Crown Princess review

[carefreebee]

We had a great Spring Break cruise on the Crown Princess 3/31-4/7. I’ve tried to put together an overview of this cruise; sorry if it’s a little long but once I started it was hard to stop.:)

Having just been on the Caribbean Princess in the fall influenced the ship activities selected to do this time around. This is our first cruise since we reached the Platinum level and the perks: Priority embarkation, free internet and the nightly Skywalker’s Elite happy hour, helped to make this cruise special.

 

THE GOOD

The Crown Princess is just as beautiful as her sister ships. I do enjoy the subtle differences between the four Princess ships I’ve been on. I found the public space to be well kept and very clean. This cruise more than met the expectations we had for this cruise and from Princess.

Captain Andrew Proctor is a charming man with an enjoyable Scottish humor that he shared at the Champaign Waterfall and the Captain’s Circle reception.

The Cruise Director Lisa Ball and her staff were fun. The on-board activities seemed well planned and offered a wide variety of things to do for the Spring Break crowd. I liked her “Wake Show” being tapped in different areas around the ship; nice touch.

The entertainment received good reviews. Funny comedians with typical magic and hypno types of shows were very popular with passengers. We missed the racy stage show, but heard all about it from some “shocked” passengers. We enjoyed the Cole Porter show, “What a Swell Party”, very much. The Piazza entertainment was enjoyable, too, with acrobats, jugglers, string quartets and more.

We were lucky to have Master Chef Commendatore Alfredo Marzi on board and he hosted the Culinary Show on this cruise. Chef Marzi was delightful and made for an interesting and informing presentation.

We found the food on the Crown Princess to be outstanding. We had the first seating (6pm) in the Botticelli Dining room. The MDR courses always arrived piping hot and beautifully plated. The specialty meals that we enjoyed on our balcony and beach bungalow were worth every $$.

 

THE AFT

We booked our B748 corner aft balcony, port side, in December. The balcony is huge with a very nice view of the open sea and sky.

The noise on the balcony was loud as the ship cruised at up to 21 knots. Sometimes at top speed our cabin would shake and vibrate causing a lot of noise during the evening. It didn’t roll like a mid-ship cabin, it vibrated and rattled. Most likely we will not make any effort to book an aft facing balcony in the future.

The balcony is covered so depending on the ship’s orientation there were limited full sun spots. In port the views were wonderful and we enjoyed the Ultimate Balcony Dinner when we were docked in Curacao.

I really liked being tucked back in our own little corner of the ship. Outside our door, we had a little “cul de sac” area all to ourselves with access to a Muster stair well door leading to our Muster station. We felt quite alone bringing up the rear!

The balcony has two aft facing Bridge cameras attached to the hull.

 

THE PORTS

For the Princes Cays stop we booked the Sanctuary Bungalows pre-cruise and upgraded to the special Luncheon on the ship. The bungalows were very nice and the lunch was fantastic. Chips, popcorn, fresh fruit, ice cold gazpacho, grilled & chilled lobster tails and prawns, mussels, water, ice, one bar drink each and ice cream sundaes were delivered to us over the course of the day!

Curacao was a charming island and we enjoyed a tour of the local caves and a walking tour of the town. The highlight was walking through the “floating farmers market” where dozens of little boats from Venezuela are docked, in the town center of Willemstad, selling a huge variety of produce, spices and oils.

Aruba is an interesting island. The beach is lovely with soft creamy sand and clear turquoise waters. The area around the major casinos is beautifully landscaped and looks very different than the rest of the small island. Next visit we will choose to spend more time on the beach than inland. The inner island is very rocky and desert like. We hiked the National Park where we saw cute blue lizards surrounded by towering cactus, spiky little cactus, gnarly and deadly looking trees and foliage ALL covered in thorns! We learned that there is very little native wildlife on this island and looking at the landscape:eek:……. It’s apparent why.

 

THE FOOD

The MDR food this cruise was very good, much better than on the CB. This being my third cruise with the current menus I found the dishes to be some of the best prepared on any ship. Maybe it was because the Chef Commendatore was on board, or the other way around, but every dish was very, very good.

The Pub Lunch was perfect and each day the menu varies slightly, bangers and mash on the second day. We enjoyed a few snacks from the International Café and I fell in love with the strawberry cream sandwiches! My DH finally used up the coffee card that was purchased on the Ruby and used again last fall on the CB.

We only walked through the Horizon Buffett to get to the pizza so didn’t eat there at all this time but it looked just the same as the other Princess ships we’ve been on. We love the pizza and enjoyed hotdogs from the grill one day too.

