Crown Princess mini review

[margeecruiser]

We just returned from the Crown Coastal Santa Barbara cruise and I wanted to post my opinions.

 

We are experienced cruisers with 25+ cruises on all the mass market lines. We are in our 70s, cruising with our kids (50s) and grandkids 18 and 20s). We were a party of 10. This was a special cruise for our grandson's Engagement Party.

 

Overall, this was a wonderful cruise because the entire family was together for the first time in many years except for Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners. Unfortunately, Princess let us down in several ways.

 

Ship: the Crown is beautiful, but showing some wear. Our main problem was the out of order public restrooms. The one near the theater, the one near the Crown Grill and the one near Botticelli dining room. We reported this, but still experienced overflowing toilets and water on the floor. There was much discussion about this mess with other cruisers.

 

Cabin: our mini suite was great. We had the best bed we have ever had on any ship. Our steward was very good.

 

Food: We were disappointed with the quality of the food. We experienced over-cooked food in both the main dining room and the Crown Grill. Several entrees, steaks, chops, sliced tenderloin were over done even when ordered medium rare. We finally explained to our waiter we wanted our steak with a warm red center, and it was very good. I was surprised with the consistent over cooked food for 10 people.

 

Wine: we are avid wine drinkers. We visited the Vines wine bar the first night. We selected a very good red wine and wanted the tall glasses. We wanted to take the bottle and our glasses into the dining room to enjoy with our dinner. We were told we could not take the glasses, but they would give us generic glasses. We debated the issue and finally got permission to take the good glasses, but with the promise to return our glasses after dinner. This is rediculous and demeaning. This is their policy, regardless of the price of the wine. We ordered one of their top red wine.

 

Embarking and Debarking: this was the easiest we have ever experienced. Just wonderful.

 

Overall: we will probably cruise Princess again, but not on the Crown. We like Princess itineraries and so may book something in the future if the itinerary is too good to pass up.

 

If you have any questions, please ask.

 

Margee

[RetiredNTraveling]

Thanks for the quickie! :p

p.s. The Crown goes in for a Tune-up & Refreshing in May of this year.

[Thrak]

The policy in Vines is that you can't take the nice glasses. It's not that horrible of a policy to deal with.

 

We just sailed Crown a couple of weeks ago and we also had a great bed. Slept wonderfully. Unlike the OP my filet in Crown Grill was cooked perfectly. I ordered it medium rare and it was definitely properly cooked. However, the lobster that I got with the filet was a major disappointment. The waiter brought 6 tails (4 oz. each) so there would be enough to share but the lobster itself wasn't very good.

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

I've read several recent posts about public bathroom issues on the Crown although we didn't experience any in early January. Concerning the better wine glasses, apparently crewmembers are responsible for their assigned items & why they were hesitant to give them to you. It's not the crew's decision & if you found it to be "ridiculous & demeaning" then sharing your opinions with management may be able to help.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[Astro Flyer]

The policy in Vines is that you can't take the nice glasses. It's not that horrible of a policy to deal with.

 

We just sailed Crown a couple of weeks ago and we also had a great bed. Slept wonderfully. Unlike the OP my filet in Crown Grill was cooked perfectly. I ordered it medium rare and it was definitely properly cooked. However, the lobster that I got with the filet was a major disappointment. The waiter brought 6 tails (4 oz. each) so there would be enough to share but the lobster itself wasn't very good.

We had the same great experience on the Crown in early January at the CG but because taste is subjective I understand that not everyone agrees with us. ;)

[AZbeachboy]

I appreciate your mini review and hope we do not have the same problems with the public rooms as you did when we cruise in two weeks.

 

However, on thing bothers me about those who offer complaints, which is fine, they say things like "other customers felt the same way or in your case "there was much discussion about this mess with other cruisers." This sounds more like gossip that a rea complaint. Just the facts as you saw them is enough.

[Working 2 Cruise]

We just returned from the Crown Coastal Santa Barbara cruise and I wanted to post my opinions.

 

We are experienced cruisers with 25+ cruises on all the mass market lines. We are in our 70s, cruising with our kids (50s) and grandkids 18 and 20s). We were a party of 10. This was a special cruise for our grandson's Engagement Party.

 

Overall, this was a wonderful cruise because the entire family was together for the first time in many years except for Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners. Unfortunately, Princess let us down in several ways.

