Crown Princess Review - 3/05/11 Sailing (LONG)

[CRLess]

Not sure if I was clear on this in my review, but I didn't mean to come across as blaming Capt Nash for the listing incident. In fact, I doubt he was on the bridge at the time. I was just shocked at how long it took for any message to come from the bridge. From the last few reviews I have read, it certainly seems he has gone out of his way to communicate to the passengers what is going on. If you read the reviews from the sailing a few weeks back, he went out of his way to keep everyone up to date on the Cubans they found adrift between Cuba and Florida. I just hope that my review has enacted change on the part of Princess where they were lacking, and rewarded those that stood out.

[debjo]

FOR CRLess...

We've sailed with Princess three times now and have not been on a ship with THE SANCTUARY before nor have we experienced their MOVIES UNDER THE STARS feature yet. We're looking forward to our fall sailing on the CROWN and hope to take advantage of these new things. I understand that THE SANCTUARY it is an adults only area, and after looking at the Princess Website to find out more, I found that you offered more information in your review that what I could find on their website. Still, I have a couple questions:

 

1. You mentioned having "lunch" in THE SANCTUARY. I didn't find anything on the Princess website that even mentioned this. Is there an extra charge for the SANCTUARY lunch? Is it served to you right at your lounge chair? Are there different menu selections there?

 

2. After looking at the 360 degree "views" of the SANCTUARY on the Princess website, I noticed a couple areas that looked like cabanas with massage tables. Are you offered massage time while you are relaxing in the SANCTUARY? Is there an extra charge for that as well?

 

3. You mentioned that your SANCTUARY lounge chairs were in the sun. Does the SANCTUARY have covered areas that would give some passengers shade? If so, are you able to reserve your lounge chair for either a sunny spot or a shady one? Of the six people in our traveling group...four of us would prefer to be in the shade, while two of us are sun mavens!

 

4. How large is the pool in the SANCTUARY area? Is this also the swim against the current pool, or is that elsewhere on the ship?

 

Thank you for your marvelous review of the CROWN PRINCESS. We just love long and details reviews such as yours and appreciate the time you took to share your onboard experience with all of us upcoming cruisers.

 

Until later...

Debjo

[DubbyLee]

Why the rush to reserve chairs in Sanctuary? First time on Crown coming up May 2012.

[CRLess]

FOR CRLess...

We've sailed with Princess three times now and have not been on a ship with THE SANCTUARY before nor have we experienced their MOVIES UNDER THE STARS feature yet. We're looking forward to our fall sailing on the CROWN and hope to take advantage of these new things. I understand that THE SANCTUARY it is an adults only area, and after looking at the Princess Website to find out more, I found that you offered more information in your review that what I could find on their website. Still, I have a couple questions:

 

1. You mentioned having "lunch" in THE SANCTUARY. I didn't find anything on the Princess website that even mentioned this. Is there an extra charge for the SANCTUARY lunch? Is it served to you right at your lounge chair? Are there different menu selections there?

 

2. After looking at the 360 degree "views" of the SANCTUARY on the Princess website, I noticed a couple areas that looked like cabanas with massage tables. Are you offered massage time while you are relaxing in the SANCTUARY? Is there an extra charge for that as well?

 

3. You mentioned that your SANCTUARY lounge chairs were in the sun. Does the SANCTUARY have covered areas that would give some passengers shade? If so, are you able to reserve your lounge chair for either a sunny spot or a shady one? Of the six people in our traveling group...four of us would prefer to be in the shade, while two of us are sun mavens!

 

4. How large is the pool in the SANCTUARY area? Is this also the swim against the current pool, or is that elsewhere on the ship?

 

Thank you for your marvelous review of the CROWN PRINCESS. We just love long and details reviews such as yours and appreciate the time you took to share your onboard experience with all of us upcoming cruisers.

 

Until later...

Debjo

 

1) There is a menu of healthy items they give you (tuna pate', cottage cheese salsa and chips, fruit kabobs, chicken caesar wrap and smoothies) and there is a $3 delivery charge. We liked the pate', and wrap the best, but the salsa was surprisingly good!. The Serenity Stewards will also go to the grill, pizza place or buffet to get you whatever you desire! The beauty of it all is that you never have to leave your chair.

