FraudBroad

Your TA should have a business development manager she/he can call to get help. Or they can call Princess customer relations directly. Forget dealing with 1 800 princess since they have no power. You need to go to the top and get everything back the way it was before THEY messed up.

 

Good luck and let us know what happens.

It’s FINALLY resolved except for the fact they’ve insulted me with $50 OBC. They haven’t heard the last of me. Not by a long shot!

I’ve always LOVED Princess and have ALWAYS experienced amazing customer service. But this was just horrendous!!!

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Well Natalie, You're not the only one they've done this to today. I logged into the Personalizer bright and early this morning to find that there is no booking associated with my account. Uh what the heck? I called Princess as they're open before my TA and after checking my account I was told there was a problem and that my TA needed to call them. I did call them not too long after and they look and yes we've been cancelled. They called me back and after talking they found out that since we did EZ-Air a couple of days after booking this January Regal cruise they never charged my credit card for the airfare. I'd done purchases for on board which went through fine but since no one completed the billing for the flights they cancelled the cruise. Now this was a booking in late October as we switched from a 14 day Carribean Princess cruise but I paid in full immediately so wth?

 

 

 

Fortunately our online TA has great staff and they were able to restore everything as long as I paid the airfare today which I did. The purchases had to be redone as they'd been credited back when the cancellation was processed... Grr At no time in the past month and a half was I contacted and both of them have my credit card on file. I do want an explanation as to what happened and I'd like some kind of an apology as who knows what would have happened if I hadn't logged in until January to print my luggage tags.

Me thinks Princess has a problem.

I was SUPER ticked when they told me I hadn’t paid for any of my pre-booked items. Seriously? THEY sent ME the receipt...how could they not know I paid????

It’s all resolved now but the $50 OBC needs to be adjusted. That’s just insulting. And thank GOD for my amazing TA!!! She worked her buns off yesterday.

If Princess had initially admitted their mistake, taken responsibility and apologized it would have diffused the situation. They chose not to do that. Instead, my TA and I ran around in circles yesterday for HOURS trying to get this resolved. It all just leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. And trust me...Princess hasn’t heard the last from me!!!

So glad your situation worked out. Enjoy your cruise!

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How incredibly frustrating this must be for you. I'd be going out of my mind and personally I think $50 OBC is insulting. If they can't sort this out to your complete satisfaction, then I would be posting on their Facebook and Twitter. I have usually encountered very good results with social media when all else has failed.

 

 

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I did both yesterday...and got ZERO response!

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Natalie,

Saw your post with your CC name, so had to read it. We were on a cruise with you and your parents on the Royal. You did a great job in organizing the M&G-even though you had to stand on a chair to be heard-ha.

We are booked on upcoming Princess cruises soon and have spent a lot of time on phone resolving issues with Princess. By chance did you contact customer service or speak to a representative that answered the phone?

Best of luck and hope to see you on another cruise.

Pat

Hi Pat!

Good to hear from you! That was so much fun last year on the Royal! And I too hope we can sail again together one day!

When I called back the second time today I spoke with a rep named Mary who really did try and go above and beyond to get things fixed. She finally admitted to me that she has virtually no power to do anything and advised me to write a letter to Princess.

I’ve spent more hours on this today than I care to even add up, and bless her heart my TA has spent even MORE hours on it.

Most of its fixed, still waiting for them to take care of the pre booked items (and admit that I paid for them). It’s just so disheartening to have something like this happen and have ZERO response as to WHY??? Even scarier that I have a receipt for items I clearly paid for and Princess saying that I didn’t!!!

Cheers,

Natalie

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I agree! Quite often we pay ours on the due date or a day prior.

 

 

 

If this cancellation had been caused by final payment not being credited properly, cancellation would have occurred long before today. Final payment was due on November 19th; today is December 12th. Natalie states she checks her personalizer every morning; she would have caught a cancellation for non-payment long before today.

 

 

 

As for calling her TA and not Princess directly, if this were to happen to me I'd be on the phone with anybody and everybody who I thought could be of assistance.

Thanks Lew!

As an FYI...final payment to my TA was due on November 8th. I paid two days in advance. Lew is correct, if this had been a non-payment issue I would have seen it long ago. And the charge on my credit card at final payment went directly to Princess, not my TA.

