Crown, Pictures Pool, etc..

[Mary Jane]

Hi.. Can someone email the site for the Norwegian Crown pictures to [email]w19smitty@aol.com[/email]?? so that we can view them.

Also, I just called NCL and they told me there are two pools on this ship.. one outdoor and one indoor on the indoor pool deck. I think I read a review stating that there was no indoor pool.. a little confusing. Thanks for any comments, suggestions.. etc..
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[philly50's]

MJ, We were on the repo cruise as well. There is only one pool, I think it was on deck 7, and there are two hot tubs up on deck 10. It was very nice pool but a little chilly. I went in a few times.

[stevecruiser49]

I was on the NCL Crown in Aug, 1998. There were 2 main pools on the Crown until it went into dry dock this past year-being returned to NCL from Orient as the Crown Dynasty. The 2nd pool was an indoor pool on the lowest deck and it was in a Roman Style Set-up with 2 Jacuzzis and a juice bar. My kids loved it because it was freshwater.
Their main advertisement back then was that The Crown had more Pools and jacuzzis' tyan any other ship in the fleet.
When they re-did the ship they put in a new Spa on an upper deck and added more restaurants for the freestyle experience.

Hope this helped!

[cmitch9999]

I poked around the Orient Lines website and found this old review describing the layout etc. of what was then Crown Odyssey. The indoor pool and big Coronet theater are gone with the renovations..but some of the descriptions should give you a feel for the Norwegian Crown.

Chris Mitchell

Briefly (hah!) about the cabin & ship-

It’s a wonderful ship – the cabins are a good size (165 sq ft), at no time did we feel claustrophobic in them. The one we had (4081) was an inside cabin with two single beds that did indeed push together to form one queen size bed. Not all do – check with you travel agent or Orient Lines if that is important to you.
The bathroom is larger than most we have had, two could be in there at the same time if need be! As in any cruise ship, the shower curtain is annoying. They must all come from the same mfg – Saran Wrap.
The cabin has a hairdryer (never tried it but I assume it worked), a retractable clothesline in the shower, basic amenities that were replenished daily (shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap). The storage space in the bathroom is more than sufficient – our stuff all fit on the shelves on the wall, and we didn’t even remotely come close to using the cupboards under the sink.
Drawer space and closet space in the cabin is MORE than adequate – the ship was built for long cruises and we were hard pressed, even after buying one of everything for sale in each port, to fill them. There is a safe where you set you own combination - see the steward if yours is locked already, he can open it for you. There are tons of small drawers under the safe, plus a full size dresser in between the beds, and, also a desk with 6 drawers. There are three sections to hang clothes in the closet with hangar racks that are installed tall enough to accommodate shoes, small suitcases, boxes, whatever on the floor of the closet. If there are not sufficient hangars in the closets for you, the cabin steward will get extra for you. Plus, a shelf over the rack for hats, extra blankets, etc. Large suitcases will fit under the very roomy ‘under the bed’ area – we have the same hard side Samsonite peter has and they laid flat once opened, perfectly under each bed. There is a TV on the desk, probably about a 20” – it has CNN, movies and ship stuff (shore ex, lectures etc). It’s too bad they can’t mount that TV on the wall – it really is in the way on the desk. There is one plug behind it, it is a 117/115 volt (standard North American voltage), the rest were all 220V European Voltage. We took a small power bar with us; it came in very handy, as that plug behind the TV was hard to get to. The power bar made it easy to access and also gave us more plug-ins, which we found necessary..
There is a small round glass table in the cabin too, with two chairs. No chair at the desk though – we thought that was strange.
The air conditioning worked great, there are lots of mirrors and the ice in the room is kept up all the time. The machine is just down the hall if extra ice is needed.
All in all, a very good cabin.

I will try not to go into too much detail on the public rooms other than point out a few things that may not be in the brochure.

