Crown Princess Reviews

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Let me say first that Crown Princess is simply a beautiful ship, and very comfortable, too. On the other hand, I'm not in love with the floating hotels all the cruise lines offer now. Most of our previous cruises were on ships of half this size, and the largest ship we'd been only previously was around 2,000 still much smaller than Crown, which accommodates 3,000 (although there were only 2,650 on board for this Atlantic crossing). It is a long way from one end of the ship to the other, and everything we did seemed to require making that hike. The things I really liked: Dining options. It was nice to have a choice of dining room, buffets, burger and do bar, pizza. Exceptionally efficient cabin steward. Great debarkation, very quick and so easy to find bags. Lectures by author John Maxtone-Graham. Very informative, very entertaining. The band Accent. Great for dancing, or just listening. Male and female vocalists backed by keyboard, bass, drums (and the drummer also offered a vocal or two in each set). They played everything from country to disco to Glenn Miller, all of it done exceptionally well. By far the best musical group on any of our 12 cruises. The cruise director. Samantha "Sam" Hawker-Thomas was our all-time best. Things I didn't particularly like: Strange schedule. Lots going on from mid-morning until around 2:30 p.m., then almost nothing until around 7:30 p.m. Entertainment. There were some good things. Vocalist Sonja Sorbie was outstanding (and a very friendly person; I think she talked to just about everyone on the ship). There was a hypnotist who put on two very entertaining shows, a comedic juggler who kept everyone roaring with laughter, and a good stand-up comic. Other shows were pretty much yawners, and the major production shows were a big disappointment. The singers and and dancers seemed talented enough, but the choreography was rather pedestrian, not up to the standards of our other Princess Cruises. $8 (one way) shuttle bus in Barcelona. Considering that we had unlmited access to public transaportation in Rome for three days for 11 Euros, this struck me as a major rip-off. Formal nights. I wonder why they don't just abolish these? I don't think half of the men even put on a tie, and a fairly large minority walked around in denim pants and T-shirts. This included one couple selected by the cruise staff to participate in a passenger Newlywed Game. This really bugged me. If they're going to have formal nights, it seems the staff should encourage people to dress appropriately and not reward slovenly dressers by giving them a spot in a game show.(And is wasn't that they didn't have a choice. About 20 couples had signed up for three spots). Not bad, but not particularly good, either: Anytime dining. Our first experience with this, and I found it to be a mixed bag. Nice to eat when you wanted to, and never a problem being seated even without a reservation. But I missed having a waiter who learned your preferences (like having coffee with your meal, not just after). The food. I actually thought the buffets were better than the dinners in the dining room. Very good selection, and there were some things that were consistently excellent: soups, breads, fresh fruit, anything made with veal, salmon, desserts. But pasta, always outstanding on previous Princess Cruises, was rather ordinary. And unfortunately, there was a minor norovirus outbreak about three days out, and the eliminated self-service. You couldn't even pick up a packet of salt. This meant they had to divert many servers from table service to serving plates, and for a few days service really went to pot. It was often difficult to get a drink, and you had a choice of unseasoned food or food that grew cold waiting for someone to bring salt and pepper. They started to get things together after a few days, but service was never as good as before. Cabin. Nice, but quite small. Smaller than any previous ship. We don't spend much time in cabin, but I would like to be able to put on shoes without hitting my head. To sum up: I'm not sure TA cruises are for me. Seas were glassy-smooth, and Crown Princess is so stable you hardly realized you were on the ocean; but it was cool enough and windy enough that sitting on deck was rarely comfortable. I'd prefer a smaller ship, but alas, they've just about disappeared.

