Live (or Live-ish) from the Crown Princess Holiday Hawaii sailing

[abbydancer2003]

Crown Day 0

 

I debated for a while doing a live from on this 15 day RT LA Hawaii cruise, but decided earlier today to go for it.  It’s a holiday cruise so might be interesting, and also it gives me a chance to hone my skills at keeping good notes for posting.  I mostly do Celebrity, but I’ve done a few Princess, so here we go …

 

Our adventure started today, when at 1pm, after locking up the house, turning off the heater and running the dishwasher, we drove over to my mom’s house (4 miles away) to leave the. car.  We live in a condo, and Glen (DH) parks outside, so he feels mom’s is a bit safer.  We met our driver there (a friendly guy who does airport driving) around 1:30 and headed up to the airport.  We got there around 2:15 for our 4:10 flight, and quickly got our bags checked and got through security.  We were at the United Club by about 2:30.  We had about an hour, so had some snacks and drinks.

 

At about 3:30 we got the text that it was boarding time, so we headed over to the gate.  By the time we got there they were boarding group 3, and we’re group 1, so getting one was quick.

 

The flight was uneventful and mercifully short, since there was a small child kicking my seat through much of the flight.  I was a little annoyed anyway, since I was in 9F, and as of 2 days ago I was in 8F and Glen was in 8D.  United sent a text yesterday that there was an equipment change and I was in 9F and Glen in 11C.  Not sure how that happened.  

 

We got our luggage and then headed to the hotel waiting area.  To our delight, the Renaissance shuttle was there.  So from deplaning to in our room it was about 45 minutes.

 

We watched the news for a while, and then decided to go over to Marriott nearby for dinner.  They have a steakhouse, a casual eatery and Hanger 21 (whatever) which is a sports bar and mid range restaurant.  We both had a side salad and a French dip with pork belly.  Glen opted for French fries and I had potato chips.  I liked the chips, but the sandwich was only so so.  We took the leftover chips back to our room.

 

We picked out a movie and are now watching the Dark Crystal.  Probably bed afterwards and then onward with our cruise.

 

 

[it's5o'clocksomewhere]

Considering what we are already hearing about holiday travel, I would say your day went well! Traveling along with you, literally, not figuratively. Hope your day tomorrow is just as smooth. See you onboard! Aloha!

[abbydancer2003]

10 minutes ago, it's5o'clocksomewhere said:

Considering what we are already hearing about holiday travel, I would say your day went well! Traveling along with you, literally, not figuratively. Hope your day tomorrow is just as smooth. See you onboard! Aloha!

Thanks.  On the whole it was easy - considering the time, as you say, remarkably so.  The airport was very crowded though.  Premiere check in and TSA precheck helped a lot.  All those years of business travel back in the day pays off sometimes.

[arctickitty]

Thanks for bringing us along!  Looking forward to hearing more!

[abbydancer2003]

Hi all.  The internet is in and out, so if you don't hear from me that's why.

 

It seems that it's worst on my email, and I'm trying to do some pictures, but that might be difficult.

 

Here goes boarding day:

 

CrownDecember Day 1

 

We decided to get up at 8:30, in time to grab some breakfast before our 10 am ride to the ship.  At 8:30, we switched it to 9, since I’d been up most of the night (I have no idea why).  As a result, we didn’t have a lot of time for breakfast.  We went to the lounge and had coffee, and pastries, and then finished packing up.  Our driver arrived right on time, but Glen had a phone call he had to take, so it was about 10:10 by the time we left. 

 

We arrived at the pier around 10:40 and dropped our bags with a porter.  We then got quickly checked in, and headed to the elite lounge to wait.  We’re traveling with our friends Carol & Eric and I didn’t see them.  I knew they were supposed to be there before us, since they’d taken a 10 am shuttle from a local hotel.  After a few texts back and forth, we found each other, and waited until about 11:10 to board.

 

We found our rooms, dropped our stuff and headed to the theater to sign off on our muster station.  We hadn’t been in the room rea. Iy so we decided to watch the drill on our phones.  Glen was able to do it successfully, but non of us were.able to get it to load, except Glen.  While he watched his, the rest of us headed to the medallion help desk.  The very nice young lady there had us log out and log back in, and that helped. So we watched the safety videos, and we set to sail.

 

About 1:15 we decided to get lunch.  The Crown doesn’t open their dining room for lunch on embarkation day, so it was the buffet.  We got there and it was very crowded.  We found a seat in the Caribe Cafe (back) section, and then went to get food.  The food area was a zoo, so I asked a crew member if the other side was open.  She said it was, but just as crowded.  Oh well.  I got an assortment of things, and joined the rest for lunch.

 

Following lunch, we went to the International Cafe for coffee.  There was no seating in the IC area, so we sat over in Vines, and enjoyed our coffees.

 

It was around 3pm by this time, so Carol & Eric decided to go unpack (they don’t check luggage). We went to our room and hopefully we too could unpack.

 

Alas, it was not to be.  No bags.  I made the mistake of looking at my Find My for my air tag, and it showed my bag on the street across from the terminal.  Yikes!   I decided to go to guest services and ask, since usually we have luggage by this time.  Guest Services was a zoo.  There was no sign of any sort of line, and there were people all over the place.  What happened to the line markers that they used to have?  When someone came to help me, I asked, and he said, yeah the could improve.

 

They did reassure me that all luggage would be boarded, and if there was a problem with boarding it, I would be notified.  

 

 

So back to the room until it was time to go to the first Cruise Critic meetup.  We were all concerned about the number of people that would be at the Outrigger bar, but when I got there, there were only a few people besides us.  It was nice meeting the CC people.  After a while, Glen, Carol and Eric showed up.  I looked at my Find my again, and the bag was now showing as in the terminal.  Glen and Carol went back down to get something, and when he came back, I said it was back on the street and he said no, it was in the room.  

 

His bag, however was still not there.  We stayed and chatted for a while, and Glen said now it showed his bag near his camera, in the room.  Eventually he went down, and I followed.  Bag still not there, so at around 6, Glen went the Guest Services.  They told him they were having problems and it was taking a long time, and he should wait.  

 

I wa a little hungry, so I headed to the elite lounge, which on this cruise is in Club Fusion (guess there are a lot more Elite and Platinum than in September).  I grabbed some food, and sat at a table.  No server even came by. There was a gentleman making the rounds, but he ignored me too.  Eventually Glen joined me and soon after Vanessa, the Loyalty manager came by.  She remembered us from September, so we had a nice chat with here until the lounge closed.  

