Some random thoughts from the Crown Princess 2/2/24

[Cruise Raider]

10 minutes ago, TAW1963 said:

I just don't understand how some people can ignore the captain's orders and stay in their cabins.  I sure hope there were severe repercussions.  We had no problem leaving and there are plenty of lovely places on the ship to spend the time.  It is certainly understandable how this is for the safety of all (rescue team, patient, and passengers evacuated).

I don’t think they realize the captain has the power of the law by holding this position.  
I read, but can’t confirm this, is that they were all informed there would not be a Princess cruise again in their future.  So, maybe that is just rumor but it is certainly a possibility.  
Not only did they put the patient at risk by delaying their evacuation by a couple of hours, but the ship was also late pulling into port for disembarkation in San Francisco.  That also costs money as the port workers and delivery people are there already.  Of course, embarkation for the next sailing, which we were on, was delayed.  So, there was a domino effect the rest of the day.  Since then, we’ve seen a change in procedure for these air evacuations.  
 

 

[Cruise Raider]

I’m just going to add to this thread instead of starting a new thread.   We are back onboard the Crown, just ten days after our last sailing on her with the same 5 day itinerary as we did earlier in the month.  
 

It was so stormy in San Francisco when we embarked.  We got to the pier around 10:00 AM.  Traffic to get into the port was all gnarled up getting into the port, followed by a very short line to get into the terminal.  Once inside, we were in a rather long security line but at least out of the elements.  Security operations didn’t start until about 10:30 AM so once started, we got through rather quickly.  But then, check in procedures didn’t start until 11:00 AM, so we were in another line.  But again, at least we were inside and didn’t have to deal with that crazy wind and rain outside.  We got through check in rather quickly as we had our medallions, so green line ready!  The blue line was really long and of course, there are only so many people they can fit into the terminal at once so, I am sure late comers did have to wait outside!  The port personnel were so very kind and helpful, though, getting as many people allowed inside.  After check in, we were directed to the seating area to wait fo boarding to commence, which was only about 10 minutes after we sat down.  They called elite and suite passengers to board first.  Of note, there was no beverage or snack set up in the PES waiting area.  It’s fine with us but did find that to be notable.  The entire process is different than we’ve seen it just late last year.

 

 

[sharichka]

On 2/5/2024 at 7:00 AM, Cruise Raider said:

Here are a few pictures from the ship.  While not very noticeable, the carpet on the starboard side has small green dots and on the port side, small red dots.  I always think of port (red) wine to help me remember which side is which.  
Also, I’ve included a photo of our usb ports built into the desk.  
 

The cruise director, Jody and her assistant Shaun gave a talk on the the ships features, mostly for those that are new to cruising but I still like to learn something new every day.  With the exception of the two elevators on the sides that are midship, when you are exiting the elevators, you are walking forward.  Good to know.  

The cabin TV’s are not mounted on the wall as we’ve seen on other ships.  It works out nicely in the corner as the balcony door opens from the other side. If it didn’t, I’m sure that would be quite the hazard as it reaches far over the shelf on which it sits.  

 

We just got off the Crown on 2/17.  In our cabin (A640), the balcony door opened right next to the tv.  My 6'3" husband caught his shoulder on it several times as he was going out to the balcony.  I wish it had been wall mounted, but it was a small inconvenience to deal with.

[Cruise Raider]

A few other things to note not mentioned previously in this thread ..

 

We received a move over offer for this cruise .. their term, not mine.  I would call it a move down offer.  If we gave up our balcony, we could get an obstructed oceanview cabin and receive our cruise fare back in refundable OBC.  I jumped on that offer but it never came to fruition.  Now thinking we may have gotten a cabin near the bow of the ship, I’m glad they never got back to me.  I’m not sure how I would have handled the seas if my cabin was all the way forward.  

 

If you have the chance to see one of Mark Harris’s naturalist talks, definitely do so!  
His talk yesterday was on sea birds and didn’t really think it would be all that interesting but wow, was I ever wrong!  It was phenomenal and such a great speaker.  He could have gone on for hours more and held my attention, wanting to learn even more.  
I will be sure to attend his talk later in this cruise.  
Along with sea birds, he did talk about the Beaufort Scale, which I’ve never even heard of before. On a scale of 1-12, it rates the roughness of the seas.  That first night, he noted it was between a 9 or 10 and that was about as rough as we will ever see.  I think the Captain and the Crown handled it like a champ.  But as mentioned, I am so glad our cabin is mid aft instead of all the way forward.  
 

