Yet another 8/7 Crown Princess Review

[sbharr]

As promised in another thread, here is my review. I have a feeling it will be long, so I may break it into parts - we'll see. I have tried to be objective as possible, but opinions are obviously subjective. I'd like to thank all the people who answered my questions when I joined CC a few months ago - you were most helpful and your advice really added to my cruise experience.

 

Background: My DH and I are in our late 30's and 40's. We have been on one other cruise 4 years ago, a port-intensive 5 day cruise (no sea days) in the Mediterranean on a much smaller ship on the Orient cruise line.

 

Arrival: We were scheduled to arrive at noon on Aug 7th on a charter bus from Boston/Providence. As some of my CC friends know, we got a flat tire when we got to the Bronx. (I just kept thinking of my CC idol, Merion Mom, and thought to myself "This will not ruin my cruise!") We arrived after 3 pm once the tire was fixed. I thought that meant there would be no lines, as everyone would have arrived earlier, but that was not the case. Lines were long and we did not get onboard until almost 4pm. Ran to get something to eat (had been on the bus since 7:30 am) and managed to get one bite of pizza in before we had to go to the muster drill. Oh, well. Not an auspicious start - luckily, that was the most drama we had during the whole cruise.

 

Cabin: We were in a BB Cabin on Caribe deck aft. Cabin C743. It is the last cabin on the side of the ship, so had a slightly larger balcony. Room seemed small (what else do you expect from a cruise ship?), but DH and I managed to put our things away. Loved the balcony, but if we tried to leave the door open, the wind would make a horrible moaning/whistling sound. My DH jerry-rigged once of the cardboard announcements between the door and wall and that helped alot. Lovd the bed and linens, very comfortable for us.

 

Cabin Steward: We had Jose from Mexico. He did a pretty good job, filled most requests promptly. Tried to engage him in conversation a few times, and while he was friendly, he seemed a little shy.

 

Ship - thought it was beautiful, elegant without being flashy. Lots of nice areas inside to relax. Liked the public areas, dining rooms, Wheelhouse bar, etc. I could not believe that there virtually no signs of damage at all from the list - you would never have known anything had happened just a few weeks ago. We didn't mind at all the size of the ship. I felt less guilty about eating all the great food if I were walking around the ship and taking the stairs (mostly to avoid the aggravation of waiting for an elevator!) Sometimes, you would get one in a minute or two, most of the time more than that.

 

Pools and Chair hogs: The pools were generally packed all day if we were not in port. We left the ship at all ports so I am not sure if this was the case when we were in port. We could not get near the two adults-only areas (Terrace Pool and Spa Pool) all week. We gave up after a few days. Some people joked that people were sleeping in those chairs at night to save them :rolleyes: . Getting a shady spot was very hard up on the pool decks. We found one at the tippity top underneath some equipment, but on some days they had the ventilators going up there so the whole area smelled like the fryolator. When they were not going, it was OK up there. The promenade deck, Deck 7, had upright chairs all in the shade, but they were generally taken too. I believe we sailed with a full ship. I noticed the Sanctuary was empty on the first day (still $15 for half a day per person), but began to fill up on subsequent days and was pretty full by the end of the cruise. I guess others were frustrated with finding a shady spot too. This is one area that needs improvement. I personally did not like the fact that most chairs were crammed so tight against each other that it was hard to maneuver on them or around them. We sat mostly at the Calypso pool. Epithani (one of the house bands) played there some afternoons, and I thought they were very good - not too much other craziness at the pool, just occasional games/pool volleyball, etc. Another singer, Robert Smith, played on other afternoons, he was OK. Could only hear MUTS from there in the late afternoon as other background noises faded away, but was not overly loud from there. We did not sit at the MUTS pool at all so can't speak about the volume there.

 

OK - that's long enough - coming up in the next part - food, service, entertainment, and ports!

 

Feel free to post questions - I will try to answer them!:)

[RM]

Looking forward to more of your review. Thanks for posting!

[IKE]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Happy to hear you liked the "Crown" and from what you have said basically enjoyed your cruise with a few exceptions. Waiting to read rest of your review. I sail on 9/21 Crown and looking forward to it. Ike

[Sandytoes]

sbharr - What a Great Review...

