Crown Princess - May 30 thru June 8 Review

[UT-Volsfan]

Here’s a review of our sailing on Crown Princess May 30 – June 8.

 

Embarkation: We sailed from the Red Hook terminal, the newer terminal in New York. We flew in early to LaGuardia and got to the cruise terminal about 9:30, well before people could check in. They began check-in at 10:30, which took only a couple of minutes through the Priority line for Platinum/Elite cruisers (we had finally made Platinum based on our number of days at sea). We then sat around in the lounge and watched TV until they began boarding the ship at 11:30. Considering the ship began disembarking passengers at 07:30, a four hour turn-around on the Crown until new cruisers can board is very good.

 

One tip: make sure to take directions from whatever airport or hotel you’re using to the cruise terminal at Red Hook. Several of the town car drivers at LaGuardia were not familiar with it since it’s the newest cruise terminal – luckily we had directions to give the driver. The directions we got from the web were excellent, and included some detours near the cruise terminal.

 

Capacity: we sailed at capacity. They had no last minute rooms available, so we had around 3,100 people on board. Many of these people had blue door ids and cards, so we know we had a lot of first-time Princess Cruisers with us. Shows were normally packed, but it wasn’t too crowded around the pools or public areas.

 

Internet usage: we each got the 250 minutes of free internet access with Platinum status. This was more than enough for us to send emails to envious people and family back home!

 

Dining: we had anytime dining for the cruise. After we got on board, we went down to Michelangelo’s (on deck 5) and made a standing reservation for 6:00 pm. I’ve seen some posts talking about the differences in service with the anytime dining depending upon the staff – we were very pleased with the people and service we received at dinner. If you go to Michelangelo’s, ask to be assigned to a table covered by Danilo (our waiter). He was very good and friendly. We had no problems with our dinner orders – we received all of our orders quickly and they were always correct, our drink glasses were always refilled without asking, and after a couple of days they brought our tea and sodas to the table as soon as we sat down. Some other people we want to praise in this dining room were Archimedes and Michael – they were the two head waiters covering our area. They would stop by and chat every time we came in – and they kept bringing out different platters appetizers for our table to try that were not on the printed menu (This was the first sailing with the new Princess menus – the Princess corporate chef and the corporate pastry chef were on board training the staff the whole cruise).

 

For breakfast and lunch we primarily ate in the dining room on deck 6. There I have to say that the service was not as good as what we received at dinner. There was one team at lunch that never offered to bring out coffee with the desserts and would mess up the orders (one guy never did get his soup, even after reminding them). Based on this and other comments we heard, we do feel there is a difference in the quality of service you may get on board (that’s why we praised our dinner staff so much because they were superb).

 

We did eat at the buffet on Horizon Court a couple of times when we’d want a late breakfast or come in late from shore activities. The food there is pretty good, but it has gone down a little from what we’ve seen in the past. You used to be able to get custom omelets cooked upon request, now they have the standard omelets on the buffet line (like ham and cheese) so they aren’t as fresh as a custom made one. Also, the layout of items needs some work. You get to the syrup before you get to the French toast or pancakes. And there are a lot of people going in different directions in the food area – but that’s no worse than other Princess ships we’ve been on.

 

Shore Excursions: we only booked one excursion through Princess, that was the tour of Old and New San Juan. That one was a disappointment – we spent a third of the excursion sitting in traffic before the driver gave up and took us on to the old fort. Then the shopping stop was only about 3 blocks from the ship. We wouldn’t recommend that excursion for anyone again.

 

The rest of the time we made our own arrangements on shore. In Bermuda the public buses are a great way to travel on the island – they are cheap and go to most places you want to see. We took a cruise to Bermuda last year, so we hit a few places we had managed to miss. We thought the Crystal Caves were a good location to visit.

 

In St. Thomas you can book a 2 or 3 hour tour of the area at the street market (across from the Post Office) at a good price. We took a tour with Tim for about 2.5 hours for $20 each, and he took us back to the ship after we had finished the tour and then shopped around in St. Thomas. There were several people buying the knock-off and counterfeit designer hand bags in the street market and taking them back to the ship (one tip – never take the first offer, always bargain).

 

In Grand Turk, the main activity is hanging out on the beach or at Margaritaville. Margaritaville has a large pool area that cruisers can use free, and they have several games and activities going throughout the day. Try to get off the ship early so you can get some chairs in the shade, otherwise use plenty of sunscreen!

 

 

Entertainment: my wife and I enjoyed several of the activities on board this cruise.

 

The shows in the Princess Theatre were very good. I’ll list them here for you and what we thought of them:

Day 1: Welcome Aboard Showtime with the singers and Princess Dancers. This was a good show to give you a taste of what would be coming up later.

