New to Princess; have questions

I will be on the Crown Princess for 20 days in January in a BD type cabin on Baja deck 11; it is my first Princess cruise. Can some loyal Princess cruisers (particularly those who have been on the Crown since her dry dock) please help me with some questions for which I can't find the answer?

1. Is the Do Not Disturb sign a paper door hanger or electronic? If paper, does it stay on the door knob?

2. Are the closet hangers removable as at home or fixed? Are there enough of them for one person's wardrobe?

3. Is there a clothesline in the shower for one's personal laundry?

4. Are the specialty restaurants generally worth the upcharge?

5. Do they put for sale items in the mini frig or is it for one's own use?

6. With the crew to pax ratio being rather low, did you find that you got enough service from your room steward?

Well, I can handle a few.

3. There was a laundry line in our shower.

4, Personal decision. You also have the option of paying $10 for an entree from the upcharge restaurant while dining in the MDR. This gets you the entree with associated sides.

5.The only item in the room, unless you are elite or in a suite, is a large bottle of water. There is nothing in the fridge. We just put it somewhere out of the way and move it back to the counter on the last night.

6.What do you want? We've always had our room cleaned, most of the time they understood the concept of filling the ice bucket. I guess we never asked for a lot of "extras." On rare occasions, we've had stewards we felt were sub-par, but I attributed that more to the individual than to the ratio.

2. THe hangers we've had have always been "loose" and there were plenty. If you need more, notify the steward.

1. Have not cruised since Crown dry dock, so can't say for sure.

I don’t believe they changed the locks on the Crown. The “Do Not Disturb” sign has a tab that fits in the card reader slot.

Before we became elite in 2012, there used to be a 1.5 liter water bottle and perhaps six cans of soda including Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite. We often used the water (~$4.00 with gratuity) but put the cans ($2.30 with gratuity) in the closet until the end of the cruise. Some people want the cans of soda removed but that should be done by contacting Room Service, not through your steward.

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...4' date=' Personal decision. You also have the option of paying $10 for an entree from the upcharge restaurant while dining in the MDR. This gets you the entree with associated sides...[/quote']So far, the Crown Grill options have only be reported to be offered in the MDR on the Ruby and perhaps the Grand. The prices were actually $19 for a ribeye, filet, or lobster and $29 for surf and turf.

 

 

 

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I will be on the Crown Princess for 20 days in January in a BD type cabin on Baja deck 11; it is my first Princess cruise. Can some loyal Princess cruisers (particularly those who have been on the Crown since her dry dock) please help me with some questions for which I can't find the answer?

1. Is the Do Not Disturb sign a paper door hanger or electronic? If paper, does it stay on the door knob?

It is a plastic insert that you place into the cruise card key slot. One side says Please Make Up My Cabin, the Other says Please Do Not Disturb. Use is optional.

2. Are the closet hangers removable as at home or fixed? Are there enough of them for one person's wardrobe?

Removable wooded hangers, some with skirt clips, some without. If you don't have enough just request more from the cabin steward. The closet is six feet long and open, easy to use.

3. Is there a clothesline in the shower for one's personal laundry?

Yes, retractable kind, but it is only about 3 feet long. Bring some cloths pins and you can clothes pin some items to the back of the balcony chairs on a sunny day.

4. Are the specialty restaurants generally worth the upcharge?

I think so, especially the Crown Grill if you like steak.

5. Do they put for sale items in the mini frig or is it for one's own use?

If there are items in there they are not free. Just remove them and place them on the counter above the fridge, or call room service to have them removed. There will also be one or two large water bottles on the counter. These are also not free and are placed there by the cabin steward.

6. With the crew to pax ratio being rather low, did you find that you got enough service from your room steward?

Always received nice service from the cabin steward. We don't ask for much. Cabin is made up in the morning, cabin is turned down in the evening. If you require anything, for example extra towels, just request.

See above

So far, the Crown Grill options have only be reported to be offered in the MDR on the Ruby and perhaps the Grand. The prices were actually $19 for a ribeye, filet, or lobster and $29 for surf and turf.

 

 

 

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Actually the offer was on our April sailing of the Caribbean Princess. It might have been $19--we didn't do it, so I may be thinking that it was a $10 "savings" over eating in the specialty restaurant. We weren't interested since our package included a specialty dining one night. And yes, the surf and turf is charged as 2 entrees which incurs a $10 upcharge, whether you are in the MDR ordering from the specialty restaurant or seated in the specialty restaurant. ANY additional entree costs $10 extra (you could order 2 filets, for instance). I don't know how anyone could eat them--we couldn't finish our standard serving!

We also had the plastic card in the key slot....but that wasn't on the Crown, so didn't want to comment.

We've been on 4 Princess cruises since November 2015 and never had soda cans in our room upon boarding except the April 2018 when we qualified for a mini bar. Poster who said they had them in 2012....probably did, but not any more!

If you use a TA, you should get a coupon book with a BOGO for the Crown Grill for use on Embarkation night only.