This morning I called Princess immediately when I saw the cancellation because I knew my TA wasn’t open yet...and I was in a panic.

My TA has been amazing today. She’s spent HOURS on the phone with Princess trying to get everything worked out. My cabin and flight have been reinstated, but now Princess is saying that I didn’t pay for everything I pre booked. I did send my receipt to my TA so she’s calling them back AGAIN to get that fixed as well.

The second Princess rep that my TA spoke with admitted that PRINCESS is at fault. Neither my TA nor myself have any wrongdoing in this situation. What’s scary to me is that they can’t tell either of us WHY it happened.

I called Princess on my own AFTER my TA was able to get the cruise and airfare reinstated because I wanted PRINCESS to explain to me what had happened. Princess has been unable, or unwilling to let either us know the root cause of the issue.

Which leads me to believe that it could happen to anyone regardless if you book through your TA or directly with Princess.

I’ve used my TA since 1994 and NEVER had any issues. This was not now or ever a result of any wrongdoing by my TA. This is solely the responsibility of Princess.

And btw....for all of my time and frustration they’re giving me a full $50 OBC...and I’m still waiting for the pre-booked/pre-paid items to be credited either to my credit card or placed back on my reservation.

And my personal thought is that a $50 OBC for this level of frustration is a total joke.

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This morning I went to my cruise personalizer (as I do every morning) to look at my next cruise scheduled for February 2nd on the Star to Hawaii.

Imagine my shock when my cruise wasn't listed. I then when to the personalizer log-in where you put your booking number. When I did this I received an error message that the reservation was CANCELLED! I originally booked this sailing in September of 2016.

I immediately called Princess who told me that the reservation was indeed "CANCELLED" and that I'd need to speak with my travel agent. BTW...I paid the cruise in FULL on November 6th....

My travel agent spent over an hour on the phone with Princess trying to get the booking back (cabin, airfare, ALL OF IT WAS GONE). When she finally called me to tell me it was fixed she was absolutely flabbergasted. In her almost 30 years of working she said she'd never seen anything like this. And worst of all, Princess tried to blame it on HER.

I called Princess back myself and was told to write a letter (shocking, I get to spend more time on this). The rep I spoke with told me it was a "Cruise Line System Error." When I asked what that meant, she couldn't tell me. She said she had NO IDEA.

And BTW...I'm now WAIT LISTED for my requested dinning time, all of the pre-bookings (extra internet, soda packages, water packages) were cancelled and I have to re-book EVERYTHING once Princess refunds my money. I'm really ticked about the dining time as my parents are also traveling and we'd requested a table TOGETHER. I'm NOT looking forward to standing in line waiting to speak to the Maitre d' once on-board and begging for a table together. And before you suggest that I contact Princess, I DID...they wouldn't do anything about it. They told me that it could ONLY be fixed ON THE SHIP.

I'm just absolutely stupefied that this occurred. This will be my 12th cruise with Princess, my parents have over 30 and have never ONCE had ANYTHING like this happen. Has anyone EVER had a similar situation? What did Princess do to rectify?

Oh, and you might want to check your bookings....you never know when they'll be cancelled without your knowledge!

Natalie

Captain Stubing on The Love Boat used to dine with passengers every night!

That's exactly what I was going to say!

Thank you for your reply - I did check the website but didn't find any info on the all inclusive option. Is her email also available on the website.

 

 

 

Thank you again.

Info@beachlimerz.com

Gail will send you all of the info on the all inclusive package. The buffet lunch was fabulous!!!!

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Is this a private beach with restaurant/bar? Do they offer loungers/umbrellas?

 

How far from the cruise port? Cost of taxi?

 

I do not want to be bothered b vendors.

Yes it's a private restaurant but ALL beaches in Antigua are PUBLIC. They do have loungers and umbrellas to rent. It's less than 10 minutes from the port and I believe it was $6 each way for the taxi. We didn't have any vendors bother us.

We booked the all inclusive option the day we went and Gail pre-arranged the taxi for us so it was super easier. When he dropped us off we arranged for what time we wanted him to pick us up to go back to the ship. He was a super nice guy and right on time both times.

