Crown Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Favorite part was glacier bay and viewing it from our balcony.   Crown Princess has to improve on their food. The buffet was tasteless. I have been on many other cruise lines and their dining room food was outstanding but crown princess has a lot to learn from them. I was very disappointed in the anytime dining but found out you have to eat when they want you to.

Disappointed in the short time in Victoria, why even stop in the port.

Not sure I will ever princess cruises again.

It was an excellent experience on this first cruise of my life. While cruising we had the best options of food , drinks, entertainment . The staff was very courteous. The excursions off the ship were memorable. Overall it was once in a life time experience which no one should miss 

Wonderful cruise overall! I wish that as a party of 10 people that we could have reserved dining room time earlier than 7:30pm each night. Also, that people doing excursions had very little time to spend in the ports. I wish that this could be adjusted. Also, we received our coupons for services and gift shop late in the cruise. Otherwise we had a wonderful time. 

All of the staff were so friendly and helpful. 

The answer always seemed to be YES! 

They took good care of us!

The Inner Passage is the way to go if you are worried about motion sickness. 

I never felt queasy.     

My favorite part was the glacier bay. To see Gods handiwork up close was amazing!

i would definetly reccomend this cruise!

i think you could improve on the paper delivery . Some of the very important information got tossed aside with the other papers. I would have loved to send my bags straight to the airport, but I didn't read the paper in time.

we were really impressed with the ship, staff, and overall cleanliness of the boat.. the excursions were very well put on by the staff.. got to see stuff in person that you only can see on TV..

this was our treat to ourselves for a fiftieth wedding anniversary.. took a bit of planning but we pulled it off..

as we had never been there before we packed for all types of weather.. it was actually very pleasant. except for Vancouver. ( cold and rainy and windy..)

This was the 1st cruise for me & my mom.

Overall - it was a great experience.

Pros - beautiful scenery, great ports, easy embarkation & disembarkation process, very educational, very clean, superb service, lots of free stuff!

The cruise offers great excursions that guarantee you back to the ship on time.

Cons - old & dinghy bedding and carpets, smell in some hallways, small casino, lots of activities scheduled at the same time, lots of long lines! Buffets were just ok.

This ship seemed smaller than other cruise lines that we saw @ ports, this could be why we had so many long lines.

We were somewhat disappointed with Princess. The food was mediocre, MDR served a rack of lamb cold and when filling our coffee or water they over filled our cups and let fluid spill on the floor. In Horizon Court we were frequently ignored for our drink orders. If our order was taken, sometimes the waiter never came back. Other times we were ignored completely. Have had better food and service on Royal and Carnival.

The Crown Princess Cruise to Alaska on the inside passage was nothing but spectacular. We had a Balcony room off the Stern which is the BEST spot to be. We could go out and see everything from Mountains to seals, whales to Glaciers on our own balcony. The ship is not really set up for children they have 2 pools that are smaller and 1 in the spa area. It was to cool for us to use them. They have activities during your sea days and the excursions that we took ROCKED! It was nice that we had bought it during the promotional of the all inclusive drinks in our trip.

We thoroughly enjoyed the White Pass train ride, and Glacier Bay was beautiful.  The ship was difficult to navigate with a cane, and there were curves everywhere in the dining areas making walking with a spouse difficult.  We were very surprised at the aggressiveness of some of the foreign passengers who broke in line, jumped ahead of us, and blocked the aisles.  The staff were friendly, and helpful when asked.

Alaska is absolutely gorgeous!  The native islanders are a great group of people.  The stores on board are comparable in price, but a few of the sales people have been on board too long and want to sell, but don't want questions.  The food was catered for Indians and Asians, having the same things with different names day after day.  The sit down dining is the way to go if you want to truly enjoy a meal.  Casino was great place to get rid of frustrations..and we found that winning was possible and that the casino appreciated us spending our money there. (We received a tray of chocolate covered strawberries the morning after I won 2 times in one day).  The train ride is a must.  IT MADE THE TRIP WORTHWHILE! Saxman Indian Village was  a great educational show with the natives!  Do  the  space needle in Seattle on your on, the cruise line only gave you an hour and that was only enough time to climb the ramp going up, to get your picture taken and then go down.  Unfortunately, there was not enough time to actually retrieve the picture or shop for gifts before you had to climb unto the bus.  The cruise line was not accommodating with transfer to the hotel our travel agent got for us because it was not one of their hotels of choice.  That was a nightmare!

