I’m Onboard Celebrity Century – Got Any Questions?

[caviargal]

Hi Caviargal,

They say you get what you pay for, but with massages (and haircuts) I found that to be a bit of a lie....

thanks again,

CW

 

On RCI's new Freedom of the Seas, a haircut was $73 :eek:. I hope that included a bottle of Dom:D.

[catcruiser25]

YIKES! At that price (plus tip!?)...I'd NEED a drink! :eek:

[editor@cruisecritic]

Hi. I don't think the ship is any problem for kids ages 4 and 7 -- it is just the right speed. While not as state-of-the-art as Millennium class ships, the Fun Factory was pleasing to the handful of kids of that age who were onboard.

I think the ship will definitely really be a kid magnet during the 4 and 5 nighters in the Caribbean.

But I have to say that of all the possible European itineraries (save perhaps British Isles) the Baltic isn't the place for younger children. St. Petersburg is just plain tough for young families and even though the other cities have kid friendly attractions -- Copenhagen's Tivoli, Helsinki's Zoo, Stockholm's numerous attractions -- I just can think of better itineraries. I also think -- moms, please feel free to correct me -- that 4 is just too young to appreciate Europe anyway...especially the hectic pace of a port-a-day cruise.

Carolyn

 

Dear Cruise Critic Editor:

 

I have two kids ages 7 and 4 at age of travel. Someone asked about kids club in Century, but I did not see a response. Can you (or anyone else) comment on this? How many kids were there in the Baltic cruising? I am considering your same cruise early in July 2007.

 

Thanks!

[editor@cruisecritic]

Thanks so much for your answers in the meantime -- and for your patience. I'm definitely back and ready to answer all the questions that accumulated over the past few days and any new ones you have. Just got online for the first time so haven't yet checked to see if there are anymore postings from either my cruise or this week's....

But I will.

Please know that I will get to all your questions but am not necessarily answering them in sequential order....

Carolyn

[editor@cruisecritic]

Hi, MaryAnne. I definitely think that the second level of the dining room presents more of a problem than the first. I thought the nicest tables were on deck 5 with a full extra story above them...the ones tucked under deck six were a tad claustrophobic if you are not near the windows.

I had lunch several times in the only place allotted (at lunch) for people dining adieux or solo. And those are just about the worst tables imaginable...you are way in the back, no view aside from the covered grand piano, and the waiter station is right in the middle of the row of tables and the waiters were very noisy.

I definitely second ND Traveler's comments about avoiding the strings....

 

Carolyn

[editor@cruisecritic]

SunViking 82 raises an interesting point with his post "Why I Stick With Princess". Interestingly enough I've done my first cruises with Princess and Celebrity (oddly within a month of each other) in years on Crown Princess and Celebrity Century respectively.

IMHO, where Princess absolutely outclasses Celebrity is service, at least in my recent experience. And much of the problem on Century was related to service in the dining room. But you can't really compare the two lines in that respect. Why?

Because Princess has been able to figure out how, in most cases anyway, to solve the dining conundrum. It offers folks a choice. Those who prefer the set-seating-set-tablemates every-night-the-same-time, same-waiter experience can have it! And those who feel they don't want to be constrained on vacation by rules and regimentation can have that too.

I really think we (Cruise Critic) have to do a Members Speak Out poll on dining styles, on who prefers which way. Do you agree?

I'll state for the record that I am not a huge fan of the Celebrity (and Royal Caribbean and Carnival and Crystal et al) style of evening dining. Even when done well (as it is on Crystal, where maitre 'ds have computer access to figure out who's dining where on a given even) it just seems to me to offer unnecessary constraints.

The Century cruise experience only cements my preference, alas. I'm absolutely supportive of keeping set dining scenarios for people who like them, but hate being forced into it myself.

I think the fact, too, that there have been very few questions other than responses and opinions about my awful dining experience shows that the issue is of concern to others too. Used to be we were told: want good service in the dining room? Than you need to have the same waiter every night. Well, I didn't feel that my dining room experience on Century (and I'm talking about lunch as well as dinner) was anything to boast about. Plus, with the increased popularity of dining options it's just getting harder to manage the set dining scenario....

Carolyn

[Lois R]

Hi Carolyn, thanks for your most recent replies.

 

I have a thought about your last paragraph....

 

"I think the fact, too, that there have been very few questions other than responses and opinions about my awful dining experience shows that the issue is of concern to others too."

I think some of us have been concerned....and very surprised by

what happened.

In my case, on all my X cruises, the service has always stood out as

top notch.