We indulged ourselves and enjoyed both the Ultimate Balcony Dinner and the Ultimate Balcony Breakfast. Again both were wonderful. The UBD menu was excellent and the service perfect as we enjoyed the sun set from our balcony while docked in Curacao. The food is abundant and the service attentive!

 

THE PASSENGERS

This cruise we were somewhat isolated from the masses because we spent so much time on our balcony. We never ate at the buffet or hung out around the pools. Missed MUTS and the Ultimate Deck Party but heard good reviews about both.

We enjoyed meeting wonderful people every day during Breakfast and Lunch in the MDR. Our fellow passengers seemed to be a nice mix of empty-nesters (like us), retirees, families and traveling co-workers. Canada was well represented on this cruise as well as bunches of Floridians (they apparently got some great last minute discounts) who seemed to all have been originally from NYC.

Our dinner table mates during the 1st seating in the Botticelli MDR were delightful. Our dinners were spent enjoying the wonderful food and each other’s company.

We were sailing with one lovely lady who has sailed 878 days with Princess! Our dinner table was next to a couple who had been on the Crown Princess 17 times this time celebrating their 60th anniversary!

Definitely a few “charters” and a couple of “high rollers” strolling aboard ship that made for interesting & entertaining people watching. One or two people in personal scooters could have used a lesson in driving and there were the usual number of passengers who don’t know to let people out of the elevator before they can squeeze in. :confused:

I’m not sure how many children were on board but there seemed to be many tweens in the Kids Zone and exploring the ship. Whatever the kids were doing in the space above Sabatini’s vestibule and Adagio’s bar created loud crashing and booming sounds overhead. For the most part kids were kept busy doing their thing in their own area.

 

THE CREW

We found the crew and staff to be very good. Everyone was polite, friendly and accommodating. Just what we’ve come to expect from Princess.

Our cabin steward Reyno did a fabulous job keeping our cabin and balcony clean and tidy. Special request were fulfilled quickly and with a smile.

Several of the bar staff provided great service up in Adagio’s and during the Elite/Platinum Lounge in Skywalkers.

Our MDR server Aleksandra and her assistant Cora were excellent and efficient! By the end of the cruise they had us done by 7:30 and we never felt rushed.

 

THE BAD

The lack of enforcing the dress code in the MDR was very disappointing. The sign at the entrance to the dining room clearly and in bold print states “NO SHORTS” will be allowed in the dining room. I think the sign is not effective! Every evening we saw men in shorts and flip flops allowed in the dining room! Not what we signed up for and we felt the Maitre d’ failed in his duties.:mad: Stressing the dress code in the Welcome Aboard! letter would help and also a gentle reminder from the Maitre d’ during his nightly table visits would also help “educate” some MDR guest.

The bed was very bad… even with the “egg topper”! The pillows were not so good either but after collecting six of them I could arrange the pillows to add some cushioning!

 

THE SAD

Disembarking! The process was painless but the leaving was painful!

The whole process went nice and smooth for us. Enjoyed the cornflake French toast for breakfast in De Vinci at 7:50am and were in Club Fusion by 8:35. Our color/number was called at 8:50 and we walked straight off the ship and to our waiting bags! We were quickly processed through customs and on the bus by 9:15 to FLL for our 1:35 flight back to Indy.

 

THE FACTS

No signs of Noro!

The Da Vinci Dining Room was open for lunch on Embarkation day! Try the Salmon followed by Orange Soufflé!

Some balcony tables have been replaced with the mini versions.

The aft balcony still had the blue mat floor covering.

The Elite/Platinum Happy Hour in Skywalkers rocks! Each day had an offering of tasty hors d’oeuvres to complement the drink of the day at the special price of $3.99.

Those who dressed for formal night looked very nice. The ladies wore mostly dresses - long, short and cocktail length… most with some sparkle & bling. Men? Many in tuxes and white dinner coats but most wore dark suits and fancy ties…some with bling too! We were delighted to see some preschoolers in little tuxes and young ladies in their prom dresses.

Our old coffee card was honored but punched for every type of coffee.

Everyone was required to attend Muster and our cards were scanned. Aft cabins have a Muster stairwell at the far corners to use when mustering from your stateroom. It exits outside on Deck 7 Aft you then go inside to the Muster Station in Club Fusion.

Smokers hung out in the Casino by night and on the Port side of the open decks by day.

80% of the food for all Princess cruises worldwide is purchased in the USA and shipped from Florida and California to the ships overseas!

The “Clean Sweep” bar tab punch card is available so if not offered ask for it at any bar. For each drink you buy, you earn punches on this card. Once it’s filled it will be entered in to a chance drawing, held at final BINGO, to get your bar tab paid in full!

