Pre-booking Questions - Crown

[raven31]

Hey all,

 

My husband and I are thinking of taking advantage of a sale email we got form one of the discount TAs and booking the 11/20/2012 Rome - Venice sailing on the Crown.

 

We know that we want a mini-suite but before I went ahead and booked I wanted to pick the collective brain for cabin advice for this ship and this sailing. Any minis that are specifically awesome? any that should be avoided? Same with decks. Some fake-booking experimenting shows that there's at least a cabin or two in every mini category and on every deck.

 

Another big question is port or starboard for this particular ship/sailing?

 

Our last cruise was on RCC's Splendor and we were low but WAY up at the bow so we had a lot of noise and motion (and were occasionally underwater) which bothered my husband. That was a Western Med cruise around the same time of year as this sailing, so he's a little concerned that the sea is going to be rough. We both know that no sea is going to be glass smooth during the off-season, but I'm making a guess that Eastern is going to be less rough than Western and that this cruise has less "open ocean" time than the last, which will also help. (The Splendor went from Venice to Lisbon, with two calls in N. Africa so we had a lot of sea days and a lot of time very far off land). Is that a correct assumption from past experience of people on an Eastern Med sailing in November?

 

Thanks for the tips!

[Astro Flyer]

We're booked on this cruise plus the following cruise of 20 days from Venice to Galveston & there's a roll call if you decide to book:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1385530

 

We booked a 30 day cruse in a mini from Sydney to LA but didn't enjoy the uncovered balcony preferring the larger, half covered BA cabin. Others later told me that the covered minis on Emerald deck (8) are nice but very popular. We've booked a starboard balcony cabin from Venice because it appears to be on the land side but for Rome to Venice the land appears to be best on the port side.

[Pia1913]

Hey all,

 

My husband and I are thinking of taking advantage of a sale email we got form one of the discount TAs and booking the 11/20/2012 Rome - Venice sailing on the Crown.

 

We know that we want a mini-suite but before I went ahead and booked I wanted to pick the collective brain for cabin advice for this ship and this sailing. Any minis that are specifically awesome? any that should be avoided? Same with decks. Some fake-booking experimenting shows that there's at least a cabin or two in every mini category and on every deck.

 

Another big question is port or starboard for this particular ship/sailing?

 

Our last cruise was on RCC's Splendor and we were low but WAY up at the bow so we had a lot of noise and motion (and were occasionally underwater) which bothered my husband. That was a Western Med cruise around the same time of year as this sailing, so he's a little concerned that the sea is going to be rough. We both know that no sea is going to be glass smooth during the off-season, but I'm making a guess that Eastern is going to be less rough than Western and that this cruise has less "open ocean" time than the last, which will also help. (The Splendor went from Venice to Lisbon, with two calls in N. Africa so we had a lot of sea days and a lot of time very far off land). Is that a correct assumption from past experience of people on an Eastern Med sailing in November?

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

Minis are not on every deck. They are all on Dolphin, except for the covered ones on Emerald aft.

[aquilegia]

If you want the best view from your cabin when sailing into Venice, starboard is the side to be. Alternatively, you can just get up early and go up onto one of the top decks, which will give you the best view of all.

[raven31]

Minis are not on every deck. They are all on Dolphin, except for the covered ones on Emerald aft.

 

That was worded badly. I meant that on each deck where there was a mini, there were some available.

[Pia1913]

That was worded badly. I meant that on each deck where there was a mini, there were some available.

 

Gotcha. There are times when my sentence structure also needs overhauling. ;)

[raven31]

We're booked on this cruise plus the following cruise of 20 days from Venice to Galveston & there's a roll call if you decide to book:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1385530

 

We booked a 30 day cruse in a mini from Sydney to LA but didn't enjoy the uncovered balcony preferring the larger, half covered BA cabin. Others later told me that the covered minis on Emerald deck (8) are nice but very popular. We've booked a starboard balcony cabin from Venice because it appears to be on the land side but for Rome to Venice the land appears to be best on the port side.

 

I noticed the roll call and was going to head over there shortly. :) It'll be nice to "meet" some of you beforehand.

 

Mini works best for what we need. For one, DH is very partial to baths in the morning so was very happy that Princess had tubs in a cabin less spendy than a full suite. Two, our sleep schedules are about 2 hours off each others - he's awake far earlier in the morning than I care to be and I'm up later at night, so the small sitting area in the mini will help so that he's got a place to read and enjoy tea in the morning without feeling like he needs to get dressed and go to a public area or worry about waking me is nice.

 

He's been hesitant to try cruising again because the cabin we had on the Splendor was really not a good cabin for us. Our own fault, though, we booked very last minute to join a group of friends and we were stuck picking from what was left. It was either a Grand Suite, an interior or our little porthole at the bow. I'm a decent sailor and spent a lot of time on boats growing up, but the pitch was hard for me to handle and the noise from the water on the hull as the bow broke the waves was very loud and rather startling if it happened at 3am and woke you up. I know they say low and center if you're prone to mal de mer, but low and forward can be noisy!

 

All in all, we had rotten weather on that sailing. It was bad enough that the elevators were shut down several nights, the promenade deck was completely closed on 2 sea days and our favorite bar tender told us that it was rough enough one night that the cages they lock china in when the sea is rough came loose in the galley one night and they lost several thousand dollars worth of glassware.

[Cruzman]

Just my two cents, but on this class of ship, I always book an Emerald Deck mini for many reasons; it's very quiet, very private and the covered balconies offer almost total privacy. One additional note, book E 730 or E 731 and you get a balcony that is double the size of other mini suite balconies.

[raven31]

Just my two cents, but on this class of ship, I always book an Emerald Deck mini for many reasons; it's very quiet, very private and the covered balconies offer almost total privacy. One additional note, book E 730 or E 731 and you get a balcony that is double the size of other mini suite balconies.

 

I was looking at those. I'm personally inclined to go for an Emerald for the covered balcony, but DH is concerned about movement that far aft. Is aft going to be as bad as bow in terms of movement?