As you have probably noted, I am one of those who feels very badly

at the service or lack of it that you received.

I have never tried Princess before...you seem to give their service

higher marks than Celebrity.

Will I try them one day too? Possibly....but I have Millennim booked

for December and I am hoping that cruise brings me the service

I am accustomed to receiving.

Oh, your log has been fun to read and thanks for posting it!

Welcome home...(if you are in fact home)

[editor@cruisecritic]

Not home yet, another 4.5 hours and counting down (I'm on Lufthansa...their new "hotspot" wifi works well!).

Though I'm squeezed in tight (cattle car style) so it's really hard to type (guy in front of me has seat all the way back, oy) but I'm going to try hard to get caught up here....

Carolyn

[dougnewmanatsea]

I really think we (Cruise Critic) have to do a Members Speak Out poll on dining styles, on who prefers which way. Do you agree?

I agree, a poll is definitely in order.

 

As for preferences, I don't exactly prefer either.

 

My strong preference is for a single assigned seating, as done in Grill Class on Cunard.

 

You have your assigned table for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but can arrive at any time within a "window".

 

I really do like having the same dinner companions and stewards every night. If I don't like them, I'll change my table assignment. If I do like them, I think the experience is more rewarding than anything with "open seating" could be.

 

On the other hand, I do not particularly like having to show up at a certain specific time each evening. Having a window (e.g. 7 PM-9 PM for dinner) is the best.

 

As for dining alternatives, I can do without those! I don't like big ships so the ships I like are not likely to have too many alternative restaurants. If I like the food in the dining room, I really don't need six other choices.

 

However, I have come to accept that open seating (Freestyle or Personal Choice or whatever) is the way of the future, just as a lot of other things I don't really like are also the way of the future. I cannot see many lines going on indefinitely without adopting it in some form.

 

Not home yet, another 4.5 hours and counting down (I'm on Lufthansa...their new "hotspot" wifi works well!).

Hmm, I think I need to take Lufthansa next time I cross the pond by air :) !

[editor@cruisecritic]

Thanks, xplrcrzn....

Carolyn

 

 

I think it would be nice if Celebrity had several tables at dinner hosted by officers, staff, entertainers and lecturers (as Seabourn does) where invited solo passengers as well as others would have a chance to meet a variety of people. I doubt that this would disrupt the fixed seating/assigned waiter scheme of things. Solo passengers whose tablemates had "abandoned" them could easily be fitted into one of these hosted tables at the last minute.

[caviargal]

SunViking 82 raises an interesting point with his post "Why I Stick With Princess". Interestingly enough I've done my first cruises with Princess and Celebrity (oddly within a month of each other) in years on Crown Princess and Celebrity Century respectively.

 

IMHO, where Princess absolutely outclasses Celebrity is service, at least in my recent experience. And much of the problem on Century was related to service in the dining room. But you can't really compare the two lines in that respect.

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn, I am anxious to read your Crown Princess review and am frankly amazed that you prefer their service. I read your daily postings from the Crown and was often surprised by the many positive comments.

 

I have only cruised with Princess once, and that in the early 90s. It did not leave me wanting more. And I really do not care for big ships but your impressions have me a bit curious. When will you be releasing the full review?

[editor@cruisecritic]

Hi, NJ Gal.

I think in all the ports save for the complicated ones (Berlin/Warnemunde and St. Petersburg are the primary candidates) going it alone its relatively easy.

If you're going to St. Petersburg I definitely recommend doing a tour, either through your ship or through an operator like Red October. This is not a "wander around at will" kind of place. One couple on Century raved, by the way, about a private car/driver they'd booked through the ship.

My first time in St. Petersburg I did a ship tour the first day then, clutching my precious visa, had taken a cab into the city and wandered around on my own. But it was really difficult and I didn't get much out of it. I also didn't feel all that safe, even in daylight, and this has been told to me by others as well.

For Berlin, I'd go with a ship tour because the trip is such a long one.

But one bit of advice. With the Baltic itinerary, as with almost any cruise in Europe (save for the oh-so-relaxing Greek Isles) it is incredibly easy to wear yourself out by doing too much intensive sightseeing. Please remember to pace yourself, and most folks will want to do EVERYTHING in St. Petersburg...so plan to take it easy the day after. Tallinn was the perfect place for a "day after" stop -- as it's simply a delightful town that is easy for wandering independently.