 

We’d agreed to meet Carol & Eric at 7:for our 7:20 reservation (I did a standing reservation at 7:20). I went to the dining room, since it was one floor down, so headed over.  There was a line almost to tope of the stairs.  I was told it was the reservation line, so I got in it.  Glen came back a couple of minutes later, and joined me.  It moved quickly, and we were scanned it just about at 7 pm.  By 7:05 we were seated at a table for 4.

 

Our serving team was friendly and efficient.  I wanted to start with a greek salad, but they said I couldn’t get it without onion, so I started with the Princess Favorite  Romaine and Kale Caeser salad, with just romaine (that they could do).  It was good.  For my entree, I had the Luaua pork with beans.  It was quite good, and I finished with banana’s foster, also from the Princess Favorites.  

 

Our dinner was timed so that we could make 8:30 “Trivia for 100”.  It was a new take on trivia,  The score sheet looked like a single Jeopardy board,   The staff did point out that it looked like a board from a game show they couldn’t name.  Categories were sports, this date in history, celebrities, landmarks and science.  It was an interesting way to do it, because after each question a runner had to go to the stage to get their answers checked.  We finished about middle of the pack.

 

From there we went straight to the show, which was a comedian.  Patrick Maliha.  He was decently funny.  The cruise director is Olivia, and she introduced him.

 

From there it back to Explorers for a music game show.  They’d play part of a song and then stop it and we’d have 3 choices for next lyrics.  We didn’t do well at all.

 

We decided to call it a night, but apparently Eric usually has a late night snack.  I had a little acid reflux, so I decided a bit of food would help so Glen and Carol went up to the rooms, and we headed to the Buffet.  It was closed, but the IC is 24 hours.  So we went down there, I grabbed some water and a piece of cake, and Eric grabbed a sandwich.

 

After that, it was back to the room.  The TV had the first two seasons of “The Good Fight”, a sequel to the “The Good Wife”, starring the incomparable Christine Baranski (fun fact - she was married, until his death - to Matthew Cowles, who played baddie Billy Clyde Tuggle on All My Children for years).  So we decided to watch the premiere, and see if we liked it because it could take us through most of the cruise I think.  It was quite engaging, so we watched the second episode.

 

After that, getting on 1 am, I decided to take a shower, and realized we still didn’t have robes (I use them, Glen doesn’t). Just for grins, I went to the app and ordered a robe and some masks for Glen.  No sign of any one, and order said delivered.  So I tried again, same thing.  I tried a third time, but gave up, and went to take my shower.  Apparently, while I was in the shower, the order arrived, so Glen dropped the robe in the bathroom.  

 

After that, sleep.  I’d been up most of the night before, so it was very welcome.

 

 

[Coral]

Enjoying the live report. The first few seasons of the Good Fight is good. The last 2 seasons are bizarre.

 

Hoping luggage appears!

[Coolmama_1]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

Enjoying the live report. The first few seasons of the Good Fight is good. The last 2 seasons are bizarre.

 

Hoping luggage appears!

Totally agree. We gave up half way through the last season 

[Coral]

12 minutes ago, Coolmama_1 said:

Totally agree. We gave up half way through the last season 

Wise move. It only went down hill from there!

[arctickitty]

Bananas foster sounds yummy!  Thanks for all the details.  We’ll be here whenever posting happens for you.

[CruzeQueen2]

11 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Hi all.  The internet is in and out, so if you don't hear from me that's why.

 

It seems that it's worst on my email, and I'm trying to do some pictures, but that might be difficult.

 

Here goes boarding day:

 

CrownDecember Day 1

 

We decided to get up at 8:30, in time to grab some breakfast before our 10 am ride to the ship.  At 8:30, we switched it to 9, since I’d been up most of the night (I have no idea why).  As a result, we didn’t have a lot of time for breakfast.  We went to the lounge and had coffee, and pastries, and then finished packing up.  Our driver arrived right on time, but Glen had a phone call he had to take, so it was about 10:10 by the time we left. 

 

We arrived at the pier around 10:40 and dropped our bags with a porter.  We then got quickly checked in, and headed to the elite lounge to wait.  We’re traveling with our friends Carol & Eric and I didn’t see them.  I knew they were supposed to be there before us, since they’d taken a 10 am shuttle from a local hotel.  After a few texts back and forth, we found each other, and waited until about 11:10 to board.

 

We found our rooms, dropped our stuff and headed to the theater to sign off on our muster station.  We hadn’t been in the room rea. Iy so we decided to watch the drill on our phones.  Glen was able to do it successfully, but non of us were.able to get it to load, except Glen.  While he watched his, the rest of us headed to the medallion help desk.  The very nice young lady there had us log out and log back in, and that helped. So we watched the safety videos, and we set to sail.

 

About 1:15 we decided to get lunch.  The Crown doesn’t open their dining room for lunch on embarkation day, so it was the buffet.  We got there and it was very crowded.  We found a seat in the Caribe Cafe (back) section, and then went to get food.  The food area was a zoo, so I asked a crew member if the other side was open.  She said it was, but just as crowded.  Oh well.  I got an assortment of things, and joined the rest for lunch.

 

Following lunch, we went to the International Cafe for coffee.  There was no seating in the IC area, so we sat over in Vines, and enjoyed our coffees.

 

It was around 3pm by this time, so Carol & Eric decided to go unpack (they don’t check luggage). We went to our room and hopefully we too could unpack.

 

Alas, it was not to be.  No bags.  I made the mistake of looking at my Find My for my air tag, and it showed my bag on the street across from the terminal.  Yikes!   I decided to go to guest services and ask, since usually we have luggage by this time.  Guest Services was a zoo.  There was no sign of any sort of line, and there were people all over the place.  What happened to the line markers that they used to have?  When someone came to help me, I asked, and he said, yeah the could improve.

 

They did reassure me that all luggage would be boarded, and if there was a problem with boarding it, I would be notified.  

 

 

So back to the room until it was time to go to the first Cruise Critic meetup.  We were all concerned about the number of people that would be at the Outrigger bar, but when I got there, there were only a few people besides us.  It was nice meeting the CC people.  After a while, Glen, Carol and Eric showed up.  I looked at my Find my again, and the bag was now showing as in the terminal.  Glen and Carol went back down to get something, and when he came back, I said it was back on the street and he said no, it was in the room.  

