Crown Princess August 16 - 25th - Knowles Travelogue

[PhD-iva]

Okay, this is long, so you're under no obligation to read it! :D

 

We packed the car the night before departure, woke at 3:00 AM on Wednesday August 16th and left home by 4:00 AM to drive the 150 miles to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. I wanted to miss as much of rush hour traffic as possible. We only made one or two wrong turns and only spent 20 minutes lost around Queens (?). Still, we arrived at the terminal by 7:20 AM. We parked the car and took a stroll down Van Brunt Ave a few blocks to a deli where we stopped for breakfast. It must have been a good deli, as several of NY’s finest also stopped for their breakfast. They admonished us to stick to Van Brunt and to not take any side streets, except for one side street where they indicated we could get a good view of the Statue of Liberty. As we walked toward their recommended spot, we noticed their police cruiser checking on us every few blocks. This actually made me nervous, so we turned around and walked back to the cruise terminal. The cruise terminal was large, clean and well organized. We were one of the first passengers to arrive that day, and were the first ones allowed to pass through security into the embarkation area. I think we were allowed through security around 11:00 AM, but had to wait in a comfortable lounge area until around 1:30 PM to board the ship.

Our first task upon boarding was to visit the Maitre d’ to adjust our dinner seating. For three months we have been slowly making our way up the waitlist for Traditional Dining, late seating. Unfortunately the Maitre d’ couldn’t do anything for us. After the first night of personal choice dining in the Da Vinci dining room, we requested a fixed reservation at 8:15 at the same table. We liked our wait staff, although I cannot say service was better than acceptable; but we were happy to be cruising and not too exacting. Our fixed reservation worked out well, as we routinely walked past long lines waiting to get a table while we went directly to our table, which was always ready for us. As I mentioned, although our wait staff were very nice, on most nights the waiter got our orders mixed up, brought the wrong appetizer or just forgot to serve someone an appetizer. I learned to be a little more assertive, waiving the assistant waiter to the right person in our party when he looked confused.

We went to the Princess Theater after dinner to see the comedian Sarge who had received rave reviews from previous cruisers. They didn’t begin to do him justice. Even my jaded husband thought he was hilarious. Sarge has a NY sense of humor and part of his appeal was working in front of a NY audience who lapped him up. But, even to someone not from NY, he really was hilarious. After the first night, we knew to not miss his second show on Friday night. During the cruise I became a big Sarge fan; we will not miss his performance when he performs at Lincoln Center (http://www.iamsarge.com ).

The production shows on the Crown Princess were the best I’d seen at sea, putting both Celebrity and Holland America to shame. We always sat up front, close to the stage, and really enjoyed the costume designs as well as the talented dancing and choreography. The singing was good, not great. The best production show was the “Destination Anywhere” which was produced by an English choreographer and had an edgy feel to it, with an updated feel to it and influences of rap music, Janet Jackson, and other contemporary influences. Most nights when the big production shows were held, or when Sarge performed, Princess offered three show times. This made it very convenient for everyone to find time to see the shows.

My husband and brother-in-law were pleasantly surprised to find as many as two tables in the casino open for Texas Hold’em Poker. The boys spent most nights after dinner playing poker in the casino. On previous cruises poker wasn’t available, and I think this really added to our group’s enjoyment of the cruise.

On three of the four days at sea we went to the 10:00 AM bridge lesson, taught by David and Janis Waxman, from New Jersey. They taught defensive play and were very effective in their lessons. Janis is a math teacher, and you could tell she was very organized. She had a well-organized lesson plan with the participants playing a duplicate hand that illustrated the lesson of each lecture. We were sorry to miss their third lecture, which conflicted with the cooking display and galley tour (more later). We tried the afternoon duplicate bridge, but the first day I got stuck with most of the contracts, and felt too frazzled to go back for another shot. The next day we found a quiet spot in the Adagio bar to play rubber bridge with Pete and Helen.

