Crown Princess Christmas Cruise Review with Pics

[sparkey24]

I will start this review with a quick introduction. We (my husband, my 15 year old son, and myself) are from Oregon. My husband and I cruised with Princess about 10 years ago on Caribbean Princess, and my son has never cruised with Princess. We took a Christmas cruise last year on RCI-Independence of the Seas, and we chose to do a Princess cruise this year to compare which cruise line worked best for our family.

 

We traveled on Thursday (all day) and arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 5pm. We stayed at the Hyatt Place 17th St. Convention Center. This hotel was perfect for our needs; it was great location to walk to restaurants, grocery, and wine shop, as well as the water taxi. It offered a nice breakfast and was very clean (which is super important to me).

Friday we took the water taxi all over Ft. Lauderdale. We started up in the Hollywood area and enjoyed the boardwalk on the beach. After Hollywood area we then traveled all around the other stops getting off and on as we wanted. We ended our night at our vacation restaurant we always go to “Bubba Gumps”. The water taxi offered a perfect way to see all the beautiful homes and yachts that were decorated for the holidays.

 

Saturday we got up and had breakfast at the hotel, then decided to call and arrange a cab to pick us up at the hotel instead of the hotel shuttle. The cab cost $9.00 total, and the shuttle was $7.00 per person. The cab ride was about 10 minutes and we arrived at Port Everglades, Terminal 2 around 11am. The porters picked up our luggage and we headed into the terminal to check in. We had 2 bottles of wine in our carry on as well as I had put a box of wine in our checked luggage. We were fully prepared to pay if needed, but we were never asked to declare our wine, and our box wine made it to our cabin without any requests for payment. Guess we got lucky!! We were through security and checked in and sitting in the waiting area in about 10 minutes. The terminal started getting busy and lines getting longer about 1145. We were on the ship by 1215. We headed directly to the guest service desk to sign up for The Ultimate Ship Tour. I am glad we did this right away because there were already 6 people signed up for this, and the number is limited. After arranging out tour we then went to check out our room.

 

We had a Mini Suite D217 (Dolphin Deck, Starboard, Front). This room was wonderful!!! The room had tons of storage, the sofa converted to a very comfortable twin bed, the bathroom has a full tub/shower, and the balcony was uncovered and had a direct/unobstructed view of the ocean. The furniture on the balcony was two chairs that reclined with foot stools and a table; I found the chairs very comfortable. I would say if you were doing the same itinerary I would recommend a Port side room due to that is the side the ports are on, so you can see from your balcony. After putting our carryon luggage away we headed out to explore the ship, and purchase our son the Ultimate soda package, and myself a coffee card (I would say both were worth the price).

 

We thought the layout of the ship seemed confusing compared to RCI. Only a couple of floors went from forward to aft, so we felt we were constantly going up or down to get from one point to the other. We went to find the basketball court for our son (this was an important piece of which ship we take), and thought it was small, and because it was enclosed with padding the lack of airflow made it pretty warm. We checked out the pool areas, Movie Under the Stars area, and then decided to try the buffet for a bite to eat. The food in the buffet was not my favorite. There was a lot of variety, but I am not a buffet fan. We all agreed we like the buffet on RCI better. Now I am sure by now you are thinking why are we on Princess if RCI was that much better, but I have to say other than the above mentioned things we really liked Princess, and would be very happy to travel again on Princess.

 

After lunch we headed back to our room to prepare for the muster drill. Our muster station was Princess Theater, and we had to bring our life vests. The drill seemed long, but since it is regarding our safety I can’t really complain. We were glad to see our luggage arrived by the time we were done with the drill, so we spent some time unpacking then headed up to the top deck to enjoy the sail away party. We had a nice time chatting with people and enjoying a cocktail (Paradise Punch was my favorite) as we headed out of port (we were the first ship out). After we out to sea we headed down to get cleaned up for dinner. We had Anytime dining and ate at the Michelangelo Dining room. We were seated with other guests (which I really like, and missed that RCI didn’t do this) right away. My husband and I enjoyed the prime rib and our son had the kalua pork. The food in the dining room was wonderful; my favorite was dessert---crème brulee!!!

 

After a very enjoyable dinner our son headed out to the teen area (he had already made friends, which wasn’t hard considering there were 250 kids aboard), and we decided to try our luck at the casino (we weren’t so lucky). We then went to the theater for the Welcome show which was nice and then off to bed to finish unpacking and get ready for our first destination tomorrow—Princess Cays.

