Never again, CROWN PRINCESS

[marden1970]

We're also on this cruise, cabin R412.  I don't feel it is too bad except for the rough seas.  The most noise I hear is from the Lido deck but we expected that. We chose that cabin for location (mobility issues). There are the usual creaking noises and the like that are to be expected with higher seas but overall not too bad.

 

.

 

[Cruisintimer]

23 hours ago, drhugs said:

D325  typo...thanks for all the comments...I am sharing my observations being on the Crown right now til jan 7...not merely rough seas, believe me.

Yikes!  We just booked Dolphin deck today, same cruise out of S.Fran. We have usually had a bumpy ride first couple nights out of port and with storms heading into CA right now you are in the thick of it.  We are expecting snow here tomorrow by Yosemite and Tahoe is getting slammed this weekend.  Hope things mellow out for you.

Edited January 6 by Cruisintimer

[john watson]

I am wondering if the noise is being generated by the hydraulic pumps which evacuate the toilets, They make a lot of noise and neighbouring cabins along the corridor or above/below might have pumps straining to clear the pipes.

 

Regards John

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Sorry you are being hit with awful weather that we are experiencing here.

Were on the same ship/itinerary in early April.

Your topic made me Look to remember which cabin were in.... Deck 11 mid aft.

Really hoping the seas (and ship) are in better shape by then.

Hope your remaining time gets better.

Like others have mentioned, try talking to Guest services for explanation or

what they Might be able to do for you?

 

 

[Cruisintimer]

5 minutes ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

Sorry you are being hit with awful weather that we are experiencing here.

Were on the same ship/itinerary in early April.

Your topic made me Look to remember which cabin were in.... Deck 11 mid aft.

Really hoping the seas (and ship) are in better shape by then.

Hope your remaining time gets better.

Like others have mentioned, try talking to Guest services for explanation or

what they Might be able to do for you?

 

 

We board very soon in S.F. on the Crown and then early April for Hawaii as well.  I mentioned earlier this is a stormy time as you know if you are from CA.  We are expecting snow here tonight in the Sierras.  Hawaii is normally a bit of a rocky ride a day or two out of port and returning, at least that has been our experience on the several cruises we have taken.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

It seems from the many threads being posted about similar "problems" that there are a lot of people who think that the ship or the cruise line are at fault for what Mother Nature causes...and then make rash statements about future cruises.

[nanwel1]

Oh Oh heading out on that cruise Feb 22 - have had rough seas in that area before..so should be ok. up on deck 10.

[Sat-Cruiser]

We agree completely! It's so sad to see the deterioration of the once pristine Princess line. We have over 600 days sailing, mostly with Princess and may never sail with them again. We do miss the smaller ships, the Pacific Princess was our favorite. Princess is marketing and catering to a different clientele, so is no longer a 'grand dame' of the seas. I suppose it's the old "get what you pay for" adage! Farewell to the precious 'Sea Witch'! 

[memoak]

34 minutes ago, Sat-Cruiser said:

We agree completely! It's so sad to see the deterioration of the once pristine Princess line. We have over 600 days sailing, mostly with Princess and may never sail with them again. We do miss the smaller ships, the Pacific Princess was our favorite. Princess is marketing and catering to a different clientele, so is no longer a 'grand dame' of the seas. I suppose it's the old "get what you pay for" adage! Farewell to the precious 'Sea Witch'! 

Once again a poster who joined CC years ago but hardly ever posts and now joins the “never sail Princess again crowd”. We were on the Crown for 20 days a few months ago and will board again on the 23rd.  No priblems and an awesome crew 

[Triger]

Never again was also our statement after an Hawain cruse in October 2022, and we had great weather.  We agree too many issues to list.  The ship should be retired, vibration was bad, old furnishing etc . Also we are Elit but must say loyalty no longer matters to Princess.

[Cruisintimer]

2 hours ago, Triger said:

Never again was also our statement after an Hawain cruse in October 2022, and we had great weather.  We agree too many issues to list.  The ship should be retired, vibration was bad, old furnishing etc . Also we are Elit but must say loyalty no longer matters to Princess.