 

His bag, however was still not there.  We stayed and chatted for a while, and Glen said now it showed his bag near his camera, in the room.  Eventually he went down, and I followed.  Bag still not there, so at around 6, Glen went the Guest Services.  They told him they were having problems and it was taking a long time, and he should wait.  

 

I wa a little hungry, so I headed to the elite lounge, which on this cruise is in Club Fusion (guess there are a lot more Elite and Platinum than in September).  I grabbed some food, and sat at a table.  No server even came by. There was a gentleman making the rounds, but he ignored me too.  Eventually Glen joined me and soon after Vanessa, the Loyalty manager came by.  She remembered us from September, so we had a nice chat with here until the lounge closed.  

 

We’d agreed to meet Carol & Eric at 7:for our 7:20 reservation (I did a standing reservation at 7:20). I went to the dining room, since it was one floor down, so headed over.  There was a line almost to tope of the stairs.  I was told it was the reservation line, so I got in it.  Glen came back a couple of minutes later, and joined me.  It moved quickly, and we were scanned it just about at 7 pm.  By 7:05 we were seated at a table for 4.

 

Our serving team was friendly and efficient.  I wanted to start with a greek salad, but they said I couldn’t get it without onion, so I started with the Princess Favorite  Romaine and Kale Caeser salad, with just romaine (that they could do).  It was good.  For my entree, I had the Luaua pork with beans.  It was quite good, and I finished with banana’s foster, also from the Princess Favorites.  

 

Our dinner was timed so that we could make 8:30 “Trivia for 100”.  It was a new take on trivia,  The score sheet looked like a single Jeopardy board,   The staff did point out that it looked like a board from a game show they couldn’t name.  Categories were sports, this date in history, celebrities, landmarks and science.  It was an interesting way to do it, because after each question a runner had to go to the stage to get their answers checked.  We finished about middle of the pack.

 

From there we went straight to the show, which was a comedian.  Patrick Maliha.  He was decently funny.  The cruise director is Olivia, and she introduced him.

 

From there it back to Explorers for a music game show.  They’d play part of a song and then stop it and we’d have 3 choices for next lyrics.  We didn’t do well at all.

 

We decided to call it a night, but apparently Eric usually has a late night snack.  I had a little acid reflux, so I decided a bit of food would help so Glen and Carol went up to the rooms, and we headed to the Buffet.  It was closed, but the IC is 24 hours.  So we went down there, I grabbed some water and a piece of cake, and Eric grabbed a sandwich.

 

After that, it was back to the room.  The TV had the first two seasons of “The Good Fight”, a sequel to the “The Good Wife”, starring the incomparable Christine Baranski (fun fact - she was married, until his death - to Matthew Cowles, who played baddie Billy Clyde Tuggle on All My Children for years).  So we decided to watch the premiere, and see if we liked it because it could take us through most of the cruise I think.  It was quite engaging, so we watched the second episode.

 

After that, getting on 1 am, I decided to take a shower, and realized we still didn’t have robes (I use them, Glen doesn’t). Just for grins, I went to the app and ordered a robe and some masks for Glen.  No sign of any one, and order said delivered.  So I tried again, same thing.  I tried a third time, but gave up, and went to take my shower.  Apparently, while I was in the shower, the order arrived, so Glen dropped the robe in the bathroom.  

 

After that, sleep.  I’d been up most of the night before, so it was very welcome.

 

 

Thank you @abbydancer for the fun fact about Christine B and Billy Clyde T! Love the trivia. Enjoy your trip. Thanks for taking us along.

Edited December 24, 2022 by CruzeQueen2
added info

[abbydancer2003]

CrownDecember Day 2

 

The clocks went back last night (first of two, but we have to give them back after Hawaii.

 

So after a good night sleep, I woke up around 9:20, but wait, the clocks went back so it was 8:20.  We decided not to bother to try to get to breakfast, so Glen took a shower and I did this mornings Wordle.    Eventually we decided to go to the IC for coffee and a pastry.  To our surprise, we found a table immediately, and a server came over soon after.  We ordered some coffee, and pastries.  

 

The very nice server came back with the coffee, but said the pastries have to be self services (ie we have to get them).  Glen wanted a bran muffin and I thought I wanted a cherry danish, that is until I saw they had cinnamon rolls and monkey bread behind the counter, not on display.  So I got his muffin and I switched to monkey bread.  We enjoyed our coffee and pastry, but Glen thought the coffee should have not be in to-go cups.  Turns out that was OK, because when he was finished we decided to go to Skywalkers, and read, and I wasn’t done with my coffee.  So I took it.

 

I stopped at the room to pick up my laptop and my kindle and met Glen there.  We stayed until the Cruise critic meetup started. Glen took my stuff back and then came back up for part of the meetup.

 

That was very nice, and well run.  A few of the officers showed up, and said a few words, although the beverage manager, did recite all the packages that were available.  Other than that, it was nice, and I hung around until noon and met Glen back in the room.

 

We hung out there for a bit and then decided to go to lunch in the dining room.  There was a fairly long line, but we decided to wait, because we were afraid that the buffet would be a zoo.  We waited about a half hour, but during the wait we got into a nice conversation with the people behind us, so when we got to the front we agreed to share a table.  We joined 3 other people at a large table, but it was very nice.  Turns out of the 3, one was solo and the other two were a mother and daughter who are both active on Cruse Critic.  

 

I had the tomato and mozzarella appetizer (without the anchovies that it comes with), followed by the cheesesteak.  Glen ordered the chicken korma,  which features a visit from the assistant waiter with a tray of condiments.  With them, it’s quite good,  Today, they delivered the korma, but the condiment tray didn’t follow.  We asked the waiter, and he said they were looking for it (huh?).  He then brings a plate with raisins, almonds and onions.  Apparently the raisins and almonds are left from oatmeal. The headwaiter shows up with some jalapeño, but that’s it.  Very odd, since we know they had it in September.  

 

Other than the korma, the lunch was nice and the conversation good.

