Crown Princess Christmas Cruise 21st - 28th Photo Review

[Jbird81]

Hello all and welcome to my Crown Princess Christmas Cruise review from this past week!

 

 

This review will cover nearly everything. The food. The entertainment. The ship. The itinerary. Anything and everything! All photos used in this review were taken by me over the course of our trip. Feel free to ask any questions about the ship or the trip, and I will be happy to answer them! I do have photos of all MDR dining menus too which I will post in this review. I wrote this review during the trip, so a lot of it is in present form, just to warn you!

 

I will be taking you on a magnificent journey on the Crown Princess. Our itinerary is hitting Princess Cays, Bahamas, Curacao, and Aruba on a 7-day voyage from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We have never been to any of these ports on a ship before, so we were excited to see what they have to offer! My parents were in Aruba nearly 20 years ago, so they were also interested to see what had all changed. Here’s what our trip looks like on the ship's charts:

 

 

Now for a little about us. We’re a family of four from a small town just a few hours north west of Toronto, Ontario (yes that’s in the great country we love, Canada!). This is our 3rd cruise, but our first with Princess. We booked this trip as it was the ship with the best itinerary in our eyes, and because the airfare to other ports was extremely high (such as Miami). The Crown Princess also looked to us to be a very majestic vessel, and with Princess being a reputable line we took a chance! We would be flying from Detroit, Michigan down to Fort Lauderdale on Friday the 20th of December, the night before the cruise. The price to fly out of Detroit was to our advantage so we chose it, as we would be saving in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars driving an extra 25 minutes to the airport. Sounds good to me! We booked a flight on Spirit Airlines to leave just before 6pm that night, leaving home early that morning so we could fit in some shopping before hand.

[Jbird81]

Today, at last, was the day we would be boarding the beautiful Crown Princess! We will be headed to Princess Cays on the 22nd of December, followed by Curacao on Christmas Eve, and Aruba on Christmas Day. We have waited nearly 100 days for this cruise, booking it fairly last minute for us as vacations go.

 

We woke up bright and early (well….9:00am) at the Holiday Inn Express Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We got everything organized and then went down to eat a nice warm breakfast, followed by a sit out at the pool. Holy crap is it ever hot, coming from our hometown in Ontario, Canada where it was WAY beyond freezing. I tried, to no avail, to print boarding passes off at the hotel – our booking wasn’t showing up on the Princess site? Oh well…We then grabbed our stuff and went down to the shuttle at 11am for the port. Drama was about to unfold…but more on that when we get to the port!

 

The ride was uneventful, but luckily we were the first off the bus, as the Crown was docked in the closest terminal upon entering the cruise port. We got off and then had to scramble to find our room numbers (finding a man with a manifest just at the entrance to the building, and getting forms to “replace” the boarding passes from another person). Note to self…this added an extra 25 minutes to our boarding process in total, next time print the passes AHEAD of schedule like we normally do!

 

Embarkation was non eventful, although it was painfully slow for a while. The line didn’t seem to move, and it took us well over an hour to board the ship, which is a lot longer than normal. No complaints from us, though, we are all on vacation after all, aren’t we? Checked in, boarded the ship, and then began to be WOWed by the Atrium.

 

 

The Crown is a gorgeous ship online, but when you see the inside of her in person it’s entirely different. Seeing the atrium for the first time was just amazing, and breathtaking. The ship is incredibly elegant and very well kept in my opinion. We found our rooms; all done up, popped our wine in the fridge and then went to the Da Vinci dining room for lunch. This was a lunch option that I found out about on Cruise Critic, and decided to give it a shot. It wasn’t advertised anywhere else on board, no indicators at all, except the friendly faces when we got there! I had a lovely shrimp pâté, served on some avocado and a piece of lettuce.

 

 

Wow was it ever good! We had a great waiter, Jerome too, who up sold us a bottle of sparkling water without us even realizing it until the bill got to the table! For my main course I had amazing Beef Tenderloin, served with the vegetables of the day, well done. It was absolutely amazing, and one of the tenderest pieces of meat I’ve personally ever had.

 

 

For dessert, I had an apple tart. I didn’t like it at all, so I just ate the ice cream that came with it. It had a different taste than I expected, and my mother thought the same who also ordered the tart.

 

 

After we went and explored the ship a bit taking miscellaneous photos, and hitting the famous International Café of course. I had a small dessert in an espresso cup, it was a peanut butter cup I think it was called. I forgot to take a photo of it, but it was absolutely amazing.