If you use a TA, you should get a coupon book with a BOGO for the Crown Grill for use on Embarkation night only.

It seems that there are different versions of the TA Coupon Book. Ours always say that the Embarkation Day 2 for 1 deal is at any Specialty Restaurant, not just the Crown Grill. Last trip, we used it at Share on the Ruby.

To the OP, asking about whether the Specialty Restaurants are worth the upcharge, we always eat at them two or three times during a one week cruise. While the food in the MDRs is quite good on Princess, you ARE dining with hundreds of people, so the environment is somewhat loud and frenetic, and the waiters are very busy and overworked. We greatly prefer the relative peace and tranquility of the specialty restaurants for a quieter and more relaxed dining experience.

Nothing changed that much with the dry dock. New beds. New TVs. That was it on the passenger area. Up top new burger place and pizza

If you use a TA, you should get a coupon book with a BOGO for the Crown Grill for use on Embarkation night only.

We always use a TA and have never received the coupon book. I don't think it is an automatic part of every TA booking!

We always use a TA and have never received the coupon book. I don't think it is an automatic part of every TA booking!

Before we became elite in 2012, there used to be a 1.5 liter water bottle and perhaps six cans of soda including Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite. We often used the water (~$4.00 with gratuity) but put the cans ($2.30 with gratuity) in the closet until the end of the cruise. Some people want the cans of soda removed but that should be done by contacting Room Service, not through your steward.

 

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I just store the bar items behind the television and replace them before I leave.

Thank you for all the helpful responses.

Two more questions: does one need to put one's key card in a slot in the room to activate the room lights? Are there hooks on the wall in the room or closet to hang hats, bags, etc?

We had the standard light switches. No need to put card in slot.

There was definitely a hook on the back of the bathroom door. I don't specifically remember any others....but my memory could be faulty. We did have plenty of storage space.

Thank you for all the helpful responses.

 

Two more questions: does one need to put one's key card in a slot in the room to activate the room lights? Are there hooks on the wall in the room or closet to hang hats, bags, etc?

There are no hooks in the closet or on the walls of the cabin. The closet is six feet long, lots of space, with a shelf above, easy to store hats, bags. etc. There is also lots of space on the closet floor. There is a wardrobe in the closet area with shelves, I think 4 of them, plus the cabin safe. We bring along magnetic hooks which you can purchase at most any home store to hang hats. We also bring along magnetic fridge bag clips to hang paper information provided during the cruise, for example a specialty dining reservation, itinerary. There are six drawers in the sleeping section of the cabin, two in the nightstand and 4 in the desk/dressing table. There is also a shelf directly above the fridge and some space on the upper shelf that holds the TV.

With the new TVs do they now have on demand programming? We always book an inside. The little round table is very much in the way. First thing I do is put it in the closet to hold hats & scarves. We leave for our crown cruise in 97 days. Cannot wait! 1st time on the crown.

We LOVE Crown Princess ... one of our favorite ships! (y)

1. The "Do Not disturb" is a card you put into your card insert on your door.

2. The hangers are removable and you can get as many extra as you wish.

3. Yes, clothesline in the shower.

4. While happy with the MDR for the most part, find it best to order steaks from Crown Grill.

5. The mini frig is for your own use.

6. Never had a problem with our cabin steward ... always good service.

Dry docks are usually general maintenance that can't be done while passengers are onboard. Kind of like taking your car into for major service, oil change and detailing. They scrape and re-paint the hull, update navigational, operational and entertainment electronics, service the engines, clean the thrusters, check and polish the propellers, check the stabilizers, etc. Most is stuff that passengers don't notice.

All of your questions were answered very accurately! I just have to get in here and say I love the crown Grill and to us it is always worth the upcharge! Some of the best meals we've had on vacation in the last few years have been at the crown Grill. Plus it breaks up dinners a little bit. Feels a little different. It really feels like a steakhouse on land in there.

Most people recommend magnetic hooks that they sell on Amazon to hang up in your room and say they work very well! I'm considering getting them this time myself.

The hangers are a bit different than what is used in your closet at home. They are wooden with some having pants clips for hanging pants. The big difference instead of the usual hook on top to put across the closet rod there is a perpendicular piece of metal with a small knob on the end which hooks into the hanger on the rod. While you can remove the hanger the top part is not removable. Small difference.

Even though most of the ship TVs have been converted to the flat screens, the programming has stayed the same. Only the newest ships have the better programming and perhaps the few ships that have been to drydock and had the infrastructure for ***** installed like the CB. Same with the cabin lights. Only the newer ships require a card in the slot to turn on the cabin lights. Notice I said card as any card the size of a credit card will do. I take an old gift card which works and the onetime I forgot the card, I took some heavy paper and cut out a card sized piece which worked very well.

The walls of the ship are metal as is the door and ceiling. Therefore magnets work very well. I bought our hook magnets at Lowe's and they work great. I also bought small magnets at Target and use them to hold pieces of paper on the wall such as reservations, excursion tickets etc. Magnets are very handy indeed.