 

 

 

 

 

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[sparkey24]

Princess Cays---

 

We were up early and pre packed for a relaxing day on the beach. We headed to the buffet for breakfast and to the International Café for a coffee. I have to say breakfast at the buffet was pretty good, I really liked the fresh waffles, and my husband like the sausage and eggs. The coffee on the other hand I struggled with. I am a coffee drinker, and being from the Pacific NW I love my Starbucks :p. The coffee card allowed me to get espresso drinks, but they used powdered flavor not syrup, so it was very sweet, and the beans they use just seemed a bit off to me. I fine tuned my order over the week, and it worked out okay, but I will say I was glad I could get a Starbucks at the different ports we went to.

 

Princess Cays is a tender port, so they let you out in groups. We had to go the dining room to wait our turn, and it took about 10 minutes wait to get on one. The tender itself took about 5-10 minutes to shore. We didn’t have a plan here, so we decided to relax on the beach and let our son explore. We rented a clamshell for two chairs ($29—ordered on beach), and then relaxed, read, napped, relaxed some more. After a nice morning we decided to explore a bit and check out what the island offered. There were basketball courts, volleyball courts, and all sorts of water sports. I would say the South side (right when you get off the tenders) is much quieter than the North side. The cabanas here didn’t really look like they were worth the price. We rented an over the water cabana on Labadee (RCI private island), and the once on Princess Cays were on the other side of the walkway from the beach, so people walking in front of you all day, then inside looked like a table and chairs and loungers on deck. I couldn’t justify the price for not having better privacy. The kids area was nice for young ones, they had a small pool for kids to enjoy who weren’t quite ready to play in the ocean. On our tour we stopped an enjoyed lunch at the BBQ. Food was fine for a BBQ. Then off to relax some more ( I am sure you see our pattern by now). We headed back for the tender for the ship around 230 and waited in line about 15 minutes.

 

Once back on board we all got cleaned up, our son went to hang out with friends, I went exploring some more (still trying to find my way around), and my husband watched some football. We got ready for dinner later than the night before and were down around 645 and had to wait with a pager. By 730 we still hadn’t been seated, and decided we were too hungry to wait so we went our own ways and had pizza, burgers, buffet.

 

After our dinner we went to the casino for a bit, watched the comedian in the theater, then found a place at Movies Under the Stars and watched football. I will say this was probably my husband’s favorite thing. I enjoyed it too, but got chilled easily (which my husband thinks I am crazy for). After football off to bed and an end to another great day!!

 

 

 

 

 

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[Sincity]

I've only been on one RCI cruise and have to agree with you that the buffet there is better. However, IMO, I feel that the dining room food here at Princess is superior over RCI.

[sparkey24]

Day Three—At Sea

Got up and went to our Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle there was a wonderful turn out of great people. We all introduced ourselves, talked a bit about our experiences and plans for this trip, then headed off for a cabin crawl. We were very interested in seeing the different cabin sizes so we would know what type of cabin would be best for us in the future. Like I said earlier we were in a mini suite, so we wanted to see if a regular balcony room would accommodate our family or not. We saw quite a few different balcony rooms, including an Aft balcony, and decided if you were traveling with a teenager like us a mini suite is definitely the right choice. I also realized that I don’t think I would like the noise of the Aft, which was much louder than I expected. I am glad to know this ahead of time, and really appreciate everyone who welcomed us into their room to see.

 

Since we got up late and headed directly to the meet & mingle we headed to a late breakfast after the crawl. We grabbed a plate and headed through the buffet (did I mention I really liked the waffles). We didn’t have anything we really wanted to do this afternoon, so I signed up for the slot tournament (only made it to round 3) then went to the art auction. We have always enjoyed the art auction on previous cruises, but unfortunately found this one rather boring, and the art redundant. Since nothing in the auction was to our liking we grabbed a coffee and snack at the Int’l Café and headed back to our balcony to read.

 

Since we cruised in the past we were invited to the Captains Welcome back function in the theater which was nice, and we got a free cocktail coupon, so it was worth it . After the Captain’s meeting we went back to get cleaned up since it was Formal night. We wanted to get to dinner at an earlier time since we had noticed a long line after 645pm. We made it to the dining room around 615 and were seated at a table of 10. What a wonderful group of people and great food. Dinner seemed to take a long time which was fine since we had such nice company.

 

Our son left dinner before dessert to go meet up with friends. He said that the teen area on this ship was small compared to RCI, and also thought the functions were a little odd because of the age mix. His group was 13-17 which there is a definite maturity level difference in that range, so he preferred RCI where it was 15-17. My husband and I made it to the second showing in the theater and watched the production “Destination Anywhere”. We thought this show was very good. After the theater my husband convinced me it was time to get out of the suit/tie and go watch football, so up to the windy deck we went. It started to rain about half time, so I headed back to the room and finished reading my good book I started earlier, and he toughed it out. Next up Curacao!!!