 

After lunch we headed back upstairs.  We noticed a banging noise pretty constantly since morning, so I headed out to investigate.  I went down to the promenade deck, and walked forward to where it went to the emerald deck.  From there, I could see a couple of people working on a lifeboat. I tried to get their attention, to see when they’d be done, but I couldn’t.  So I went to guest services, which seemed a little less chaotic than yesterday.  I asked how long it would go on, and the guy had no clue, but did say to call if it continued.

 

On my way back to the room, I ran in to Carol on her way to the gym.  She said they’d gone to the buffet and it wasn’t bad, so we’ll do that from now on I think.  I miss club class lunch.  We worked out tonight’s schedule, 

 

Today is Friday, so I planned to go to Friday night services.  It’s usually at 5, but today it was at 4 for Hanukah.  At 4 I headed to the chapel.  Usually at these things there are between 5-20 people.  Today there were over 50.  It was very nice, and I was back in the room by about 4:40.

 

We watched a bit of news, and then around 5:30 decided to go the elite lounge.  Our plan was to go there for a bit, and then meet Carol and Eric at the Wheelhouse where the duo was supposed to play.

 

We sat down next to one of the cruise critic folk and chatted with them for a bit.  At about 5:50 we took our drinks over to the wheelhouse.  At 6, it didn’t look like anyone was going to start playing anytime soon.  Carol and Eric arrived soon after 6, and we talked about going to the Champagne waterfall, but it didn’t particularly interest any of us.  I mentioned that the lounge was still open so went there.  It was about 6:10, and I thought maybe they closed at 6:30, even though the patter said 7.  

 

We got there around 6:15, and had a second round of snacks.  At about 6:30 I noticed that they were shutting down half the buffet (there are two sides).  The worker explained they pack up one half at 6:30 but the other half at 7.  (They are duplicate).   That was good to know.

 

Our next activity was Motown trivia.  We headed to explorers for it.  The staff member explained that he’d play 20 seconds of a song, and we had to provide the title and artist.  Eric knows this stuff very well, and the biggest issue was  the size of the answer sheet.  I suggested next time we have one of those, we use two score sheets.  Midway through, between questions, I said something about Tears of a Clown.  That was the next one they did.  Total coincidence.  We got all 20 artists, but missed one title due to a similar sounding song.  However it was good enough to win.  We won 4 princess bags (now Glen and I have 3) and a water bottle that Eric wanted.

 

From there we went to dinner.  It was around 8 at this time, and there was a short line.  It only took a few minutes and we were seated at a corner table by a window.  

 

I did get pictures of tonights menu:

 

 

I started with the pineapple slice (very good) and had the shredded port with boo chow and rice.

 

For dessert, I had a banana toffee semi frozen bar.  It was quite good.

 

We wanted to be out in time for the 9:30 show.  It was a singer named Peter Cutler.  He does a bit of humor, singing and a bit of tap as well.  It was pretty good, although Jayne Curry, who was on the X Silhouette with us, does do a better job of that sort of show.  But we did enjoy it.

 

Following that, we headed to the Wheelhouse where the duo, Cel and Tito, were playing.  They do a pretty decent mix of songs that were danceable and a few that weren’t.  We stayed for about 30 minutes and then headed up to the room.

 

I tried to check email, but apparently my web mail needs a better connection than I have.  Oh well.  We watched a bit of our binge show and went to bed.  We decided we would set the alarm for 8 to go to breakfast.  Another nice day in the books.

 

 

 

 

[vivian02]

Thank you so much for the good information. I recently did a 15 day cruise to Hawaii so know I can get information about the Crown. Too bad the Crown does not serve lunch at the MDR on departure days. I guess I am spoiled the departing Lunches are usually wonderful and served in a not so crowded atmosphere. Another thing I took note of was the reservation line that was rather long. I know of another Princess ship that use to do that. It was not pleasant for the customers who thought they had reservations only to find they would have to stand in the longer line. I like boarding the ship on the first day without any issues but when one does a cruise thing sometimes do not completely fall in place. Just so long as it is not a total disaster. Nice to hear your flight out was short lived with no flight changes. Tim

[arctickitty]

Mmm delicious to see an island-themed menu.

[Guest ldtr]

On 12/24/2022 at 1:13 AM, abbydancer said:

Hi all.  The internet is in and out, so if you don't hear from me that's why.

 

It seems that it's worst on my email, and I'm trying to do some pictures, but that might be difficult.

 

Here goes boarding day:

 

CrownDecember Day 1

 

We decided to get up at 8:30, in time to grab some breakfast before our 10 am ride to the ship.  At 8:30, we switched it to 9, since I’d been up most of the night (I have no idea why).  As a result, we didn’t have a lot of time for breakfast.  We went to the lounge and had coffee, and pastries, and then finished packing up.  Our driver arrived right on time, but Glen had a phone call he had to take, so it was about 10:10 by the time we left. 

 

We arrived at the pier around 10:40 and dropped our bags with a porter.  We then got quickly checked in, and headed to the elite lounge to wait.  We’re traveling with our friends Carol & Eric and I didn’t see them.  I knew they were supposed to be there before us, since they’d taken a 10 am shuttle from a local hotel.  After a few texts back and forth, we found each other, and waited until about 11:10 to board.

 

We found our rooms, dropped our stuff and headed to the theater to sign off on our muster station.  We hadn’t been in the room rea. Iy so we decided to watch the drill on our phones.  Glen was able to do it successfully, but non of us were.able to get it to load, except Glen.  While he watched his, the rest of us headed to the medallion help desk.  The very nice young lady there had us log out and log back in, and that helped. So we watched the safety videos, and we set to sail.

 

About 1:15 we decided to get lunch.  The Crown doesn’t open their dining room for lunch on embarkation day, so it was the buffet.  We got there and it was very crowded.  We found a seat in the Caribe Cafe (back) section, and then went to get food.  The food area was a zoo, so I asked a crew member if the other side was open.  She said it was, but just as crowded.  Oh well.  I got an assortment of things, and joined the rest for lunch.

 

Following lunch, we went to the International Cafe for coffee.  There was no seating in the IC area, so we sat over in Vines, and enjoyed our coffees.

 

It was around 3pm by this time, so Carol & Eric decided to go unpack (they don’t check luggage). We went to our room and hopefully we too could unpack.