The signed Navigation Chart went for a $1000 to a passenger who has collected 8 others on past cruises.

Pub Lunch is held on the 1st and last Sea Day and each day has a slightly different menu.

Zumba was held five times up on deck at Neptune’s Pool, 9am.

Stuffed olives are offered in Adagio’s and Crooners only

Russian piano players shouldn’t sing Frank Sinatra songs!;)

[Dryheave]

great review ,i'm like a sponge soaking up all info for our cruise on the 21st,

thanks again,dave

[Coolmama_1]

Great review! I love the Crown!:)

[PathfinderEss]

Great review, thanks for posting it.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.....:):):)

 

Bob

[caribill]

We missed the racy stage show, but heard all about it from some “shocked” passengers.

 

 

And which show was that?

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review, glad you had a good time. I think Princess is like most lines and hopes that passengers will abide by dress codes but as you point out they don't. Too bad some can't follow simple rules but they are probably the same people that park in the fire lane in front of the grocery store :mad:.

[BeachBecky]

Thank you for such a detailed review you answer many questions.

[1 HappyCruiser]

It's good to here they had an adult late night show on the ship. I look forward to something besides the regular shows with their gagged comedians.

 

How did people dress on the formal nights in the dining room? I can't believe they wore shorts & flip flops on those nights as well.

[ginnynj]

Thanks very much for taking the time to create and post a great review. We have your cabin booked for Thanksgiving week on the Ruby so I was glad to read your comments. We were on the ill fated Crown Feb cruise, so reading your review I felt like we were there again on a wonderful Crown sailing! I would agree that when we have had AFT cabins or E730 or 731 minis, we tend to spend lots of relaxing time in our own space too. Appreciate your sharing, sounds like you'll be back.

[Phyljim]

Thank you for your very detailed review. We have sailed on the Crown several times and enjoyed it very much. Was nice to relive some of our experiences. Thanks for taking the time to do the review, and glad you had such a good time.

[decr]

We were on the same cruise in E730 on your same cul de sac! I agree with all of your comments. I did find that we had a lot of rattle at the back of the ship, but we had great weather and flat seas the whole week. We did have some noise from Club Fusion below a few nights. Did you?

[carefreebee]

It's good to here they had an adult late night show on the ship. I look forward to something besides the regular shows with their gagged comedians.

 

How did people dress on the formal nights in the dining room? I can't believe they wore shorts & flip flops on those nights as well.

 

I forget which night the "offending" production show was held but many felt it was not suitable for children. None of the shows were advertised as Adult entertainment.

 

Sadly, we saw shorts (on men old enough to know better...let alone READ:rolleyes:) in the MDR on Formal nights too!

[1 HappyCruiser]

I forget which night the "offending" production show was held but many felt it was not suitable for children. None of the shows were advertised as Adult entertainment.

 

Sadly, we saw shorts (on men old enough to know better...let alone READ:rolleyes:) in the MDR on Formal nights too!

 

All in all that sounds like my kind of ship. A good time crowd who goes in vacation to relax in casual clothing and are not offended by any off color entertainment.

I'm ready. :p

[carefreebee]

Yep, good times were had by all....;)

[5fathom]

You are right, it is so sad Princess refuses to enforce the dress code in the dining rooms at dinner time. On our last cruise on the Grand we also saw two men allowed in the dining room with shorts on. Also on formal night there were an abundance of short sleeve sports shirts and I know they say "it's my cruise, I'll dress as I please. Kinda tired hearing that. :(

[fathercop]

Thanks for the review! I just got off of the Crown three weeks ago and I wish I was back on her! Your review is bringing back some nice memories.

[lovevacadays]

Very nice review and will surely help future Crown cruisers.

 

I had to laugh at your pillow story. I know many complain about the beds but I find the pillows even more appalling. I usually need 4 or so to find any comfort. Also laughed about your Russians singing Frank Sinatra songs. Hmmmm - can't imagine what that was like!:D

[Orangefan]

carefreebee,

Thank you for your great review ! I will be on the Crown April 21st and thrilled to hear zumba may offered 5 days. I do zumba a lot a home and would miss doing it.

Sali

[srpilo]

A very nice read :)

 

 

 

Thanks for taking us along

Srpilo

[carefreebee]

Thanks...I tried to give back a little because of all I've learned from the folks on CC.:)

[Sanibel*Gal]

Wonderful review! We sail this Saturday and can hardly wait....to top it off we are in the same cabin! I know it can rock, roll & squeak back there but DH & I love the aft cabins.;) Oh, the punch card you mentioned - that is new to us & you said they have them at all the bars???

Thanks again!!!