On the first two sea days we also spent some time on the jogging track, deck 19 aft just over the children’s pool and OutRigger Bar area. The track is short, and 18 times around the track equals one mile. Inside the loop is the put-put miniature golf course. Next to the track is a basketball court. Thus there is a lot of foot traffic unrelated to jogging around the jogging track. Although there is a small sign that indicates the direction one should jog, there should also be a notice for slow traffic to keep right, or to yield to joggers or to just go down to the promenade deck on 7.

I jogged for half a mile each day of the first two sea days, and also walked half a mile on the first day and walked a mile and a half on the second day at sea. Why so energetic the second day? Just as I finished my set, Pete and Helen arrived, so I walked some more with them. My husband jogged several miles on both days.

Our first stop was Grand Turk, capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands, a British crown colony. The island is about 7 miles long by 1 mile wide! About 4,300 people call Grand Turk home, so the arrival of our cruise ship effectively doubled the island’s population! Grand Turk residents pay no income taxes, are allotted waterfront property to build a house, and receive significant aid from the UK. Children are usually educated at UK boarding schools, and then can return to work for the government. Historically the leading industry was salt production, however, now the only industry on the island is tourism. The new cruise terminal opened in January 2006. A channel was dredged with the sand spread around the terminal area, resulting in the terminal area having the highest elevation on the island. The cruise terminal is very nice with several chain bar / restaurants, like Margaritaville, etc and boasts a spectacular pool.

We signed up for the Bike, Hike and Swim tour. The hike portion of the tour was almost non-existent. We biked around parts of the island, stopping to swim for a while at a lovely deserted beach where six dogs entertained themselves running in and out of the water as a pack, always leaving one dog relaxing in the shallow surf. We biked through the historic part of town, and stopped for a while in the town center. Let me tell you, there is not much on Grand Turk. I think the adjective rustic does not go far enough to describe the old decrepit buildings, some little better than unmaintained shacks. There were also some modest homes as well. Unspoiled is another adjective that comes to mind, which I expect will change as the new cruise terminal attracts more cruise ships.

After our biking tour we relaxed at the beautiful pool at the cruise terminal. The pool was very large with a swim-up bar. Pete enjoyed the teen Talent show and contest a la American Idol from his poolside vantage point (lotsa bikinis!).

That evening the excitement came from a Man Overboard report. The postings on cruisecritic.com made after the end of the cruise by people who seem to know indicate that an emotionally disturbed young man called in the false report. The story goes that even though the Captain knew the call was from this young man (with whom security personnel were already familiar) that the Captain had to follow protocol and turn the ship around. We were on our balcony that evening, with a clear view into the bridge, and we commented on why was the Officer of the Watch peering aft with binoculars (I remember BIL made an off-color joke about topless sunbathing). It was at least twenty minutes before the ship started its turn. Our neighbor overheard an Officer comment after three short blasts were sounded – signaling an scramble for emergency crew - the Officer said he was relieved that he did not have to respond to that call.

Shortly after the announcement that we were turning around to look for possible victims, we went down to dinner. This was the evening the waiter had chosen to forget my appetizer, and just after our entrees arrived the Captain announced that a roll call would be conducted, requiring all passengers to return to their stateroom. I reluctantly left my almost untouched meal on the table and joined the crowd as they slowly filed out of the restaurant.

There was much confusion as to whether we had to remain in our cabins after checking in with our steward, in fact the waiters told us we didn’t need to return to our staterooms at all until after dinner. The stewards seemed to have conflicting instructions from what was announced to the passengers over the intercom. All in all, it was the best result possible with no lives lost.

What is noteworthy from this incident is the distinction from the earlier tilt incident in July (same ship!), as no roll call was conducted then after the Crown Princess rolled. The PCL press release claimed they had a system for knowing that all passengers were accounted for; our voyage belies that claim. PCL had no idea if anyone was missing from the ship until all passengers disembarked in Port Canaveral!

The second stop was Ocho Rios Jamaica, where we had organized a private tour through Barrett Adventures. I saw a posting on TripAdvisor.com which highly recommended Carolyn Barrett’s company. We corresponded during the weeks prior to the cruise and arranged to see Dunn’s River Falls, go rafting on the White River, lunch where the locals eat, and see the Wassi Art studio. As there were only four in our party, the cost was about the same as a cruise excursion before tip (we were very happy with Carolyn, and tipped her much more than we would have on a cruise-sponsored tour).