 

Alas, it was not to be.  No bags.  I made the mistake of looking at my Find My for my air tag, and it showed my bag on the street across from the terminal.  Yikes!   I decided to go to guest services and ask, since usually we have luggage by this time.  Guest Services was a zoo.  There was no sign of any sort of line, and there were people all over the place.  What happened to the line markers that they used to have?  When someone came to help me, I asked, and he said, yeah the could improve.

 

They did reassure me that all luggage would be boarded, and if there was a problem with boarding it, I would be notified.  

 

 

So back to the room until it was time to go to the first Cruise Critic meetup.  We were all concerned about the number of people that would be at the Outrigger bar, but when I got there, there were only a few people besides us.  It was nice meeting the CC people.  After a while, Glen, Carol and Eric showed up.  I looked at my Find my again, and the bag was now showing as in the terminal.  Glen and Carol went back down to get something, and when he came back, I said it was back on the street and he said no, it was in the room.  

 

His bag, however was still not there.  We stayed and chatted for a while, and Glen said now it showed his bag near his camera, in the room.  Eventually he went down, and I followed.  Bag still not there, so at around 6, Glen went the Guest Services.  They told him they were having problems and it was taking a long time, and he should wait.  

 

I wa a little hungry, so I headed to the elite lounge, which on this cruise is in Club Fusion (guess there are a lot more Elite and Platinum than in September).  I grabbed some food, and sat at a table.  No server even came by. There was a gentleman making the rounds, but he ignored me too.  Eventually Glen joined me and soon after Vanessa, the Loyalty manager came by.  She remembered us from September, so we had a nice chat with here until the lounge closed.  

 

We’d agreed to meet Carol & Eric at 7:for our 7:20 reservation (I did a standing reservation at 7:20). I went to the dining room, since it was one floor down, so headed over.  There was a line almost to tope of the stairs.  I was told it was the reservation line, so I got in it.  Glen came back a couple of minutes later, and joined me.  It moved quickly, and we were scanned it just about at 7 pm.  By 7:05 we were seated at a table for 4.

 

Our serving team was friendly and efficient.  I wanted to start with a greek salad, but they said I couldn’t get it without onion, so I started with the Princess Favorite  Romaine and Kale Caeser salad, with just romaine (that they could do).  It was good.  For my entree, I had the Luaua pork with beans.  It was quite good, and I finished with banana’s foster, also from the Princess Favorites.  

 

Our dinner was timed so that we could make 8:30 “Trivia for 100”.  It was a new take on trivia,  The score sheet looked like a single Jeopardy board,   The staff did point out that it looked like a board from a game show they couldn’t name.  Categories were sports, this date in history, celebrities, landmarks and science.  It was an interesting way to do it, because after each question a runner had to go to the stage to get their answers checked.  We finished about middle of the pack.

 

From there we went straight to the show, which was a comedian.  Patrick Maliha.  He was decently funny.  The cruise director is Olivia, and she introduced him.

 

From there it back to Explorers for a music game show.  They’d play part of a song and then stop it and we’d have 3 choices for next lyrics.  We didn’t do well at all.

 

We decided to call it a night, but apparently Eric usually has a late night snack.  I had a little acid reflux, so I decided a bit of food would help so Glen and Carol went up to the rooms, and we headed to the Buffet.  It was closed, but the IC is 24 hours.  So we went down there, I grabbed some water and a piece of cake, and Eric grabbed a sandwich.

 

After that, it was back to the room.  The TV had the first two seasons of “The Good Fight”, a sequel to the “The Good Wife”, starring the incomparable Christine Baranski (fun fact - she was married, until his death - to Matthew Cowles, who played baddie Billy Clyde Tuggle on All My Children for years).  So we decided to watch the premiere, and see if we liked it because it could take us through most of the cruise I think.  It was quite engaging, so we watched the second episode.

 

After that, getting on 1 am, I decided to take a shower, and realized we still didn’t have robes (I use them, Glen doesn’t). Just for grins, I went to the app and ordered a robe and some masks for Glen.  No sign of any one, and order said delivered.  So I tried again, same thing.  I tried a third time, but gave up, and went to take my shower.  Apparently, while I was in the shower, the order arrived, so Glen dropped the robe in the bathroom.  

 

After that, sleep.  I’d been up most of the night before, so it was very welcome.

 

 

There were issues with luggage getting distributed on the previous cruise as well.  It all arrived eventually.

[hughesthedaddy]

On 12/26/2022 at 8:26 AM, abbydancer said:

CrownDecember Day 2

 

The clocks went back last night (first of two, but we have to give them back after Hawaii.

 

So after a good night sleep, I woke up around 9:20, but wait, the clocks went back so it was 8:20.  We decided not to bother to try to get to breakfast, so Glen took a shower and I did this mornings Wordle.    Eventually we decided to go to the IC for coffee and a pastry.  To our surprise, we found a table immediately, and a server came over soon after.  We ordered some coffee, and pastries.  

 

The very nice server came back with the coffee, but said the pastries have to be self services (ie we have to get them).  Glen wanted a bran muffin and I thought I wanted a cherry danish, that is until I saw they had cinnamon rolls and monkey bread behind the counter, not on display.  So I got his muffin and I switched to monkey bread.  We enjoyed our coffee and pastry, but Glen thought the coffee should have not be in to-go cups.  Turns out that was OK, because when he was finished we decided to go to Skywalkers, and read, and I wasn’t done with my coffee.  So I took it.

 

I stopped at the room to pick up my laptop and my kindle and met Glen there.  We stayed until the Cruise critic meetup started. Glen took my stuff back and then came back up for part of the meetup.

 

That was very nice, and well run.  A few of the officers showed up, and said a few words, although the beverage manager, did recite all the packages that were available.  Other than that, it was nice, and I hung around until noon and met Glen back in the room.

 

We hung out there for a bit and then decided to go to lunch in the dining room.  There was a fairly long line, but we decided to wait, because we were afraid that the buffet would be a zoo.  We waited about a half hour, but during the wait we got into a nice conversation with the people behind us, so when we got to the front we agreed to share a table.  We joined 3 other people at a large table, but it was very nice.  Turns out of the 3, one was solo and the other two were a mother and daughter who are both active on Cruse Critic.  

