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Live from the Crown, Dec. 17

geoherb

By geoherb,
in Princess Cruises

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spyro1952

spyro1952

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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.

 

 

We are doing the B2B on 12/31. Haven't visited the boards in a while as getting ready for Holidays,etc. Please eradicate noro virus for us geoherb!!

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sarar

sarar

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Geoherb,

 

I really enjoy living vicariously through your posts. Thank you so much.

 

DH and I are due to board the Crown on 12/24. We have received notification today from Princess that embarkation will be delayed due to Noro. How is situation on board now?

 

Hi PLATEAT50 was just wondering if Princess gave you the chance to cancel with a full refund or a change of date, if you or any member of your party suffer from autoimmune disease or you are worried about anyone in your party falling in the vulnerable category?

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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So we went and saw the future cruise consultant and placed down our money for a deposit. Even if Princess doesn’t get our business for our next cruise, we’re sure to book another within the next four years. Between the future cruise credits, the credit we received from our TA, my stockholder credit, and the birthday credit, we’re going to break about even on our account. The biggest expense will be the automatic hotel charge, followed by the corkage fee for our bottles of wine. We’ve had a few mixed drinks as well. At yesterday’s yard sale in the piazza, I bought us a few T-shirts from destinations we’d been to before—New England and Canadian ones. I wouldn’t buy the ones from the northern European destinations, but they did have plenty of them with names of towns I’ve never heard of.

 

We had a relaxing day at sea. We ate breakfast and lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room. Both were delicious, especially the tilapia soft taco. Because of the rough seas, they had the Promenade Deck closed for most of the day. I walked around inside the ship to get my steps in. We played trivia early morning, late morning, and afternoon. We found a great team with CruiseLover57 and her husband and another man. Our team won the two morning sessions, almost getting a perfect score on the first one, just missing a question about the Cook Strait. We tied with two other teams in the second session and won the tie breaker. We would have tied again in the afternoon if someone on our team had known the currency of Albania.

 

Our favorite pool was closed—the spa pool—so we ended up swimming at the aft pool in the early evening. The sun was just setting as we were there, but unfortunately the ship was not angled for us to see it directly. But the clouds we could see were beautiful.

 

I spoke to Lisa Ball at the returning passengers cocktail party last night. She is on this ship through April. I don’t remember if she meant she is staying all the way through April or leaving sometime sooner that month. They served wine, champagne, and various cocktails. We drank just red wine, so I’m not sure what the various concoctions they were offering. I don’t remember how many days it took to place among the top three passengers. It’s a lot more than we’ll probably ever have.

 

The second formal night dinner was delicious. Our waiter let us know that they were serving escargot even though the menu did not list it. I was the only one at our table to order the escargot. They were delicious. I also had the seafood appetizer, which was a salad composed of shrimp, scallops, and crab meat with caviar on top. I had the lobster tail and jumbo prawn for my entrée and the chocolate hazelnut soufflé for my dessert. I have been eating healthy most of the week, usually ordering the fruit plate for dessert. But soufflés (and crème brulée) are my weakness.

 

The rocking has gotten lighter. The captain said it never got as bad as the forecast had sounded. He said today’s weather, according to Radio Cuba, is supposed to be better. There are still signs of the norovirus outbreak around, including waiters squirting passengers’ hands with Purell as we enter the dining room and buffet. They’ve also strategically placed barf bags in the public areas in case anyone is seasick. I still find the rocking to be relaxing. I’m sorry others don’t find it so.

 

I recommend doing what we did at embarkation: dropping off checked luggage and walking over to the 17th Street area for lunch and your preferred beverages. It was much better than being trapped at the convention center for four hours.

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missymerv

missymerv

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Geoherb don't forget to pick up your pics from UBD at the photography studio.

 

Anyone considering doing UBD on either side of the ship your in for a wonderful treat. DH and I overlooked the water in Curacao and all I can say was awesome.

 

Have a happy holiday everyone!

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pakarinen

pakarinen

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Our favorite pool was closed—the spa pool—so we ended up swimming at the aft pool in the early evening.

