jaycruising

This is the premium juice on Crown… they don’t have the other menu, at least on Crown anymore, I asked because I wanted it. It was one plus perk I wanted to use since I won’t do the desserts. They told me that they had changed and now had these juice machines. i only had them in the mornings after working out, with my breakfast.

Lots of people would play in the crown grill during the day, but we have played cards all over, just depends our mood, but that would be most comfortable for 4

This is no longer available on the Crown, was just on for 10 days and they switched it for a juice machine that had good, but watered down juices. They were at 3 locations on the ship, ice cream shop, bar by the pool and br by the aft pool. I really wanted the nutter and it was a no go… I didn’t grab a pic of the menu, each serves different ones

I was very much looking forward to it, ut was told they changed to the juice machines, one at the ice cream shop, bar by the pool and aft pool behind the buffet

Meant juice bar, this is what you get now, out of a machine, didn’t have the peanut butter one, or watermelon, this was good, but out of a machine and not what I expected to be included

They had changed the juices on Crown a couple weeks ago, not really smoothies anymore, more like watered down juice out of machines from 3 different bars… was really disappointed

I just got off the crown and on their drink menus they had the prices for the different gins listed on the menus.

Thank you so much!!

The Ship Now I will share my thoughts on the ship, I will likely compare a lot to the Emerald, that was the last ship we were on, about 10 months ago, and she is the Crown's sister ship that is about 1 year younger. We also loved our trip on the Emerald. Food We really enjoyed the apps and main courses in the main dining room, we ate most of our meals in the Da Vinci, one in Botocelli and one at Crab Shack. We found that there was good choice each night (except the one we went to Crab Shack). We also found the quality to be quite good as well. We did find the deserts to be lacking. They only had one type of Creme Brulee every night and by the end of the cruise it was a bit of a mess. They had 3 optional deserts each night. The buffet really fell flat for us. On our previous cruise we ate in the buffet every morning, this trip that didn't happen. We tried 2 mornings and we just couldn't find quality offerings, so we didn't visit the buffet again. We also found the space very small and they usually had most of the sections closed. Crab Shack was delicious, it was more then enough food and well worth the $46 we paid, including gratuity. Poolside eating, we did have chicken tacos, pizza and ice cream (just a cone, not the big ice cream deserts). All were good. Crew All of the crew, with the exception of one waiter we encountered were fantastic. Jody the CD is quite funny, we didn't see her as often as we did other CD's, but when we did she was a good time. She is a great hostess. The other CD's were also quite good, I preferred a few of them over some of the others. Manila, a waiter in Explorer's was fantastic, he always had a big smile when he saw us and quite often came and sought us out to take our order. Luna, the hostess at Da Vinci was great, she always could make us smile, she was quite funny, especially wearing her 10 hat. The Captain, he was the most visible captain we have had on a ship, we would see him out and about with his wife, always happy to stop and say hello. He also did great noon messages or when we were sailing away from port. He would always impart some new knowledge on us. If they have it on your cruise attend coffee with the captain, it is great! We did encounter 1 waiter in Da Vinci that was very snarly, I asked him a question about what they were cooking in the dining room, and he snapped and said he hadn't got to do his intro, then when I asked about my soup I feel like I was sushed. Also, on Emerald we saw the head waiters frequently, they would come around and talk to us, check on things, by the end of the cruise we kind of knew them, not on Crown... the only time we heard from them was our last night on the ship when they basically came around and asked us to give them a 10 on the survey. Cabin We had a balcony cabin on Caribe (deck 10) and these are my favourite on this class of ship as you get the extended balcony and it is partially covered. Due to our weather we didn't spend that much time out there. The only issue we had in the cabin is when our door lock did not work, but our steward was awesome and got someone on it right away, he also went and got us chairs to sit in from another cabin while we waited for it to get fixed. The other unfavrourite thing about the cabin is the TV placement, which I previously discussed. We had no issues with our beds, they were comfy and cozy and the pillows are great. I would have loved this bed instead of the board I had to sleep on in the hotel the night we got off of the ship. The shower, while tiny, was fantastic, the pressure was so good, I actually looked forward to having a shower! I do also like the addition of the power outlet on the desk close to the one bed! Entertainment We are fairly simple in what we enjoy for entertainment, we enjoy the different trivia's and game show's that Princess puts on. I did go to a couple of the production shows and we did go to the comedian both nights. One thing I do really like about Princess is that it is pretty easy to get into a schedule of things, for instance at 11:30am on sea days there is alway arts and crafts, at 9:00am there is always zumba, etc. It does help to plan your day. Princess App Overall, I quite like the app, old or new, it doesn't really matter to me. A couple times I need to use the find my friend feature to track down DM and it was great for that, and really fast. We used it often to switch what device we had active for wifi as we would both switch between our phones and ipads. I did do a couple orders from Ocean Now and they both came relatively quickly. Where it did fail us was with the menu's listed each night. Every single night the desert menu on the app was wrong and not what we were provided in the dining room. For Valentine's day the menu did not update at all and was showing the night before's menu. Ship Overall Crown princess is an 18 year old ship and she is showing her age in some areas, but overall I thought she was pretty good. We did not hear any reports of overflowing toilets or people being without their bathrooms on the ship. We did however smell sewer smells in some areas of the ship, mostly around vines. While in the hallway waiting for our door to get fixed we did notice a drip coming from the ceiling. I did also experience quite a strong gasoline smell while sitting in Explorer's on our last day, was kind of strange. I never saw a table in the hallway outside of a cabin door while on this trip, but I have seen some posts that some people have come home sick. Luckily DM and I are both fine and not even a sniffle. There were quite a number of people on the ship wearing masks and I totally get their point. Unfortunately covid is here for the long haul. On Emerald I quite enjoyed being able to head forward on deck 15 and head out on the deck above the bridge, however the couple times I tried to do it on this ship they doors were blocked. The Casino and Speakeasy Cigar lounge, the cigar lounge is still operational on the Crown. And smoking is still alive and well in the casino. I get it, but I just wish that there was a more separated area from the smoking side and more slots on the non smoking side. I did have to send my clothes out the balcony to air out after a night. The Gym, they have a great selection of equipment and it is fairly new, so in good shape as well. The dumbells are in a bit rougher shape. This is also an area I felt lacking in crew, we were in there every sea day and unless they were teaching a class we did not see the gym crew at all. They also were not great at ensuring adequate cleaning supplies were available. Overall I would rate this cruise as pretty good, we didn't have any major issues, we got to eat some great food, travel to some wonderful destinations and most of all meet some fabulous people. I would sail on Crown again, but am wanting to spread my wings and try some other classes of ships first, since this was our second sailing on Crown in less then 2 years. Actually my wish is coming true as our next cruise is in 143 days on Sky Princess to the Norwegian Fjords. Our fist trip to Europe so we are really looking forward to it, and I hope to do another live for that one... and if you think this one had a lot of pictures... Thanks for coming along on my journey, until next time!

