Great N.E. to Quebec cruise, just completed.

[kwahl1]

Pre Cruise
Did New York on our own. Grayline 48 hr pass w/ 90 min. harbor tour. Ate at Rosie Ogradys Irish pub
Stayed at Best Western President at Times Square. Small rooms, close to everything.
Cartel Car service to Brooklyn Red Hook terminal. Nice terminal. Crown Princess set sail by 7PM
Sailed to Newport, tendered in. Tendering was unorganized and we waited nearly an hour in the dining room to board. There was also a Newport charter service helping with the tendering of passengers. Still the wait was long. On shores wait was about a 20 minute wait for the return Regular everyday city. Well kept houses. Old tavern, oldest continued running tavern, internet in the park. Meet n greet with cruise critic group in the Wheelhouse Bar. About 15 of us. That night went to Crown Grill, excellent meal, $25 each+$15 corkage. Next day dock in Boston, took the Old Town Trolley, but don’t buy your ticket at the Westin. Mailed a package home. Great drivers on Trolley, hop on-off. Paul Reveres house, Old North Church, walked to sites too. Went to Cheers for lunch. Went by Fenway, nice trolley tour. Checked internet at Quincy Market. Trolley took us back to the ship. Rush hour traffic at 4 PM. Won $200 in casino. Sailed for Bar Harbor. Rented a car to go to Acadia NP. Scenic 30 mile loop. Many lobster traps in all the bays. Tendered in. Ate popovers at Jordan Pond restaurant. Walked thru small town. Internet in the park. Set sail for St John Canada. Bay town on the Maine border, St John River. River known for 55ft tide that comes in and recedes. Rushes thru canyon, white watering available. We just walked around town. Cold. Large indoor City Market with local crafts and food. Callahans Pub across from ship had ale and wi fi. Old town, not much to see. Italian night in the main dining room, very slow service, 2 hrs start to finish. Set sail for Halifax. Very busy town with a second cruise ship in town. About 0.5 mile hike to get out of the port area. About another mile to the Citadel, the fort on top of the city’s hill. Shopping was mostly mall type shopping. Didn’t take a tour. Set sail for Sidney. Urgent call for blood donation that night, I donated at 12:30. At 1 AM Capt. came on and they were turning the ship around back towards St John, 3 hrs to meet a helicopter and medivac a sick person. Rumor, ruptured spleen. Capt says we have lost too much time and can’t stop in Sydney. Ate in Sabatini's . Very good meal. Chilean Sea Bass excellent. Continue on to Ville de Saguaney, two days at sea. Did some bingo and lots of reading, and drinking. In Saguaney, nothing to see. Too spread out and tours didn’t sound interesting. Industrial town, raining and dreary. Internet in the terminal. Left port headed for Quebec. Quebec, what a beautiful city. The touristy area a few blocks from the ships is crowded, but there are so many petite shops to see and some nice photography too. Ride the tram up. There is a free electric trolley. It is small and only holds 21 pax. Rode it few miles. Internet in the terminal. Will spend Friday night in Quebec and disembark at 4AM on Sat. to catch 8 AM train. Leaves turning colors.
Staff has improved in the past two years, very friendly. Hey have really worked on this aspect. Particularly Carina and Victor in the dining room. Every meal we requested “normal” size spoon as we did not like those large “shovels” they call dessert spoons in all dining rooms. Milk in the horizon started as shelf milk and then it went to a “heavy cream”, with the rim around the glass. The milk was never very cold. It was poured and sat out on the buffet line table. It took nearly a week for the Horizon baker to get the brownie recipe right. They have to be chewy, not a a 2-inch cake. Desserts were awesome this trip. They oblique our requests nightly. Good room location A256, 12th deck, Aloha, front port side, inside. The most quiet room location we have every had. Thin walls didn’t seem to bother us (or the neighbors). Slots were loose off and on. Someone won nearly $25K. Bingo crowd large, fun. $20 for a set of cards, 4 games. Martini bar good, with free sampler of stuffed olives. Art auction not so hot, I didn’t care for it. Room attendant Roberto very friendly, at our service. Comedians were so so. International show by the crew was boring, too hot in the theater all the time. Dance show OK. Never went to the night clubs or danced. Breakfast buffet was always too crowded, but room service was always available. Gym was well equipped and used a lot. The dry sauna was under repairs. Lotus spa was there but didn’t use it. The Sanctuary only had one couple in it that I saw. $35 a day to use it. Reduced to $20 later in the cruise. Drinks are $6.50 with another 15% added for gratuity. Coffee card was 15 punches for $27.60, the foo-foo coffee drinks and unlimited brewed coffee at the International Café. Other eateries were using the coffee syrup. International Café, great staff, was open all day for sweets and then simple lunch items on demand. No charge, except spumoni was $1.50 for 3 scoops. Unlimited coke card for $48.88. Pizza and soft serve iced milk product every day available. Also a hamburger grill, with chicken and dogs. Vines wine bar has some wine and food pairing available for $8.75-9.50 a flight. Photographers were too numerous. Cruise directors were funny. Didn’t do scrapbooking, crafts, cards, games, dance classes, LGBT get together, trivia, computer classes, etc? Well stocked library. Internet service pricey and slow on board. Regular stores on the ships, nothing special. At some ports, you could do all your shopping right at the dockside tents. Would do this trip again.

