My (REALLY long) review - Crown 07/14-23

[KAWS]

Little background on us first:

This is our third cruise, first on Princess. This was our 25th anniversary celebration and our first cruise without the kidlets.

Embarkation:

A total breeze. We got to the terminal early – around 11:15. Hardly anyone was there so we went right through. Got on the ship around 11:30, dropped off our bags in our room and then went for lunch and drinks.

The Ship and our Cabin:

HUGE and beautiful. It was confusing to us for a few days though because there were many dead ends. I had read about that but still found it a little frustrating. The only floor that goes end to end is deck 7 which is the Promenade. Mid ship elevators go fully up and down too but forward and aft have dead ends. We were on the Dolphin deck in a balcony room (full aft) D734. The room was wonderful and the balcony was really big. It was fully covered so that gave us lots of shade. There is a little “jut” that I had seen from pictures and thought it was some sort of an obstructed beam but it turned out to be merely a jut afterall and you could put a chair behind it and it didn’t hinder a thing. Asked the room steward for a lounger but he said they would only give them to the suites. Decided a chair to sit and a chair to prop legs would work for us too so it was all good.

Dining:

We had anytime dining. At first this left us rather cold. It was sometimes quite a wait for a table (we usually dined with another couple) and you COULD make reservations but not between 6:15 and 8:30 so that was a bit restricting. There was really only two nights that our wait was really long and one of those nights was after a late sailing (Bermuda) so I guess that made sense. The food started off to be ok to us, but as the cruise continued we found it got better and by the end of that cruise, it was downright delicious!

We only participated in formal night once out of the two times, but it was lovely to see everyone decked out in their finest. Had our pictures done but in the end we didn’t buy them, even though they were good. We wound up buying a casual portrait of us because we don’t have a nice cas one and do have formal ones from our last cruise.

Food in the Horizon Court and Caribe Cafe was ok to good – nothing excellent there I thought. But certainly there was plenty and we COULD have eaten in the dining room if we really wanted to. One day at lunch and one day (final) at breakfast we did, but other that that it was the buffet, so obviously we found plenty. <blush>

Room service was prompt each time. We ordered breakfast a few times when we knew we’d have an early port so that worked out fine. One day (San Juan day) we ordered sandwiches from room service instead of dinner because we were just too tired to leave the room by then (more about that later) and not hugely hungry.

Our friends gave us the Champagne Breakfast as a surprise. There was a lot of food in this breakfast and it was a really nice treat. Honestly I wouldn’t pay almost $30 for it though. Aside from the ½ bottle of champagne there was nothing that you couldn’t normally order from room service. Eggs weren’t on the room service menu but you could still get them so we could have had scrambled eggs instead of the quiche and done it all for free. Still – a nice surprise for us and it was lovely to have the waiter set it up on a linen tablecloth for us.

Entertainment:

In a word: excellent. We saw some wonderful shows. Sarge was there (he’s really good), Tony Pace (another comedian and impressionist), Wayne Hoffman (illusionist and mentalist) and these were my absolute favourites. Destinations show was outstanding too. We usually got to the theatre 20-30 minutes or so ahead and had no problem getting a seat. Just sat and had a cocktail while we waited so it was no biggie.

Didn’t play casino, bingo or any of the games but did see the “Marriage Game” and it was really funny. Tried to play it but didn’t get our name picked. Good job too cause those questions were hard, even after 25 years of marriage!

Ports:

Bermuda – My favourite I think. We went to the Fantasy Caves, hit the Swizzle Inn, swaggered out, and then went to John Smith’s Bay. PARADISE. Hardly anyone there and it was heaven.

San Juan – Shopped a bit in the morning and then went on our planned tour. Tour was supposed to be a Puerto Rico Cookery Tour through Shore trips. This turned out to be more a chef cooking us a 5 course meal in his home. His lovely wife was there to chat and tell us things about San Juan and keep the delicious apple martinis coming. We had an outstanding day (there were 4 of us that went) and we were stuffed! Too full to walk back to the ship, we took a taxi back and then crashed early in our room. It was reallllllllly hot in San Juan!

