Positivity about the Crown?

[Jbird81]

We're on her in 6 days now....and pretty much everything I have read highlights how awful the ship is right now and how it's basically falling apart. Since it took a lot of time and effort to convince everyone to take a cruise for the 3rd time, should I be concerned and be ready for a disappointment following two stellar cruises?

[Sillyjilly]

We're on her in 6 days now....and pretty much everything I have read highlights how awful the ship is right now and how it's basically falling apart. Since it took a lot of time and effort to convince everyone to take a cruise for the 3rd time, should I be concerned and be ready for a disappointment following two stellar cruises?

 

Well, since there isn't much you can do at this point, I say go in with an open mind and do your best to have a great time. Not all negative reviews can be taken with fear as it is often just personal opinion and nothing more.

 

I recently cruised on the Celebrity Century and read many reviews on how run down the ship was. I saw none of that. She was in great shape and I'd sail on her again in a heart beat.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Sillyjilly

[timem]

Let us know

 

 

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[Cruiserkenn]

Pia's current "live from" the Crown tonight reports no AC or plumbing problems.

 

Hang in there.

 

Bon voyage. :)

[princessprincej]

We're on her in 6 days now....and pretty much everything I have read highlights how awful the ship is right now and how it's basically falling apart. Since it took a lot of time and effort to convince everyone to take a cruise for the 3rd time, should I be concerned and be ready for a disappointment following two stellar cruises?

 

I think a lot of the negative comments are not warranted. I have read peoples comments about work being carried out during voyages such as varnishing hand rails and painting tired looking paint work. Surely this kind of maintenance is good, better than leaving it as it is. Plumbing problems can happen on any ship. The systems are not the same as your normal domestic household plumbing. They are all linked and if one person out of over 3000 per voyage flushes something that they shouldn't it can cause problems.

 

My advice is ignore the negativity, go on vacation and enjoy yourself! Have great time!

[paul929207]

We spent 36 days on the Crown a year ago and had a wonderful time. Relax and have a great cruise

[Jlsellie]

We just returned from a 7-day on the Crown. We had zero issues with either A/C or plumbing. Enjoyed many lovely conversations with crew and travelers. First time we opted for "anytime" instead of "traditional" dining, just to experience both. Got to taste some great food in all corners of the ship! Yes, there were some railings being varnished, and the pool by the Sanctuary closed on the last day for cleaning. Nothing that hampered a week of fun, sun and relaxation. Any trip is what you make it! Cheers!!

[jondfk]

We spent two weeks on Star in July / August. The boat was full to capacity and we witnessed not one problem.

 

Sure, there was a bit of painting going on here and there, some rails being sanded and varnished, but nothing significant. Of course there are always those who can't look past the negative.

 

This was simply the best cruise we've ever taken on Princess. Enjoy!

[Suzanne123]

We sailed on the Crown last January and had no issues at all. We're booked again on the Crown next month, and I'm not worried. It's one of my favorite Princess ships. Bon Voyage!

[Garfunkel]

We've just had a wonderful 14 days on the Crown - from 16th November to 30th November. The ship looked great to us, not tired at all. The food, staff, shows were all excellent. Yes, they were painting and varnishing, but we thought that was a good thing, keeping the Crown 'ship shape' and fresh. We will definitely sail on her again. Have a great cruise JBird!

[flamomo]

I just spent 26 consecutive days on the Crown, in October-November and had a wonderful time. No problems with anything!!

 

I hope you find the same thing on your cruise.

[flynrph]

Well, sadly..... some of the previous reports have some truth to them.

Yes, there was re-varnishing going on all over the ship. To me that was ongoing proactive maintenance. What bothered me was the poor clean up of the process on the promenade deck, where people walk all the time. The stripper was applied and scraped, but the resulting debris was not well cleaned up and piles of it was all over the deck, mostly on the side lines.

Toliet flushing issues. First hand experience. At various times the toilet would not flush or the delay was 30 seconds or more. Happened many times, and to the adjoining cabins. On one occasion, the flush water kept going until it overflowed, however the vacuum flush did not occur. (think about that for a moment...)

The best thing that happened was there was member of the staff just outside my door and the response was immediate. Fortunately the water stopped before topping the ledge and spilling into the carpeted area. (Though it sure looked like that area has been repeated flooded in the past. The carpeting should have been replace long ago!). I was impressed by how fast and how well this small flood was handled. Top marks for the response.

Dents and dings in the hallways are to be expected, but it is quite noticeable.

Air conditioning. I could not get it under control. Setting the thermostat to the top level, the cabin was too cold. First two night I had to leave the balcony door fully open to make it acceptable. After that I slept under all of the covers. Kind of ridiculous to do that in tropical weather. But it did keep the humidity down in the room!

I had sailed on this ship 3 years ago. I was quite surprised to see the maintenance challenges.

Edited December 15, 2013 by flynrph
additional information

[Cruiserkenn]

Thanks all for the insightful comments.

 

Pia's live from the Crown still reports no plumbing or AC problems.

 

I agree with many here that sanding, varnishing, and painting is a good thing.

Cleanup is a good thing, too.

 

Thanks so much, everyone.

[pegbert]

We were on the Crown a month ago, mini-suite on Dolphin, aft section. The ship is hardly "falling apart"!! Although we did have a few instances of the '30 second delay' flush, it wasn't a problem. A/C was just fine, etc.