[alabama ghost]

Thanks for all the good information. We're on this cruise on Oct. 13 and can't wait to go!

[lady45]

Thanks for the one of the best reviews I have read.

[cruisetvl]

Thanks Kwahl1 for your great review. My family and I will be boarding the Crown on October 13. I like to ask you if you know what was the earliest time you can embark the ship in New York City (or drop off luggage at the port), and what was the earliest time you can disembark the ship at Quebec on arrival? Was it a problem disembarking at 4am to catch the train? Did you have to make prior arrangements with the purser's desk for early departure? Thanks.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the comments

[cityguy300]

Originally Posted by cruisetvl

Thanks Kwahl1 for your great review. My family and I will be boarding the Crown on October 13. I like to ask you if you know what was the earliest time you can embark the ship in New York City (or drop off luggage at the port), and what was the earliest time you can disembark the ship at Quebec on arrival? Was it a problem disembarking at 4am to catch the train? Did you have to make prior arrangements with the purser's desk for early departure? Thanks.

I was on the same cruise as the OP and can tell you that the earliest scheduled departures (going by the schedule they gave us the night before) were around 3:30 AM to catch 5:45 AM flights. In fact a few people left the night before without even staying the final night. You'll be given a form to fill in mid-cruise to indicate your disembarkation preferences.

As for boarding, we got there around noon on September 23 to find lots of people already on board and still boarding. You'll get a boarding card number when you arrive, and they call up groups by number every few minutes. The hardest part about embarkation was finding the entrance to the terminal, lol. We couldn't follow the instructions verbatim due to construction, and it took a few turnarounds to backtrack to the right spot -- the ship was easily visible from the highway, the path to get there was not!

[SF]

Can someone tell me the names of the dance shows that they had on board?

[Shogun]

Hi There, kwahl1,

Thanks for posting, good of you to give blood, sorry you missed a port,

not long now until we join the Crown.

yours Shogun

[5fathom]

Dance Shows are :
Destination Anywhere - Pretty good show. It's a little different and you may like some parts and not others. Overall, not bad.

What a Swell Party. Show based on the music of Cole Porter. Most songs you will know. This was the first show for the new cast of singers and dancers who just came aboard. We enjoyed this show.

Motor City. This salute to Motown has been around far too long on Princess ships. If you sailed Princess before you have seen it.

Shows are repeated on the next night so you will have a chance to see them all. The early shows were packed to capacity. Also in Halifax they brought aboard the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Pipes and Drums. They were excellent. In Quebec it was the LA Compagine De Dance Migrations. What a fun show this was. The music and dancing was all great fun.

Anymore questions on the entertainment feel free to ask

[5fathom]

Kwahl1 gave an excellent revue 0n the Sept 23 -Oct 3 C&NE cruise. I would like to add a few additional comments

Captain was Andy Proctor and Cruise Director Neil Chandler. Both are very personable and Neil is very active around the ship and loves to stop and talk with passengers.

Ship is in excellent condition. Carpeting needs upgrading in a few spots but oveall she looks great.

Weather: Newport - sunny and hot
Boston - Sunny and warm
Bar Harbor - Sunny and a spectacular fall day. Would recommend West Street Cafe for lunch. About a block up from harbor. Excellent Haddock fish and chips and a great lobster salad.