St. Thomas – Sailed on the Jolly Mon in the morning. There were five of us on the sailing/snorkeling excursion. Lots of fun and Gayle (the tour guide) snorkeled with us and made the day for us. The things that she showed us helped us so much. Left to our own feeble snorkeling skills, I know we wouldn’t have seen as much as we did. Turtles, eels, stingrays, tons of cool fish and coral and no commercial bugging us to buy pictures that they took (they didn’t) of us. I appreciated that a lot. Dropped us off downtown from their tender boat and we proceeded to spend the afternoon shopping. I was a little (ok a lot tipsy) but sobered up eventually walking and drinking water! LOL Hubby bought be a sparkly diamond ring (I LOVE CARDOW JEWELLERS!!) and then we bought him a new Swiss Army watch. Went to the local fire station and got my son a fire t-shirt (he’s a firefighter and collects them so it made a wonderful souvenir for him).

Grand Turk – Went to the Grand Turk Inn. Lovely bed and breakfast run by two sisters. There was only three of us that spent the afternoon there. Sandy gave us a suite to use to change in and we went to the private beach, floated around and played in the water for an hour or so then came back to the Inn to enjoy a delicious array of homemade desserts that Sandy had made for us. They are not licensed so she told us we could bring a bottle of wine, which we did and it was a wonderful, relaxing afternoon. Sandy sat with us and entertained us with all kinds of local stories and conversation. She’s a really charming hostess. Very reasonable at $20 pp too!

Spa:

Went to the spa on the last morning. I was not overly impressed with it. I had the ginger srub booked and it was pricey (I thought) at $155 for what you got. I never DID get the ginger scrub and instead she used a menthol smelling scrub instead telling me after that she liked to use that for stress relief more. Fine – but give me a choice please since I really was looking forward to ginger/lime scrub! I was a bit disappointed too that after my shower, I was given a bottle of lotion to re-moisturize myself with. I would have preferred to have the scrub, the shower, and THEN the massage with the lotion by the attendant instead of massage, scrub, shower and ME lotioning myself. It was bang on to the 50 minutes that it was supposed to be. It was ok, but I don’t think I’d book it again. Port day specials weren’t all that special either. If you look forward to a treat for your cruise then fine, but for me, I’ll do my treats at home before or after and just use my extra $$ for the ports.

Last night:

The champagne waterfall was really fun. They do this instead of the midnight buffet. We took lots of pictures, drank the champagne and danced with everyone in the Piazza. Poor guys that had to clean up afterwards! Great fun though and I actually preferred it to the usual buffet (that I don’t eat anyway cause I’m too stuffed all the time.)

Debarkation:

Done by colours and very organized. Sometimes the colours got called out of turn from what the order was supposed to be but really, it wasn’t too bad. Finding bags afterwards was rather interesting though. We were Green 4 and found our bags in 4, 3 and 1 sections. So if you can’t find them, look around. They will be there – somewhere!

Final thoughts:

At first I must admit the ship overwhelmed me and I didn’t like it much. It seemed too crowded, especially at the pool areas, and honestly that never changed, but I eventually carved out my own little world and found places that I was more comfortable in. I really did not like the MUTS. It was very loud in the daytime and it seemed that hardly anyone was watching it. Never did go at night so can’t comment.

However, as the week went on and the ports came into play, it all changed for me. I found my little cruise world on the ship and got comfortable. We got so comfortable, in fact, that we wound up booking another cruise for 2009 (as seen in my signature below). The FCC place was great – not pushy at all. I even made our reservation and then made a change afterwards all in the same week and it was always “no problem at all” and done with a smile. One thing I did change for my next cruise was to book a late traditional dining though. I missed having a waiter that joked around and that extra attention. We did find a wait team towards the end of the cruise that did this but I’d like to have this every night. It does add to the experience.

So, if you’re still reading this after this huge review, and anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask away. I’d be happy to answer them for you.

[billet]

I am glad to hear you had such a good time and are going to go back for more. Thank you for the review and making me want to get on with booking my next cruise!

