Crown Princess 7/2 Voyage!!!

[Maraprince]

Just returned today from th 7/2 sailing of the Crown Princess!

 

Embarcation in Brooklyn was handled very efficiently. However, due to various problems with the fuel (take your choice of "stories") i.e., didn't receive enough fuel to complete the entire trip, second supplier called in and delivered "inferior" fuel which had to then be pumped out, and finally, the last vendor had the "right" fuel but not enough for the return trip to NYC. End result -- we left NYC around 12:58 am the next day! This meant we missed Grand Turk all together and instead had an extra day at sea! Each passenger received a $200 cabin credit which had to be spent on board or you lost it.

 

Hint: Not too many passengers (esp.the ones from NJ) were not buying the fuel story.

 

Why? Contracts should have been in place for fueling as soon as the ship reached Red Hook for the next sailing. The purchasing dept. in CA should have had them in place with the right fuel specs if the Crown Princess needed special a fuel mix along with additional backup contracts. The ship will be doing same day sailings on a regular basis. So what really happened?

 

Most passengers feel it was a security issue in part plus Grand Turk might not have been ready for an "INVASION" since the 7/2 sailing was full. Also, the tour office was already discounting the Hop On/Hop Off excurision since 2 of the stops were not available. Our sailing very full and all with revenue paying passengers. We kept hearing time and time again, "Why are there so many family groups on board?" Evidently, we were considered the first "real" passengers since the previous sailings had many travel industry professionals on board. They certainly seemed surprised by our sheer numbers! There was a lot of conversation of a group letter writing protest to Princess in CA about them giving us than just the $200 on-board credit. Many passengers booked this sailing because it went to Grand Turk.

 

Second hint: the activity level in the on-boards shops was very, very low even with the $200 per person on-board credit. They clearly didn't know their market. Passengers from NY/NJ and Connecticut have access to all the best stores and are savy shoppers. Princess either had very "cheap" junk or very high priced jewelry with nothing in the middle. For a ship this size the selection of merchandise offered was poor when compared to smaller sized ships. The shops themsleves were small.

 

The Cruise Director also missed the mark. Our Cruise Critic group was over 200 passengers. They gave us a room and Joe and Ruth our roll call leaders had to ask for the meeting times to be posted in the Patter. No one from the CD staff was in attendance but the bar staff certainly was! Princess never missed an opportunity to sell something!

 

Freddie, the port shopping expert, spent 1-1/2 hrs. talking about shopping in St. Thomas and approx. 3 min. on the port itself! She must think the passengers are made of money because she kept pushing jewelry and watches in the $4,000 range! One of the passengers asked about bargaining (obviously a NYer after my own heart) and Freddie insisted that it could not be done. She also tried to convince everyone that she received nothing from the merchants that Princess endorsed. Also, she mentioned that many of the officers and staff members owned these watches and more than one passengers muttered, "They certainly don't need our tips if they can afford such expensive items! or "how much does Princess pay them!"

 

Many passengers expressed the same opinion -- with the price they paid to go on the ship, they could not afford to pay for all the little extras such as $25 for the Crown Grill and then an additional $9 charge for lobsters. Remember, we had a lot of families on board -- not single people and those extras add up very quickly when your group numbers 6 and up.

 

The ship's public rooms are too small for the amount of passengers. The rooms work if you have 1200 passengers but not for over 3000+ passengers. Someone ends up standing. The CD seemed to assign a large room for activities that drew a small audience and then a very small room for an activity where it was overflowing. The first production show was repeated for 1st and 2nd seating and done the next night. The traffic flow in the buffet area was horrible. Everyone was going every which way. In San Juan they ran out of some of the food items around 2:45 PM when they were supposed to close down at 4:30PM.

 

Some of the performances in the Piazza lasted only 10 mins. and took longer to set up the electrical equipment than the act itself. The chamagne waterfall didn't go all the way down to the bottom. Passengers were jammed onto the small dance floor there and hanging off the steps. Princess was lucky no one fell or was injured. The steamers thrown were everywhere on the ship and again someone could have tripped on them.