 

I had the tomato and mozzarella appetizer (without the anchovies that it comes with), followed by the cheesesteak.  Glen ordered the chicken korma,  which features a visit from the assistant waiter with a tray of condiments.  With them, it’s quite good,  Today, they delivered the korma, but the condiment tray didn’t follow.  We asked the waiter, and he said they were looking for it (huh?).  He then brings a plate with raisins, almonds and onions.  Apparently the raisins and almonds are left from oatmeal. The headwaiter shows up with some jalapeño, but that’s it.  Very odd, since we know they had it in September.  

 

Other than the korma, the lunch was nice and the conversation good.

 

After lunch we headed back upstairs.  We noticed a banging noise pretty constantly since morning, so I headed out to investigate.  I went down to the promenade deck, and walked forward to where it went to the emerald deck.  From there, I could see a couple of people working on a lifeboat. I tried to get their attention, to see when they’d be done, but I couldn’t.  So I went to guest services, which seemed a little less chaotic than yesterday.  I asked how long it would go on, and the guy had no clue, but did say to call if it continued.

 

On my way back to the room, I ran in to Carol on her way to the gym.  She said they’d gone to the buffet and it wasn’t bad, so we’ll do that from now on I think.  I miss club class lunch.  We worked out tonight’s schedule, 

 

Today is Friday, so I planned to go to Friday night services.  It’s usually at 5, but today it was at 4 for Hanukah.  At 4 I headed to the chapel.  Usually at these things there are between 5-20 people.  Today there were over 50.  It was very nice, and I was back in the room by about 4:40.

 

We watched a bit of news, and then around 5:30 decided to go the elite lounge.  Our plan was to go there for a bit, and then meet Carol and Eric at the Wheelhouse where the duo was supposed to play.

 

We sat down next to one of the cruise critic folk and chatted with them for a bit.  At about 5:50 we took our drinks over to the wheelhouse.  At 6, it didn’t look like anyone was going to start playing anytime soon.  Carol and Eric arrived soon after 6, and we talked about going to the Champagne waterfall, but it didn’t particularly interest any of us.  I mentioned that the lounge was still open so went there.  It was about 6:10, and I thought maybe they closed at 6:30, even though the patter said 7.  

 

We got there around 6:15, and had a second round of snacks.  At about 6:30 I noticed that they were shutting down half the buffet (there are two sides).  The worker explained they pack up one half at 6:30 but the other half at 7.  (They are duplicate).   That was good to know.

 

Our next activity was Motown trivia.  We headed to explorers for it.  The staff member explained that he’d play 20 seconds of a song, and we had to provide the title and artist.  Eric knows this stuff very well, and the biggest issue was  the size of the answer sheet.  I suggested next time we have one of those, we use two score sheets.  Midway through, between questions, I said something about Tears of a Clown.  That was the next one they did.  Total coincidence.  We got all 20 artists, but missed one title due to a similar sounding song.  However it was good enough to win.  We won 4 princess bags (now Glen and I have 3) and a water bottle that Eric wanted.

 

From there we went to dinner.  It was around 8 at this time, and there was a short line.  It only took a few minutes and we were seated at a corner table by a window.  

 

I did get pictures of tonights menu:

 

 

I started with the pineapple slice (very good) and had the shredded port with boo chow and rice.

 

For dessert, I had a banana toffee semi frozen bar.  It was quite good.

 

We wanted to be out in time for the 9:30 show.  It was a singer named Peter Cutler.  He does a bit of humor, singing and a bit of tap as well.  It was pretty good, although Jayne Curry, who was on the X Silhouette with us, does do a better job of that sort of show.  But we did enjoy it.

 

Following that, we headed to the Wheelhouse where the duo, Cel and Tito, were playing.  They do a pretty decent mix of songs that were danceable and a few that weren’t.  We stayed for about 30 minutes and then headed up to the room.

 

I tried to check email, but apparently my web mail needs a better connection than I have.  Oh well.  We watched a bit of our binge show and went to bed.  We decided we would set the alarm for 8 to go to breakfast.  Another nice day in the books.

 

 

 

 

I hope your enjoying your cruise. Thank you for the little blog of your time so far. I find it very interesting. I was wondering if you knew what the current pricing system is to upgrade your cabin onboard ? Say from an Oceanview to a balcony. Thank you for your info, it's very much appreciated. 

[LawDog61]

Thanks for posting such a great review.    I am on board for the Jan 31 Hawaii run and wondering……are vibrations still an issue?   How is the Wheelhouse music and party band?  

[Itried4498]

11 hours ago, LawDog61 said:

Thanks for posting such a great review.    I am on board for the Jan 31 Hawaii run and wondering……are vibrations still an issue?   How is the Wheelhouse music and party band?  

I’m on the same cruise.  The ride to Hawaii was fairly miserable - unpleasantly cold and extremely rocky.  The pools have been closed since we left San Pedro and they mimic a wave pool.  IMO, any vibration would be the least of your worries ;).  Hopefully sea conditions improve.  We’ve gotten lucky - the weather in Hawaii has been perfect for our two days here so far.

 

*Edit- they re-opened some, but not, all of the pools once we reached Hawaii but closed them again yesterday evening as the ride is too bumpy.  At least the crew is doing a 10 day itinerary to Mexico next with only three or four sea days, that will give them a break.  This is the last cruise for the entertainment staff’s contract.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Itried4498

[Sea&SkiCruiser]

16 hours ago, LawDog61 said:

Thanks for posting such a great review.    I am on board for the Jan 31 Hawaii run and wondering……are vibrations still an issue?   How is the Wheelhouse music and party band?  

We are also on this cruise with an aft vista cabin on dolphin deck.  Vibration mostly noticeable during docking but otherwise not an issue.  We had a lot of movement during the crossing but are hoping the ocean will be calmer on the way back.  We've found the lounge music/band entertainment (Wheelhouse/Fusion/Crooners/Explorers) that we've sat in on to be mellow and just okay.  We have not attended any shows in the theater or parties on deck 15 so I can't comment on them. 

[abbydancer2003]

17 hours ago, LawDog61 said:

Thanks for posting such a great review.    I am on board for the Jan 31 Hawaii run and wondering……are vibrations still an issue?   How is the Wheelhouse music and party band?  

Thank you.  Vibration seem normal for a ship, so the dry dock might have helped.

 

We listen (and dance to the duo Cel y Tito in the wheelhouse, they are pretty good, and we really like the Voyager, the party band.  I have no idea if they end next week since I can say the earliest they joined the ship was mid September. 

