Crown Grill - Am I Missing Something?

I have been reading the posts about the CG and people saying that because they are not ordering alcohol they are getting sub-par treatment by wait staff. If the customers have the AIBP, then there is not likely to be any extra charges or tips, so what is going on? Maybe I am missing something. We go to the Crown on all our sailings and never order drinks and so far all our experiences have been wonderful. But the reviews of late or not sounding great.

My last visits to the CG (Caribbean Princess) was in September 2016. The food was good but didn't wow me. Service however was outstanding. I had the AIBP. and on one night, I didn't order any alcohol. Service was still great...:):):)

Bob

We eat in CG every cruise (22) and never order alcohol, service has always been great (with one exception).

In March on the Crown we had good service at the Crown Grill and did not order any beverages. Meal was good.

Always go to the Crown Grill and sometimes we order a drink, sometimes not.......the service has always been great;)

We have the AIBP package and order drinks at Crown Grill.

Our service has always been good. :)

We have been to Crown Grill exactly one time, and based on the service we're not inclined to go back. This was October 2015 on the Grand.

The waitress swept by us several times with "be with you in a second" kind of utterances. And it was probably 15 minutes after being seated that she actually stopped at the table.

We ordered and ate a couple of very good steaks (with wine). But the rest was downhill again. She didn't bring several things we asked for, couldn't even find time for a second cup of coffee with dessert. If we had been at a land restaurant, I probably would have left about a 10% tip rather than my usual 20%.

We enjoyed the food, though the steak was the only thing better than standard MDR fare. But the service was really pretty crummy.

Jim

We go to the CG every cruise. It used to be 2/3 times, now it is generally just the once. It is still enjoyable, makes a change from ATD and is a pleasant way to spend an evening. However, I feel the quality had gone down slightly over the years (although it could depend on the ship and chef I guess), the service is generally good though can be slow (2 or 3 times we have had to wait 20 minutes for our order to be taken, or for our appetiser to be brought out, when the restaurant is quite quiet), and sometimes the atmosphere can be lacking.

One time the CG was right at the back of the HCB on deck 15, you had to walk ages, through the buffet into the darkened area of a ship. There was plenty of space between the tables, but there was no background music or chatter to liven things up a bit.

We enjoy it, especially as we get at least 1 free meal there a cruise (Elite/Suite), but we don't enjoy it as much as we used to.

We eat at the Crown Grill at the very least once, but more than likely will visit two or more times on each cruise. Over the years we have had steaks that were outstanding, great, average or in one case tough. No matter which, they have always made it right if there was a problem.

While we have noted a decline in service at the regular dining rooms, the Crown Grill is one place where in our opinion the service has remained attentive. One thing us as passengers have to realize is that while five years ago the place was only half full at times, now it is often booked to capacity, and thus some may have the idea that there has been a decline in service.

As to the alcohol question - depending on the night we have ordered drinks, wine, or had no alcohol and there has never been any change in service.

I have never ordered a drink in any specialty restaurant which includes most Princess ships. The service has ranged from good to excellent. Whether or not one orders a drink has never affected the service. I think the "missing link" is whoever posted that there's a correlation.

I think the service is in decline as is the food. Service on our last cruise on the Royal in February was particularly bad. We actually saw our waiter only once. He took our order. All the food was brought out by other people! We did see him hustle by a few times but he never stopped back. We got what we needed but sometimes had to wait a few minutes for it. I think they may have cut back in staff and the waiters have no time to provide good service. And although our Club Class experience on the Royal was very good, in December on the Caribbean Princess in the MDR the servers were too rushed as well. December in the Crown Grill was also pretty rushed but a bit better than Royal in February. At least the waiter who waited on us in stayed with us instead of a steady stream of others. But he was much too rushed too.

As for the food, I get better steaks at home, USDA choice form the grocery store is much better. And the sides aren't as good as they used to be either. I still love the creamed spinach and we always get the asparagus but everything else isn't even tasty. I really miss the scalped potatoes. And I think there was a corn dish that was tasty as well. My husband has even noticed a difference in the onion soup. And I decided to try the sea bass last time and won't do that again. It wasn't awful but it was far from awesome. And I usually love sea bass.

But we will still go to the Crown Grill and to Sabatini's. By the way, even when very busy we have had much better service in Sabatini's for some reason. I'm looking forward to trying the new menu there.

And I forgot to mention that we sometimes bring our own wine, sometimes my husband orders a glass and sometimes we buy a bottle or have some leftover from the dining room. No difference in service noticed.

We have a 28 day cruise coming up in October and may well not eat at a specialty venue at all. We have no interest in Share and our last couple of experiences at CG have been underwhelming. There is more food than we can comfortably eat and it really hasn't been all that outstanding. It is 28 days so we may succumb but my wife is particularly unimpressed with CG. We have had an outstanding dinner there in the past but lately...

We've never ordered drinks in any dining places on Princess & have had a problem with the service.