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I love Princess Cruises, I really do, but there is always room for improvement. I think that rather than saying how beautiful the ship was and how appetizing the food was (which both are true) that I should maybe critique areas that could use improvement. (1) the mattresses are in dire need of being replaced. The have been sat on, and the edges are sagging and give the feeling that you will tumble off the edges. (2) we had Noro-virus to rear it ugly face while on board. This caused us to rethink if being in public places and partaking of those activities were worth acquiring the Noro- virus. We elected to sit on our balcony on sea days and enjoy the sea life that we were able to spot. We saw porpoises and lots of whales while sitting on our balcony. We read novels that I had carried ( all the donated books were disposed in order to eliminate one way of spreading the Noro. (3) I feel that in light of the Noro being on board that everyone needs to have all towels laundered everyday. (you are given the option to hang them them up and reuse them the next day). Ecology only goes so far when factoring in health issues. (4) Our bed linens were not changed during the first 8 days of the cruise. I took notice that mine had a dark spot on the bottom sheet that it was there everyday for 8 days. I finally asked or the sheets to be changed. (5) The Internet was poor (at best). You could not tell when you were signed on, and many passengers used up 250 minutes on the first day because they attempted to sign out and it obviously wasn't processed. I used 10 minutes the first day of the cruise and NEVER was able to access the Internet on that day. At all times, it took at least 4 minutes to get online and each page loaded equally as slow. 30 minutes could easily be consumed trying to get into our email account. (6) We had a major power failure for over an hour one day at sea. I am thankful that I wasn't in an elevator; that it was daylight and I could see; that the temperature was cool and a slight wind was blowing; and that it was just a power failure and not something more dramatic, like a fire. (7) our waiter had 3 tables and each night we were the last to receive our meals. Not important, you say.... Remember the stage show begins right after dinner and if you want a seat, you have to arrive early. Another table mate questioned our waiter, and from that day forward we were no longer last. (7) I do not think workers are as cautious about cleanliness as they should be. Some wear plastic gloves, some do not. They take dirty dishes from the tables with bear hands and then bring you silverware or a glass of juice with those same bear hands. But, then how often do they change their gloves? So I guess it is a toss up as to which is cleaner. (8) cabins and balconies are supposed to be non-smoking, but I have doubts that this is enforced. Many nights on the balcony I smelled cigarette smoke very strongly, but nothing was done. I was also on the starboard side of the ship which does not contain the smoking deck on the Promenade Deck so I know it wasn't drifting up from below. No it was coming from deck 11 or 12, from a cabin 610 or lower in number. (9) Embarkation was a nightmare. Ship was late being cleared and we had to wait in the parking lot in the hot sun. We are younger and healthier than most. It was sad to see people who were unable to stand erect with a walker, in the crowded lines needing relief from the heat and the standing. I recommend that everyone buy a small container of Lysol To Go. I sprayed it directly on my hands to kill any virus that I may have gotten onto my hands. Neither of us got the Noro-virus. I like to think that it helped. I also packed a large Lysol in my checked bag and sprayed everything in the cabin with it. (pillows, bed covers, bathroom faucets, toliet flusher and lids, inside the shower, door handles...Everything that I could think of, I sprayed it with Lysol. ) I hope that everyone who cruises has a great cruise. Be healthy. Use elbows to push the elevator buttons. Some actions reap big rewards. Be cautious in port. Pick pockets are waiting on you. One of our table mates caught a young girl unzipping his fanny pack which he wore in front. Another reached in his pocket for something,and there was another hand already in his pocket! Then on the crowded elevator one night my husband felt his wallet being lifted out of his back pocket. He actually felt it rising up, being pulled from his pocket, and he was ON the ship! Be careful! You are your first line of defense. No one will protect you like you will protect yourself.

