CROWN PRINCESS remembered in photos and video

[Bimmer09]

I really enjoyed your report. It was nice being back on the Crown for the week.

 

You might of seen me and my daughter in Club Fusion, the last formal night. If you were lucky you didn't as we really can't sing. She and I did a song together that we did while she was growing up, just for the 2 of us. We had fun and made a memory.

 

Next cruise up for us is the Coral. Do you have a link to a review on her?

 

Whimsy- I will find the link to the review.

 

Club Fusion is a bitty foggy now. We were there most nights, sometimes just stopping in for a few minutes-if no singers were on we left. Some nights we heard everyone. Carol has a better memory than me so I will ask her-what was the song you sang together?

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Whimsy (and anyone else) here is the link to the Coral review...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1850609

 

Norris

Edited November 15, 2013 by Bimmer09
bad URL

[Bimmer09]

Error- put the word boards immediately before cruise critic...

 

Norris

[MGnut]

Error- put the word boards immediately before cruise critic...

 

Norris

 

Try this:

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1850609

 

Howard

 

PS: Thanks, Norris, for the link.

[ar1950]

......but once those bastards up on the bridge pulled away from Aruba they headed back to PE. So predictable-where's the sense of adventure , the improvisation? "hey passenger people-we've got plenty of diesel and we fancy checkin' out Rio! Who's with us?" (chorus of "Aye, Aye, Cap'n!")....

 

Norris, I like your thinking. I'm with you on this one. :cool:

 

 

Now we are back in Port Everglades. Son of a b****!

 

lol I know the feeling.

[Ren1216]

Sigh. :(

 

I'm suffering PCD as your review is ending... but, your tale sure has amped up my excitement for our upcoming sailing in January. Thanks so much for all of the time and work you put into this. Loved it!

[Bimmer09]

Sigh. :(

 

I'm suffering PCD as your review is ending... but, your tale sure has amped up my excitement for our upcoming sailing in January. Thanks so much for all of the time and work you put into this. Loved it!

 

Ren- it looks like I have 60 photos and some video to draw from so it will be another few days...

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Try this:

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1850609

 

Howard

 

PS: Thanks, Norris, for the link.

 

Howard- I owe you one for jumping in to my rescue!

I have fond memories of tooling around London in the 1970's in an MGB..."watch out-you'll hit that dolly bird!" LOL. Electrics by Lucas-the "Prince of Darkness".

 

Pushing a stick shift car in Britain to get it started on a damp morning....what memories!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

We feel the same way... once you go aft, you don't go back... too bad Princess has so few aft balconies. Thanks so much for your review - we leave on the Crown next week!

 

On Saturday? Whenever- enjoy this fine ship. I don't even know where she is sailing to...if it is S Caribbean you are in for a super treat. My favorite warm weather itinerary -and I will do it again some day.

 

Aft- we won't sail unless the wake is a foamin' out our window. Noisy. But a good noise.

 

Norris

[cbreit]

Saturday, the 23rd. We also love the S. Caribbean itinerary - really loved Aruba! Didn't care too much for Curacao but would go again if we had to. LOL

[Bimmer09]

Saturday, the 23rd. We also love the S. Caribbean itinerary - really loved Aruba! Didn't care too much for Curacao but would go again if we had to. LOL

 

23rd? I should be done with this by then. Did you request a wave (close-up) from the great guys at P.E. webcam?

 

In both Aruba and Curacao we got out of town without exploring either. Next time we'll at least find somewhere to eat with a view and maybe scale back the excursions and sit and relax with a drink. We are not shoppers, except for fridge magnets (we have 3 fridges and plenty of room for more magnets). We don't buy nick-nacks, except wood carvings when we do our Fall drives up into Ontario (stunningly beautiful province). I love the sea days on the way to and from those Southern islands. In Alaska I am all about the excursions, seaplanes, boats and helicopters.

 

We are newbies to cruising and still finding our way. We love being on the ships and we love having everything under one roof as opposed to driving and parking and paying for everything a la carte. We love the sea and the ever-changing scenery. Wake up and you are in somewhere you have never been before. You only have a few hours to sample a tiny bit of what that island or port has to offer and then you are back on board a ship with decent toilet paper and good hygiene.

 

The standards of a good American hotel await on board-civility and service, cleanliness and order. There's good food aplenty-something the majority of the people in the world never experience, so we thank our lucky stars to have income to cruise and be treated to the best vacation for not a ridiculous amount of money.

 

So you won't see me complain much about my cruises unless I get hit with an overflowing toilet or such. Do you know that people have flushed towels down the toilet? That info from a Chief Engineer. I have had to go to passenger services to have something removed from the bill, which we didn't have, but it was done swiftly and graciously. I may be lucky. I roll with the punches as I have to on land. I know it's not all sunshine and lollipops for every passenger and mistakes will be made but my experience has been good. We paid the price on the ticket and Princess delivered on their promise to help us "Escape Completely".