Saint John to Quebec we had very cool and rainy weather. In Port Saguneay on a very cool and rainy early morning a large part of the town greeted us at dockside with cheering and dancing. This was the greatest reception we have seen in 25 years of cruising. The itinerary will show this as a tender port but we docked and the Nowegian Spirit tendered.

Colors - Were abundant from Port Saguneay to Quebec but with the rain and mist they were muted.

Things not to miss :
1. If you do not use the Sanctuary at least go up and see it. Great place !
2. The International Cafe on Plaza Deck 5. Wonderful salads, sandwiches and pasteries all free. If you enjoy special coffee's by all means purchase a Coffee Card for $24.
3. The Pub lunch held once during the week is a must. Excellent fish and chips, Bangers and Mash and a couple more items I can't recall. When ordering beer, Fosters, it come in a pint can so you will be very happy leaving the Wheelhose Bar.

Closing comments. Beautiful ship. Very friendly crew. Silent Disembarkation works well. This was our first Elite cruise and if you are working toward this goal I will tell you it is well worth it. The little extra perks make it very nice. If anyone wants to know the Elite bar setup I can tell you.

[cityguy300]

Originally Posted by SF

Can someone tell me the names of the dance shows that they had on board?

Guess you stopped reading the other Canada/NE Crown Princess thread because I actually mentioned the show names to you in my reply there... even before you asked the question here! Anyway just to add to 5fathom's comments:

1) The Crown Princess dancers switched out after the first production show, "Destination Anywhere". Neil actually made a note of it in his closing comments on that show's final performance, to congratulate the cast on completing their six month contracts. I've never seen this happen before; I always assumed cast changes only happened between cruises, but I guess they're tied to specific shows? Two of the four singers got swapped out as well.

2) The Princess Theatre was PACKED on every performance I caught. I've never seen a poor turnout for a production show either way, but never filled up like this. The opening night introductory show was actually standing room only when we arrived 15 minutes before start, and people actually did stand for the first showings of the other shows. If your cruise was like ours you'll need to arrive half-an-hour early to ensure a good seat on any given night.

[cityguy300]

Originally Posted by 5fathom

Dance Shows are :
Destination Anywhere - Pretty good show. It's a little different and you may like some parts and not others. Overall, not bad.

I actually think I liked this show the best, but maybe that's because I'd already seen the other two on Emerald last year (also with Neil as cruise director -- a lot of deja vu this cruise, including the corny jokes!). I do agree some segments were a little odd -- particularly when she visits the moon and they're singing Rocky Horror tunes!

Originally Posted by 5fathom

What a Swell Party. Show based on the music of Cole Porter. Most songs you will know. This was the first show for the new cast of singers and dancers who just came aboard. We enjoyed this show.

This was a good show but I've had enough of it; I guess it's my Motor City in that regard. Also, for an alleged Cole Porter tribute it seemed to be a real grab bag of any Twenties/Thirties music (e.g. Irving Berlin) and music that just sounded like it was from that era (e.g. Chicago soundtrack).

Originally Posted by 5fathom

Motor City. This salute to Motown has been around far too long on Princess ships. If you sailed Princess before you have seen it.

I notice this show never fails to get dissed on these boards, lol. I barely remembered it so didn't mind seeing it again (the music was all good), but it was the "plainest" of the bunch and if it's been around as long as people say, I can understand why they'd be frustrated at being "treated" to it again.

[SF]

Originally Posted by cityguy300

Guess you stopped reading the other Canada/NE Crown Princess thread because I actually mentioned the show names to you in my reply there... even before you asked the question here!

Guess with so much to do now and reading so many different threads it slipped my mind. Better to blame it on that than my age!!!!

I'd be looking forward to the "Destination Anywhere" show as we haven't seen that one but the other two we have but we still enjoy seeing them again with other dancers.

5fathom:

Thanks for replying to my question and for sharing your experiences on the Crown.

Hi Shogun,

Not to much longer. Catch ya on our roll call thread!!!