 

The noise level is very high everywhere on the ship. You need to be able to tune everything out around you. Many times with all the noise and traffic you felt you were sitting right in the middle of Times Square! The lecturer in the Wheelhouse bar had to compete with the bar and the passengers speaking loudly outisde the entrance. The Explorer Lounge was an open area that did not have a door. In Club Fusion, you had the competing music from the photographer and the music that accompanied the CD's or whatever it was that was going on.

 

Those are just some of the highlights. Must be off and do some grocery shopping if I want to eat tonight!

 

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[dzboss1]

ok my question.....would you recommend it?????? I am thinking of cancelling my Explorer cruise next July to this one. The following is from my thread.......

 

 

I have never asked for help on any of these threads, usually giving it out and starting my own threads for M and M on roll calls, but for the first time I need it. Just got off the Explorer on Sunday and loved it, and as you have seen , cruised quite a bit so far and upcoming.I don't fly so I am limited to NY, NJ and Boston (from Mass) as my ports. We already booked the Jewel for Oct and the Explorer again for next July but Hubby has now suggested we try a different line for 2007 and wants to do the Crown Princess on 7/5 next year instead. I have been happy with RCL and grown familiar with their ways. So my question is............

Should I do the Crown Princess in July 2007 or Explorer again?????

I think more so than the pluses, I think I would like the negatives. Thank you in advance. If we should switch to Princess I would want to do so in the next few days.

________________

[LunaMoon]

Maraprince,

 

Was there anything at all that was good? :eek:

 

Was there anything at all that you enjoyed? :confused:

 

I'm hoping your answer is yes, since there's a horde of us boarding on the very next sailing after today. And we've been waiting ohhhhhh so long for this cruise!

 

Com'mon, anything? ........Gim'me something!

[makeup face]

Maraprince,

 

Was there anything at all that was good? :eek:

 

Was there anything at all that you enjoyed? :confused:

 

I'm hoping your answer is yes, since there's a horde of us boarding on the very next sailing after today. And we've been waiting ohhhhhh so long for this cruise!

 

Com'mon, anything? ........Gim'me something!

 

 

LunaMoon.....you beat me to the question:eek:

What a one sided review:eek: Perhaps Maraprince..... a cruise vacation is not something you should consider ever again.....just doesn't seem to be your thing:eek:

[airgirl]

I wonder if they could use the $200 towards tips? That would be good.

In any case NY/NJ are a saavy crowd, I can almost feel the skepticism in the room with the shopping talk! Also people with families do take part in the ship actitivies - for the most part they are not in their rooms quietly enjoying the balcony which gives the feelings of crowds. Hopefully Princess sees this and adjusts with more activites to go to in different areas. When the kids are back in school, it will most likely be the more peaceful relaxing type cruise that some are accustomed to.

[dzboss1]

I have spend the past few hours reading reviews and posts about the Crown Princess and they all seem so positive. The editor of Cruise Critic just got off and did a review and loved it!! We have decided to book it tonight for 7/5/2007.

[caviargal]

LunaMoon.....you beat me to the question:eek:

What a one sided review:eek: Perhaps Maraprince..... a cruise vacation is not something you should consider ever again.....just doesn't seem to be your thing:eek:

 

Perhaps the Crown just isn't the best ship for her tastes! Geesh, whenever someone does not effusively praise a ship they are sent off to find other vacations.:rolleyes:

 

Thanks, maraprince, for taking the time to post. Would be interested to hear about food in the various venues, cabin size and comfort and service when you have the chance.

 

CG

[ezi-amy]

We just off the ship today. In answer to the question about the $200 credit (which was actually $212 per person, not cabin, as they also refunded the port charge), it could be used for any thing on the ship except the casino. You could use it in the shops, for tips, a massage, drinks, bingo, shore excursions, etc. We were very upset about the fuel situation also, but felt that Princess did a nice job of compensating us. Also, Wednesday was a rainy day, and I have a feeling that the weather in Grand Turk probably would not have been too nice anyway.

