Crown P Dummies-Part II-Had a great time

[smvthecpa]

I am amazed at the response to my "Crown P for dummies" report. Firstly, I had a great time. The food was great, met lots of new people, and the weather was fantastic. You make the most of your vacation. My hints were to try to get that "little extra."

 

More hints and advice:

 

Entertainment - All cruises have great and not-so-great performers. The hynotist act was terrific and the band music fine. What was so upsetting was after some 8 cruises, to see canned music with zero musicians during a princess theatrical revue.

 

I enjoyed the karioki at Club Fusion but the contest for the best karioki singer is nothing more than a popularity contest. Oh well, but I got up there myself and had loads of fun.

 

Food- As noted the food was good to outstanding. I recommend to go the extra mile and have 2 dinners by going to the Caribe at 5:30PM as well as your regular sitdown dinner. No extra charge. Cafe Caribe also may have its own lunch menu, so go try some good eating there as well.

By the way the ship has an ersatz sushi lunch. Its not real salmon, but the breakfast smoked lox reshaped and renamed sushi. Gimme a break. Real sushi was at a the sushi bar at $1 a piece.

 

Also, I wish the ship had healthy alternatives. My wife couldn't eat the salty shrimp salad or the foods mixed with gravies.

 

Waiter service- YWMV. (Your waiter may vary). We had hit and miss experiences, as with any ship except Celebrity where I found the service to always be good. My waitress at dinner was good and I tipped her extra.

 

The lobster nite was terrific. The Carribean dinner nite was eh. An indian food dinner nite at the Caribe with many curry dishes for dinner is not my cup of tea.

 

Restaurants - Do not reserve Sabatinis or the Crown Grill on formal nites, or ie., italian nite if your going to Sabatini. So when do you reserve? On carribean nite or classic american nite I think its called. So, of course, the smart cruisers reserve Sabatinis immediately for the carribean nite. Think, about it, why would you book the Crown Grill for lobsters when the dining room gives you great lobster on the 2nd formal nite, already? I waited too long when I found this out and the Carribean nite was basically booked solid.

 

Disembarkation- The ship does an amazing job of getting passengers off the ship. Kudos to Princess.

 

Cruise "timing" - Spending 9 days cruising, the actual amount of time on land at San Juan, (arriving at 1:00PM in the heat of the afternoon) was disappointing. The Grand Turk stop was nothing more than a pitstop where you get off the ship for a few hours and then continue back to Brooklyn. Would have preferred another interesting island instead.

 

I didn't mean to be so negative, at all. I was simply suggesting ways to get an even better cruising experience.

 

So, make your own great cruising time, as I did. And the best part of my cruise was listening to the violin quartet players in the piazza performing classical. They were awesome and not to be missed.

 

I think I ran outta gas. Bye.

[partyboy]

Good job, great information!

Thank you.:)

[Cruzin2paradise09]

Whew - I was worried by your first post (which is much longer) with all the negativisms that the cruise was a washout for you. Glad you were able to enjoy.

 

As for the canned music and lip synking . . . I have to disagree. I was on the sailing before yours and there were some technical problems with one of the shows one night that arose and based on how the actors handled themselves, well, they were most certainly singing.

[cynbar]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise --- I admit, I didn't get that impression from your first post!! We have never had a perfect cruise, but we sailed the Crown last summer and enjoyed it so much that we booked her again for the Southern Caribbean this November. Thanks for the tips.....

[Druke I]

Your part II was more balanced than Part I.

 

It is hard to be objective when so many of the items being graded are highly subjective.

 

Isn't it wonderful we have so many choices?

[sonomaphil]

But did you like the pretty blue and white paint job??? :D

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I just slammed you after your first post and wish we saw all of this together. I am glad you did enjoy your cruise. I suspect that you submitted all the negative stuff together to get a rise out of us Princess "cheerleaders". Obviously it worked. ;)

[KAWS]

Also, I wish the ship had healthy alternatives. My wife couldn't eat the salty shrimp salad or the foods mixed with gravies.

 

Doesn't Princess have a spa menu? I know they did on Carnival and there were some nights where this stuff was so darned good it was preferred over the other meals.

 

I take it Caribbean night is not a huge hit with the pax. Which night is this? I want to be a "smart cruiser" and make sure I get my rezzie in to Sabatinis right away so I get a spot.

[sonomaphil]

Doesn't Princess have a spa menu? I know they did on Carnival and there were some nights where this stuff was so darned good it was preferred over the other meals.

 

They do. It's different almost every night.

[jckvpa0]

Aren't the lobsters in the dinning room different from the lobsters served in the specialty restaurant ? I believe on all the other cruises I have been on the lobsters in the dinning room are warm water lobsters, & in the specialty restaurant they are from more northern waters. Being from the north I have vowed to never again have a lobster in the dinning room. I know when I order one in the dinning what it is going to be but I just see the word LOBSTER & I can't help myself I have to have one, & then I'm disappointed !

 

I hope someone can clear this up because I am planning on ordering the UBE in our room & ordering lobster & would be very disappointed if it were warm water lobster ! Also I plan on going to the specialty restaurants a few times & yes I would order lobster !

[frofro]

can you please tell me which night is caribbean night so i can make my res for sabatini? :D thankyou

[NSWP]

Was that for real? What about the COFFEE..did that improve after the first post too?:confused:

[bdjam]

Food- As noted the food was good to outstanding. I recommend to go the extra mile and have 2 dinners by going to the Caribe at 5:30PM as well as your regular sitdown dinner. No extra charge.

Oh...my Princess. What have they done to you?

[mikjr]

As for the canned music and lip synking . . . I have to disagree. I was on the sailing before yours and there were some technical problems with one of the shows one night that arose and based on how the actors handled themselves, well, they were most certainly singing.

 

Well... I hate to disagree with your disagree... BUT, the Princess production show DEFINITELY used canned music, as well as canned voices.

 

During most show, the only ones REALLY singing are the lead singers... the others are taped... as for the music, we saw shows where there was a 5 piece band, but heard 10 different instruments... ALL the rest were pre-recorded. One show we saw had NO band at all, and had a pre recorded track!

 

I hate to say it... but Princess has really cut back on their entertainment budget!