Just tried this since I do have Fusion 12.1.1 with CHR long-term. I also can reproduce the problem - I just never noticed since I don’t regular use it and normally just suspect/resume VMs.
Since I do have support on Fusion, opened a case with VMWare. We’ll see what VMWare says – this does sound like their bug – since the CHR hasn’t changed. I do recall it booting in seconds – not now, it takes several minutes to boot for sure. I tried changing the “Compatibility Version” from latest to level 12 etc to no effect. Even creating a new CHR VM guest still hangs on 12.1.1.