Crown April 6 review

[mina]

We just returned from a great cruise on the crown! We found the crew to be one of the best we have ever had. Calvin the cruise director was great, very friendly and personable. We had r746 aft balcony and loved it. Very close to the aft pool area. Yes the door tothe deck slammed every once in a while, but did not bother us. We had no toilet problems. Spent most nitesand sea days in the casino, best casino staff we ever had.comp'ddrinks from day three onwards. Won a lot, saw several large jackpots, including one for 7500 on a penny machine! Guy was very happy. Wemissed roatan due to high winds. Must say that this was the strangest cruise as ran into many unusual, angry passengers. One man dragging his little boy got into a fight with the horizon court girl handing out the dishes.dropped an f bomb on her and dragged his kid away. Kid was crying and saying "daddy are you mad at me?" Another older man had an emotional tirade at a server in the HC cause they did not have salt shakers on the table. Demanded to speak to the manager and started yelling at him that he paid for his cruise and he wanted salt shakers not packets. In the casino, several younger men raising havoc throughout the cruise. Playing in the hold em tournament, one young man was screaming and swearing at how the other passengers were playing.later in the week he had a loud fight with the casino manager, dropping. Fbombs everywhere. I think he got banned from the casino as did not see him later. Another man in the cigar bar regularly had a very loud foul mouth and was talking politics all the time and later was at our table in the casino and hassled a new dealer telling her she needed to do better. I finally told him to lay off. Maybe that is why we got the free drinks lol. Several other incidents like this. The staff handled them all with grace! We did not eat in the dining room at all. Three nites in crown grill, excellent! Horizon court was okay, not best we ever had, but stillmanaged to gain a few lbs. movies under the stars were great. For smokers, one small area near the aft pool , the casino and cigar bar and a section of the starboard promenade deck. The new limited smoking seems to be working, saw less confrontations on this cruise. For those asking about smell going to aft cabins, the area ison the upper deck and steel doorstothe room areas. No way for the smoke to hit those cabins. Had a nice massage, with NO sales pitch after! The lotus pool was great! Loved this cruise, and the "out of sorts" passengers were entertaining.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ...

[TracieABD]

Thanks.

[Cruiserkenn]

Mina - great review, and you are a saint to have coped so well with all of the angry, weird passengers.

 

Thanks for setting such a good example. I will try to remember this :)

 

Thanks again :)

[FlorenceItaly]

Was Sandie your room steward? We were in R730 on the March 30th cruise and he was fantastic!!! There was little excitement on our cruise, lol. In fact, my dh and I commented that there was no one that seemed to stand out, lol. This was only our second cruise on Princess, however, 20 plus on other lines, LOVED Princess.

[paul929207]

Welcome back. Thanks for the comments

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks

[mina]

Was Sandie your room steward? We were in R730 on the March 30th cruise and he was fantastic!!! There was little excitement on our cruise, lol. In fact, my dh and I commented that there was no one that seemed to stand out, lol. This was only our second cruise on Princess, however, 20 plus on other lines, LOVED Princess.

 

Yes! Sandie was our steward, best we ever had. Left me a pretty little crystal paperweight on the last nite. Of course we had to tip him over and beyond and fill in a commendation card!

[FlorenceItaly]

Yes! Sandie was our steward, best we ever had. Left me a pretty little crystal paperweight on the last nite. Of course we had to tip him over and beyond and fill in a commendation card!

 

Same here! We also tipped him over and beyond and filled out a commendation card. His gracious service really enhanced our cruise experience.

[YaddaBest]

