Just back from the Crown 4/21/07

[cruisefar]

We are just back from the 4/21 cruise. We had a great time! This itinerary can't be beat. We booked a Balcony GTY and was assigned cabin R523 on the Riviera deck 5 days before the cruise. Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at 12:20; went to the duty free and were onboard in less than a half hour. The ship is beautiful!! There is something for everyone. The pool was busy on the sea day but we found loungers together without much trouble.

 

The service ranged from ok to excellent. The best bartender is "Marion" upstairs at the front pool. He was a lot of fun; his service could not be beat! Our cabin steward was probably new and I hope he gets better. Don't get me wrong, he was nice but his service was inconsistent. If you experience this problem just ask for whatever you want. If we asked; he took care of whatever we needed but we had to ask. We had anytime dining which we love! The service was great.

 

Regarding the food - here is my opinion - it's good. We have been on 9 cruises, 5 cruise lines during the last 15 years. If it's your first cruise you will love the food. If you know how spoiled we were years ago you probably think the food is not as good as it used to be. The lobster and crab legs were great. The beef is ok. It's tender but the taste is not as good as I can get at home. I love eggs benedict. I tried to special order it at the buffet one day when it wasn't offered and was told no. I've read that some people have been successful doing that but not me! I was really looking forward to the International Cafe and was not very impressed. I imagine if you like specialty coffees it's great but it didn't have anything that I really wanted when we went by.

 

The casino was very good. The first night I actually left with $120 of their money after playing for hours!! We only play the slots but most nights we could play for a good amount of time with our budgeted amount of money and a little more!! We saw the show "Motor City". It was very good. The deck party was great fun. Steve Morris was hilarious!! We have seen him before and enjoyed seeing him again.

 

Ports of Call We went to the Boatyard in Barbados. This is a beautiful beach. The cost was $15 for which you received a lounger, a drink and a taxi back to the ship. For an extra $2 you could get an umbrella. Get the umbrella. It was way too hot without it! The free drink selection was limited but was fine. Overall consensus from those we spoke to was - don't shop in Barbados or St Lucia. Everyone we spoke to that shopped wished they had done something else. We booked with Herrod in St Lucia. We ended up riding with Dixon. Both are exceptional! The only negative about that excursion is the roads. I don't get car sick but I was feeling kind of sick at the end. But don't let that stop you. We truly experienced St Lucia. The beach between the Pitons did not charge us for using the lounge chairs. It must have been our lucky day. Spoke with a few people that did the snorkel trip in St Lucia thru the cruise line. Neither group saw many fish. In Antigua we shopped in the AM and took an island tour in the afternoon. I won't shop Antigua again. I loved it several years ago but it was a bust for me this year. We hired a taxi driver who ended up being a bus driver and we were the only 4 people on the bus. It was roomy!! He took us to Shirley Heights, Nelson's dockyard, thru the rainforest where we saw people doing the zip line and then to Turner's Beach. Turner's Beach is beautiful! There is a bar and restaurant but you had to pay to use the showers. The funniest part was to see 2 cows that had gotten loose walking down the beach! St Maarten was a shopping day for us because we found out that the shops in St Thomas were going to be closed. Shopping is great in St Maarten. The husbands could work up a pretty good buzz off the free drinks in the jewelry stores! In St Thomas we had to go thru immigration. Our time slot was 9-9:30. We walked right thru with only 2 people ahead of us. It has never been any easier! I think part was the large number of Brits onboard this week that had to go thru immigration at a different location on the ship. The other part I assume is that a lot of people got off earlier and went thru before their scheduled time slot. We went to Megan’s Bay in St Thomas. The taxi fare was $9 each way. We rented chairs and a float and relaxed for about 3 hours. We stopped into town on our way back. Most businesses were closed. We did get a drink at "Bobby's" and there was a jewelry shop open right next door. The shops by the port were open! I didn't know that they had opened any shops at the port so that was a nice surprise!

 

Disembarkation went very smoothly! We had breakfast in the Horizon Court. We brought our carryon bags with us and stayed there until our color was called. This worked out better that sitting downstairs. I thought they were serving breakfast until 9am but they were still open after 10am when our color was called so we were able to continue the food fest for an extra hour!

 

I would highly recommend this ship and this itinerary. I will be happy to answer any questions that I can.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[CMM]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Did you use the spa, gym, or crown grill?

 

Do they give you headphones for MUTS?

 

thanks

[nycglitter]

Glad to hear that you had a nice time! Also nice to hear you found a connection with the staff. One of our favorite cruises was on NCL when we met a bartender who always greeted us with a smile and even showed us pictures of his home in Bali. We actually booked the same cruise and met up with him again. We have emailed ever since. So much fun!

 

I will definitely look for Marion! Which pool did he work at?

 

Thanks!

[cruisefar]

CMM - Yes, I had a repolish of my finger and toenails on the 1st day. It lasted all week. She did a very good job and she was fast. Together it only took 30 minutes. She was not very chatty! Re: muts - you don't need headphones. It can be pretty loud. We didn't use the gym or the Crown Grill. Hope you have a good time!

 

nycglitter - Marion is at the Tradewinds Bar which is upstairs from Neptune's Reef pool. He is from Romania.