Crown/Galveston Spring Break - quick notes

[WestTexasCruiser]

This was our fifth Princess, and overall 11th cruise. However, it was our first time out of Galveston, and first Spring Break cruise (although we took Thanksgiving week a few years back out of Ft. Lauderdale). My thoughts:

 

I was very PLEASED with the following:

1. Wait Staff in late traditional dining. Boots/Joie. They were very pleasant, learned our names and preferences right from the beginning.

2. Although there were almost 1,000 kids on board, they were the most polite group of younger cruisers I've ever seen. I think this is directly related to being mostly Texas kids - raised them right!

3. Although the ship was sold out, much fewer obnoxious people, and a much friendlier overall atmosphere than cruises out of Florida.

4. Front desk staff- they were quicker than usual and most helpful - especially with so many people wanting to rearrange rooms and getting keys to kids' rooms.

5. Ease of boarding/exiting at Galveston. Getting to the ship and moving around the area seemed much smoother than in Ft. Lauderdale.

6. Room steward asked us to put "do not disturb" in door whenever we were in the room, and "service please" whenever we left for breakfast or dinner. At first I thought it was odd, but worked like a charm! Not once did we get interrupted, and room was always serviced promptly.

7. Unlike previous cruises, the bar staff was prompt, even when the kids were ordering a coke or mock-tail using the "coke pass." We've had previous cruise experiences where they will ignore you unless you're getting alcohol.

 

I was NOT SO PLEASED with the following:

1. Dining room service took FOREVER! 2+ hours every night. I think Princess must be stretching more tables per server. As posted earlier, no butter with the lobster, no crab legs, and the parmesan bowl for the fettucini alfredo was much smaller than previous Princess cruises.

2. Homestyle dining offers were pathetic, at best. My teens liked the "homestyle" offers, but once the food arrived, it was always a disappointment. Fried chicken was tiny and soggy; meatloaf was bland; turkey was dry with a poor excuse for dressing. They should remove these from the menu.

3. Seemed like it took forever to get someone to take a bar order on deck, and even longer to have it delivered. Usually, you are constantly telling them "no thank you" while lounging by the pool, but this time we had to go out of our way to flag down someone to take orders.

4. It was odd that we had to sign for everything - even when it was a "no charge" item, i.e. needed a wine bottle opened or wine glasses delivered to the room.

5. No towel animals - we've always had them on every cruise, including Princess.

6. Had to ask every day for wine glasses and ice. Room steward never caught on, even on last day... He was also not engaging like other stewards.

7. Sabatini's menu has changed drastically, even in the last 18 months. Liked the old one better, and the food didn't seem quite the "specialty restaurant" quality as before.

8. Casino dealers, with very few exceptions, were not friendly. Pit boss was quite the character, though...

 

Overall, though, it was a great time with the family. We wished we could have escaped some of the wind. Belize zip line and cave tubing were fabulous, and we highly recommend the cabanas on Roatan. Travelling with Celebrity in January out of Miami - we will see how it compares...

[awhcruiser]

Which Princess ships have towel animals? I've been on nine Princess ships and never had any.

[Jules59]

Which Princess ships have towel animals? I've been on nine Princess ships and never had any.

 

Same here.

[Pam in CA]

Which Princess ships have towel animals? I've been on nine Princess ships and never had any.

Never seen a towel animal on Princess and never expect to see one. A few have reported that their stewards take extra time to make towel animals if there are kids in the cabin. Perhaps they learned how to do this elsewhere as it's not something Princess trains nor expects stewards to do.

 

Sabatini's changed the menu a couple of years ago and the "new" menu has been posted on the Princess website since it changed.

 

Thanks for your quick review.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

 

Dinner has always taken 2 hours or so in the DR.

If you want to eat faster all you have to do is ask.

[peachykiehn]

For our anniversary several years ago our room steward make two of the most amazing swans and positioned them as if they were kissing then placed two dove chocolate hearts next to them. These were the only towel animals we have had but needless to say this steward always went the extra mile to meet our needs!

[caribill]

Never seen a towel animal on Princess and never expect to see one.

 

I have seen them often, just not in my cabin. Princess often has a towel animal making demonstration in the atrium during a cruise.

 

[Vacation Planner]

We are sailing out of Galveston on the Crown April 6th, and I was wondering what nights were the formal evenings?

[Coolmama_1]

Formal nights should be Sunday and Thursday. We have a roll call for this cruise and have activities planned. I hope you will join us! It is pretty long now so you might want to scroll over to the last page or so and see what is going on.

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1591525

 

 

Judy

[Twinkstarr]

2hrs is pretty much standard for dinner in the MDR on any cruise I have been on.

 

You want towel animals? Try NCL, I had one every day in my studio on the Epic.

[awhcruiser]

Have you joined the Roll Call? We have a huge group. Formal nights will be Sunday and Thursday..

 

We are sailing out of Galveston on the Crown April 6th, and I was wondering what nights were the formal evenings?