CROWN PRINCESS deck plan finally unveiled

Princess has put out a deck plan only brochure thing and sent it out to all agents. I'm comparing it to the Caribbean Princess (you might want to pull out a CP deckplan and follow along):

Starting at the top, they've made the mini golf and tennis/basketball on a deck 19 ON TOP of Skywalkers.

Skywalkers is not true aft, it's in the same location as on the Diamond class.

The kids' area is the full Deck 17 aft in the funny magnet-shaped section. And there is a video arcade on the right side of the stairs.

The Sun deck 16 has Sabatini's (what a great view it'll be!) and another little bar called Adagio at the aft, and the spa at the front. The wedding chapel is in the left corner closest to the pool area that looks like it used to be a little meeting room at the spa area.

The Lido deck 15 is pretty much identical to the CP's. MUTS is above the Calypso Pool. There is no "Scoops". There is a place on the other side that says "Pizza and Ice Cream Bar". And there is NO part of the spa that goes down into this deck in the front. There are just more Cat II insides there.

Riviera deck 14 is identical to CP.

Aloha deck 12 is all the same EXCEPT at the aft. There is NO CATEGORY GS (Grand Suite) on the Crown. The aft has the same two full suites on the right side of the aft, A751 a PS suite, and A753 an OS suite towards the outer. The left side of the back now mirrors that. There is PS A750 and OS A752 towards the outer on the left side.

Baja, Caribe, Dolphin, Emerald sleeping decks are identical to the Caribbean Princess.

Promenade Deck 7 has the same Club Fusion at the aft, but the next section across from the photo gallery that used to hold Sabatinis and the Wheelhouse now has the "Crown Grill". (Pay extra steakhouse and seafood.) Explorer's Lounge is still in the same spot next, and then we have Crooner's Bar on the left of the atrium, and Essence shopping on the right. Forward of that we have Facets shopping where the chapel used to be, the library on the left, and the Wheelhouse Bar where Sterling Steakhouse used to be (kind of like the changes they did on some of the Grand class ships like the Star. The Wheelhouse is great there). And showroom is forward of that.

Fiesta Deck 6 is the same aft through the atrium. Then the casino has a cigar bar in the (left aft) corner. There is a conference center forward of the casino where the Churchill Lounge is on the CP. Showroom forward of that.

Plaza Deck 5 is different in many ways. The dining room is the same, but let me start at the restrooms in the left aft corner of the atrium and work my way around clockwise. There is an "International Cafe" where the Lobby Bar used to be. There is no shore desk there. The fine arts gallery would be off into the center of Plaza deck (that's the same). Continuing on around to the right side of the atrium toward the forward would be something called "Vines". A wine and seafood bar. And the future cruise sales deck is tucked in there (not sure if you have to walk through Vines to get there? looks like it). Then there is "Escapes Travel Cafe". Cute name for shore excursions area? And then continuing around to the aft right of the atrium would be the Internet Cafe where "jokers" used to be on the Caribbean.

Medical center still on Deck 4 Gala.

That concludes my summary. Please call your TA to see if they can get you one of these, or a photo copy. When they put out some of these deckplan only things for the Caribbean (was called a Grand Class brochure) they were only for TAs, not the public, so we couldn't get more than a reference copy. They should have it loaded on the Website...eventually! Jeez!

Cheers!

Glad to hear Crown will have a video arcade. The vines sounds good.

Can't wait til it is on the Princess website so I can decide what balcony cabin I want if I book for Oct 2006.

:cool: Is there a firm itinerary yet?

Looks like they took the bar name "Adagio" from the very popular bar area on the Regal Princess. That could be a nice spot for an evening drink. Also, I'm glad they tucked the cigar area where most people don't walk past. That was one thing that bothered me about the other cigar bars -- they're in the middle and every time you walk past, if you're allergic to smoke, you gag, particularly if someone is opening the door as you go past.

This may be as close to perfection as you can get with a Grand flavored ship. I use the term "flavored" delibertily.

One thing it doesn't have is the rear wing spoiler of Skywalkers. It tucks it more into the infrastructure which to me is an improvement.

The kids/teenager area is totally isolated

The locations for the speciality dining restaurants seem to be ideal (I like where they put Sabiatini's) and they have taken care of the problematic area where they tried to put Sterlings or the Mexican speciality restaurant on prior ships. It is such a high traffic area, that the only thing that really works there is a bar.

Suzy, thank you for posting. Love the idea of Sabatini's being on deck 16 aft.

Is the Trident Grill listed on deck 15 with the Pizza and Ice Cream Bar? I wonder if there will be a charge for the ice cream here.

Having only been on the Grand and Sapphire, I liked Skywalkers location on the Sapphire better. I remember on the Grand it shook very bad. So much that all the drinks on the tables and bars were sliding around(kind of funny though) The Sapphire didn't seem to shack nearly as bad. Good to hear that the Crown will have it's location simular to Sapphire/Diamond

Linda The Book Lover: Yes there is a set itinerary for the Crown. If you do a search on the Princess website, you can see the itinerary through April 2007. She will start with caribbean sailings from New york. Then she heads to San Juan to do Southern Caribbean sailings. I hope she will stay there for the summer 07 season. Won't know that for a while though.

So they still haven't put a sports bar on the ship. Churchhills was advertised as the sports bar but it didn't open until 6pm and then they were told not to put any sporting events on the tubes. What the hey kind of sports bar is that.

I really miss the true sports bars on the larger RCCL ships.