We called at Warnemunde for Berlin on another trip and we were pretty weary (it was Crystal Symphony) so wound up spending the day in the charming port village instead. Sure, we missed out on Berlin (but I vowed to visit independently, another time, and since have)...but the day turned out to be memorable because of the relaxing time we spent....

Curious, Baltic vets: which ports are must-sees (serious touring), which are let-your-hair-down and chill out?

Carolyn

[editor@cruisecritic]

Great point, sirgonealot: As a solo female business traveler for 33 years, I do know well of what you speak. On land it is much easier to find new restaurants to patronize or a different hotel in which to stay. Quite different on a ship..

Carolyn

 

 

I am so sorry you have experienced some problems onboard. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, every cruise has an air of pleasant experiences to come.

 

As a solo female business traveler for 33 years, I do know well of what you speak. On land it is much easier to find new restaurants to patronize or a different hotel in which to stay. Quite different on a ship.

 

I would have thought the maitre'd on-board would have known who was traveling by themselves. I would have also thought the maitre'd would have kept an eye out for you to make sure what happened to you did not occur.

 

In general, I have never been very impressed with most maitre'd's I have come in contact with. Very standoffish and uninvolved. With the exception of Marcus on the Infinity and the tall, distinguished Indian gentleman on the Mercury. Now those gentlemen were impressive!

 

I still prefer Celebrity, but as Host Andy brought up: "...something is going very wrong at Celebrity...". I only hope they fix it soon and return to the dependable, reliable, outstanding service which made so many of us diehard fans.

[canlobef]

Welcome back Carolyn, i've been following this thread because we're booked on the Century/Baltics June 2007 and i'm just concerned about your costumer service experience esp in the dining room, we just came back from our East Med tour aboard Galaxy and while she's in need of refurbishment, the service is excellent esp in the Orion Restaurant. I just hope that your experience is just an isolated incident and not reflective of the entire crew. Again im sorry for what happened and hopefully X will do something about this. Angel:o

[Host Anne]

Carolyn ~ Welcome almost all the way back! I can't believe your cruise is over already.

 

I think your recent two cruises prove once again that experiences can differ from ship to ship, cruise line to cruise line and from cruise to cruise. I don't think we can label each line or each ship a certain way. There are so many factors that go into making each individual cruise different from the next or the one just past. Crew changes, passengers are different and there are a whole other slew of things that can change from sailing to sailing.

 

I can honestly say I have never experienced poor service in a Celebrity dining room. I can also say the same for Princess. The only truly awful dining room waiter we had was on a RCI ship several years ago and we quickly asked to be placed elsewhere. Even our recent Zenith cruise, which was our least favorite Celebrity cruise ever, had outstanding dining room service amidst choas (it was spring break).

 

While we like to think that our cruises will all be the best, the truth is that sometimes they aren't. At that point, I write my evaluation and turn it in at the end of our cruise and hope our next experience is better. If it's not, we then look for alternatives for our next cruise.

 

Thanks for keeping us all updated as you went along. I know all the members here on Celebrity appreciated your informative postings.

 

Welcome home again!

[eVader]

Hi Behbeh !

 

To answer your question, Yes, Infinity does have Wi-Fi. Here is a link where you can find more information :

 

http://www.celebrityatsea.com/index.aspx?value=6

 

I hope this is helpful. Enjoy your Cruise !

 

Just off the Summit which has an Internet cafe and wifi (got a faint signal from Deck 2 stateroom) but its very expensive and relatively slow. I found using internet cafes (some fee & some free\open networks) on shore to be a better solution.

[campingman]

Carolyn, you mentioned earlier that you were going to inspect if possible the new Family View,and Sunset View Cabins.(We have read your reply, saying the inner sunset views are lovely.)

We are desperate for your review as time has now passed to the extent that a review or any details on the rebuilt and new FV cabins cannot be found anywhere even by contacting Celebrity or looking at their outdated website.There are also many posters on the Celebrity boards very anxious to read your review.

 

Are the deck 9 FV cabins a complete new build?Is the double bed still fixed against the bulkhead so therefore it cannot be used as 2 singles?

 

Are the FV balconies larger than a new CC balcony cabin port or starb side?

 

Can a aft/sunset view be had from the inside sitting area of the Sunset View cabins or is that the view from the balcony?

 

Thanking You So Kindly.

Anthony

Sydney Australia

[takeavacation]

I would say that St. Petersburg is a must for intense sightseeing. We were there for 3 full days - and still missed alot. We couldn't believe that people were leaving the ship at night to go to the ballet and opera -- we were so exhausted with our full day tours -- i'm sure we would have fallen asleep in our seats.