[abbydancer2003]

CrownDecember Day 3

We woke up with our alarm at 8.  We got dressed, set up our laundry and headed to the dining room for breakfast.  Once again, the line was long, so we decided to go to the buffet.

At 8:50, the buffet was busy, although not as much as it was at lunch on Thursday.  There was plenty of seating in the Caribe cafe area, so we grabbled some food and found a seat.  I ordered an omelette and was given a numbered ticket and told to give it to our server.
 
Nobody wanted to take the ticket, though.  We did have a couple of servers come by with coffee an orange juice, though.  About 10 minutes later a server came by with the omelette and it was indeed hot, so all was good with our buffet breakfast.

 

After that we went back to the room and did some reading.  Our room steward came by to do the room, so I grabbed my Kindle and phone and we went down to the IC for coffee.  When we got there, Glen headed off to the restroom, and I looked for a table.  Of course there were none to be had, but I did eventually find one in the back corner of Vines.  Once Glen showed up, I went to get us lattes.  The bar staff was very friendly and efficient.  I took the lattes back to our table and we enjoyed them,

About 11:30, we figured the room cleaning was done, and we headed back up.  As I walked to the mid stairs on deck 6 I noticed a line developing for the dining room.  So I guess that if you show up when they open, they’ve already seated the line, and you have to wait for the first group to leave.  Same thing at breakfast.  

 

I know it’s always been like this across most lines with multiple dining rooms, but I don’t understand why, since they have, at least on sea days, the same number of people at breakfast and lunch as at dinner, they don’t open multiple rooms.

 

So back up we went.  Once again I tried to access email, and my webmail wouldn’t cooperate.  Glen suggested a different browser, so I tried Firefox and that seemed to work better.  It’s still slow but I could at least access it and clear some email. We’ll see if I can download pictures.

While we were wandering around this morning, I stopped by  the spa to make an appointment to get my bangs trimmed. They had 12:45 today, so at 12:40 I headed up there.  I agreed to meet Glen at the buffet at 1pm.

 

So at 1pm I was the back elevators mid buffet.  At about 1:01, it occurred to me that I had a problem, as saying “meet at the buffet” was too vague.  So I decided to walk to the front and there I found Glen trying to find me on shipmate or something.

 

At 1pm, the buffet was not crowded at all.  We grabbed some food (I had salad and their carved roast, some asian noodles and a piece of watermelon.  It was all pretty good.

We finished just after 1:30, and I wanted to go to Hula at 2, so I headed to club fusion.  I caught the very end of line dancing, so I went to fusion and managed to do the last part of the the last dance.  Carol was there so we chatted for a few, and then I waited for hula to start.  

 

At 2:00 the instructor came out.  She did a quick review of yesterday’s class (which those of us who missed it appreciated,   Apparently we’ll spend 8 or 9 sea days learning 4 dances, and then we’ll perform with the ukulele class.  People in both classes will have to decide which they want to do in the show.

We learned two dances.  It was fun, and I vaguely remembered part of it from doing it in our last Hawaii cruise 10 years ago.

 

After that, back to the room.  Where we decided to watch a movie until it was time to go meet Carol and Eric at the Elite lounge.  We picked Miss Congeniality, which neither of us have seen.  We got mostly through the movie until it was time to go to the Elite lounge.

 

We got there a little after 5, and were soon joined by Carol and Eric. Today’s food special was the bruschetta with tomatoes and goat cheese.  One of my favorites.

 

From there, we headed to the Wheelhouse for the “Tribute to Ballroom Dancing”.  Turns out that was just the duo playing their normal stuff.  We danced to that for a while, and then decided to head to dinner for our 7:20 reservation.  

 

We arrived at the dining room at about 7:16.  There was a long, as usual, reservation line.  It took us about 20 minutes to get in.  There was a special Xmas eve menu:

 

 

I started with the apple pumpkin soup, it was pretty good:

 

I also took a picture of Carol’s crab cake, as it was pretty:

 

 

For my entree I had the beef strip loin.  It was good but big:

I finished with pecan pie.  It did have a chocolate topping, so I took that off and the rest was good, not as good as a pie shop pie, but good.

 

It took a while for service to start, as the waiter for the section seemed to be running around by himself, we asked the hostess what was going on - as we’d been there over 10 minutes, with no water.  By the the waiter had dropped of bread, but not butter yet..   We asked the hostess if he was working without an assistant, but she said all waiters have them.  She did give us water.  Eventually our waiter came and introduced himself and his assistant, who we eventually met.

 

We wanted to get out in time for the holiday show, and we left with 4 minutes to get there.  We did make it, as it doesn’t take that long to walk across the ship.  The theater was pretty packed, which surprised us. I didn’t want to sit at deck 6 level because there’s no slope to the seats, so Carol and Eric went there and we sat further up.

 

The show was a holiday show that was probably put together this week.  The singers did couple of Xmas songs, and then Olivia (cruise director) and her staff did a skit that was kind of funny, based on the Night Before Christmas.  Tiki Dave, one of the Hawaiian Experts (I think he’s half of Elua) did a song and the dancers did one dance as well.  It ran about 35 minutes and was entertaining.

We met Carol and Eric outside the theater, and headed to Explorers, where I thought the party band was playing.  It turned out I got the venue wrong, so we moved to Club Fusion which was the right venue.

 

We got there as they were setting up.  They did a very good set, and we were able to dance foxtrot and tango, as well as the the other rhythm/latin dances.

 

After their first set, we called it a night.  Eric and I went down to the International cafe.  I noticed they had rolls, which is good for me (I sometimes get acid reflux and a little food helps).  As we were waiting, a woman near us asked about cookies, and it turns out they had some in back.  So I got a roll and a sugar cookie.

 

Back to the room and watched one episode of the the Good Fight.  Tomorrow, we will not set an alarm.

 

 

 

 

[travelin.sisters]

18 hours ago, abbydancer said:

CrownDecember Day 3

We woke up with our alarm at 8.  We got dressed, set up our laundry and headed to the dining room for breakfast.  Once again, the line was long, so we decided to go to the buffet.

At 8:50, the buffet was busy, although not as much as it was at lunch on Thursday.  There was plenty of seating in the Caribe cafe area, so we grabbled some food and found a seat.  I ordered an omelette and was given a numbered ticket and told to give it to our server.
 