Just curious, what did Princess not supply you with for being elite status?

[Thrak]

The only thing I don't like about Crown Princess is that they have the added Rivera Deck but don't have Adagio to make up for it. Ships with the extra passenger deck don't really bother me but, when they include Adagio, it really makes it better.

[Triger]

56 minutes ago, Cruisintimer said:

Just curious, what did Princess not supply you with for being elite status?

No more separate priority boarding, no more WiFi, no more subbing mini bar for coffee card (in a non drinker).  They no longer have coffee cards or soda cards, you have to buy the whole package or a la carte.  We still like Princess but more like RC, after your $$$.

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, Triger said:

No more separate priority boarding, no more WiFi, no more subbing mini bar for coffee card (in a non drinker).  They no longer have coffee cards or soda cards, you have to buy the whole package or a la carte.  We still like Princess but more like RC, after your $$$.

In most locations, there is still a priority waiting area where you will board earlier than general embarkation.  True, Princess has given up priority check in.  
 

There is no more free WiFi minutes, but I prefer the 50% discount for unlimited WiFi.  No more worries about forgetting to log off.

 

Princess did away with the coffee “card” altogether.  Not just for elites,  I agree, this was a terrible move.

 

I have used…once…the 10% OBC for an excursion.  That was nice.

[john watson]

People say that the standards on Princess are declining.  I should imagine this is the case for all cruise lines at the moment having emerged from a global health problem causing the industry to shut down for a year. Some lines have ceased to exist.  Imagine if you had no income for a year? Had to sell one of your cars to keep going. Many people are still trying to get every possible benefit from their cruise.

 

 

Regards John

[nini]

On 1/4/2024 at 7:27 PM, drhugs said:

D325  typo...thanks for all the comments...I am sharing my observations being on the Crown right now til jan 7...not merely rough seas, believe me.

 

In Post #1, it was also stated "You have so CHEAPENED your cruises". @drhugs , can you clarify? 

And you also stated in Post #16, " not merely rough seas, believe me". Can you expand on that?

 

Also, we live about a mile from the ocean in Washington State and we have really been getting very high tides , "King Tides". They can be dangerous for beach walkers and bring crazy sneaker waves.

[dockman]

 

 

Rough seas are no fun regardless of the cruise line.  To me it is part of cruising and I try to not let it bother me. 

 

On the other hand with all the information at your fingertips a click or two away it might be a good idea for more picky people to do more research online as to what they can likely expect on an older ship, crossing the pacific in the winter, etc.  If I had been on 30 princess cruises and must have liked it enough to keep coming back over and over I would probably write off one bad cruise but not let it make me utter the often unwise word  "never".

 

I did Seabourn across the north sea once and it was a total rollercoaster with miserable weather....and many of the people who loved the smaller more yatch like Seabourn ships of those days were saying never again on a small ship.

 

There are several areas of the world where you are almost guaranteed to hit some rough seas.  The oceans do not care what ship, what company, what passengers.  Best to avoid those well known areas if rough seas play a major part in being able to "grin and bear it".

[[Big Z]]

On 1/4/2024 at 4:49 PM, 2MellowCruisers said:

We were on the Crown last year for a cruise to Alaska and if I remember correctly, this was when they were having issues and people were switching to the Discovery cruise around the same time.  We stayed with the Crown and really enjoyed the cruise.  I do remember vibrations in the dining room sometimes but nothing too bad.  I was hoping that was fixed.

 

 

 

To directly address the quoted text: It was 2022 Alaska season - I was on one of those cruises. Went on two cruises on the Crown in 2023 and it was fine - those problems were gone then but perhaps in the last 6 months, those problems could've popped up again.

 

 

But having just crossed the Pacific on HAL Koningsdam (was actually originally booked on the Crown, but that's another story for another day), there were some rough sea days. For me, they were rough, but manageable and it was my first time crossing the Pacific. However, I've experienced rougher waters coming up the west coast and in Alaska. 