I cannot express HOW impressed I am with Beachlimerz. I won't go anywhere else in Antigua. Gail and her staff are amazing!

Hi!

 

DISCLAIMER: I apologize if this is not the correct spot for this thread and/or if it has been posted before (I searched, but did not find anything).

 

I just booked what will most likely be my only Alaskan cruise (for the Ruby Princess in July 2018). I am nervous because some of the reviews for the ship are not very good. I was very interested in the brand new Norwegian BLISS ship, but my travel agent said the food & kid's activities are better with Princess & steered me towards Princess instead. I also noticed that the Norwegian Bliss does not see Glacier Bay (which I heard is a must). Instead the Bliss sees Sawyer Glacier.

 

What are your thoughts? Princess vs the brand new Norwegian Bliss for Alaska?

Having sailed on the Getaway I wouldn't wanted to sail on the Bliss...imho....I found Getaway to be very compartmentalized and the public areas small. Just doesn't have the open feeling that the Princess ships have. That being said, the Bliss will have a LOT for kids. And it will have a LOT more kids than the Princess ship will.

I'm in agreement with everyone else...the itinerary is WHY you're going to Alaska in the first place. Glacier Bay is exceptional. I wouldn't want to miss it!

Same exact issues at the Crown Grill on the 3/25 sailing of Crown Princess. People waited forever for tables. The ship hadn't been notified of any of the pre online reservations.

I was on your sailing and had the same issue at the Clown Grill. We were a party of 8. When we were seated we waited forever before a waiter came and took our drink order. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt so I knew he was on loan from the buffet. Drinks took almost 10 minutes to arrive. When our actual waiter finally appeared the first thing he said was it would probably take a while because we were such a "large" group. Seriously? The restaurant was empty that night.

 

 

 

The service went from slow to practically non-existent. We waited almost 15 minutes between each course. When my steak FINALLY arrived (under cooked) I went STRAIGHT to the head waiter and complained. Everything I said fell on deaf ears.

 

We were charged $10 a piece for the 5 lobster tails we ordered for the table and none of them were edible. They did take those off the final bill, but nothing else.

 

 

 

I've eaten at the Crown Grill on almost ever sailing and have always had exceptional service and terrific food. This time was abominable. We even complained to the head waiter in the dining room the next night when he asked how it was.

 

 

 

Both times I complained I provided ACTIONABLE feedback and specific information. It's a disappointment to me that they still saw fit to charge us.[/quote

 

We were there on Monday with a 6:30 PM reservation. As we were trying to get served a large group came in. could have been you folks.

 

 

We were at a large round table in the middle with three teenagers....my guess is that was us.

 

Really, really, REALLY crappy service and an overall BAD experience!

 

 

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Thank you for clarification on the Limerz beach lack of rocks! That is great to know. It looks like a beautiful spot for sure

I am still wondering how small this beach is. From the pictures I have seen, it appears very much so. That's not necessarily a bad thing, just wondering if it stretches further to the side than the pictures show, or it it is in fact limited to the area in pictures posted on this thread. :confused:

For sure the beach is much larger. The pictures only show what it's like right in that area. It's a much longer stretch of sand!

I hope that helps!

Beach Limerz - from the pictures - looks to be a VERY small beach.....possibly quite rocky. Would those who have been there comment on this please?

Not rocky AT ALL...FLAT sand as you walk into the water. Zero drop off, zero rocks. Pretty much perfection!

I was on your sailing and had the same issue at the Clown Grill. We were a party of 8. When we were seated we waited forever before a waiter came and took our drink order. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt so I knew he was on loan from the buffet. Drinks took almost 10 minutes to arrive. When our actual waiter finally appeared the first thing he said was it would probably take a while because we were such a "large" group. Seriously? The restaurant was empty that night.

The service went from slow to practically non-existent. We waited almost 15 minutes between each course. When my steak FINALLY arrived (under cooked) I went STRAIGHT to the head waiter and complained. Everything I said fell on deaf ears.

We were charged $10 a piece for the 5 lobster tails we ordered for the table and none of them were edible. They did take those off the final bill, but nothing else.