We chose to cruise with the Crown Princess specifically because of the connection to Stephen Schwartz (creator of Broadway's Wicked, Godspell and Pippin).   Mr. Schwartz wrote a 55 minute musical exclusively for 3 of Princesses cruise ships...including the Crown Princess.  The show, "Magic To Do," is mostly a collection of some of Stephen's greatest musical works from various shows along with magic...and impressive staging and costumes....with a very weak, bizarre storyline.  But the band was good....the singers were great...the dancing was exquisite...so it did feel like we were seeing something special.  We had two first time cruisers traveling with us....and the 72 year old said the shows were the favorite part of her cruise experience.   I think she also loved our Drink Steward, Jose, in the Michaelangelo Dining Room.   This was my 5th cruise....but because I had badly broken my leg just 4 weeks before the cruise....it was my first time to experience being on a cruise ship with mobility issues.   I was impressed with how 'accessible' the ship was for my electric scooter....and how willing they were to accommodate with a shower stool, toilet riser, etc.    My most favorite aspects of this cruise were:  The Voice of the Sea (similar to NBC's The Voice);  Steve Couette (the impromptu comedian); the majestic scenery during the cruise and in every port; seeing whales and sea otters and sea lions right from the ship and having an interior stateroom (albeit small) that accommodated 4 of us very well.  

My biggest criticism....if I had any.....was the food was just okay.  Wasn't horrible....wasn't spectacular.  I thought the Trident Grill serving Burgers and Hot Dogs was actually one of the better offerings....along with the Pizza bar.    I also felt slighted as I auditioned for "The Voice of the Sea"....as singing / entertaining is one of the few things I still CAN DO with a badly broken leg.  I auditioned with the song "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and had the audience rolling with laughter and people talking to me about what a great job I did in the halls all week long.  However, I didn't make it to the finals....and I'm assuming because there might have been a challenge with getting my scooter to the stage.  I don't know that for sure...but I was certainly one of the best auditions and I didn't make it.    I also thought the timing for some of the events was ill-timed.....like not enough time to get from one event to the other....or similar activities happening at the same time so you had to make hard choices.    I would have liked there to be better thought put into the planning of the daily schedule....cuz it often felt like there is not much happening for hours at a time....then everything you want to do is all happening at the same time.    Also....we felt cheated to have such short stops in Ketchikan....but especially in Victoria, Canada.  

All in all....a very good cruise.  Great photos.  Good memories.    

The Crown Princess amenities were only surpassed by RCCL's Voyager of the Seas.  Our Alaska itinerary was the trip of a lifetime, and the ship's crew made everything just that much more.  Due to all of the early morning excursions, we only took time to enjoy one of the evening shows.  We found so many wonderful choices for our dining pleasure, that we made less use of the superb dining rooms than our normal habits on other ships.  We only had one bad experience and that was caused by a few ship guests failing to meet with Canadian customs soon enough to allow passengers to depart on time to see Bucharest Gardens on Victoria.  Accordingly, we were unable to make that tour which was going to be the highlight of our cruise.