[TRLD]

6 hours ago, john watson said:

People say that the standards on Princess are declining.  I should imagine this is the case for all cruise lines at the moment having emerged from a global health problem causing the industry to shut down for a year. Some lines have ceased to exist.  Imagine if you had no income for a year? Had to sell one of your cars to keep going. Many people are still trying to get every possible benefit from their cruise.

 

 

Regards John

From what I have seen, things were rough early in the restart, but now are pretty much back as they were in 2019 on most cruise lines.

 

There have been changes since 2019, but then there have been similar number of changes during any similar period of time. Largely the result of competition and other pressures. Large ships are economically more efficient so ships get larger. Lines have found that packages work so more is tied to packages. Fare prices are competitively important so more revenue is tied to on board spend on main stream lines. Etc.

[TRLD]

6 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

In most locations, there is still a priority waiting area where you will board earlier than general embarkation.  True, Princess has given up priority check in.  
 

There is no more free WiFi minutes, but I prefer the 50% discount for unlimited WiFi.  No more worries about forgetting to log off.

 

Princess did away with the coffee “card” altogether.  Not just for elites,  I agree, this was a terrible move.

 

I have used…once…the 10% OBC for an excursion.  That was nice.

The coffee card program largely went away because it was not compatible with their new systems. It was their only package that was X number of items, instead of per day. I noticed a number of times where the staff at the IC did not charge once packages became common. On the waiters systems in the bars when I ordered a soft drink it would show up as a package to them and cause some confusion. They would try to bring me a fountain drink when I ordered a can and tell me that only the fountain drink was on the package. I when then explain that it was not a package just a coffee card. When they treated it like a package the soft drink would take away one of the coffees

 

Talked with one of the beverage managers and he indicated that it was a problem, that the system was really not designed for per item nature of the coffee card system.

 

End result they could either pay to change their system to properly handle the coffee cards or with a fairly high percentage of passengers now buying packages just get rid of it entirely.

 

Of course the people most impacted are those like myself that do not buy packages and are not big onboard spenders, not exactly the target customer for any of the mass market lines, not just princess.

[capriccio]

9 hours ago, Thrak said:

The only thing I don't like about Crown Princess is that they have the added Rivera Deck but don't have Adagio to make up for it. Ships with the extra passenger deck don't really bother me but, when they include Adagio, it really makes it better.

That is a drawback.  When did they remove the Adagio?  On our 2016/2017 LA to Rio cruise it was our favorite place for pre-dinner cocktails but we haven't been on it since then.

 

Added: I just looked at the deck plans and the Adagio is still there on the Crown (although sometimes those are slow to update).

Edited January 7 by capriccio

[Cruisintimer]

9 hours ago, Triger said:

No more separate priority boarding, no more WiFi, no more subbing mini bar for coffee card (in a non drinker).  They no longer have coffee cards or soda cards, you have to buy the whole package or a la carte.  We still like Princess but more like RC, after your $$$.

We were able to board first both in Los Angeles and San Francisco recently.  The WiFi package works great and I agree about coffee cards but we do like the plus package and you can order mock cocktails (then you would get WiFi, crew gratuities and sodas/water, all the benefits plus 2 meals at Alfredos/Gigi's or others available.  I have read some cruisers bring their soda onboard themselves, maybe that is an option?  Trying to get you to think on "good things"/positives.  😉 Happy Sailing!

[2MellowCruisers]

8 hours ago, [Big Z] said:

 

To directly address the quoted text: It was 2022 Alaska season

Yes, thank you.  It was 2022.  We were on the Royal for Alaska 2023.  We had a great trip on the Crown.  Heading to the port right now to board her again today.

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 minutes ago, 2MellowCruisers said:

Heading to the port right now to board her again today.

I'm jealous!!

[Cruisintimer]

4 minutes ago, 2MellowCruisers said:

Yes, thank you.  It was 2022.  We were on the Royal for Alaska 2023.  We had a great trip on the Crown.  Heading to the port right now to board her again today.

Can you post later and let us know how your experience is?  We are boarding very soon for a back to back cruise on the Crown.  Happy sailing!

Edited January 7 by Cruisintimer