I've eaten at the Crown Grill on almost ever sailing and have always had exceptional service and terrific food. This time was abominable. We even complained to the head waiter in the dining room the next night when he asked how it was.

Both times I complained I provided ACTIONABLE feedback and specific information. It's a disappointment to me that they still saw fit to charge us.

We are booked for the December 9th sailing, with the same itinerary, and now I'm worried.

We have some friends who have never cruised before who are considering joining us, and now I'm considering talking them out of it.

I'm not sure of when but I believe the Crown is going into dry dock this year, potentially before you cruise.

I know they had a pretty difficult season in South America which I believe may have negatively impacted the crew.

That being said, for myself, this isn't the ship. I guess it depends on your standards (my kids tell me I'm high maintenance, even so, my 18 year old recognized the lack of service) and I've become accustomed to a certain level of service on Princess that just wasn't there that trip.

Maybe see if you can sail on the Royal or Regal? I know some don't like the Royal class of ships but I personally find them second to none!

Did you notice if the pub lunch was on on your sea days

Yes, the pub lunch was alive and well on the Crown!

Thank you for the review. I'm enjoying it. I completely understand about going from the Royal and Regal back to Grand Class. I know I'm going to miss how beautiful and sparkly the Regal is. Plus, I just love the different venues. We may change our Europe cruise to the Regal or Royal even though we love the Sapphire. We are in "discussions". :)

I did two cruises on the Sapphire 5 years ago and loved her. For years she was my favorite. We always had outstanding service on the Sapphire and I wouldn't hesitate to sail her again!

Checked out your signature and saw that you will be on the Royal TA in October. We are cruising from Rome to FTL. Looking forward to meeting you as I've really enjoyed your LIVE reports! Karen

Yeah!!! We are going to have an AMAZING time!

Final Thoughts

The ship I found to be in poor condition and in dire need ofdry dock. Understand, having taken my last 5 Princess cruises on the Royal andthe Regal, the Crown just doesn’t compare. I found her to look tired, worn outand in need of a good face life. Kind of like myself on certain days, Iprobably shouldn’t be so judgy.

The service as by far the worst I have in 10 Princesscruises. Simple acts of kindness like being greeted as you walk by a staffmember in the hallway was non-existent. The Cruise Director’s staff I foundstand-offish, not wanting to engage in conversation or get to know you. Evenwhen I started conversations with them they never once asked my name and theiranswers were always one simple word, never wanting to engage with thepassengers. I tend to really enjoy the games and goings on that the staff runand on this particular cruise with the lack of engagement of the staff, it justwasn’t the same.

The internet was PAINFULLY and I do mean PAINFULLY slow.Worst I’ve ever had.

The movement on the ship starting Saturday night and all daySunday was the worst I’ve ever experienced in the Caribbean. Coupled by thefact that the captain NEVER came over the loud speak to make ANY announcement aboutwhy it was so rocky or how long it was going to last was beyond me. I remember thatSunday waiting for the navigational announcement at noon thinking surely they’dsay SOMETHING and they NEVER DID. People got REALLY sick those first two daysand I personally felt it was remiss for the staff not to say something. It wasdifficult to walk at times and some type of assurance would have been nice.

We only ate breakfast in the buffet one time and had theremainder of our meals in the main dining room or just grabbed pizza. The foodon this sailing was outstanding, actually much better than the food on theRoyal in January. But I guess I’m at the age where I’d take poor food andbetter service over great food and crappy service. A smile and a thank you go along way in my book.

The worst part was the way my daughter was treated. Yes, sheis 18 years old, yes she is a teen ager, but I am here to tell you she is oneof the nicest, kindest, well behaved teens you will EVER meet in your life. She’svery mature, focused (4.0 GPA) and this wasn’t her first time at thisparticular rodeo. The kid will kill you with kindness and has impeccable manners.And you know what? She was treated like DIRT by the staff on the ship. She wasCONSTANTLY being yelled at FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN BEING A TEENAGER. The teenshad been on deck all morning and when they went to grab lunch a deck attendant toldthem if they left their towels and belongings would be removed and their chairsgiven to others. Jordan calmly explained they were only running down to grablunch at the grill and would be right back. As soon as they stepped away hedumped their belongings off of the chairs and took their towels. Ryan went backand held the chair while the girls went on got lunch. Jordan saw the same attendanttreat other kids the same way, but he NEVER approached ANY adults about savingchairs. Oh, and by the way, when I was on deck at 6:45 that morning EVERYSINGLE CHAIR on the pool deck was saved with towels…where was that deck attendantthen?