 

2) They are massage areas, but there is a charge for that. They offer most of the same services as the spa, so the spa pricing will give you an idea of the cost. We did not partake of this service.

 

3) You can reserve lounges in the sun or under the cover. Your choice, but the lounge is yours for the week. However, we did make use of the shaded lounges at times as they were daily rentals that were not being used. You can use any of the regular chairs, regardless of where you book (chairs versus the lounges that is).

 

4) It is the swim agains the current pool

 

Hope this helps

[aloha1010]

My husband and i are going to be on the crown in two weeks. We wanted to go to the passion beach, but it's not offered through princess. Who did you book this excursion through? Thanks!!

[debjo]

For CRLess (Chris)...

Thanks so much for your replies...it helps paint a better picture of THE SANCTUARY...we're going to look forward to it!

 

As always,

Debjo

[CRLess]

My husband and i are going to be on the crown in two weeks. We wanted to go to the passion beach, but it's not offered through princess. Who did you book this excursion through? Thanks!!

 

This is quite interesting...we could not find the excursion on the Princess website, so I googled Passion Island and found a whole bunch of providers. I ended up booking through Cozumel Concierge. They were there when they said they would be (meet in front of Carlos and Charlies) and did everything that was promised. We enjoyed the day. What is interesting, is that it was a tour that was offered on the ship once we boarded. With that said, I would book it privately like I did and not risk that it is offered on the ship once you board.

[aloha1010]

Thank you very much!!

[DeRon]

Chris, how does the Crown compare in your mind to the Caribbean Princess? Exactly the same? Better? If so, in what ways?

 

Thanks!

[cruiseron36]

Just getting around to reading this. Glad to see Neville is the Maitre de. The Maitre de on the Crown last fall was a complete jerk!! Neville is right up there with Generoso.

[CRLess]

Chris, how does the Crown compare in your mind to the Caribbean Princess? Exactly the same? Better? If so, in what ways?

 

Thanks!

 

That is real tough to determine since the three times I was on the Caribbean Princess were prior to it having all the Piazza features added to it. You may get a better answer from someone who has been on both since the Caribbean was converted. I will say, I love the ships that have the Piazza incorporated, especially because of Vines and the International Cafe'.

[6pack]

Chris, Great review! I have a couple of specific questions pertaining to the Sanctuary. We have booked a B2B on the Crown in the Caribbean and are contemplating booking for the entire two weeks. Are you charged a $3 surcharge for bar drinks? We have sailed many times with Princess, however have never used the Sanctuary and have also never seen it full. Is it really necessary to get there early to reserve? Thanks in advance

 

Dave

[CRLess]

Chris, Great review! I have a couple of specific questions pertaining to the Sanctuary. We have booked a B2B on the Crown in the Caribbean and are contemplating booking for the entire two weeks. Are you charged a $3 surcharge for bar drinks? We have sailed many times with Princess, however have never used the Sanctuary and have also never seen it full. Is it really necessary to get there early to reserve? Thanks in advance

 

Dave

 

From all I have read, and from my experience...if you want a chair for the week in the Sanctuary, you need to be on the ship very early. The weekly spots go quick. I do agree that it never seems full, but Princess must have some complex algorithm that defines full. Of the 8 lounges in the area we were in, 6 of them were used by those of us that booked a full week, and two of them appeared to be daily rentals. With that said, the Serenity Stewards essentially let us use any daily rental chair we wanted so long as it wasn't being used at that time. I took a serious nap one day in a lounge in the shade that nobody was using....my snoring may have cleared the area, so it is tough to tell :eek:

 

From what I remember, only the meals ordered from the menu had a $3 service charge applied to them. We had soda cards and they never charged for delivery of the sodas. When we ordered cocktails, the standard gratuity is all that I remember seeing on the bill. In fact, they even offered to go to the grill or pizza place for us and no service charge was ever added. We did go up to the Sanctuary on the last day of the cruise just as they were shutting down, to give an envelope to all the Serenity Stewards that helped us out through the week. We really felt they worked hard and deserved every penny we left for them.