Loved the balcony, but if we tried to leave the door open, the wind would make a horrible moaning/whistling sound. My DH jerry-rigged once of the cardboard announcements between the door and wall and that helped alot.

I kept waking up my DH thinking the alarm went off. Asking what time is it? Realizing he was sound asleep. No Alarm...It was the noise from the balcony door....

 

Pools and Chair hogs: The pools were generally packed all day if we were not in port. We could not get near the two adults-only areas (Terrace Pool and Spa Pool) all week. We gave up after a few days. Some people joked that people were sleeping in those chairs at night to save them . Getting a shady spot was very hard up on the pool decks.

There were a lot of chair hogs on board...Saw 2 ladies arguing over one lounge chair...One left a towel all morning. Chair was never used. Another lady noticed it was unoccupied for quite sometime and decided to claim it...Well, the lady returned and wanted her chair back....We ended up watching these two debate instead of MUTS....The MUTS volume wasn't loud at all. The day we were up the Calypso pool they were having a Playstation car race. It became very annoying after awhile.

As for the shade, none was to be found anywhere....One day I found a lounge chair up on the Sun Deck...I opened up my umbrella and had shade....I got a lot of looks from people....But at least I finally had shade.....:)

Cabin Steward - Tried to engage him in conversation a few times, and while he was friendly, he seemed a little shy.

Ours was a very talkative one. She said it's lonely not talking to anyone.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review....

[sbharr]

Looking forward to the rest of your review....

 

Thanks, Sandytoes - it was great meeting you at the Cruise and schmooze/meet and greet!:)

[sbharr]

Wanted to take a moment to say hi to my fellow CC'ers on the Aug 7th cruise. We missed the first meeting due to the aforementioned flat tire, but met everyone in the second meeting on Day 2 and it was a hoot to put faces to names and have a ready-made group of friends on board - I wish I ran into more of you more often during the cruise....

 

Ok, back to the promised review:

 

Food: OK, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised - I went in with lowered expectations when I thought about the kitchen trying to feed more than 3,000 people, but overall, I thought the food was excellent! We had anytime dining and really never had a wait. One night we walked in with tons of other people after a show and we waited in line to be seated, but that was due more to having everyone show up at once than anything else. When we got to the front of the line we were seated right away. Another evening, we were eating with another couple we met on board (Hi Vinny and Barbara, if yoy are reading this!). We were given a pager and told there was a 30 minute wait. I decided to take advantage of this and went to the ladies' room. When I returned, the pager went off! We could not have waited more than 5 minutes!

 

Breakfast - my husband ordered room service pretty much every day, cereal, coffee and danish - I tried to skip this meal to save on calories (didn't always succeed!). We went to the buffet for breakfast twice. The buffet was the same both days, which surprised me. I also did not figure out until the end of the cruise that you could get omelettes made to order instead of taking one from the trays already prepared. There was no sign or any notice. I just happened to bump into a worker and asked and he said "of course!" Wish I had asked earlier in the cruise...Twice we also went to the dining room for breakfast, both times thought it was very good. I have to say, my DH didn't mind the coffee at all n the buffet, from room serivce or in the dining room, but he went in with low expectations as I had warned him from opinions here on CC. I don't drink coffee so I can't comment.

 

Lunch: I guess my DH and I have different tastes because we did not like the pizza from the pizza grill at all! Thought it was greasy and the sauce was weird. If you are from the Northeast, I thought it was exactly like Papa Gino's pizza, which I hate. Other people raved about it and said they ate it multiple times a day. Others agreed with us - seemed like a love/hate thing. Didn't bother me, as there were SO many other choices! The burger/hot dog grill was good (Love those fries!). We loved lunch in the dining room and thought they had great choices. Even hit the buffet on a day or two, and could always find something we liked, with salads, salad bar, sandwiches prepared to order, hot dishes, fruit, desserts, etc. to choose from.