There are a lot of kids onboard this cruise, over 500, as a matter of fact.  It’s a long holiday weekend and someone mentioned it is ski week so, the kids have off from school.  Most are well behaved with some outbursts here and there.  One woman kept walking by our table in the MDR to calm her screaming toddler.  OMG .. not by her table but our table.  I will leave it at that.  
 

The cruise is full.  We understand there is not one empty cabin on this ship and I think the captain announced there were 3300+ passengers onboard last night at the champagne waterfall.  
 

We went to the pub lunch in the Botticelli dining room, thinking it was going to be the small plates lunch but I certainly wasn’t disappointed.  We went just before noon and the lobby to the Botticelli was just packed.  Perhaps they need to move that to one of the midship dining rooms when the ship is that full.  

My DH ordered the fish and chips, said it was ok but I got the chicken curry and it was absolutely phenomenal.  It came with all the condiments of your choice, like they had with the chicken korma.  The director of restaurant operations came by with the executive chef to see if everything was great .. yes, it was!  
Our wait team was top notch!  We were at a two top and met the nicest couple that was at the two top just inches away.  So, it was such an enjoyable way to dine.  The junior waiter even found me a nice wine glass from the Club class area. Wow .. such great service.  
 

After getting back to our cabin, we noticed an invitation to the MTP cocktail party.  Yippie .. only our third time ever! We turned in our RSVP and learned we were #18.  I thought maybe, with all the kids onboard this sailing, we might just get in an invite but always so appreciative to see the actual invitation delivered.  I believe on the shorter sailings, such as this one, they throw a cocktail party instead of a lunch.  I’m just thrilled, no matter what it is.  
 

I’ve seen this question in another thread but will just address it right here.  The packages are sold on day 1 or 2 of the cruise and yes, if you purchase it on day 2, it is prorated to the remaining days of the cruise.  I also learned that they may stop selling them on day two. Time will tell. 
They probably have a goal in mind but on average, only 30% of the passengers purchase a package.  Out of San Francisco, the demographic is usually less than that, especially with so many kids onboard this sailing.  The crew members get points for selling the packages and we may have waited to purchase once we were already onboard to help them out but this sailing was one of those onboard specials when we booked it so, went with the package at that time. 

Wine flights are back but are no longer included in the package pricing.  At Vines, they are very knowledgeable about wines and although they don’t have my Rombauer Chardonnay anymore, I have gotten some lovely wines there and at Good Spirits .. and in the dining room.  The same wines in the flights are available by the glass, so I can do my own wine flight and have it covered under our premier package.  
 

Our room steward is so wonderful and our cabin is kept very clean and tidy.  The hairdryer that Is attached to the wall by the desk has a ridiculously short cord .. that wasn’t so in our cabin a couple of weeks ago.  Now, if that’s the only thing I can complain about, it’s a pretty darned good cruise!  
No problems with leaks or non functioning toilets seen by us.  

Room service has been very good.  Our specialty coffees came hot and were really good.  
 

Dinner at the Crown Grill was fabulous!  I am going to call the dine line to see if we can change our second specialty dinner to tonight so we can attend the MTP cocktail party tomorrow night.  
 

The people at the Future Cruise office are really great.   No fabulous specials but they’ve taken the time to look some stuff up for me.  I also asked for a detailed explanation of the packages they sell,  to for us but for those on here that have asked about them. If you also do land based vacations, it just may be a great deal. We never stay in hotels unless comped in Vegas and cruise from close to home so, it just isn’t attractive for us. 

The $7500 package gives you $6000 in cruise credits plus &300 OBC .. if you use that $6000 credit on different cruises, you will only get the OBC on the initial sailing.  You can gift the 7 days hotel stays but cannot be split up.  Same with the 2 days pre or post cruise days.  
So, for us, we’d pay $7500 for a return of $6300.  As mentioned, it doesn’t make sense for us.  
They do have a sale on any cruises booked onboard in the very immediate future. We are already booked up through May so, couldn’t find anything that was super appealing to us.

 

W went to the PES happy hour in Club fusion last night.  They had mini hot dog rolls, chips, salsa and guacamole, some cheeses, breadsticks, olives, crudités and fruit.  We missed spring roll day the night before.  Service was great in there, food was fresh and displayed nicely but not a lot of variety.  The live piano music was fabulous … and just the right volume.  
 