Day 2: Production show called Motor City. Was pretty good, but the least favorite of the 3 production shows the singers and dancers did during the cruise.

Day 3: Early show repeated Motor City. Later shows featured hypnotist/mentalist Ronny Romm. He had some good participants, including some people that seemed to be fairly easy to control. Only drawback was that he takes a while to get people hypnotized – several people around us thought he could shorten that part of his act and make it a more enjoyable show.

Day 4: featured a husband/wife musical act called Kimika. Don’t miss this show – she usually gets one audience member to participate as “Mr Sausage”. Their music and comedy is very enjoyable.

Day 5: Featured Juan Carlos and his traditional Latin show. Good show with Latin music and dancers.

Day 6: second big production number by the singers and dancers. Called What a Swell Party – looks at the Cole Porter Era. Very good show.

Day 7: featured comedian Carl Strong who used to open for Gladys Knight. His show is GREAT – definitely see this. We caught the early show, and he said several times he was keeping it cleaner that what his Las Vegas act would be.

Day 8: final big production number called Destination Anywhere. Very good show.

Day 9: wrap up show which included a return by Kimika. Good show to wrap up the cruise.

 

They also had several good acts in the Explorers lounge. We tried to catch the 10:30 shows there. The comedians were very good, the juggling show was OK (not our favorite).

 

On deck 5 they had a string quartet, a guitarist, a pianist, singers, etc. at different times of the day. Several of these were very good - we always enjoyed the string quartet and the pianist whenever they were performing. You could also pick up a snack at the nearby bakery and relax while listening.

 

 

They also had Princess Idol going on the ship. We didn’t go to that but we heard that there were some talented passengers on board. They had that going every night.

 

Trivia is available several times a day. We met some great people there competing for the Princess water bottles, luggage tags, passport wallets, fold-up clocks, etc. Remember, you’re competing for the fun of it, not for high dollar prizes. You can compete in teams up to six members each, and some games are specialized (like TV theme song trivia) while others are general knowledge (if there are some British people in the room, invite a couple on your team – remember, this is a British ship so they have some questions Americans won’t likely know).

 

Other:

 

There were also two Cruise Critic get togethers that Purplenorway organized. It was good to put faces with some of the names we've seen on the boards. If these are organized on your ship, definitely go! We talked to several people that said they read the boards before the cruise but never registered on the web site, so they couldn't access the roll calls. A couple of them were planning to register after they got back on land (hope you’re reading this now).

 

As for wine and liquor – nobody seemed to have any trouble at all bringing it on board in their checked baggage in NYC, and several people brought wine on board in the ports without any problems at all.

 

Also, get the coffee card. They don’t advertise it at all on board, but it’s available at the coffee shop on Deck 5. It’s good for 15 specialty coffee drinks (lattes, espresso, etc) as well as unlimited fresh brewed coffee (much better than the coffee syrup they serve on the Horizon Court or bring with room service).

 

 

Overall: probably the best cruise we've had with Princess. Service was great, staff was friendly whereever we were, and we had some great cruisers on board! We definitely recommend the Crown to others!:)

[cadburysmom]

Great trip report! :D

 

I was on Crown's inaugural sailing last June and would cruise her again in a heartbeat. Glad you had a wonderful time and good to hear the ship and crew are still as wonderful as ever.

[1stTimeRoyal]

We are going to be on the 6/17 sailing

 

1) You mentioned the service in the dining rooms, I'm more wondering how you liked the food and new menus? I'm assuming the new menus are the same ones that were posted from the Emerald Princess. Although, those ones didn't have a Caribbean night. Did they still have a Caribbean night if you remember...and if they did what was served?

 

2) Did you go to any of the specialty restaurants?

 

3) Sorry to hear about your San Juan experience...did you happen to hear any excursions that people enjoyed?

 

4) Is the Platinum/Elite line open to only repeat customers...or is it open to Suite guests, evein if its your first princess trip??

 

Thanks

[ck53]

Thanks, UT. Precise and to the point, I especially liked hearing about the entertainment.

 

Did you happen to go to the casino, if so, was it smoky?

[mrdood]

Thanks for the review, major info gathering mode in advance of our first Princess cruise on the Crown this fall!!!

[Cruise Raider]

The casino on the Crown is very smokey, at least the time we were onnboard. Guess it really depends on the crowd that is onboard. Two of the least smokiest cruises we've been on were to Hawaii and to Alaska. Doesn't mean that would pan out with the same demographics all the time, though. Plus, the recent one to Alaska, the casino was all but empty most of the time. The dealers were outright bored and they mentioned they have never seen such a nonexistant crowd on any cruise. Our one time on the Crown, the casino was packed and there were a ton of smokers onboard, thus, smokey casino!!! I think it is all luck of the draw.

