10 day mexico riviera/crown princess

[Arwen]

We enjoyed our 10 day Mexico Riviera cruise on the Crown Princess!

 

Highlights and Lowlights of our cruise:

 

 

Low: 1. Cabin R506, Riviera Deck. This was our 20th cruise and we do know how to pick staterooms. Hubby insisted on this stateroom (well, it was one of the few verandas still available). But I knew looking at the ship's deck map/plan that we were directly under the pool area.

 

2. That brings me to the Endless Dragging of Chairs. We only heard loud music one night, but the chairs being dragged across the deck became a nuisance. Did not bother hubby. This sound was intermittent and went on at all hours...even waking up at 1:00 a.m. to the sound. Like I said, OUR fault.

Solution: don't drag the chairs (not likely to happen). Limit the chair drag to the hours of 7:00-10:00 a.m. Let the crew/staff figure out how to accomplish that.

 

3. Princess Theater is too small. There were problems for the first 4 nights as the early fixed diners, like us, scheduled for 5:30 seating, had to rush our dinner or even skip dessert to get a seat in the theater.

 

The theater was filled for the 8:00 p.m. show by 7:30 p.m. In fact one night, it was pretty full even before 7:30. Staff stood in front of the entrance to turn people away.

 

This was a real problem on the nights that there were the full Broadway style musicals. The theater is just too small.

 

The Crown is configured in a way where there really are no nooks and crannies to hide out in. At least I did not find any. The feeling of being crowded all the time was there most of the time. This was felt the most in the Horizon Court at practically all hours. I would wait to go to lunch until 1:30 hoping for relief but still crowded....searching in vain for a table (eventually finding one). Not enough eating venues for lunch to accommodate 3,000+ pax.

 

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

 

LOTUS GYM: located on Deck 16 Forward: Loved it! The gym is large and the aerobic floor spacious, with lots of circuit machines and tiny weight training area

Since I am a dancer (and practice) and like to do stretching, it was wonderful to find the aerobics area open all morning and usually up until 1:00 p.m. most days.

 

Most ships schedule classes in the a.m., and they use the aerobics area for promoting services and products (annoying).

 

The promotion stuff and product pushing was done in the Spa's Hearts and Minds area, not the aerobics floor. Thank you Princess!

 

 

FOOD: Amazing! Yes, Amazing!!!!!!! Last time I had such good food was on a Holland America 33 day Hawaii/South Pacific Cruise six years ago.

 

My diet is gluten-free and the meals served in the Botticelli Dining Room were superb, better food than many of the restaurants here in Seattle!

 

The Executive Chef (Italian) must have had a generous budget for food purchases.

 

I dined on: Lobster, shrimp, prawns, catfish, smoked salmon, filet mignon medallions, grilled eggplant, excellent salads, and great desserts like creme brulee, gf chocolate cake, and for my birthday, the surprise of being presented with a gf slice of cake (white cake layered with whipping cream and berries, topped with dark chocolate shavings).

 

an A+++ for the MDR dinners and the attention to detail for my special diet.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: Loved it! The Stage shows were terrific!

 

We enjoyed the comedy team of Alfred and Seymour. Two African American guys who were far from being politically correct. The shorter guy was a fabulous dancer...break dancing, doing the robot....I could have watched his dancing for an hour even without the comedy.

 

Another night, Carlos Oscar. We could not go as hubby had noro. We have seen Carlos twice before and love his humor.

 

EMBARKING AND DISEMBARKING: Best. We showed up at our appointed time and encountered hardly any wait at all. We were on the ship in short order. Disembarking went smoothly.

 

We took the Princess bus transfer from the terminal to LAX. The coach was so comfortable ...and, it had a restroom, too!

 

We took some ship's shore excursions and was pleased that lots of attention was paid to allowing for potty breaks, and on a couple of our excursions, our bus/coach had a restroom.

 

While I saw a few parents with children, it appeared that most of the pax were elderly.

 

Hubby was one of the 1%+ who contracted Noro. Thankfully, it happened right after our stop in Puerto Vallarta..and so he had that evening and two sea days to recover.

 

El Serpentario de La Paz, was my favorite shore excursion as I am an animal lover (even snakes!)

Edited January 29, 2016 by Arwen

[KikisDad]

We were with you on this cruise. Sorry your DH got the Noro. The Adagio bar next to Sabatini's is quite during the day if you want to get away from everyone. We had two great dinners at Sabatini's and decent meals in the MDR although service was poor there. Overall a good cruise for us.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

 

Sorry you had to deal with noise in your cabin from above.......

