Live from the Crown, Dec. 17

[geoherb]

Almost on the Crown. We're waiting in the convention center. They are still cleaning the ship and will hopefully have the norovirus eradicated. They say we will start boarding at 2.

 

I will try to keep watch of this thread and post once each day.

[paul929207]

Looking forward to your thread. We will be on the Crown in the Eastern Med for 36 days in October and November so would love to hear anything about the ship.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.

[Cruisinini]

Looking forward to reading your account when we get back in a week. love live threads but too cheap to pay for internet on board.

[geoherb]

Thanks. We finally boarded at 2:45. We were among the first ones to board since we had cards with the number one, although there was a conflicting announcement that any Elites could board.

 

I am happy to finally make it here, getting to enjoy a glass of wine on our balcony.

[cruzinchris]

Thanks for the live thread, geoherb. IIRC, you were on the Island Princess not long before DH and I last January. We'll be boarding the Crown in six weeks.

 

Bon Voyage and stay well.

Chris

[KirkNC]

Look forward to your updates. Have a great cruise and be sure to wash your hands a lot :o.

[Shogun]

Hi geoherb

 

Have a great cruise say hello to the Crown for us, we were lucky enough to have diner on her this year when she visted Scotland.

 

yours Shogun

[geoherb]

We met with the wait person to arrange our Ultimate Balcony Dinner just a minute ago. We are having it the night that the ship sails late from Curacao. She said to be sure to be hungry that night.

[compozer]

Thanks. We finally boarded at 2:45. We were among the first ones to board since we had cards with the number one, although there was a conflicting announcement that any Elites could board.

 

I am happy to finally make it here, getting to enjoy a glass of wine on our balcony.

 

Glad you made it aboard and are enjoying the wine. Did they also allow the suites to board right away?

[seamanfs]

Hope you have a wonderful cruise. Are you doing the 7 or the 14 day voyage?? We board on 12/31 so keep her safe for us!!!! Hope the ugly Noro is eradicated for your trip.

[sarar]

Have a great cruise and look forward to reading your posts. We will br on the Crown in 20 days, so hope the Noro has well and trult gone by then.

[newfirsttimer]

Just watched you sailaway. Have a wonderful cruise.

[Reader0108598]

Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

 

Wishing for you & yours blue skies warm weather Cold drinks & a healthy ship!

 

Reader:)

[lovevacadays]

Have a wonderful cruise. Looking forward to reading about your adventure.

[OCruisers]

:cool: Have a GREAT cruise! Looking forward to your updates!

[Coolmama_1]

Have a wonderful cruise. Looking forward to your live postings

[srpilo]

Enjoy !!! :)

 

 

 

 

We love the Crown and I sure you will too

Srpilo

[missymerv]

We met with the wait person to arrange our Ultimate Balcony Dinner just a minute ago. We are having it the night that the ship sails late from Curacao. She said to be sure to be hungry that night.

 

Listen to Leticia lol She was wonderful. DH and I did UBD on the Crown 2 weeks ago in Curacao and it was magical. So much food and excellent service.

[c&bcruise]

We will be on the Crown in February. Is muster before sailaway? I wondered if the earlier departure time might change the order of things. Have a great trip - we will be following along.

[6pack]

I read on a post that Vines has eliminated Sushi and Tapas. Does anyone know if they're still be served on the Crown.

[pakarinen]

I read on a post that Vines has eliminated Sushi and Tapas. Does anyone know if they're still be served on the Crown.

 

Pulled below off the Princess web site two minutes ago. Dunno, is the Crown different or maybe the Web site is out of date?

 

Vines Wine and Seafood Bar

Vines Wine and Seafood Bar serves a selection of unique new- and old-world vintage wines along with gourmet delicacies.

You can enjoy wine flights or a wide selection of wines by the glass. A daily selection of sushi and tapas are also available and are complimentary with any beverage purchase.