As for the Platinum and Elite status line, it is just that...only for those members....but you might be able to talk them into allowing you into that lounge having booked a suite. It is just not all that strict.

[kafitty]

thanks for the review, i LOVE reading them.

 

and thank you for repeatedly praising your waitstaff. Princess people must read this stuff, and i'm sure it's noted when we single out certain employees.

As we all know, people are much more likely to take the time to complain than compliment, it's just human nature lol. i'm a waitress, and it really is a cool job (sometimes :p ), so hearing that the people you serve really enjoyed your efforts can make you feel so good!

[CathyK2]

Great review UT. We too were on that ship and your review brought back such wonderful memories. Just something more to add. We thoroughly enjoyed Tea Time on this cruise that takes place from 3:30 to 4:30 pm. They bring tea along with plates of finger sandwiches, cookies and SCONES with clotted cream and jam. They were heavenly and we would go there just for the scones many times. Everyone should try it atleast once on this ship.

 

To answer some of the questions. Yes, they had just started the new menu. I remember seeing copies the new and old so I would know which we got as soon as we got the menu. The old ones use to break up the appetisers, soups, salads, etc, and now they have all these things together in one category on the left side. This was our first Princess Cruise with the new menu. It still has many of the same food choices, but on the new menu, most of the time, the first two main courses are both seafood and then you have two other choices for each particular night, along with the "available any time group". We were very pleased with the food. No, I do not actually recall any menu saying "Caribbean Night" this time. Maybe someone else on the ship will remember more clearly, but it certainly didn't stand out as such if so. We didn't do any of the specialty restaurants since we were interested in checking out each night on the new menu and found the food very good, but I know they were always crowded, so I'm sure others can help.

 

Also, I can't help with any excursion questions, even with San Juan since we did everything on our own. We rented a jeep and went for a local pig roast outside of San Juan up in the mountains. It was much cooler there than when we got back down to San Juan which was VERY hot and humid that day. We have been to San Juan many times but tend to research and do our own things, so again, hopefully someone that was doing ship tours will help you out on that one.

 

In regards to the platinum and Elite lines at check in...we arrived around noonish and there were NO LINES for anything, so we just went to the nearest which was normal and got right in. They were very speedy and I heard most saying they felt it was very organized. So can't help with that one either. Yikes....sorry about that!

 

As far as the casino, we don't tend to gamble, but we did walk through a couple of times and both times, it was extremely smokey so we avoided that path for the rest of the cruise. But as someone said, I'm sure each cruise is different depending on the passengers. But for the one that just got back, it was SMOKEY!!!!

 

Hope all the future Crown Princess travelers have a wonderful cruise and smooth seas the way we had.

 

Cathy

[UT-Volsfan]

We are going to be on the 6/17 sailing

 

1) You mentioned the service in the dining rooms, I'm more wondering how you liked the food and new menus? I'm assuming the new menus are the same ones that were posted from the Emerald Princess. Although, those ones didn't have a Caribbean night. Did they still have a Caribbean night if you remember...and if they did what was served?

 

2) Did you go to any of the specialty restaurants?

 

3) Sorry to hear about your San Juan experience...did you happen to hear any excursions that people enjoyed?

 

4) Is the Platinum/Elite line open to only repeat customers...or is it open to Suite guests, evein if its your first princess trip??

 

Thanks

 

1. We liked the menus fairly well. They do take a little while to get used to - different layout than the old ones. I don't recall a Caribbean night on the menus - but I'm sure someone will correct me if there was one. Best meals in the dining room were the Prime Rib, Filet Mignon, Lobster Tails, and Crab Legs. Get the Sea Bass when it's on the menu - I believe it was available with the crab legs (the sea bass melts in your mouth). They still have the Italian theme night. One thing we miss from when we first cruised is the Baked Alaska parade through the dining room. Also, you can always order a sirloin steak to go with the seafood entrees (so do the surf/turf).

 

2. We didn't do any of the specialty restaurants this trip. We ususally enjoy the included dining rooms enough that we don't go to the specialty restaurants.

 

3. Afraid not. Most of the people we met were making their own arrangements when they got off ship like we did. One of the early ports had some people disappointed because their scuba excursion was cancelled (not enough participants).

 

4. I believe it's only open to Platinum/Elite members. But the regular line had only a short wait before 11:30 for check-in. There were several times when we looked over at the check-in lines that we commented there was nobody at all at the counter or in line.

 

 

For the question another person had on the casinos, we didn't spend much time there. A little bit of slot play was it. They will have a couple of smoke-free nights in the casino during the cruise, you may want to go then. These were discussed on the daily TV show with the cruise director (Kelvin). Also, we did hear some people complaining about the lack of comps in the casino (couldn't even get drinks after several hours of play) and two people said the service was very poor at the money cage (staff talking to each other instead of giving out money to cruisers to continue play and having to wait for several minutes before anybody would see what they wanted).