We've done CG on most of our Princess cruises including a week ago Saturday night. DH usually has an AIBP and I usually have only sodas package...we've never ordered a bottle of wine in CG nor had paid for drinks. Our service has always been good to excellent with the food being great. Last week was no exception...

The issue with Crown Grill is every one tastes are different... we eat for 10 nights straight on our last cruise... love the Sea Bass... eat it every other night rotating, between chops and steaks... like the mushroom, asparagus, french fries... they have a couple of good salad, crab cake was very good for our taste. I would pass on the onion soup... we ordered wine once ... order a beer another time... we had good service as you can image eating their every night... had a set time which worked for us. Will do this again when we go on the Royal i October.

While we aren't seasoned cruisers (only 5 actual cruises with 9 cruise credits), we often eat at the Crown Grill and Sabatini's. We enjoy our specialty dining experiences as the food and service has always been top notch! Like Thrak, we too will be cruising on the 28 Day cruise in Oct and have absolutely NO desire to eat at Share's. We do plan on partaking of the Crown Grill's offerings 2 to 3 times and maybe even 4 because we have never been disappointed!

Just Mike

The issue with Crown Grill is every one tastes are different... we eat for 10 nights straight on our last cruise... love the Sea Bass... eat it every other night rotating, between chops and steaks... like the mushroom, asparagus, french fries... they have a couple of good salad, crab cake was very good for our taste. I would pass on the onion soup... we ordered wine once ... order a beer another time... we had good service as you can image eating their every night... had a set time which worked for us. Will do this again when we go on the Royal i October.

Now that must be a record. :D

I don't know if I could keep up with that pace. ;)

Sorry. Our experience at the crown grill on the Crown Princess was TERRBILE! We will never go back and my contacts from the Maitr D' of the Clown Grill to the Maitre D' of the Ship to various customer services departments at Princess proves they do are not interested and do not care.

... my contacts from the Maitr D' of the Clown Grill to the Maitre D' of the Ship to various customer services departments at Princess proves they do are not interested and do not care.

My experience as well.

We have eaten at both CG and Sabbatini's many times, and have always had the AIBP. On our last cruise in February, the service in both was terrible, as a result of having the AIBP. Both restaurants have fantastic wine menus by the bottle but very limited by the glass, as consumers of the AIBP we drink by the glass as there are very good wines available elsewhere. On previous trips to the restaurants i have asked if possible to have a glass of wine we know is available and has never been a problem. This last cruise, in both restaurants we were told emphatically no. I said no problem, so i actually went to walk out to go to the bar next door myself. On one occasion, on the way out the Maitr d' asked if all was good, and i actually said thefood was great, i am just going to get a glass of wine as the waitress said shewouldn’t get it. As you would expect, he immediately said don’t be silly, toldme to sit back down and then came over and gave the waitress a bollocking infront of our table – my wife looked down utterly embarrassed, I was justshocked he did it in front of us. The service for the rest of the meal was,lets just say awkward.

The service is slipping, and with the changes to ordering policy will mean i wont frequent either restaurant as much.

We have eaten at both CG and Sabbatini's many times, and have always had the AIBP. On our last cruise in February, the service in both was terrible, as a result of having the AIBP. Both restaurants have fantastic wine menus by the bottle but very limited by the glass, as consumers of the AIBP we drink by the glass as there are very good wines available elsewhere. On previous trips to the restaurants i have asked if possible to have a glass of wine we know is available and has never been a problem. This last cruise, in both restaurants we were told emphatically no. I said no problem, so i actually went to walk out to go to the bar next door myself. On one occasion, on the way out the Maitr d' asked if all was good, and i actually said thefood was great, i am just going to get a glass of wine as the waitress said shewouldn’t get it. As you would expect, he immediately said don’t be silly, toldme to sit back down and then came over and gave the waitress a bollocking infront of our table – my wife looked down utterly embarrassed, I was justshocked he did it in front of us. The service for the rest of the meal was,lets just say awkward.

The service is slipping, and with the changes to ordering policy will mean i wont frequent either restaurant as much.

On subsequent trips was your selected wine then available?

On subsequent trips was your selected wine then available?

In the 2 week period (Caribbean Princess) where this happened all 3 times we went, no change. Next cruise is on Royal Princess in June.

We dined at Crown Grill in March. We both had the all-inclusive drink package. Our waitress was minimally courteous and very scarce. We received much better customer service in the main dining room! I am hoping that was just one bad waitress and not standard for the Crown Grill. We will give it another try next time.

I have never had bad wait staff, I have always had excellent service and extremely happy with food and food choices on all of my Princess cruises. I rarely eat in a specialty restaurant as my DH and I love the MDR..

We dined at Crown Grill in March. We both had the all-inclusive drink package. Our waitress was minimally courteous and very scarce. We received much better customer service in the main dining room! I am hoping that was just one bad waitress and not standard for the Crown Grill. We will give it another try next time.

There is enough confirmation on this post and others that the wait staff at the Clown Grill has not interest in you if they cannot make additional commissions off of you. I am a huge proponent of tipping. Tip well when deserved or at least attempted. My tip to Princess and the Crown Grill wait staff...Get Better