We just returned from a great cruise on the crown! We found the crew to be one of the best we have ever had. Calvin the cruise director was great, very friendly and personable. We had r746 aft balcony and loved it. Very close to the aft pool area. Yes the door tothe deck slammed every once in a while, but did not bother us. We had no toilet problems. Spent most nitesand sea days in the casino, best casino staff we ever had.comp'ddrinks from day three onwards. Won a lot, saw several large jackpots, including one for 7500 on a penny machine! Guy was very happy. Wemissed roatan due to high winds. Must say that this was the strangest cruise as ran into many unusual, angry passengers. One man dragging his little boy got into a fight with the horizon court girl handing out the dishes.dropped an f bomb on her and dragged his kid away. Kid was crying and saying "daddy are you mad at me?" Another older man had an emotional tirade at a server in the HC cause they did not have salt shakers on the table. Demanded to speak to the manager and started yelling at him that he paid for his cruise and he wanted salt shakers not packets. In the casino, several younger men raising havoc throughout the cruise. Playing in the hold em tournament, one young man was screaming and swearing at how the other passengers were playing.later in the week he had a loud fight with the casino manager, dropping. Fbombs everywhere. I think he got banned from the casino as did not see him later. Another man in the cigar bar regularly had a very loud foul mouth and was talking politics all the time and later was at our table in the casino and hassled a new dealer telling her she needed to do better. I finally told him to lay off. Maybe that is why we got the free drinks lol. Several other incidents like this. The staff handled them all with grace! We did not eat in the dining room at all. Three nites in crown grill, excellent! Horizon court was okay, not best we ever had, but stillmanaged to gain a few lbs. movies under the stars were great. For smokers, one small area near the aft pool , the casino and cigar bar and a section of the starboard promenade deck. The new limited smoking seems to be working, saw less confrontations on this cruise. For those asking about smell going to aft cabins, the area ison the upper deck and steel doorstothe room areas. No way for the smoke to hit those cabins. Had a nice massage, with NO sales pitch after! The lotus pool was great! Loved this cruise, and the "out of sorts" passengers were entertaining.

 

I had the same cabin on the Transatlantic from Venice in December. I enjoyed the cabin but had the flu most of the time so its a good thing I did. It is nice just to go up three steps to the aft pool.

 

I was on the April 6th sailing as well. I must say that I was very disappointed. The crew and dining staff were amazing as always. I just found the food disappointing. This was my 51st cruise with Princess. Always gave the nod to RCL for their cabins but the food was hands down better on Princess. I did not find that this time. Seems I always find that they have taken away something I enjoy. last year was sit down lunches on Port days. Its not all about the food because I just like meeting people. Nice to sit down and meet people at breakfast and lunch. Went to the Crown grill and got the rib eye which was definitely not a rib eye but the same steak in the dinning room. I had it on the transatlantic and it was wonderful.

 

I might give them another try on the Royal princess; seeing Balconies $150 more than insides. Wondering why there are no outsides but lots of balconies on that ship. If not I will try Celebrity or maybe change up to RCL. Nothing stays the same I understand. But to me this was a disappointing trip.

[EKELLEY]

We were also on this cruise & had a great time. We ate every night in the main dining room & enjoyed every meal. The cruise director staff was great, especially CJ the DJ. We would be the only people in Club Fusion & he would sit & talk to us for hours. This was my brothers first cruise & he really made it fun for us. He brought a stuff monkey on the cruise & they were known all over the ship. He had the cruise staff laughing all the time.

[warb]

Did Sandie say if he worked on the Caribbean Princess before the Crown ?

[mina]

Did Sandie say if he worked on the Caribbean Princess before the Crown ?

 

He did not mention it, but I did not ask.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I have friends who were on the same cruise and am anxious to hear their feedback.

 

Over the past 5-10 years, we have noticed a lot more passengers yelling at the crew for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, you can't really choose who you cruise with and the passengers can really turn your cruise into great cruise or a bad cruise. We've found that if we avoid the spring break weeks, it tends to be a more civilized crowd. :)

 

Thanks for the review.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for the review.

 

Keith

[Murphey]

Oh my goodness, we too had Sandie last summer on our Med cruise...you tweaked my memory because he had also left us a gift.....thought he was amazing!!

[Travelrd]

interesting review, mina. i appreciated it since i'll be going on the crown next year. glad you made money as that always adds to the enjoyment of the cruise. i'm not that much of a gambler and never go to the casinos on the ships. also, there's usually too much smoke in the casino and adjoining areas. i'm glad you enjoyed the crown grill. i am not a buffet person so hardly ever utilize the hc. i am a big fan of princess pizza and milk shakes.

sorry you missed roatan as i've heard its an interesting port. when you missed the port, what did they do with the ship...just sail around slowly to the next destination?

 

cheers

[mina]

Hi David! Yes they just sailed around slowly for the day. Poor cruise director! We would meet up with him every morning in the cigar bar. That morning he had went to bed at two am and got paged around five am to start planning for another day at sea. Great guy, he did a superb job getting everything coordinated and handled all the complaints with style and concern. You could tell he loved his job and really cared about the passenger experience. We had the pizza a couple of nights and it was great as usual! Watched the hobbit on the big screen and ate pizza. Life does not get better!