Quick Review--Crown 11/28/2015

[gregjm]

Just off the Crown 7 day Mexican Riviera.

 

I just completed a long review (which will be published soon) but wanted to do a quick review for the Princess Forum:

 

It has been five years since we have sailed Princess (our sixth Princess Cruise) and felt that the brand has been diminished since our last Princess experience, particularly in the quality of food and friendliness of the staff.

 

Service in the main dining room was spotty, at best and at times downright awful. On this cruise it seemed that the cooks were only capable of cooking steaks "well done" and not getting food from the kitchen to the table at a temperature above cool to lukewarm. We heard MANY complaints from other passengers throughout the course of the 7 days.

 

The Horizon Court food offerings were much less appealing than past cruises and in a few instances some of the food was inedible (the watery scrambled eggs, beef brisket too tough to cut, much less eat, etc., etc.)

 

Dinner in the Crown Grill was excellent; Sabatini disappointing (with Veal Osso Bucco inedible because of amount of fat and gelatinous mashed potatoes).

 

Room Steward was efficient, but rarely seen. He did, however, enter our room at 6:45 on disembarkation morning (while we were at breakfast) in spite of the "privacy" notice on the door to start making up the room for the next guests (we had been told to vacate by 9:00 a.m, so there was no excuse for him to enter without our permission, particularly when the "privacy" tag was on the door.

 

Entertainment was very good and Dan Appleby was a GREAT cruise director.

 

Ports were mixed, with Mazatlan being an absolute disaster with an out of control Princess sponsored excursion tour guide taking us "off grid" for several hours to an unplanned stop at a restaurant where he obviously got a kick-back for bringing a bus load of patrons. (seriously, I felt like we were taken hostage and bolted from the tour when we were taken to the back alley restaurant and caught a cab back to the ship). In talking to other participants I learned that they did not return until five minutes before the ship left port----3 hours after the advertised return time). I have filed a complaint with Princess

 

Cabo San Lucas was our favorite and wished we had more time in this port. Too bad Princess doesn't dump the Mazatlan stop and spend an overnight in Cabo.

 

Bar service was mediocre, with a few bartenders being downright rude.

 

We also tried the Salty Dog Gastro Pub (Wheelhouse) which is a new addition to the Crown. While the food was good, the concept does not seem to be taking off--rarely did we see more than 2-3 people in the restaurant. Prediction: This will be a short-lived experiment.

 

The ship is in decent repair, with a few notable areas that seem neglected; 1/2 of the fountain in the Piazza isn't working and the fountains behind Sabatini were not functional.

 

The embarkation and disembarkation process went very smoothly.

 

So, that's a short review with a longer one in the review stage by the Cruise Critic review reviewers.

 

A mix of good, bad and terrible. Probably the last Princess Cruise. Celebrity looks very good after this experience.

[srpilo]

Thanks for reporting back

 

 

Srpilo

[TracieABD]

Thank you for your review. It seems that there has been a lot of hit and miss with Princess cruises lately, and maybe the misses are taking the lead.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your comments.

[cvpends]

Thank you for your report. What was the excursion in Mazatlan? We will be on the Crown to the Mexican Riviera later this month and hope that is not the excursion we booked :O

 

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[gregjm]

It was the Pacifico Brewery Tour and Shopping in the Golden Zone. The contracted tour company was Explora Tours. I hope Princess cuts all ties with this company.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your observations.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Greyhound3]

Just off the Crown 7 day Mexican Riviera.

 

I just completed a long review (which will be published soon) but wanted to do a quick review for the Princess Forum:

 

It has been five years since we have sailed Princess (our sixth Princess Cruise) and felt that the brand has been diminished since our last Princess experience, particularly in the quality of food and friendliness of the staff.

 

Service in the main dining room was spotty, at best and at times downright awful. On this cruise it seemed that the cooks were only capable of cooking steaks "well done" and not getting food from the kitchen to the table at a temperature above cool to lukewarm. We heard MANY complaints from other passengers throughout the course of the 7 days.

 

The Horizon Court food offerings were much less appealing than past cruises and in a few instances some of the food was inedible (the watery scrambled eggs, beef brisket too tough to cut, much less eat, etc., etc.)

 

Dinner in the Crown Grill was excellent; Sabatini disappointing (with Veal Osso Bucco inedible because of amount of fat and gelatinous mashed potatoes).