 

 

[Cruise Raider]

Room service arrived in record time this morning (like 10 minutes) and was all fresh and delish.  While we have been disappointed with the coffee on the Discovery through room service, my cappuccino is perfect.  It even came with foam on top and nice and hot!  I know a barista  made this instead of those machine made ones.  Very nice surprise.  
 

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, sharichka said:

We just got off the Crown on 2/17.  In our cabin (A640), the balcony door opened right next to the tv.  My 6'3" husband caught his shoulder on it several times as he was going out to the balcony.  I wish it had been wall mounted, but it was a small inconvenience to deal with.

You know, I wondered about that but we always try to get a room where the headboard faces forward so, both our cabins have had the tv on the opposite side of where the balcony door opens.  One time, we got an aft facing suite on the Grand and I swear, we had to be so careful rounding that corner into the bedroom area.  Good think it wasn’t eye level .. that would be a hazard waiting to happen. 

[karatemom2]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience on the Crown. We live in Southern CA and love cruising out of San Francisco. We have been considering another Alasks cruise in September but have been a little hesitant about going on the Crown. We did not have the best experience the one time we cruised on that particular ship before - got the dreaded Norovirus that the Crown in particular seemed to struggle with for a few years. It is really encouraging to read your honest and positive thoughts. We might just give the Crown another try!

[Cruise Raider]

28 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experience on the Crown. We live in Southern CA and love cruising out of San Francisco. We have been considering another Alasks cruise in September but have been a little hesitant about going on the Crown. We did not have the best experience the one time we cruised on that particular ship before - got the dreaded Norovirus that the Crown in particular seemed to struggle with for a few years. It is really encouraging to read your honest and positive thoughts. We might just give the Crown another try!

I used to feel the same about the Crown but that dissipated when we met the crew onboard.  It’s always the crew that can make or break it when on vacation.  
as one of the officers said, she may not be the newest ship or the glitziest ship but they’d like to be known as the friendliest ship.  There are certainly other friendly and superb crews on other ships but this one is keeping up with that motto of being a friendly ship. It’s becoming the ship of YES to us as we really are not hearing any ‘no, that can’t be done’!  Of course, we do not request anything out of the ordinary but we are always greeted with smiles and friendliness.  The food has been very good, even excellent and the service .. ahhhh!  That is where they shine!  
I wouldn’t hesitate to book cruises on her now.  
 

To further describe my experience at lunch yesterday, our waiter from India, eyes lit up when I ordered the curry.  I asked him if it was spicy and he said, not very but if I wanted spicy, he’s bring the condiments around and I could add some jalapeños.  Then, I ask3d if he could bring me a salad even though it wasn’t on the menu.  Sure, no problem .. I told him that he could decide on the dressing and he nailed it.  Then, he was concerned that it might be too spicy for me because I asked for a couple of spoonfuls of the peppers.  The look on his face when we saw I ate every last bit of it was priceless.  I seriously love spicy food and the service is so personalized.  
 

[Cruise Raider]

We are in San Diego and not planning on getting off the ship but doing some exercise up on the deck.  In the meantime, we ordered a couple of salads and a personal treat pizza delivery, as our window table in the sun is too hard to leave. 
the personal pizza is enough for two people unless you are really hungry or used to eating large amounts of food.  Even though we’ve purchased the premier package, there is a charge for the pizza.  We were ok with that but do think it should be included in the package on the ships that don’t have Alfredo’s or GiGis.  The same goes for the sushi but again, we know there is a charge and decided to go for it, nevertheless.  
We ordered on our app and wow, the delivery was super quick .. like less than 10 minutes.  We ordered the white pizza but received a pepperoni pizza.  If we ate pepperoni, and we don’t, it had very thick pepperoni slices.  The same thing happened last time we ordered a pizza on the Diamond Princess.  We can always pick the toppings off.  I can honestly say, it hit the spot but wasn’t nearly as good as the free pizza up by the pool and nowhere near as good as what is at Alfredo’s or Gigi’s.  We have more than enough OBC to cover the charges, $8.50 plus 18% gratuity and the port tax since we are docked, which is about $11.  Not sweating the small stuff and it seriuosly did hit the spot, even though it was the wrong pizza and not the best pizza as I don’t think it was a fresh dough cruise but maybe premade.  We still ate it and enjoyed it!  

Just reporting on what we got and in no way complaining, hoping this may help others with their options.  
 