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Every Year we have traveled to All inclusives throughout The Caribbean, and Mexico, so we thought we would take the plunge into the Cruising world for a change. Friends of our have recently returned from the Crown Princess and raved about their experience so we decided to give it a try. The Ship itself was very nice and very large. I really thought we would feel trapped on a ship, but never felt that way at all. Our room was a little scary at first, we were not used to the condensed room-styles that cruise ships offer, but once we unpacked all of our luggage, it seemed that there was room for everything. We were absolutely amazed by the cabin stewards, they seemed to magically appear when we left the room and when we returned the cabin was spotless. We were so used to having hotel maids banging at our doors, or having to chase after them in regular hotels, so this was a very unexpected and welcome surprise. The food was actually very good. We ate all over the ship and experienced every type of food and service that the ship had to offer. Our favorite was the Steak house and Sabatinis. We enjoyed the buffet on the days that we wanted to just relax and just dress casually. We were a little alarmed by the cover charges, but quickly learned that they were well worth the extra expenditure. We quickly found that the major difference in land based all inclusives and the Cruise ship experience was definitely the entertainment. Most All inclusives provide very lack luster, low budget entertainment. We found the entertainment to be fantastic the majority of the time. We were not too fond of the Singing and dancing revues so we opted out of those. There were a pair of comedians~Alfred and Seymour who we really enjoyed. The highlight for us was the Hypnotist Fernandez. We watched the first show, loved it and returned for the later show. My husband volunteered and was hypnotized. I honestly laughed until I cried. It was brilliant. We really enjoyed the ports of call, it was really nice to be as busy or as relaxed as we felt in each destination. We love to snorkel and dive and found plenty of great areas to do this. Our favorite spots were Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We have our own gear, so we just arranged our dives locally. There was one ship tour we were interested in, but it was sold out and extremely expensive so we were not really disappointed that we missed it. All in all we really loved our first Cruise and will probably become more avid cruisers in the future. We did feel that we needed a holiday after the holiday as we were so active throughout the cruise. Next time we will book a few days after the cruise to wind down. Bravo Princess~Fantastic crew, Fantastic experience.

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We booked this cruise back in January and the only problem we had was waiting for the sail away date to come. Once on board, we had a wonderful week of cruising. Our trip first started off by flying in the day before from Milwaukee on AirTran Airways. We had a direct flight with no problems, arrived in Ft Lauder-dale around 11:00 AM. This gave us the rest of the day to visit downtown Holly-wood, Florida and the Hollywood Broadwalk down by the beach. We had a reserva-tion at the Holiday Inn in Hollywood. This was the second time for us staying there. I highly recommend this hotel, friendly staff, nice lobby, clean rooms and a beautiful outdoor pool area. Plus, to top it off, great complimentary shuttle service from the airport and to the Everglades Cruise Port. Once check-ed in, we headed out to visit the sites I mentioned above. Downtown Hollywood was just ok, nothing special that I could see. We did find a nice place for lunch called "Chocolada Bakery & Cafe". Good food, but great deserts! After lunch we hopped on the local trolley to take us to the Broadwalk on the ocean-front. We really enjoyed this area. It's a 2 mile long pedestrian promenade, has a path for walkers, a bicycle lane and jogging path. Beautiful beach area with many people enjoying the day. Their was lots of restaurants, cafes, pubs and shops along this promenade. We stopped at a couple places for drinks and to take pictures. One place we visited was the Organic Brewery & Restaurant. I must say they brew some good beer. I'm one of these guys that enjoy visiting brewpubs when traveling. After that we caught a taxi back to the hotel. After freshing up we walked over to the convenience store next door to stock up on some soda and wine for the cruise. After that we had a late night fish fry at the hotel and then we called it a night. The next morning we were very excited as we new it was finally cruise day! We were signed up for the 11:00 AM shuttle to the cruise terminal. We woke up early and had breakfast at a Denny's across the street from the hotel. Finally it was time to go and head over to the Crown Princess. The wait was over! We were in line by 11:30 AM and on board in our cabin by 12:30. We had an oceanview room on Plaza Deck, room P325, just a few feet from the Piazza area & International Cafe. Our cabin was ok, but some mornings when in port, we heard a lot of noise from workers on the deck below operating mechanical lifts, etc. Also one night we could hear the waves pounding up against the ship below us when sleeping. We did incur some rough weather that night. Like many other cruises, I think we will stick with Emerald Deck in the future. Anyway, back to the