[pris993]

Originally Posted by kwahl1

Pre Cruise
Did New York on our own. Grayline 48 hr pass w/ 90 min. harbor tour. Ate at Rosie Ogradys Irish pub
Stayed at Best Western President at Times Square. Small rooms, close to everything.
Cartel Car service to Brooklyn Red Hook terminal. Nice terminal. Crown Princess set sail by 7PM
Sailed to Newport, tendered in. Tendering was unorganized and we waited nearly an hour in the dining room to board. There was also a Newport charter service helping with the tendering of passengers. Still the wait was long. On shores wait was about a 20 minute wait for the return Regular everyday city. Well kept houses. Old tavern, oldest continued running tavern, internet in the park. Meet n greet with cruise critic group in the Wheelhouse Bar. About 15 of us. That night went to Crown Grill, excellent meal, $25 each+$15 corkage. Next day dock in Boston, took the Old Town Trolley, but don’t buy your ticket at the Westin. Mailed a package home. Great drivers on Trolley, hop on-off. Paul Reveres house, Old North Church, walked to sites too. Went to Cheers for lunch. Went by Fenway, nice trolley tour. Checked internet at Quincy Market. Trolley took us back to the ship. Rush hour traffic at 4 PM. Won $200 in casino. Sailed for Bar Harbor. Rented a car to go to Acadia NP. Scenic 30 mile loop. Many lobster traps in all the bays. Tendered in. Ate popovers at Jordan Pond restaurant. Walked thru small town. Internet in the park. Set sail for St John Canada. Bay town on the Maine border, St John River. River known for 55ft tide that comes in and recedes. Rushes thru canyon, white watering available. We just walked around town. Cold. Large indoor City Market with local crafts and food. Callahans Pub across from ship had ale and wi fi. Old town, not much to see. Italian night in the main dining room, very slow service, 2 hrs start to finish. Set sail for Halifax. Very busy town with a second cruise ship in town. About 0.5 mile hike to get out of the port area. About another mile to the Citadel, the fort on top of the city’s hill. Shopping was mostly mall type shopping. Didn’t take a tour. Set sail for Sidney. Urgent call for blood donation that night, I donated at 12:30. At 1 AM Capt. came on and they were turning the ship around back towards St John, 3 hrs to meet a helicopter and medivac a sick person. Rumor, ruptured spleen. Capt says we have lost too much time and can’t stop in Sydney. Ate in Sabatini's . Very good meal. Chilean Sea Bass excellent. Continue on to Ville de Saguaney, two days at sea. Did some bingo and lots of reading, and drinking. In Saguaney, nothing to see. Too spread out and tours didn’t sound interesting. Industrial town, raining and dreary. Internet in the terminal. Left port headed for Quebec. Quebec, what a beautiful city. The touristy area a few blocks from the ships is crowded, but there are so many petite shops to see and some nice photography too. Ride the tram up. There is a free electric trolley. It is small and only holds 21 pax. Rode it few miles. Internet in the terminal. Will spend Friday night in Quebec and disembark at 4AM on Sat. to catch 8 AM train. Leaves turning colors.
Staff has improved in the past two years, very friendly. Hey have really worked on this aspect. Particularly Carina and Victor in the dining room. Every meal we requested “normal” size spoon as we did not like those large “shovels” they call dessert spoons in all dining rooms. Milk in the horizon started as shelf milk and then it went to a “heavy cream”, with the rim around the glass. The milk was never very cold. It was poured and sat out on the buffet line table. It took nearly a week for the Horizon baker to get the brownie recipe right. They have to be chewy, not a a 2-inch cake. Desserts were awesome this trip. They oblique our requests nightly. Good room location A256, 12th deck, Aloha, front port side, inside. The most quiet room location we have every had. Thin walls didn’t seem to bother us (or the neighbors). Slots were loose off and on. Someone won nearly $25K. Bingo crowd large, fun. $20 for a set of cards, 4 games. Martini bar good, with free sampler of stuffed olives. Art auction not so hot, I didn’t care for it. Room attendant Roberto very friendly, at our service. Comedians were so so. International show by the crew was boring, too hot in the theater all the time. Dance show OK. Never went to the night clubs or danced. Breakfast buffet was always too crowded, but room service was always available. Gym was well equipped and used a lot. The dry sauna was under repairs. Lotus spa was there but didn’t use it. The Sanctuary only had one couple in it that I saw. $35 a day to use it. Reduced to $20 later in the cruise. Drinks are $6.50 with another 15% added for gratuity. Coffee card was 15 punches for $27.60, the foo-foo coffee drinks and unlimited brewed coffee at the International Café. Other eateries were using the coffee syrup. International Café, great staff, was open all day for sweets and then simple lunch items on demand. No charge, except spumoni was $1.50 for 3 scoops. Unlimited coke card for $48.88. Pizza and soft serve iced milk product every day available. Also a hamburger grill, with chicken and dogs. Vines wine bar has some wine and food pairing available for $8.75-9.50 a flight. Photographers were too numerous. Cruise directors were funny. Didn’t do scrapbooking, crafts, cards, games, dance classes, LGBT get together, trivia, computer classes, etc? Well stocked library. Internet service pricey and slow on board. Regular stores on the ships, nothing special. At some ports, you could do all your shopping right at the dockside tents. Would do this trip again.