[Sandytoes]

Maraprince

Thank you for posting soooo quickly on your experience sailing on the Crown.

 

I am, as well as many others, questioning how there could be a "fuel delivery problem". Orders are placed several months ahead. Someone messed up big time. I am sure Princess will recoup their loss that is why they gave each passenger $200.00. Princess will come out ahead some way or another.

No one will ever know what exactly happened.

Sorry all of you missed Grand Turk.

 

They could not afford to pay for all the little extras ...[such as $25 for the Crown Grill...

How come you couldn't use the $200.00 credit towards the speciality dining?

Casino? Your account, tips, beverages?

 

Is this the first time you have been on a large ship?

the amount of passengers

Did you find peace and quiet somewhere on the ship?

The noise level is very high everywhere on the ship.

 

Between International Cafe, Pizza, Burgers, Caribe, etc how can you say -

they ran out of some of the food items

???

 

By your review you were not pleased with the Crown.

[CTChickCruiser]

The 200 dollar credit could be used towards the tips and beverages and everything. We didn't have a problem with that. Also i didn't use all of my 200 dollar credit therefore whatever was left on my account went to my mothers account since we were on the same credit card bill.

 

I had a blast on the Crown Princess. I have only one issue and that was bingo and the age limit. First cruise i have been one where you have to be 21 to buy a ticket.

 

Besides that, Traditional Dining Room we had Botticelli and LOVED EVERYTHING. Our head waiter was from Italy and thanked us numerous times for our support with the world cup (funny thing we are italian too). Our waiter and asst. waiter were always on top of things.

 

Club Fusion on certain things didn't get crowded at all and was very empty on 3 of the Princess Pop Idol. Maybe it was because a family of 14 each had someone entering..

 

Princess Theatre. Shows were great especially the last two comedians. Did have to get there 30 mins early though for seats.

 

MUTS- LOVED IT. Great concept even though loud at points I still loved it because it kept me out in the sun.

 

Shops- Didn't buy anything. Nothing looked too appealing or was just outrageous for pricing.

 

BESIDES THAT MY FAMILY LOVED IT WE WERE IN BAJA 505-503 and i'll have pictures up by the end of the week.

 

AND...NO COMPLAINTS HERE ABOUT GRAND TURK. IT RAINED THAT ENTIRE DAY AT SEA ANYWAYS.....

[cruisercathy]

Please.......I would like to hear more...never mind some of the obnoxious people who jump to conclusions here........As I am preparing for my first Princess cruise...I am more than happy to read about the good, the bad and the ugly.........no cruise is perfect..........

 

I am sorry about the fuel situation........stuff happens...

[dzboss1]

Although I hate to read all negatives too, I don't always take what someone tells me as the compete facts anyway. Everyone has their own opinions about things and no one ever agrees on everything and people read into what they want to read into. I have to admit though, after reading nothing but positives about the ship on soooooo many different threads, I read maraprince's comments and decided to dismiss them.I am basing my decision to try the Princess Crown next summer on the Majority of what I have read. I just got back Sunday from the best cruise ever and will not allow anyone to take me off my high.

 

(Cathy I am a member of your club and presently am suffering too!!!lol)

[makeup face]

Makeup face, thank you for saying that and Amen!!

 

 

You are more then WELCOME:D :D

[bluefintuna]

Hi everyone, sailing the Crown 9/30 and as we are pretty low maintenance people, no bad review would deter us. dzBoss1: good, you are trying something different. We have been on Carnival (2), RCCL: (8 or 9) and Princess (7). Each cruise is different, but the staff has been great on every cruise. I admire them for patience dealing with the ever demanding and sometimes NEGATIVE passengers. I feel sorry for people and their numerous petty complaints. Chill out and have a great cruise; Crown left today on yet another adventure.