 

The worst thing we noticed was that some of the lounger cushions (the striped ones, on the white plastic frames) were so filthy that I wouldn't even have used them with a towel between me and the cushion! Usual "aging" is to be expected, but I don't think soiled furniture is acceptable. Even if they couldn't replace them immediately, I think it would have been smarter for the crew to have stashed them away, out of view. Yuk!

 

Other than that, we both thought the ship was lovely - wouldn't think twice about going on her again!

 

Peg

[Go-Bucks!]

I was on the Crown in July and I think it looked fine for the most part. Did notice some worn carpet in our minisuite, the sofa was showing showing some age and the metal on the balcony having some rust. But that certainly didn't impact our fabulous trip!

[MJSailors]

My DH and Injust returned from our third cruise on the Crown.

We thought the ship was in good shape considering the age of it and constant use by thousands of passengers.

The crew was exceptional! The members who we met were smiling, conversing with us and couldn 't do enough for us.

When we met Captain Stenzel at the cocktail party, I mentioned to him that he had an excellent staff onboard.

We were in cabin B437-a mid-ship balcony cabin.

We had no issues with the AC or the toilet.

However, we were mindful of not over-filling the toilet with too much paper.

The Captain spoke about being mindful of the toilet use at the muster drill.

With passenger cooperation, the situations that have been reported in previous posts/reviews could be eleviated.

Enjoy your cruise!

What is better than a vacation where you don't have household chores or cooking to do?

The crew will take good care if you and hopefully the weather will be warm and sunny.

Bon Voysge!

[Jbird81]

My DH and Injust returned from our third cruise on the Crown.

We thought the ship was in good shape considering the age of it and constant use by thousands of passengers.

The crew was exceptional! The members who we met were smiling, conversing with us and couldn 't do enough for us.

When we met Captain Stenzel at the cocktail party, I mentioned to him that he had an excellent staff onboard.

We were in cabin B437-a mid-ship balcony cabin.

We had no issues with the AC or the toilet.

However, we were mindful of not over-filling the toilet with too much paper.

The Captain spoke about being mindful of the toilet use at the muster drill.

With passenger cooperation, the situations that have been reported in previous posts/reviews could be eleviated.

Enjoy your cruise!

What is better than a vacation where you don't have household chores or cooking to do?

The crew will take good care if you and hopefully the weather will be warm and sunny.

Bon Voysge!

 

Thank you so much for posting this, this made me feel even better about the trip! Now I'm eager to hop on her!

[OCruisers]

Always appreciate those reporting back.

 

It's been about three years since we've been on Crown but will be on her again for two weeks in January.

 

LuLu

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[Astro Flyer]

If we believe all of the negativity about any ship none of us would sail. :rolleyes:

 

Things go wrong on any ship & in dozens of cruises I've never had a falling apart ship despite what some say on Cruise Critic. :rolleyes:

 

Last year at this time our 32 days of enjoyment on the Crown was nearing the end & everything was great. :)

Edited December 16, 2013 by Astro Flyer

[MauiLvrs]

We're on her in 6 days now....and pretty much everything I have read highlights how awful the ship is right now and how it's basically falling apart.

 

We had the same situation with the Grand... Turned out that she was fine :)

[Times Prince]

We sailed on the Crown Princess twice this year (Jan, Apr 2013) and it was in great condition. We encountered none of the problems people have reported.

 

All ships have potential plumbing issues, and a small delay in flush activation is not a big thing. We've seen this on several different ship designs.

 

Go, and have a GREAT cruise!

[sassyredhat]

This is good to hear. We are on the Crown in Sept.

I haven't noticed anything greatly negative with PCL so far, so I'm going in with a hopeful attitude. :D

 

Pat

[oncruisecontrol]

Pia's current "live from" the Crown tonight reports no AC or plumbing problems.

 

Hang in there.

 

Bon voyage. :)

I was on the 11/30/13 sailing of the Crown Princess, and there were some plumbing problems. We personally did not have any problems with the toilet in our cabin, but apparently others did. Whatever the case, the problems were significant enough that on the next to the last night of the cruise, a note was distributed to all cabins that there would be no water ship wide from 1:30am until 6:00am. We were instructed not to flush the toilet between those hours as they would be working to repair the system.

[OCruisers]

I was on the 11/30/13 sailing of the Crown Princess, and there were some plumbing problems. We personally did not have any problems with the toilet in our cabin, but apparently others did. Whatever the case, the problems were significant enough that on the next to the last night of the cruise, a note was distributed to all cabins that there would be no water ship wide from 1:30am until 6:00am. We were instructed not to flush the toilet between those hours as they would be working to repair the system.

 

Gosh, to have done this there must have been some serious problems.

Hopefully, no one was having digestive issues between 1:30 AM & 6:00 AM. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

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[bitsey66]

We've just had a wonderful 14 days on the Crown - from 16th November to 30th November. The ship looked great to us, not tired at all. The food, staff, shows were all excellent. Yes, they were painting and varnishing, but we thought that was a good thing, keeping the Crown 'ship shape' and fresh. We will definitely sail on her again. Have a great cruise JBird!

 

I was on the first leg of this voyage and it was absolutely amazing! I saw the painting and varnishing but in no way did that hamper our trip (or in my opinion anyone elses). Of course I encountered 2 seperate instances where one woman was bi***ing because she couldn't get her own apple juice and another woman bi***ing because they don't have ice sculptures anymore! I couldn't believe these people...I was just grateful to be able to be on a lovely ship having the best vacation ever!!!

 

Go, enjoy and don't sweat the small stuff!