 

Tallin is perfect for an easy day -- no need to rush around and see everything. Visit Old Town and the market.

 

Helsinki is nice - and can be a very easy day. We went to the open market and took a "hop on hop off" bus tour around the town -- very slow paced day.

 

But, by far, the most relaxed port has to be Visby - on Gotland, Sweden. This is a cute vacation town that you can easily walk around -- see the locals and eat local food. Oddly enough - the biggest thing around seems to be licorice -- every color and flavor you can desire is readily available at carts throughout the town.

[Gitte]

Campingman,

I have pics of the FV staterooms. The double bed can not be used as two singles.

My e-mail is in my profil.

Gitte

[Arubalisa]

I am trying to keep an open mind and see both sides of this service issue. Thinking out loud here...How many cruisers have come to expect the service of a waiter and his assistant, who after the first night's dinner, are able to anticipate their wishes? To make a vacation hassle free should a cruiser be given a choice? Probably, but then what happens to the service?

 

We were assigned a waiter on our Princess cruise the first night who was fantastic. BUT to have him serve us every night thereafter we HAD to make a phone call each and every morning to make a reservation, request his service and then "hope" he would be our waiter. For the most part it worked out, but the one night he did not serve us it was like "starting all over again". If that waiters service was horrible the first evening we would have moved on the following evening to someone else and hoped for the best.

 

People are always so impressed about having their preferred beverage, bread, or insert other favorite here, sitting on the table waiting for them when they are seated. My dd ordered a shrimp cocktail as a special request the first night of our Galaxy cruise, the second night, the waiter offered it to her and every night afterwards it was waiting for her. If you prefer a "shaken, not stirred, with 3 olive" Martini each evening, does it make you feel special and pampered to have your cocktail waiting for you each evening when you are seated? Or do you not mind having to wait the same 10 minutes each and every night for your same cocktail.

 

Are passengers willing to give up some level of service by having different waiters each evening? When cruising you should expect excellent service. On a mass market line, there are always going to be those servers who do not "live up to" the standard of service which some people have come to expect on cruise ships. Can each and every waiter provide the exact same level of service? Is your expectation of service exactly the same as mine? To be guaranteed excellent service 100% of the time, I would imagine one would need to find a high end cruise line. Until there is a time in which I am able to afford to cruise like that, I need to be realistic as to the services which are provided. There is no one server is not going to "make or break" a cruise line.

 

I do not always get the same excellent consistant service at the department store, but I am unable to afford to shop in an expensive boutique. Some days I am going to get some really good customer service and other days really lousy. Is this a reflection on the entire department store chain? This whole subject can also be applied to butlers. There are good ones who anticipate needs and not so good ones. Just luck of the draw I suppose.

[editor@cruisecritic]

St. Petersburg! But…Not….

A repeat visit to St. Petersburg (whose splendors I’ll go into later), this time around I opted for what is easily the most exotic urban shore excursion on any itinerary: a daylong trip to Moscow! It’s not for the faint of heart in either courage (the only way to do a day trip is to fly and these planes aren’t the usual Boeing or Airbus models and, as well, the trip is a justifiably expensive one at $650 per person). But it was easily the most fascinating, complicated, and well-run shore excursion I’ve ever experienced through a cruise line.

I’m going to save many of the details for an upcoming feature (“A Letter From…” – keep an eye on our e-letter for its launch) but the high points, in a nutshell:

*We departed at about 7:15 a.m. – not too bad! – and were taken first to a quick stop in St. Petersburg for souvenir shopping (not sure I understood why as we had a second day to visit St. Petersburg) then headed to the St. Petersburg airport terminal. We took a scheduled flight (11 a.m. or so) on a model called Ilysion 86 (forgive me if I don’t have the spelling right) but it was like a plane out of the sixties, really big, wide body (for just an hour’s commute), stewardesses, and yes, not cabin attendants or whatever, who wore “Jackie O” tailored suits and white gloves. There are no gateways, by the way (on either end) – you’re bused out to the tarmac and enter via stairs. In the case of this huge plane you actually climb up through the cargo area! Otherwise, pleasant and uneventful.

*The drive in from Moscow’s domestic terminal isn’t all that…outrageous until your guide (ours, we had two, actually, one from St. Petersburg who held our hands all the way, and one in Moscow) pointed out a shopping mall with Ikea as its anchor. Big deal, eh? Actually it was; she said that six or seven years ago, when the country was still emerging from its isolationist rule, the Swedish Ikea was the first major import and considered incredibly exotic at the time.