 

OK - I know I am going to get blasted - but i have resolved to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. One day, after getting back on board from a port, we went to the International Cafe for lunch - I was so excited after all the rave reviews here. My DH and I each got a sandwich - mine was the mozzarella/basil sandwich ( I love that combo), his was grilled chicken. Both of us were very disappointed. My sandwich had no taste at all! He didn't like his either. So I went back and got a plate of shrimp salad for us to share - it was awful, in some kind of oily sauce that tasted like celery - we couldn't finish it. And so I decided I had to get a cookie - the only saving grace as so many people raved about them. Again, disappointment. Mine was cold and very hard and tasted like any other store-bought cookie. Not bad, just not the sensation I thought it would be. I was very disappointed and we did not go back to the International Cafe again. (One exception - during the now infamous delayed disemarkation on Wednesday, the Cafe finally started serving some food to people still waiting at 11:30 am to be called - we were lucky enough to be passing by - OK - I said I would tell the truth - I admit - my DH was hungry and said we should go there and I kept insisting they wouldn't give us anything, which was the case whe we first got there, but 30 seconds later, the wonderful guy behind the counter felt so bad that so many people were still waiting, he started putting up trays and trays of croissants, cinnamon rolls, etc. (But no cookies!- they stayed in the case) - this really won bonus points in my book - people descended on the food like flies! - kudos to the International Cafe!) We wanted to try the "Seabuzz" iced coffee drinks at the International cafe but never had the chance.

 

Afternoon Tea - This is a must do - it is in the Davinci dining room (as are breakfast and lunch) from 3:30 to 4:30 every day. We only did it once, due to scheduling conflicts, and being full from lunch (poor excuse, I know!) but we loved it, great sandwiches, scones and desserts, white gloved service and wonderful tea! wish we had made it more often.

 

Dinner - we ate at the buffet on sailaway day, having gotten the tip on the seafood buffet here on CC. Thought it was great - we had originally planned on going to the dining room afterwards, but were too full to go. Heard from others that we did not miss much as the menu was not great that night (frog's legs and duck among others), this was thefirst formal night This was the deal I made with my DH, who did not want to dress up at all during the cruise, so we compromised by not going to the first formal night and going to the second (more on that later). The buffet was empty when we went and they had a great selection of food, grilled shrimp, paella, steak, etc. Every other night we ate in the dining room, and I thought the food was excellent every night except maybe one. The choices were pretty good. The one night I was not impressed, I had ordered soup and then pasta with mussels. The soup was so salty I didn't touch it and the pasta was not very good - I simply ordered some fettucine alfredo (so good I ordered it as a side almost every night!) and chocked it up to me and my tastes. Every other night was excellent - I had steak, swordfish, lobster tail, chicken kiev, and pasta with littleneck clams on various nights. Everything was very good to excellent. Good appetizers and salads too. Couldn't find a salad dressing I liked in the first day or two, so I asked a waiter who suggested their balsamic vinaigrette - it was fabulous and I got that on every salad in the dining room after that (never saw it on the buffet!) Desserts were good to - LOVE THAT LOVE BOAT DREAM!). Generally I had that, or sometimes ice cream. My DH LOVES carrot cake, and that was the one dessert he didn;t like. He said it was plain cake with a piece of carrot on the frosting. He loved their tiramisu though. If you are celebrating an anniversary or graduation, they give you an 8 layer cake that is very good too.

 

Whew - I think I covered that OK. We never tried the room service for lunch or dinner as it was pretty limited as discussed on other boards.

 

More to come, still need to cover service, entertainment and ports!

[sbharr]

Forgot to mention - with anytime dining, if we asked for a table for two, they always asked us if we would sit at a larger table. Most times we said no - we wanted a table for two and they still sat us right away. Be advised, as others have stated - tables for two are put very close together so sometimes you ended up talking to people around you anyway. No problem for us - in fact, that is how we would up trying escargot for the first time - the people at the next table noticed we didn't order it and kept insisting we try it - we did and it was great - we loved it - soon all the tables for two around us were ordering it - YUM!