[Tom S]

Thanks Kim for the great review. My wife and I will be celebrating our 20th on the Crown sans kids on August 1 and your review got us excited.

 

Couple of questions:

 

Did Crown do anything special to recognize your anniversary?

 

What nights were the formal nights? and

 

Did you go to any of the specialty restaurants?

 

Thanks

[frofro]

I was on the same sailing as you, and felt just like you did about the ship. Every day it changed for me, and now I am looking to book another one ASAP! The food in the dining room definitely got better as the nights went on. I am surprised they told you that you couldnt make a reservation for anytime dining between 6:15 and 8:30. I made 3 reservations, 1 at 6:15, 1 at 7:30, and 1 at 8:00. Thanks for the report enjyed reading it even tho I am just off it myself! :D

[KAWS]

They put some balloons up on our door for our anniversary and put an anniversary card in our "mail box" for us. They also gave us a note to take to our waiter for our anniversary that would get us a cake. We didn't take it with us but still got the cake! I thought that was nice.

 

We did go to Sabatinis and went on our anniversary. Perhaps that's why we still got the cake. They were extremely attentive there. So much food though! You order the entree and the rest just keeps on coming. The dinner takes 2 hours and it's a wonderful experience.

 

Formal nights were the first full sea day and again on the second to last sea day. Almost everyone did the first formal night and most did the second as well. We chose not to on the second - mostly cause I thought I wouldn't be able to shimmy into that formal by then! No kidding. My heavens the food was endless. So keep that in mind when selecting your outfit for the second formal. ;)

[KAWS]

I am surprised they told you that you couldnt make a reservation for anytime dining between 6:15 and 8:30. I made 3 reservations, 1 at 6:15, 1 at 7:30, and 1 at 8:00. Thanks for the report enjyed reading it even tho I am just off it myself! :D

 

No kidding! You're lucky. We tried on two different nights for 7:30 or 8:00 and another couple that we met tried too. No dice. I found as the week went on though that 8:30 wasn't too bad of a time. We usually weren't really ready to eat much earlier than that.

[jckvpa0]

Great review, thanks !!!

 

I don't think I have read one review where someone has stated they had a bad time with embarkation ! Also, this is not the first time I have read that the food gets better as the week goes on, strange !

 

I'm on the Dolphin deck bow, so are you saying that the only way to get to my room is by taking the mid ship elevators & walking all the way to the bow ?

[KAWS]

I'm on the Dolphin deck bow, so are you saying that the only way to get to my room is by taking the mid ship elevators & walking all the way to the bow ?

 

No, you'll be able to get to it from any of the elevators. The problem comes in when there's a deck that has common areas or dining rooms on it. At that point you can't always just walk from one end of the ship to the other. For cabins, you can walk down the corridors. So you'll be able to take the forward elevators to your deck.

 

There will be some areas of the ship that you can't get to from the forward elevators though and then you'll need to take mid ship elevators to do so. Sounds confusing, but you'll get the hang of it.

[deezee]

I agree about the food, It started off just ok, then got better and better.

[CMM]

How long was the longest wait for anytime dinning?

 

Thanks for the review.

[KAWS]

How long was the longest wait for anytime dinning?

 

Thanks for the review.

 

We usually were a party of 4 so it could have been just a few minutes to one night when it was an hour. Depends on the time that you go, how many you are, and if you want to share a table. If you absolutely don't want to wait, then go before 6:15 or after 8:30.

[CoolChile]

Hola Kim! Well-written review ... way better than your emails. :D :p Jes' kiddin' .... you are a good and descriptive writer. I felt like I was there -- for some of it, I wished I had been.

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:cool: CoolChile

[KAWS]

Hola Kim! Well-written review ... way better than your emails. :D :p Jes' kiddin' .... you are a good and descriptive writer. I felt like I was there -- for some of it, I wished I had been.

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:cool: CoolChile

 

haha Come with us next time Miss Cool Chickie.....oh I mean Chile! OMG the cruise line would never be the same if we got together on one. ;) :D ;)