Indoor Pool Deck-
Friends who used the medical center said it was good service; good value for the money, there is a receptionist on all night. And the doctor does make cabin calls.
The fitness center, according to a fitness buff friend, was ‘a bit small’, but adequate for her needs. She missed the view of the sea though that comes with most fitness rooms – this is in the ‘basement’, with no view. There are treadmills, bikes, weights and mats. They do run classes, and during busy hours on sea days, a person is on duty to help you. Water is always available here from a cooler, along with towels and a scale, and shared showers with the pool area right next to it.
The indoor pool in the same area, along with the Jacuzzi’s are great – we really enjoyed the pool here. It was never crowded, even on sea days. There is a juice/other drink (not gratis) bar here, but we didn’t use it. There are two showers, and of course, washrooms also. Plenty of towels are always waiting for you, and there are comfortable wicker chairs that you can sit on wet, with some glass coffee tables.
Finishing off the ‘basement’ is a beauty salon – I didn’t use it, but a friend did – she said it was easy to get an appointment and it was good.

Marina Deck-
The dining room is large, crowded, but comfortable. Ours was a large table for 8 (we had 9 here as we were 9 people traveling together), it was good for our group, but would have been too large to get to know everyone if we were all strangers. There are two seatings, and the first one is ‘rushed’. The dining room can get very noisy – acoustics are not good here I guess. Sometimes it was hard to hear. This is the only cruise out of 6 I have been on that I have not only met, but, saw every day, the head waiter and the maitre’d. Both even knew some of us by name by the end of the cruise, I was amazed. They were very attentive and concerned for any of our needs. And, they made things happen. The food was discussed in previous posts at length, in brief it was ALWAYS very tasty, and well presented – but, sometimes the variety wasn’t there, and sometimes the items were a little too ‘gourmet’. But, I understand all this has been addressed now – maybe Wander could shed some light on this for us as he/she just returned from a cruise on the CO.
The reception/purser desk is here – it never had a line up that I saw, and the staff were always very helpful.
The shore ex office was right across the way, they are open at least 4 hours a day, and hours are always posted. They are the most helpful I have ever encountered, and it doesn’t seem to matter to them whether you are on their excursion, or on your own, they will help you equally. The shores ex lectures are very thorough; they do not leave many questions unanswered. The shore ex’s were top-notch quality, well run, timely, and not as expensive as others I have been on. A bottle of water is given to you as you go on every shore excursion – some ports you will require a bigger bottle though. There was water and ice readily available on the dock of all our tendered ports, and as Bali was one of them, good security was in place to keep the vendors from crowding you on the docks. (which could be accidentally dangerous). Someone from the line escorted most of the excursions – usually on of the entertainers or social staff. For the beach ports, towels were given as you disembarked if you wanted. Shuttle buses in the ports that they offered them were plentiful, on time and comfortable.
There is a small Sundry Shop on this deck, reminded me of camp ‘tuck’ shop with cigarettes and liquor added! It was open every time we felt the need – check out the wine gums, they are the ones from England – they are awesome.
There are a few couches, coffee tables and chairs – the chairs are a smoking area, so usually these chairs were filled, especially after dinner.
The Photo Shop rounds things out at the end – pictures went up fast, were easy to find, were very good, but, as in any cruise line, not cheap ($6.95 for 5 x 7 --- $19.95 for 8 x 10) There were always plenty of
‘stock ‘ pictures the photographers took – not from previous trips, but from your trip. They were a good price - $2.00 and excellent shots. Photographers were not intrusive whatsoever – they were friendly, and if you did not want your picture taken, they stepped back. Pictures are not taken getting off at each port, which was great as lines moved quickly getting off the ship. The photo gallery was open most times while at sea, and it was never too ‘crowded’.

Odyssey Deck-
This is the jogging deck, I didn’t do any of that, but peter has posted info on this in another post.
The Stardust Lounge has good sightlines right throughout the theatre; the shows were, in my opinion excellent. We as a rule do not watch many of them, so, my opinion may not count for much. Most lectures, gatherings for excursions, etc are done here – and they were high quality. There is a small smoking area, way over by the bar – I am a non-smoker, but my husband smokes. It’s way at the back; the smoke shouldn’t bother non-smokers at all. Good sightlines from there too.
There are two boutiques on this deck, one with mostly jewelry and the other with standard cruise ship stuff – evening clothes, port special buys, wallets, logbooks, souvenirs, etc. Sales were always happening in both shops and staff was very nice.
The casino is on this deck, there is an ATM that disburses USD, and I think I heard someone say British pounds as well. There are slot machines, blackjack, poker and roulette.
The Monte Carlo Bar is behind the casino – one side is smoking, other side is not. There is a piano – nice place for a drink.
The Yacht Club is the lunch buffet – it is air conditioned with mostly inside seating, but a few outside tables. Tea and coffee is available here 24 hours. Good selection of teas I must say. Buffet breakfast and lunch is served here daily – menus are posted outside. There are two lines, so it does move quickly – waiters come around for tea, coffee, drinks, etc. The food was good here, and more along the ‘ordinary’ line – burgers, roast chicken pieces, vegetables, hot sandwiches, salads, etc. Alternate dinner was served here daily, but we never went so I couldn’t tell you if it served or buffet style – but, I think friends mentioned it was buffet style then too. Four o’clock tea with ‘help yourselves’ sandwiches and dainties is also served here. It’s a nice place. I liked it.
The outdoor pool is right outside the Yacht Club, there are about 10 large patio tables with chairs, and lots of deck chairs and towels. The pool is salt-water – changed daily. This, as usual, is the most crowded area on sea days.