[sbharr]

Forgot to mention, we had perfect weather all week, with one or two quick showers on two or three nights (including a tremendous lightning storm the first night) - but on the the second formal night, seas were very rocky. This also happened on the last night, but to a lesser degree. Those were the only two times I took a Bonine, and it did the trick - I wasn't sick at all!

 

We did feel vibration and some swaying on other nights - but definitely not enough to bother you and seemed to be everywhere on the ship, fore and aft.

 

I thought the A/C was fine in our room and in the public rooms some nights and found some very cold places on other nights. It seemed to vary though, after the first night of not carrying a shawl or sweater and feeling very cold, I tried to remember to carry one at night but only needed it oonce or twice.

 

More to come - for now - back to work!

[sbharr]

OK - It has been said so many times before - we loved Sarge!! I literally had tears rolling down my face during both his shows. He did a quick routine on the first night and a longer show later in the cruise, which included some singing (I couldn't believe how great his voice was!)

 

For the bands, I think the Princess Orchestra (which backs up some of the shows, and performs on its own in the Explorer's lounge at the end of the cruise) and Epithani, which plays some days by the Calypso pool, during the island deck party one night and in Club Fusion and Explorer's Loiunge on other nights was very good. Robert Smith was OK, he is a one-man show. We did not like the other band, Derringer, at all. "Think Love Shack" off key almost every night - we were disappointed they played the champagne waterfall party on the second formal night. I do agree with some other posts here that it would be nice if the bands were allowed to mixup their playlists a bit. We heard several songs many times over from all the musical entertainment. For a slower pace, we enjoyed Elua (a duo singing standards) in the Wheelhouse bar. We also like Dan "The Pianoman" Mills who played nightly in Crooners.

 

We did not go to any of the big production shows, so I can't comment on them. We did see the International Crew show on the TV in our room - since it is popular and is performed only once during the cruise, they show it on TV for a day or two afterward.

 

We did see Uber Rossi, (physical comedy), Randy Cabral (juggling and comedy), the hypnotist (Steve something), a magician and also a ventriloquist (started slow but ended strong). Liked them all. Much less thrilled with Ross Bennet (Unfunny comedian), the impressionist, and a pianist who played in the Princess theatre. He played piano beautifully but his stage presence was awful. He was almost rude.

 

The one disappointment was the Farewell show in the Princess Theatre. They had three previously seen acts (Ross Bennett, the magician and Randy Cabral) Each one performed for maybe 10 minutes, so it was over in half an hour. Seems like they didn't have enough new material to make it any longer. They should have brought back Sarge!

 

We did go to the Not-so-Newlywed game which should have been good except for one drunk female contestant who kept using profanity and speaking obscenely :eek: with kids in the room, including one of her own. The ACD kept asking her to stop, but she kept saying her kids had already heard it all before:eek: :eek: .

 

During the day, we were pretty mellow, but did play some bingo and horse racing (fun!). I also attended the cooking demonstration, which was entertaining due to the interaction of Michel, the head chef, and Generosso, the head Waiter. Very cute. I ducked out of the galley tour afterward as there were hundreds of people trying to walk through the kitchen at once. I knew I wouldn't be able to hear or see anything.

 

Thought the entertainment staff (James, Lisa, etc.) did a great job getting things going without being obnoxious. They work very hard for long hours. I saw James trying to grab a quick sandwich at the iNternational Cafe and he couldn't walk two feet without someone wanting something from him. The island deck party is a must-do. I think the crew was just as into it as the passengers - lots of fun!

 

More to come, if this is helpful! Still need to cover service and ports.

 

Be happy to answer any questions.

[dimondzzzz]

FABULOUS INFO.......thx so much for taking time out of your busy day at work ;) lol. All info is truly appreciated.

So far sounds like your vacation was lovely.....nothing is ever perfect and you are right that you should not go with super high expectations...that way its all good.

Could you take photo copies of your passport at ports or is the original required?

Did you try the ballroom dancing or golf on board?

How are the hairdryers? strong enough or is it best to bring your own?

Thats it for now..............i think .....thx in advance!!!

[sbharr]

FABULOUS INFO.......thx so much for taking time out of your busy day at work ;) lol. All info is truly appreciated.