Overall, the activities listed daily in the patter werelimited at best. I’m used to Royal and Regal where every 30 minutes you have adifferent activity to choose from. When I’d get my copy of the Patter eachnight the lines were triple spaced. Whereas I’m used to participating in threeor four activities every evening there was usually only one, and on a rareoccasion two.

The service in the casino was also at an all-time low. Theday I hit the jackpot, after having waited 20 minutes with the service lightflashing, someone was nice enough to go over and get someone for me. There wasalways a long wait at the bar for drinks, and forget about drink service if youwere sitting at a machine. There was a big player on board (for those that playon the ships you’ll understand what I mean by big, he had over 60,000 points onthe last day) and the casino staff seemed to cater to his every wish. I watchedone machine being held for him for over 6 hours, even after guests asked toplay it, they continued to hold the machine for him. I guess that would havebeen fine, had the guy not been a totally rude jerk who yelled at anyone whosat next to him. Way to go Crown Princess Casino Staff, take care of the guythat offends everyone else in the place! Honestly Princess, you could haveprobably made some nice money off of me this sailing, all you had to do was benice to me. I’m really not that particular. I’ve never sailed when I haven’thad a member of the casino staff approach me at least one time daily to makesmall talk and ask how I was. Not this sailing, never once, not at all, ever.

Our highlights by far were Elvis, Janos and John Carlo, therest of the crew you can keep, thank you very much. If it hadn’t of been forthe three of them I don’t know what we would have done.

I won’t sail the Crown Princess again. We were scheduled ona TA on her next year and when we got back to port on Sunday I emailed bytravel agent to cancel the booking before I even got of the ship. Will I sailPrincess again? Of course, each and every other time I’ve sailed I’ve had anamazing trip!

Overall, we had a great time. There’s nothing better thanbeing surrounded by those you love. While my friends don’t have the samesentiments (they hadn’t sailed in over 20 years and didn’t have anything tocompare it to) my parents, daughter and I were all gravely disappointed.Princess, you’ve REALLY missed the mark on this one!

I truly believe that life is what YOU make of it. I’ve NEVERhad a cruise I didn’t enjoy, and even with the boat in lousy condition and a downrightsurly and rude staff, we did have a great time. I’m not ever going to allow thecondition of the ship or the way a crew member chooses to treat me ruin myvacation. But what it will do is make me think twice before choosing which shipI’ll sail on next time.

Again, please accept my apologies for dropping off the way Idid! I did head to the doctor as soon as I got home which resulted in a prescriptionfor antibiotics for the next two weeks. I almost feel human again.

Wishing you all smooth sailing!

Thursday morning it was early off the ship for us as we hadreservations with Tribal for a private catamaran snorkel excursion. We were offby 8 and headed to get a cab. Now this is where it gets sticky. Tribal hadgiven me written instruction on where we were to meet. A very small marinaclose to Crown Bay. Of course, we were docked at Havensight. The same of theplace is “Krum Bay.” When we approached the cab line I told them where we wantedto go and they said “Oh, Crown Bay!”…..

Me: ”ummmm…no….Krum Bay, with a ‘K’.”

The guy then said “They’re the same place.”

Me: “Ummmm….no, they aren’t….I have the directions here.”

He put the seven of us in a cab and off we went, and we hadno idea where we’d actually end up.

After dropping a few others downtown we arrived at, youguessed it, Crown Bay. I jumped out of the taxi and told her driver AGAIN thatthis isn’t where we wanted to go. I showed him the directions and it becameimmediately evident that the poor man didn’t know how to read. I read thedirections, he understood and off again we went.