[herb]

Reading your review puts me in a good frame of mind for our upcoming cruise on the Crown this July :)

 

Glad you had a good time.

[hill6]

I never remember on any cruise there being drinks comped in the casino. I am happy to hear about smoke free time in the casino. That is what usually drives me out of there.

 

I am curious about what the menus will be like by the time I sail next month (July 5th). Hopefully the tastings were to get final items to add. But I wouldn't argue if they offered them during our cruise to get some additional opinions.

 

You have me worried because we have that same tour booked in San Juan (nothing else appealed to us). Hopefully it was just your driver that made the tour bad.

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review, thanks. :)

[chesquinn]

We were also on the 5/30 cruise it was our first time on Princess and we had a great time.We arrived at the pier at 12:45 we were in our cabin at 1:05 our fastest checkin on any of our cruises.We have no complaints the food was good our cabin was spotless.I had heard people talking about slow service in the dining rooms but most of the time we were fine.We were talking to one of the bartenders and she told us when they came up to NY they repaced about 600 workers.When we were waiting for our ride home we saw many more getting on buses also going home.We did eat breakfast in the buffet and we did find where to get fresh omelets made and fresh scrambled real eggs.We would definitely book with Princess again

[BrooklynGirl2]

Thanks for your review.

 

One question.... can you tell me which night was Italian Night? We want to eat at Sabatini's but don't want to miss Italian night in the dining room.

 

Thanks.

[lyssa13]

Hi Guys!

 

My boyfriend and I sailed the Star Princess from Fort Lauderdale this past December, 7 nights to the Caribbean. We LOVED our cruise EXCEPT for Horizon Court. We found the buffet to be extremely limited compared to past cruises (this was our first Princess), but are looking into sailing on the Crown from New York and wondered if anyone could offer up a comparison?

 

I found walking about the buffet that it was SO small and the offerings were either not appealing or looked like cafeteria food. I am used to entering a cruise buffet and being bombarded with so many choices that I don't know what to pick at first. So anyone have any comments to compare?

 

Thanks guys!!

[lyssa13]

also...i see some mention of new menus onboard in the dining rooms..is there a link where i can find them?? thanks!! :)

[Atomica]

Thanks for the great review! Makes me even more excited for our trip on the Crown in September...

[hill6]

UT a question I just thought of. What days did you change the clocks ahead and back?

[CathyK2]

Hill:

 

We moved the clocks ahead an hour at 2 am the night before getting into Bermuda. Then they go back at the same hour, the night before getting to San Juan.

 

 

Cathy

[Colo Cruiser]

Hi Guys!

 

My boyfriend and I sailed the Star Princess from Fort Lauderdale this past December, 7 nights to the Caribbean. We LOVED our cruise EXCEPT for Horizon Court. We found the buffet to be extremely limited compared to past cruises (this was our first Princess), but are looking into sailing on the Crown from New York and wondered if anyone could offer up a comparison?

 

I found walking about the buffet that it was SO small and the offerings were either not appealing or looked like cafeteria food. I am used to entering a cruise buffet and being bombarded with so many choices that I don't know what to pick at first. So anyone have any comments to compare?

 

Thanks guys!!

 

 

If you did not like the Star HC then you won't like the Crown HC, it is exactly the same. :)

[play21cw]

Any pictures of the ship???

[herb]

Any pictures of the ship???

 

TONS... go to webshots.com and type in Crown Princess

[KAWS]

Thanks so much for the review and the extra little tips. We'll be sure to take advantage of them next month on our trip.

 

Also, I can't help with any excursion questions, even with San Juan since we did everything on our own. We rented a jeep and went for a local pig roast outside of San Juan up in the mountains. It was much cooler there than when we got back down to San Juan which was VERY hot and humid that day. We have been to San Juan many times but tend to research and do our own things, so again, hopefully someone that was doing ship tours will help you out on that one.

 

Cathy, I'd be interested in hearing more about this excursion that you took. Sounds like it's something different and that's always good!

 

We've got the biobay tour booked in San Juan and while I really wanted to go on it, the only one that would work for us is the one through Princess (because of the 11 pm sail off) and they don't let you go swimming during the excursion.

 

Did either you or Play21 hear anyone on the ship talk about the biobay excursion? I'd be interested in hearing what they had to say.

[cindep]

We were on the May 12th Crown in a Suite and I wanted to clarify for the person who asked. You DO get preferred boarding in the FULL suites. When you print your boarding pass, it will say PREFERRED and GREEN (if printed on a color printer). You will go to the same lines and lounges as the Elite/Platinum members.

 

You paid for the perks ... enjoy them!

[Jstringers]

GO VOLS!!