first day on board, after checking out our cabin we headed to the International Cafe for a light lunch. We purchased a coffee card for $29.00 plus 15% gratuity and were set for the week. We spent a lot of time at the International Cafe during the week. One of our favorite places on the ship to hang out. After walking around a bit, it was now time to attend the muster drill with our life jackets in the casino at 3:30 PM. Then it was back to the cabin to unpack our luggage which came a bit late. At 4:00 PM the Crown Princess was on it's way. Let the party begin!!! Back in February I joined cruise critic and signed up for the roll call for this cruise. I was glad I did as my wife and I met a lot of nice people at the Meet 'N Greet at the Adagio Bar on deck 16. We had this gathering the first day on board at 5:00 PM. A special thanks to Meredith & Mike from Virginia for organizing this roll call. We also had a slot pull in the casino that 25 of us got involved in on Monday afternoon (seaday). Special thanks to Fred & Lourdes (Florida) for setting this up. We had a lot of fun with tired feet even though we didn't win or maybe it was because of hunger pains (like we don't get enough to eat on a cruise ship). Anyway, we had a blast. Some of the nice people we met and ran into during the week were Rich & Sandi (Cleveland), Jerry & Kathy (California), Ron & Linda (Virginia), Rob & Kim (Green Bay), Mike & Amanda (New Jersey), Patty & Mike (Arizona), Ken & Eileen (upstate New York), Liz & Joe (Tampa Bay), Andrea & Bob (Florida) and Simon from the UK. I know I'm missing a few, but just can't match everyone up with names. We also had a nice farewell gathering on Friday, the last night of the cruise at the Adagio Bar. A great group of people, I was really glad to be a part of this roll call. That night we attended the "Welcome Aboard Show" in the Princess Theater. They had a very funny comedy duo (Alfred & Seymour) that were hilarious. We saw their show a couple times during the week. The cruise director (Sam Hawker-Thomas)and her main assitant Stu were very good hosting events during the week as were the other assitants. Through out the week we enjoyed watching movies "Under the Stars" (deck 15 pool area) and in the Princess Theater. Saw "My Week with Marilyn", "The Iron Lady", "The Artist", "Sherlock Holmes-A Game of Shadows" and "The Ides of March" with George Clooney. We also enjoyed going to the triva games, bingo and the casino during the week. We never won, but had fun trying. One of our favorite shows is "The Newlywed, Not So Newly-wed Game Show". It's always a good laugh from the answers the contestants give. Another event we always attend is the "Princess Pop Star Grand Finale" on Friday night to wrap up the cruise week. Some very talented singers performing some good songs. We didn't attend any production shows this time around with the singers and dancers. We actually saw these same shows they performed on other Princess cruise ships. (It's time for new shows). We did see "Fernandez" the comedy hypnotist, very funny show and to end it, another funny comedian the last night of the cruise "Tom Briscoe". The next day, our only let down, the captain, Andrew Proctor had to cancel our arrival to Princess Cays due to bad weather. The waves were to strong to get the tender boats into the small harbor there. I always enjoy this stop, hope-fully next cruise we will be back. We managed to find other options on board, like eat some more. We were very satisfied with our breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Then to top it off, the deserts are the best! My wife and I are easy going and like to dress casual (no dress up on the 2 formal nights). So we stay away from the main dining rooms and eat our meals at the Horizon Buffet or Cafe Caribe. We always enjoy the Bavarian Bierfest Dinner Buffet they have in Cafe Caribe which was Wed. night. They also have Italian and Mexican buffet nights. Always a good selection of food and very tasty. One true statement, you never go hungary on a Princess cruise ship. We had 4 sea days on this cruise, twice in the Wheelhouse Bar on sea days (11AM to 2PM) they served a "British Pub Lunch". My wife had fish & chips and I had bangers & mash. Both were excellent. Our two ports of call were Curacao and Aruba. In Curacao we justed walked around and did a little sight seeing & shopping. It was a very humid day. Willemstad is a charming little town with it's bright, pastel colored buildings. We were able to sample the famous Curacao Liqueur which is quite good. We ended up buying a bottle that we smuggled back on board with no problem. Aruba our next port stop was our favorite. We did the "California Lighthouse & Beach Excursion" on the banana bus. We had a very good driver that gave us the run down on everything we passed. We saw a lot of fancy homes that were worth millions of dollars, but were built along the ocean drive. After seeing the lighthouse we spent about 3 hours at MooMba Beach in the hotel zone of Palm Beach. Great place to enjoy the surroundings and just lay back in the lounge chairs, get a little tan, take a swim and enjoy a couple of drinks. The entire beach area was great with beautiful resort hotels up and down Palm Beach. We took a walk over to the Marriott Hotel & Casino, very nice grounds andpool area. We went inside the casino and actually won $15.00. Afterwards we just walked the beach back to our area and enjoyed the scenery. It was a great day, sunny and warm. Once the banana bus