 

 

Theater

 

 

International Cafe

 

 

Deck 7 chairs on deck

 

 

The Pool

 

 

Teen Center

 

 

Our Mini Suite Standing at Balcony Door next to Couch

[cbreit]

keep the memories coming... we were there just about a month ago... really liked the Crown!

[sparkey24]

Day 4—Curacao

 

We weren’t scheduled to dock in Curacao until 2pm, so I got up early and wanted to go lay by the pool for a bit. I went down to the International Café grabbed a coffee and croissant and headed to the Aft Pool (Terrace Pool). This pool area is for adults only and doesn’t have entertainment, so it is a nice quiet area to enjoy reading a book or just staring out to sea. I got down there about 8am, so there was plenty of chairs to choose from, but they were pretty full by 1030am.

 

After a nice morning looking at the wake and reading I met up with my husband, grabbed some pizza from the poolside pizza place and headed to the room to get cleaned up for Curacao. The shipped got docked early so we were off to explore by about 145. We didn’t make any plans for Curacao we were just going to walk around, enjoy the colorful buildings, shops, and floating bridge. We ended up grabbing some late lunch at a waterside café (Iguana Café). The service was extremely slow, but the food was worth it…very yummy. We did access the WIFI that was available around town and checked in with family and friends via email and social media. On our walk back I decided we needed to find Starbucks (which is in the mall just after you exit the port area). Grabbed my souvenir mug which I must get whenever I can to add to my collection. Also got a “real” coffee for me, and some frozen drinks for my boys. We were back on the ship relatively early due to not being interested in the nightlife, and our son wanting to hang with his friends (guess we aren’t as cool as we thought). I really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of Curacao, and the fact that the shop keepers were not pushy and prices were very reasonable. We definitely will keep this island on our list to come back to.

 

Once back on the ship I took some pictures while everything wasn’t too busy, checked out a movie (can’t remember the name), and then decided we didn’t want dinner in the dining room so we just ate on our own. I found the buffet that night pretty good (It was Italian night). After dinner we did our trip to the casino, where we actually won our money back, and then quit while we were ahead. Since we had time we went to see the variety show in the theater (a singer) who was very good then off to Explorers lounge to see the magician/comedian James Michael. We saw mixed reviews about the magician, we LOVED him…he is a bit on the raunchy side, but we found his humor hysterical. I will say we did see some people leave because they were offended. After a long night of entertainment off to bed to get ready for Christmas Day & Aruba.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Elkhorn20fan]

Great review!!!!!! Looking forward to the rest of it. Sailing in less then 3 weeks on the Crown.

[sparkey24]

Forgot my notebook to work on my review today....sorry!!! Let me know if you have any questions I would be happy to answer if I know :) Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve.

[MtnBikerFallDown]

Thank you so much for posting this review! I'm really enjoying the pictures. We are sailing Crown in February, so it's nice to get a little hint of what's to come!

 

Do you remember how much they charge per person for the Chef's Table?

[sparkey24]

We didn't do the chef's table, so not sure. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did. We were very impressed with the level of service the staff provided on this ship.

[MtnBikerFallDown]

We didn't do the chef's table, so not sure. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did. We were very impressed with the level of service the staff provided on this ship.

 

It's our first cruise on Princess, so we're really excited to see how different it is. Of course, to me... any day on vacation is a good one! :)

[jean s]

Loving your review. We've done this cruise a couple of times and really enjoyed it. I wanted to do it this year but Princess is not doing the southern route at the end of February. We are disappointed because we loved the islands on the seven day southern route.

[sparkey24]

Day 5---Aruba (Christmas Day)

 

We arrived in Aruba around 8am to a beautiful sunny day. Best kind of weather to celebrate the holiday if you ask me!!! We to grabbed a bite in the buffet and got a cup of coffee to go at the International Café. We departed the ship around 9am and walked through the little market area to the taxi area. We took a taxi to Palm Beach (the tall hotel area). The taxi cost $17 for the 3 of us and it took about 10 minutes. The taxi driver called a “friend” at the beach and he greeted us and took us to his company’s area to rent beach chairs, umbrellas, etc. We decided to explore down the beach before selecting to rent with them (which I am glad we did because the area we started in wasn’t as nice as further down the beach.)