[makeup face]

Although I hate to read all negatives too, I don't always take what someone tells me as the compete facts anyway. Everyone has their own opinions about things and no one ever agrees on everything and people read into what they want to read into. I have to admit though, after reading nothing but positives about the ship on soooooo many different threads, I read maraprince's comments and decided to dismiss them.I am basing my decision to try the Princess Crown next summer on the Majority of what I have read. I just got back Sunday from the best cruise ever and will not allow anyone to take me off my high.

 

(Cathy I am a member of your club and presently am suffering too!!!lol)

 

dzboss1

 

That's how folks should look at reviews. Everyone needs to do their research before they invest money on a vacation......and come to their own conclusion as to whether it will be a good fit.

I always say a cruise is what you make of it....if you look for the negative in anything....you'll find it;)

[dzboss1]

blue and makeup ~~~ TY for the encouragement!!! I love cruising too much to ever let anything bad get in the way. Accentuate the positive!!!!!! Hubby is on the puter right now finalizing some cabin info. Hope to have it all booked within the hour!!

[TexasMom2]

Since the review isn't complete, can everyone reserve their judgment until then? You will also have Merion Mom and Nliedel posting live starting today.

[madelinerose]

Hmmmm, if these are your highlights....:eek:

 

 

Just returned today from th 7/2 sailing of the Crown Princess!

 

Embarcation in Brooklyn was handled very efficiently. However, due to various problems with the fuel (take your choice of "stories") i.e., didn't receive enough fuel to complete the entire trip, second supplier called in and delivered "inferior" fuel which had to then be pumped out, and finally, the last vendor had the "right" fuel but not enough for the return trip to NYC. End result -- we left NYC around 12:58 am the next day! This meant we missed Grand Turk all together and instead had an extra day at sea! Each passenger received a $200 cabin credit which had to be spent on board or you lost it.

 

Hint: Not too many passengers (esp.the ones from NJ) were not buying the fuel story.

 

Why? Contracts should have been in place for fueling as soon as the ship reached Red Hook for the next sailing. The purchasing dept. in CA should have had them in place with the right fuel specs if the Crown Princess needed special a fuel mix along with additional backup contracts. The ship will be doing same day sailings on a regular basis. So what really happened?

 

Most passengers feel it was a security issue in part plus Grand Turk might not have been ready for an "INVASION" since the 7/2 sailing was full. Also, the tour office was already discounting the Hop On/Hop Off excurision since 2 of the stops were not available. Our sailing very full and all with revenue paying passengers. We kept hearing time and time again, "Why are there so many family groups on board?" Evidently, we were considered the first "real" passengers since the previous sailings had many travel industry professionals on board. They certainly seemed surprised by our sheer numbers! There was a lot of conversation of a group letter writing protest to Princess in CA about them giving us than just the $200 on-board credit. Many passengers booked this sailing because it went to Grand Turk.

 

Second hint: the activity level in the on-boards shops was very, very low even with the $200 per person on-board credit. They clearly didn't know their market. Passengers from NY/NJ and Connecticut have access to all the best stores and are savy shoppers. Princess either had very "cheap" junk or very high priced jewelry with nothing in the middle. For a ship this size the selection of merchandise offered was poor when compared to smaller sized ships. The shops themsleves were small.

 

The Cruise Director also missed the mark. Our Cruise Critic group was over 200 passengers. They gave us a room and Joe and Ruth our roll call leaders had to ask for the meeting times to be posted in the Patter. No one from the CD staff was in attendance but the bar staff certainly was! Princess never missed an opportunity to sell something!

 

Freddie, the port shopping expert, spent 1-1/2 hrs. talking about shopping in St. Thomas and approx. 3 min. on the port itself! She must think the passengers are made of money because she kept pushing jewelry and watches in the $4,000 range! One of the passengers asked about bargaining (obviously a NYer after my own heart) and Freddie insisted that it could not be done. She also tried to convince everyone that she received nothing from the merchants that Princess endorsed. Also, she mentioned that many of the officers and staff members owned these watches and more than one passengers muttered, "They certainly don't need our tips if they can afford such expensive items! or "how much does Princess pay them!"

