Live From The Crown Princess Sept 30 Sailing

[TorontoTL]

Wow, that was the quickest we've ever gotten home from a cruise. I am so jealous of those of you who live near a homeport. We did express embarkation and were quite early off the ship. We were outside getting a taxi by 805 AM. The posted rates are 58$ to LGA so we asked a policeman who said it would only cost about 30$ to get to LGA via taxi. The driver said that as long as it is before 1000 AM you will find that traffic to the airport isn't bad. It ended up costing on 31$ with tip to get to the airport (LGA) and we were at the Air Canada counter by 830 AM asking for an earlier flight! We are now unpacked and the laundry is being done as I speak. I am hungry despite my overeating but there is no food in the house. Well I guess I need to jump on the Vespa and find something to eat. All the stores are closed as this is Canadian Thanksgiving today but I'm sure I can find something to eat but it won't have quite the ambience of the Crown. For those with early flights, make sure you do the self disembarkation!

[TorontoTL]

I don't know about being the "Official Poster" from the Island Princess in April, but I don't mind doing some of the posting as long as a few of you add your thoughts as well. As you can see from my Live threads, I don't always do that much onboard except eating which I'm very very good at.:D

[atlantic_cruiser]

Benny, another thank you for your excellent "live from". We are going on the Island Princess, Nov. 20 and have an early return flight from LAX to Vancouver. However does self debarkation work? Would appreciate the info. Had not somehow heard about this before.

[chrysalis]

Benny, another thank you for your excellent "live from". We are going on the Island Princess, Nov. 20 and have an early return flight from LAX to Vancouver. However does self debarkation work? Would appreciate the info. Had not somehow heard about this before.

 

you must carry off your own baggage, unassisted

[makeup face]

Benny....thank you for sharing your cruise with us. I'm counting down the days until I'll be aboard the Crown. Happy to hear you made it home safely:D

[azdmelani]

glad you made it home safely, thank you for your frequent posts!

[cruzinchris]

Benny,

Glad to hear that you had a safe trip home. Thanks, again, for your daily musings on the Crown.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chris

[Perki]

I had read several somewhat disconcerting reviews about the Crown, on this board, and with your 'live' updates I am truly looking forward to this ship and our Southern Caribbean cruise on her in April!!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you! :D

[TorontoTL]

You're all very welcome. I like to contribute when and where I can. This board can be alot of fun and great for information. I had read such extreme posts about this ship being great or terrible that I felt I had to give my honest opinion.

 

Express disembarkation works this way. It will be mentioned in the patter and by way of a letter sent to your stateroom to fill out an application for the express disembarkation. The day or two before you disembark information about leaving the ship including the dinning times for the morning of disembarkation are sent to your cabin along with your luggagge tags, we had navy 1. The day of disembarkation when your colour/number are called you leave the ship taking all of your luggage yourself with you off the ship. There will be no one to assist you with getting your luggage off the ship. You should only sign up for this option if you can handle your luggage commpletely on your own. The advantages to this are great. You don't have to put your luggage out the night before and of course you stand a much better chance of making an earlier flight which we did, enabling us to get home 2 hours sooner than planned. Hope that helps.

[bluefintuna]

Thanks, Benny, for your "live from the Crown" posts. It was like reliving the cruise all over again; (we were on the same cruise). Your day to day posts were great. In addition, just a few things to add for future passengers eagerly awaiting embarkation on Crown Princess. In San Juan there is a free trolley that will take you all over Old San Juan and bring you back in approx. 25 minutes. Just look for the trolley sign almost across the street from the pier. The pier at Crown Bay in St. Thomas, taxis will take you downtown for $4 or to Havensight Mall for $4.50. If you walk to town remember it is very hot. When entering New York harbor at 6:45 a.m. we were very close to the Statue of Liberty. It truly was a beautiful sight all lit up. If you wish to do early off and take your luggage yourself there is a lot of walking until you get outside and at one point you have an escalator or wait for the elevator to take you down. Not too bad, but I was glad to get to the parking lot and on our way. We have been on 19 cruises and the Crown is a great ship. Smooth sailing to everyone who has an upcoming cruise.

[TNCrows]

Wow, that was the quickest we've ever gotten home from a cruise.I am so jealous of those of you who live near a homeport. bad. We are now unpacked and the laundry is being done as I speak. I am hungry despite my overeating but there is no food in the house.

 

Hey Benny, glad to hear you guys made it home alright. We did the cattle call off the boat, the "gatekeepers" seemed to have a problem deciding which color had been called to disembark so things got backed up at the gang plank, but once we got off things went quickly. Our bus driver even knew the way to the airport unlike the one who picked us up at the airport and had to stop twice and ask directions to the dock. I'm envious that you are already unpacked and doing laundry. Want to come help us:D Reality set in this AM when we realized that instead of just handing over our coffee card we had to make our own:( Anyway, we had a great time and enjoyed meeting and talking with you guys so much; hope we can do it again. Take care, and we'll be in touch!

 

Paula & Buff

[TorontoTL]

Hey Paula and Buff, I'm at work now..:( but will try to send you that photo I took of you later at lunchtime or when I get a chance tonight. I'm glad you guys enjoyed your first cruise! It was great having breakfast with you, hopefully our paths will cross again in the future. Maybe you'll visit us here in Toronto or we can cruise again together.