I highly recommend going through Barrett Adventures (www.BarrettAdventures.com; contact: info@BarrettAdventures.com and mention you heard about Carolyn’s company here). We got off the ship with the first passengers and Carolyn was waiting for us at the pier. She whisked us off to Dunn’s River Falls and helped us to navigate up the stream all the while telling us about the local history and interesting tidbits about the area. She took pictures of us with a waterproof camera as we climbed up the falls. In fact, we made such good time that the busloads of cruise passengers were just arriving as we left the Falls. We were able to climb up the falls before the crowds reduced the pleasure of the climb.

Next we went to the White River, where we floated down the river with a local guide – George. The stream was moving quite quickly and the ride only lasted 20 minutes, whereas the description on the cruise’s tourbooks expected the ride to take 45 minutes. I think George “helped” us to find the faster parts of the stream. But we had plenty of fun, and again we missed all the crowds by going with Carolyn. By this time we were hungry and Carolyn drove us out of town to a good local place for lunch to enjoy jerk chicken. We drove about ½ hour out of town, and so got to see a little of the countryside scenery. Also, during the drive Carolyn entertained us with local history, and stories of her life as an American ex-pat living overseas.

Lunch was good and very cheap, and we enjoyed the Red Stripe beer. We made our way to the Wassi Art studio, only to find it just closed. Carolyn was very good at navigating these unexpected impediments, and found someone to open the store just for us. The pottery there is exquisite and very reasonably priced for the level of quality and artistry. Afterwards, Carolyn offered to take us to her grocery store where we could buy Jamaican Blue coffee at a local price. Unfortunately as it was Sunday, grocery stores had also just closed, so Carolyn helped us negotiate a not too outrageous price for 6 pounds at a gift shop before returning us to the ship at the agreed upon hour. We had a customized tour for the same price as the cruise tour, and missed all the crowds.

We were traveling with my husband’s brother and sister-in-law and we booked adjoining balcony mini-suites. This worked out well as some public areas of the Crown Princess (3100 passengers, a very large ship) could be crowded at times. Pools and lounge areas near the pools were crowded on sea days when the weather wasn’t bad. I must say that I agree with the reviewers who have said that Princess did a good job of creating a small ship feel on a large ship. We found many nooks and crannies all over the ship that were underutilized space – therefore you could find solitude and quiet spaces if that’s what you wanted. Also, the advantage of traveling on a large ship is there are a lot of activities offered.

I must say that the luncheon buffet on the Crown Princess was the best of any cruise line on which I’ve traveled. However the buffet line itself is not well organized. Traffic seems to move in many directions creating confusion when the buffet was crowded. It is also inconvenient that there are no trays available, just large plates.

My brother-in-law smuggled some good scotch on board from Grand Turk; before Grand Turk we enjoyed wine brought from home on our balcony and then after Grand Turk the boys enjoyed scotch and left the wine for me.

We heard that the ship had about 800 youths (< 18) onboard, which was roughly a quarter of the passengers. From everything I could see, Crown Princess did a great job with the kids. Except for around the children’s pools we did not see a lot of kids underfoot. They seemed to be very engrossed with the age-appropriate programs and activities that Princess had onboard. My one suggestion would be that Princess should designate one dining room as adults only for those adults who prefer quiet dining. We chose the late seating for dinner, assuming that families would prefer to dine earlier. We were surprised at the number of children around our table every night, many who could barely keep their eyes open and remain awake at that late hour.

Georgetown Grand Cayman is hardly worth mentioning. We hadn’t booked an excursion and planned on exploring the town on our own and then ending up on 7 mile beach. Luckily we reversed that order, as the weather was not good. We took a mini-bus/taxi to the beach as soon as we got off the ship and read our books as we laid out on rented beach chairs. There was no sun to speak of, but the beach was nice with a very slight surf and enough sand just past a belt of round pebbles at water’s edge. We packed it in early as the weather started getting ominous with dark clouds gathering. We got back to town in time to buy a few trinkets across from where the cruise tenders docked to ferry passengers back to the ship. As we stood in line to get a tender back to the ship thunder and lightning started. We got back onboard with plans to enjoy the rest of our evening!