 

Ship: the Crown is beautiful, but showing some wear. Our main problem was the out of order public restrooms. The one near the theater, the one near the Crown Grill and the one near Botticelli dining room. We reported this, but still experienced overflowing toilets and water on the floor. There was much discussion about this mess with other cruisers. i was on the Crown for a 7 day cruise in December... no sign of wear... of course, if you look for things, you'll find them.

 

Cabin: our mini suite was great. We had the best bed we have ever had on any ship. Our steward was very good.

 

Food: We were disappointed with the quality of the food. We experienced over-cooked food in both the main dining room and the Crown Grill. Several entrees, steaks, chops, sliced tenderloin were over done even when ordered medium rare. We finally explained to our waiter we wanted our steak with a warm red center, and it was very good. I was surprised with the consistent over cooked food for 10 people. Food was the best of all twelve cruises I've been on...

 

Wine: we are avid wine drinkers. We visited the Vines wine bar the first night. We selected a very good red wine and wanted the tall glasses. We wanted to take the bottle and our glasses into the dining room to enjoy with our dinner. We were told we could not take the glasses, but they would give us generic glasses. We debated the issue and finally got permission to take the good glasses, but with the promise to return our glasses after dinner. This is rediculous and demeaning. This is their policy, regardless of the price of the wine. We ordered one of their top red wine. Can you imagine what would happen to those glasses if anyone could take them from Vines? I'm quite sure some passengers would take them and the glasses would never be seen again. It's unfortunate but I can understand the policy. m

 

Embarking and Debarking: this was the easiest we have ever experienced. Just wonderful.

 

Overall: we will probably cruise Princess again, but not on the Crown. We like Princess itineraries and so may book something in the future if the itinerary is too good to pass up.

 

If you have any questions, please ask.

 

Margee

 

In sum, I had a great cruise on the Crown but am definitely not nitpicky... I would cruise again on the Crown in a heartbeat.

[Pam in CA]

In sum, I had a great cruise on the Crown but am definitely not nitpicky... I would cruise again on the Crown in a heartbeat.

Same here. I was on her three weeks ago and while there were a few nit picky things so that it wasn't perfect, I would also sail her again.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Same here. I was on her three weeks ago and while there were a few nit picky things so that it wasn't perfect, I would also sail her again.

 

Pam, as you know, nothing is ever perfect... there's always something.... but that cruise on the Crown came close... Was it perfect, no... but close! Even the landfall dinner, I was so surprised how good the steak was...

 

The OP will have problems on other ships with wine glasses as I'm sure that policy is fleetwide.

[Astro Flyer]

The OP will have problems on other ships with wine glasses as I'm sure that policy is fleetwide.

 

The OP had the problem 10 years ago & last November wondered if it was the same way now & how to deal with it by ignoring the Princess policy.

 

We ended up going to Vines for the proper glassware also on our last Princess cruise. To be fair, this was 10 years ago and they had just changed their wine policy. They did not have their act together at all. The policy changed that very week. What a mess. If the policy is the same next February, we will just deal with the going to Vines and carrying our large glasses into the dining room. I hated feeling like I was stealing when I left Vines. I asked them if I should leave a deposit (like my car title or mortgage papers) to ensure I brought the glasses back. This is a tacky way to handle this issue.

 

 

 

Margee

Edited February 12, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[kclvt]

Thanks for the quickie! :p

p.s. The Crown goes in for a Tune-up & Refreshing in May of this year.

 

What are they going to be doing to her? We sail in July to Alaska!

[Working 2 Cruise]

The OP had the problem 10 years ago & last November wondered if it was the same way now & how to deal with it by ignoring the Princess policy.

 

Unless the OP goes on one of the luxury lines, I think OP will continue on having this problem....

 

What are they going to be doing to her? We sail in July to Alaska!

 

Nothing major...

[shredie]

I was on a B2B on the Crown in the same time frame. The problem with the restrooms was a real one. The ladies rooms were dirty with out of order signs, sometimes only one working toilet. I found the attendants harried and cross in the three restrooms mentioned. I know they were getting lots of complaints. I made it a point to use the cabin facilities when I was there so I could avoid the more public restrooms.