Best part of the cruise was the beautiful scenery.  We went from May 28-June 4, 2016, so it was pretty cold up on deck.  It was mostly cold, windy, and rainy, so if you were planning on lying out on deck, it didn't really happen.  We went out to the jacuzzi once on one of the two warmer/sunny days we had.  But perhaps if you go in July it will be warmer.  The service was pretty good and the staff pretty nice and friendly.  Food was ok - not the best, but not bad either.  The activities offered were fine - they had bingo, trivia games, an art auction.  Of course it all depends what you're into.  It was an older crowd, so everything was pretty low-key.  Was calm and relaxing.  There was a casino.  As for shore excursions, we didn't want to pay too much, so opted for the lower priced ones like the bus tour to Klondike Summit, etc.  All was pretty and easy-going.  We did not do any particularly exciting or adventurous activities.  So if you ask me if I would recommend this cruise, I would say that if you want to see Alaska and just experience a cruise for the first time and are more of a mellow low-key person, this is the cruise for you.  This was my first cruise, and it was more of an experiment to see if I could handle the seas since I'm prone to seasickness.  I did not get seasick at all, even though we had a couple of rocky nights, but all in all it was a success for me.  I would consider doing another cruise, but I would go someplace warmer next time so that we can actually lay out on desk and not have to bundle up just to go outside and look out at the ocean.  Oh, one final thing I'll mention is that Princess was pretty organized in how they ran things.  However, there were a couple of things that happened on our cruise that I feel could possibly have been handled better.  First, the entire ship had to wait to disembark in Canada because they needed to track down a family who apparently did not complete the customs forms properly.  Our shore excursion to Butchart Gardens in Victoria was delayed an hour or so because of this, so that was time lost.  Not sure how this process works, but I'm wondering if Princess could have somehow caught this error prior to the ship arriving in Canada so that the delay could be avoided.  The second thing was when I opted to have "E-Z onboard check-in" from the ship to my flight.  Princess offers this service where they will check in for you, print your boarding pass, and send your bags directly to the airport for you so that you are free to do what you want when you get off the ship and not have to worry about your luggage.  They charge $20 per bag, which was fine, but they insisted that I provide them with a printout of my flight itinerary which I did not have.  Had they told me that I needed to provide a printout, I would surely have brought it with me, but I didn't.  I had to wait to get onshore and forward the email I received from Delta to one of the Princess passenger services people so that they could print it out for me and attach it to my request form.  This ended up turning out alright, but it was a bit aggravating and stressful to have to worry about.  Other than that, Princess provided pretty good service and our cabin steward was particularly good.

We loved the cruise. We only had one issue we did not understand the dinning. Since we had anytime dinning we thought we could only eat at the Horizon Buffet. We spoke with other guest and they thought the same. We also thought we could not go above deck 15 because it was for special members. This should be made more clear to first time guest.Are room were nice but we did not like the toilet paper because it was so thin. The guy who took care of our room was excellent. The entertainment was enjoyable. We really had a great vacation. We would highly recommend this cruise to all.

Enjoyable trip overall.  A few poor experiences based on the lack of help provided to resolve several issues with three authorization holds deducted from my credit card acct for one transaction. Unhappy in dealing w/Princess, however, the beauty of the places we visited overshadow it all.

OUR CABIN SMELLED HORRIBLE, SO THEY SPRAYED AND SHAMPOO THE CARPET, THAT TOOK  TWO DAYS OF COMPLAINING FOR THEM TO FIX. SECOND PROBLEM WE HAD WAS THAT THE ROOM NEVER GOT COOL, THEY CAME TWICE TO FIX THE VENTILATION IN ROOM. THIRD THE BATHROOM TOILET SMELLED LIKE CRAP, AND ALSO DID NOT WORK FOR AN HOUR ON CRUISE AT ONE POINT. FOR THE INCONVENIENCE ,ALL WE GOT WAS A PASTRY PLATE, NOT I AM SORRY OR ANYTHING.WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED IN MANAGEMENT, THEY DID NOT SEEM TO CARE, THAT WE PAID ALL THIS MONEY FOR THIS VACATION AND IT WAS NOT UP TO PAR. 

The favorite part of the cruise was the remarkable views of the fiords and glaciers. Seeing whales and seals topped off a marvelous trip. The food was perfect but if you are thinking about any kind of nightlife with dancing forget it. Elevator music was all they had. The games they play are very fun, entertainment was good and they had a magic show which was very entertaining also. I wanted to dance at least one night so that is why I gave a four star rating instead of a five.

A life changing cruise! Such beauty. The cruise was great, and the Crown Princess is a beautiful ship, very elegant.

Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, and Ketchikan were all the ports we visited. I think Skagway was our favorite. Loved the Red Dog Saloon. Their food and drinks were delicious and they had live entertainment as well.

we can't wait to visit Alaska again some day!

My husband and I I had an awesome experience aboard the Crown Princess. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we sail. We loved the fact that the balcony cabin is clean and very accessible to the elevator, and hand sanitizer is everywhere. The air inside the ship is clean and has no slightest smell of cigarette. The crew and staff are courteous and very helpful. Food is good and the buffet area is orderly and not crowded. I definitely recommend sailing with the Princess, anytime. My husband and I would like to book Alaska cruise with the Princess in the near future.