 

Room Steward was efficient, but rarely seen. He did, however, enter our room at 6:45 on disembarkation morning (while we were at breakfast) in spite of the "privacy" notice on the door to start making up the room for the next guests (we had been told to vacate by 9:00 a.m, so there was no excuse for him to enter without our permission, particularly when the "privacy" tag was on the door.

 

Entertainment was very good and Dan Appleby was a GREAT cruise director.

 

Ports were mixed, with Mazatlan being an absolute disaster with an out of control Princess sponsored excursion tour guide taking us "off grid" for several hours to an unplanned stop at a restaurant where he obviously got a kick-back for bringing a bus load of patrons. (seriously, I felt like we were taken hostage and bolted from the tour when we were taken to the back alley restaurant and caught a cab back to the ship). In talking to other participants I learned that they did not return until five minutes before the ship left port----3 hours after the advertised return time). I have filed a complaint with Princess

 

Cabo San Lucas was our favorite and wished we had more time in this port. Too bad Princess doesn't dump the Mazatlan stop and spend an overnight in Cabo.

 

Bar service was mediocre, with a few bartenders being downright rude.

 

We also tried the Salty Dog Gastro Pub (Wheelhouse) which is a new addition to the Crown. While the food was good, the concept does not seem to be taking off--rarely did we see more than 2-3 people in the restaurant. Prediction: This will be a short-lived experiment.

 

The ship is in decent repair, with a few notable areas that seem neglected; 1/2 of the fountain in the Piazza isn't working and the fountains behind Sabatini were not functional.

 

The embarkation and disembarkation process went very smoothly.

 

So, that's a short review with a longer one in the review stage by the Cruise Critic review reviewers.

 

A mix of good, bad and terrible. Probably the last Princess Cruise. Celebrity looks very good after this experience.

 

We were also on this cruise. I agree strongly with these points:

 

The Horizon Court "offerings" are one step above garbage. The aforementioned "eggs" are downright NASTY. The various sausages all tasted as if they'd been recycled - if you've ever saved a hot dog and eaten it the next day, you know what I mean. Cold cuts were warm, sometimes almost hot - not a good thing. Overall, a major disappointment and I've let PCL know it on the post-cruise survey. However, our experience in the dining room was quite positive, with an excellent serving crew, and they did manage to find a perfectly done medium rare steak for me.

 

Mazatlan - now that I've been there, I feel no need to return. I'm with you - an overnight in Cabo does sound good.

 

Bar service - unimpressive. Maybe the bartenders need some lessons from Isaac.

 

"Salty Dog" can't go away soon enough. They've ruined the Wheelhouse Bar in my opinion. After seeing the new "decor", I decided to avoid the Wheelhouse for the duration, lest I be tempted to vocalize my thoughts after a few drinks.

 

On the positive side, Dan Appleby was a pleasant surprise - very high energy and the most visible CD I've seen on Princess. We'd be happy to sail with him again.

 

Entertainment - "Magic To Do" got top marks from us. It's the best show I've seen in 11 cruises. The culinary demonstration was informative and a load of laughs to boot. The mariachi group "Los Brillantes" was also excellent.

 

Sorry to hear of your tour problems - we only did one shore excursion, that being the countryside tour with the tequila tasting in Puerto Vallarta. Brochure said 4.5 hours, but it was actually closer to 6. Lots of sightseeing with multiple stops, and the tequila factory (and tasting) was very enjoyable. Our only complaint was that the motorcoach AC was not working correctly.

 

I agree that the overall Princess product has declined over the past few years. We're not yet ready to move on, but if the trend continues, there are always other options.

 

Thanks for the short version. I'll be looking forward to the "full" review.

 

 

Grey

Edited December 7, 2015 by Greyhound3

[riclop]

Thanks for your review.

[SusieS]

This is so disappointing to hear.....we're scheduled on the Crown Jan 8-18th, & am so looking forward to a wonderful cruise....

[tonit964]

We were on the cruise right before yours, 11/21 and I have to agree with you also.

 

Our dining room head waiter was excellent and really made our dinners special.

 

Our experience at Crown Grill was not very good and it always has been. Very slow service and some of the steaks/lamb dishes our party of seven ordered were actually inedible. Didn't want to wait for anything else as we had already spent a total of 3 hours there from 8:00 to 11:00.

 

Our duvet had mascara stains on it when we got to the room and the steward seemed really put out when I asked him to change it.