 

The problem with overcooked meat seems to be fleet-wide. On the Golden last month, my table mates had issues with the meat, and my table mates on the Crown had the same issues. These people all wanted rare, not medium, and had to send the steaks back. I have seen this issue before, too. I tell them I like medium with pink. The trick I think is to say rare with red.

 

My bed was comfortable. The staff treated my granddaughter like royalty. I prefer the Piazza layout on the Crown to the older ships' configurations. The IC was good, as always. Crooners is large and just beautiful with the dark woods. Sabatini's is gorgeous up on the top of the ship with good views. Adagio's is one of my favorite spots.

 

The only problems I had were centered around the Captain's Circle hostess and disembarkation, a process made very unpleasant by a very unpleasant hostess.

[OCruisers]

Thanks for your Crown Princess Mini Review.

So sorry Crown was not as good for you as she has always been for us.

Does seem you had some real issues. Hopefully, they will be corrected.

LuLu

[cruisen JJ]

We were also on the Crown a few weeks ago.

Beds: Best we've ever had on a cruise

Food: Excellent

Service: Excellent

Cabin: clean and in good condition

Entertainment: Some very good, some good

Embarkation: Excellent. We had been to our room and down to the dining for lunch at 12:30

Disembarkation: The fastest we've ever had. We were off the ship, found our luggage and putting it in the car at 9:20

I make a point of using cabin restroom so can't comment on the public ones.

We go on a cruise for the enjoyment of travelling, new experiences and meeting new people.

The Crown Princess was an excellent choice for us!

[AZbeachboy]

I am looking forward to the Crown in two weeks. I have cruised on it twice beofre and it has been great.

 

The only bad cruise I ever had was on another line. We did not know it had been sold and we were the last cruise. They fixed nothing on the ship and it was junk. We did get credit for another cruise.

 

The only thing that I have found objectionable that makes a difference in a good or bad cruise is inconsistency weither it in policy or promised accomodation. If it a cabin problem with the steward or wait staff, that can be taken care of fairly quickly.

[IECalCruiser]

We also just disembarked the Crown Tuesday.

 

Our filets at the CG were cooked to perfection and the four of us ordered the gamut from medium rare to medium to medium well to well done. We also ate in the DR twice are our food was quite good. The 50th Anniversary menu had some real winners with the risotto cake and osso buco ravioli appetizers. The Norman Love dessert was just so so but I also ordered the orange soufflé so all was well. We also had our fill of King Crab legs at the Crab Shack.

 

We used public restrooms throughout the ship and we only had one experience where there was some water on the floor that appeared to be from a leak.

 

Embarkation went well but disembarkation was a different issue. Our friends flight left LAX at 12:30 so we went with a Group C disembarkation at 8:40. We were not called until 9:30 and then it was a 30 minute wait in line for Customs. We still dropped our friends off at LAX around 10:50 so all was well.

 

 

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[caribill]

Embarkation went well but disembarkation was a different issue. Our friends flight left LAX at 12:30 so we went with a Group C disembarkation at 8:40. We were not called until 9:30 and then it was a 30 minute wait in line for Customs. We still dropped our friends off at LAX around 10:50 so all was well.

 

Sounds as if the delays were caused by customs/immigration, both in being called to disembark due to slowness of the line for earlier passengers and then then the line when you were on it..

[IECalCruiser]

Sounds as if the delays were caused by customs/immigration, both in being called to disembark due to slowness of the line for earlier passengers and then then the line when you were on it..

Yes, Immigration was the bottleneck. I think there were 5-6 people working and they were fairly efficient. When we disembarked the line waiting on the pier was almost 3/4ths the length of the Crown and we were in line 30 minutes. Princess didn't call more people until there was space on the pier for people to get off the ship and wait in line. There are usually Customs staff waiting after the checked bag pickup area but there were none to be seen on Tuesday morning. To avoid long lines you need to get off in the first group. There was no rush for us so we waited in the disembarkation lounge for another hour with our friends. It was better waiting there with us rather than getting them to LAX early and having them wait at the airport. Many people on these short cruises are local but if someone has an early flight they better make certain they are in the first walk off group. If you checked luggage you were not called for disembarkation until around 9:15. That is probably when the checked luggage was ready for pick up. With the Immigration line you would not have been able to leave the pier until around 9:45.

 

 

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Edited February 12, 2015 by IECalCruiser