*There’s lots of history, even in inexplicable places, like beside the highway in a growing area of suburban concrete apartment blocks. In this case our guide pointed out a monument to the “coverage of Soviet soldiers who were forcing Hitler back during World War II. Hitler had planned to eradicate the city by flooding it. It just reminded me of how bloody is the recent past of St. Petersburg and Moscow, not to mention so many other parts of Russia.

*Would you believe that the Russian Federation is so big it has 11 time zones?

*The biggest highlight was arriving in Moscow. It’s not a pretty city, looks like a blend between an Eastern bloc metropolis (with old tramways and their attendant low-hanging power cables) with a handful of very tall, very sleek apartment, hotel, condo and office skyscrapers; these represent the new, moneyed Russia. We get off the bus on what’s an average looking block of buildings and our guides lead us around the corner and – kaboom! We’re in Red Square. It’s one of the two most breathtaking urban squares in the world in my opinion – St. Mark’s in Venice gets the other nod. First up is St. Basil’s and you wouldn’t believe that despite its sort of rocky karma in the beginning (it was built at the behest of Ivan the Terrible) it was so beautiful and so unique I couldn’t breathe for a second.

What makes it unique is its various patterns and textures – it’s much, much more whimsical than the average Eastern Orthodox cathedral. Its onion domes are painted in oranges, greens, blues, reds, with the gold minaret-style spires offering the more classic counterpoint. St. Basil’s is significant because it resembles a blend of East and Western influences; to me its fabulous and varied onion domes felt like a carnival.

*So we see St. Basil’s ahead and walk around the corner and there is Red Square, in all its glory! The Kremlin on one long, long side, facing Gum’s department store, the legendary Soviet-era mercantile, which in what I guess is a perfect symbolic move now is now a sterile (albeit pretty) shopping mall that houses the same-old chain boutiques – Burberry et al – that you can find anywhere in the world). St. Basil’s anchors one end, the State Historical Museum lies on the other. And right up against the huge Kremlin (which spans the length of the square) is Lenin’s mausoleum.

*One interesting new twist is that our guide actually gave us 40 minutes free time to wander around at will – first time ever that’s happened on any of my St. Petersburg tours, where guides were required to accompany you at all times (I got separated from my group once on an Hermitage tour and I remember she was really really upset – and quite relieved when I resurfaced).

*We toured the Kremlin (now the equivalent of a business-oriented White House – Putin reportedly lives on an estate in the suburbs but he does work there). The Armory is the big attraction; it’s a bit like Russia’s Smithsonian, with collections of everything from ancient religious cassocks (cakkoc) to Catherine the Great’s summer carriage. Don’t miss the collection of thrones….

*Very cool was our tour of the subway system. We got on at Revolution Square (near Red Square) and rode for two stops. Moscow’s subway is legendary; Stalin spent millions building the most architecturally extravagant stations (marbled walls, crystal chandeliers, bronze sculptures). Each station is different, too. One warning: our guide warned us to be very careful of pickpocketers and, indeed, one of our group caught a woman trying to nab her bag….

*We had an outstanding (early) dinner at a gorgeous ancient manse that now serves as an elite private club for writers; dinner came with red wine, water and the obligatory vodka.

*We finished up before 7 p.m., even though our return flight wasn’t until 10 p.m., and were back on the bus – and for good reason because the traffic was monstrous and it took two hours! We were cutting it close.

*The flight home was frankly scarier than the flight there…it was a long, narrow plane and when we took off the entire bank of luggage compartments began to vibrate, making a very distinctive “rat a tat rat a tat” sound that frankly sounded like gunfire. One wag said he hoped the plane had one more flight still in it (and frankly so did we all).

*We landed safely…deplaned into yet another bus, rode to the terminal, got on our motorcoach and headed into St. Petersburg. It was just after midnight and there was still light in the sky! Great day, exhausting, and I would advise folks who take this adventure not to over-book the next day in St. Petersburg (some were doing afternoon tours; perfect blend as you’ll want the rest!).

Stay tuned for more details – these are just quick impressions but I hope they whet your interest. Would love to hear from others who’ve done the Moscow excursion (we traveled in tandem with a group from Oceania Insignia, by the way; our group was about 100 folks).

Carolyn

[editor@cruisecritic]

Amen, evader, my bill was the biggest ever -- and I was constantly writing messages and then having them get lost in Lapland.

Our port profiles do offer options for on-shore Internet centers, by the way, so make sure to check them before you go (for instance in Stockholm, all the 7-11s -- and they're everywhere -- have 'em).