 

Fast-forward a bit to sail away. The rest of my family went back to our staterooms, as I went up to one of the top decks. Chatted to a lovely couple from Florida (if you’re reading this I was the kid from Ontario, Canada who you talked to while we envied the million dollar houses down the water way to the ocean!). We began to move without us even noticing, until I saw that Oasis of the Seas, parked in front of us, was on a different angle. With the crazy wind, someone’s clip on sunglasses blew off his head and flew down to the bridge walkway below; luckily someone grabbed them for him! I took more photos, and then went back to the cabin for some relaxation before dinner.

 

We had a 5:30 dinner reservation in the Da Vinci Dining Room this voyage. We had table 492, but upon entering we noticed this table didn’t exist. We were seated at 493, and lucky for us it was a four seater that was right beside a window! We have a window seat for our first time, woo-hoo! For the appetizer I had spring rolls.

 

 

My dad had a crawfish meal, which was delicious!

 

[Jbird81]

 

My one complaint about tonight was how much the waiters are pushed to up sell stuff. They tried to sell us a pop package, Irish coffees, sparkling water, etc. It made the dinner a bit awkward at first since they were trying to push them hard. Oh well, on with more food porn! Next are my two desserts, the Warm Passion Fruit Soufflé, and the Traditional New York Cheesecake. Yes, I had two desserts, but I’m ON VACATION!

 

 

 

We left dinner and then dad was off to the casino, as my mum, brother, and I walked around the ship, caught the end of a Movie Under the Stars, then met up for the Welcome Aboard show, hosted by the lovely Lisa Ball. It was an all right show; it seemed pretty rehearsed, but nonetheless good. Good news was a lot of the staff on the entertainment team seems to be from some cool country called Canada. Left and wandered a bit more, checking out venues. The night began to wrap up with a visit to my favourite spot on the vessel…. The International Café. I have a feeling it’s going to be a spot to hit for the rest of the trip. We sat in the lobby and listened to the live band. My brother and I went and had a snack at the buffet before coming back to the cabin for the night. Tomorrow brings Princess Cays, Bahamas!

[I Run 26.2]

Thank you for your great review, We are boarding the Crown in three weeks, Do you have cabin pictures?

With the ice and tons of snow this winter in Canada, We are really looking forward to boarding the Crown.

Did you swim or snorkel in Curacao or Aruba.

Looking forward to more of your pictures, and review.

[Jbird81]

Thank you for your great review, We are boarding the Crown in three weeks, Do you have cabin pictures?

With the ice and tons of snow this winter in Canada, We are really looking forward to boarding the Crown.

Did you swim or snorkel in Curacao or Aruba.

Looking forward to more of your pictures, and review.

 

We are from Canada too, in Ontario too infact! Crazy small world eh! We tried to snorkel in both Aruba and Curacao, as well as Princess Cays. The water, unfortunately was just too murky in all of the places, due to the wind, and hundreds of other swimmers. There might be better spots on the islands to do it though, as we were just going off main beaches.

 

Cabin photos, yes, here some are. We were in an inside cabin, A629, and a balcony cabin across the hall, A633 on Deck 12 (Aloha). Inside:

 

 

 

 

Balcony:

 

 

 

[I Run 26.2]

Jbird81

 

Thank you for the pictures, This will be our first time on Princess so it's nice to see the cabins and other shots of the ship you have posted.

We snorkeled in Aruba and Curacao in 2008, I think we traveled a good half hour from the port and I was hoping to hear of a good spot that was closer.

Interesting how many of us Canadians flee to the sun come winter, eh!

In fact we have a group of 13 friends we will enjoy the cruise with.

Looking forward to more of your review.

[Cruiserkenn]

Pamster - this is it! Enjoy!

[Bimmer09]

Jbird-keep it coming! I love this ship and this itinerary and am a sucker for food porn!

 

Thank you!

 

Norris

[MtnBikerFallDown]

Loving your review so far! Thanks for posting it! It's tiding me over until we leave in February!