So far sounds like your vacation was lovely.....nothing is ever perfect and you are right that you should not go with super high expectations...that way its all good.

Could you take photo copies of your passport at ports or is the original required?

Did you try the ballroom dancing or golf on board?

How are the hairdryers? strong enough or is it best to bring your own?

Thats it for now..............i think .....thx in advance!!!

 

Thanks for reminding me - I left out a few things.

 

We used our licenses as our photo ID in ports and never had a problem, although we did have our passports with us.

 

We did do one ballroom dancing lesson (the swing) and it was a lot of fun. We meant to attend the practice session later the same day, but got caught up in something else and didn't make it. Lots of people were there, seemed very popular.

 

We did do the putting green course, but not the golf simulator, which always seemed very busy. The putting green course is nice with great views of the ocean as it is on the top deck at the aft ship. Only problem was the 2 obnoxious kids who kept jumping on our green while we were playing to play their own balls. We went to the other side to get some peace, but everywhere we went, they followed. Parents did nothing, Mom asked me to take their picture:mad: . I finally asked the kids to wait to use the particular green until we were done and to feel free to use any of the other 8 greens while they were waiting (no-one else was up there). Made us feel very rushed and we left and didn't go back.

 

Defintely bring your own hairdryer!! I used my own until the last morning as I had packed mine up the night before. I joked with my DH that it would be faster for him to blow on my hair than to use the provided hair dryer. LOL.

[Sandytoes]

We did do the putting green course,

We were lounging right near the Terrance Pool one day (very surprised to find loungers :confused: ) and a golf ball almost hit my DH & I.....Wondering, do you have a mighty swing? LOL ;)

 

The Not-so-Newlywed game - one drunk female contestant who kept using profanity and speaking obscenely with kids in the room-

We were there, she just didn't get it....Or didn't care....What a couple!

We also did the BINGO - didn't win...They made out well over $50G during the cruise and all the gave out were a few hundred bucks and the top prize $2,500. They use to give out cruises as well....I wonder why they stopped that...:confused:

 

Defintely bring your own hairdryer!! I used my own until the last morning as I had packed mine up the night before. I joked with my DH that it would be faster for him to blow on my hair than to use the provided hair dryer. LOL.

I forgot to pack my dryer and used the one in cabin....I have thick hair which takes a long time to dry.... I had to sit on the balcony if I wanted it to dry quicker....LOL

 

What a great review....Don't you wish we were still on board?

I'm working on my video right now....I had the Photo Gallery put my underwater photos on a CD. They did a nice job.

[Sandytoes]

We did do the putting green course,

We were lounging right near the Terrance Pool one day (very surprised to find loungers :confused: ) and a golf ball almost hit my DH & I.....Wondering, do you have a mighty swing? LOL ;)

 

The Not-so-Newlywed game - one drunk female contestant who kept using profanity and speaking obscenely with kids in the room-

We were there, she just didn't get it....Or didn't care....What a couple!

We also did the BINGO - didn't win...They made out well over $50G during the cruise and the winning prizes were a few hundred bucks and the top prize $2,500. They use to give out cruises as well....I wonder why they stopped that...:confused:

 

Defintely bring your own hairdryer!! I used my own until the last morning as I had packed mine up the night before. I joked with my DH that it would be faster for him to blow on my hair than to use the provided hair dryer. LOL.

I forgot to pack my dryer and used the one in cabin....I have thick hair which takes a long time to dry.... I had to sit on the balcony if I wanted it to dry quicker....LOL

 

What a great review....Don't you wish we were still on board?

I'm working on my video right now....I had the Photo Gallery put my underwater photos on a CD. They did a nice job.

[dimondzzzz]

WOW!!! u answered aaaaall my questions...thx!

Good thing it wasn't me with those rug rats golfing....i would have probably lost it lol !

We are sailing on sept 21ist with a couple pre cruise days in NYC.....can't wait.

Cheers.

[hill6]

Did they have the elevators working midship? There were two that were out of service for our entire cruise on July 22-29 (the one right after).

