking90 said:

I’m sorry you had such an experience but I’m glad they made it right for you. We also had strange experiences at Boticcelli. I had made reservations for the same time every night and requested the same table for 2. The first night it was, that’s right, table 89! The next night they seated us at table 90. I asked why as 89 was free (it is a quiet nice table by the wall) and we preferred it, and table 90 had different wait staff. She said 89 wasn’t free and was reserved for someone else. I insisted I had requested the same table nightly and she said it simply wasn’t free. We sat at 90 and decided to deal with it after dinner. 5 minutes later they bring another couple near us and they don’t like the table they’re offered and ask for table 89 instead, and they give it to them! I was a little perturbed at this and went to the front desk and asked nicely if I could have 89 every night. She said yes and gave me a “ticket” with our room, table and time on it. 
Every evening people with tickets were told to just walk in directly to their tables so we did. For the next 3 evenings at some point they walked people to our table saw us there and turned them around. This happened with some of the tables around us too. That dining room has some real management issues, but the food was great!

We were told that the ship is currently without a hotel manager so I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it. We also met one of our dining room hosts from the Royal who said he was called back early from his vacation to come and work in Da Vinci as they were short staffed.

I swear they must have moved our waitress from Sabatini's on Ruby to be your hostess!  After waiting a huge amount of time for our entrees (our waitress was flitting about the dining room interacting with other guests, sitting at their tables and chatting) my entree was wrong.  I had ordered the chicken and got veal, which I don't eat, at all, ever.  When I told her it was the wrong entree she insisted that I had changed it.  When I told her I don't eat veal, she said that in that case I shouldn't have changed my order.  They did offer to make me a new one but by then we had waited to so long and my husband would have either finished eating his or had a cold meal.And we paid ex extra for this experience!

 

[shackpacker]

On 7/13/2023 at 7:03 PM, PurpleTraveller said:

 

What are the chances that you also had table 89! 😀 

 

Interesting to hear that it was a good table location as we never did get to see where it is. Glad that you enjoyed the table and great food.

 

Also interesting that they didn't have a hotel manager and are bringing back crew early from their vacations.

We're on the September 5 cruise.  I think we'll ask for table 89.

[PurpleTraveller]

6 hours ago, shackpacker said:

I swear they must have moved our waitress from Sabatini's on Ruby to be your hostess!  After waiting a huge amount of time for our entrees (our waitress was flitting about the dining room interacting with other guests, sitting at their tables and chatting) my entree was wrong.  I had ordered the chicken and got veal, which I don't eat, at all, ever.  When I told her it was the wrong entree she insisted that I had changed it.  When I told her I don't eat veal, she said that in that case I shouldn't have changed my order.  They did offer to make me a new one but by then we had waited to so long and my husband would have either finished eating his or had a cold meal.And we paid ex extra for this experience!

 

 

My goodness! What a ridiculous thing to happen. As if you would change your order to something you don't eat. I don't know why they just don't say that there has been a mistake and move on to correct it. I'd much rather an "oh sorry there seems to have been a mistake" or "I don't know what's happened but I'll get it fixed" than telling you that you caused the issue. It just leaves a bad taste when the whole situation could have easily been smoothed over.

 

6 hours ago, shackpacker said:

We're on the September 5 cruise.  I think we'll ask for table 89.

 

It may be a good table but there's no guarantee that you won't get your waitress! 😂 

 

All joking aside I hope you get a good table, great waiter/waitress and have a wonderful cruise!

 

[Mr. Swallow]

Thank you for the wonderful travel log. You have lots of wonderful photos to remember your trip.

[PurpleTraveller]

5 hours ago, Mr. Swallow said:

Thank you for the wonderful travel log. You have lots of wonderful photos to remember your trip.

 

Thanks for reading! I certainly have lots of photos to look back on a wonderful trip.

[gottagoacruzn]

Want to know, if table 89 is a table for two, or a table for 8 or 10 people? Inquiring minds would like to know. Thanks.

[PurpleTraveller]

6 hours ago, gottagoacruzn said:

Want to know, if table 89 is a table for two, or a table for 8 or 10 people? Inquiring minds would like to know. Thanks.

 

I think it is a table for two as we had booked a private table for two but I can't confirm as we never got to see it.

[gottagoacruzn]

thanks