[jetstorm]

Jbird81, We cruises with you and I typed out a short review yesterday but my computer crashed along with my review so that was that, but as it turns out you are doing a much better job than I eve could so it all works out. I will say when enjoyed this cruise very much and would sail again with Princess on the Crown in a heartbeat. We did have trouble the first night when our cabin steward never showed to do the turn down and mysteriously we have a different steward the next day so I guess they got things worked out. After that all went well. It was a bit of a rough ride out of Ft. Lauderdale to Princess Cays which we thought was due to the wind and waves but on the last day of the cruise I heard through the grapevine that the ship's stabilizers went working properly and were repaired while we stopped at Princess Cays. It was much smoother after that so I guess they may have been right. We had anytime dining but made reservations for whatever time worked for us each day and quickly found the very best waiters, Alberto and Sandy at table 209 in the Michelangelo dining room. For those of you who don't always like some of the fancier food selections, the spaghetti and meatloaf were terrific. Best I ever ate actually. We too loved the International Cafe and found ourselves there a lot. As others have said the pizza was very good out by the pool. Now back to Jbird81 ans his lovely review...

[Pamster]

Pamster - this is it! Enjoy!

 

Found it!! Thanks.

[lakegirl16]

Cruising on the Crown in a few weeks. Thanks so much for the review!!!

[Ren1216]

Great start... hope there's more coming? Love the photos and all the details, thanks for taking the time - much appreciated :)

[Jbird81]

Good morning from Princess Cays, Bahamas! We pulled in around 8am this morning to fairly windy conditions, and the first tenders pulled away from the ship about 9. I got up just as we were finishing anchoring and wandered around the ship and took photos of the island. Of course, I hit the International Café after a visit to the Horizon Court, and got an amazing yogurt parfait! Went back to the room and we all got ready for a day ashore, landing on Princess Cays just after 10am.

 

 

 

 

The tender ride. Oh my. The seas were rough, and the tender was just tossed around. This was our first time on a tender, and I think this is my last (hopefully….). Sitting below definitely isn’t a good idea on them, but it’s hard to get a top seat! Finally we pulled into the harbor and waited for a spot…. seasickness and all. We got off, found some lounge chairs in the shade and began our day of fun in the sun!

 

The afternoon consisted of many swims in the ocean, and unsuccessful attempts to collect seashells. Note to anybody going to Princess Cays, don’t expect to find any shells in quantities, as we only found a few over our hours on the island. Snorkeling was also impossible on the island, as the water was so murky and wavy. Hopefully others have more luck with it! For lunch we went to the BBQ, which had the likes of hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, pork ribs, chicken, fruit, etc. Rain poured down, so we decided to run back to the ship quickly thereafter to get a tender before a rush ensued. We got a spot on top this time after waiting for a new tender. Met some nice people from Canada too! And another man from Canada! We’re slowly taking over the cruise! Got back onboard and took a shower. You never realize how much sand is on your body until it’s pouring out of your belly button into the shower! There was practically a quarry at my feet! We had confusion with tea, and realized it was an hour later than we had thought, so I went to the gym with my mother. Is it ever motivational working out while on a cruise ship with all of the beautiful sights! Tea followed, to which the service was pretty good by my standards, and the tea, for once on a cruise ship wasn’t horrible! It was the perfect strength. The goodies that came with were the perfect compliment to a great cup of tea. Liked how the tea came pre-steeped, versus the normal process of having to make the tea yourself at the table.

 

Following this we just went back to our room and got ready for dinner. The time change confused us all, so dinner was an hour earlier than we thought – but oh well. Dinner was all right tonight. To start off I had a really bizarre dish called the Venison and Qual Terrife. When it came to the table I kind of thought it was SPAM at first or some sort of cat food. It was tasty, but the presentation in my opinion kind of turned me off of it.

 

 

For my main course, I had a trio of meats called the Trilogy of Lamb Loin Chop, Braised Veal Breast, and Chicken Kebab. It was alright, the lamb was a bit tough, and I was full from earlier snacks around the ship, so I kind of parted some off of it off to my family.

 

 

For dessert, repeating last night, I had another New York Cheesecake.

 

We left dinner and then realized that a show was starting with the onboard comedian in just 15 minutes, sure beats waiting for the 8:15 show! We went and had a laugh; he’s a great comedian that’s for sure. Dad then went to the Casino, and my mother, brother and I went to the Explorer’s Lounge for an English themed night. There was some sing a longs, musical performances and fun to be had. My brother got picked to do the game they do halfway through the show, picking 6 audience members and splitting them up into teams. His challenge was to pick up cotton balls with his nose, which was covered with Vaseline, and transport them to the other side of the stage, where the opposing player was doing the same. It was a tie, but in the end he got a lanyard, and we got a lot of laughs at his expense of course.

 

Wandered the ship a bit more, I just couldn’t resist the pizza on the Lido Deck, so I had two slices, and then some mashed potatoes from the buffet. Note: the mashed potatoes are amazing on this ship; there is just something about them! I know this sounds weird but try them! Movies Under the Stars was TSN, so we skipped it tonight.