Nobody wanted to take the ticket, though.  We did have a couple of servers come by with coffee an orange juice, though.  About 10 minutes later a server came by with the omelette and it was indeed hot, so all was good with our buffet breakfast.

 

After that we went back to the room and did some reading.  Our room steward came by to do the room, so I grabbed my Kindle and phone and we went down to the IC for coffee.  When we got there, Glen headed off to the restroom, and I looked for a table.  Of course there were none to be had, but I did eventually find one in the back corner of Vines.  Once Glen showed up, I went to get us lattes.  The bar staff was very friendly and efficient.  I took the lattes back to our table and we enjoyed them,

About 11:30, we figured the room cleaning was done, and we headed back up.  As I walked to the mid stairs on deck 6 I noticed a line developing for the dining room.  So I guess that if you show up when they open, they’ve already seated the line, and you have to wait for the first group to leave.  Same thing at breakfast.  

 

I know it’s always been like this across most lines with multiple dining rooms, but I don’t understand why, since they have, at least on sea days, the same number of people at breakfast and lunch as at dinner, they don’t open multiple rooms.

 

So back up we went.  Once again I tried to access email, and my webmail wouldn’t cooperate.  Glen suggested a different browser, so I tried Firefox and that seemed to work better.  It’s still slow but I could at least access it and clear some email. We’ll see if I can download pictures.

While we were wandering around this morning, I stopped by  the spa to make an appointment to get my bangs trimmed. They had 12:45 today, so at 12:40 I headed up there.  I agreed to meet Glen at the buffet at 1pm.

 

So at 1pm I was the back elevators mid buffet.  At about 1:01, it occurred to me that I had a problem, as saying “meet at the buffet” was too vague.  So I decided to walk to the front and there I found Glen trying to find me on shipmate or something.

 

At 1pm, the buffet was not crowded at all.  We grabbed some food (I had salad and their carved roast, some asian noodles and a piece of watermelon.  It was all pretty good.

We finished just after 1:30, and I wanted to go to Hula at 2, so I headed to club fusion.  I caught the very end of line dancing, so I went to fusion and managed to do the last part of the the last dance.  Carol was there so we chatted for a few, and then I waited for hula to start.  

 

At 2:00 the instructor came out.  She did a quick review of yesterday’s class (which those of us who missed it appreciated,   Apparently we’ll spend 8 or 9 sea days learning 4 dances, and then we’ll perform with the ukulele class.  People in both classes will have to decide which they want to do in the show.

We learned two dances.  It was fun, and I vaguely remembered part of it from doing it in our last Hawaii cruise 10 years ago.

 

After that, back to the room.  Where we decided to watch a movie until it was time to go meet Carol and Eric at the Elite lounge.  We picked Miss Congeniality, which neither of us have seen.  We got mostly through the movie until it was time to go to the Elite lounge.

 

We got there a little after 5, and were soon joined by Carol and Eric. Today’s food special was the bruschetta with tomatoes and goat cheese.  One of my favorites.

 

From there, we headed to the Wheelhouse for the “Tribute to Ballroom Dancing”.  Turns out that was just the duo playing their normal stuff.  We danced to that for a while, and then decided to head to dinner for our 7:20 reservation.  

 

We arrived at the dining room at about 7:16.  There was a long, as usual, reservation line.  It took us about 20 minutes to get in.  There was a special Xmas eve menu:

 

 

I started with the apple pumpkin soup, it was pretty good:

 

I also took a picture of Carol’s crab cake, as it was pretty:

 

 

For my entree I had the beef strip loin.  It was good but big:

I finished with pecan pie.  It did have a chocolate topping, so I took that off and the rest was good, not as good as a pie shop pie, but good.

 

It took a while for service to start, as the waiter for the section seemed to be running around by himself, we asked the hostess what was going on - as we’d been there over 10 minutes, with no water.  By the the waiter had dropped of bread, but not butter yet..   We asked the hostess if he was working without an assistant, but she said all waiters have them.  She did give us water.  Eventually our waiter came and introduced himself and his assistant, who we eventually met.

 

We wanted to get out in time for the holiday show, and we left with 4 minutes to get there.  We did make it, as it doesn’t take that long to walk across the ship.  The theater was pretty packed, which surprised us. I didn’t want to sit at deck 6 level because there’s no slope to the seats, so Carol and Eric went there and we sat further up.

 

The show was a holiday show that was probably put together this week.  The singers did couple of Xmas songs, and then Olivia (cruise director) and her staff did a skit that was kind of funny, based on the Night Before Christmas.  Tiki Dave, one of the Hawaiian Experts (I think he’s half of Elua) did a song and the dancers did one dance as well.  It ran about 35 minutes and was entertaining.

We met Carol and Eric outside the theater, and headed to Explorers, where I thought the party band was playing.  It turned out I got the venue wrong, so we moved to Club Fusion which was the right venue.

 

We got there as they were setting up.  They did a very good set, and we were able to dance foxtrot and tango, as well as the the other rhythm/latin dances.

 

After their first set, we called it a night.  Eric and I went down to the International cafe.  I noticed they had rolls, which is good for me (I sometimes get acid reflux and a little food helps).  As we were waiting, a woman near us asked about cookies, and it turns out they had some in back.  So I got a roll and a sugar cookie.

 

Back to the room and watched one episode of the the Good Fight.  Tomorrow, we will not set an alarm.

 

 

 

 

thank you for sharing your cruise with us

 

[tawlaw1526]

I am really enjoying this review.   I will be on the Crown in March for 28 days so I am excited to read your review.     Thank you for all of the time you are taking to write this on your vacation.    Much appreciated!!!!

[nini]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us!

[Pam in CA]

On 12/29/2022 at 1:34 AM, Sea&SkiCruiser said:

We are also on this cruise with an aft vista cabin on dolphin deck.  Vibration mostly noticeable during docking but otherwise not an issue.  We had a lot of movement during the crossing but are hoping the ocean will be calmer on the way back.  We've found the lounge music/band entertainment 

The vibration when docking or sailing is most likely the thrusters, not the propellers or engines since the ship is being moved by the thrusters at that point. 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Pam in CA said:

The vibration when docking or sailing is most likely the thrusters, not the propellers or engines since the ship is being moved by the thrusters at that point. 

Yes, was on the Crown the previous cruise from 7 -22, the side thrusters were very noticeable entering and leaving port.  Not much vibration otherwise.