Crown Princess 9/3 Review - "C" At Best

[Perky1]

My experience was often that passengers are the cause of the elevators being slow. I got in the elevator on several occasions and the person who was in beforehand must have pressed all the buttons be4 they got out. This caused the elevator to stop at every floor and no one was getting on or off. If everyone used them properly there would not be as many problems. There is absolutely nothing Princess could do to fix irresponsible passengers.

[Kathyh1313]

My experience was often that passengers are the cause of the elevators being slow. I got in the elevator on several occasions and the person who was in beforehand must have pressed all the buttons be4 they got out. This caused the elevator to stop at every floor and no one was getting on or off. If everyone used them properly there would not be as many problems. There is absolutely nothing Princess could do to fix irresponsible passengers.

 

 

FYI

On two occasions, when DH and I were in the elevator, all the buttons would light up without us touching them. We had only touched the button of the floor we wanted. Sometimes the elevator would go up a few floors then reverse direction.

 

Just wonder if this was related to the water logged elevators during the list?

[SeaBunny]

I feel pretty confident the elevators have some bugs in their programming. There were just too many weirdnesses going on. One time an elevator displayed an "X" for out of service then showed up at our floor. The elevators displayed what floor they were on, but you couldn't use that to predict which elevator would come to your floor.

 

One of our close friends programs elevators. Mayve we need to book hium a trip on the Crown:rolleyes:

[Paulras]

I'm very surprised to hear complaints about James. I just got off of the Crown a couple hours ago and I wrote in my comment card that the CD and his staff were the best I've ever had. This is my 8th cruise, first on Princess.

 

I thought everything was well run and organized by the cruise staff, they had just the right amount of humor. Not cheesy humor or jokes that you would only get if you were an 80 year old. I also found them to be very personable and available, especially Jacinta who loved to sit and chat when she could. And I must say that Danny's BINGO calling skills were top notch! I give the whole staff an A+.

 

But my comment card also said that the elevators were the worst at sea. Always slow, always full. Sometimes I would just get off two floors before I had to because it was faster and easier to walk the two flights than to spend another minute in them. Seems like they aren't programmed properly or something.

[spongerob]

I feel pretty confident the elevators have some bugs in their programming. There were just too many weirdnesses going on. One time an elevator displayed an "X" for out of service then showed up at our floor. The elevators displayed what floor they were on, but you couldn't use that to predict which elevator would come to your floor.

 

One of our close friends programs elevators. Mayve we need to book hium a trip on the Crown:rolleyes:

Maybe somebody tried to program them to go to the front of the ship. :)

[nrdsb4]

There's no special touches on this ship .. No animal towels, no signing at dinner (until the last night), no nothing to make the staff special.

 

I found this comment to be amusing. I'm reading several boards now as I'm trying to decide which line to cruise next. On the Carnival board, I've read COUNTLESS complaints about the singing waiters - it just goes to show that in some ways the lines can't win. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

 

I'm getting confused now, as every board I visit is full of negative reviews on how the service, food, entertainment, and general experience of cruising on Cruise Line A has declined and how it just doesn't measure up to the experience of Cruise Line B. So I visit the message board of Cruise Line B and I read more of the same (and that includes Celebrity). Complaints, complaints, and more complaints on every board. I wonder if cruising actually has declined or if people are just getting more negative and demanding. It's hard to tell sometimes.

[peterv]

I found this comment to be amusing. I'm reading several boards now as I'm trying to decide which line to cruise next. On the Carnival board, I've read COUNTLESS complaints about the singing waiters - it just goes to show that in some ways the lines can't win. Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

 

I'm getting confused now, as every board I visit is full of negative reviews on how the service, food, entertainment, and general experience of cruising on Cruise Line A has declined and how it just doesn't measure up to the experience of Cruise Line B. So I visit the message board of Cruise Line B and I read more of the same (and that includes Celebrity). Complaints, complaints, and more complaints on every board. I wonder if cruising actually has declined or if people are just getting more negative and demanding. It's hard to tell sometimes.

 

No, you are not wrong, the product has gone downhill quite a bit since I first started in the late 70's.