There have been a few complaints here on CC about cabins in the 500 area and chair dragging/noise at the break of dawn.

This goes for the suites too!!

Unacceptable! :(

[Arwen]

We enjoyed our 10 day Mexico Riviera cruise on the Crown Princess!

 

Highlights and Lowlights of our cruise:

 

 

Low: 1. Cabin R506, Riviera Deck. This was our 20th cruise and we do know how to pick staterooms. Hubby insisted on this stateroom (well, it was one of the few verandas still available). But I knew looking at the ship's deck map/plan that we were directly under the pool area.

 

2. That brings me to the Endless Dragging of Chairs. We only heard loud music one night, but the chairs being dragged across the deck became a nuisance. Did not bother hubby. This sound was intermittent and went on at all hours...even waking up at 1:00 a.m. to the sound. Like I said, OUR fault.

Solution: don't drag the chairs (not likely to happen). Limit the chair drag to the hours of 7:00-10:00 a.m. Let the crew/staff figure out how to accomplish that.

 

3. Princess Theater is too small. There were problems for the first 4 nights as the early fixed diners, like us, scheduled for 5:30 seating, had to rush our dinner or even skip dessert to get a seat in the theater.

 

The theater was filled for the 8:00 p.m. show by 7:30 p.m. In fact one night, it was pretty full even before 7:30. Staff stood in front of the entrance to turn people away.

 

This was a real problem on the nights that there were the full Broadway style musicals. The theater is just too small.

 

The Crown is configured in a way where there really are no nooks and crannies to hide out in. At least I did not find any. The feeling of being crowded all the time was there most of the time. This was felt the most in the Horizon Court at practically all hours. I would wait to go to lunch until 1:30 hoping for relief but still crowded....searching in vain for a table (eventually finding one). Not enough eating venues for lunch to accommodate 3,000+ pax.

 

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

 

LOTUS GYM: located on Deck 16 Forward: Loved it! The gym is large and the aerobic floor spacious, with lots of circuit machines and tiny weight training area

Since I am a dancer (and practice) and like to do stretching, it was wonderful to find the aerobics area open all morning and usually up until 1:00 p.m. most days.

 

Most ships schedule classes in the a.m., and they use the aerobics area for promoting services and products (annoying).

 

The promotion stuff and product pushing was done in the Spa's Hearts and Minds area, not the aerobics floor. Thank you Princess!

 

 

FOOD: Amazing! Yes, Amazing!!!!!!! Last time I had such good food was on a Holland America 33 day Hawaii/South Pacific Cruise six years ago.

 

My diet is gluten-free and the meals served in the Botticelli Dining Room were superb, better food than many of the restaurants here in Seattle!

 

The Executive Chef (Italian) must have had a generous budget for food purchases.

 

I dined on: Lobster, shrimp, prawns, catfish, smoked salmon, filet mignon medallions, grilled eggplant, excellent salads, and great desserts like creme brulee, gf chocolate cake, and for my birthday, the surprise of being presented with a gf slice of cake (white cake layered with whipping cream and berries, topped with dark chocolate shavings).

 

an A+++ for the MDR dinners and the attention to detail for my special diet.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: Loved it! The Stage shows were terrific!

 

We enjoyed the comedy team of Alfred and Seymour. Two African American guys who were far from being politically correct. The shorter guy was a fabulous dancer...break dancing, doing the robot....I could have watched his dancing for an hour even without the comedy.

 

Another night, Carlos Oscar. We could not go as hubby had noro. We have seen Carlos twice before and love his humor.

 

EMBARKING AND DISEMBARKING: Best. We showed up at our appointed time and encountered hardly any wait at all. We were on the ship in short order. Disembarking went smoothly.

 

We took the Princess bus transfer from the terminal to LAX. The coach was so comfortable ...and, it had a restroom, too!

 

We took some ship's shore excursions and was pleased that lots of attention was paid to allowing for potty breaks, and on a couple of our excursions, our bus/coach had a restroom.

 

While I saw a few parents with children, it appeared that most of the pax were elderly.

 

Hubby was one of the 1%+ who contracted Noro. Thankfully, it happened right after our stop in Puerto Vallarta..and so he had that evening and two sea days to recover.

 

El Serpentario de La Paz, was my favorite shore excursion as I am an animal lover (even snakes!)

 

CORRECTION: Limit chair dragging from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 PM (not a.m.) :p