[Cruise Raider]

We ordered sushi from the app after taking a long walk out in Ensenada.  Again, the delivery was very quick and the order was accurate.  As mentioned, I think the ships that don’t have ocean terrace or Alfredo’s / Gigi’s should provide complimentary pizza and sushi for those with the premier package .. if only I was queen for a day!  😆 

The sushi did come with the soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi.  Very nice!  On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a 6, though.  It really hit the spot but nowhere near as good as the sushi from the Ocean Terrace on the Royal class ships.  
 

We were invited to the MTP cocktail party and so, wanted to grab a quick dinner before that at the GastroPub.  It opens at 5:30 PM on this ship and when we arrived, there was already a line way down the hallway.  So, one of my favorite dining venues is now drawing big crowds.  They even put some overflow tables into the Wheelhouse bar area.  We instead sat in the Wheelhouse and ordered food via the app.  It came really quickly, was nice and hot and was so delish.  What a great choice we made, as we got to the cocktail party up in Adagio in time without having to rush.  
 Wow, that party was so fabulous!  I may even prefer it over the lunch.  They had some really spectacular hors d’oeuvres and cocktails in a very comfortable but elegant setting.  We were so lucky to get to chat with a few of the officers and future cruise consultants.  We were both super impressed and had such a marvelous time!  After the party, we zoomed down to the Marriage Match Gameshow and it didn’t disappoint.  Jody, the cruise director, was recording the show from the front row and allowed Shawn, her assistant, host the show.  I believe he may be in training to become a cruise director himself.  He proved that he could do the job with last night’s show, so we wish him luck.  Him and Jody are always so happy and upbeat, such a great team.  
 

Toady, there are so many events we wish to attend but since we can’t be in two places at once, we will have to decide which ones we want to attend.  Plus, we are so sad to say that it is time to pack up most of our belongings. I am sad to have to be leaving this most wonderful ship and crew!  I really never thought I would be saying that about the Crown Princess but, of course, the crew and staff has really turned my feelings about this ship.  I’d sail on her again in a heartbeat.  

 

[Host CJSKIDS]

Sounds like another great cruise!!!  

 

Very interesting to hear the typical number for the packages sold.  

 

Hopefully one day we are on one of the same sailings.  

[memoak]

On 2/19/2024 at 6:22 AM, Cruise Raider said:

I’m just going to add to this thread instead of starting a new thread.   We are back onboard the Crown, just ten days after our last sailing on her with the same 5 day itinerary as we did earlier in the month.  
 

It was so stormy in San Francisco when we embarked.  We got to the pier around 10:00 AM.  Traffic to get into the port was all gnarled up getting into the port, followed by a very short line to get into the terminal.  Once inside, we were in a rather long security line but at least out of the elements.  Security operations didn’t start until about 10:30 AM so once started, we got through rather quickly.  But then, check in procedures didn’t start until 11:00 AM, so we were in another line.  But again, at least we were inside and didn’t have to deal with that crazy wind and rain outside.  We got through check in rather quickly as we had our medallions, so green line ready!  The blue line was really long and of course, there are only so many people they can fit into the terminal at once so, I am sure late comers did have to wait outside!  The port personnel were so very kind and helpful, though, getting as many people allowed inside.  After check in, we were directed to the seating area to wait fo boarding to commence, which was only about 10 minutes after we sat down.  They called elite and suite passengers to board first.  Of note, there was no beverage or snack set up in the PES waiting area.  It’s fine with us but did find that to be notable.  The entire process is different than we’ve seen it just late last year.

 

 

The long lines in SF have been there for awhile. That is why we don’t even try to board early. Easy to go over to Fog City for lunch and beer and the go across the street. Nobody in line at all walk right onto ship

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Sounds like another great cruise!!!  

 

Very interesting to hear the typical number for the packages sold.  

 

Hopefully one day we are on one of the same sailings.  

I sure hope that, too!  I love your positivity.  There are certainly things that deserve some healthy criticism but, like you, we never seek out things to complain about.  

[Cruise Raider]

4 hours ago, memoak said:

The long lines in SF have been there for awhile. That is why we don’t even try to board early. Easy to go over to Fog City for lunch and beer and the go across the street. Nobody in line at all walk right onto ship

We try to book cruise approximately every month and mostly out of SF.  The lines have been longer these past couple of times than we’ve seen in 2023, except the time we had to use Pier 35.  
Someone mentioned the last time, there was an incident from a previous guest onboard that required security but think too many rumors become distributed as fact so I don’t necessarily believe that.