 

Personally I blame the advertising (unreal expectations), cost cutting (poorer quality food and amenities, to match unrealistic pricing) and nickel and diming (charging way too much for way too many things, to try and make up for unrealistic pricing) to be the cause.

 

I'm sure others will disagree on that point.

 

It is still not a bad way to spend my holiday, but at some point the good will be outweighed by the bad and I'll stop going on them and do other things for a holiday.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[celebrity]

We too were on this cruise and I doubt we will sail Princess again. Celebrity does have more food choices and better food quality . IMHO, Celebrity staff are much more friendly as well. I think when the tips are already added in, there is less incentive for service! Although Princess pushes buying the "Coke cards" they do not want to service them once they sell them.

Sarge was the highlight of the entertainment.

We are well aware we booked in hurricane season, but there are many ports between St. Thomas and NYC! I agree staying nearer St. Thomas would have been a safer choice.

I couldn't agree more with the OP and your reviews. I have sailed Hal, Celebrity and RCCL. I was so looking forward to sailing the new Crown and it was a major disappointment. I am glad that I tried it but have no plans to return. I found it particularly unnerving to see buckets in the buffet area on many occasions catching water that was dripping from the ceiling. It's a health concern because mold can develop. I noted my concerns and disappointment on the comment card. Hopefully things will improve on future sailings.

[naragonl]

For any of you going on a future Crown Princess cruise

 

Elevators-

 

There is a button 'combo'/'trick' that will take you express to any floor you want. My son and friends figured it out but unfortunetly I can't remember what it was. He's also not here for me to ask. :mad:

 

We tried it several times and it worked fine (who says kids don't learn things while on cruise).:D

[caviargal]

No, you are not wrong, the product has gone downhill quite a bit since I first started in the late 70's.

 

Personally I blame the advertising (unreal expectations), cost cutting (poorer quality food and amenities, to match unrealistic pricing) and nickel and diming (charging way too much for way too many things, to try and make up for unrealistic pricing) to be the cause.

ote]

 

Peter, again we agree!:D The stars must be in alignment.

 

I started in the late 60s and the biggest decline IMO has been within the past ten years. Sadly, I see it only getting worse.

[gussue]

I realize my posting is going to cause a "riot" but having travelled on nearly 100 cruises in my 40 years, I think I have some equity in comparisons. My grade on the Crown Cruise of 9/3 is a "C". Not the worst, but they really have a lot of improving to do. I would not sail Princess again and feel Celebrity is by far the best cruise experience in this price category.

 

I'm going to give a brief grade/comment to some categories (read below if you want the whole ten cents)

 

SCARIEST MOMENT - When the fitness center roof fell down around us.

SHIP GRADE - B

FOOD GRADE - B Minus (must read about coke card)

ENTERTAINMENT - D

SERVICE STAFF - B

ACTIVITIES - D

ITINERARY - D

EMBARKATION - B Plus

CASINO - B Plus

 

 

SCARIEST MOMENT

 

On the final day at sea, the gusts were at 40 mph and waves of up to 20ft. Along our side we noticed a tanker that looked like it was about to flip over. The waves had the smaller ship diving into the water at 45 degrees, rolling and jumping out of the water. The crew was taking pictures. To see how bad things were, I went to the fitness center to get a birds eye view of the waves head. There were three of us there as the ship seemed to jerk and moan with each pounding wave. Then, suddenly, we hit a wave very hard and the panels from the ceiling in the fitness room came falling down all around us. No one was hurt but it was really unnerving as we were talking about the physics of how ships can take sound a pounding with no damage.

NOTE.. My Mom who has been on been on more cruises than me, warned me about sailing out of NYC. Many members of the crew verfied that coming up through Hatarass was very rocky .. but even more so now with the help of the hurricane off the coast. I never got sea sick but

 

THE SHIP (B)

 

I love cruise ships. I used to draw them as a child and pretend they had ice skating rinks on them, large water slides, etc. Who would have known 30 years ago these ideas would come true. The Crown is a beautiful ship. The bed room area is very comfortable with lots of closet space. We had no trouble with the temperature and the control of it in our room. The bathroom on the other hand is a nigthmare. Way too small. In fact, I decided after the first night not even to bother showering in the bathroom and made my way up to the SPA lounge to shower each night. They have three large shower stalls with sauna, steam and reverse current pool for swimming. Be sure to bring your own shaving stuff as they don't offer any in the spa area.