Nice review. Looks like you put a lot of effort into it. Next time, please break up in to smaller paragraphs, very hard on the eyes to read. Thanks.

[CrusinAgain]

We are going to some of the same ports in 2 weeks on the Caribbean Princess. Am interested in where you rented your car for Bar harbor for the Acadia Park? I looked and did not see a place there and time is limited for us 7-4 tender meaning back on ship by 3:30. So where did you go and how much was it? Thanks much.

[davidnsteph]

kwahl1,

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. We enjoyed a similar itinerary in October 2004 on the Regal Princess from NY to Montreal. We also had a cold, windy day in St. John, New Brunswick.

Did you like the scenery along Saguenay Fjord, and did you see Beluga whales or other marine life?

We loved Quebec City and the St. Lawrence shoreline, especially with the Fall colors at their peak.

Thanks again.

David

[cruisetvl]

Thanks cityguy300 for your quick response. Your information will definitely help with my planning. You mentioned the directions to the port were altered due to construction for embarkation. Do you happen to have the new directions? We will be coming directly from LGA airport.

[cityguy300]

Originally Posted by cruisetvl

Thanks cityguy300 for your quick response. Your information will definitely help with my planning. You mentioned the directions to the port were altered due to construction for embarkation. Do you happen to have the new directions? We will be coming directly from LGA airport.

Hey cruisetvl,

I also came from LGA, but couldn't tell you for sure what the "correct" directions would be as we ended up going in circles for a while before getting back on track, lol. Unfortunately the driver didn't know the port and so we had to rely on Princess' printed instructions to the letter, which didn't work out so well when we missed our exit on the highway.

Up till that point we had been making great time -- traffic in that direction was fast in the morning, gridlocked in the opposite direction -- and the ship was in plain view just before we got off, but then we got lost and the traffic jammed up due to closed lanes. However, there were arrow signs leading us to the pier from there... which was fortunate as I would never have believed that was the correct route! You sort of go through a residential neighbourhood and then an industrial / container port area before you suddenly come upon the passenger terminal entrance adjacent to the industrial port.

I'm sure you'll have no problem if you just make sure your driver knows the area somewhat before you climb in.

[kwahl1]

Originally Posted by cruisetvl

Thanks Kwahl1 for your great review. My family and I will be boarding the Crown on October 13. I like to ask you if you know what was the earliest time you can embark the ship in New York City (or drop off luggage at the port), and what was the earliest time you can disembark the ship at Quebec on arrival? Was it a problem disembarking at 4am to catch the train? Did you have to make prior arrangements with the purser's desk for early departure? Thanks.

I would imagine 1-2 PM earliest time to embark in NYC, but didn't try the early thing. As for Quebec, not a problem getting off at 4 AM. Very accommadating. They even had a 3:30 AM group get off, international flight. All disembarks go thru the pursers desk during there disembark survey you receive while sailing. Easy stuff

[kwahl1]

Originally Posted by CrusinAgain

We are going to some of the same ports in 2 weeks on the Caribbean Princess. Am interested in where you rented your car for Bar harbor for the Acadia Park? I looked and did not see a place there and time is limited for us 7-4 tender meaning back on ship by 3:30. So where did you go and how much was it? Thanks much.

Acutally our friends arraigned to get a Hertz car and Hertz shuttled him to the airport to pick up the car, Nothing dockside to get a rental. You can have your TA or arrange for the Hertz pickup prior to setting sail. I believe it was over $100 for the rental, the most I've ever seen charged, but such a beautiful drive to Acadia. It is really "small town" at the Hertz place and took awhile to get the car with an instant 3000 people coming to town a few needing a car. But worth it.