Cabo In Cabo we booked another excursion via the ship, Cabo by Land and Sea. I was a little bit surprised by it, as I thought we would visit more historical sites or other areas, I didn't expect to to go to a glass blowing studio and restaurant for views. This is totally my own fault as I didn't properly read the description. I still enjoyed the excursion though. What I didn't enjoy was having to meet at 6:30 for the excursion. Probably not one I would do again, sort of a one and done for me, I would probably go for a beach day, or another trip out to the arch. One thing that I will not be doing in Cabo is a whale watch. While on the boat portion of our excursion we did get to see some whales, and then when we were at the restaurant we could see more whales. I have been to both Alaska and Maui and seen whales in both locations and gone on whale watches, but the difference is the regulations. In Maui specifically I know they have strict rules when the whales are around, you have to cut your motor, can only be within such and such a distance, can only stay for so long, only so many boats around and you can't chase the whales. Mexico has some of these rules, but not to the same extent that Canada and the US do. We watched so many boats chasing the whale, they seemed so close to them as well. So I asked our guide about it and he said that the small fishing boats don't have the same rules as the bigger ones and that last year a fishing boat actually killed a baby whale. I understand they want to take their tour patrons to see the whales and when the whales are showing off they will get more money. I just wish their was more respect for the animals. Sorry just my $0.02 🙂

Mazatlan I wasn't really sure what to expect from this port, in the end it turns out I really liked this city and can definitely see myself returning at some point. We did our excursion via the ship, but it was one of the best ship tours I have ever taken. It was called Old Mazatlan: Plaza, Theatre and Cathedral, it was a 4 hour walking tour.

Manzanillo We didn't do much in this port aside from a walk along the malecon. If we came back I may just hire a taxi from the end of the pier to take us for a tour. None of the ship excursions looked appealing and I couldn't not find any tour operators online. It is a very industrial town and the largest shipping port in Mexico. I wouldn't mind going back for another visit and perhaps leaving the port.

Puerto Vallarta I enjoyed our time in PV much more this time then when we were there 10 months before. That has a lot to do with the excursion we did this time vs the one we did last time. Last time we did a ship excursion, the Best of PV, and it was just taking us on a shopping trip... not my jam. This time we booked an independent excursion, with Vallarta Food Tours. I cannot recommend this tour enough, our guide was awesome, I got to try some of the best tacos I've ever had and I probably wouldn't have gone to many of these places or tried the different kind of tacos that we did! I would actually do this tour again!

Final Thoughts and photos Just going to wrap up my live with some final thoughts and photos from my big camera. San Francisco I love San Francisco, there is so much to see and do here. Transportation is great to get around the city, we did a lot of Lyft and Uber, a lot of that due to weather. I also really like that the port is near amenities and tourist activities. We also found boarding to be one of the smoothest here, for us at least, I know some people have had issues due to the tide, but we were really lucky. Disembarkation was ok, loved the facial recognition at customs, made it really fast. Luggage was a mess, my purple tagged bags were with the teal tagged bags. Also, it was pouring rain and there is little shelter for people to wait in, so bring your umbrella.

Feb 18 - Travel day We had no plans today as our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:50, but starting at 8 this morning we started getting flight delay texts. We ended up with a few of these. We just hung out in the hotel until noon and we called a Lyft to the airport. This guy lives outside our hotel A few sights on our way to the airport. While we were checking in at the airport we got a text stating our flight would be leaving at 3:30, so only a 1.5 hour delay. We grabbed a sandwich for our lunch, it was ok. I have to say the bathrooms at SFO are some of the nicest I have ever seen. I also love the whole space, there are tons of spaces and different kinds of seating areas. I really like it, that terminal anyway. DM is currently on her connection back to Saskatoon and I got home at about 8:30 mst. Tomorrow I am going to do laundry and hopefully get all the photos off of my big camera, I will come back and add those and my final overall thoughts.