Carolyn

 

Just off the Summit which has an Internet cafe and wifi (got a faint signal from Deck 2 stateroom) but its very expensive and relatively slow. I found using internet cafes (some fee & some free\open networks) on shore to be a better solution.

[editor@cruisecritic]

My airplane-savvy husband tells me I spelled the name of the Russian airplane we flew from St. Petersburg. It's Ilyushin IL 86 not whatever it was I said :))

Carolyn

[editor@cruisecritic]

Okay at long last here’s my rundown on cabins. Campingman, one bit of bad news – the only category I wasn’t able to get into and tour was the family cabin and I’m sorry about that. But it looks like others reading the thread are posting their experiences…so please, anybody who’s stayed in one, please feel free to let us know how it is. I also wasn’t able to see a penthouse cabin.

In general, and I’ve already raved about the lovely new décor in the insides, outsides, balcony and ConciergeClass staterooms, there are lovely. Perhaps not as big as those found on the newest ships, but I frankly didn’t feel that our ConciergeClass cabin was too small for two – loved it actually – and the balconies add an extra room. I made more use of this balcony than I did any others on recent cruises.

Major improvements: flat screen televisions, comfy mattresses and wonderful duvets, great pillows, vibrant primary color scheme, plenty of closet space, nice lighting above the bed (so one person can read while the other sleeps) and lush window treatments. The curtains on the outsides and balcony cabins block out the light entirely if you’re sailing during the “midnight sun” season or just want to take a nap.

Okay, onward to the other areas.

*On deck 12, cabins were added where the Sky Bar was. There are 14 sky suites, four insides and two staff cabins along with the sunset view category at the aft – five standard balcony staterooms and one with just a window.

*While the sunset verandahs hover over the canvas canopy of the outdoor bar below, they have nice, deep balconies…I’d book one in a heartbeat.

*Major suites that already had verandahs before this major overhaul ironically now have very shallow ones (and are framed by lesser categories whose balconies stretch out beyond). However, this was just a time issue and the plan is in September or October to completely extend the suite balconies and refurnish them as well. They’ll do it on port days (no drydock necessary); it’s actually rather simple because the wider steel deck is already in place…just have to add dividers and railings.

*Sky Suites. Basically just a bigger standard verandah, they do have bigger balconies, a bit more space and a very lovely bathroom, marble, with a big soaking tub (ahhh, envied that!). The bathrooms in these suites weren’t redone like those in standard categories but frankly there was no reason to – they are elegant. The stateroom décor has been revitalized and is a bit more subdued than the standards, which felt more contemporary… these were more elegant, all around. Sky Suites are 244 square ft. with 142 square ft. verandahs.

*The Celebrity Suite was very much like the Sky Suite, simply a bigger cabin (though not as big as the Sky Suite, actually, as it measures 190 square ft. with a 38 square ft. balcony). But it does come with a butler…and DVD player (though on my Baltic cruise I don’t know when you’d have time to watch an entire movie!) and more sumptuous than standard bathroom.

*There are two decks with ConciergeClass staterooms – on deck nine there are 124 and on deck ten, the main suite deck, there are 54. Mine was on deck nine and I frankly wouldn’t see a difference between decks….

*The best suites (save for the Penthouse which I didn’t see) are the Royal Suites. There are 8 of ‘em and they have a “pretty separate” living and sleeping area (divided by HUGE flat screen television – 42 inches -- on both the living room and bedroom sides) along with DVD and CD. There’s also a small dining room – part of the L-shaped configuration of the living area. The bathroom is divine, separate tub (whirlpool) and shower, lots ‘o marble, and a walk in-closet with little vanity. Big balcony, lovely furnishings, teak instead of the standard metal-mesh stuff. And the chair cushions out there – plump, lush cushions I wanted to buy and take home.

*Re the butlers -- met two couples in suites with butlers, both raved.

What have I missed? What do you still want to know?

Carolyn

[editor@cruisecritic]

Hi, the review got pushed back a few weeks...probably mid-August (at the latest)! We'll promote it in the e-letter and on Today on Cruise Critic when it's up!

Thanks, caviargal.

Carolyn

 

Carolyn, I am anxious to read your Crown Princess review and am frankly amazed that you prefer their service. I read your daily postings from the Crown and was often surprised by the many positive comments.

 

I have only cruised with Princess once, and that in the early 90s. It did not leave me wanting more. And I really do not care for big ships but your impressions have me a bit curious. When will you be releasing the full review?