Our honeymoon on the Crown Princess Mediterranean Adventure 29th July - 12th August

[Mediterranean honeymooner]

We have just come back from our honeymoon and thought I would share my thoughts on the cruise and the ship.

 

Firstly I did encounter negatives but they were very small things that we decided weren't worth spoiling our day,evening or cruise mumping about and just enjoy something that was a once in a lifetime and cost three months salary! :confused:

 

Embarcation

I have to say this was a bit of a shambles, due to their being a problem with the previous cruise getting off due to a faulty ramp this slowed things considerably. We arrived at the port at 11.30 am despite the agreed time for Caribe passengers embarcation time being 1.30 pm. I know we were quite early but eager to start our holiday, in retrospect it was better to turn up early and get to our cabin around the original time rather than turning up at the agreed time and still be waiting to get to our rooms after muster.

 

Our room, Caribe 222

We got to our room at around 1.30 and was greeted by our steward Manny (Manuel) who is an absolute blessing and by the end of the cruise we wanted him to come home with us so that he could sort the rest of our lives out the way he did our room :D

 

The decor was a little tired and my bedside drawer was stuck and we had to take the top one out to get to the contents of the second drawer however this was a minor inconvenience. The bed and bedding was as good if not better than some hotels we have stayed in. The balcony was a dream come true it really opened up our room to a wonderful living space and we had a fabulous time on it.

 

Anytime dining in MDR

We tried out all three of the main dining rooms Botticelli, Da Vinci and Michelangelo. All three were good, the food was outstanding and stretched our tastebuds trying things we wouldn't normally try but enjoyed every bite.( My only criticism is the Curtis Stone fish stew was too heavily favoured with fennel in my humble opinion). The food was always hot and served with a smile and genuine pride by the waiters. We loved the food that much that we couldn't find one menu that we disliked enough to try one of the speciality restaurants

and we went on the cruise with an expectation of doing that!

 

Horizon court.

This as a really good venue for food at most times of the day, the food is fresh well presented and tasty, I believe that anyone who can't find something to eat here is being too picky. It is buffet style and there is the problem of other passengers trying to use the same spoons for different dishes etc but the staff try to run things as smoothly as possible. As a coffee drinker I found the coffee in horizon court difficult to adjust to but luckily I had my trusty coffee card so could get myself a good one from the international cafe.

 

International Cafe

We loved the coffee from here and the staff were very friendly and eager to share a joke. It was here that I mostly encountered very rude and ignorant passengers. The staff very quickly tried to rectify any problems and diffused the issue with humour. I was well impressed with their attitude.....if it had been me there would have been a few passengers with coffee shampoo!;p

The food is a smaller selection of buffet food plus sandwiches, paninis etc and lovely looking deserts to go with your coffee. I wasn't very lucky with the paninis here as I ordered one twice and both times the middle of the sandwich was still chilled so didn't bother with those again.

 

Pizza, burgers etc

There are a few venues on board around the pool areas where you can grab some pizza, burgers, hot dogs and fries as well as ice cream. We got a late night snack from here after watching a MUTS . It's as good as any you would get from the high street chains.

 

Bars and drinks

Ok you don't have to stumble far to find a bar on board and other venues such as the Crown grill etc double up as bars on certain days (sea days I believe) the quality of the decor, staff and drinks are fabulous! I loved Crooners during happy hour even the staff greeted you with "happy hour" cheers. They also furnished you with little bowls of bar snacks. My main criticism for the whole cruise was the drinks pricing. It was overtly expensive so we tended to wait for happy hour or special events when drinks were provided. We are not cheap but with the wine we brought with is this was ample.

 

Entertainment

I will be honest and say we didn't get to see much of the entertainment as most port days were exhausting so we mainly ate and then relaxed on our balcony in the evening but we did catch the Freddie Mercury tribute act. It was billed as a tribute with a comic twist so wee weren't sure what to expect and when he first came on stage I was even more unsure if this was going to be my sort of thing. It was brilliant he was funny and had a great voice, he was very energetic and most importantly his passion for Freddie Mercury and his music was very obvious. It was a great night out!

There was a Welsh comic and magician called Taffy who was good, some of his jokes were quite adult but funny all the same, his magic tricks were very Tommy Cooper like in that they were simple and tended to be a vehicle into the next joke but very enjoyable.

 

We were lucky enough to catch Magic To Do as well, this was good and as we were sailing round the bay of Biscayne at the time and one chap was singing from the top of a ladder being pushed round the stage by two other cast members took some cahones! My husband is an amateur magician and was hoping for some spectacular tricks or illusions in the show but was disappointed with the tricks within the show but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Excursions

We visited every port or went on an excursion at every port day except Genoa, by this time we had done four port days in Barcelona, Civitiveccia and Rome, Livorno for Florence and Adjeccio in Corsica, all in 40 degree heat and we were exhausted. We loved all the ports of call and want to go back to all of the except perhaps Rome. We were dropped off at the Vatican city which is where there were lots of beggars, looky looky men trying to sell all kinds of things but it was totally overkill there seemed to be more of them than tourists and it was exhausting keeping your eyes on them to see who was coming towards you and making sure you had all your belongings every time you bumped into someone. Didn't enjoy that one much at all.