[sbharr]

We tried to take the stairs as much as possible so I wouldn't feel so guilty about trying all the great food:rolleyes:, but I believe all the elevators were working, even mid-ship.

 

I saw them working on one during the cruise, but I saw it working later the same day.

[RM]

Does anyone remember how much it was to have your photos put on CD??? I really would like to do this and not have to worry about xraying the film.

 

Great review! Thanks.

[Sandytoes]

My underwater camera photos cost $6.95.

[barbarah33]

Thank you so much for such a great review. Each time you post I can't wait to read more. It's nice that somebody has taken the time to fill in all the little tidbits and give their honest opinion of everything.

[RM]

Thanks Sandytoes!

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Thanks for the great review, really enjoyed reading it all, have thought about booking the crown for 2008.

[Soccrmom65]

I will be sailing with family and friends on Sept 30th and most are first time Princess psgs. I like you love Tea on Princess.....I don't think any of the other lines I have sailed even come close. that is one of the things I am really looking forward to. We paid to do a tea on our Disney cruise and Princess is still much better!

[sbharr]

OK - I promised myself I would finish this - sorry for the delay, but I was traveling for work this week...

 

Service - overall service was very good. I met many freindly workers on the cruise, which is amazing when they work so hard for long hours. With anytime dining, we had some waiters we liked better than others; they made recommendations, took their time, and brought extra items other than what we ordered to try. Nicolas in DaVinci for lunch was awesome. The only exception may be the second formal night (the only time we dressed up and went). They sat us right next to the waiters' table at a table for two, so they would lean over the plexiglass to serve us. It was VERY rushed. We would still be chewing and they would be whisking plates away. They did bring extra lobster tails that we didn't ask for, and were pleasant, but again, I felt like they were trying to get us out of there ASAP.

 

Bar service was good as well, at times too good. While sitting on deck by the pools, I would get asked if I wanted a drink multiple times by mutliple attendants in the span of 5 minutes. Bo in the Wheelhouse bar was very friendly. I would also say that they really push the large size drinks, which are huge, even if I insisted I didn't want one.

 

The service issues we encountered had to do with the room. Several days into the cruise, our safe combination which had worked all along suddenly wouldn't. We were trying to leave our cabin, but I called passsenger services, and they asked us to stay put as they were sending someone up immediately. 40 minutes later I called to see if they were sending anyone, as we wanted to leave the cabin. They arrived 10 minutes later and the problem was fixed in 60 seconds. Never had that problem again. I understand many others had the same issue and that Princess is considering replacing the safes.

 

The more irritating issue had to do with the toilet. One the morning of the last sea day around 11 am, we returned to our cabin to discover the toilet would not work. If you pushed the button, absolutely nothing happened. I mentioned it to the room steward, and told him i would call Passenger services, but he said not to worry, he would take care of it. At 2:00 pm we returned to the cabin, toilet still broken, no sign of steward or anyone else. I called passenger services, they said someone would be right up. We left, returned at 4:00 pm, still broken. I called again. They said someone wuld be right up. We left to grab a snack at the buffet, came back around 30 minutes later. Toilet was finally fixed. Next morning, it was broken again. Tried to call passenger services, as we were annoyed. No answer ( I am sure they had a million people looking at their bill.) Tried to go in person as we felt bad for the people who would be in our cabin later in the day. Due to the disembarkation fiasco referred to in other posts, there was a sea of people, I couldn't even get near the desk. - not good.

 

Ports:

 

Grand Turk: Loved it, just hung out at the beach and Magaritaville. Saw other posts saying the beach was rocky, not true at all for us. We walked away from the beach to the left, found a shady spot under a palm, and really loved the sand and clear blue sea. Walked over to Magaritaville every once in a while to enjoy cocktails and laugh at the entertainment. The pool was packed, so the beach was better for us. Some friends we met later said they walked into town and were really disappointed as there was nothing there. When we sailed away, it was weird, the area that had been packed, including the beach, was completely deserted, magaritaville must have closed its doors 2 minutes after we left!