 

Hope this helps.

[6pack]

From all I have read, and from my experience...if you want a chair for the week in the Sanctuary, you need to be on the ship very early. The weekly spots go quick. I do agree that it never seems full, but Princess must have some complex algorithm that defines full. Of the 8 lounges in the area we were in, 6 of them were used by those of us that booked a full week, and two of them appeared to be daily rentals. With that said, the Serenity Stewards essentially let us use any daily rental chair we wanted so long as it wasn't being used at that time. I took a serious nap one day in a lounge in the shade that nobody was using....my snoring may have cleared the area, so it is tough to tell :eek:

 

From what I remember, only the meals ordered from the menu had a $3 service charge applied to them. We had soda cards and they never charged for delivery of the sodas. When we ordered cocktails, the standard gratuity is all that I remember seeing on the bill. In fact, they even offered to go to the grill or pizza place for us and no service charge was ever added. We did go up to the Sanctuary on the last day of the cruise just as they were shutting down, to give an envelope to all the Serenity Stewards that helped us out through the week. We really felt they worked hard and deserved every penny we left for them.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you very much for your reply! We're going to give it a try if we get there early enough to get a spot!

 

Dave

[CRLess]

Just getting around to reading this. Glad to see Neville is the Maitre de. The Maitre de on the Crown last fall was a complete jerk!! Neville is right up there with Generoso.

 

You are not kidding about Neville! We have kept in touch via email since we got off the ship and we are trying to schedule a future cruise around his schedule. Those of you sailing on the Coral in Alaska this coming summer are VERY lucky to have him as your "Consumate Host" and will understand where my comments come from.

[Princessmich]

Neville Saldanha, Maitre d’Hotel – rare is it that a Maitre D’ makes a difference on a cruise for us. On our last cruise on the Ruby, we had Generoso, who is widely recognized as the consummate host on Princess, and our experience with him would certainly support that. Unquestionably on these boards, Generoso gets all the recognition. However, Neville is going to give Generoso some competition for that honor. It is my understanding that he is one of the few (if not only) non-Italian Maitre d’ in the fleet, which with Princess’ tradition is an honor unto itself. Neville was everywhere! He visited us nightly, no matter where we ate, and even visited us in the Sanctuary during the daytime. He had just joined the ship the day we embarked, so the whole dining staff was adjusting to having a new “boss” on board. He told us one of his top priorities was to “fix” the mess associated with anytime dining. We witnessed some lines the few times we ate in the dining room, and even had to get a pager the first formal night, despite the fact that we saw dozens of available tables. In Neville’s eyes, there is no excuse for this and we all tend to agree with his thinking. And from what we saw of him, we are confident he will succeed in fixing it. In our future cruise planning, we will have to consider what ship Neville will be on…he made our vacation that much more enjoyable.

 

We felt the same way about Neville..curious how you got his e-mail? Would love to sail with him again also!

thanks

Michelle

[RickEk]

For CRLess (Chris)...

Thanks so much for your replies...it helps paint a better picture of THE SANCTUARY...we're going to look forward to it!

 

As always,

Debjo

 

And just so you know, the Lotus Spa pool is open to all adults, not just the Sanctuary-dwellers. :)

 

That is real tough to determine since the three times I was on the Caribbean Princess were prior to it having all the Piazza features added to it. You may get a better answer from someone who has been on both since the Caribbean was converted. I will say, I love the ships that have the Piazza incorporated, especially because of Vines and the International Cafe'.

 

I would say they are fairly comparable. Certain venues are in different spots on each ship (Sabatini's is on the Promenade on Caribbean Princess but is on the upper decks on the Crown, etc.). I do like Adagio's on the Crown, we saw a great jazz combo there and her Wheelhouse Bar is much bigger. The Piazza's are about the same, but the Caribbean does not offer gelato (bummer!).