 

Many passengers expressed the same opinion -- with the price they paid to go on the ship, they could not afford to pay for all the little extras such as $25 for the Crown Grill and then an additional $9 charge for lobsters. Remember, we had a lot of families on board -- not single people and those extras add up very quickly when your group numbers 6 and up.

 

The ship's public rooms are too small for the amount of passengers. The rooms work if you have 1200 passengers but not for over 3000+ passengers. Someone ends up standing. The CD seemed to assign a large room for activities that drew a small audience and then a very small room for an activity where it was overflowing. The first production show was repeated for 1st and 2nd seating and done the next night. The traffic flow in the buffet area was horrible. Everyone was going every which way. In San Juan they ran out of some of the food items around 2:45 PM when they were supposed to close down at 4:30PM.

 

Some of the performances in the Piazza lasted only 10 mins. and took longer to set up the electrical equipment than the act itself. The chamagne waterfall didn't go all the way down to the bottom. Passengers were jammed onto the small dance floor there and hanging off the steps. Princess was lucky no one fell or was injured. The steamers thrown were everywhere on the ship and again someone could have tripped on them.

 

The noise level is very high everywhere on the ship. You need to be able to tune everything out around you. Many times with all the noise and traffic you felt you were sitting right in the middle of Times Square! The lecturer in the Wheelhouse bar had to compete with the bar and the passengers speaking loudly outisde the entrance. The Explorer Lounge was an open area that did not have a door. In Club Fusion, you had the competing music from the photographer and the music that accompanied the CD's or whatever it was that was going on.

 

Those are just some of the highlights. Must be off and do some grocery shopping if I want to eat tonight!

 

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[dzboss1]

ty texas for that info..will look forward to that.

[spongerob]

It probably does put a damper on things when a cruise gets off to a rocky start. I can understand some of the complaints, and of course respect the fact they are just one person's opinion. However, as I put my official cheerleader sweater with the big "P" on, I have to question a couple of comments.

 

Hint: Not too many passengers (esp.the ones from NJ) were not [sic] buying the fuel story.

Admittedly, there might have been another reason, but you also might have been told the truth. No contract has ever been able to circumvent the "to err is human" part of life. I think the speculation, while fun over a cocktail, is unfair in a forum such as this. It's unfair, because you can make charges, without having to validate your statements.

 

Second hint: the activity level in the on-boards shops was very, very low even with the $200 per person on-board credit. They clearly didn't know their market. Passengers from NY/NJ and Connecticut have access to all the best stores and are savy shoppers. Princess either had very "cheap" junk or very high priced jewelry with nothing in the middle. For a ship this size the selection of merchandise offered was poor when compared to smaller sized ships. The shops themsleves were small.

I'm not sure what you are getting at here - are you saying Princess skimped on fuel because shop sales were slow? Princess doesn't actually run or own the shops. These are on a concession to a third-party contractor. If they can't make sales, tough.

 

Freddie, the port shopping expert, spent 1-1/2 hrs. talking about shopping in St. Thomas and approx. 3 min. on the port itself! ..."They certainly don't need our tips if they can afford such expensive items! or "how much does Princess pay them!"

I think we've all fallen for this...once! Then we know better. All the mass-market lines get similar complaints. I expect to see the "port experts" in politics some day. I've never seen people who can lie while looking you in the eye the way these shills can. :) Sadly, this is just a fact of life with mass-market cruising to ports owned and operated by Mega-Lo Mart jewelry stores.

 

I hope there's an installment that details what was good. Or, as has been said before, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"

[Ethel5]

If you and make up face are typical of Princess cruisers, I am quite happy that I cancelled my sailing on Crown.:cool: Surely it is difficult to breathe with one's nose so high in the air.

 

Tata:)

 

Please God.......Help me behave.