 

We walked past the Hyatt and found a little place called Marcel’s Watersports. This is where we rented a palapa and 3 chairs for only $25. This was a great place to relax for the day. There was a roped off swimming area just a couple steps away, and we were right where the people did the Jet Pack excursion which was fun to watch. Marcel’s offers the Hyatt menu and you can use the hotels facilities too.

 

After a relaxing morning we decided to go explore and leave our little slice of heaven. We walked to Hard Rock Café (to get our souvenir shirt), but it was closed due to the holiday; guess we will have to come back again (darn). We settled on going to Senor Frogs for Mexican food and margaritas (and to use the wifi). Once done with lunch we continued our exploration down to the Westin. We caught a cab at the Westin back to the pier where we walked around the street vendors to pick up our gifts for family back home. We were back on the ship around 330pm.

 

Since it was Christmas it was Formal night, so we all got cleaned up and headed out to take pictures and go to dinner. Again, we arrived around 615 for dinner and were seated with 6 other people. 615pm seemed to be a good time to arrive for dinner to not have a long wait. They served a traditional holiday dinner menu of turkey or ham, as well as a couple other entrees. After a long dinner we headed to the casino for a bit then to the Marriage Game in Club Fusion. The Marriage game is always a fun show to catch. After the show we were off to bed because we had to get up early tomorrow for the Ultimate Ship Tour!!

 

 

My favorite Christmas Tree

 

 

Palapa on the beach (thank you to my husband & son for modeling)

 

 

Our view from our palapa

 

 

where we got our chairs

 

 

View from port of town

[Ren1216]

Love your review! I really appreciate all of the detail and your lovely photos. This is really getting me excited for our sailing on Jan 11th :)

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

[whataboutport]

Thoroughly enjoying your review!

[west coast cruiser]

Great pictures. Thanks for doing this review.

[bjcanady]

Day 4—Curacao

 

We weren’t scheduled to dock in Curacao until 2pm, so I got up early and wanted to go lay by the pool for a bit. I went down to the International Café grabbed a coffee and croissant and headed to the Aft Pool (Terrace Pool). This pool area is for adults only and doesn’t have entertainment, so it is a nice quiet area to enjoy reading a book or just staring out to sea. I got down there about 8am, so there was plenty of chairs to choose from, but they were pretty full by 1030am.

 

After a nice morning looking at the wake and reading I met up with my husband, grabbed some pizza from the poolside pizza place and headed to the room to get cleaned up for Curacao. The shipped got docked early so we were off to explore by about 145. We didn’t make any plans for Curacao we were just going to walk around, enjoy the colorful buildings, shops, and floating bridge. We ended up grabbing some late lunch at a waterside café (Iguana Café). The service was extremely slow, but the food was worth it…very yummy. We did access the WIFI that was available around town and checked in with family and friends via email and social media. On our walk back I decided we needed to find Starbucks (which is in the mall just after you exit the port area). Grabbed my souvenir mug which I must get whenever I can to add to my collection. Also got a “real” coffee for me, and some frozen drinks for my boys. We were back on the ship relatively early due to not being interested in the nightlife, and our son wanting to hang with his friends (guess we aren’t as cool as we thought). I really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of Curacao, and the fact that the shop keepers were not pushy and prices were very reasonable. We definitely will keep this island on our list to come back to.

 

Once back on the ship I took some pictures while everything wasn’t too busy, checked out a movie (can’t remember the name), and then decided we didn’t want dinner in the dining room so we just ate on our own. I found the buffet that night pretty good (It was Italian night). After dinner we did our trip to the casino, where we actually won our money back, and then quit while we were ahead. Since we had time we went to see the variety show in the theater (a singer) who was very good then off to Explorers lounge to see the magician/comedian James Michael. We saw mixed reviews about the magician, we LOVED him…he is a bit on the raunchy side, but we found his humor hysterical. I will say we did see some people leave because they were offended. After a long night of entertainment off to bed to get ready for Christmas Day & Aruba.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also love James (the kid) Michael..........we do very few shows but never miss his, not only is he very talented , he is a very nice guy........we have seen his shows at least a couple dozen times

[shertwo]

Was also on this cruise, on b2b, Dec. 14-28 -- the Chef's Table is $95.00 per person and worth every penny! As soon as we arrive on a Princess ship the first thing I do is call the Dine Line to get on the list, it is filled very fast. Was told it was "sold"out, this after only one hour of the Ship being ready to board. We were put on a wait list and thankfully because there was so many requests they added one more and we were able to go.

[riclop]

Thanks for doing your review.

[mm1251]

Keep it coming and thanks!