We arrived at Krum Bay just as Captain Jesse arrived withthe dingy to take us out to the tri-cat for our 2 stop snorkel excursion. Firstmate for the day was Travers. We kicked off our flip flops and boarded theboat. A quick safety briefing and we were off to our first stop, swimming withsea turtles. We saw a bunch of turtles, several sting rays and lots of otherfish. The water temperature was perfect, seas very calm, bright blue skies….asimply perfect day.

Once back on board and famished (hello? It’s been two hourssince we grazed) we scarfed down cheese, crackers, pretzels and plenty of rumpunch. And it was GOOD rum punch! We pulled up anchor and headed to the second snorkelstop of the day.

The second spot was along a reef, plenty of fish and coral,but a pretty bad current. If you stayed with the current you were okay but itwas exhausting to try and swim. We stayed in for only around 45 minutes and allheaded back to the board. We sailed backto Krum Bay, took the dingy back to land and the taxi driver was waiting aspromised. We LOVED our day with Tribal and would HIGHLY recommend them toanyone looking for a private snorkel excursion for the day!

We shopped some at the port and then exhausted, we draggedourselves back on the ship. This is where I began to feel not so hot….It wasformal night tonight plus the captain’s cocktail party.

We dined early at 5:30 so that we could be at the party by7:15. Dinner that night was the Chateaubriand, lobster tail, etc….I ordered myusual, Chateaubriand with a lobster tail on the side. That’s when the waiter toldme they couldn’t do that. Seriously? He’d have to bring me TWO full entrees andcouldn’t serve one until the other was cleared. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW STUPIDIS THAT? Not a problem then, happy to waste the food. Bring me both, please andthank you.

We headed to the cocktail party after dinner and Elvis, ourservers in the PES lounge, immediately spotted us and brought us our usualdrinks rather than the wine, rum punch, crappy champagne they were serving. Godhow I love this man. Pretty please may I bring him home with me?

I was exhausted after the party and headed straight to bed.My upper respiratory infection was beginning to take hold and I was fallingfast. I think I was sound asleep by 9:00.

By Friday morning I REALLY felt crappy. We were docking inGrand Turk at 1:00 and it’s always been one of my favorite spots. I took iteasy all morning but as soon as lunch was done I headed back to bed while therest of the group got ready to get off the ship.

I ended up in bed for the rest of the day and didn’t evenmake it to dinner that night. The group had a great time in Grand Turk,choosing to shop and grab a bite at Margaritavile. I was sad to have missed oneof my favorite places.

Saturday morning dawned and it was our last day. Where doesthe time go? Didn’t we just board the ship? Now you want to kick us off? We allmet for breakfasts and made our plans for the day. Kids had several things theywanted to participate in and we all needed to get packed up.

We met at 5 for our final cocktail hour together. Of courseit was steak tartar night so my dad was in heaven. No thank you, I’ll take apass! Several cocktails later and we bid our incredible server Elvis adieu andheaded for our last supper. Elvis took superior care of us all week and wasjust down right FABULOUS!

I always love the menu the last night of the cruise. Themeatloaf is my “go-to” and never disappoints. Of course, the parade of thebaked Alaska is always a good time and we all screamed and yelled when ourassistant waiter John Carlo appeared. We banged breadbaskets with pepper mills,clanged knives against the wine buckets, and pretty much annoyed everyone aroundus. It was awesome!

Time to once again say good-bye, this time to John Carlo andJanos. Two of the BEST waiters I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. They wereboth highlights of the trip for our entire group.

I headed to bed once dinner was over while the rest of thegroup partied on. We’d meet in the morning for breakfast before disembarking. Afterall, I needed to have someone place a napkin in my lap at least one more time.

We woke early and met at 8:00 for breakfast. Service wasslow, but we weren’t bothered as my daughter and I and our friends weren’tgetting off until the bitter end as we had later flights. Graham Cracker andPop-Tart only needed to collect their car and drive the two hours back to Ft.Myers. We enjoyed every last bite before we said a fond farewell to my amazingparents and headed up on the open deck to drink in every last bit of warmth andsunshine before we headed back to the soggy mess and cold waiting at home. Wewere walking off by 10:15 and our 8 days on the Crown Princess had finally cometo an end.

Coming up, my final thoughts.