 

Ultimate balcony dinner.

We were recommended to do this and saw a YouTube of someone getting this from a different ship but we felt as it was our honeymoon we would try it. On arrival on embarcation day was a menu for us and the number to call to give our main course and cocktail choices as well as booking the time. We did this and booked it for the fourth day of the cruise as it would be the night before we docked in Barcelona so hopefully out of the high winds and seas from the bay of Biscayne. It was wonder full, our waiter was very good he was very attentive, witty and also gave us space to enjoy the moments we will treasure for a lifetime. The food was amazing, the cocktails and half bottle of French champagne were lovely. All I would say is that next time we will only have two courses as there were cocktails with hors d'oeuvres, then a starter of a crab cake, followed by pear and walnut salad with goat's cheese. After that was the main course which you could choose between a steak, lobster or if you couldn't choose between them you could have surf and turf!!! After that was a trio of chocolate mouses served in a tempered chocolate lattice construction that was like a piece of contemporary art! So you are thinking well that surely must be the end of that.....no! There was coffee and Pettit fours after that!!!!! Thankfully you have a photograph taken at the beginning of the meal or I would have looked like Augustus Gloop! I slept very well that night!

 

Disembarcation

The end of our cruise came too quickly as they do but the highly organised machine unfortunately came to a grinding halt at disembarcation due to technical difficulties again so we were facing a six hour drive from Southampton to our home town in Yorkshire but couldn't get off the ship until 11am despite being asked to vacate our rooms before 8am! Not the best but these things happen and I won't let it colour my view of the whole thing.

 

Conclusion

I loved our honeymoon, I loved the Crown and finances permitted I would book her in a heartbeat. I would avoid school holidays if possible as there were few opportunities to get near or into the pools due to children and there were a few incidents where pools had to be shut down, emptied, cleaned and refilled.....twice! It was so funny listening to the captain announce that the pools had to be shut down due to a vomit and fecal incident!!!!!:eek:

 

My conclusion is that if you go on holiday determined to enjoy it and look for solutions instead of faults it will be everything you want it to be.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I am thrilled that you had such a lovely time. I remember you asked a lot of questions on these boards before your cruise, doing your research pays off. Nothing on any vacation is perfect, there is often a worn carpet or piece of furniture, a meal or two that isn't to your liking, etc. You just let it roll off like you did! And it is sometimes unfathomable how rude and inconsiderate other people can be.

 

Congratulations on your marriage and wishing you many happy years together and more cruises in your future!

 

 

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Edited August 14, 2017 by sunsetbeachgal

[Island wannabe]

Congrats on your wedding and honeymoon. We honeymooned on the Emerald in the Med two years ago and experienced the same weather as you, and agree it just is exhausting. I am sad though about your experience and residual thoughts on Rome. Having been twice, both times pre-cruise, I can assure you that it is an amazing city that sends all your senses on over-drive. It is now our favourite city to visit. I hope you have an opportunity to allow it to redeem itself in your eyes. Congrats again.

[dickinson]

I'm glad you had a wonderful time on your honeymoon. We too were on the Crown although for us it was last Oct/Nov. This was when I had my first ever Panini. Internaltional Cafe. Tuna. My expectations were that the inside (tuna) would be warm. No. It was cold. Had it at least twice on the cruise. My guess is that they are only trying to heat up the bread.

 

In Rome did you only go to the Vatican? If so I would give Rome a second chance to see all the rest there is to see. We spent two days in Rome after our latest cruise and saw all the highlights. Loved it. I hear it is quite warm in summer. We were there mid May. Perfect weather. Lots of tourists but my guess is mid summer there would be even more tourists.

[Clairelly]

We were also on this cruise, our first on Princess after cruising with Celebrity and we loved it :)

[Britcruzer15]

Also on this one and had a great time, glad you enjoyed it and at least you got to Rome unlike those on the train excursion that broke down :o

 

The the Wait staff sing Happy Honeymoon to you ?

[RLK33853]

Thanks for a great review.

[Clairelly]

We were chatting to a couple who'd been on that Rome 'excursion' :o

[easyboy]

Sounds like you really enjoyed your honeymoon cruise! Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

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[lovevacadays]

What a wonderful review. Thank you. Congrats on your marriage.

[caribill]

Thanks for your comprehensive review.

 

And congrats on a great start to your marriage.

[RNRcruisers]

Sounds like a wonderful honeymoon! We went on a Med cruise for our 30th and loved it. I have to add to the comments above, Rome was our favorite city. We had a few days there before our cruise and can't wait to go back.

[Malleykatt]

Hello. Glad you both enjoyed the cruise. We met on a shared table early in the holiday . I did say I wasn't sure about sailing out of Southampton to the med again but it did break the holiday up a bit after the long hot port days. Rome was amazingly hot we didn't make it to the Spanish steps from the Vatican so an excuse to go back.

Have fun on your cruise next year as well..... a great pressie to get.

Malleykatt