 

San Juan - we took a cab to Isla Verde for about $19 each way. Say my new friend Sandytoes's review which said it was awful, and I was shocked! We never saw the Ritz, where she was. We got dropped off on a side street right at the beach near the Intercontinental. It was gorgeous! Beautiful sand, clear water, very nice. We even managed to snag an abandoned lounge chair at the hotel (didn't realize til later we were supposed to rent it). Used the restrooms off the beach at the Intercontinental, and enjoyed drinks at the beach bar - no problems, gorgeous afternoon. Our cab driver to the beach said he would pick us up, but didn;t return. No problem, plenty of taxis were waiting at the same side street where we got dropped off. Stopped at the Hard R9ck in San Juan which is very close to the ship - lots of fun!

 

St. Thomas: Took an open air taxi to Magen's Bay - joined the sea of blue and while striped towels already there - again, beautiful water and sand, but crowded with fellow shipmates. Sat for a while at the beach - you MUST try a bushwacker - so good! Then we took the same taxi back toward the ship to the Paradise Point Tram - really fun ride up the mountain to shops, restaurant, bar at the top (more bushwackers!) They had a parrot show going on at the time and beautiful view of the ship. We walked back from there - another beautiful day.

 

Bermuda: my favorite port, although I liked them all. We took the ferry to Hamilton, which took longer than we thought (beware, even when you leave right by the ship, you will first cross the dock to pick up more passengers for the ferry). Becasue of the delay with the ferry, we immediately went to the bus stop at Hamilton to get a pink bus to Horseshoe Bay - the most beautiful beach I have seen and I have seen a few. Another place were the whole ship went to. Water is deep blue and crystal clear and there is beautiful views. However, we chose the beach also because it is one of the few with facilities. They had a water problem when we got there so no bathrooms, or showers. We left earlier than I would have liked and caught a bus to the new Swizzle (sister to the infamous Swizzle Inn) for a drink before catching a bus back to the ship. Everyone was very friendly and really appreciated it if you said hello and thank you, especially the bus drivers.

 

Overall, loved the ports, but didn't like the short port days, it felt a little rushed.

[MiamiU72]

OK - I promised myself I would finish this - sorry for the delay, but I was traveling for work this week...

 

Service - overall service was very good.

 

We found service overall quite good. Only one time at lunch did we have someone who seemed annoyed when we would ask for things and got offended when I mentioned I didn't want (and couldn't eat) the dish since he just put on pepper...without asking. Everyone else was great, especially Florintina and Georgie in Botticelli

 

 

The service issues we encountered had to do with the room.

 

We had problems with the safe also...couldn't open once, but they did send someone right up...it was early in the cruise, so they probably weren't as busy. The safe does do an annoying beeping for 5 minutes if you leave it open...and we had to reset the numbers many times. My mom got quite frustrated with it, but I found it easier.

 

 

The more irritating issue had to do with the toilet.

 

We found that often you had to push the button several times to get it to flush. Also the last day we could hear a gurgling noise from the drains, but nothing came up...hopefully it was ok for the next cruise...we did leave a note! Some folks had mentioned the problem with the water rolling out of the handicap showers, but we didn't really have this problem...best not to leave stuff on the floor just in case the ship "lists"!

Bermuda: my favorite port, although I liked them all. We took the ferry to Hamilton, which took longer than we thought (beware, even when you leave right by the ship, you will first cross the dock to pick up more passengers for the ferry). Becasue of the delay with the ferry, we immediately went to the bus stop at Hamilton to get a pink bus to Horseshoe Bay - the most beautiful beach I have seen and I have seen a few.

 

I think you can also just go to the end of the dock (or take the free shuttle) and there is a bus that goes directly to Horseshoe Bay...the traffic officer by the taxi line was giving people directions...you may need exact change but it seems like you can buy tokens by the bus stop..anyone do this??? I did take several photos overlooking horseshoe bay...http://www.kodakgallery.com/kathyhume....click on albums and scoll down to Bermuda one...Maybe you are on it!

Overall, loved the ports, but didn't like the short port days, it felt a little rushed.

 

I agree! I would have liked to have spend more time at the beach in Grand Turk and we left St Thomas way too soon....could have skipped PR..but then I have been there before:)