 

What's your opinion of the aft pool vs the spa pool? I'd prefer to avoid the more crowded pools if possible.

 

I recommend doing what we did at embarkation: dropping off checked luggage and walking over to the 17th Street area for lunch and your preferred beverages. It was much better than being trapped at the convention center for four hours.

 

Sorry, newbie question - can you elaborate on that? We've a mini-suite, no special status. How do you know when to board? I thought they gave ppl numbers and had you queue up, etc something like Southwest Airlines does. :confused:

 

Thanks!

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sunsetbeachgal

sunsetbeachgal

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Oh...you just had to rub it in by telling me how great the escargot was!!!

 

Enjoying your blog...also reading KCSungirls blog from her NewZealand Australia cruise on the Celebrity boards...you might want to check it out if you have unused Internet minutes! As always, she is so funny!

 

Carole

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cruzinchris

cruzinchris

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What's your opinion of the aft pool vs the spa pool? I'd prefer to avoid the more crowded pools if possible.

 

Sorry, newbie question - can you elaborate on that? We've a mini-suite, no special status. How do you know when to board? I thought they gave ppl numbers and had you queue up, etc something like Southwest Airlines does. :confused:

 

Thanks!

 

While I'm not the OP, I think this post was in reference to the current sailing of the Crown when boarding was delayed due to the ship having to be sanitized following an outbreak of Norovirus. Ordinarily, embarkation begins by noon, so passengers who arrive at the Princess terminal wait there until boarding commences. Handicapped folks generally board first, followed by Elite/Platinum members, and then by the group number that you're given when you arrive inside the terminal. It is usually crowded when boarding begins but tapers off after an hour or so.

 

Based on recents posts from passengers on next week's Crown cruise, embarkation will be delayed again while the ship is completely sanitized. In that case, check-in might be done at the Convention Center to expedite the boarding process when the ship is ready. Hopefully, there won't be Noro on the Crown when DH and I embark in late January.

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

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cruzinchris

cruzinchris

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Gotcha. Thanks, Cruzin.

 

You're welcome. BTW, I personally prefer the Lotus Spa Pool on ships that have it mostly because the water is shallow enough for me to walk against the current and do other exercises. Also, smoking has never been permitted in that area, but there is smoking near the Terrace Pool. This small aft pool is also deeper than the Lotus Pool, and I can't always touch the bottom. Terrace Pool isn't big enough for laps if you're a swimmer. I avoid the MUTS pool area as well as the other large pool because both are too deep for this non-swimmer ;)

Chris

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kabrown

kabrown

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Enjoying your "live" thread geo. Thanks for doing it. Sounds like Lisa will be CD through our cruise 4/21-4/28, which is the last of the Caribbean season in early 2012. We had her as CD on our Emerald cruise in Oct. 09 and thought she did a great job!

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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I received the birthday credit offer this summer. It was for booking a cruise within my birthday month by a certain date. My birthday was three days before our cruise. I receivd $50 credit for that, along with my shareholder credit, credit for placing our future cruise credit on our previous cruise, plus some credit from our TA. We're ending up with a bill of less than $25.

 

I prefer the spa pool area. It has been especially convenient this cruise since our cabin is near the same stairwell that goes up to the spa area. We usually go late in the afternoon/early evening, so it is hardly ever crowded. I found out later why it was closed that day. Someone had thrown up in it. One of our fellow cruise critics saw the vomit. I'm glad I missed that sight.

 

We’re docked in Fort Lauderdale now. We had another relaxing day at sea yesterday. It was a beautiful partly cloudy day. The seas were slight as promised. We stayed most of the day inside. Between avoiding the sun and SPF 50 sunscreen, I managed not to get burned.

 

Our team won the early bird trivia in the morning. We tied the second morning trivia but lost the tie breaker question. (How old was the person conducting the trivia?) We guessed a year younger than the other team, and it turned out he was much older than he looked. After walking around the Promenade Deck a few times, we had lunch in the dining room. It was relaxing and tasty, although I got tired of hearing the people sitting with us complain about how bad this cruise was. We had a great time in spite of the inconveniences caused by the norovirus. Anyone who stayed well should not complain.