On the last couple of our Princess cruises, we've had hairs on the sheets when we got to the room, torn/holes in the sheets, pieces of glass from a broken beer bottle on the carpet by the balcony door.

 

Bar service on all levels was a joke, we just laughed about it. No sense in getting upset.

 

The cruise director Kelvin Joy didn't have many fun activities after late seating which is what we had. Mainly just karaoke.

 

Magic To Do was great as well as the mariachi band, Los Brillantes.

 

The last couple of our Princess cruises has had issues, not just this one.

 

We have one more Princess cruise In March 2016, then, we are done with Princess for a while.

[SusieS]

Princess, are you listening??

[cvpends]

It was the Pacifico Brewery Tour and Shopping in the Golden Zone. The contracted tour company was Explora Tours. I hope Princess cuts all ties with this company.

 

Thank you!

[cvpends]

These issues seem like a big change for the Crown. We sailed her last New Years and the previous Spring Break, and had excellent service in the dining room, Crown Grill, Horizon Court, and in all the bars. The only issues I remember are that we noticed that the Mini-Golf course was always under construction and we always seemed to time our sailings with Noro-Virus on the ship. If there is a systemic problem with service, I hope that Princess takes the problem seriously. Many thanks to the three of you on this thread who have offered your honest feedback from your recent cruises!

[gregjm]

These issues seem like a big change for the Crown. We sailed her last New Years and the previous Spring Break, and had excellent service in the dining room, Crown Grill, Horizon Court, and in all the bars. The only issues I remember are that we noticed that the Mini-Golf course was always under construction and we always seemed to time our sailings with Noro-Virus on the ship. If there is a systemic problem with service, I hope that Princess takes the problem seriously. Many thanks to the three of you on this thread who have offered your honest feedback from your recent cruises!

 

I agree with you----our previous time on the Crown was near the top of the list of "best" cruises. Hopefully, Princess will take guest comments seriously and make changes quickly.

[Morgsmom]

Thank you for posting. I would have been really peeved if the room steward entered my cabin so early on the last morning WITH the privacy tag in the door. Clearly he had seen them leave, but that's when I likely would have had my stuff out of the room safe and packed up (but now accessible.) Mental note to self.

[sanmarcosman]

OP, we were on the 11/28 sailing as well and this was our first with Princess. The first three days the service staff appeared morose in the public areas, little eye contact and rarely a nod or smile. Many of the staff behaved as though they were above being in the hospitality industry. So strange and off-putting. I found an iPad in a locker in the spa and was told to go to reception to have it logged. The food was no better than Carnival's. To be honest the market share/ passenger mix on this sailing impressed me as mostly middle class people putting on airs and suffering delusions of grandeur. We don't drink or gamble but neither are we stuffy snobs. We witnessed many instances of passenger rudeness to fellow guests by rushing in to elevators before letting others exit etc. One amazon nearly pushed an elderly gent with a cane to the floor in her rush to get on the car. Overall we never sensed a sincere spirit of hospitality from the staff and that is the fault of management.

[gregjm]

OP, we were on the 11/28 sailing as well and this was our first with Princess. The first three days the service staff appeared morose in the public areas, little eye contact and rarely a nod or smile. Many of the staff behaved as though they were above being in the hospitality industry. So strange and off-putting. I found an iPad in a locker in the spa and was told to go to reception to have it logged. The food was no better than Carnival's. To be honest the market share/ passenger mix on this sailing impressed me as mostly middle class people putting on airs and suffering delusions of grandeur. We don't drink or gamble but neither are we stuffy snobs. We witnessed many instances of passenger rudeness to fellow guests by rushing in to elevators before letting others exit etc. One amazon nearly pushed an elderly gent with a cane to the floor in her rush to get on the car. Overall we never sensed a sincere spirit of hospitality from the staff and that is the fault of management.

 

It was a very strange experience----and you hit the nail on the head regarding the lack of hospitality. This cruise was also notable for the lack of a visible presence of the Ship's officers, with the Captain being visible only during the command performances (champagne waterfall, Captains Circle Reception, etc.) Other officers, when seen, would not even say hello.

 

Hopefully, Princess monitors this forum. If so, I have a suggestion: Go under cover on a cruise---unannounced to everyone (including the Captain) and have a "REAL world" cruise experience like we had last week. Enjoy the inedible food; experience rude bartenders; Have your room steward enter your room even when the privacy tag is on the door. Also, experience a Cruise Director who is very good at his job and salvaged this cruise from being a totally awful experience.