 

I am very much looking forward-1 month and 27 days-to the Caribbean Princess out of Houston and will take more photos and videos than ever before as I need to stock up my shelves for these "reviews".

 

Meantime I need to round this one off with a barrage of photos and video....but I was up at 4 am this morning, drove to Chicago (80 miles) worked a 10 hour day and have now arrived back in Michigan 18 hours later....so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

It has been fun having you all along on this walk down memory lane with me.

 

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to respond.

 

Norris

[molme]

How do we get a close up from the webcam at PE? We will have a big banner for the poor folks at home to see.

[homeinboca]

Norris,

 

Thanks so much for your wonderful review and pictures. This takes a lot of effort and it is much appreciated by myself and the rest of the CC community, I'm sure.

 

We'll be on the Crown in Jan for a Southern Caribbean cruise, can't want to be on board.

 

Ron

[m4hami]

Norris,thanks for the great review. My DW and I are sailing on the Crown Princess for the fourth time in about 16 hours (can,t wait)love the Southern Caribbean cruise and the sea days. Thankyou so much for getting us pumped up for our cruise! Have a 5 hour drive to Port. Everglades in the morning. Cheers from a fellow cruiser. (m4hami) Murray!

[perfect match]

How do we get a close up from the webcam at PE? We will have a big banner for the poor folks at home to see.

 

I can help with this one!

 

Go to portevergladeswebcam.com and scroll way down to the bottom of the page. Click on the link for request a wave that you will find there. Then just fill out the form you will find there. Be sure to tell them where you expect to be on the ship and about the banner you will have. Remember that the camera will be on the port side of the ship as you sail out through the channel. Once you get home you will be able to view the video in the archive through the link at the top of the page right above the live webcam picture. We have gotten some pretty good camera time with our requests. Hope you do, too!

Edited November 16, 2013 by perfect match

[Bimmer09]

Raining in P.E this morning.

 

Perfect Match - thank you for giving those excellent instructions on Request a Wave. For our Crown wave we stood under the letter P of Crown Princess on the port side. We didn't have a banner but they found us regardless. For our Ruby sailing a year later we were on our aft balcony and that's an extreme zoom for the cam and so the images are much smaller. Port side shots will get a bigger image of you and they can home in on the banner. Smile! Wave!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Our room is ready.

 



 

Spacious lobby

 



 



 

View from the room, which had a small balcony

 



 

[Bimmer09]

The pool area. They also have a more private pool area for people who purchase a spa pass-don't know how much that costs but may find out on our next visit.

 

 



 

Our favorite spot was here though-the Sea Level restaurant, where- living up to the restaurant name- they had food! And cold refreshing beer!

 



 

[Bimmer09]

Lunch is served-crab salsa appetizer for two. Generous helping of lump crab meat

which we ate like those ravenous dogs in the Alpo commercials.

 



 

Carol's seafood medley which I believe is stone crab,shrimp and lobster

 

 



 

My mahi-mahi burger and fries

 



 

A relaxing place to sit after a belly-bustin' lunch

 

[Bimmer09]

I had something to do that afternoon as I was at one of my favorite places on Earth. I would walk the half mile or so along the beach and be in place on the rocks at the mouth of the harbor channel to take photos and video of the Saturday ships leaving-one of them being the Crown. Carol would stay at the hotel enjoying the pool and the beach where there was no doubt a nap waiting to happen.

 

Off I trudged, enjoying the invigorating sea breeze to my left.

 

As you can see I am not alone. The PE webcam is housed on the 3rd floor of the apartment block on the left of this shot.

 

 

As is often the case Grand Princess was the first to leave port

 

 

People on the rocks see the missing Skywalkers lounge, sobbing quietly at the loss

 

 

In the distance the Crown appeared from around the corner where pier 2 is located.

[molme]

Thanks for the info on the webcam. Filled it out and sent for our Feb sailing on the Crown.

Have really enjoyed your review of the Crown, we did this sailing two years ago and enjoyed it so much that we are taking friends along this time to introduce them to Princess.

[Bimmer09]

I was switching from video to photo during this rock-sitting event and had the sun in my eyes as the ships approached-the one big negative in this location in January when the sun is setting early directly behind the ships so in some shots I had to wait until the ship was parallel to me.

 

 

 

Home , sweet home-our cabin was the third deck down to the right of center. There was no cabin directly beneath ours.

There was nobody on the balcony so I ditched my plan of hurling insults and rocks their way

 

 

 

I love the vertical aft of the Grand Class ships-complete privacy as opposed to tiered decks.

 

[Bimmer09]

Next up-Liberty of the Seas

 



 

Handsome ship

 



 

 

Holland America's turn

 

 



 



 

 



 

[Bimmer09]

Incoming...

 



 

Outgoing

 



 



 

[Bimmer09]

While she is not a ship I am anxious to sail on, given the number of passengers aboard, she is an admirable piece of marine engineering and design and kudos to Royal for thinking outside the box on the design and what's possible on a ship.