 

After our naps in the afternoon, it was time for a final trivia. Our team did not do very well, scoring just 10 out of 20 points. The winning team only had 13. A lot of the questions were oriented toward the British passengers—what is a matterjack, who played the toymaker in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” and in what battle did King Richard III die. (A toad, Benny Hill, and Bosworth Field.)

 

We saw the final production show before dinner, then headed back to our rooms to pack our checked bags. The show was “Destination Anywhere.” Two of the singers are very good. The other two aren’t. There’s not as much real dancing in this show, even though the cruise director kept talking about how it was choreographed by a famous choreographer. I don’t remember her name. It seemed to me that the dancers just posed and walked around more in this show. But still it was pretty good. I’d rank it my second favorite of the three, behind “What a Swell Party.”

 

After our final dinner with our tablemates, we went to the Princess Pop Star finals. All six of the singers were pretty good. Three really stood out—Gloria, Nathan, and Maria. I had a hard time deciding who to vote for before finally choosing Gloria. But Maria, who sang last, was the audience favorite and won. I think if they had sung in a different order, more votes might have gone Gloria’s or Nathan’s way.

 

We've had a great time overall. I just received the questionnaire in my email, but I'll wait until we get home to fill it out.

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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Thanks. I have scanned the Patters and posted another thread with them here.

 

The movies they showed during our week included Mr. Popper's Penguins, Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Just Go with It, Zookeeper, Captain America, White Christmas, Arthur, Transformers, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Killer Elite, Secretariat, Scrooged, Knight and Day, Crazy Stupid Love, The Help, Kung Fu Panda, Toast, Miracle on 34th Street, Thor, Midnight in Paris, Source Code, Morning Glory, Green Hornet, Home Alone, and Cowboys and Aliens.

 

In addition they had a lot of concerts on MUTS, including Pink, Pavarotti, Lionel Ritchie, The Killers, George Michael, Beyonce, Barry Manilow, and Invisible Touch. They showed NFL football games Sunday afternoon and night, Monday night, and Thursday night.

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cruzinchris

cruzinchris

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geoherb: If it's not too much trouble, could you possibly reiterate the order of dinner menus? From your posts, I glean the following:

 

Sailaway (Sat)

 

? Sunday

 

Welcome - formal (Mon)

 

? Tuesday (you did UBD that night)

 

? Wednesday

 

Captain's Gala - formal (Thurs)

 

Landfall (Fri)

 

Are the other three nights Caribbean, Italian, and Chef's? Not so important for DH and I, but my sister will celebrate her birthday onboard, and we want to treat both of my sisters to dinner at Crown Grill one night. Just trying to figure out which night would be best as we don't want her to miss formal night on her birthday (30th). Thanks!

Chris

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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I think Sunday was Italian. I had the melon with prosciutto, the peach soup with prosecco, and the turbot for my entree. I did not notice what we missed on Tuesday when we did the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. The only dish our tablemates told us about was the pineapple creme brulee.

 

I'm not sure about Wednesday's menu, other than what I ate that night--the diver scallops (an appetizer portion of an entree) and orange roughy. You have the formal nights listed correctly as Monday and Thursday.

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cruzinchris

cruzinchris

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I think Sunday was Italian. I had the melon with prosciutto, the peach soup with prosecco, and the turbot for my entree. I did not notice what we missed on Tuesday when we did the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. The only dish our tablemates told us about was the pineapple creme brulee.

 

I'm not sure about Wednesday's menu, other than what I ate that night--the diver scallops (an appetizer portion of an entree) and orange roughy. You have the formal nights listed correctly as Monday and Thursday.

 

You're a gem! Thanks. I have a set of menus and will piece together what you ate and figure it out :D

 

ETA: Diver Scallops are on the Chef's menu. Pineapple Creme Brulee is from the Caribbean dinner which is our least favorite menu and the night that we are doing a dinner excursion in Curacao. I think Sunday night might be our best bet for Crown Grill.

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