I just realized that I made a small error in typing this yesterday. On Deck 15 at the forward, I got the CP and Crown deckplans backwards when comparing and writing my report. The CROWN has a section of the Lotus Spa and "thermal suite" at the forward of Lido right under the Aerobics room and LESS inside cabins. Inside II's got to L220 and then stop, but L105 in the front corner is still there. Isn't that weird?

Suzy, thank you for posting. Love the idea of Sabatini's being on deck 16 aft.

Is the Trident Grill listed on deck 15 with the Pizza and Ice Cream Bar? I wonder if there will be a charge for the ice cream here.

I have no idea about extra charge for ice cream. The Trident and Mermaids are where they always are, on either side of the Neptune pool area closest to the fore.

I totally agree that this seems to be the perfect ship, except the lack of sports bar thing. I sailed on the Star Princess during the 2003 World Series and went to Churchill's nightly where they DID show sports all the time but I choked on the cigar smoke. I thought that was the worst idea, having a combo sports/cigar bar as it was advertised. I hate not having a sports bar, but love the fact that it's all tucked in near the casino and won't be in a high traffic area.

Up until this time, I loved the Diamond Princess the best...but I really need to try the Crown. I think I'll remove CP off my list of super "need to" ships and put the Crown in it's place! Isolated kids' area, Sabatini's at the aft with a great view, Explorer's Lounge where it belongs. Wow. Can't wait!

Laura - the cabin locations are identical to the Caribbean Princess except for the insides removed on Deck 15 and the Grand Suite removed from Aloha. You can book with confidence for the Crown by looking at CP cabin locations. Honest.

You're welcome everyone! I'm as excited as you!

Tak8,

Thanks! When I tried awhile back I didn't see anything. But then maybe I didn't look correctly either! :)

Suzy...Thank you soooo much for the info. Can't wait until next September 3rd and I'm thrilled to learn that E730 has not been relocated. This will be our first Princess cruise and should be wonderful!

Thanks again~! ;)

Suzy

I've resisted as long as I could, but CP does not equal Caribbean Princess.

In the Princess lexicon of ship identifiers, Caribbean Princess is CB. Pulling out deck plans for CP (Coral Princess) will do little good for the new Crown Princess.

All that aside, thanks for the info on new Crown Princess. I do think I will avoid that ship.

Any ship that cannot fit through the Panama Canal is too damned big!

Will Crown Princess hold as many or more than Caribbean Princess?

Will Crown Princess hold as many or more than Caribbean Princess?

Suzy -- What's the passenger count on the Crown? I heard they were going to reduce from what was originally planned because of complaints about the Caribbean Princess. I sailed the CB and did not like it at all. Loved the Star. Same ship as the CB with 500 less passengers suited me fine.

Going out on the new Crown Princess and was wondering if anyone had experience with any of the following:

VS Suite on either Dolphin or Emerald

PS Suite on Lido or Caribe

Size, view, PICTURES.

Thanks a lot,

Al

Will the Crown be leaving from the pier in Brooklyn? What exactly is that located?

Does anyone have a copy of the deckplans that they can post a link to?

Will the Crown be leaving from the pier in Brooklyn? What exactly is that located?

It's on the waterfront in Red Hook - south of Brooklyn Heights and more or less due southwest of Park Slope. Or you could describe it as being due southeast of the east tip of lower Manhattan (e.g. South Street Seaport). No easy access to that area by public transportation and at the moment no hotel infrastructure developed. But I should think that a cab ride from the Wall Street area shouldn't be too expensive ($25 - $30 with tolls included).

I am sitting here looking at the UK 2006/7 Caribbean brochure.

If I look at the deck plans for the Crown Princess and Caribbean Princess, it says at the bottom of the page:-

"Deckplans shown are for the Crown Princess. Deckplans for the Caribbean Princess may vary".

I assume therefore I am looking at the new Crown Princess. I have taken the liberty therefore of scanning the plans and putting them in 2 x word.doc (US size paper) if anyone wants a copy.

My email is ourLOL@aol 'dot' com Please mark any email 'Crown Deck Plans'. The files are quite large, but I will try and play around and get them a bit smaller for ease of download.

On receipt, when viewing, it is probably better to increase the size of the page to 150%.

Laura

I just scanned and uploaded all the deck plans for CROWN PRINCESS. Go to the following thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=218843

Hope it answers all your questions.

Ernie

Suzy -- What's the passenger count on the Crown? I heard they were going to reduce from what was originally planned because of complaints about the Caribbean Princess. I sailed the CB and did not like it at all. Loved the Star. Same ship as the CB with 500 less passengers suited me fine.

Passenger capacity of CROWN PRINCESS has not been reduced from CARIBBEAN PRINCESS. Unfortunately that extra deck of cabins is still there, accommodating 500 or so extra passenger. There have been a lot of other design improvements over CARIBBEAN PRINCESS, so that should help.

Ernie

Ernie,

Thanks for the link. It's quite interesting to note there are differences in the text of our two brochures i.e. yours has written forward and aft... the UK brochure says bow and stern. Silly things really. The actual deck plans themselves are obviously identical.

To everyone else. Ernie's pictures are much clearer than the images I've scanned. Go with his link in preference to emailing me (as much as I'd love to help). ;)

Laura

Greetings All,

We have a group of 8 (4 Balcony staterooms) booked for the July 29, 2006 Crown Princess Cruise. We have been on most of the other cruise lines in the past and are looking forward to the Princess. Does anyone know if there is an outside eating area adjacent to buffet area? We so like to take out breakfast and sometimes lunch outside to eat. Last few cruises have had a nice area on the back of the ship.