Lido Deck
The Library is well stocked – books are borrowed and must be checked out during library hours, which are frequent. There are tons of reference books, including a Lonely Planet section that rivals mine here at home. Chairs are very comfortable and there is a good view of the sea. Outside of the library is a shelf with ‘tradable’ books – there is always something there.
The Palm Court is a comfy, cozy place (rattan furniture) to relax by day or have drinks in at night.
The Lido Bar is the outdoor bar right outside of the Palm Court – this is a great place to meet people at night.
The outdoor Lido deck area has 20 or so tables, with ping-pong and shuffleboard on the sides.
Indoors, there is a small, long card room with four tables – jigsaws are usually set up on two of them –you walk by, put in a piece and then get addicted. Games are always available on the shelves, backgammon, chess, cards, checkers etc.
The Coronet Theatre is really large – it is two levels. Some lectures are held here, and next thing to just-about current movies are shown here nightly.
The net center is off of the games area – it has 4 computers, which were not always working all at once. There is a guy on duty there most of the time, but on our cruise he had the personality of a rock. He mostly just sat there working on his computer. It was very busy as the cruise first started, but that slacked off after people realized they were going to have to mortgage their homes just to keep in touch, let alone surf the net. Charges are 3.95 each time charge, plus .75/min. Compose your e-mail out on the lido deck, log-on, type like hell and don’t worry about spelling, send and click off. I work on computers 10 hours a day, I am a very fast keyboarder and one message (not previously composed) to my son ended up costing about $20.00. Next time I did it for about $8.00 – I felt better about that. If you get messages, print them off, click off and then read them – it’s only .25 to print each page. Digital Seas rates are usurious – it was my husband’s only complaint on the cruise. Bring a list of e-mail addresses with you. There are NO facilities to plug in your own laptops here and connect up to the internet, when my husband asked, the guy raised his eyebrow and more or less said ‘are you nuts?’ You can certainly use them for spreadsheets, journals or whatever wherever you want though, but, no connections.

Riviera Deck
The Bridge has tours, they will post a notice of when, ours was our first sea day.

Penthouse Deck
There is a huge observation area at the front which is only open during the day – no chairs were set up there, just lots of empty space.
At the stern there is Café D’Italia, it is an outdoor grill area that was operational most sea days for lunch, and a few nights for dinner. Burgers, pizza, pasta and grilled entries, with a great ice-cream cart (self serve) were available. I liked it, but Jim (husband) thought it was way too hot up here and one lunch was all we did here.
There are two hot tubs in amongst the tables – I would think this is what was making it so hot. Most tables have umbrellas though at least.
The lounge chairs on the sides of this deck are the old wooden ones – reminded me of days gone by.

Horizon Deck
The Top of the Crown is a lovely place to sit and read, visit, or cross-stitch by day. It is drinks and dancing by night – it was a good place to meet others.
Outside is an open deck area with plenty of lounge chairs. There was never a problem getting a lounge chair somewhere on board here, even during busy sea days.

And, that is the general description of the rooms.

16 Voyages completed 1999-2004, 81 wonderful days at sea
dreaming of ....
Norwegian Crown 8/04
Carnival Fascination 11/04

[Mary Jane]

THanks CMITCH for the info. Funny< this email went right to my SPAM folder so i just read it,. Im sure the Crown will be fine. I look forward to crosstitching too!! sounds soooo relaxing...
Im oping that my two teenage boys and hubby will have fun too!