So…we hit four islands in a row…got crazy busy….I came downwith a bad respiratory infection….and that’s what happened to the “semi-live”review….so sorry folks! I’ll try and wrap it up here for you as neatly as Ican!

Tuesday was our first stop, Antigua, and we’d reserved spotsat “Beachlimerz” for the day. I’d recently found out about the place here onCruise Critic. We were able to find others to join us and a total of 13 of usspent the day there. What can I say? The place is AMAZING!!!! I won’t go anywhereelse from now on! Oh, and by the way….it was ONLY the 13 of us there!!!!

We did an all-inclusive option that came out to $53 perperson. It included: Beach chair, umbrella, 2 rum punches, 2 waters, buffetlunch and the use of paddle boards, kayaks and snorkel equipment. It was a $6pp r/t cab ride, and Gail, the owner, arranged for the cab to pick us up at theport. The setting idyllic, waters, calm, NO drop off into the water, food,drinks and service were DOWN RIGHT AMAZING. I’ve posted pictures under theAntigua link on the “Port of Call” page. The teens had a blast with the water toys and the parents had a greattime with the rum punches. We headed back to port at 2:00 to shop, at least theparents did, the teens headed to the ship to take a nap!

Wednesday we arrived in St. Kitts. We’d make reservations atCarambola and arrived promptly at 9:00. The chairs and umbrellas were waitingfor us and we had a great day. The beach in St. Kitts doesn’t hold a candle toAntigua, but none the less we had a fabulous time. We rented two jet skis for$100 for 30 minutes and Dad went on one with his 15 year old and I let theboyfriend drive my daughter. And good thing I did….Dad was driving like amanic, boyfriend was responsible. Maybe because I threatened him not to breakmy daughter? Lot of food, lots of drink and a big tab later we headed back toport for some shopping. Dad and the boyfriend headed back to the ship to napwhile the girls did what we do best, shop for jewelry.

My friend’s teendaughter picked up a beautiful Tanzanite necklace….and I have to tell you whatthat sweet girl said.

My friend told her daughter that her Dad wanted her to pickup a small piece of jewelry to remember the trip by (so sweet). And herresponse was “Mom, I want Dad and Ryan to pick up something for Jordan (mydaughter)…she doesn’t have a dad to buy her anything.” We all wept. What anamazing kid! My husband passed 6 and a half years ago from cancer.

As it turned out, Lindsay found her beautiful necklace andit came with a free omega necklace with Tanzanite charm that she promptly gaveto Jordan. We will all remember that day and how incredibly selfless andgenerous Lindsay is!

That night we had reservations for Crown Grill. Now we weresupposed to go there on Sunday night but as green as the group was we waiteduntil later in the week. I was glad we had as I’d been hearing horror storiesof how over booked there were due to the online reservations not having beentransferred properly to the ship. I was hoping this would have been rectifiedby Wednesday. As well, Ryan had a very special surprise for Jordan.

We arrived and were promptly seated. Where we waited, waitedand waited for someone to take our drink order. A waiter in a Hawaiian shirt(obviously on loan from the buffet) arrived and took our drink orders. And wewaited, waited and waited before said drinks finally arrived. Our “official”waiter finally stopped by and took our dinner orders. That’s when I learnedthat they no longer serve the lobster tails freely. If you want a lobster tailwith your main entrée it will cost you $10 extra dollars EACH. Not to worry, Iordered 5 tails for the table. He also informed us since we were a “large”group (ummmm…there are 8 of us?) it would take a while to be served. Seriously?

We waited, waited and waited before our first course was brought.I always order the lobster cake and it is always steaming hot. Not tonight, itwas luke warm. We waited, waited and waited until finally the second coursearrived. My black and blue onion soup look like it had been waiting to arriveunder a heat lamp. Not impressed.

We waited some more and our main courses were finallydelivered. Nirvana….I LOVE the filet! I promptly sliced it down the middle onlyto find my medium rare steak was actually MOOING back at me. My mother’s welldone steak also had a few choice words to say to her. We sent both of them backand I continued to, well, you know….wait.

