International Cafe - Crown Princess

[jamesnnb]

We were reading a review on the Crown Princess and saw this:

 

"The International Café in the Piazza offers a number of tidbits for just $1 a piece, including shrimp salads, tapas style hors d'oeuvres..."

 

We've been to the IC on the Sapphire but never saw a charge for the salads, etc. Is this new, false, just on the Crown or?

[bcnvcanada]

We were just off the Crown as there is no charage in International Cafe, except for gelato. Tapes are charged but they are in

Vines.

[Times Prince]

Perhaps old information...

 

The International Café, when originally deployed in the Princess fleet, had items for which there was a charge. Now the salad, sandwiches, soup, and dessert items on display are no charge, with the exception of gelato (on the ships that have it - I think Crown Princess is one).

 

Tapas are served in the Vines area of the Atrium, and per the sign I saw on Caribbean Princess a month ago, are no charge with a wine purchase.

[fishywood]

Definitely a review dating back to when the Crown was first launched in 2006.

 

The Crown Princess was the very first ship with the International Cafe. The experiment with having some premium items carry a charge did not last long; by the time the second ship with an IC (Emerald Princess) debuted the charges were gone. I believe Princess said at the time that the revenue generated did not cover the expense of processing the charges (and training the crew as to which items to charge for). But one upcharge item has been resurrected: the fondue station in the HC of Royal and Regal was a passing feature of the Crown IC.

Edited April 28, 2014 by fishywood

[janacin]

We were reading a review on the Crown Princess and saw this:

 

"The International Café in the Piazza offers a number of tidbits for just $1 a piece, including shrimp salads, tapas style hors d'oeuvres..."

 

We've been to the IC on the Sapphire but never saw a charge for the salads, etc. Is this new, false, just on the Crown or?

 

Would be interested in knowing where you read this and how long ago.

[OCruisers]

Perhaps old information...

 

The International Café, when originally deployed in the Princess fleet, had items for which there was a charge. Now the salad, sandwiches, soup, and dessert items on display are no charge, with the exception of gelato (on the ships that have it - I think Crown Princess is one).

 

Tapas are served in the Vines area of the Atrium, and per the sign I saw on Caribbean Princess a month ago, are no charge with a wine purchase.

 

The above is true. We were on Crown Princess for two weeks in January.

Note on Vines: The sushi and tapas are at n/c with the purchase of ANY drink.

LuLu

[caribill]

The Crown Princess was the very first ship with the International Cafe. The experiment with having some premium items carry a charge did not last long; by the time the second ship with an IC (Emerald Princess) debuted the charges were gone.

 

In April of 2009 the Emerald Princess was charging for the extras at the IC.

Edited April 28, 2014 by caribill

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes there were charges in the past but no mas. :)

Edited April 28, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[Cruisin' Chick]

Would be interested in knowing where you read this and how long ago.

 

Again, when the International Cafes were first created, there were ala carte charges. At some point, the charges were dropped, except for the gelato (which isn't offered on ships being retrofitted for the IC). So if you want to see info on this, you can check out early reviews for the Crown and the ships built after the Crown (eg. Emerald, Ruby...). Or do a search but again, you'll have to go way back to find out the prices.

 

We didn't go on a ship with the IC until 2010, and that was one of the ships that was retrofitted (I think the year before) with it.

[fishywood]

In April of 2009 the Emerald Princess was charging for the extras at the IC.

 

Thanks for that correction. I could have sworn that the fondue was the first thing to go, with all the talk of sticky tables in the Piazza. But it looks like the upcharge food was quickly dropped but the premium goodies hung on a while.

Edited April 29, 2014 by fishywood

[jamesnnb]

Thanks, all. Definitely old info. Red it on CruiseMates.com when we googled a review on the Crown. It it not dated -- thus didn't know. We've never been on the Crown but just got off the Sapphire and thought it might be different. Glad to hear. We like the IC.

[Lanwood]

We were just off the Crown as there is no charage in International Cafe, except for gelato. Tapes are charged but they are in

Vines.

 

We where on the Crown 9 months ago, and found it as bcnvcanada wrote above.