 

I found the ship easy to get around after the first day. Three banks of elevators front, mid and aft ship.

 

The moment we boarded, I knew this would be a strange trip. Gone are the days of beautiful wood floors .. now you have the "school" gym type floors all throughout the ship. Practical in terms of handling weather and traffic, but not very romantic.

 

Overall, the ship never seemed like it had 3000 plus passengers until you tried looking for your pictures. By having the ship stores/theatre/casino on the lower decks (5, 6 and 7) the designers halfed the flow of passengers. Elevator waits were quite long but you should really use the steps for exercise.

 

The ship was very clean.

 

My main complaint was the design of the Lido buffett. You had to out manuever others to get open tables. Poor tables to people ratio.

 

We never had trouble with finding seats .. just keep climbing steps and you'll find some.

 

Liked MUTS but never went at night. Did see a few movies and football games during the day

 

FOOD - B Minus

 

On the positive note, the servings were plentiful. Bad news is that the quality wasn't any better than you'd get at a Ryan's steakhouse or Shoney's. The menu wasn't very creative at all. My favorite things .. Rack of Lamb, some breakfast potatoe dish called "barrons", and hit or miss on the Pizza. The cookies .. oh those cookies .. they are good, but Man cannot live on cookies alone.

We ate at the Crown Grill one night and it was by far the best speciality restaurant of any cruise ship we've been on .... the portions again were huge and you could mix and match anything on the menu .. you want four lobster tails, just ask. We met Sandy and her husband there and they seemed to enjoy their meal too. However, with such huge portions at lunch and dinner, we decided to skip Sabatinis. We did hear good things about it. (I gained ten pounds).

For breakfast, we usually go to the dining room. However, on the Crown, the breakfast menu in the dining room was very limited. The Lido Buffet had much more of a selection and when we learned the system correctly, we always had freshly cooked eggs etc just for the asking.

For the COKE CARD (39 buck for this cruise). Unless you go to the bar and get the drink youself, the wait staff will ignoere you. At each of the shows we orderd a coke and ever saw teh waiter again. If you are going to offer a Coke, at least have everyone on the same page.

ENTERTAINMENT and STAFF D

 

James Lay is the worst cruise director in the world. He would never return phone calls. His sense of humor was very dry. The Brits on board in general were very non chalant about everything. Look at the patters .. same ole stuff every ship. The ART AUCTION is not PARK WEST. They show imitation paitings of Tarkay and others. Only one singles event the entire trip. If you are a boring couple who want a nice romantic getaway, you'll love the bars and music. But, if you are looking for fun at night, bring it yourself.

 

 

SERVICE STAFF - B

 

Our stateroom attendent was fantastic, we double tipped him.

Our waiter was OK (he took great pride in warning us of bad dishes versus offering great dishes).

There's no special touches on this ship .. No animal towels, no signing at dinner (until the last night), no nothing to make the staff special.

And if one more person has a birthday while I'm sitting next to them .... ugh.

 

ITINERARY D

Part of the itinerary grade is my fault. I can't beleive the short times in each port. Never enough time to do anything really. I was very mad about missing Bermuda, but what can you do with a Hurricane? I do think the cruise line should have offered us a future discount if we booked a cruise to Bermuda in the

 

EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION - B Plus

We only waited 18 minutes to get on the ship and about 15 to get off .. No Trouble here. Just make sure they get your correct color for lining up. Cab from Midtown NYC to ship - 27 bucks plus tip. Cab from Pier to LGA was 48 dollars and took just 15 minutes.

 

That's all for now .. I'll add more or answer questions if needed. Looking for a great Celebrity cruise this holiday seaon!

 

Kevin

Hi

Were we on the same cruise? I am a veteran of over 55 cruises 38 on Princess. We took the Crown on June 23rd with our grandchildren and again on Sept. 3.

I do agree with Kevin about the buffet, I found seating difficult. I thought the entertainment was fine especially Sarge the comic who we've sailed with before. The embarcation was easy. The food, while not haute gourmet was fine, you could always find something you liked.