 

And that’s all for today! Tomorrow at 10am is the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle, and the Cabin Crawl at Skywalker's Lounge on the aft part of the ship. Unfortunately it runs at the same time as some events we wanted to go to, but it’ll be worth it seeing the people I’ve communicated with for a while now. Time for a movie in bed, the ship is rocking quite violently tonight, with the pools all sloshing like crazy, and us being rocked in our beds.

[Jbird81]

I Run 26.2: No problem, glad I could be of help to you!

 

Lakegirl16: No problem! Hope you have a wonderful cruise on the Crown!

 

Ren1216: I will do the entire review up until the day we fly home! No worries! And thank you! :)

 

Bimmer09: Food porn will be so present in this review your mouth will water every time you click into the thread! I'm a huge lover of it myself. ;)

 

MtnBikerFallDown : Take me with you! I wanna go again! :)

 

Jetstorm: It was lovely to meet you, jetstorm! And that’s rather odd, but I’m glad you were able to get the room steward problem fixed before it dragged on! I agree with the rough ride, that may be an understatement — I needed some motion sickness pills! Interesting on the stabilizers, I wouldn’t doubt that as it was crazily rocky. Glad to hear you had great dining as well, our waiters were amazing too! The pizza was indeed delicious, I may or may not have got some every single day…:)

[jetstorm]

Jbird81, you mentioned your brother was pciked to play the game picking up cottonballs with his nose during the English theme night. My nephew was on the other team. Good times for all. We probably crossed paths many times and never knew it. I wish we'd gotten a chance to talk during the meet n greet. We could have teamed up for the trivia. We needed all the help we could get.

By the way, I did find some huge conch shells on Princess Cay but they were down the beach a ways away from the crowds.

[Jbird81]

Jbird81, you mentioned your brother was pciked to play the game picking up cottonballs with his nose during the English theme night. My nephew was on the other team. Good times for all. We probably crossed paths many times and never knew it. I wish we'd gotten a chance to talk during the meet n greet. We could have teamed up for the trivia. We needed all the help we could get.

By the way, I did find some huge conch shells on Princess Cay but they were down the beach a ways away from the crowds.

 

Crazy how small the world is eh! That's cool, so he was on Lisa's team then? And we must have, there were some people I recognized and saw around the ship numerous times! The trivia was hard for us, but some were Geography questions which my brother was able to get! Phew!

 

And darn on the shells, we were going to walk further up, but we just gave up once it started to shower out!

[west coast cruiser]

Thank you for this great review and all of the pictures. I am looking forward to reading this the remainder of your cruise. We will be boarding the Crown in March.

[nunuc2000]

Keep it coming! Loving your review thus far, expecially some of the ship pictures... we were on board the Crown for several weeks in fall of 2012 and it brings back great memories :)

[Jbird81]

Thanks you two! I will keep up with the review, I'll post the next day either tonight or tomorrow! If anyone wants me to post any specific photos just ask and I will put them up!

[lakegirl16]

We're on the Crown in three weeks. I'd love to see the menus when you have time to post. Thanks.

[Pamster]

Thanks you two! I will keep up with the review, I'll post the next day either tonight or tomorrow! If anyone wants me to post any specific photos just ask and I will put them up!

 

Loving your review. If you have any pics of the seating areas around the atrium and the International Cafe I would love to see them. That's our favorite place to hang out in the mornings. On the Sapphire there is a bar right next to the International Cafe, and I could get my morning Bloody Mary there. Do you know if the Crown has a bar in the atrium that's open early like that?

[Ren1216]

Anxiously awaiting the rest..... :)

[cvpends]

Awesome review so far!

[Jbird81]

We're on the Crown in three weeks. I'd love to see the menus when you have time to post. Thanks.

 

I will post them soon, within the next week or so!

 

Loving your review. If you have any pics of the seating areas around the atrium and the International Cafe I would love to see them. That's our favorite place to hang out in the mornings. On the Sapphire there is a bar right next to the International Cafe, and I could get my morning Bloody Mary there. Do you know if the Crown has a bar in the atrium that's open early like that?

 

I will check my photos but I don't think I have anything like that. I can tell you, though, there is a few comfortable chairs right at the side of the centre of the Piazza. There was then a bunch of seatings beside the International Cafe, and then places like Crooners, so there is a good amount of seating. There is a bar right beside the International Cafe, yes. I am not sure about the hours of it but I saw people getting drinks there around 11am some days, so I assume it is open early.