I got up and went and spoke with the head waiter. Thiscertainly wasn’t the experience I’d been looking forward to. It was downrightridiculous. Oh, and by the way, the freaking restaurant was empty. He took somenote…apologized profusely, and I headed back to the table where my entrée wasfinally waiting. I dig into my steak (after all, I’m totally famished, Ihaven’t grazed in a few hours) and it was dry as a bone. They took the steakthat I’d cut into and put it back on the grill. All of the moist, yummy juiceswere totally gone.

No fear, I have a coveted $10 lobster tail to satiate myhunger. So I dunk the yummy goodness into some butter, it hits my lips, andit’s totally over cooked. Can someone shoot me now?

The only saving grace of the whole evening is that the headwaiter did what my father and Ryan asked. When dessert was delivered Jordanreceived a plate and written in chocolate was “Jordan will you go to prom withme?” She promptly said yes, the wait staff sang “Let me call you sweetheart”and thank God we were finally able to leave, almost 3 hours after we’d firstarrived. The absolutely worst experience I have ever had at the Crown Grill.Note, they did remove the charges for all of the lobster tails but nothingelse.

More to come!

We LOVED it!!! I won't go anywhere else!!! Gail and her staff were AMAZING! The lunch was the BEST we had anywhere. The service was second to none! There were only 13 of us there!!!! It was PARADISE!!!

 

 

Thank you so much for posting this pictures !! It looks so beautiful we will be there next week :cool:

 

Make sure you tell Gail that Natalie says hi! Our day there was exceptional. I know you will all have an amazing day!

I also like beach Limerz

thanks so much for all of this info, I do find abit pricey $240 (4of us) for a day at the beach. But Im leaning towards going there and doing the pay as you go, since we probably won't be there the full day.

Please ..please let me know how it went for you guys. We leave April 9th so it works perfect for your feedback. Have a great time and best of luck !

 

We LOVED it!!! I won't go anywhere else!!! Gail and her staff were AMAZING! The lunch was the BEST we had anywhere. The service was second to none! There were only 13 of us there!!!! It was PARADISE!!!

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Day Two - At Sea

Spent the early part of the morning on deck and met my parents and friends in the Botticelli dinning room for breakfast. The seas had calmed significantly. I'm just praying it stays this way!

Food and service were both excellent at breakfast. We all decided to re-group for trivia at 10:15. My friends went to check and see if their kids were still alive. Messaging works great as long as the teens actually LOOK at it and when they do actually ANSWER it.

By 10:15 the gang was back together again and nobody looked green! We split into two groups to play. After all, we might be shot if we played with more than six people!

Our team didn't fare well today, only had 12 out of 20. The winning team had 20, although that may have been because they were using google.

After trivia we went to watch the teens participate in the "Great Egg Drop." Teams are given supplies to make devices to protect the eggs and they're dropped from deck 7 to deck 5 in the atrium. The egg that lands the closest to the target unbroken wins. By the time our kids got to the supplies they were very limited. People were hoarding toilet paper like it was the apocalypse. Instead of taking what they needed, people (adults) were taking the entire roles. The kid's (2 of the 3 are in Advanced Placement Physics) egg didn't survive. They knew when they built the contraption they didn't have what they needed to survive. Although, they faired better than the team's whose egg fell out of their contraption before it was even dropped and splattered all of the spectators in the atrium.

I headed to make my daily deposit in the casino and the strangest thing happened...I hit a jackpot on a machine! Probably because I was sitting next to a woman who won $10,000 last night...I wasn't quite that lucky but none the less I walked away with plenty of cash.

Now for my complaint of the day.

I called last night to make balcony dinning reservations for my daughter and her boyfriend. I told them when I wanted to have it and they wanted me to place the order for the meal right away.

Ummmmm..."Can I see a menu first?"

They told me they'd send the menu and I asked if I could call them back the next day with the order. They said it wouldn't be a problem.

So I just called to make the reservation and was asked "Do you have a voucher?"

Huh? What voucher???

I was then told they were totally booked and couldn't accommodate another reservation.

Seriously? Had they told me that last night I would have called back IMMEDIATELY once I received the menu. Totally frustrating to say the least.

Headed for cocktails now then dinner. It's country western night tonight, the comedian is in the theater and there's a game called "True or Moo."

And hopefully nobody turns green again!!!

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