While I know James Lay, I had no interaction with him this past cruise but I can tell you that his cruise staff rated a 10. I play trivia and do all the games aboard ship and found them all wonderful. My husband is a gambler and he thought the casino was great.

I guess everyone has a different slant on what's good and bad. We're leaving tomorrow for the turnaround cruise on the Sun Princess from Seattle to Ft. Lauderdale.

Sue

Gussue@AOL.COM

[sailorsbewe]

Im going on this ship in January and despite what everyone says, we all decide to either make or break our vacations - I for one am having a good time with my friends and DH......

Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

[gussue]

I realize my posting is going to cause a "riot" but having travelled on nearly 100 cruises in my 40 years, I think I have some equity in comparisons. My grade on the Crown Cruise of 9/3 is a "C". Not the worst, but they really have a lot of improving to do. I would not sail Princess again and feel Celebrity is by far the best cruise experience in this price category.

 

I'm going to give a brief grade/comment to some categories (read below if you want the whole ten cents)

 

SCARIEST MOMENT - When the fitness center roof fell down around us.

SHIP GRADE - B

FOOD GRADE - B Minus (must read about coke card)

ENTERTAINMENT - D

SERVICE STAFF - B

ACTIVITIES - D

ITINERARY - D

EMBARKATION - B Plus

CASINO - B Plus

 

 

SCARIEST MOMENT

 

On the final day at sea, the gusts were at 40 mph and waves of up to 20ft. Along our side we noticed a tanker that looked like it was about to flip over. The waves had the smaller ship diving into the water at 45 degrees, rolling and jumping out of the water. The crew was taking pictures. To see how bad things were, I went to the fitness center to get a birds eye view of the waves head. There were three of us there as the ship seemed to jerk and moan with each pounding wave. Then, suddenly, we hit a wave very hard and the panels from the ceiling in the fitness room came falling down all around us. No one was hurt but it was really unnerving as we were talking about the physics of how ships can take sound a pounding with no damage.

NOTE.. My Mom who has been on been on more cruises than me, warned me about sailing out of NYC. Many members of the crew verfied that coming up through Hatarass was very rocky .. but even more so now with the help of the hurricane off the coast. I never got sea sick but

 

THE SHIP (B)

 

I love cruise ships. I used to draw them as a child and pretend they had ice skating rinks on them, large water slides, etc. Who would have known 30 years ago these ideas would come true. The Crown is a beautiful ship. The bed room area is very comfortable with lots of closet space. We had no trouble with the temperature and the control of it in our room. The bathroom on the other hand is a nigthmare. Way too small. In fact, I decided after the first night not even to bother showering in the bathroom and made my way up to the SPA lounge to shower each night. They have three large shower stalls with sauna, steam and reverse current pool for swimming. Be sure to bring your own shaving stuff as they don't offer any in the spa area.

 

I found the ship easy to get around after the first day. Three banks of elevators front, mid and aft ship.

 

The moment we boarded, I knew this would be a strange trip. Gone are the days of beautiful wood floors .. now you have the "school" gym type floors all throughout the ship. Practical in terms of handling weather and traffic, but not very romantic.

 

Overall, the ship never seemed like it had 3000 plus passengers until you tried looking for your pictures. By having the ship stores/theatre/casino on the lower decks (5, 6 and 7) the designers halfed the flow of passengers. Elevator waits were quite long but you should really use the steps for exercise.

 

The ship was very clean.

 

My main complaint was the design of the Lido buffett. You had to out manuever others to get open tables. Poor tables to people ratio.

 

We never had trouble with finding seats .. just keep climbing steps and you'll find some.

 

Liked MUTS but never went at night. Did see a few movies and football games during the day

 

FOOD - B Minus

 

On the positive note, the servings were plentiful. Bad news is that the quality wasn't any better than you'd get at a Ryan's steakhouse or Shoney's. The menu wasn't very creative at all. My favorite things .. Rack of Lamb, some breakfast potatoe dish called "barrons", and hit or miss on the Pizza. The cookies .. oh those cookies .. they are good, but Man cannot live on cookies alone.