 

If they did this, they may develop a sense of urgency in addressing the diminution of the Princess brand.

[Bemidji Ty]

You have to wonder what happened?

 

We cruised the Crown last July to Alaska with our family. We all agreed the the food and service was some of the best we've experienced. We didn't go to any shows so we can't comment. The only ship's excursion we took was the White Pass RR out of Skagway. It was wonderful

 

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully Princess will address these issues.

[Reader0108598]

Just off the Crown 7 day Mexican Riviera.

 

I just completed a long review (which will be published soon) but wanted to do a quick review for the Princess Forum:

 

It has been five years since we have sailed Princess (our sixth Princess Cruise) and felt that the brand has been diminished since our last Princess experience, particularly in the quality of food and friendliness of the staff.

 

Service in the main dining room was spotty, at best and at times downright awful. On this cruise it seemed that the cooks were only capable of cooking steaks "well done" and not getting food from the kitchen to the table at a temperature above cool to lukewarm. We heard MANY complaints from other passengers throughout the course of the 7 days.

 

The Horizon Court food offerings were much less appealing than past cruises and in a few instances some of the food was inedible (the watery scrambled eggs, beef brisket too tough to cut, much less eat, etc., etc.)

 

Dinner in the Crown Grill was excellent; Sabatini disappointing (with Veal Osso Bucco inedible because of amount of fat and gelatinous mashed potatoes).

 

Room Steward was efficient, but rarely seen. He did, however, enter our room at 6:45 on disembarkation morning (while we were at breakfast) in spite of the "privacy" notice on the door to start making up the room for the next guests (we had been told to vacate by 9:00 a.m, so there was no excuse for him to enter without our permission, particularly when the "privacy" tag was on the door.

 

Entertainment was very good and Dan Appleby was a GREAT cruise director.

 

Ports were mixed, with Mazatlan being an absolute disaster with an out of control Princess sponsored excursion tour guide taking us "off grid" for several hours to an unplanned stop at a restaurant where he obviously got a kick-back for bringing a bus load of patrons. (seriously, I felt like we were taken hostage and bolted from the tour when we were taken to the back alley restaurant and caught a cab back to the ship). In talking to other participants I learned that they did not return until five minutes before the ship left port----3 hours after the advertised return time). I have filed a complaint with Princess

 

Cabo San Lucas was our favorite and wished we had more time in this port. Too bad Princess doesn't dump the Mazatlan stop and spend an overnight in Cabo.

 

Bar service was mediocre, with a few bartenders being downright rude.

 

We also tried the Salty Dog Gastro Pub (Wheelhouse) which is a new addition to the Crown. While the food was good, the concept does not seem to be taking off--rarely did we see more than 2-3 people in the restaurant. Prediction: This will be a short-lived experiment.

 

The ship is in decent repair, with a few notable areas that seem neglected; 1/2 of the fountain in the Piazza isn't working and the fountains behind Sabatini were not functional.

 

The embarkation and disembarkation process went very smoothly.

 

So, that's a short review with a longer one in the review stage by the Cruise Critic review reviewers.

 

A mix of good, bad and terrible. Probably the last Princess Cruise. Celebrity looks very good after this experience.

 

Thank you gregjm for the review

 

I am afraid that the food is only going to get worse so that you are forced to pay extra for a decent meal. :( Sad but that is the way the cruise industry is heading! People keep saying "I don't mind paying extra for a good meal."..well they have their wish! What used to be included in your cruise fare will now be extra.

 

As for the cabin steward entering your cabin that early on the last morning , I would have used whatever he /she put in the cabin. It was yours until 8:00AM!

Reader

Edited December 7, 2015 by Reader0108598

[KikisDad]

Thank you for your review. I see a common theme, the Crown was great last spring when we did a B2B, but has since had issues. We are also on the Jan 8 sailing and am curious when we will find. We have found that some ships are 'happy' and other not. I wonder change changed on the Crown.

[AHS123]

OP, I see your review was published. I like your suggestion that Princess hire "mystery shoppers" to report on actual experiences by paid consultants who are unknown to any of the staff.

[dickinson]

All of you posters who will be on her in the next few months please update this thread with your experience. It will be helpful to others.

 

It sounds to me like there was a change for the worse in personnel since others who had a great time a while ago. We were on for 4 days in February and had no problems.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Sorry to hear that! I also had 2 fabulous cruises on her in November 2014 and Alaska in June/July...

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your review.

 

Keith