[geoherb]

We are having a great time in spite of several glitches. We did not check out our table before dinner and found ourselves at a table for two in the Botticelli Dining Room. I had requested a large table. Our wait staff was Boots, a woman from the Philippines, as our senior waiter and Jeffrey, also from there, as her assistant. They gave us good service, yet we still wanted a larger table. So I talked with the maitre d’ after dinner was over and he moved us to a larger table. We’ll find out tonight if we made the right move.

 

At the “Welcome Aboard” show before dinner, technical problems delayed it. They were 25 minutes or so late getting started. We had to leave for dinner during the comedian’s act.

Dinner was delicious. I’m trying to eat light, so I ordered the melon trio, a plain salad, and the barramundi. Sam had the crispy spring rolls, Caesar salad, pina colada soup, and prime rib. I also ordered some steamed broccoli, which came on the side. Boots, Jeffrey and some other waiters brought me a birthday cake and sang to me. That was one advantage to the smaller table.

 

This morning the tenders had problems. Two out of the six weren’t working initially, so there was a long wait. We did not know about the problems. We played trivia (and won against two other couples) and took our time getting ready, thinking that there wouldn’t be a wait when we wanted to go over to the island at 11. But there was a 90-minute one. We waited in line half an hour to get our tender tickets, then went and played the morning trivia (coming in a tie for third), before heading back to the assembly area just before our number got called.

 

Princess Cays was beautiful. There is a front heading in, but it was mostly sunny all day. I thought the water was refreshing. Sam said it was too cold, although he finally made it in after a half hour of wading along the shore. The water nearest the beach where we entered is extremely rocky. Sam wore his Crocs. I went barefooted, but occasionally wished I had on my water shoes when I stepped on a sharp rock.

 

The barbecue lunch was pretty good. I ate grilled chicken breast and a couple of pork ribs, along with a salad and a corn salad and a fruit salad. Since we were on the right side, the lines weren’t too bad there. Because of the norovirus, servers are serving everything to passengers, which does slow things a bit.

 

We caught an early tender back after about 90 minutes on the island, then headed up to the Oasis Pool area for another brisk swim. We joined two other couples for afternoon trivia. It was a hard set of questions. Our team earned 14 out of 22 points, which was good enough to win.

 

The featured entertainer for the evening was James Michael, a “comedy magician,” in the Explorers Lounge. He was great. Just the right amount of silliness and magic for my taste. He was also a little bit bluer than I expected for an early show—so parents with children, be aware.

 

Our new table in the Botticelli Dining Room is for eight. There were two couples from England at it from the night before. They had chased away some Canadians the first night. (Actually, the ones who left wanted a table closer to the rest of their group.) The other couple new to the table was from Kansas. I’m sure they’re feeling they’re not in Kansas anymore. One of the English chaps snuggled up to the wife from Kansas when the photographer came around. Then Sam got his photo with one of the British wives, while I got mine taken with the other wife. That left the guy from Kansas and the second British husband to have their photo taken together as a couple. You can see his unease in the photo.

 

I watched a little karaoke before heading back to the room for bed. We lost an hour last night, moving our clocks forward to match the time in Curacao.

 

Muster was before sailaway. We were late leaving, though, because of the late embarkation. Princess really took care of the Brits we met last night at dinner. They kept them at their hotel in Miami and fed them lunch.

[geoherb]

Muster was before sailaway. They delayed sailing until after 5 p.m. for us due to the late embarkation. The sign at Vines says just what the previous poster said: sushi is still available if you purchase a beverage. We have never tried it.

 

We are enjoying the bottles of wine we brought on board, plus we've had a drink each evening at the Elite/Platinum/Suite cocktail party. The price has gone up to $3.99. The waiters have charged us the $15 corkage fee each night, but I figure we're drinking better wine than we could get from the Princess winelist at the price we're paying. I don't mind spending $25 for a $10 bottle of wine, but I hate to pay $30 for an $8 bottle. But as long as we can bring wine, I'm happy.

[6pack]

Enjoy your cruise and Merry Christmas!

[phill369]

I hope you have a wonderful cruise! I asked hulagirl this same question, but in case you notice, could you let us know if the Crown is doing the power hour with reduced priced drinks after 8 p.m.? Thank you! :)