The next day after Grand Cayman was a day at sea. We had to skip the bridge lecture in order to not miss the cooking demonstration by the executive chef and the Maitre d’ held in the Princess Theatre. The chef was quite amusing as he picked on the maitre d’ and any cooking demonstrated by the maitre d’. They had quite a comic routine between the two of them. The subsequent gallery tour was a yawn, as the facility was almost completely closed and nothing to see.

We didn’t get off the ship at Port Canaveral, but sat out on the balcony enjoying the luxury of the ship. The next day was the last day of the cruise (so sad!). Again, Helen and I relaxed on our respective balconies while the boys played poker in the casino. At 5:05 PM, out of the quiet stillness of the evening came a ROARING THUNDEROUS NOISE so loud that we thought, “What could be making this infernal racket???” We both got up and looked behind the ship just in time to see a US fighter jet zoom in low over the water, and VERY CLOSE to the ship (maybe a couple thousand feet ??? off the starboard side). When the pilot came alongside the ship he pulled up the plane into a vertical climb until he was almost out of sight into the clouds high above us and then he started doing spirals as he continued the climb. Wow! What a rush! Adrenaline pumping! Both our jaws dropped and we said, “Do it again! Do it again!” After about ten minutes when I had given up on a repeat performance, I ran into the stateroom to see the ship’s position on the TV. We were roughly just south of Norfolk, VA well into International waters, I’d say. Our flyby was definitely the highlight of the trip!

The following day Friday we woke early to eat breakfast and watch the sail into NY harbor. We had a great view of the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty from our balcony. We signed up for Express Disembarkation and stayed in our stateroom until 8:15 when our number Navy 7 was called to disembark. Some lines to wait in and go through customs (our guy was practically asleep!) and we were at our car by 9:00 AM only to find that I had left the lights on! A call to AAA had us on our way by 9:50 AM, and home by 1:15 PM. Then off to the kennel to get the dog, as we’re not really home till we’re ALL home!

[barbarah33]

Thank you very much for taking the time to post. I love reading about the Crown - makes me even more excited for my cruise.

[HappyRev]

Thank you for your review Robin...

 

Asher

[HappyRev]

 

After our biking tour we relaxed at the beautiful pool at the cruise terminal. The pool was very large with a swim-up bar.

 

I must say that the luncheon buffet on the Crown Princess was the best of any cruise line on which I’ve traveled. However the buffet line itself is not well organized. Traffic seems to move in many directions creating confusion when the buffet was crowded. It is also inconvenient that there are no trays available, just large plates.

 

 

Am I correct to understand that at Grand Turk there is a public swimming pool right at the terminal? Is there admission fee for it?

 

Also, did you see Hot Wings anywhere on the buffet?

 

Thanx in advance for your replies.

 

As you can see from my sig, we are planning to be on a ship next week... We are excited

 

Asher

[thepinkpanther]

Asher - I do recall having hot wings in the buffet on the day of embarkation, and they were great! One of the days for lunch (sea day before Pt. Canaveral) we went to one of the dining rooms and one of the appetizers were buffalo wings with blue cheese which were amazing! :D

[erntrish]

No admission for Margaritaville (Where the pool is)...also includes a beach (rocky)...all directly in the shadow of the ship and less than about a 200yd walk

[Love Boat Dream]

Thanks for the review. Sorry we didn't meet!

 

About margaritaville: If you go to http://www.margaritaville.com/ and look for the "lost shaker of salt" you can download a coupon for a free drink there.

[IKE]

LoveBoat Dream,

Tried the link for Margaritaville and came up as an Error! Thanks anyway! Ike

[IKE]

Thanks for your opinions of Your Cruise on the Crown! Sounds like You had an enjoyable cruise.