Bermuda/Crown/Mini-Suite AG

[andrewjv]

I have to travel to Bermuda on Business and it is cheaper to go by ship than to fly, pay for a hotel and for meals. We are thinking of the Crown on 6/6/04 out of New York. Has anyone stayed in a mini-suite? Its a Guaranteed $ 1222 per person. I realize it has an obstructed view...it does not have butler service. What are your thoughts on this cabin? Its possible we might get upgraded according to expedia.com. The next highest up is the Owner's Suite for $ 1999 per person with butler and balcony.

Any thoughts on this ship would be appreciated.

[tug]

try AE, its unobstructed [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

_________________________
looking forward to 6/27/04 - Crown to Bermuda!

[andrewjv]

The Crown to Bermuda from NY for 7 days in Category AG (Min-Suite, no view) is only $ 1099. Perhaps that is why the room is so cheap.

I could not find an option for the other categories of Mini-Suites that you mention on NCL's website.

[Ted]

Just back from Crown (5/2-9) in an AC suite. The AG suites are only marginally larger than an outside cabin (165 v. 190 sq. ft.), but are arranged with a sitting area. Only when you get to AC (with 290 sq. ft., and a very nice cabin w/ whirlpool and separate living and sleeping quarters, except on deck 10 where they are smaller & have no whirlpool [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]) do you get more than 200 sq. ft.

I don't know how much more an AG is than a regular outside cabin, but with an obstructed view (and check the deck chart to see how obstructed a particular cabin is) I would be willing to pay VERY little more. Also, category C and CC cabins have not only an extra large window, but a tub as well.

The only other advantage of a suite is concierge service to make dining arrangements for the specialty restauraunts, but that was a very minor advantage for us.

You indicate that this is a guarantee. There are very few AGs, and I gather that most AG guarantee bookings end up in a room with a view. In that regard, I also gather that NCL often has substantial difficulty in selling suites at their offered price (I assume largely since AG-AD suites are not that much larger than a regular cabin), and so they sell a lot of guarantees to fill the cabins but not yielding on the theoretical price of the classes.

[This message was edited by Ted on 05-14-04 at 09:11 AM.]

[andrewjv]

How was the ship and the cruise in general?
Any Norwalk Sickness on the ship? How was the
service and the food? There seems to be a lot of
negative feedback recently on NCL. For $ 1099 for a cruise,
I can find Air & Hotel to Bermuda for $ 960 round trip.
I am trying to decide: Cruise or Fly/Hotel?

I've been on Crystal Cruises (3 times), Celebrity (5 times),
Princess (4 times), and a few other smaller lines. This
would be my first NCL cruise. I wonder if I am spoiled
and wouldn't enjoy the Crown?

[awatt]

Ted- Please post a trip report! A number of us are waiting for more comments on the Crown. Thanks!

[Ted]

My bottom line is that, among the mass market lines (excluding MUCH higher price Radisson) I would gladly choose Crown again for a Bermuda trip. For a preliminary report (including a brief explanation of why), please see

[url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=477097554&m=336108781"]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=477097554&m=336108781[/url]

I did not hear of any illness on our voyage. At embarcation, we were given a letter stating that slightly under 3% of passengers on last cruise had been ill, and that we could cancel and recive credit towards a future cruise. However, I have never been on a cruise where so much care was taken to prevent such problems. Not only were all passengers REQUIRED to use a sanitizing solution (the same kind of thing my wife buys in small bottles for personal use) before entering the dining areas and returning to the ship, I saw many employees making applications to surfaces from bottles of sanitizing solutions. I am not sure what more could be done. There was even a film on the stateroom television explaining shipboard sanitation, and the proper method to wash your hands!

When comparing the ship prices to land/air packages, do not forget to include the price of meals with the land/air trip. Food (and other) prices on Bermuda are QUITE high, even in comparision to expensive US metropolitan areas.

Whether you would be disappointed will depend upon your own personal standards. If Crystal at its best is your standard, then you probably will be, but then you would not be paying Crystal prices.

Over the last 5 years, we have been on 13 different cruises on 9 different lines. Our cabin attendant was as good as any we have ever had (he had been on Crown for 12 years, since the Royal Cruise Lines). However, while our experience was that the crew tried exceptionally hard, you cannot expect the same uniformity of service with mass market open seat dining. Dining room service was not perfect, but we found it to be more than acceptable. We found dining room food to be generally quite good, just a step below our experience with Celebrity and Orient. We generally do not eat in the buffets, and what little we saw did not encourage us to do so.

If you have any specific questions, please ask.

[This message was edited by Ted on 05-14-04 at 04:01 PM.]

[awatt]

Ted-

How did freestyle dining go on this smaller ship? That has been a recurrent criticism inprevious posts. We loved freestyle dining on the Dawn,never had to wait as we eat early.

If you find a waiter you like,can you request an assigned table nightly?

Did yu enjoy any of the specialty restaurants?

Thanks for teh link too.

[frankp01]

For those that are interested, there was an earlier thread with a very good review of a Crown / Bermuda sailing:

[url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=477097554&m=956105751"]April Norwegian Crown thread[/url]

Phil Frank