[DLern]

I was on the same cruise as Maraprince and yes we were told there was a problem with the fuel, we left late, we missed a port, sometimes there were long lines at the buffet, show set ups were not always just so and we even had some rain- wonder who we can blame for that -

 

I hope that the individual who took the last bit of food from the buffet isn't feeling guilty perhaps (s)he knew that there were other places to get food =

 

The ship is beautiful, the entertainment in the Piazza was wonderful; so it took a bit of time to set up -

 

There are many more positives than negatives to write about so if you are booked on the Crown - you will have a great time

 

To my tablemates = thanks for all the laughs and good times

 

It was great to meet and greet the 7/2 Thread - by the way there were many waiters at the CC meeting SO?

 

This was not my first Princess cruise nor will it be my last -

 

Everyone gets want they want out of a cruise --

 

Deanna

[momthecruisedirector]

oooooooh so tired! We were on the 7/2 cruise too, will write an indepth review when we get back home to Seattle but we're staying post cruise in Times Square. What a shock to the system - the peace and relaxation of the cruise to visiting NYC for the first time.

 

While we could understand the disappointment of the 'locals' I must admit we felt lucky that we were able to watch the city lights come alive from our starboard side cabin on the night of the second. I know in Seattle when they had problems last year they sent people to a warehouse setting to wait with no food or beverages for hours while they worked out the problem. We were on the ship, fed, unpacked, entertained while we waited. We, too, were very disappointed about missing Grand Turk but what could you do? We did use part of our $200 per person credit for the casino (there is a 3% fee to charge chips or slot machine tokens to your room card).

 

While we did not enjoy the MUTS area (too big for daytime, too small for night time movies - I'll explain better when I do my review) and hope that Princess will reconsider adding it to any other ships it did seem to work well for those that were interested in spending the day zoning out at the big screen.

 

We thought there was a great variety of entertainment - something for everyone, but not everything for everyone. There were choices - opera singer, ventriliquist, song and dance, the Destinations performance was AMAZING while the Motorcity wasn't so great - in our opinion. The Piazza was a great place to hang out - I passed on buffet meals to eat down there instead as the food was so fresh. I thought the sushi was very good and I'm pretty picky about it. We thought the Cafe Caribe was the best place to eat outside of the dining room for dinners and found most of the staff eat there too - which seemed to confirm our opinion of it (better then the Horizon Court). We had personal choice dining and were lucky to find a wonderful waiter - Atilla and his assistant Narcisus - they really made each meal an experience. Atilla taught us something new every night about the food we were eating- whether it was an ingredient or method of preparation. It was difficult to say goodbye to them last night.

 

To sum it up - we had a wonderful time on the cruise and would go again in a New York minute!!!

 

We're heading outside to see the lights of Times Square - will try to answer any questions you have tomorrow but we'll be heading to the Statue of Liberty and taking our first subway ride - yikes!

[skarletohara]

Makeup face, thank you for saying that and Amen!!

 

 

Amen. GOSH, what a complainer! I agree with Make-Up face.

A cruise vacation is definitely not for the OP if everything p@#sses them

off.

[mikenike]

we also just returned on the 7/2 voyage.

whilst(lol) waiting patiently for the departure, we were also watching first hand the refueling process a s we were amidship starboard.

the first delivery was in process as we had boarded.......

(we were dolphin deck midship)

i DID observe fuel going into the Crown....

that barge left and capt andy explained "that there was not enough fuel on board and we had to wait till 11 pm for another barge from nj to arrive"

that barge did arrive at 10 30 pm i watched a lot of th ereueling process and at approx 12 15 am the barge pulled away....

we left at 12 50 am and were then informed that ' the fuel that was delivered was not up to standards' and we were then unable to meet our Turks Caicos stop.

the 200 plus 12 in port fees was not in my mind any great deal nor was it a bad deal.... just one of those things that are beyond the control of the passengers. first that i have heard on this thread that it may have been a security concern.....