We ate at the Crown Grill one night and it was by far the best speciality restaurant of any cruise ship we've been on .... the portions again were huge and you could mix and match anything on the menu .. you want four lobster tails, just ask. We met Sandy and her husband there and they seemed to enjoy their meal too. However, with such huge portions at lunch and dinner, we decided to skip Sabatinis. We did hear good things about it. (I gained ten pounds).

For breakfast, we usually go to the dining room. However, on the Crown, the breakfast menu in the dining room was very limited. The Lido Buffet had much more of a selection and when we learned the system correctly, we always had freshly cooked eggs etc just for the asking.

For the COKE CARD (39 buck for this cruise). Unless you go to the bar and get the drink youself, the wait staff will ignoere you. At each of the shows we orderd a coke and ever saw teh waiter again. If you are going to offer a Coke, at least have everyone on the same page.

ENTERTAINMENT and STAFF D

 

James Lay is the worst cruise director in the world. He would never return phone calls. His sense of humor was very dry. The Brits on board in general were very non chalant about everything. Look at the patters .. same ole stuff every ship. The ART AUCTION is not PARK WEST. They show imitation paitings of Tarkay and others. Only one singles event the entire trip. If you are a boring couple who want a nice romantic getaway, you'll love the bars and music. But, if you are looking for fun at night, bring it yourself.

 

 

SERVICE STAFF - B

 

Our stateroom attendent was fantastic, we double tipped him.

Our waiter was OK (he took great pride in warning us of bad dishes versus offering great dishes).

There's no special touches on this ship .. No animal towels, no signing at dinner (until the last night), no nothing to make the staff special.

And if one more person has a birthday while I'm sitting next to them .... ugh.

 

ITINERARY D

Part of the itinerary grade is my fault. I can't beleive the short times in each port. Never enough time to do anything really. I was very mad about missing Bermuda, but what can you do with a Hurricane? I do think the cruise line should have offered us a future discount if we booked a cruise to Bermuda in the

 

EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION - B Plus

We only waited 18 minutes to get on the ship and about 15 to get off .. No Trouble here. Just make sure they get your correct color for lining up. Cab from Midtown NYC to ship - 27 bucks plus tip. Cab from Pier to LGA was 48 dollars and took just 15 minutes.

 

That's all for now .. I'll add more or answer questions if needed. Looking for a great Celebrity cruise this holiday seaon!

 

Kevin

Hi

Were we on the same cruise? I am a veteran of over 55 cruises 38 on Princess. We took the Crown on June 23rd with our grandchildren and again on Sept. 3.

I do agree with Kevin about the buffet, I found seating difficult. I thought the entertainment was fine especially Sarge the comic who we've sailed with before. The embarcation was easy. The food, while not haute gourmet was fine, you could always find something you liked.

While I know James Lay, I had no interaction with him this past cruise but I can tell you that his cruise staff rated a 10. I play trivia and do all the games aboard ship and found them all wonderful. My husband is a gambler and he thought the casino was great.

I guess everyone has a different slant on what's good and bad. We're leaving tomorrow for the turnaround cruise on the Sun Princess from Seattle to Ft. Lauderdale.

Sue

Gussue@AOL.COM

[celebrity]

Im going on this ship in January and despite what everyone says, we all decide to either make or break our vacations - I for one am having a good time with my friends and DH......

Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

 

No one is telling you that you will have less than a fabulous trip. I had a nice vacation on the 7/22 sailing, just happened to be my least favorite. I had never sailed on a ship this new so I didn't expect to see things like leaks in the buffet daily. Almost everyone agrees that the layout of the buffet is the worst at sea. My other compaints were that the jogging track is not at the top of the ship where you can look out at the ocean. Instead it is on a lower deck with a steel wall that blocks your view. I look forward to a daily run at sunrise watching the sea and sadly didn't experience it on this cruise. Additionally I am a strict vegetarian and Princess falls short in that category.The cabins were very nice as was our cabin steward. I fell for the hype on this board that Princess is a cut above the other mass market lines and in my opinion, that was not the case. By the way, if Sarge is on your ship, please see his shows. I am confident that you will find him to be hilarious. Happy sails to you & yours!