Five star Crown Royal

[MacGuffin]

After reading a few mediocre reviews about Princess Cruises (food, entertainment, room size), I was very pleasantly surprised at how excellent our April 24 Western Caribbean cruise experiences was. From Saturday to Saturday the crew went out of their way to be nice and friendly, even during breakfast on our last day. The dining room food was excellent. The shows were fun and elaborate. The cruise made me realize that some of the negative reviews must be coming from negative people who would find fault with the Normandie.

 

The Crown Princess was clean, beautiful and very stable. It was the small touches that made it beautiful: the marble and tile in the lobby, the fabrics, etc. Sure, it had some wear and tear. But when you consider that 3,000 people trapse on and off every week, you realize how well kept the ship actually is.

 

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at Pt. Everglades around 10:30, had to wait in a hot boarding area until about 11:45 AM. The upside was we were one of the very first people on board. The ship was empty. Nice. We were the very first couple to sign up for the Ultimate Ship's tour. Then went up to the Spa to get one of the few couples' passes to the Thermal Suite. We skipped the Sanctuary. We finally made it into the dining room for lunch. Again, only about a dozen people eating in the dining room. The lunch was excellent.

 

Our standard size BA cabin high up on Lido Deck was much roomier than I expected. Not too many cabins up on Lido, which was nice. The bigger balconies down below us were exposed to the sun, but had no privacy. We booked a 'guarantee' balcony cabin, which is the lowest fare. To our pleasant surprise we were upgraded 7 categories for the same price! (we booked directly through the Princess web site.) Our cabin steward was very friendly and always out and about. We tipped extra.

 

The dining room food was excellent. Anytime dining was great. No trouble getting a table for two (we ate early-ish), but some of the tables for two are close together. The only flaw with the ship's food was the terrible, terrible food in the Buffet. But we only made that mistake once and from then on ate lunch in the dining room.

 

The shows were fun. Hint: the seats in the lower part of the theater are much too close together. No foot room at all. However, the seats in the balcony area are roomier and have more leg room.

 

Surprisingly the other passengers were younger than I expected. Only a few kids with mostly couples in their 30s to 50s.

 

Ports and tours:

 

Grand Cayman - Swimming with dolphins and stingrays. Excellent and something we'll never forget.

 

Roatan - clear kayaking and snorkeling was just OK. The snorkeling was excellent, but the clear kayaking was more like clear kayak racing with no time to observe the reef underneath us. Next time we'll just snorkel.

 

The BIG turn off at Roatan was Mahogany Bay, a Carnival Corp. shopping center that is literally a tourist trap. The only way off the pier is through a gift shop, which empties into a series of more shops that looks like Downtown Disney. There is also a beach area, which we skipped because it looked like Princess Cays 2. Once we were driven past the gates (yes, Mahogany Bay is for ship passengers only - no locals allowed!) we got a chance to see the island, which is beautiful. To sum up, Roatan is beautiful, Mahogany Bay is a corporate turn off. Unfortunately there's no way to skip it.

 

Cozumel - the tour of the Tulum ruins was breathtaking. Another unforgettable memory.

 

Princess Cays - think Miami Beach and you get the idea. We walked around for a few minutes, saw 3,000 other passengers lying in lounge chairs then headed back to an empty ship that was ours to enjoy.

 

Extras that were worth the extra $$:

 

* Balcony dinner. Maybe the highlight of our cruise. We timed it with sunset for some amazing pictures! The food was EXCELLENT: steak Diane and Heidsieck Champagne. The waiter was very friendly. Took about two hours but we will never forget it. Tipped extra.

 

* Couples Rassoul Mud with unlimited access to the Thermal Baths. The small, private massage area is a great idea. It had a small steam closet and very nice oils, salt scrub and mud. Our skin glowed for a few days after this. The Thermal Baths were very relaxing. Hint: if the heated relaxation beds are all occupied, the tiled benches in one of the steam baths are also heated. This room is great for anyone with a bad back!

 

* Ultimate Ship's Tour. Absolutely worth it if you love ships. At four hours it can get tiring, but at the end they serve champagne and canapes in the piano bar. A nice way to end the tour.

 

* Sabatinis. The food was very good, but not the ten course extravaganza we read about. More like excellent Italian food with an antipasti of four or five varieties, a soup, a salad, main course and dessert. The decor is very nice, quiet and intimate with nice water fountains outside the windows. We ate here as we were leaving Ft. Lauderdale so it was empty. Very romantic.

 

* We enjoyed the Crown Grill the best. The Porterhouse steak was actually too big. The dessert sampler was excellent. Elegant decor with nice woods, marbles, and interesting paintings of Merlin and Camelot.

 

* Coffee card. The extra cost coffees were excellent. One card per couple should be enough. We bought two cards and wound up with one card with no punches!

 

* EZ check. Do it! An amazing convenience for only $20. At disembarkation we took our carry ons to the ship's casino at 8:30 AM, flew through customs and were on the bus by 8:35. No kidding. At the Ft. Lauderdale airport we bypassed the HUGE line at the check in counter (think Oasis of the Seas!), flew through the security check (because all those people were still in line at check in) and were at our gate literally 5 minutes after getting off the shuttle bus!

 

So all in all our cruise turned out to be a great experience. The extras were all worth it (except for the second coffee card.) The only negatives were the buffet food and Mahogany Bay.

 

:)

[rdsqrl]

Thanks for the review; I'm happy to hear you enjoyed your cruise. Sorry about the extra unused coffee card -- it's obvious what you have to do now, right? Book another cruise immediately!

[flamomo]

Save that unused coffee card to use on your next Princess cruise. They are not ship-specific, so just keep it with your cruising stuff, add a reminder to your cruise packing list, and take the card with you.

[davidnsteph]

Thanks for telling us about your cruise, and for sharing your impressions of Roatan. Looking forward to this cruise in November.

 

David