got us back, we boarded the ship and headed up to the gym (treadmill) to burn some calories. All the eating and drinking was catching up to us. We worked out several times during the week, but I know I gained a couple pounds when I got back home. We celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary on board (April 24th). I left a note in the Princess Library and Sam & Stu annouced it the next morning on the "Wake Up Show". Princess also put balloons and a anniversary poster on our cabin door. That evening in Cafe Caribe, several crew members came over and sang happy anniversary to us and presented us with a small cake for the occasion. It was a nice moment. During the cruise we each put down a $100.00 deposit for a future cruise and onboard credit. We always take advantage of this offer, why not have some free spending money on our next cruise. We do have our next cruise booked on the Emerald Princess. A 10 day cruise starting Nov. 7th, we picked this itinerary as we have never been to Antigua, St Lucia, Barbados and St Kitts. The only problem, we now have to wait another six months to go. Disembarkation was a breeze, we were one of the last passagers to leave the ship around 10:30 AM Saturday morning. We had a a later flight back home, so their was no rush to get off the ship. So we left our cabin at 8:00 AM and headed up to Horizon Buffet for one last Breakfast. Then we headed down to the International Cafe and killed the last hour there sitting. Finally we were on our way, cleared customs in minutes, got our luggage and were in a taxi to the airport. We had nearly 4 hours of waiting time at the airport, but it was nice to have another direct flight back to Milwaukee. We arrived there at 6:00 PM and were back home a hour later after the drive. On a closing note, just want to say hi to Bernie & Darlene (Connecticut). They weren't with the roll call, but had fun hanging out with them. We had a couple bad weather days on this cruise, but it didn't stop our enjoyment. Thanks Princess for another great cruise! And happy cruising to all you folks on cruise critic.

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Embarkation was wonderful when we got off our bus I thought we are never going to get on and we had handicapped people that needed assistance but I have to say I was impressed, the only thing is that if the handicapped people could of gotten off the bus nearer the terminal! When we did get in the terminal once the wheel chair came, which was very quick, they were taken away and taken completely care of. I had found out prior to cruising because of reading Cruise Critic reviews that we had a mini-suite without a covering over our balcony! I tried to change our room but it was a full ship. I felt as though our travel agent should of been aware of this and warned us. I also called Customer Service at Princess Cruise Lines and told them that in the description of the mini-suites that should be added "some mini-suites do not have a covering over them"! This was a very big dissapointment to me. The service was absolutely wonderful! WE had Na from Thailand at our table 252 in the Michaelangelo dining room and she was a delight....she steered us to the 'yummy yummy' dinner selections and she was dead on all the time! She made our dining experience a 5++++! The food was always delivered hot and anything that was needed was taken care of very quickly. We did feel as though in the entertainment area there could be improvement! But they did have entertainment we could follow every night and enjoy very much Daniel Oliver in the Crooners Lounge was amazing! It was overcast for most of our trip except when we got to our two ports....Curacao and Aruba which worked out very nicely. But did not get to sit on the balcony because of the rain, which I would have if I had a covering over it!!!! It also was too breezy because of the full exposure to the elements which I never get with a 'regular' balcony, let alone a mini-suite which was our first and was hoping for a lot more from the extra expense! Now for disembarkation with our 'handicap' couple...we were sent to the Crooners Lounge and there was a delay because of Customs...when we were cleared no one announced this....then we are sitting there (for over 40 minutes) and my daughter hears someone talking to a princess worker about a 'lightblue color' and we had Express Walkoff .... so I approach him and he says we'll get a wheelchair right away...now why weren't they asking who had what and letting us know what was happening there were at least six workers standing around and not one said a word! So off we go but guess what? We had to take care of our luggage and theirs.....that was a real challenge and I had asked prior to embarkation if we could get assistance when getting off and on with the luggage even if we were 'express' and they assured us yes...of course I don't usually hesitate to speak up and shame on me I should of at this point but was afraid we might be holding the rest of our bus group up at this point since they were all in another lounge! We did make it off but I felt as though the person helping us should of called for someone to handle the luggage its not as if we weren't willing to pay for the assistance! I've learned some lessons and just wanted to share 'lessons learned' with all of you.....don't get me wrong I loved my cruise but because of the balcony and the handicap assistance it would of been a 5!!!!

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